Author: DispatchTimes News Desk

James Chessell has resigned as editor-in-chief of the Australian Financial Review to join Rampart, the independent media outlet founded by former Financial Review columnist Joe Aston. Cosima Marriner, currently the newspaper’s editor, will succeed him on October 12 and become the first woman to hold its top editorial position. Chessell took over the role just over two years ago after serving as Nine’s managing director of publishing and as executive editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The Financial Review is owned by Nine. At Rampart, Chessell will work as editor and writer. He and Aston previously worked…

The Sydney Kings have turned their attention to going back-to-back after unveiling last season’s championship banner and rings. With the celebrations now complete, the Kings’ focus is on the coming campaign and their bid to retain the championship.

Families of 35 Australians missing in Nepal are urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to intervene, as they continue to seek answers and financial and visa support four weeks after devastating floods struck the region. Sriram Parameswaran, whose wife Sruthi Chandrasekaran is among those missing, said relatives wanted to meet the Prime Minister and bring together the government departments dealing with their situation. “We definitely want to meet the prime minister, who can listen to us, who will be able to understand what our grief is … he is the only person here who can now bring all departments together to…

Donald Trump has proposed renaming artificial intelligence “Super Intelligence” as he argued the existing term makes the technology sound unreal, while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned of the risks posed by its rapid development. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the US president said America and “hopefully the world” would use “Super Intelligence”, or SI, in future official documents. “The use of the word ‘artificial’ makes intelligence fake — it makes it sound fake, and it is not fake,” Mr Trump said. “It’s actually amazing, but we have to be careful.” He said the proposed…

Meta’s new Muse AI agent has been praised as an unusually capable digital assistant after a two-week test in which it handled insurance calls, tracked spending, cancelled subscriptions and negotiated purchases online. The app, launched this month, is designed to perform tasks on a user’s behalf rather than simply answer questions. It can navigate websites, complete forms, access online accounts, make phone calls and work with services including Gmail, Google Docs, Ticketmaster, OpenTable and Google Sheets. Eli Tan gave Muse access to bank accounts, email and other personal data before asking it to manage a range of everyday jobs, including…

Dolly Parton’s estate is seeking a restraining order against her nephew over alleged “terrorising conduct”, including claims that he threatened staff and vowed to destroy the country music legend’s legacy. The allegations have been made as part of the estate’s application. The claims remain unproven.

Kmart Australia is trialling locked security cabinets for cosmetics at selected flagship stores as retailers respond to rising levels of shoplifting. The cabinets have been installed at the Broadway store in Sydney and Broadmeadows in Melbourne, allowing beauty products including e.l.f., OXX Beauty and BYS Makeup to remain on display while being secured behind glass. Customers can press a button to request assistance. An electronic message then tells them, “we’ll open the cabinet for you shortly”, before the selected cabinet lights up and unlocks. A Kmart Australia spokesperson said the trial was intended to combat retail theft while maintaining presentation…

Los Angeles County health officials are investigating a localised outbreak of flea-borne typhus in the Wilshire Center neighbourhood after seven people became ill and six were hospitalised. All seven patients have recovered, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said on Tuesday, September 22. It described the outbreak as the second localised cluster reported in the county this year. A further outbreak was identified in nearby Pico-Union in July, when five people were hospitalised. Officials said 109 cases had been reported across Los Angeles County so far in 2026, following a record 220 cases last year. Flea-borne typhus risk…

A former partner of Beau Lamarre-Condon told the Supreme Court in Sydney that Jesse Baird had become “petrified” of the former police officer in the months before he was allegedly killed. Lamarre-Condon is on trial accused of murdering Mr Baird, 26, and his partner Luke Davies, 29, at Mr Baird’s home in Paddington in February 2024. The Crown alleges Lamarre-Condon became obsessed with Mr Baird after their on-and-off relationship ended in November and planned the alleged double murder. The defence argues the deaths occurred after Lamarre-Condon acted in self-defence. A witness who had previously been in a relationship with Mr…

Stanford University has acknowledged that artificial intelligence was used to alter a promotional photograph of students, replacing one male student with a fictional Black woman and changing the appearance of two others. The image was used by Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) on “Welcome Home” banners displayed around the California campus. It was originally taken in a dining hall in 2024 and showed three students holding plates of food. Billy Ramirez, one of the students in the original photograph, discovered the changes after a friend sent him a comparison of the two images. His likeness had been removed and…