Israel says progress is being made on Gaza ceasefire deal
Qantas reveals the extent of its hacking attach
Carlos Alcaraz cruises into Wimbledon semis as injury doubts linger over Jannik Sinner.
Israel has declared progress is being made towards a ceasefire deal in Gaza - though it may take some days to finalise. Israeli officials say a ceasefire deal is 80 to 90 per cent complete, and U-S envoy Steve Witkoff is in Qatar to help finalise it. Hamas has said it is willing to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will end once Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile — something it refuses to do. Netanyahu says Israel remains determined to accomplish its goals. 'We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and governance capabilities because Gaza must have a different future, for our sake, for everyone's sake.' Victoria's new anti-hate taskforce has met for the first time following a series of targeted incidents against Jewish institutions in Melbourne. Premier Jacinta Allan says the group heard from Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush, who has declared the force is ready to act under anti-vilification and social cohesion laws. The taskforce has also listened to members of the Jewish community, including Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler, all of whom shared their views on how the state can tackle antisemitism. The meeting follows the firebombing of East Melbourne Synagogue and an attack on Israeli restaurant Miznon which the Premier has previously vowed to respond strongly to. "I will not rest - will not rest - and will continue to take every action necessary - to not just strengthen the law but to respond and lead, in terms of how we as a community need to act. To say very, very clearly that acts of hate, acts of violence, acts of antisemitism have no place here in Melbourne and Victoria." Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the Reserve Bank's decision to hold interest rates at 3.85 per cent is not the result millions of Australians were hoping for. Markets and most economists had expected a third rate cut in July, but the R-B-A held steady, saying it needs more evidence that inflation is easing before acting further. The surprise decision disappointed many from struggling retailers to mortgage holders who were hoping for some cost-of-living relief. While Mr Chalmers avoided calling the move a mistake, he has highlighted the rare disclosure that three of nine R-B-A board members had opposed the hold, signalling internal division. "I wanted to say that I welcome the transparency of publishing the unattributed votes for the first time, this is quite a substantial change in the way that the Reserve Bank reports its decisions. I welcome the transparency that comes from the publication of those votes." The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders over alleged crimes against humanity targeting women and girls. The ICC says there are reasonable grounds to believe supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, and the Taliban's chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, have persecuted individuals based on gender, gender identity, and expression. The group has condemned the warrants as an example of hostility towards Islam, saying it upholds women's rights according to its interpretation of Islamic law. The Taliban has banned girls and women from secondary schools and universities, and imposed strict limits on their freedom of movement, since its return to power. Millions of Qantas customers are being notified about the extent of a data breach that exposed personal details, after a cyberattack on a third-party system used by an offshore call centre. The airline says 5.7 million customer records were compromised. Of those, four million had names, email addresses and frequent flyer details accessed. For the remaining 1.7 million, additional data was taken, including dates of birth, phone numbers, addresses, gender and meal preferences - around 10,000 of which were accessed. Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson says customers will now be contacted with details of the specific data affected and offered support services. The airline says there's no evidence the stolen data has appeared on the dark web, but cybersecurity experts are monitoring for any breaches. Carlos Alcaraz has breezed into the Wimbledon semi-finals with a straight-sets win over Britain's Cameron Norrie, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. He will face fifth seed Taylor Fritz in the next round. Attention now turns to top seed Jannik Sinner, who remains under an injury cloud ahead of his quarter-final against American Ben Shelton.
