Coles and Woolworths' alleged tactics exposed, confusion as Bureau issues tsunami 'warning': Australia news live

The Bureau of Meteorology has now issued a statement on its earlier test tsunami warning which plenty of Australians around the country thought was legitimate.

"The Bureau acknowledges and apologises for any confusion that this test may have caused," it said.

"The test warnings were sent to the BOM Weather app for various locations. The test warnings were cancelled immediately after they were issued.

"Testing is important to help the Bureau and partners prepare and plan for real tsunami threats."

Well this is a seriously impressive photo.

This crazy-looking catch was reeled in by two young fishermen in the NT and has unsurprisingly gone viral this week. Read why it's such a remarkable catch here.

The father of Ben and Russell Smith, who were fatally stabbed inside their Blue Mountains home, delivered a heartbreaking eulogy for his sons, pledging to “never stop loving (them)”.

At least 750 loved ones gathered to pay tribute to the two young boys, aged just 9 and 11, who were found dead in their Faulconbridge family home on Tuesday September 10.

It will be alleged the boys’ father found the bodies, with emergency services called to the Chapman Parade home around midday following reports of a concern for welfare for a woman and two children.

The boys’ 42-year-old mother, Trish Smith, was found with multiple stab wounds and has since been charged with the alleged murder of her two sons.

“Boys, it’s been an absolute, absolute privilege to be your father. I hold you so deeply in my heart,” Nick Smith said.

“You are loved by your family, through your friends, through the community through the school, through your soccer club, through the Panthers, throughout society.

“You will be so missed. You had such beautiful little lives, such beautiful, beautiful adventures.”

Read more here.

Well this is a pretty generous lottery winner.

A Victorian woman who landed $1 million on the Weekday Windfall on Friday says she's going to pay off her brother's mortgage.

“I’ve always said if I win big, I’ll pay off my brother's mortgage and now I can! He won’t see this coming!" she told lottery officials.

Fair play to her.

Ok in some breaking news, the latest inflation figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show we have reached the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target band.

“Annual inflation was 2.7 per cent in August, down from 3.5 per cent in July, and is the lowest reading since August 2021,” Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, said.

So why did the RBA leave interest rates on hold at 4.35 per cent yesterday?

The central bank board said its focus was on underlying inflation, which strips out volatile items like petrol, and wouldn’t take into account the impacts of temporary cost-of-living relief like energy rebates.

There’s been debate about whether the rebates have “artificially” pushed down inflation, something Treasurer Jim Chalmers strenuously denied yesterday.The RBA has the opportunity to drop interest rates twice more this year, in November and December.

However, governor Michele Bullock warned there were no cuts anticipated in the “near term” when she justified holding the cash rate for a seventh consecutive time on Wednesday. See what she said here.

Commonwealth Bank has still got a rate cut pencilled in for December but it's an outlier.

Economists at ANZ and Westpac predict the first to come in February. The least positive outlook for stressed mortgage holders comes from National Australia Bank, which forecast a May cut. See how quickly the big banks think interest rates will fall in 2025 here.

NAB senior economist Tapas Strickland predicted the headline monthly figure won't make any difference to the likelihood of the central bank cutting rates. We are more likely to get a better picture when the quarterly figures are released in October.

This comes as a poll of more than 1,400 Yahoo Finance readers found that 27 per cent would be forced to sell their home if they didn’t get a rate cut this year.

Coles and Woolworths have copped brutal losses in the share market and face fines in the tens of millions of dollars.

But would a loss in the court of public opinion hit harder?

Former ACCC boss Allan Fels has claimed Aussie "battlers" were targeted in an alleged discount rort committed by the two major supermarkets.The ACCC has alleged prices were temporarily increased on hundreds of items for short periods before being placed on "Prices Dropped" and "Down Down" promotions.

Fels said they were "staples of ordinary and low-income families"."These are not luxury items favoured by wealthier shoppers," he said.

"Those being allegedly conned and exploited were families struggling at the height of the cost-of-living crisis."

It was shoppers who started reporting the alleged discount discrepancies, so if the supermarkets were found guilty, would this be enough to stop you shopping with them?

Well as predicted, the RBA held the cash rate at 4.35 per cent. There's a strong possibility we could end 2024 without any movement in the interest rate and while a hold is obviously much better than a rise, thousands of struggling homeowners remain at breaking point.

Earlier this month RBA governor Michele Bullock said there's about 5 per cent of homeowners in a serious situation where they can't keep up with their mortgage payments.

