NSW police arrest two men after death of Chris Baghsarian

Two men have been arrested “in relation to the alleged kidnapping and murder of 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian”, police have said.

NSW police said a man, 29, was arrested in Kenthurst and a man, 24, was arrested in Castle Hill. They have been taken to Riverstone police station as inquiries continue. No charges have been laid.

Human remains suspected of being those of Baghsarian were found on Tuesday morning near a golf club in Pitt Town, NSW, about 45km northwest of the Sydney CBD.

Early inquiries after his disappearance on Friday 13 February established Baghsarian was not the intended target and had been taken in a case of mistaken identity.

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Updated at 15.39 EST

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Caitlin Cassidy

More on the discovery of human remains yesterday

Police believe the body of missing 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian could have been dumped on Sydney’s outskirts just 40 hours after he was kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity.

New South Wales police said they had found human remains near a golf club in Pitt Town about 8am on Tuesday. Baghsarian, a widowed grandfather, was kidnapped from his North Ryde home just after 5am on Friday 13 February.

Police on Monday said forensic evidence linked to Baghsarian had been found in a burnt-out car in Westmead, with officers subsequently searching bushland at Glenorie. The car involved, a grey Toyota Corolla, was seen in Glenorie on the night of Saturday 14 February and then in Pitt Town Bottoms Road at 9.05pm.

Police work at the scene where human remains were found yesterday. Photograph: Sarah Wilson/AAP

Marks said this week that officers had discovered evidence inside the car that had also been linked to an abandoned and derelict property in Dural, where it was believed Baghsarian was held.

Police raided the Dural property on Thursday evening, later saying it had been used as “a makeshift stronghold by the kidnappers”.

Read more here:

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Updated at 15.47 EST

NSW police arrest two men after death of Chris Baghsarian

Two men have been arrested “in relation to the alleged kidnapping and murder of 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian”, police have said.

NSW police said a man, 29, was arrested in Kenthurst and a man, 24, was arrested in Castle Hill. They have been taken to Riverstone police station as inquiries continue. No charges have been laid.

Human remains suspected of being those of Baghsarian were found on Tuesday morning near a golf club in Pitt Town, NSW, about 45km northwest of the Sydney CBD.

Early inquiries after his disappearance on Friday 13 February established Baghsarian was not the intended target and had been taken in a case of mistaken identity.

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Updated at 15.39 EST

Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley to leave role for US

Craig Tiley is adamant his successor will continue filling the twin roles of running Tennis Australia and the Australian Open after confirming he will take up the same post in America, AAP reports.

After months of speculation, the Australian governing body on Wednesday announced Tiley was stepping down as TA chief executive to join the USTA later this year.

Having started as TA’s player development chief in 2005, Tiley became the Australian Open tournament director the following year and CEO in 2013.

Craig Tiley. Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA

Tiley will remain in his current role to help TA appoint his successor and support a smooth transition, and says the winning candidate will likely – but not certainly – come from within the tight-knit tennis community.

“The most important characteristics for what the board will look at for a new leader will be absolute cultural alignment,” he said.

Australia’s highest-paid sports administrator acknowledges he is leaving behind a luxurious lifestyle in Melbourne to uproot his young family to alligator country in Orlando, Florida.

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Updated at 15.31 EST

Finance minister says bomb threat reflects ongoing need to ‘take the temperature down’

Katy Gallagher, the federal finance minister, said the security incident at the prime minister’s residence was “very troubling”, echoing Albanese that the country needed to “take the temperature down”.

“This is just another reminder that there are threats out there,” she told ABC News this morning.

Gallagher said politicians were well supported by police and security services, but said the events were a moment to reflect on the need for Australians to “peacefully make your point” rather than opt for violent threats.

double quotation markI can say that certainly, in my time in politics, I haven’t experienced some of the turbulence and some of the push against politicians at the moment. I think certainly the online world is alive and flourishing … and yeah, it’s difficult.

Katy Gallagher. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShareJosh Butler

More on the bomb threat at the prime minister’s home in Canberra

Prime minister Anthony Albanese was evacuated from his home in Canberra, The Lodge, after a bomb threat on Tuesday night.

Following an extensive search, which saw Albanese moved to a secure location, the Australian Federal Police said “nothing suspicious was located” and that there was “no current threat to the community or public safety.”

The AFP said early Wednesday morning there were no updates on the incident. Albanese’s office referred enquiries to the AFP.

Albanese is scheduled to make a speech at an infrastructure forum in Victoria on Wednesday.

In a post on social media, the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, said he was pleased to hear Albanese was safe after the threat.

“Threats against any parliamentarian are utterly abhorrent, especially in a country built on expressing our differences through debate,” he wrote on X.

We’ll bring you more through the day.

Police stand guard at The Lodge in Canberra in November. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare

Good morning, Nick Visser here to pick up the blog. Let’s see what Wednesday holds.

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Australian climate pollution down 1.9% as renewables boom

Adam Morton

Australia’s climate pollution was down 1.9% across the year to September 2025 as renewable energy reached record levels and the burning and venting of gas dropped.

The latest quarterly greenhouse gas inventory found annual emissions were 444.3m tonnes, down from 452.8m a year earlier. This is 27.4% less than in 2005.

The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said this placed the country on track to meet its legislated 2030 target – a 43% cut – “if we stay the course and continue to lift our efforts”.

That picture is complicated by adjustments to earlier emissions estimates. Despite the annual fall, the report says Australia is further away from the 2030 goal than it was in the last report, covering the year to June 2025. Then, emissions were estimated to be 28.5% less than in 2005.

But Bowen said there was evidence emissions were coming down in several areas. Changes included:

• A 3.1% fall in pollution from electricity grids, mainly due to renewables displacing coal.

• A 3.8% drop in fugitive emissions from fossil fuel operations. Less gas was vented into the atmosphere, more CO2 was captured and stored, and underground coal mining production dipped.

• A 1.7% fall in emissions from fossil fuel use in manufacturing, mining and buildings, in part due to people using less gas in their homes.

• After years of increases, a 0.4% drop in transport pollution as petrol consumption fell. It coincided with more people driving electric and hybrid cars.

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Nearly half of universities have spent most of the last five years in deficit, report finds

Natasha May

Australia’s universities are operating on increasingly thin margins, a new report from Universities Australia reveals.

The report, titled Critical challenges in Australia’s university sector: securing a sustainable future, found over 40% of universities have spent most of the past five years in deficit.

The average funding per commonwealth supported student place has fallen by 6% in real terms since 2017, the report found. It said research is also at risk as universities increasingly have to fund it themselves as investment in research and development has fallen to a 20-year low (1.7% of GDP).

Universities Australia’s chair, Prof Carolyn Evans, said:

double quotation markOur universities are not just economic engines – they are places where people build their futures, where talent is nurtured and where opportunity is expanded for the next generation.

However, chief executive officer Luke Sheehy said the report was a reality check.

double quotation markThere’s a myth that universities are awash with money. The numbers tell a very different story. You can’t ask universities to educate more students, deliver more research and drive productivity while steadily reducing funding per student. At some point, the maths catches up.

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Updated at 14.59 EST

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Nick Visser will take over.

The big story this morning is the bomb threat that forced Anthony Albanese to be evacuated from The Lodge at around 6pm last night. He returned three hours later after a search of the residence was completed. We’ll have the latest from Canberra.

And elsewhere, Australia’s universities are operating on increasingly thin margins, according to a new report which found over 40% of universities have spent most of the past five years in deficit. More coming up.

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