Australia`s energy minister has urged households in New South Wales - a state that includes the country`s biggest city Sydney - to switch off their lights in the face of an energy crisis.
Chris Bowen says people should not use electricity for two hours every evening if they `have a choice`.
However, he added he was `confident` that blackouts could be avoided.
It comes after Australia`s main wholesale electricity market was suspended because of a surge in prices.
Mr Bowen asked people living in New South Wales to conserve as much power as possible.
`If you have a choice about when to run certain items, don`t run them from 6 to 8 [in the evening],` he said during a televised media conference in Canberra.
Why is there a crisis?
Australia is one of the world`s biggest exporters of coal and liquefied natural gas but has been struggling with a power crisis since last month. Three quarters of the country`s electricity is still generated using coal. It has long been accused of not doing enough to cut its emissions by investing in renewables.
In recent weeks, Australia has felt the impact of disruptions to coal supplies, outages at several coal-fired power plants and soaring global energy prices.
Flooding earlier this year hit some coal mines in New South Wales and Queensland, while technical issues have cut production at two mines that supply the market`s biggest coal-fired station in New South Wales.
Around a quarter of Australia`s coal-fired electricity generating capacity is currently out of service due to unexpected outages and scheduled maintenance.
Some electricity producers have seen their costs soar as global coal and gas prices have jumped due to sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, demand for energy has jumped amid a cold snap and as Australia`s economy opens up after Covid-19 restrictions were eased.
All of this has helped drive up power prices on the wholesale market to above the A$300 (£173; $210) per

megawatt hour price cap set by the market`s regulator, the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo).
However, that cap was below the cost of production for several generators, who decided to withhold capacity.
On Wednesday, Aemo took the unprecedented step of suspending the market and said it would set prices directly and compensate generators for the shortfall.
It also asked consumers in New South Wales to `temporarily reduce their energy usage`.
What happens next?
Aemo has not given a timeline on when the suspension would be lifted. It said in a statement, `The price cap will remain until cumulative wholesale electricity prices fall below the cumulative price threshold.`
`Aemo, as the national power system operator, will continue to monitor the situation and provide further updates should conditions change,` it added.
On Thursday, Australia`s biggest electricity producer AGL Energy said it expected to be able to supply more power to businesses and consumers in the coming days.
It has three units that have been out of service at its coal-fired plant in Bayswater, New South Wales.
They are among several planned and unplanned outages that have helped cause the power crisis.
AGL said that one of the units should return to service on Thursday, while another will come back online by Saturday.
Meanwhile, Australia`s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the crisis would be raised at a meeting with state premiers which starts on Thursday.
Lynne Chester, an energy expert from the University of Sydney, told the BBC that policymakers have been aware of the risks of ageing generators for decades.
`The sector`s regulators and policy makers have ignored the escalating capacity constraints of aging generation assets, fired by fossil fuels, that dominate the sector,` Prof Chester said
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One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, became a victim of identity theft in 2012 when fraudulent transactions occurred, using her personal details.

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Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) are intensifying pressure on the department of home affairs over the national ID-blocking crisis, accusing the state of acting too slowly to unblock qualifying individuals despite a landmark court ruling.

In January last year, the Pretoria High Court found that the department`s practice of blocking IDs without due process was unlawful and unconstitutional. One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, a Swati citizen and South African permanent resident since 1998, fell victim to identity theft in 2012 when fraudsters used her personal details.

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A Washington state mother and her 6-year-old son have been released after spending more than three weeks in US immigration detention due to a brief trip to Canada and a small paperwork mistake, her attorney told CNN on Saturday.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen who has lived legally in the US since she arrived in 2021, was detained at the Blaine, Washington, Customs and Border Protection checkpoint when returning home after dropping her two oldest children off at the Vancouver airport for a flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. Shaw, 33, chose the flight out of Vancouver because it was direct and she didn`t want her children to have to navigate a layover alone, her attorney Minda Thorward, told CNN.

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On 22 July 2025, the Gauteng High Court dismissed Sitrusrand Boerdery`s review of the Department of Employment and Labour`s refusal to issue a Working Conditions and Salary Benchmarking Certificate, an essential precondition for obtaining corporate visas under the Immigration Act.

Acting Judge Kekana AJ held that the Department`s decision was lawful, rational and procedurally fair. This judgment illustrates how businesses can - and must - structure their corporate visa applications to meet statutory requirements, and how legal practitioners should prepare robust review challenges when administrative authorities decline to recommend foreign-work permits.

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The United States could forfeit an estimated 9.4 billion dollars in visitor spending over the next three years following the introduction of a new 250 dollars `visa integrity fee,` according to industry groups, who warn the policy risks undermining tourism and costing thousands of jobs.
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

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1. Right to Legal Representation•You have the right to consult with a legal representative.•Contact an immigration practitioner, legal aid clinic, or attorney urgently.•Do not sign any documents without understanding them fully. 2. Section 34 of the Immigration Act•You must be brought to court with 48 hours to confirm arrest but you can remain locked up very long as courts figure out what to do with you •If you`re found to be illegally in South Africa, you may be detained for up to 30 days (extendable by a magistrate) pending deportation.•BUT this cannot happen arbitrarily. You must be informed of your rights, and Home Affairs must follow due process.- becomes a nightmare , you could lose your job , business , place to stay V.6121
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Driving for Bolt, Uber, Mr D, or Checkers Sixty60?If you`re undocumented, you`re risking more than just your income.The Risks if You`re Not Legal: - Vehicle impoundment - Heavy fines - Arrest & deportation - Permanent bans from working in SA V.6122
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