But when we asked readers yesterday whether they'd be forced to sell up if there was no rate cut this year, the results were far more alarming.

Twenty-two per cent of 1,406 voters (as of 11.20am today) said they will have to sell their home.

So are you one of those people? We'd love to hear from you about your story. Feel free to reach out to us at yahoo.finance.au@yahooinc.com and if you haven't voted yet, the poll is below.

Multiple branches of Australian police are undertaking another targeted search for the body of missing mother Samantha Murphy who disappeared more than seven months ago.

The 51-year-old Ballarat woman was last seen leaving her home on Eureka Street, to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest on the morning of February 4.

Detectives from the Missing Persons squad, with help from a range of specialists from Victoria Police, NSW Police and the Australian Federal Police, began a new search in Grenville on Tuesday.

A similar search in March uncovered Ms Murphy's phone, buried in the mud on the edge of an agricultural dam, however it did not lead to the discovery of her body.

Police in March charged 23-year-old tradesman Patrick Orren Stephenson with the murder of Ms Murphy.

Read more here.

They're certainly a special piece of equipment, but have you ever wondered how much an emergency vehicle costs?

Well Fire and Rescue NSW says their newest vehicle deployed to the Hunter Valley set them back $470,000.

"The Compressed Air Foam System (CAFs) Class 2 Pumper allows firefighters to tackle structural, chemical, petrol and grass fires using up to five times less water than normal," it boasted of their "welcome addition".

Well now you know.

Here's lunch sorted for a fair few. Zambrero, are giving out close to 100,000 free burritos today in celebration of the Mexican restaurants 300th store around the world.

“We wanted to take this moment to celebrate with our customers, and what better way than with free burritos,” CEO Matthew Kenny said.

There will be 300 free burritos at each store, totalling 90,000 all up.

UPDATE: Police say the trio have now been located safe and well.

EARLIER: A plea from authorities now seeking help to locate a man and two boys who disappeared in Perth early this morning.

WA Police hold welfare concerns for the trio, aged, 34, 7 and 5.

The man was last seen in Wilson about 1.10am.

As we focused yesterday on the RBA's interest rate decision, there were a few posts we didn't get to share with you.

One was this remarkable vision from Rachel Crowley shared by Weatherzone and it shows a series of waterfalls forming on Uluru after huge downfalls in the NT this month. Enjoy.

The two boys who were found dead allegedly by their father in their Blue Mountains home will be farewelled today at their joint funeral.

The bodies of Russell and Ben Smith, aged 11 and 9, were discovered at their Faulconbridge home on September 10.

Their mother, who police said was found at the property with stab wounds, has been charged with two counts of murder.

The funeral will take place in Springwood this morning.

A car parking spot has been put up for sale at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach and it comes with a hefty price tag.

Parking in Sydney can be tough, especially around the biggest hotspots, so if you want to avoid that then all you need is a million bucks in your pocket.

That's the asking price for a spot inside the secure parking garage attached to the exclusive 2-4 Notts Avenue address. While that might sound outlandish, Raine and Horne’s Ric Serrao told Yahoo Finance that spaces in suburbs like Bondi are only going to get more expensive.

“What's a million dollars today, in five years, is going to be $2 million,” Serrao said.

Read more about the space here and let us know if you agree with the agent below.

A consumer expert says Coles and Woolworths' discount tactics will likely have forced customers into rash decisions when shopping.

The supermarkets are being taken to court by the ACCC accused of misleading customers with price tags claiming to offer discounts.

The illusion of a discount plays into a human bias to process information as quickly and easily as possible, according to Deakin University consumer behaviour expert Paul Harrison.

"There is really strong research that people do bypass detail when they see something is discounted … it serves as a shortcut and a way for a person to say, 'I don't need to process detailed information about it'," he told AAP.

"You could say it's a form of manipulation … we trust these institutions to tell us the truth and if it says it's a discount, we assume it actually is."

Read more from AAP here.

Lottery officials are searching for the winner of $15 million after one lucky ticket holder landed the top prize in the Oz Lotto last night.

The ticket, purchased in Wilberforce, northwest of Sydney, was unregistered meaning officials cannot track down the winner.

“Imagine going to bed tonight not knowing you’ve just won $15 million in Oz Lotto! That’s the reality for one mystery New South Wales player after scoring division one in Tuesday’s draw,” The Lott spokesperson Anna Hobdell said