Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts.
TRANSCRIPT
- Major shipping companies and world leaders wary as the Strait of Hormuz reopens to commercial traffic
- No extra fuel security measures after a Geelong oil refinery inferno
- Carlos Alcaraz out of the upcoming Madrid Open.
Major shipping companies have reacted cautiously to Iran's declaration that the Strait of Hormuz is now open for the remainder of the US-brokered 10-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The first oil tankers have raced towards the Strait just hours after the announcement - but German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has said it will refrain from passing through for now, while the Norwegian Shipowners' Association wants the possible presence of sea mines to be clarified.
World leaders have also reacted warily to the reopening, including Australia.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it's a step in the right direction, but he says the common view at the UK France brokered meeting was that any reopening needed to be permanent.
"We want to see though this fragile arrangement confirmed and we want to see those ships being able to pass. It's not surprising that there was a common view, because freedom of navigation is essential for global trade. It is how the world operates."
.
The Australian government says it's not considering any additional fuel security measures after an inferno at an oil refinery in Geelong - one of the two remaining such facilities in the country.
The fire that broke out at Viva Energy's Geelong refinery, southwest of Melbourne, on Wednesday night has caused the facility to lose 20 per cent of petrol production capacity.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen says he expects refinery officials to provide a further update soon.
Meanwhile, he says 61 cargo ships are on the water - en route to our shores, while Australia already has 46 days worth of petrol in its stock reserves, more than it did last week.
"These weekly updates are very important in making sure Australians have full visibility around how much fuel we have in Australia and how much is coming in. And today's update is encouraging."
.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is resisting demands he quit over revelations his scandal-tainted pick for UK envoy to the US was hired despite failing vetting.
Starmer says he had been unaware that Mandelson did not pass the checks before his appointment as envoy.
"That I wasn't told that Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting when he's appointed is staggering. That I wasn't told that he'd failed security vetting when I was telling parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable. Not only was I not told, no minister was told, and I'm absolutely furious about that."
But the PM's political foes have questioned how a prime minister could not know and have demanded his resignation.
That includes British Opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badanoch.
“He told us that Mandelson had been cleared by the security officials, that he passed security vetting. We now know that that is not true. That's misleading the country. It's a breach of the ministerial code. He told Parliament that full due process had been followed. It's clear that that is not the case. Misleading Parliament is a resignation offence."
.
One of the activists who founded the Aboriginal Tent Embassy says Australians need to know more about the frontier violence that erupted in the early years after the British arrived on country.
Michael Ghillar Anderson would like to see the frontier wars featured at the Australian War Memorial but says it only recognises wars in which people wore uniforms.
A long-running research project led by Newcastle University professor Lyndall Ryan has found more than 10,000 First Nations Australians were killed in colonial frontier massacres between 1788 and 1930.
The research found about half the killings were carried out by police and other government agents, and half perpetrated by settlers, often with tacit state approval.
.
People are being encouraged to clean up their properties ahead of the winter storm season.
The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a series of cold fronts to hit Western Australia in the next week, with strong winds and areas of heavy rain likely in the south of the state on Monday night and again later in the week.
BOM senior forecaster Gianni Colangelo says even if the first storms are mild they can cause big damage.
"We're not expecting these fronts to be particularly extreme we do tend to notice that even moderate to strong cold fronts early in the season, especially the first few of the season tend to cause disproportionally more damage and disruption than the same strength fronts would cause if they were to occur later in the season, this is because during the summer months trees have grown, branches have grown and some of them have grown weak and we don't have the large winter systems that challenge the integrity of these trees northe integrity of our properties."
.
To sport and in tennis news, the Madrid Open has lost some star power with Carlos Alcaraz joining Novak Djokovic in pulling out of the upcoming clay-court tournament.
Alcaraz had already withdrawn from the Barcelona Open midweek after undergoing a test on his right wrist, while the fourth-ranked Djokovic is nursing a shoulder injury.
Djokovic has not competed since the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
He missed the Miami Open because of a right shoulder injury and also skipped the Monte Carlo Masters.
