Updated July 23, 2026 — 6:43pm,first published July 23, 2026 — 9:47amyesterday 6.43pmToday’s headlinesBy That’s all for our live blog today, here’s a recap of today’s top headlines.A FIFO worker who carried out months of stalking, abuse and harassment towards a woman in Perth has been jailed for attempting to kill her in a horrific assault captured by nearby CCTV cameras.Woodside has failed in its bid to force three activists to hand over documents relating to a protest involving a hoax gas leak that forced the evacuation of thousands of workers from its corporate headquarters in Perth three years ago.Dozens of Lancelin residents poured into Forrest Place on Thursday morning, armed with signs and banners with one message: “save our town”.A Perth businessman who was jailed for allegedly defrauding his clients of millions of dollars and investing their money in real estate and luxury cars has lost his bid for freedom while he prepares his appeal over the case.And it was the third day in the trial of former Broome Bishop Christopher Saunders. He is in WA’s District Court charged with 26 sexual assault allegations, and defence lawyer Tony Hager commenced his cross-examination of the complainant on Thursday.A Chinese restaurant in East Perth has gone up in flames, with a lithium battery believed to be behind the blaze.See you back here tomorrow.yesterday 6.22pmHealth students forced to work on prac to get paidBy The state’s biggest university says a decision to extend a federal government scheme to pay students taking mandatory practical placements in the health industry, saying “passion does not pay the rent”.Curtin University Student Guild president Dylan Storer.Holly ThompsonThe Commonwealth Prac Payment scheme provides financial support to students working in teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work degrees, and was recently extended to students taking up roles in occupational therapy, psychology, pharmacology, and other allied health jobs.Students can be required to work a certain amount of unpaid hours in their chosen field to get credits for their degrees, meaning many lose hours of income from casual or part-time jobs they typically use to get themselves through university. Many can be asked to front up costs for travel, accommodation, uniforms and even vaccinations.Curtin University Guild Faculty of Health Sciences representative Zobia Laarayb said the costs would add up.yesterday 5.17pmMulti-million dollar infrastructure spend earmarked for City of PerthBy An almost $60 million capital works spend aimed at renewing and maintaining public infrastructure has been endorsed by the City of Perth as a major focus for its $321.5 million budget for the 26-27 financial year.The City of Perth endorsed its new budget this week.City of PerthThe new budget comes as the council also endorsed a rates yield increase of 2.45 per cent.The city has allocated $57.9 million on public nfrastructure including 110 kilometres of roads, 72 kilometres of paths, 43 parks and reserves, 11 kilometres of river foreshore and more than 16,500 park and street trees.The capital works budget also includes $4.5 million to continue the Two-Way Streets Program, with the upgrade between William Street and Elder Street scheduled to start early next year.yesterday 4.31pmPerth businessman jailed for defrauding investors denied bailBy yesterday 3.38pmPolice union look at legal options for officers forced into retirementBy Nearly 100 police officers were forced into retirement last year, the police union is warning as part of a new campaign about dropping numbers in the state’s force.The WA Police Union’s ‘Who’s Left to Answer the Call’ campaign is highlighting a number of issues that have forced officer’s off the beat recently, including a new Career Transition Program that saw a number of officers medically retired from the force.Many of those officers were in back-end jobs like manning the State Operation Centre, and will now be replaced with officers who were also capable of working on the beat.But the union says it is difficult to replace officers who have been medically retired by pulling in physically fit officers from working on the street, given the broader police force is slowly dwindling.yesterday 1.42pmGosnells food scrap recycling plan binned as partner enters liquidationBy A Perth council’s plan to help residents recycle food scraps through a new bin has fallen over after the company responsible for the initiative collapsed.The City of Gosnells announced the GosFo bin back in 2024 in partnership with waste technology company Goterra, which would allow households to recycle food organics rather than throw them in the usual green bin for collection.The City of Gosnells announced the GosFo bin back in 2024 in partnership with waste technology company Goterra.Goterra was set to be the country’s “first commercial circular economy solutions company”.Residents could opt in to the program for $80 a year.yesterday 12.48pmEast Perth Chinese restaurant goes up in flamesBy A Chinese restaurant in East Perth has gone up in flames, with a lithium battery believed to be behind the blaze.Firefighters were called out to the Golden Treasure restaurant about 1.20am on Thursday, arriving to find it fully engulfed in flames.Golden Treasure in East Perth went up in flames overnight.9News PerthCrews managed to bring the fire under control quickly, and the incident is not being treated as suspicious. “Inquiries into the incident remain ongoing with Perth Detectives,” a WA Police spokesperson said.The restaurant has been closed for some time.yesterday 11.53amPerth’s Steve Erceg enters danger zone for UFC boutBy Justin ChadwickPerth UFC star Steve Erceg says it’s a scary thought knowing bombs could be dropped on Abu Dhabi at any time, but there’s no way he’s going to pull out of Saturday’s bout against Ramazan Temirov.Erceg (14-4) will be the co-main attraction at UFC Fight Night at Etihad Arena as he attempts to make it three wins on the trot.But he will do so amidst an uncertain political landscape, with the on-and-off again war between Iran and the US putting the Middle East on edge.Steve Erceg punches Tim Elliott in a flyweight fight in Perth in May.Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLCDuring the war, Iran has launched missile and drone attacks targeting the UAE, including strategic sites in Abu Dhabi given the capital hosts a US military site.yesterday 9.48amNRL premiership star drawn west to sign with Perth BearsBy Brisbane Broncos premiership star Gehamat Shibasaki will fly to the other side of the country and pull on a Perth Bears jersey as the latest star signing for the upstart NRL club.Shibasaki’s two tries and three line-breaks in the Broncos’ grand final win capped a busy year in which he also enjoyed a State of Origin victory with the Queensland Maroons and an Ashes win with the Australian Kangaroos.Gehamat Shibasaki celebrates scoring a try with the Broncos in last year’s NRL season.Getty ImagesPerth Bears head coach Mal Meninga said the 28-year-old was a powerful ball runner and strong defender, and had “been on our radar for some time”.“He is a Test player who will add a new dimension to our backline. He is large, strong and has big game experience that will be invaluable,” Meninga said.yesterday 9.48amAcross Australia and around the worldBy Here’s what’s making headlines elsewhere today: The whistleblower who triggered the scandal engulfing consulting giant KPMG Australia refused to move to Australia in part because he claimed he had been bullied by one of KPMG’s most senior executives.Reigning Commonwealth Games champions Nina Kennedy and Tim Hodge will lead Australia out as the flag and baton bearers at the opening ceremony in Glasgow.Ukraine has launched new attacks on Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, in a sign of its capacity to send explosive drones into enemy territory amid upheaval in the Ukrainian military after public protests about the war.A clumsy joke has backfired on cabinet ministers soon after they were named to their posts by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, just as he vowed to set a new tone and direction for the government upon taking power this week.Macquarie Group chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake is retiring as boss of the investment giant after eight years in the job, to be replaced by the head of its banking arm, Greg Ward.OpenAI said on Tuesday (California time) that two of its artificial intelligence models went rogue and successfully hacked into Hugging Face, a digital library of AI technology that is popular among developers.1 of 2