Melbourne's $15 billion Metro Tunnel is set to open before the end of the year, with construction now complete on the city's first new train stations in more than 40 years.

Melbourne

A major new underground station, Town Hall Station, has been constructed beneath Melbourne's CBD as part of the Metro Tunnel project. The station, located 33 metres below Swanston Street and longer than a city block, is one of five new stations designed to connect key areas from Kensington to South Yarra, creating a corridor from Sunbury to Cranbourne and Pakenham.

The project aims to increase capacity in the city loop and modernize Melbourne's rail network. Town Hall Station features nine retail spaces and pedestrian links to Flinders Street and Federation Square. Testing is underway, with trains already running extensive distances on the new tracks. Advanced high-capacity signalling will allow trains to run closer together, improving efficiency. The opening date has not been set, and a gradual ramp-up to full service is expected once operational.

Metro Tunnel’s new Town Hall Station set to open in Melbourne

A cavernous, cathedral-like new station underneath the heart of Melbourne's CBD. At its deepest point, 33 metres. Half a million tonnes of rock and soil has been dug out to carve the space for Town Hall Station below Swanston Street. It's longer than a city block. Yeah, over 260 metres. And it's one of five new stations along the Metro Tunnel that connects Kensington to South Yarra, creating a corridor from Sunbury in the north-west to Cranbourne and Pakenham in the south-east. It frees up capacity in the city loop so that we can continue to add more services across the rest of our rail network for a very long time to come. Town Hall Station has taken eight years to build, using 7,000 cubic metres of concrete and 2,200 tonnes of steel. It'll have nine retail spaces and pedestrian links to Flinders Street and Federation Square. Victorian passengers are going to see their rail network absolutely transformed. Testing the lines is already well underway, with trains running more than 265,000 kilometres along these new tracks and tunnels. When it's open, new technology will help ensure trains can run as close together as possible. With high-capacity signalling, the trains can run much, much closer together because the system understands in real time where they all are. It's akin to adaptive cruise control in your car. The exact opening date hasn't been set, and when it's running, it's expected to take a few months to ramp up to a full timetable as it links to the existing network. Harvey Biggs, 10 News.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he hopes to announce the release of all the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza in one fell swoop in the coming days.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Netanyahu: Gaza peace deal is 'close'

The government shutdown reached its fourth day on Saturday. The Senate on Friday went home after another failed vote to keep the government open. Willie James Inman has the latest.

Washington

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Tensions are high in Portland, Oregon, as National Guardsmen could possibly be deployed there as early as this weekend. Federal agents and demonstrators squared off again, but Portland's mayor and chief of police say they don't need the help.

Portland

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“I believe they are ready for a lasting peace.” the U.S president wrote on social media after Hamas announced it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians.

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Israel slowed its Gaza offensive on Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded it stop bombing in response to Hamas saying it was ready to free hostages under the U.S. plan to end the two-year-old war.

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Sanae Takaichi has been elected as the head of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and is therefore likely to become the next prime minister and the first woman to lead the country.

Tokyo

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U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged Hamas's partial acceptance of a ceasefire proposal drafted with Israel, and ordered Israel to stop bombing the Gaza strip.

Trump orders Israel to stop bombing Gaza

The state Attorney-General says the city is violating the law by sharing license data with federal agencies. The El Cajon mayor has accused the state of 'bullying' cities.

El Cajon

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Sean "Diddy" Combs was sentenced on Friday to more than four years in prison on two prostitution-related charges. It follows a roughly two-month-long trial where Combs was acquitted on more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.

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The United States Senate on Friday (October 3) failed to advance competing plans to extend federal funding and end the government shutdown, likely pushing the funding lapse into at least next week.

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on social media another strike targeting a vessel allegedly connected to narco-trafficking off the coast of Venezuela. CBS News' Reed Cowan reports.

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Sarah Mullally has been named as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1,400-year history of the role, but her appointment immediately drew criticism from conservative Anglicans mainly based in Africa who oppose women bishops.

Canterbury

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Israeli forces have intercepted the last vessel of an aid flotilla headed for Gaza. The convoy was in international waters, prompting accusations that Israel violated maritime law. Protests have been staged in cities around the world.

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U.S. President Donald Trump said that he is issuing a Sunday evening deadline for Hamas to agree to a U.S. peace proposal, backed by the Israeli government, to end the war in Gaza.

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Prince William opened up on comedian Eugene Levy's Apple travel show, "The Reluctant Traveler," about his wife Kate, his mother, Princess Diana, and changes to the monarchy when he becomes king.

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The White House says the first round of mass layoffs resulting from the government shutdown could be announced on Friday. CBS News' Nancy Cordes reports.

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One of the two people who died during the Manchester synagogue attack on Thursday was possibly struck by police gunfire, authorities say. CBS News' Imtiaz Tyab reports.

Manchester

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Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia on Thursday (October 2). He fired back at U.S. President Donald Trump's remark calling Russia a "paper tiger", suggesting NATO might be one instead. Putin also warned that if the United States supplied Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine it would trigger a dangerous new escalation.

Sochi

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Ukraine and Russia have carried out another exchange of prisoners of war. About two hundred Ukrainian prisoners released by Russia have arrived in the Chernihiv region near Ukraine’s border with Belarus.

Chernihiv

Ukraine Invasion

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Two Jewish men were killed and three other men were seriously injured in a terror attack outside a synagogue in the northern English city of Manchester, authorities said.

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President Trump has declared the U.S. is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels as the White House calls drug runners "unlawful combatants."

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The head of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Presidential Library has resigned after sources say he resisted a request from the Trump administration to give a sword from the library's collection to King Charles.

Abilene

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Two regional jets crashed into each other on the tarmac at New York's LaGuardia Airport when the wing of one aircraft hit the front end of another. One flight attendant was injured.

LaGuardia Airport

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Jane Goodall, the British conservationist and researcher renowned for her work with chimpanzees, has died at age 91. The Jane Goodall Institute confirmed her death on Instagram Wednesday, saying she died of natural causes.

Los Angeles

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U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order, promising military action if necessary, to defend Qatar in the face of any future attack. It follows an Israeli strike on Doha last month, targeting a Hamas negotiating team. Qatar called the attack a violation of its sovereignty, prompting Trump to issue the new security assurances to the Gulf nation.

Doha

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The Israeli military is pressing on with its offensive in Gaza, launching strikes across the territory, as Hamas weighs up its response to the U.S. peace proposal. Debora Patta reports.

Jerusalem

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The Supreme Court has added another blockbuster case to its new term of cases. The court announced it would hear whether President Trump can legally fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Jessica Levinson has more.

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Flash floods in Ukraine's Odesa killed at least nine people, including a family of five trapped in their home as it was engulfed by water, emergency services said on Wednesday (October 1), as torrential rain left hundreds in need of rescue and thousands without power.

Odesa Oblast

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Parts of the U.S. government remain closed after Senate votes failed to pass funding. A GOP-backed House bill fell short of the 60-vote threshold, leaving 750,000 federal workers facing furloughs and possible military pay delays.

Breakdown