French winemakers forecast 30-year low harvest after severe drought and heat 07. September 2026 (17:10) Estimates suggest drop in production with vineyards also concerned ‘smoke taint’ from wildfires may affect qualityFrench vineyards hit by severe drought and heatwaves are expected to report a 30-year low in wine production after the country’s hottest ever recorded summer, according to the agriculture ministry.Initial estimates suggest winemakers will produce just under 34m hectolitres from this year’s harvest: a drop of 6% on last year, and 17% less than the 2021-2025 average. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Stolen Generations survivors have more health challenges than other First Nations people 07. September 2026 (17:01) Indigenous Australians forcibly removed under government policies more likely to have severe or profound disability, report findsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe tens of thousands of Indigenous Australians and their descendents who were forcibly removed under government assimilation policies have far greater physical and health challenges when compared to the wider Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, according to a new report.The report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) was commissioned by peak advocacy body the Healing Foundation, which supports Stolen Generations survivors and their families, and builds on existing data released in 2023. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Record strength El Niño could mean bigger supermarket bills for Australians, experts warn 07. September 2026 (17:00) Predicted hot and dry weather in growing areas in eastern Australia identified as ‘one of the key issues’ that will affect food prices over next 12 monthsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe most severe El Niño weather event on record threatens to push food prices higher this year, experts say, piling pressure on households already struggling with the post-pandemic spike in grocery bills and complicating the Reserve Bank’s efforts to bring inflation back under control.The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast El Niño will peak in late spring or summer and “reach levels above the warmest observed since reliable records began in 1950”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Grassroots Labor group urges Albanese government to chart course away from ‘American war machine’ 07. September 2026 (17:00) Pressure follows revelations US military and weapons manufacturers control or have access to more than 100 bases across Australian continentWhy can the US access so many Australian military bases? – podcastGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe US has “led Australia into wars of aggression” for 50 years, internal party campaign group Labor Against War has argued, urging the government to chart a foreign policy independent “from the American war machine”.The Australian government has defended the growing presence of the US military on the Australian continent, insisting the defence sites “are Australian bases under Australian control”, despite evidence the US military controls more than a dozen bases on Australian territory. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum: An extraordinary masterpiece showing pity and brutality of war 07. September 2026 (16:53) Golly, it’s big. Before you get close up to the Bayeux Tapestry, you can look down on it from an upper balcony and see all seventy yards of it under glass. Close up what strikes you is something different…it’s that the pictures and the story are made up of stitches. It sounds obvious but what reproductions never really convey is the sheer physicality of the embroidery; you can see the way the stitches work: round circles to show chain mail, running stitch for outlines. And what extraordinary skill those women had. For, of course, this was women’s work; probably the nuns of Canterbury, possibly with skilled laywomen, or maybe Barking. Englishwomen were famed at their skill at embroidery and this is one of the finest early examples.(London News)
