TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News In Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.
A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah is reported to be close with the Israeli cabinet to meet tomorrow to assess the proposal.
Israeli officials have said the sides are close to an agreement that would include withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and a pullback of Hezbollah fighters from the Israeli border.
The US State Department says there's been significant progress but has warned the deal is not done yet.
Spokesman Matthew Miller says negotiating has been an incredibly frustrating process.
"Both getting to a ceasefire and a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Lebanon and also the many rounds of negotiations to get a ceasefire in Gaza. There are any number of stages where we have hoped that the parties would get to an agreement. And remember, that's what it requires in these cases. It’s not the United States, but the parties to the agreement to say yes. There have been many times when we thought we were going to be getting to yes, in both cases and for various reasons, the parties didn't get there.”
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Nationals Senator Matt Canavan says the federal government's proposed social media ban for under 16s shouldn't be rushed through the Senate.
The legislation is expected to be voted on in the Senate before parliament finishes for the year on Thursday night.
Matt Canavan says he wants amendments to the bill, including the deletion of age verification data once it's been used.
"Why do we have to have this condensed process? The bill doesn't even come into effect until 2026, we've got a year. Why not take a breath, extend the inquiry, allow us to get across these 15 thousand submissions, allow other Australians that haven't been able to make a submission within 24 hours to participate."
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An economist says the federal government's Help to Buy shared equity scheme will have a minimal impact on Australia's housing market.
The Greens have announced they'll support the bill establishing the scheme, along with the Build to Rent legislation.
Under the shared equity scheme, 40,000 people will be able to co-purchase their home with the government with a much smaller deposit.
Economist Brendan Coates from the Grattan Institute has told the ABC the scheme is not going to make much difference to house prices.
"The impacts we expect will be very small. We're only talking about 10,000 places a year. So, 40,000 places in total over the first four years. It's going to be a rounding error on house prices because the amount of additional demand here is really small in the context of an $11 trillion dollar market."
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A severe heatwave warning is in place across the eastern part of New South Wales until Thursday.
Tomorrow is forecast to be the hottest day in Western Sydney with a top of 40 degrees with 33 degrees on the coast.
The higher temperatures are forecast to last until Thursday.
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US President-elect Donald Trump has announced there will be a 25 per cent tariff imposed on products from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10 per cent on goods from China.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump says he will make the changes on day one of his presidency in the first of many executive orders.
In relation to Mexico and Canada, Trump says the tariffs will remain in place until both countries crack down on drugs and migrants crossing the border
Donald Trump has previously pledged to end China's most-favoured-nation trading status and impose tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60 per cent - much higher than those imposed during his first term.
That was SBS News In Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.
