Healthy, safe and getting along with each other: Australia attempts to look beyond GDP to measure what matters

Too often economists reduce important issues, like prosperity, to a narrow set of indicators such as gross domestic product to measure national progress.Anything that boosts GDP is good, right?Well, no, of course not. Growing the size of the economy while wrecking the environment or making people miserable is no step forward.So a number of countries around the world – including the UK, Canada and New Zealand – have introduced alternative ways to measure wellbeing that goes “beyond GDP”.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailTreasury, under the direction of Jim Chalmers, established the “Measuring What Matters” framework in 2023 to track our progress towards “a more healthy, secure, sustainable, cohesive and prosperous Australia”

Trump official confirmed to Fed board but court rejects Lisa Cook removal bid

Senate Republicans voted on Monday to confirm a senior Trump official to the Federal Reserve’s board of governors as the White House raced to strengthen the US president’s control over the central bank ahead of its latest meeting.Hours before Fed policymakers convene for their September decision on interest rates, the Senate voted 48 to 27 to confirm Stephen Miran – already chair of Donald Trump’s council of economic advisers – as a governor.The vote concluded just as a US appeals court declined the Trump administration’s request to fire Lisa Cook, a governor appointed by Joe Biden, before the two-day policy meeting begins on Tuesday. The ruling from the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit means that Cook may remain in her position during the policy meeting where the Fed is expected to cut interest rates.Miran’s appointment marks the first time in the history of the modern Federal Reserve, which stretches back almost a century, that a sitting member of the executive branch would also work at the highest levels of the central bank

What did Elon Musk say at far-right UK rally and did his remarks break the law?

Downing Street has condemned Elon Musk for using “dangerous and inflammatory” language at the nationalist protest organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson on Saturday. But will – or should – the X owner face any consequences?While he called for a “dissolution of parliament” and a “change of government”, the comments that attracted particular scrutiny were when he told the crowd: “This is a message to the reasonable centre, the people who ordinarily wouldn’t get involved in politics, who just want to live their lives. They don’t want that, they’re quiet, they just go about their business.“My message is to them: if this continues, that violence is going to come to you, you will have no choice. You’re in a fundamental situation here

US and China reach deal to transfer TikTok ownership, trade officials say

Jamieson Greer, a US trade representative, said on Monday that Washington and Beijing have struck a framework agreement on transferring TikTok to US-controlled ownership.Speaking after emerging from negotiations with Chinese officials, Scott Bessent said the deal was coming but declined to reveal the commercial terms.“We have a framework for a TikTok deal,” the treasury secretary told reporters after coming out of high-level talks in Madrid. “We’re not going to talk about the commercial terms of the deal. It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon

Italian skier Matteo Franzoso dies at the age of 25 after training crash in Chile

The Italian skier Matteo Franzoso has died at the age of 25 following a crash during pre-season training in Chile at the weekend, his country’s winter sports federation (FISI) has confirmed.After suffering “a major head trauma” in the accident at the La Parva track on Saturday, Franzoso was taken by helicopter to the intensive care unit of a clinic in Santiago and placed in an induced coma. The FISI confirmed on Monday that he did not recover after “cranial trauma” and a subsequent swelling of his brain.“It is a tragedy for the family and for our sport,” the FISI president Flavio Roda said in a statement on Monday. “It is absolutely necessary to do everything possible to ensure that such episodes do not happen again

Surrey restrict Notts batters as weather hits schedule: county cricket – as it happened

Autumn unpacked her suitcase as eight Championship games were called off without a ball bowled due to rain and hazardous high winds. It was only in a small pocket of south London that play was possible, a full day’s worth in the big title battle at The Oval.Division One leaders Surrey, who had a one-point lead over second-placed Nottinghamshire coming into the game, sent their East Midlands visitors in and had bowled them out after tea. It was a disciplined and, at times, fierce display of bowling led by Matt Fisher (five for 61) and Gus Atkinson (four for 41).Atkinson, who is almost sure to play his first Ashes series this winter, was particularly slippy