China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang has not been seen in public for three weeks, an unusually long absence during a busy period of diplomatic activity in Beijing, sparking intense speculation in a country known for its political opaqueness.

Qin, 57, a career diplomat and trusted aide of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, was promoted to foreign minister in December, after a brief stint as ambassador to the United States.

As foreign minister, Qin has delivered searing rebukes of Washington after relations plunged to a new low in the aftermath of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the US.

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He has also played a key role in subsequent efforts by both sides to stabilise rocky ties and restore communication, including meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to Beijing in mid-June.

But the high-profile diplomat has not been seen in public since June 25, after he met with officials from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Russia in Beijing.

In his last public appearance, a smiling Qin was seen walking side by side with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, who flew to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials after a short-lived insurrection by the Wagner mercenary group in Russia.

"Given China's status and influence in the world, it's indeed very strange that its foreign minister has not appeared in public for more than 20 days," Deng Yuwen, a former editor of a Communist Party newspaper who now lives in the US, said.

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When asked about Qin's prolonged absence at a press briefing Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said she had "no information to provide," adding that China's diplomatic activities are being carried out as usual.

Qin's absence was made all the more conspicuous by the flurry of diplomatic activity in the Chinese capital in recent weeks, including high-profile visits by senior US officials Janet Yellen and John Kerry.

Qin was supposed to meet European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell earlier this month in Beijing but the meeting was pushed back after China informed the EU that the dates were "no longer possible," Reuters reported, citing an EU spokesperson.

The EU was informed of the postponement just two days before Borrell's scheduled arrival on July 5, according to Reuters.

Qin also failed to show up at an annual foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia last week. Instead, China's top diplomat Wang Yi attended the gathering in his place.

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A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry told a regular news briefing last Tuesday that Qin could not attend the ASEAN meeting "because of health reasons," according to Reuters.

But that response was missing from the briefing's official transcript posted later on the ministry's website.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry often leaves out content it deems sensitive from the transcripts of its regular briefings.

The brief health reason cited by authorities, however, has failed to quell a groundswell of largely unsubstantiated speculation as to why Qin has not been seen.

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These rumours are driven by a lack of transparency in the Chinese political system, in which information is closely guarded and important decisions are mostly made behind closed doors, said Deng, the US-based analyst.

Under Xi, this political opacity has only intensified, as he cracks down on dissent and concentrates power in his own hands.

"This is a problem for totalitarian regimes. Totalitarian regimes are inherently unstable because everything is decided by the supreme leader alone," he said.

"If anything unusual happened to a senior official, people will wonder if their relations with the top leader have soured or whether it is a sign of political instability," Deng said.

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Senior Chinese officials have disappeared from public view in the past, only to be revealed months later by the ruling Communist Party's disciplinary watchdog that they've been detained for investigations.

Such sudden disappearances have become a common feature in Xi's anti-corruption campaign.

Adding to the sensitivity of Qin's absence is his perceived close ties to Xi, who secured a norm-breaking third term in power last autumn with a new leadership team stacked with loyal allies, according to Deng.

"Qin Gang was single-handedly pulled up the ranks by Xi. Any problems with him will reflect badly on Xi too – implying that Xi failed to choose the right person for the job," Deng said.

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Tribunal orders landlord to pay the tenant more than $11,000 in damages.

Footage obtained exclusively by 9News shows a pack of dingoes believed to be those which attacked a 24-year-old woman while jogging on K'gari in Queensland.

The animals, including one with a tracking tag on a collar, can be seen running on a beach on the island, tracked by rangers.

A fisherman who saw what happened identified the pack, which he said continued to attack after the woman ran into the water.

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"She ended up running in the surf and they started mauling her in the surf," he said.

The woman suffered 30 cuts to her torso, arms and legs.

She is stable at Hervey Bay Hospital after being flown to the mainland.

Two men who were driving by punched the dingoes to get them off the woman.

Meanwhile, more dingoes – also known as wongari – could be culled on the island after the attack.

Queensland Environment Minister Leanne Linard said she's travelling to the island, formerly known as Fraser Island, tomorrow to speak to rangers and traditional owners.

"That's obviously a consideration that will be made, it is a significant step to euthanise a dingo," Linard said.

She said officials are "continuing to investigate" what happened and have identified one of the dingoes as being involved in a previous interaction.

Linard said she will be talking about management of the 200 dingoes on the island to see if current measures are adequate.

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Tracking collars have been used on dingoes on K'gari since 2011 to allow rangers to track their movements and monitor behaviour.

A dingo was culled last month after an incident, the first since 2019, Linard said.

"We want to reduce the number of negative interactions," she said.

"I know people love to see dingoes when they go to the island, but there can be negative interactions if precautions are not taken.

"They may look cute, they may look like dogs but they are not, they are wild animals."

Linard said the state government made a $3 million investment in fencing of townships and campsites as well as increasing penalties for inappropriate interactions with dingoes after a review.

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Earlier, the ranger in charge of the island, Dr Linda Behrendorff, an investigation would hope to uncover the animals responsible.

"You can't just take out or cull a whole group of dingoes and hope that you get the right one," she told Today.

