flowersBy Andrew Brown

September 29, 2026 07:40 | News A stretch of Oxford Street will be pedestrianised from next month, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan says. Vehicles will be prohibited from accessing almost a kilometre between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street from October 26 and will instead be diverted onto nearby roads. Oxford Street is one of the world’s busiest shopping areas, with around half a million visitors each day. Khan said the changes come “just in time” for the Christmas shopping period.

September 29, 2026 06:52 | News Fast-fashion platform Shein has reported plunging profit and sliding European sales in its first ‌results as a public company, feeding investor worries over margin pressure and slowing growth.

Mortgage holders are set to shoulder hundreds of dollars more in monthly repayments compared to the start of the year, with interest rates expected to hit a 15-year high. The Reserve Bank is widely tipped to hike interest rates for a fourth time in 2026 when it wraps up its two-day board meeting on Tuesday. A 25-basis point increase in the cash rate would add $91 a month on a typical $600,000 mortgage, said Sally Tindall, data insights director at financial comparison site Canstar.