Key Points
- Anthony Albanese pushes Australia as COP31 host in address to UN
- Victorian crimes surge 16 per cent in 12 months
- FIFA considers extending to 64 countries as it prepares for World Cup milestone
TRANSCRIPT
Anthony Albanese has addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York, using the occasion to push Australia's case to host the COP31 climate summit in 2026, and establish its credentials as a middle power.
He has appealed for greater international co-operation in the speech, telling the gathering Australia is committed to peace as a common cause and regional responsibility.
The PM's appeal comes at a time when the US under President Donald Trump is increasingly vacating its space as global leader and the rules-based order is threatened by growth of authoritarianism and regional conflict.
Mr Albanese says that is why it supports the ethos of the United Nations.
"If the United Nations steps back, we all lose ground... If we allow any nation to imagine itself outside the rules, or above them, then the sovereignty of every nation is eroded... We all have a part to play, and Australia - just as we always have - will always play our part."
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is due to meet his Turkish counterpart on the last day of the United Nations General Assembly, to resolve an impasse over the hosting of the COP31 climate conference.
Australia has made no secret of its desire to to host next year's COP31 event in conjunction with Pacific nations, which are bearing the brunt of rising sea levels and more frequent storms as global temperatures rise.
But Turkiye has so far refused to drop its own hosting bid.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has told Sky News hosting the conference would help Australia start to fill the vacuum being left by the United States.
"It is even more important now that Australia works with other democracies around the world like the UK, like Europe, those in our region that we can work with. Because it's clear that under ((Donald)) Trump the United States has gone absolute batshit crazy."
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Victoria is grappling with a record-high crime wave, driven by a huge jump in theft.
The latest quarterly figures from the Crime Statistics Agency show the number of criminal offences in Victoria have surged almost 16 percent in the 12 months to the end of June 2025.
Four of the five fastest-growing offences involve theft, including the stealing of motor vehicles, which has increased by just over 42 percent, the highest level since 2002.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Bob Hill says it's the second time in a row that the quarterly data has revealed a record number of criminal incidents.
"As a society, we simply cannot allow the level of crime we are seeing to become normalised and accepted."
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Authorities have raided the home of a man suspected of killing two immigration detainees in the U-S city of Dallas, before taking his own life.
Neighbours have reported seeing FBI officials going through the home in suburban Dallas after the man opened fire with a rifle from a nearby roof, striking the detainees in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement location.
Authorities say the exact motivation of the attack remains unknown, though Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz has blamed those critical of ICE operations, accusing them of inciting political violence.
The suspect's neighbour, Sheri Gates, says no-one can believe this has happened so close to home.
"I mean, I consider myself informed and I vote, and you participate in the community and stuff, but I had no idea that something like this could happen this close to where I live."
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Experts in dementia care and research, say the approval of a new Alzheimers drug for patients in Australia is a long overdue step in treating cognitive decline in older patients.
They say medications like Leqembi, could offer some relief by by targeting plaques that build up in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease.
But concerns remain about its accessibility, largely because it is not yet listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the unsubsidised cost is estimated to be $40,000 a year.
Geriatrician and Alzheimer’s expert, Associate Professor Michael Woodward, says there is merit in pursuing affordable options for dementia care.
"There are about half a million Australians affected by dementia and probably as many as a million affected by mild cognitive impairment. These have a huge impact on quality of life, on the health budget. We need to do something to try reduce the number of people developing these conditions, and reduce the progression from normal cognition to mild cognitive impairment to dementia. We need better treatments to achieve that."
To date, 49 other countries apart from Australia - including the United States and the 27 member countries of the European Union - have registered LEQEMBI, with it currently under regulatory review in a further eight countries.
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To sport, FIFA is considering the possibility of increasing the number of countries to mark the 100th anniversary of the World Cup.
The World Cup will feature 48 teams next year, to be played across three continents and in six countries.
But the football world body is weighing a proposal for an even bigger expansion, to 64 countries, for the 100th anniversary of the global spectacle in 2030.
The New York Times says the Uruguayan Football Association first presented the 64-team plan in March.
