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TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Tee Mitchell.
A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon started today after weeks of fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah group.
The truce could help extend a related ceasefire between Iran, Israel and the United States.
Israel says it will stay in southern Lebanon and warns the ceasefire is fragile.
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, says the biggest challenge to the truce is Hezbollah.
"We will have to follow very carefully what's happening on the ground, and if we feel threatened, we will react. We are not going anywhere. We are holding our positions. ... We all know that the problem is not with the Lebanese government. The problem is with Hezbollah. And it will be challenging."
Hezbollah says the ceasefire must apply to all parts of Lebanon.
It also says Israeli troops should not move freely in the area.
These differences may make it harder to reach a lasting peace.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says a fire at an oil refinery at Geelong has significantly reduced its fuel production.
The refinery had increased its production to help Australia respond to the global shortage of oil.
Mr Albanese had been in Malaysia to try and bring more fuel to Australia.
But he came back early to tour the refinery in Geelong after the fire.
"This is an incident that obviously is regrettable, particularly given the timing in which it has occurred, but the advice that we've received today is that 80 per cent of diesel production is continuing, 80 per cent of aviation fuel is continuing. ... It's been slowed down just slightly because of the circumstances which are there. But 60 per cent of petrol production is proceeding today as well."
The refinery supplies about half of Victoria’s fuel but it was shut after explosions on Wednesday.
The fire burned for 13 hours before it was put out.
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Australia has signed a deal with Indonesia to secure fertiliser supplies.
The fertiliser is called urea and is important for farming.
The federal government helped make the deal between Incitec Pivot Fertilisers and P-T Pupuk Indonesia.
Australian farmers are worried they won't have enough fertilizer for their crops because of the war in the Middle East.
Around 60 per cent of Australia's fertilizer comes through the Strait of Hormuz - which has been closed because of the war.
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The New South Wales Supreme Court has ruled that new protest laws are not valid under the constitution.
The laws were introduced after the Bondi terror attack.
They allowed police to stop public protests for up to three months after an attack.
The case was brought by three people, including members of the Blak Caucus and the Palestine Action Group.
Palestine Action Group spokesperson Josh Lees welcomed the ruling.
"These laws were terrible. They were so wide ranging, and that is what the court has found today, is that they were totally unconstitutional on multiple grounds, in the fact that they unfairly and disproportionately burdened our right to political communication in this state. These were laws, of course, which deemed that the police could be given, effectively, the powers to ban all street demonstrations and many other protests about whatever cause for up to three months at a time."
The laws were used during a protest in Sydney against Israeli President Isaac Herzog visiting in February.
An inquiry is now looking into claims that police used too much force during clashes with protesters.
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Former Australian soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been granted bail after spending more than a week behind bars.
He was arrested 10 days ago and charged with the war crime of murder - which he denies.
Prosecutors allege he killed unarmed civilians in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
Judge Greg Grogan said the case involves complicated evidence and it could be years before Mr Roberts-Smith's trial ends.
I'm Tee Mitchell. This is SBS News in Easy English.