Sinner underwent an M-R-I on Tuesday morning and cancelled his planned training session that afternoon, raising questions about his fitness for the rest of the tournament.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Hamas agrees to release 10 hostages
Hamas claims it has agreed to release 10 hostages as part of ceasefire negotiations. Officials say the group has agreed to release the hostages in return for Israel increasing the amount of aid being allowed into Gaza. The group says negotiations on a further ceasefire are ongoing, but that talks were tough due to differences on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. US President Donald Trump says he believes a ceasefire deal could be announced within two weeks.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Four dead as Houthis sink second cargo ship in days
A rescue operation has pulled six crew members of a cargo ship from the water after the vessel was attacked and later sunk by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Four of the 25 people aboard the Eternity C cargo ship were killed before the rest of the crew abandoned the vessel, which sank on Wednesday morning after being attacked on Monday and Tuesday, sources at security companies involved in a rescue operation said. The six seafarers, who were rescued as part of a European Union naval operation, spent more than 24 hours in the water. A Houthi spokesperson later made a televised address where he said the group had sunk the Eternity C. "The Yemeni Navy responded to rescue a number of the ship's crew, provide them with medical care, and transport them to a safe location," he said. The Eternity C is the second cargo ship to be attacked and sunk by the Yemen-based militia group, who are widely known to be one of Iran's proxies in the region. Vision released by the Houthis shows large explosions around another vessel, the Magic Seas cargo ship before it sinks beneath the waves. All crew from the Magic Seas were rescued before it sank. Both of the ships that were attacked flew Liberia flags and were operated by Greek firms. Some of the sister vessels in each of their wider fleets had made calls to Israeli ports in the past year, shipping data analysis showed. The Red Sea, which passes Yemen's coast, has long been a critical waterway for the world's oil and commodities. Traffic has dropped since the Iran-aligned Houthi militia began targeting ships in November 2023 in what the group said was solidarity with Palestinians against Israel in the Gaza war. Oil prices rose on Wednesday, maintaining their highest levels since June 23, also due to the recent attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Eternity C was first attacked on Monday afternoon local time with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from speed boats by suspected Yemen-based Houthi militants, maritime security sources said. Lifeboats were destroyed during the raid and by Tuesday morning the vessel was adrift and listing. Two security sources told Reuters that the vessel was hit again with sea drones on Tuesday, forcing the crew and armed guards to abandon it. The Houthis stayed with the vessel until the early hours of Wednesday, one of the sources said. The crew comprised 21 Filipinos and one Russian. Three armed guards were also on board, including one Greek and one Indian, who was one of those rescued. The vessel's operator, Cosmoship Management, has not responded to requests for confirmation of casualties or injuries. If confirmed, the four reported deaths would be the first fatalities from attacks on shipping in the Red Sea since June 2024.
Perth Now
3 hours ago
- Perth Now
'Get the facts': premier warned over anti-protest laws
Jacinta Allan has been warned against following the lead of a fellow state premier in rushing through law changes to curb anti-Semitism without all the facts on high-profile attacks. The Victorian government has been drafting laws to ban protests outside places of worship and demonstrators wearing face coverings. The proposed changes were announced in December after rallies from masked neo-Nazis and a synagogue at Ripponlea in Melbourne being firebombed. Another arson attack on an East Melbourne synagogue, one of four alleged anti-Semitic incidents at the weekend, has prompted the premier to set up a task force and promise further action if required. Human Rights Law Centre legal director Sarah Schwartz stressed everyone has the right to worship in safety and without fear. But she accused Ms Allan of conflating acts of violence with peaceful protest. "Neither the attack on Adass Israel Synagogue or the arson attack on East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation were in any way protests," she told AAP. "These laws around places of worship would not have done anything to prevent those attacks." The motivation for both incidents remains unknown, though counter-terrorism police continue to investigate the Ripponlea firebombing and a 34-year-old man from Sydney has been charged over the other alleged arson. Ms Schwartz cited sexual abuse survivors outside churches as a legitimate form of protest that may be impinged under the plan and said mask ban exemptions for health, disability and religious reasons would be "impossible" to enforce without discriminatory policing. "These new laws taken altogether will have a chilling effect on peaceful protest," she said. NSW rushed protest and speech laws through parliament in February after explosives, anti-Semitic messaging and a list of addresses of Jewish people and institutions were found inside a caravan at Dural in Sydney's northwest in January. Investigators later revealed the discovery was part of a "criminal con job". Ms Schwartz, who doubles as Jewish Council of Australia executive officer, said the Victorian government was similarly resorting to "knee-jerk measures" instead of addressing the root causes of racist attacks. "Jacinta Allan really risks going down the same path that NSW Premier Chris Minns did when he enacted regressive, anti-protest measures in response to what we know now was an opportunistic criminal conspiracy," she said. Other Jewish groups have suggested the task force should consider Victoria adopting a NSW-style protest permit system, an idea Ms Allan has long dismissed. In a separate incident on Friday night, Israeli restaurant Miznon in the Melbourne CBD was targeted by about 20 pro-Palestine protesters who chanted "death to the IDF" - a reference to the Israel Defence Forces. The chant, which has gained notoriety after English punk rap duo Bob Vylan led it at Glastonbury music festival, was repeated at another Melbourne rally on Sunday. Victoria passed beefed-up anti-vilification laws in March but Ms Allan was unsure if the chant or signs with words to that effect would constitute an offence when the changes take effect in September. "I'll take their (Victoria Police's) advice on that matter," she said.
