Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated in Iran; Treasurer Jim Chalmers attempts to downplay rising inflation; In sport, Olympic triathlon events to go ahead after days of delays due to pollution.
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TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
- Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated in Iran;
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers attempts to downplay rising inflation;
- In sport, Olympic triathlon events to go ahead after days of delays due to pollution.
The political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has been assassinated in an attack in Iran.
The Palestinian militant group said in a statement on Telegram that the Hamas chief and one of his body guards were killed in an Israeli raid on their residence in Tehran.
Israel has not yet responded to the attack.
Mr Haniyeh was visiting Tehran for the inauguration of the new Iranian president.
Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV has quoted a senior Hamas official as saying the attack was a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”,
Director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University, Sami Al-Arian, told Al Jazeera that he fears Israel's attacks in Tehran and Lebanon's capital Beirut risks a broad regional conflict.
"Israel, by not fulfilling its objectives, has been lashing out throughout the region and that could also have huge significance in terms of a regional conflict that cannot be contained. The US has been supporting Israel in many aspects - military, political, otherwise - and has been trying to contain this conflict but Israel is also defying and challenging this."
While Mr Haniyeah was the political leader of Hamas, it is Yahya Sinwar who is the group's leader in Gaza and was reportedly the mastermind of the October 7 attack on Israel.
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers has attempted to downplay new inflation figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics which has reported the first annual increase since December 2022.
Australia's inflation rate rose to 3.8 per cent in the year to June, up from 3.6 percent in March.
This continues to fall outside of the two to three per cent range that the Reserve Bank of Australia has targeted and comes ahead of the bank's interest rate meeting next week.
The meeting could result in yet another hike to interest rates.
Dr Chalmers says he won't attempt to predict or influence the Reserve Bank's process but says the government is doing what it can to ease financial pressures on struggling Australians.
"Inflation in our economy is sticky and stubborn but it is much much lower than we inherited when we came to office. Well, I don't pre-empt decisions taken independently by the Reserve Bank. My job is to manage the budget responsibly, to deliver those big surpluses which the Reserve Bank governor has herself said is helping in the fight against inflation. But also to roll out this cost-of-living relief in a way that makes a meaningful difference in household budgets, but also puts downward pressure on prices in a way that the ABS has confirmed today is effective."
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Government figures show Australians are losing less annually to scammers than they did two years ago, however the situation on social media is getting worse.
Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones says scam losses amounted to over $2.7 billion last year, down from $3 billion the year before.
But scams originating on social media increased by 17 per cent.
In a speech to the National Press Club, Mr Jones says his government will roll out measures to penalise banks, telecommunication providers and digital platforms that don't implement checks to prevent scamming.
He says it's important to make the internet a safer place for Australians.
"The same platform that makes it quick and convenient to buy, say something on Amazon, or make an instant mobile phone banking payment, are the forces that can lead to an individual with equal speed losing everything. So the message is clear - if we want to lock in the benefits of a digital economy, then we have to address these harms, and Australians have to feel safe and secure in a modern economy."
—
In sport,
After days of delays and uncertainty, the women's and men's Olympic triathlon races will go ahead today, with swimming to take place in the River Seine.
Organisers say the latest tests show the water quality is now at above acceptable levels.
The men's race had been scheduled for Tuesday, but had to be delayed due to elevated levels of bacteria.
The Seine runs through the heart of Paris.
Swimming in the river was banned for nearly a century due to contamination.
