Qantas completes first test flight for Project Sunrise A350

Qantas says it's completed the first test flight for its Project Sunrise Airbus A350-1000ULR, after recently confirming further delays to planes being delivered.

It's the aircraft it plans to use for its long-touted non-stop commercial flights between the east coast of Australia and London and New York.

"Operated by two Airbus Flight Test Pilots, three Flight Test Engineers and one Ground Test Engineer, Qantas' ultra long range A350 took off for the first time from Toulouse yesterday afternoon local time and flew for three hours 43 minutes over France and the French Atlantic Coast," the airline said.

So not exactly reaching the heights of Sydney to New York just yet.

"The flight was focused on testing the aircraft's primary systems including the jet's specialised fuel system, which includes an additional 20,000 litre rear centre fuel tank that will enable commercial flights of up to 22 hours non-stop," Qantas said.

It's the start of two months of testing for the aircraft, which will see it complete around 80 hours of flight testing, checks and certification.

Last week, Airbus announced that it would not deliver an A350 long-haul plane to Qantas until April next year. It had previously been expected delivery by the end of this year.

Qantas today confirmed the Project Sunrise aircraft is "progressing through Airbus' final assembly line" and is at the interior fitting and painting stage, ahead of the April 2027 delivery.

The details of the route and timing of the first commercial flights in the long-haul project will be announced later this month.

A troll doll with a cigarette lighter inside its body is just one of many unsafe products being sold online that places the public at risk – according to consumer group Choice.

It’s calling on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate online marketplaces and suppliers to see if they are selling unsafe products as part of a “super complaint” it has submitted to the regulator.

Choice says it found some of the products could be bought from stores like Amazon, AliExpress, eBay and Temu and included toys that appealed to kids.

Some of the products included a tongue stud, which could detach and cause internal injuries and a sky lantern, which posed a fire risk.

In a recent survey Choice says 359 people reported incidents with unsafe online purchases.

“We found that 6 per cent of people who had purchased those products online had suffered an injury or property damage or a combination of the two from purchasing an unsafe product,” Choice Director of Campaigns Andy Kelly told the ABC.

It also wants the federal government to put in place stronger product safety laws.

Choice is one of three organisations that can make super complaints to the ACCC and it must respond within 90 days.

Last week the watchdog announced it was suing Amazon over alleged safety failures in relation to a unicorn backpack which contained button batteries.

Both Amazon and Temu said they had removed items after being contacted by Choice.

Temu added a novelty lighter to a blocklist while Amazon said it used artificial intelligence and safety teams to monitor products.

The other online marketplaces were contacted for comment.

Wall Street ended its day higher as investors placed large bets on tech and AI companies and shrugged off the inflation spike that will likely occur from a long-drawn-out Middle East war.

The Dow Jones index gained 0.5% to 51,308 points, while the S & P 500 rose by 0.1% to 7,610 points — both of them hitting new record highs (again).

The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, was flat at 27,094 points.

US markets were was boosted by AI optimism as shares of Apple, Broadcom, Tesla, Micron Technology and AMD jumped by around 2-5% each.

Hewlett Packard shares jumped 19.5% after the AI server maker brought forward its long-term financial targets by two years.

Meanwhile, Google's parent company Alphabet said it was looking to raise $US80 billion in equity offerings, including an investment from Berkshire Hathaway, to fund a costly expansion of its AI infrastructure.

Marvell Technology's share price surged 32.5% after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called the chipmaker the next "trillion-dollar company" at the Computex conference in Taipei.

Marvell designs semiconductors, integrated circuits, digital signal processors and other products which are in high demand from companies building AI data centres.

Given Nvidia invested $US2 billion in Marvell back in March, it's not hard to imagine why Mr Huang is talking up the company's prospects.

- with Reuters

Good morning, and welcome to the ABC's finance blog. I'll be guiding you through the latest market action for the next few hours.

That was despite lingering uncertainty about whether the US and Iran will be able to reach a deal to end their war, which has dragged on for three months (so far).

What's the latest on the US and Iran?

Once again, both warring nations have provided contradictory information on how peace negotiations are progressing.

Tehran is examining a US proposal to end hostilities, but has not been in contact with Washington for a few days, according to Iranian media.

But US President Donald Trump insists negotiations have been been going on continuously.

At the same time, Israel is continuing to launch strikes against Lebanon. That's despite Iran's warnings that the attacks are threatening to jeopardise peace talks with the US.

Against that backdrop, oil prices rebounded to a one-week high. Brent crude futures jumped 0.9% to $US95.87 a barrel.

Anyway, go make yourself a coffee, tea or breakfast and I'll be back with more updates shortly!