National News

Queensland's budget is back in the black amid surging coal prices and a property boom, but taxes will be hiked on big businesses to prop up the bottom line.

Health Minister Mark Butler has sought urgent advice on ways to boost the uptake of fourth doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in aged-care facilities amid a rising number of deaths in the sector.

The "R-word" has rattled global financial markets in recent weeks as central banks try to curb inflation, but the risk of a recession in Australia is not on Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe's horizon.

At a living wake for a family friend, Christopher Michael Dawson said his wife was living in a commune west of Sydney more than 25 years after she disappeared, a judge has been told.

Australia's coronavirus-related death toll continues to rise, with more than 100 fatalities announced over the weekend including 48 in Victoria.

The Labor government is standing by the modelling it took to the May federal election promising to slash electricity bills by $275 a year.

President Joe Biden has fallen while trying to get off his bike at the end of a ride at Cape Henlopen State Park near his beach home in Delaware, but was not hurt in the tumble.

Efforts to increase women's safety in public places and combat workplace harassment will both receive a major boost in next week's NSW budget.

Anthony Albanese has signed off on an extra $760 million to help the states and territories deal with COVID-19.

Cameron Smith has missed the cut as Marc Leishman hung tough to stay in touch during another rough and tumble round at the US Open in Massachusetts.