TRANSCRIPT
The Quad grouping says it will expand joint security steps in Asia in response to growing concerns about China's role in the region.
The leaders of India, Japan, Australia and the United States have held their latest meeting in the U-S.
The group says it is ramping up efforts to provide critical security technologies to the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia, both of which are regions of intense competition with China.
U-S President Joe Biden says he believes China's focus on regional economic issues is an effort to buy itself diplomatic space and increase leverage in the Indo-Pacific.
"China continues to behave aggressively testing this all across the region. It is true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits is true across the scope of our relationship, including on economic and technology issues. Same time, we believe intense competition requires intense diplomacy."
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The Federal Communications Minister, Michelle Rowland, says consultations on gambling reform are still ongoing.
Ms Rowland says, while digital gambling ads could be banned completely, television advertisements may be banned one hour either side of sport broadcasts.
She says it is important to consider the future of free-to-air broadcasters and media that collect revenue from gambling ads.
Speaking to Sky News, Ms Rowland says the government is aiming to strike a delicate balance.
"The key issue here is threefold. We want to ensure that we protect children, we want to break the nexus between wagering and sport, and we want to deal with the saturation of ads, particularly as that impacts on young men aged around eighteen to thirty five... I know that many of your viewers will be thinking the same as they get excited about the final season. We want people to be excited about the game, not about the odds."
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers says Coalition plans to build seven nuclear power plants are economic insanity and will push power prices up.
Ahead of a speech from Peter Dutton unveiling more details behind the policy, Mr Chalmers says the opposition leader must be honest about the costs of the plan and how much it will impact power bills.
Mr Dutton's speech follows as a recent report showing a typical household electricity bill could rise by an average of $665 a year if nuclear power was added to the energy grid.
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The vote count is underway in Sri Lanka's presidential election with Marxist-leaning lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake [[dis-uh-NIGH-uh-kuh]] leading the early official results.
The official tally shows Mr Dissanayake is 3 per cent short of the 50 per cent needed to win, while his closest rival Sajith Premadasa [[pray-muh-DAHS-uh]] has 28 per cent and incumbent liberal President Ranil Wickremesinghe [[wik-rem-uh-SING-huh]] is trailing behind with just 15 per cent.
The election is being seen as a virtual referendum on the the current leaderships handling of the country's worst economic crisis and the resulting political upheaval in 2022.
Despite recent improvements in the economy, many Sri Lankan's are still struggling with high taxes and living costs.
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Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank have raided and shut down the office of broadcaster Al Jazeera in Ramallah and have issued a 45-day closure order.
Israeli soldiers raided the office before delivering orders to journalists that they had ten minutes to take their things and go.
Al Jazeera says the soldiers gave no reasoning for the shut down, but the raids come four months after the channel was banned from operating inside Israel.
Live footage broadcast by Al-Jazeera showed the Ramallah Bureau Chief, Walid Omary, reading the statement delivered to the office by Israeli soldiers.
"This is a decision that was made by one of the Israeli generals. He is ordering us to immediately leave the office and take our personal belongings and cameras. The army says we have only ten minutes to take our belongings and leave the office so they can shut it down."
[[TRANSLATED BY AL JAZEERA FROM ARABIC INTO ENGLISH]]
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To rugby now...
Fiji has claimed victory over Japan in the Pacific Nations Cup final in Osaka for a record extending sixth P-N-C title.
The dominant second half from Fiji saw the side score five tries, while two more were disallowed.
The Japanese team, who are coached by former Wallabies boss Eddie Jones, were quick to start but were soon worn down by the Fijian side with a final score of 41 to 17.
