Middle East crisis live: US says nearly 2,000 targets hit in Iran war; Iran insists it has ‘complete control’ of strait of Hormuz
US military says first 24 hours of war was nearly double the scale of 2003 ‘shock-and-awe’ operation in Iraq; Revolutionary Guards again claim control of crucial of strait after Trump offers navy escort for tankersTrump administration has still not settled on reasons for warMiddle East attacks intensify as Trump rejects Iran’s attempt to talkLebanese state media said that four people were killed and six more were wounded in an Israeli strike on a building in Baalbek in eastern Lebanon on Wednesday.“The initial toll is four killed and six wounded, and work is underway to rescue families from under the rubble,” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said. Continue reading...
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Major parties knock back inquiry into racism and sexism in the Senate – as it happened
This blog is now closedAustralia sends crisis teams to Middle East as thousands of travellers and expats remain strandedGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFarrell says $15bn of trade could be impacted by warLabor’s trade minister, Don Farrell, says a “relatively small” amount of Australia’s exports go through the Middle East as the war escalates in the region.A relatively small amount, about $15bn worth of trade goes through the Middle East. Obviously, that’s very important for those companies that are trading there.Our trade is, in fact, increasing in the Middle East. We now have a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates. Already, our beef trade has doubled in the six months that that trade agreement has been in operation. But of course, all of that gets affected by this uncertainty of the war in the Middle East.The legal basis of these strikes is ultimately a matter for the United States and Iran, sorry, and Israel, is ultimately a matter for the United States and Israel. We know Iran has failed to comply with UN security council resolutions on its nuclear program. We know what Iran has been doing over many years. I think it is important for us to remember this has not started with these strikes. This has been going on for decades, including in Australia. Continue reading...
Cuba charges six exiles with terrorism in wake of deadly speedboat attack
Detainees accused of coming from the US with intent to sow chaos and attack military units on Communist-ruled islandCuban prosecutors have formally charged six people with crimes of terrorism after a US-flagged speedboat was involved in a deadly shootout with Cuba’s coast guard last week.The US-based Cuban defendants are accused of packing a boat with weapons and heading toward Cuba in hopes of destabilising the government in Havana. Continue reading...
Israeli forces bomb hotel in Beirut, residential building in Lebanon’s east
Israel hits Comfort Hotel in greater Beirut without warning; more residents displaced across Lebanon.
Democratic rivals in close Senate primary amid Texas polling confusion
Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico vie for nomination with results not expected until WednesdayWith polls closed across Texas on Tuesday evening, congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and state representative James Talarico were locked in a fiercely contested primary that has drawn record-level turnout and outsized national attention.The marquee Senate race, unfolding in a state Democrats have not carried statewide in more than three decades, was clouded by confusion over voting in Dallas county – the state’s second largest and Crockett’s home base. Just after midnight, Talarico said his campaign would wait for an official call, but said “we are confident in this movement we’ve built together”. Continue reading...
Israel, Iran continue attacks as war enters its fifth day, engulfs region
Iranian retaliatory strikes continue with drone and missile attacks as conflict spreads through Gulf nations.
South Korea’s stock market in meltdown amid US-Iran war
Benchmark index plummets as much as 12.2 percent, eclipsing single-day plunge after 9/11 attacks in 2001.
The Iran strikes could become a midterm reckoning – for Trump and Israel
Conservative dissent over the war is fracturing the GOP and testing the durability of US support for Israel.
Jordanian arrested for visa offences after alleged Bondi attackers visited his coffee shop during Philippines stay
Military used in arrest of Mohammad Odeh Saleh, owner of business allegedly visited by the Akrams before Australia’s deadliest terror attack Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA Jordanian national whose coffee shop was visited by the alleged gunmen behind December’s Bondi beach terrorist attack – and who frequently traveled to Australia and the Middle East – has been arrested in the Philippines for overstaying his visa.Authorities investigating the gunmen’s month-long stay in Mindanao Island, in the country’s south, alleged that Mohammad Odeh Saleh, 65, had travelled to Australia in the years before his arrest in Pagadian City on Monday. Continue reading...