Concerns for global shipping escalate as Houthis advance in Yemen; Optus apologises for another service outage and the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship underway in Budapest.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Concerns for global shipping escalate as Houthis advance in Yemen
- Optus apologises for another service outage
- Inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship underway in Budapest
Concerns for the security of global shipping are escalating, after Iran-backed Houthis seized control of the entire Red Sea coast and captured three strategic islands.
Yemen's Saudi-backed government says the islands taken include Mayyun Island also known as Perim Island; Greater Hanish and Lesser Hanish.
In a statement, the Houthis say maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels.
Iranian diplomat Esmail Baghaei says an upcoming meeting with Gulf states in Oman on Monday will include discussion on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
"Conversation between Iran and the countries of the region is very important. We have to take the region in a direction where we can provide the security of the region ourselves."
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Energy Minister Chris Bowen says Australia's fuel supply remains secure, despite the ongoing situation in the Middle East.
He says Australia has 41 days worth of petrol, 32 days of diesel, 30 days of jet fuel, with 41 ships en route to the country.
Minister Bowen says the developments in the Middle East in the past 48 hours are disturbing.
"The situation is getting worse in the Middle East, the dispute between Saudi Arabia involving Saudi Arabia and the Houthis and the ongoing war in Iran is doing nothing to improve the fuel supply around the world and is pushing up prices of oil. We're seeing that in the markets even overnight; and that will inevitably also flow through to Australia."
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Fire and Rescue New South Wales says it's been searching the last known locations of Australians unaccounted for in deadly flooding in Nepal.
Thoughts are turning to reconstruction, with the estimated cost nearly 7 billion Australian dollars.
Nepal's foreign ministry says much of that is needed for long-term reconstruction and adapting to a rapidly changing mountain environment.
A glacier collapse last month triggered a massive landslide killing more than 1,400 people, with more than 5,000 missing.
Ten Fire and Rescue New South Wales personnel are among those search for the missing, which includes 35 Australians.
Superintendent Tim Hassiotis tells SBS Nepali the team has searched the last known location of some of the missing Australians including Syafrubesi and Timure.
"So we went to those locations and we mapped that area. And we were able to provide that intelligence back to Nepali Army and that helps with their ongoing operations. It is difficult terrain here as you can imagine in Nepal. Large mountains and narrow valleys. So that logistical tail of getting our teams to some of these locations is always by rotary lifts. We;re using helicopters a lot through the Nepali Army."
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Optus has apologised for an outage affecting customers across multiple states around the country.
Optus customers took to social media in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, saying they had lost service or were unable to make or receive calls.
A spokesperson for Optus says the outage lasted 76 minutes on Friday afternoon - and was resolved by 3pm Australian Eastern Standard Time.
Victoria Police says it conducted welfare checks, after 39 calls struggled to connect to emergency services in the state.
A police spokesperson says there were no adverse outcomes or issues of note that arose from the checks.
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Dolly Parton's first posthumous song is set to be released, featuring on a tribute album to The Stanley Brothers.
The country music star died at the age of 80 last month, following a brief battle with cancer.
The song 'Bound To Ride' was recorded in 2022; and will be included on the album 'Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of the Stanley Brothers'.
Parton recorded her vocals alone at her home studio during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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And to sport, in athletics,
Norway's Jakob Ingebrigsten has won the men's 5,000-metre event at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.
The prize pot of US$10 million is the richest in athletics, with individual winners receiving US$150,000.
Ingebrigsten won with a late surge of energy, clocking 12 minutes and 59.24 seconds.
He says it is a great result, just seven months after undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon.
"I tried to run as good of a race as I could. I tried to save as much energy as possible. But of course the others are doing the same and were fighting their hardest for the best positions. Just trying to maneouvre as good as I can. And with the 150- 100-metres to go, I am just going for it trying to not to tighten up and try and run as fast I can. Crossing my fingers and hoping that a Cole (Hocker) or a Nico (Young) is not someone on the outside."
