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In this bulletin;
- Australia calls for a negotiated settlement to re-open the Strait of Hormuz;
- Israeli and Lebanese representatives expected to hold talks in Washington DC on Thursday;
- And in AFL, Port Adelaide's Zak Butters cleared of umpire abuse.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia is calling for a negotiated outcome in the Strait of Hormuz after the United States attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel.
The seizure came ahead of scheduled US-Iran talks in Pakistan this week, which Iran now says it does not plan on attending.
With the end of a two week ceasefire just days away, Treasurer Jim Chalmers says Australia's economy is in many ways hostage to the developments and decisions of the US and Iran.
Speaking to Sky News, Senator Wong has said the world wants to see de-escalation as soon as possible.
"What we want to see is a negotiated outcome. We want to see the Straits open. We want to see oil flow, and we want to see relief for Australians at the bowser. So, what we have been working on is working with international partners, with other countries, for de-escalation, but also to obtain the critical fuel supplies that Australia needs."
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Israeli and Lebanon representatives are expected to hold talks in Washington DC on Thursday.
A State Department spokesperson says the US will host what will be the second round of ambassador-level talks between the two countries, after the first direct talks in decades were held on April 14.
An Israeli official says the same representatives will join Thursday's talks, while Lebanese President Joseph Auon said on Friday that the country will continue on the path of negotiations with Israel.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah opposes the talks but is observing a 10-day ceasefire announced last week.
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A tsunami threat from a powerful earthquake in Japan has now passed.
More than 180,000 people had been told to take shelter, and transport was disrupted after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the country's northeast coast.
Harold Tobin is the the Director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington.
He says the danger might not have fully passed.
"The civil authorities in Japan have issued what they call a mega quake advisory, the potential for a larger earthquake to follow in the next short period of time. I think they initially issue them for a two week period. People being on alert and vigilant for the possibility of an even larger earthquake, say greater than magnitude 8.5, which could have a big tsunami associated with it."
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A Fair Work Commission decision has ordered transport companies to review their rates twice a month to account for the high costs of petrol and diesel due to the Iran war.
The orders come into effect today and will remain in place as long as the weekly average price of diesel is above $2 a litre.
The Transport Workers Union's National Assistant Secretary, Emily McMillan, says the ruling has come just as cost pressures were starting to bite.
She says it's a relief for tens of thousands of truck drivers and their families.
"We've had a situation in the last month where truck drivers didn't know if they could afford to keep driving, they've had to park up their trucks, they've been going into debt because of the spiking cost of fuel because of what's happening across the world. This is a lifeline that's been thrown to them which is saying actually, big businesses that can afford to pay them are going to have to pay truck drivers for the work they're doing to move goods across Australia."
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New data shows the number of children enrolled in specialist disability education in New South Wales has surged nearly 50 per cent since 2020 for those with complex needs.
Data from the state education department shows enrolments for children with complex needs such as autism, grew from around 6,500 to over 9,800 in the four years to 2024.
Australians for Mental Health executive director Chris Gambian says that mainstream education is failing to address the diversity of children's needs.
"We will do better as a country when we start to invest in community solutions to some of these big, gnarly problems that we've got, like in particular mental health questions. You know, some of the solutions are easy fixes with the right investment and community knows what it needs. So government really can make a big difference. By, sometimes very small amounts of money that go a long way to improve outcomes at a community level."
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To sport,
The AFL appeals board has dismissed an umpire abuse charge against Zak Butters.
The appeals board accepted that tribunal member Jason Johnson was distracted during the hearing when he was forced to disconnect from his desktop and re-join on his phone from inside his car while driving to an appointment.
Last week, Butters was fined $1500 after the AFL Tribunal found him guilty of of using insulting language towards an official.
But Port Adelaide's lawyer Paul Ehrlich KC has successfully argued that Johnson listening to part of the tribunal hearing while driving his car constituted a miscarriage of justice.
