Independent News & People Network Desk of News

Lego sales rise as World Cup and F1 ranges prove to be winners

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-08-25T08:08:03+00:00

Danish toymaker also scores success with KPop Demon Hunters, Star Wars and botanicals productsBusiness live – latest updatesLego sales have risen by more than a fifth as tie-ups with the football World Cup, Formula One and the hit film KPop Demon Hunters as well as its flower-based and Star Wars kits drive demand.The Danish toymaker said its revenues increased by 21% to 41.9bn Danish kroner (£4.8bn) in the first six months of 2026, driven by strong growth in the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific regions. Sales by its clients to consumers rose by 22%. Continue reading...

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Australia Bans Generative A.I. From Official Music Charts

Source: New York Times - World · Published: 2026-08-25T08:04:49+00:00

Under new rules, recordings developed using generative A.I. will only be allowed if they are “substantially human-made,” the peak body says.

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Sensex today | Stock Market Live: Sensex down 200 points, Nifty below 24,150 as West Asia tensions persist

Source: The Hindu Business Line – Markets · Published: 2026-08-25T08:03:17+00:00

Sensex, Nifty, Share Prices Live: Indian shares remained subdued on Tuesday, recovering from the day’s lows but staying in negative territory as investors tracked West Asia tensions, elevated crude prices, weak monsoon concerns and the impact of the monthly Nifty 50 derivatives expiry.

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Alan Jones and fellow 2GB host referred to SMH and reporter as ‘pigs in the media’, court hears

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-08-25T07:46:14+00:00

Jason Morrison, a former presenter at the Sydney radio station, denies ‘tailoring his evidence’ during trial of veteran shock jock JonesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAlan Jones and fellow 2GB shock jock Jason Morrison often referred to the Sydney Morning Herald and its chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont as “pigs in the media”, a Sydney court has heard.The text messages were uncovered as Morrison faced accusations from the prosecution on Tuesday of “tailoring his evidence” about an alleged assault at a lower north shore restaurant to suit his friend Jones.

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Samsung, SK Hynix stand to benefit as as Nvidia AI server costs surge

Source: The Hindu Business Line – Markets · Published: 2026-08-25T07:44:48+00:00

Server manufacturers informed major data center clients like Microsoft, Google, and Oracle that Nvidia-based AI system prices would increase by over 15% for shipments beginning in early 2027

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Man arrested after allegedly attacking woman and boy in Melbourne CBD – as it happened

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-08-25T07:44:48+00:00

This blog is now closedGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastNumber of NSW households in urgent need of priority housing hits highest level in over a yearThe number of NSW households in urgent need of priority social housing has reached 13,776, the highest in more than a year.The waitlist has sat [at] around 70,000 since May. Anyone reading that as stability should look at what is happening inside that number.Urgent need is growing six times faster than general need on this register. Every month, a bigger share of the people waiting are people who cannot afford to wait.The

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Bathla Group: major Sydney property developer collapses after ‘perfect storm’, leaving buyers in limbo

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-08-25T07:42:16+00:00

Bathla Group says softening sales and impacts from federal government’s May budget contributed it being placed in voluntary administrationFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastEmbattled home builder Bathla Group has been placed into voluntary administration, leaving customers in limbo in what it says is a “perfect storm” of circumstances.It joins the long list of Australian residential builders and property developers which have entered voluntary administration or liquidation due to soaring material costs, labour shorta

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Indian banks likely to sustain healthy growth in FY27: Bernstein

Source: The Hindu Business Line – Markets · Published: 2026-08-25T07:39:40+00:00

Stronger lending, easing margin concerns and stable asset quality are supporting the sector, while private banks continue narrowing their growth gap

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India’s gig economy is leaving its women behind, study finds

Source: The Hindu Business Line – Markets · Published: 2026-08-25T07:36:23+00:00

India’s female labour-force participation rate was about 32% in 2025 on an internationally comparable measure, versus almost 78% for men, according to ILO estimates compiled by the World Bank 

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Volkswagen’s job cuts may balloon to 140,000, unionists say

Source: The Hindu Business Line – Markets · Published: 2026-08-25T07:23:17+00:00

Management plans cuts that could eliminate 100,000 positions, while unionists warn another 40,000 may be at risk if factories in Germany close

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US Treasury’s Scott Bessent ‘will lose’ battle with bond markets, former mentor warns

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-08-25T07:14:06+00:00

Trump ally should cut budget deficit rather than try to suppress bond yields, says billionaire Stanley DruckenmillerScott Bessent’s attempt to calm the bond markets and push down America’s cost of borrowing have attracted a rebuke from the US Treasury secretary’s former mentor.The billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller, who worked with Bessent at George Soros’s fund management firm in the 1990s, has warned that his former pupil is courting danger by trying to suppress US bond yields. Continue reading...

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‘Enough is enough’: 121 Indigenous Victorians have died by suicide in the past five years

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-08-25T07:06:54+00:00

Royal commission recommended First Nations healing centres in 2021 but the Indigenous health service says the state has ‘done nothing’ to fund itFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOn the steps of Victorian parliament stood 121 empty chairs, marking the number of Indigenous lives lost to suicide in the state in the past five years.All of these deaths, the state’s peak body for Aboriginal health said, came after the final report of the royal commission into mental health in March 2021. Continue reading...

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