TRANSCRIPT
- Israel's defence minister says the military will continue to target Hezbollah
- The first accused in France's mass rape trial apologises to Gisele Pelicot
- Cricket Australia bans an ex-Sri Lankan Test player after a serious code breach
Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed to continue daily strikes on Israel, after a mass bombing attack on the group's communication devices.
Speaking for the first time since the bombings, which he called a "severe blow," Mr Nasrallah has promised retaliation.
"This will be confronted with a severe reckoning and a just retribution - in expected and unexpected ways. But because this new battle involved hidden hands, let me change my approach. I will not talk about a time, form, place or date. Leave the subject, and the news will be what you see, not what you hear."
The attacks, widely blamed on Israel, targeted thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies, sparking fears 11 months of near-daily clashes could escalate into full-scale war.
The bombings, believed to be part of a long-term Israeli operation, killed at least 37 people, including two children, and wounded 3,000.
**
Israel's Defence Minister says Hezbollah will face escalating consequences as Israel works to return its residents to their homes near the Lebanon border.
Yoav Gallant's remarks followed an exchange of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah.
“Our goal is to ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes. As time goes by, Hezbollah will pay an increasing price.”
**
The first man accused in the mass rape trial of Gisele Pelicot has taken the stand in France.
The 44-year-old father of three is among a small number of the more than 50 accused who have admitted to raping Ms Pelicot while she was drugged by her husband.
Lionel Rodriguez told the court he was sorry for being part of the nightmare she is living through, adding he should have left when he saw she was unconscious.
He tried to shift some of the blame onto her ex-husband – Dominique – telling the court he did what he was told.
**
The federal government is facing criticism over its decision to abstain from a vote in the United Nations General Assembly.
The resolution – adopted by a 124 to 14 margin – has called for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank, and allow all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their original place of residence.
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi has condemned Australia's lack of support for the resolution as gutless.
"The Labor Government has shown itself to be gutless, fence sitters by abstaining on a vote in the UN for Israel to end its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. That is just plain cowardly."
While Alex Ryvchin from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry says Australia should have instead opposed the resolution.
"When one party unilaterally withdraws from territory it’s a recipe for absolute disaster. The most extreme forces within that movement inevitably take control and it makes peace all the more elusive and hard to achieve."
**
The New South Wales government has issued a public apology following a landmark inquiry into historical hate crimes towards members of the LGBTIQ+ community.
But New South Wales leaders admit there are still killers walking free as police re-examine a series of unsolved murders, many of them not properly investigated in the past.
The state government on Thursday confirmed it would support all 19 recommendations laid out in the final report of the inquiry, which found gay hate bias a likely factor in 25 of 32 suspected homicides it examined, between 1970 and 2010.
The four deaths of Scott Miller, Paul Rath, Richard Slater and Carl Stockton could be subject to fresh inquests after evidence was uncovered by the inquiry.
New South Wales Environment Minister and Member of the Legislative Council Penny Sharpe says these actions may not take back what has happened but they will ensure it does not occur again in the future.
"We can't undo the harm that's been done, but we can turn over for the future and we can build a better New South Wales off the back of what the government has agreed to do today."
**
Hundreds of First Nations artefacts have been unearthed at a proposed housing development site in Ipswich near Brisbane.
The discovery was made by archaeologists and Aboriginal custodians assessing the land before construction starts.
Yuggera Elder, Eddie Ruska, is among several custodians calling for development plans to be abandoned and the area be protected.
"The area should be closed down, and there should be a large investigation into it to see what else they can find here. No work to be done on the area. The whole area is significant. Just up the road is a woman's area, you've got a burial site just over this other side."
Developer Century Housing says it engaged the archaeological assessment as part of its commitment to heritage plans for the area.
**
And in cricket, former Sri Lanka Test player Dulip Samaraweera has been banned from working in Australian cricket for 20 years after he was found to have engaged in inappropriate behaviour towards a female player.
Samaraweera held various roles within Cricket Victoria's women's program for almost 16 years.
After receiving a complaint from the player, Cricket Victoria chief executive Nick Cummins labelled Samaraweera's conduct utterly reprehensible.
