TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
- The United States calls for restraint in the Middle East;
- Human remains found inside a crocodile in far north Queensland;
- And in AFL, Richmond's Dustin Martin retires.
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says there's non-stop diplomacy taking place to try to prevent an escalation of hostilities in the Middle East.
His comments came ahead of a rocket attack on a military base in western Iraq that's injured several US personnel.
Iran is promising to retaliate against Israel for the killing of the Hamas political chief in Tehran last week.
Israel is yet to comment on the attack.
Mr Blinken says all sides must make concessions.
"We are engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much around the clock with a very simple message. All parties must refrain from escalation, all parties must take steps to ease tensions. Escalation is not in anyone's interest. It will only lead to more conflict, more violence, more insecurity."
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Police in far north Queensland have confirmed human remains have been found inside a crocodile at Cooktown after it was euthanased by rangers.
The rangers targeted the crocodile which has a distinctive scar near its snout as part of the search for a missing 40 year-old man.
It's believed the man had been fishing with his wife and children at Annan River Bridge on Saturday afternoon when he fell into the water, and failed to resurface.
Police said formal identification is under way, with the search and rescue operation suspended.
The reptile was located in a creek 4 kilometres upstream from the suspected attack.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
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Economists are predicting the Reserve Bank will not lift interest rates today.
The RBA Board will reveal this afternoon whether or not if will keep the official cash rate at 4.35 per cent.
Data released last week showed the annual rate of inflation increased one per cent in the June quarter to 3.8 per cent.
Betashares Chief Economist David Bassanese has told the ABC that should be enough to convince the central bank not to increase the cash rate.
"Only a week ago we were fearing the RBA could raise rates today because of the June quarter inflation numbers that we got last week but happily those numbers weren't as bad as we feared so it's ruled out that rate increase."
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Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy has resigned from the territory's police union after it criticised him over his apology to Indigenous people at the Garma Festival.
The Northern Territory Police Association says it wasn't consulted about the apology and claimed it was not the role of the police to assess the success or otherwise of Federal Government-directed policies such as Closing the Gap, the Stolen Generation and the Intervention, as the commissioner has done.
During his apology, Commissioner Murphy said he was "deeply sorry" for "harms and injustices caused by members of the NT police" since it was founded in 1870.
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Queensland Premier Steven Miles says the state will establish 12 state-owned petrol stations if it's re-elected at the October poll.
Fuel prices will be capped to five cent a litre increases per day under the scheme.
The election promise comes a day after the state introduced a six-month trial of 50 cent public transport fares.
Mr Miles and his government have budgeted multiple cost-of-living tailored packages for the financial year, forecasting a $2.6 billion budget deficit for 2024-25 because of its spending splurge.
These include $1,000 energy rebates to every household, 20 per cent off car registration and the 50 cent public transport fares.
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In AFL,
Richmond's Dustin Martin has retired, putting an end to his 15-year career.
The 33-year-old played 302 games and kicked 338 goals.
