Australia news LIVE: RBA keeps interest rates on hold; Colombia quake death toll tops 250 as thousands remain missing

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By Emily Kaine

Good 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.