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TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English, I'm Haylena Krishnamoorthy.
A group of women and children linked to the IS Group are returning to Australia after years in a Syrian camp.
The government has confirmed their return after years in the al-Roj camp in north-east Syria, where Australian families linked to former Islamic State fighters have been trying to leave for years.
But Labor says it has played no role in the repatriation of the four women and nine children, and that monitoring arrangements are already in place, with security agencies preparing for possible returns since 2014.
"These are people who've made what is a horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an extraordinary situation, as we've said many times, any members of this cohort who have committed crimes can expect to face the full force of the law and that will occur."
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United States President Donald Trump has paused US efforts to guide stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz, saying he wants to finalise a deal with Iran.
In a Truth Social post, President Trump said Project Freedom was halted, but the US blockade of the Iranian ports will remain in place.
He says he is making the move at the request of Pakistan and other countries.
Earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had maintained a ceasefire in the Middle East was still holding and that the initial major US military operation against Iran was over.
"Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. I'm not going to, you know, we're not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace."
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he knows the Reserve Bank’s latest decision on interest rates will add to cost-of-living pressures for Australians.
The Treasurer says next week’s federal budget, to be handed down on Tuesday [[12 May]] night, will accordingly focus on restraint, with significant savings and no large-scale stimulus.
The Reserve Bank of Australia says it lifted rates because inflation remains a concern, and that a tight policy stance is necessary as global factors continue to push up prices.
Dr Chalmers has rejected suggestions government spending is driving inflation.
"Australians are already paying a very hefty price for this war in the Middle East, and the decision taken by the independent reserve bank will make that harder, rather than easier. Now, the decision that the reserve bank took was not about government spending. It wasn't a factor and the decision that they announced yesterday, it wasn't a feature of the statement that the Reserve Bank Board released afterwards. And that's because government spending and budgets are not the primary driver of this inflation that we're seeing in our economy."
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The New South Wales government is making a cap on road tolls permanent, with Premier Chris Minns saying hundreds of thousands of motorists are benefiting from the state’s toll relief scheme.
The policy allows drivers to claim money back once they exceed a weekly toll limit, returning hundreds of millions of dollars to motorists.
The opposition has criticised the government's plan to fund the cap by introducing two way tolling across Sydney Harbour, but the government says it is needed to keep the cap in place.
The Premier argues the cap will help to ease cost of living pressures and improve fairness for motorists, particularly in Western Sydney.
"We've now got a situation where tens of thousands of motorists can access a cash back toll cap system in New South Wales, which means they get money back in their pockets, and they effectively get a similar scheme that operates on our public transport network where, after a certain number of trips on the public transport network per week, you don't pay any more. We felt that that was a basic principle for communities that weren't serviced with brand new public transport, but did have access to toll roads."
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A fireworks factory explosion in China has killed at least 26 people and injured 61.
The blast occurred at a factory in Liuyang, in Hunan province, known as China’s fireworks capital, flattening buildings and forcing authorities to evacuate nearby areas.
President Xi Jinping has ordered a full investigation, calling for strict accountability over the disaster.
The head of the company has already been detained, and all fireworks manufacturers in the city have been ordered to suspend production for safety checks.
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To sport and in golf news,
Cameron Smith has dismissed retirement rumours, and says he has been given every assurance that LIV Golf will continue beyond this year.
He has declined to confirm who had provided those assurances, saying the news would come from others.
The future of the Saudi-backed breakaway league has been questioned after reports its funding has been withdrawn.
But Mr Smith says he is used to speculation since joining LIV, and remains confident about its future.
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