A gathering of high-profile ex-diplomats agonisedover what it means to be independent.

Nicholas Crosby threw first punch but Crown alleges two accused men kept going.

There’s still a chance the three parties won’t reach an agreement, according to Peters.

US juice and smoothie chain Jamba will soon open up in Australia, with locations set for Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast.

The first Australian Jamba store will open at Melbourne Central this month, with a plan to expand to the Sunshine Coast and then to other metropolitan and regional areas across Australia.

The brand focuses on selling products with natural ingredients, no added sugars and preservatives.

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"Jamba is committed to bringing real, high-quality ingredients and delicious choices, for health-conscious, Aussies," Newford QSR Group Managing Director Danny Cheung said.

Jamba, previously known as Jamba Juice, has expanded its menu to smoothies, bowls, and sandwiches.

The brand is known for its blended fruit and vegetable juices and first opened in 1990 in San Luis Obispo, California.

The brand has nearly 800 locations, predominantly in the US but also in the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand.

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The company decided to expand into the Australian market to tap into the uptick of health-conscious Australians.

Over the next five years, the company will open Jamba in Queensland and Victoria, before looking to expand to NSW in late 2025.

"We want Jamba to become a staple product," Cheung said.

"We have many exciting campaigns and partnerships lined up to turn a product that took America by storm into Australian households."

A senior police officer expressed frustration with St Johns’ response time.

It’s alleged four cars travelling in convoy began racing and overtaking each other.

Two men have been charged with attempted murder and several other offences after a string of alleged violent offences over three weeks in Queensland.

It is alleged an 18-year-old man and a 19-year-old man broke into a home in Rockville in the Toowoomba region on October 18 and became involved in an altercation with another man inside the house.

Police have alleged the 68-year-old man was struck with a tomahawk and was seriously injured before the 18-year-old and 19-year-old left the scene.

READ MORE: Daylesford mourns as all victims of pub crash named

Meanwhile, on November 6, a man was sitting in his car on Goombungee Road in Harlaxton when a 19-year-old man opened his car before he allegedly threatened him and hit him with the blunt end of the knife.

Police said the man drove away with minor injuries.

Minutes later, a man and woman were changing a tyre on a vehicle which was also parked on Goombungee Road in Harlaxton when an allegedly stolen Hyundai Veloster pulled up beside them.

Police said two men got out of the car and allegedly threatened the pair with a meat cleaver, a knife and an axe while demanding they hand over the keys to the car but the pair refused.

Both alleged offenders then left in a car they arrived in, which was allegedly stolen from a home on Grenier Street in Toowoomba, the day before on November 5.

The car was later found abandoned at nearby Griffith Street.

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Police arrested an 18-year-old man at a home in Harlaxton soon afterwards.

About 12.30pm, a 19-year-old man allegedly stole items from a home on Hill Street in Toowoomba City, during which time a 46-year-old man in the home was allegedly assaulted with a piece of timber.

The offender fled and further enquiries by officers located the 19-year-old man at an address in Wilsonton.

Police found the 19-year-old man at a home in Wilsonton later in the afternoon.

An 18-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder, attempting to enter a premises and commit an indictable offence and entering a dwelling with intent.

A 19-year-old man has been charged with nine offences, including attempted murder, attempted robbery armed in company, attempting to enter a premises and commit an indictable offence and receiving tainted property.

Both men are expected to appear before Toowoomba Magistrates Court today.

Woolworths has announced it will cut the price of lamb products over coming weeks in what it says is a pre-Christmas present amid the cost of living crisis.

The supermarket giant has confirmed the cost of 26 lamb cuts will be reduced by 20 per cent from tomorrow until December 27, 2023.

Woolworths said the move was part of its Prices Dropped for Christmas program to give "more Christmas savings to help customers spend less this festive season".

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It is expected the price of a kilogram of leg of lamb will drop from $10 per kilogram to $8 per kilogram.

The move comes amid a crisis facing Australian livestock farmers impacted by an oversupply, falling prices and concerns about a forecast dry summer.

Despite a drop in prices at the sale yards for farmers, retailers have been slow to pass on reductions to consumers.

Industry data released last month showed lamb bought on the farm has collapsed 50 per cent in the last year, with lamb bought at the shop down less than 10 per cent.

But those processing, transporting and selling the meat told 9News their costs have also surged.

READ MORE: Daylesford mourns as all victims of pub crash named

Victorian farmer Scott Young said he had never seen "prices fall so quickly".

He was getting $4.70 a kilo for the lamb he produces, a price crash resulting from mass selling ahead of a forecast hot and dry summer.

The Australian Meat Industry Council said the problem was due to labour shortages in the supply chain.

Woolworths expects to sell 1.7 million kilograms of lamb leg roast this Christmas season.



As mortgage holders brace for a Melbourne Cup Day interest rate hike this afternoon, Mark Bouris has warned such a rise could lead Australia into a recession.

The Reserve Bank will hand down their decision on whether interest rates will rise at 2.30pm today.

Most economists have tipped the central bank to lift the cash rate by 25 basis points, from 4.1 per cent to 4.35 per cent.

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https://omny.fm/shows/ben-fordham-full-show/recession-mark-bouris-warns-against-rba-rate-rise/embed

While all signs lead to a rate rise, Bouris warned 2GB's Ben Fordham that it wasn't the question of "will they? but should they?".

"If they do, this will be the interest rate that stops the nation," the Yellow Brick Road founder told Fordham.

"Because I actually think if they actually do this, we might find ourselves falling into a recession," Bouris said.

"I'm one of the few people that's saying the Reserve Bank does not need to put the rates up.

"We seem to be willing ourselves to put the rates up, I don't what it is it's like a hysteria.

"If you look at the data, the data indicates that there will not be an interest rate rise today, on Melbourne Cup Day."

Bouris believed Governor Bullock should hold off on the rate rise, as businesses increase borrowing in the lead-up to the busy Christmas period.

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"All these business owners have mortgages, most of them have lines of credit to run their business, overdrafts," he said.

"Right now for example they're all stocking up for Christmas, so they all go out and borrow money and they're borrowing money at a higher interest rate that they've ever seen in the last 10 years."

Bouris said that those particular business owners were struggling and would likely look to cut costs.

"They're the sort of people that will say 'you know what next year in 2024' we can't afford to have as many staff," he said.

"When they start cutting back on the costs, one of the biggest ones is staff, they put people off, all of a sudden the unemployment number starts to increase."

However, he dampened concerns when Fordham asked him whether he believed Australians would see a rate rise today.

"I don't think they will. No," he replied.

Police have arrested two protesters after they attacked a famous Diego Velázquez painting at the National Gallery in London, smashing the glass with hammers.

The pair, from the climate activist group, Just Stop Oil, repeatedly hit and broke the glass on the Rokeby Venus painting with safety hammers before they were arrested.

Rokeby Venus, painted by Velázquez in the 1600s, was slashed by the suffragette Mary Richardson in 1914.

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One of the protesters who launched the attack said: "Women did not get the vote by voting; it is time for deeds, not words".

The group has made multiple attacks on some of the world's most fabled artworks as it tries to drive home its goal of stopping the use of fossil fuels.

Protesters threw tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers, glued themselves to a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper and did the same to Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.

The group has disrupted several major sporting events, including golf's Open Championship, Wimbledon, the Ashes and World Snooker Championship

A performance of the musical Les Misérables was also targeted, with activists clambering onto the stage, carrying Just Stop Oil banners.

The Velázquez has been removed from display so it can be examined by staff.