TRANSCRIPT
- The High Court hears a legal challenge against indefinite detention
- The UK to ban smoking for people born after 2009
- And an AFL player sidelined for a homophobic slur vents about the penalty on his wife's podcast
Homes Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil says the government is prepared for whatever decision the High Court makes as it considers another immigration case that could have ramifications for others.
Lawyers for an Iranian man, who is refusing to cooperate with efforts to deport him, will go before the court today and call for his release into the community.
The man arrived by boat more than a decade ago and he says if he's deported to Iran, he'll be persecuted because he identifies as bisexual.
Clare O'Neil has told Channel 7 the government is prepared.
"We have very strongly argued that we should be allowed to continue to detain this person. I can tell your views, of course, that we are prepared for every eventuality in terms of what decision is made about this but please understand at the moment we are empowered to keep that person in detention and he is in detention."
And lawyers for the man have told the court his removal from Australia is not practical for the foreseeable future.
The government will put its arguments to the court this afternoon.
The Israeli army has released footage showing what it says is a strike on a car in southern Lebanon that's killed a Hezbollah commander.
It comes as the Lebanese state-run National News Agency reported an Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed a Hezbollah commander and wounded two others, while another strike later in a nearby area inflicted casualties.
Hezbollah identified the commander killed in the strike near the coastal city of Tyre as Ismail Baz.
The Israeli military said Baz served as a senior and veteran official in several positions of Hezbollah's military wing.
It added that as part of his position, Ismail was involved in the promotion and planning of rocket and anti-tank missile launches toward Israel from the coastal area of Lebanon.
Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces have been exchanging fire since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.
Nearly 260 Hezbollah members and about 50 civilians have been killed on the Lebanese side of the border since then.
The fighting has killed nine civilians and 11 soldiers in Israel.
Police are investigating whether mushrooms or other potentially toxic substances are linked to the death of a woman who became ill after consuming a drink at a health retreat in the Victorian town of Clunes.
The 53-year-old Rachael Dixon became ill in the early hours of Sunday after ingesting a drink at the venue on Saturday.
Two others were hospitalised.
A researcher who studies fungal diversity, Alistair McTaggart, has told Nine Radio if magic mushrooms are consumed, caution is required.
"So magic mushrooms evolved this psychedelic compound, probably as a form of slug poison but when people eat that slug poison, then they have a profound experience, a very rewarding experience and it's likely that people will continue to be doing magic mushrooms and that's why we're seeing the changes in legislation in Australia."
Politicians in the United Kingdom have voted to ban anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes, which effectively ensures it will become law.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill passed by 383 votes to 67.
Several Conservative MPs, including former prime minister Liz Truss, say it will limit personal freedom.
But the Health Secretary Victoria Atkins says the plan should create a "smoke free generation'.
"Here in the United Kingdom, almost one hospital admission a minute is the human cost of smoking. Smoking leaves people with premature dementia, it puts them in care attached to oxygen for the rest of their life. It increases the risk of stillbirth by almost 50 per cent. It will not affect current smokers' rights or entitlements in any way."
A cattle property in outback Queensland will be turned into a national park after one of the largest philanthropic donations for protected land in Australia.
The purchase of Vergemont Station near Longreach will conserve nearly 350,000 hectares, after a $21 million donation from an anonymous philanthropist.
The acquisition by the Queensland government was completed with the support of The Nature Conservancy, to which the donation was made.
The working cattle farm is a habitat for the elusive and endangered night parrot, the vulnerable yellow-footed rock wallaby and threatened Opalton grasswren.
It also sits at the headwaters of the Lake Eyre Basin, one of Queensland's most important inland river catchments.
In AFL,
Port Adelaide forward Jeremy Finlayson has expressed his frustration with the three-match suspension handed to him by the AFL for making a homophobic slur.
While he has apologised multiple times, he has since vented about the penalty during an episode of his wife Kellie Finlayson's podcast.
In a segment where the hosts and guests highlight their "good, bad and offensive" talking points for the
week, Finlayson said his 'offensive' is it that he is pissed off that he got a three-week suspension.
