Did you buy a coffee machine with a tax refund? Such purchases may have affected Australian interest rates

One of the first things many Australians did last year after receiving a tax refund or a lower mortgage rate was to buy an armchair, an air fryer or a coffee machine.The purchases, evident in company earnings published this week, came after households had endured years of high living costs – and consumption had been weak up until that point.And policymakers didn’t think homeowners or renters had the spare capacity.This pickup in demand – along with rising prices – for such goods turned out to be an important factor in the Reserve Bank’s decision to raise interest rates, because it was concerned inflation was broadening.“The things that are driving the uptick in inflation really are housing, durable goods and market services,” Michele Bullock, the RBA’s governor, said last week

Reeves appoints higher pay advocate to fight skills shortages as chief economic adviser

Rachel Reeves has appointed a labour market expert who has repeatedly called for better pay and conditions in key sectors, such as social care, to reduce the UK’s reliance on migrant workers as her new chief economic adviser.Prof Brian Bell, who chairs the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which advises the government, has been announced as the new chief economic adviser in the Treasury – a senior civil service role.He will take up the post just as the UK economy is adjusting to a plunge in net migration, which fell by more than two-thirds, to 204,000, in the year to June 2025.Some economists have predicted a further decline, towards zero net migration – but Bell rejects that forecast, expecting it to bounce back towards 300,000 a year by the end of the decade.A professor of economics at King’s College London, Bell has used his role on the MAC to make the point that the “skills shortages” bemoaned by UK employers may often reflect the failure to offer good enough terms and conditions to domestic workers

The problem with doorbell cams: Nancy Guthrie case and Ring Super Bowl ad reawaken surveillance fears

What happens to the data that smart home cameras collect? Can law enforcement access this information – even when users aren’t aware officers may be viewing their footage? Two recent events have put these concerns in the spotlight.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.A Super Bowl ad by the doorbell-camera company Ring and the FBI’s pursuit of the kidnapper of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, have resurfaced longstanding concerns about surveillance against a backdrop of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown

US military used Anthropic’s AI model Claude in Venezuela raid, report says

Claude, the AI model developed by Anthropic, was used by the US military during its operation to kidnap Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela, the Wall Street Journal revealed on Saturday, a high-profile example of how the US defence department is using artificial intelligence in its operations.The US raid on Venezuela involved bombing across the capital, Caracas, and the killing of 83 people, according to Venezuela’s defence ministry. Anthropic’s terms of use prohibit the use of Claude for violent ends, for the development of weapons or for conducting surveillance.Anthropic was the first AI developer known to be used in a classified operation by the US department of defence. It was unclear how the tool, which has capabilities ranging from processing PDFs to piloting autonomous drones, was deployed

Winter Olympics 2026: ski jumping, skeleton, freestyle skiing, speed skating and more – live

Is it a bird? Is it a plane… nope it is a flying Slovenian! Domen Prevc soars and soars and lands the biggest jump of the night at 141.5 metres! What a time to do it, with just one jumper to go.It is Gold for Prevc! He becomes a double Gold medallist in Milano Cortina after winning Gold in the team event earlier in the week and is the only jumper to post over 300 points in the final.The podium will look like this:Domec Prevc (Slovenia) - 301.8 points GOLDRen Nikaido (Japan) - 295

Dina Asher-Smith blasts back to form with 60m UK Indoor Championships record

Given the doldrums that was British female sprinting prior to her emergence, it was perhaps little surprise that Dina Asher-Smith stood largely unchallenged on the national stage for the best part of her 20s.So, it was to some raised eyebrows that the country’s sprint queen was usurped by Amy Hunt last summer – the young upstart claiming world championships 200m silver, while Asher-Smith faded to fifth.The former world 200m champion could – but notably chose not to – point to the mitigating circumstances of a turbulent mid-season return to England after a training move to America gone wrong. But the changing of the guard felt significant: one athlete on the up and the other on the decline. Or was she?Now back in Texas, albeit with a different coach to the one she left last summer, Asher-Smith has spent the winter, during which she turned 30, running with notably renewed vigour