Crypto News: Walking away

Good morning and welcome back, it's Ainsley with all the news you need to kick off your working week.

Today's must-reads:
• Australia-EU trade talks break down
• Iron ore industry looks to reinvention
• Queensland towns evacuated due to wildfires

Australia walked away for the second time in three months from talks with the European Union toward a free trade deal. "We've not been able to make progress," Australia's Trade Minister Don Farrell said yesterday from Osaka. Australia was pushing for greater access to the European market for its beef, mutton and sugar, while Brussels wants an end to the use of certain geographic locators on products such as Prosecco and feta.

Stay with trade, Farrell underscored to his Japanese counterpart the strength of bilateral ties between the nations and reassured Tokyo that Canberra would listen to its concerns on any applications to join a regional trade agreement. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will travel to China later this week for the first visit by an Australian leader since 2016.

Australia's iron ore powerhouse is preparing to reinvent itself. The Pilbara region has propelled the nation's economy for decades, but now it needs to contend with the end of China's infrastructure boom — and a greener future. Producers are experimenting with everything from microbes to straw, in a series of trials aimed at making their materials suitable for greener steelmaking.

Iron ore stockpiles at Rio Tinto's Parker Point at Dampier, Western Australia. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

Australia ordered the evacuation of towns in Queensland after about 80 fires destroyed more than 35 homes in one area and intensified on Saturday due to strong winds. Blazes around the rural town of Tara, which was ordered to evacuate, have burned more than 30,000 hectares.

Israel sent troops and tanks into the northern Gaza Strip in what it calls the second and longer phase of its war against Hamas, a more cautious approach than what it vowed after the militant group's Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,400 people. The expectation is for the campaign to last anywhere from six weeks to six months, according to several officials.

China Evergrande Group faces a make-or-break moment today at a Hong Kong court hearing, where the troubled developer must defend itself against creditor requests for liquidation. If a wind-up order is delivered, Evergrande, with about $327 billion of liabilities, could become the biggest-ever developer to face such a fate under Hong Kong law.

FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried returns to the stand Monday, when he's likely to face a bruising cross-examination based on his Friday testimony that he made mistakes but didn't commit fraud that led to the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse.

Matthew Perry, a comedian and actor who starred in Friends, has died. He was 54. The American-Canadian star was discovered unresponsive around 4 p.m. local time Saturday in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home, local media reported.

All times Sydney
• 11:30 a.m.: Australia Sept. retail sales

South Africa won its fourth Rugby World Cup, a moment of joy for a nation grappling with everything from an energy crisis to joblessness. The defending champions — the Springboks — beat the All Blacks to be the first to win four titles. Rugby, once associated with White-minority rule, has played a symbolic and significant role in unifying the nation. The Springboks are led by their first Black captain, Siya Kolisi, and the team's path to victory in Paris galvanized people across all races.

South Africa's hooker Bongi Mbonambi celebrates after South Africa won the France 2023 Rugby World Cup Final Photographer: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty