Parts of northern Australia are battling record-breaking floods, after heavy rain caused major rivers across Queensland and the Northern Territory to break their banks.

On Friday, the Australian Financial Review reported China had notified oil refiners to halt all exports, casting doubt over at least two cargoes due to be shipped to Australia.

Current price spikes are likely to be more affected by panic buying and perhaps even price gouging than by an actual supply shortage.

As a parent of primary school kids, I recently went to my child’s carnival to show my support.

While the school hopes the move will build independence, later school times also better complement teenagers’ sleep patterns.

Businesses closed, and tourism and agriculture came to a standstill, putting jobs, incomes and economic growth at risk across the country.

Since the beginning of the conflict, the price of urea, a key source of nitrogen used in agriculture, has surged by about 25%, similarly dramatic to the spike in crude oil prices.

Shipping in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the only sea passage from the oil-rich Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has come to a virtual standstill, sparking a global oil price rise of about 10%.

Bangladesh’s rivers are both a lifeline and a source of unrelenting hardship.

In 2016, the regulator updated the trans-Tasman Food Code to allow plant-based foods and drinks to use terms like milk.