TRANSCRIPT:
- Government sponsored flights out of Lebanon coming to an end;
- Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in Gaza kills at least 21;
- The Socceroos defeat China in their World Cup qualifying match.
Government sponsored repatriation flights out of Lebanon will be halted from this weekend.
The final sponsored flight will be on Sunday, October 13.
The government has cited falling demand for the change, with only half of the available 660 seats on two planes leaving Wednesday being taken.
It's understood that Australians registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs have been alerted to the deadline and urged to accept any available seats on upcoming flights.
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Israel has killed at least 21 people in a massive strike on a school turned refugee camp in Gaza.
The Israeli military says it was targeting a militant command and control centre inside the school, without providing evidence.
Israel has continued to strike at what it says are militant targets across the Palestinian enclave even as attention has shifted to its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and rising tensions with Iran.
Speaking at the U-N, the State of Palestine's representative Riyad Mansour has said repeating calls for a ceasefire is pointless.
"You repeat that, and you ask for it, and you say, you must, we must have a ceasefire. And one is not listening, ignoring you. At times in the past, [Israel] used to lecture you. Why are you wasting your time in this discussion? You should be paying attention to another country now. They change their style. You talk. They play with their cell phones, and they're ignoring you. And you keep repeating the same thing. You don't have teeth."
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Hurricane Milton has moved into the Atlantic Ocean after cutting a path of destruction across the US state of Florida.
At least five deaths have been reported, hundreds of homes are destroyed, and power has been cut to over three million people.
Around 9000 National Guard personnel and 50,000 electricity grid workers have been deployed in Florida ready to assist with rescue and recovery as well as power outages.
But Governor Ron DeSantis says it wasn’t “the worst-case scenario”.
"So that doesn't mean there's not going to be a lot of damage. Doesn't mean there's not going to be a lot we're going to have to contend with. But just in terms of what we were prepped for, I think that we probably have an abundance of resources. My sense is we'll probably be able to release a lot of the search and rescue resources that we've had on hand very soon and, and then just get back to getting everybody back online with, with power."
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The seafood industry in Australia has welcomed the news that China is lifting their ban on Australian lobster exports.
While exporters are awaiting confirmation about tropical rock loster, the eastern, southern and western rock lobsters are confirmed to be returning to Chinese dining tables in time for the 2025 Lunar New Year.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, over 700 million dollars’ worth of rock lobster went to China, accounting for 98 per cent of Australian lobster exports.
But Melbourne-based lobster exporter Oscar Zheng has told SBS Mandarin that while he was pleased to see the end of the lobster ban, he's cautious about the recovery.
"We of course hope the recovery of (the lobster) trade could be smooth. After all, it's been around four years since Australian lobsters were not available in the Chinese market. I look forward to the return, but I am also a bit worried. I'm not sure if Chinese consumers are still interested in Australian lobsters, or whether our previous distributors would pick up our products again. We have to consider these uncertainties."
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Federal education minister Jason Clare has introduced legislation into Parliament that will enable the Commonwealth to increase its share of public-school funding.
In an effort to more fairly fund public schools and boost the number of high-school finishers, the 10-year Better and Fairer Schools agreement proposes to increase commonwealth contribution to public schools and provide money for supports like catch-up tutoring.
The legislation follows negotiations on the agreement which have been stalled for months.
Mr Clare says while he has fundamentally disagreed with what teacher unions have been arguing for, he does back the work of teachers and public schools.
“And these are the schools that are the most underfunded. One in 10 children today are below the minimum standards that we set for literacy and for numeracy. But one in three children from poor families are below that standard, and most of those children are in our public schools. Many never catch up and many never finish school.”
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The Socceroos have defeated China with a final score of 3-1 in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers at Adelaide Oval.
Over 46,000 fans were in attendance for the first match of Tony Popovic as the Socceroos' coach.
The victory against China has lifted the Socceroos to third in the six-nation group and is Australia's first in three games in the third round of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
