Morning headlinesBy Emily KaineGood morning and welcome to our national news live blog for Wednesday, August 12. Here’s what is making the headlines today. The Reserve Bank kept interest rates on hold yesterday, as it weighed up a slowing economy dragged down by a weaker-than-expected housing market and balanced risks inflation could be pushed up by AI and continued conflict in the Middle East. During question time yesterday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dismissed the claim he made “foul-mouthed, classless comments about women” after renewed criticism of remarks he made about Japanese leader Sanae Takaichi during a July podcast. Former prime minister John Howard has warned against an alliance between the Coalition and One Nation, as the Liberal Party’s campaign chief urges downbeat MPs to play the long game in countering Pauline Hanson. Howard told this masthead that “the only party that we should ever be in coalition with is the National Party”.Abroad, tensions in the Middle East have flared again after the US military said it fired on a Panamanian-flagged ship in the Gulf of Oman that tried to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports. And the death toll from a powerful earthquake in Colombia has reached 250 and thousands remain missing as rescue crews continue to dig through the rubble to find survivors. Latest Posts6.35amColombia quake death toll tops 250 with thousands still missingBy Periera/Cali: Rescue crews dug through mountains of shattered concrete in western Colombia, racing to find survivors after a powerful earthquake killed more than 250 people, according to estimates from local authorities.With thousands of people still missing, families have been waiting beside the rubble for signs of life. The 7.4-magnitude earthquake, the most powerful to strike the South American country in decades, tore through Colombia’s coffee-growing heartland on Monday, leaving apartment blocks, homes, schools and health centres cracked, leaning or flattened. About 100 aftershocks have been registered.Rescuers worked through the night with cranes, excavators and, at times, their bare hands, cutting through twisted steel and passing buckets of debris in desperate searches for those still trapped.New President Abelardo De La Espriella said he had decreed a three-month economic relief measure for people in the coffee-growing region of Risaralda.6.30amUS fires on ship to enforce Iranian blockadeBy The US military said its forces fired on a Panamanian-flagged ship in the Gulf of Oman that tried to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports, a move that comes as President Donald Trump tries to keep economic pressure on Tehran.US Central Command said on Tuesday (US time) that the vessel had ignored warnings to stop, prompting an American helicopter to fire missiles into the engine room of the M/V Vela Nova, disabling the ship. It did not say whether the ship’s crew suffered any casualties.Meanwhile, Yemeni authorities say six people were killed when Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait.Yemen’s coast guard said the dead included four crew members and two members of the government-allied National Resistance Forces. Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at the Yemeni commercial vessel, according to the Transportation Ministry of Yemen’s internationally recognised government.They are the first known deaths from Houthi attacks on shipping off Yemen in the latest bout of fighting there.With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down by Iran, there has been a renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb strait at Yemen’s southern tip, which is an alternate route for Saudi Arabia to ship its oil.APPinned post from 6.22amMorning headlinesBy Emily KaineGood morning and welcome to our national news live blog for Wednesday, August 12. Here’s what is making the headlines today. The Reserve Bank kept interest rates on hold yesterday, as it weighed up a slowing economy dragged down by a weaker-than-expected housing market and balanced risks inflation could be pushed up by AI and continued conflict in the Middle East. During question time yesterday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dismissed the claim he made “foul-mouthed, classless comments about women” after renewed criticism of remarks he made about Japanese leader Sanae Takaichi during a July podcast. Former prime minister John Howard has warned against an alliance between the Coalition and One Nation, as the Liberal Party’s campaign chief urges downbeat MPs to play the long game in countering Pauline Hanson. Howard told this masthead that “the only party that we should ever be in coalition with is the National Party”.Abroad, tensions in the Middle East have flared again after the US military said it fired on a Panamanian-flagged ship in the Gulf of Oman that tried to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports. And the death toll from a powerful earthquake in Colombia has reached 250 and thousands remain missing as rescue crews continue to dig through the rubble to find survivors. 1 of 1