She said ranger presence has been increased but said people need to "understand the risk that's involved".

"We do everything that we can in order to get those messages out, understand the risk when you come to a place like K'gari," Behrendorff said.

"It's not about assigning blame, it's about trying to understand the links in the chain that cause the perfect storm."

Watch the full story on 9news at 6pm.

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The welcome relief of July's interest rates pause may be short-lived, even though the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) admitted the current cash rate is clearly throttling household finances.

Minutes from the RBA this month's cash rate meeting reveal in unusually frank terms for the central bank that board members have acknowledged just how impactful the string of rates increases have been.

"Monetary policy had been tightened considerably and rapidly over the prior year and the stance of monetary policy was clearly restrictive at the prevailing cash rate," the minutes read.

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The meeting also heard that the cost of mortgage repayments has reached historical highs – and is set to get even worse in the coming months.

"Scheduled mortgage payments had increased to around a historical peak of 9.4 per cent of household disposable income in May," the minutes state.

"Scheduled payments would continue to increase (even if there were no further increases in the cash rate) as borrowers with fixed-rate loans rolled off onto higher variable rates and earlier increases in lending rates flowed through."

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Even so, the board was already weighing up the need for another increase when it kept rates on hold at 4.1 per cent earlier this month.

"Members agreed that some further tightening of monetary policy may be required to bring inflation back to target within a reasonable timeframe, but that this depended on how the economy and inflation evolve," the minutes read.

"At the August meeting, the Board would have the benefit of additional data on inflation, the global economy, the labour market and household spending, as well as an updated set of staff forecasts and a revised assessment of the risks.

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"Members reaffirmed their determination to return inflation to target within a reasonable timeframe and their willingness to do what is necessary to achieve that outcome."

In their July meeting, the board noted the market is bracing for another two rates rises by the end of the year.

"The market was pricing in two 25 basis point increases in the cash rate over the remainder of 2023, an expectation shared by around half of market economists," the minutes say.

In discussing the persistently expensive cost of food in Australia, the RBA is expecting issues caused by high rainfall and flooding to be compounded by incoming hot and dry conditions. 

"Food inflation remained high; while the 2022 flood-related effects on fresh food had unwound, the reversion in global food prices was yet to be seen in domestic prices," the minutes say.

"Furthermore, the increased likelihood of an El Niño event in 2023/24 and an associated downgrade for agricultural production could put upward pressure on some food prices over the coming year."

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Western Australia Police will treat the mystery object that washed ashore at Green Head yesterday as space debris until investigators are able to determine otherwise.

Officers confirmed this afternoon that the bizarre-looking object has been declared a piece of space junk, while national agencies, including the Australian Space Agency (ASA), continue working to identify its origin.

"At this time, it is believed the item is space debris and will be managed as such until it can be determined otherwise," WA Police said in a statement.

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As investigations continue, many have voiced their theories about where the piece of debris originated. 

Many hypothesised that it may have been a piece of the doomed MH370 flight, which vanished a decade ago, though experts have since poured cold water on the idea.

"High-level" discussions are underway between various state and federal agencies, piecing together a plan to remove the debris from Green Head, about three hours north of Perth.

WA Premier Roger Cook even went as far as suggesting that the piece could end up in a museum in Perth once it's formally identified.

Though for the time being, it is still under police guard, with authorities urging the public to refrain from drawing conclusions until the investigation is completed.

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Police earlier labelled the object as "hazardous" as they worked to identify if there was a risk to the community.

After analysis of the object by the Department of Fire and Emergency Service's chemistry centre it was determined safe.

Police said the object didn't originate from a commercial aircraft and have asked the public to avoid the location.

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Australia's long-range forecast remains full of hot, dry weather, but the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has once again held off on following in the footsteps of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) by declaring an El Niño.

In its latest climate driver update, the national weather bureau said that, while some of the criteria had been met for the climate phenomenon to be declared, the atmospheric conditions have not yet developed, leaving the ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) outlook at El Niño alert.

"Sustained changes in wind, cloud and broad-scale pressure patterns towards El Niño-like patterns have not yet been observed," the BoM said.

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"This means the Pacific Ocean and atmosphere have yet to become fully coupled, as occurs during El Niño events."

Sea surface temperatures, meanwhile, remain above El Niño thresholds and are set to increase further.

While the likes of the WMO and the US's National Weather Service have both declared an El Niño, the BoM uses different criteria.

"The reason that forecasting agencies have discrepancies in announcing ENSO events is that there are a number of different metrics they monitor – from subsurface water temperatures to cloud cover in the western Pacific Ocean," Associate Professor Andrea Taschetto, a climate scientist from UNSW Science's Climate Change Research Centre, said.

"The Bureau of Meteorology hasn't declared an El Niño yet because one of the metrics, which is the difference in atmospheric pressure between Tahiti and Darwin, is still not behaving in the way that we'd expect a classic El Niño to.

"This pressure difference, which is linked to the weakening of the trade winds, is a key metric for measuring an El Niño, and the trend needs to persist for weeks before we can be sure an El Niño is happening."

