Oz Lotto jackpot surges to record prize, Aussies warned about DeepSeek, manhunt as prisoner escapes

Several big companies including Coles and Woolworths are looking to scrap penalty rates for some workers while trimming break times, the Australian Financial Review reports.

The supermarket giants support an application from the Australian Retailers Association to bring in several changes it says will benefit workers, however the ACTU says a drop in basic conditions like this was "outrageous".

One change would see salaried managers forfeit penalty rates for a higher salary overall, while the minimum time between shifts would drop from 12 hours to 10. Staff on six-hour shifts would also be allowed to give up their break if they desired.

Victoria Premier Jacinta Allen slammed the plan, calling it "corporate greed".

"It's hard to believe that in a cost of living crisis, our biggest retailers would even consider cutting people's wages and conditions. It's even harder when you consider the record profits that corporations have made over the past twelve months," she said on X.

If you're a retail worker likely impacted by these proposals, get in touch with us with your views. You can reach us at yahoo.finance.au@yahooinc.com

Westpac has joined Commonwealth and ANZ in predicting the RBA will cut interest rates in February.

NAB is now the only bank which predicts a first cut from May, with a cut looking increasingly likely following today’s “better-than-expected” inflation data.

Read more about the big banks and their thoughts here.

Experts say small marble-sized balls that temporarily closed several beaches on Sydney's Northern Beaches were largely made up of soap scum and cosmetics that had likely been washed down the drain.

University of NSW chemistry professor Jon Beeves told the ABC the balls are different to the ones found on beaches in the Eastern Suburbs last year, which were larger and darker in colour and made up of lumps of human faeces, drugs, and PFAS “forever” chemicals.

Read more here.

A council in New Zealand says it's having to shell out thousands of dollars to fix road name signs after a mystery person was altering them to include crude words.

Napier City Council says it has replaced 30 street name blades with no sign of the problem coming to an end. Council has reported the damage to police in the hope they can catch the person responsible.

“Whoever was responsible might think it’s a practical joke, but it’s at the expense of the community," one local told the New Zealand Herald after council spent more than A$5,000 on replacement signs.

Aussie mortgage holders could get a rate cut as soon as February after fresh figures show inflation is falling faster than anticipated.

The latest underlying inflation print from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Wednesday came in at 0.5 per cent for the December quarter.

The yearly trimmed mean inflation rate fell to 3.2 per cent, down from 3.5 per cent in the September quarter.

This beats the Reserve Bank’s forecast for Australia’s trimmed mean inflation to come in at 3.4 per cent for the 12 months until December and 0.7 per cent for the final quarter of the year.

Read more from NCA NewsWire here.

The idea of a statue of Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park has certainly triggered plenty of debate.

So is the 10-time Australian Open champion deserving of a statue to honour his achievements? The Serbian has made plenty of headlines in recent years in Australia and some argue this complicates matters, while others say statues should be reserved for Australians.

So what do you think? Have your say below.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's actually a 4.5-metre crocodile soaring above Darwin's CBD.

These remarkable pictures were captured by Crocosaurus Cove on Tuesday as it welcomed Bullo to the family.

Bullo has been brought in after a spell of bad behaviour around Bullo River Station where he's been stalking fishing and tour boats.

"He’ll call Crocosaurus Cove home as we gradually habituate him to his new life," the facility said of his new CBD location.

Cabinet minister Amanda Rishworth has joined the Labor chorus hinting the government believes now is the time for a rate cut from the RBA.

Social Services Minister Rishworth hailed the government's efforts to drive inflation down, saying Labor had given "the best possible conditions for the Reserve Bank to make its decision" during an appearance on ABC News Breakfast this morning.

It followed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's comments yesterday where he said there wasn't anything else they could do to encourage positive news for millions of homeowners.

“What I would say is this that we have done all we can as a government to create better conditions for monetary policy to work together with what the government has done,” he told Sky News.

Labor has stressed the RBA is independent and not swayed by the government, however scrutiny of Labor's cost-of-living moves will undoubtedly occur if the RBA fails to slash rate cuts ahead of the federal election.

Scores of passengers were seen escaping a plane moments before it was engulfed in flames on the tarmac of Gimhae International Airport in South Korea's Busan.

All 169 passengers and seven crew members were able to leave the plane, with three having minor injuries, fire officials said.

The fire service was alerted to the fire which began inside the plane just before 10.30pm, it said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said it began in the plane's tail.

Footage aired by local broadcaster YTN shows evacuation slides deployed on both sides of the single-aisle plane, with emergency workers tackling smoke and flames from the jet.

- With Reuters

A manhunt is underway after a prisoner escaped a NSW facility this morning.

NSW Police say David Johnson, 44, escaped South Coast Correctional Centre at about 7.45am and was last seen in South Nowra.

"Anyone who sees Johnson is urged not to approach him but to contact Triple-0 immediately," police said.

Federal Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic has issued a warning against downloading Chinese-funded AI app DeepSeek, which created a near $1 trillion hit on US tech stocks on Monday.

The disruptive company has up-ended the tech sector through the release of its R1 AI assistant which rivals ChatGPT and Open AI albeit developed at a fraction of the cost.

US President Donald Trump said the rise of DeepSeek should be a “wake up call” to US tech giants, with China catching up to the US in the AI arms race.

Speaking to ABC, Mr Husic said DeepSeek’s advancements in the field was evidence of China’s “determination in this space”.

He also said there were a lot of questions around the app’s quality of information, and data and privacy management.

“China has been determined since the last decade to be a world leader in artificial intelligence,” he said.

“It doesn’t come as a surprise that they would try to develop a workaround to some of the restrictions that have been placed on them.”

Asked if he would download the app, he urged caution.

“I would be very careful about that,” he said.

“I don’t have TikTok on my government phone. I think these types of issues have got to be weighed up carefully.”

Read more from NCA NewsWire here.

Three 14-year-old boys have been charged in NSW after a motorcyclist died in a collision on Tued.

NSW Police allege a ute was stolen near Gunnedah before a police pursuit ensued. The ute then allegedly collided with a motorcycle, with the rider dying at the scene.

Police allege the three boys left the vehicle following a second pursuit and fled on foot. Police later located the three boys a short time later.

They have received multiple charges each, with one of the teens allegedly behind the wheel and charged with dangerous driving occasioning death.

All three were refused bail and are due to appear in a children's court today.

The Oz Lotto jackpot has reached a record $100 million for only the second time in the game's 31-year history.

That's because no entry in Tuesday night's draw claimed the $70 million division one prize on offer and will now rise to a joint-record amount of $100 million, 13 years after it first reached the mammoth amount.

“We can’t wait to see if we make history next Tuesday night and welcome our first Oz Lotto multi-millionaire of 2025," The Lott spokesperson Eliza Wregg said.