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The BoM said while it hasn't yet declared an El Niño, there is still a 70 per cent chance of one developing, adding that Australia is set for unseasonably hot and dry weather in the coming months regardless.

"The current status of the ENSO Outlook does not change the long-range forecast of warmer and drier conditions across much of Australia for August to October," it said.

"The bureau's climate model takes into account all influences from the oceans and atmosphere when generating its long-range forecasts.

"The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is currently neutral. All models suggest a positive IOD is likely to develop in late winter or early spring.

"A positive IOD typically decreases winter-spring rainfall for much of Australia."

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After being allowed out on bail without restrictions, a police officer accused of tasering a 95-year-old grandmother has had some small conditions imposed.

Senior Constable Kristian White was charged over the tasering of Clare Nowland at Yallambee Lodge aged care home in Cooma in May

Nowland, who was diagnosed with dementia, later died from injuries sustained in the incident.

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The officer was served with a future court attendance notice and no bail conditions were imposed.

After an application by crown prosecutors to bring in some limited bail requirements was rejected at Cooma Local Court earlier this month, the matter came before the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday.

With White watching on by video link, Justice Robert Beech-Jones approved three limited bail conditions.

He is now required to be on good behaviour, attend court as ordered, and is barred from contacting Nowland's family or prosecution witnesses except through a lawyer.

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The conditions requested by the Crown were not opposed by White or his legal team.

The senior constable has been charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.

A plea has not been entered on any of the charges.

The matter will return to Cooma Local Court on September 6.

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The global Commonwealth Games Federation and Commonwealth Games Australia have slammed the Victorian government's decision to pull out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games

Premier Daniel Andrews announced the move this morning, saying the cost of hosting had blown out by billions since the government last year made its bid to host the games as a "predominantly regional" event.

The organisations say the forecast costs cited by the government are "a gross exaggeration", they were not consulted about the shock decision and were only given hours' notice.

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Andrews this morning said circumstances had changed since his government had stepped in to host the Games in April last year.

"Last year when the Commonwealth Games Authorities approached us, needed someone to step in to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, as a state we were happy to help out," Andrews said.

"But, of course, not at any price and only if there was lasting benefit.

"What's become clear is that the cost of hosting these Games in 2026 is not the $2.6 billion which was budgeted. It is, in fact, at least $6 billion and could be as high as $7 billion.

"Six to seven billion is well and truly too much for a 12-day sporting event.

"I will not take money out of hospitals and schools in order to fund an event that is three times the cost as estimated and budgeted for last year."

Andrews added he has no "confidence" that even $7 billion would appropriately fund the Games.

"I think it could be more than that," he said.

But the Commonwealth Games Federation said $6 billion was "50 per cent more than those advised to the Organising Committee board at its meeting in June".

A statement from the federation has further said the government had increased costs of the plans against its advice.

"Since awarding Victoria the Games, the Government has made decisions to include more sports and an additional regional hub, and changed plans for venues, all of which have added considerable expense, often against the advice of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA)."

The federation has said it was only given eight hours' notice of the decision and until then had been advised the government had the funds to host the games.

Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips said his organisation also had not been consulted about the "gross exaggeration" of costs revealed by the government today, claiming he only learned of the decision at 8am.

"Beyond this, the Victorian Government wilfully ignored recommendations to move events to purpose-built stadia in Melbourne and in fact remained wedded to proceeding with expensive temporary venues in regional Victoria," he told media.

Phillips said the government "had jeopardised Melbourne and Victoria's standing as a sporting capital of the world" as well as disappointing "athletes, the excited host communities, First Nations Australians who were at the heart of the Games, and the millions of fans that would have embraced a sixth home Games in Australia".

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The premier earlier said discussions with authorities had been amicable and are still ongoing. 

"We have had discussions last night and those discussions are not over, they have been amicable, they have been particularly productive and they will continue," he said. 

"It is fair to say, a multi-city Commonwealth Games that had never been delivered before and they were estimates that were made and those estimates are clearly well and truly under the actual cost."

Andrews said the $2 billion set aside for the Commonwealth Games will go instead towards a regional package.

"There are a number of features to that. First and foremost, each and every one of the permanent sporting facilities that were to be legacy benefits from the Games will be built," he said.

"There is a very substantial regional tourism fund. There'll be a substantial package of support for community-based sport and perhaps most importantly there will be a $1 billion boost for social and affordable housing right across regional Victoria."

Andrews had previously announced in April last year Victoria would host the event, saying his government was offering a real "point of difference" for the event, which would be a "predominantly regional Victoria event".

"Our vision for these games will be like no other and they be will great for regional Victoria," he said.

"We want to have as much of this in regional Victoria as we possibly can."

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto and Nationals leader Peter Walsh also criticised the decision.

Pesutto labelled the move as "hugely damaging" and said the decision was "a betrayal of regional Victoria".

"Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan have humiliated Victorians," he said.

"Victoria has been a proud champion of major events and global events in our state.

"We have always been able to rely on that, but today in an abrupt cancellation with virtually no consultation with anybody, Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan have done untold damage to our reputation."

"People will think twice before hosting events in Victorians."

The Commonwealth Games were going to be held from March 17-29, 2026, with Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton all playing a role in hosting.

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