Iran denies involvement in drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan; farmers block highways in France to protest financial insecurity, and in football, Socceroos coach Graham Arnold says the team is playing with more freedom as they proceed through the Asian Cup.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Iran denies involvement in drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan.
- Farmers block highways in France to protest financial insecurity.
- Socceroos coach Graham Arnold says the team is playing with more freedom as they proceed through the Asian Cup.
Iran’s foreign ministry has denied the United States' accusation it was responsible for the drone strike that killed three American troops and injured dozens more in northeast Jordan, near the Syrian border.
President Biden had blamed Iran-backed groups for the unmanned aerial drone attack on U-S forces, the first fatal strike against the force since the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted in October and sent shockwaves across the Middle East.
Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has referred to the claims as baseless.
"Resistance groups across the region do not take orders from the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran, while it does not welcome expansion of conflicts in the region, doesn't interfere in decision-making by resistance groups on ways of supporting the Palestinian people or defending themselves and their own people against aggression and occupation. We are not seeking tensions even with America, inside or outside the region."
President Biden has ordered retaliatory attacks on Iran-backed groups but has stopped short of hitting Iran directly for fear of igniting a broader war in the Middle East.
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Israel has launched an assault on Gaza's main northern city weeks after recently pulling back, exacerbating an aid crisis following a withdrawal of support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Residents of Gaza City say they have been forced to grind animal feed for flour, with essential aid under threat after several countries paused funding for UNRWA over Israeli allegations 12 of its staff were involved in Hamas' October 7 attacks.
The European Commission has said it will review whether to continue funding after EU members including Germany and Italy joined the US in cutting support.
EU Commission Spokesperson Eric Mamer says the bloc, as a major donor, wants to see the allegations "investigated and clarified".
"At the same time, of course, we recognise fully that aid to Palestinians in this particularly difficult context for them in Gaza and the West Bank, from a humanitarian point of view, needs to continue and therefore we need to be able to combine both of these dimensions effectively."
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French farmers have blocked a highway to Paris with a wall of hay, during a day of blockades across the country's major highways.
The protests are pressuring the government to do more to help farmers compete with cheap imports, battle inflation and make a living.
Other countries including Germany and Poland have seen similar protests ahead of European Parliament elections in June, as support for far-right parties grows.
The French government says new measures to help farmers will be announced this week.
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A woman has been seriously injured in a shark attack while swimming in Sydney's east.
The woman in her late twenties was bitten on the right leg by a suspected bull shark in Elizabeth Bay on Monday night.
New South Wales ambulance says paramedics attended to the woman after she managed to swim to a jetty and was given first aid by a local veterinarian.
She was transported to St Vincent's Hospital in critical condition after major blood loss.
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Australians have been assured no changes will be made to real estate investor tax advantages following an unexpected rework of the stage three tax cuts.
With the federal government gearing up to promote its redesigned tax package, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been under pressure to confirm that there will be no more tax policy reversals.
Mr Chalmers has said there is no plan to revisit Labor's 2019 election policy and change negative gearing or other tax breaks for real estate investors.
“We're not contemplating or considering resurrecting the policies that we talked to the 2019 election. Our focus when it comes to tax and housing has been on incentivising the build to rent properties with the tax breaks that I budgeted for in the May budget. We have changed our view on income tax cuts because we found a better way to give a bigger tax cut, no more people to help with the cost of living.”
The Treasurer has acknowledged the need to improve the efficiency of current tax arrangements for first-time home buyers.
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In football, Socceroos coach Graham Arnold believes his players are starting to play with more freedom at the perfect moment in the Asian Cup.
Arnold made the comments after the Australian squad advanced to the quarter-finals with a 4-0 victory against Indonesia.
"The boys have been working hard at training and as I said to you and I haven't practiced once defensively since England, it's been all about you know attacking patterns and and you know, penetrating rounds and getting men in the box and when to get the boys start believing it, then it starts working defensively we left a few gaps in the first half that I fixed up at half time. But look overall that goes out the way and we move forward."
Australia's largest win yet in Doha has set up a mega matchup with either South Korea or Saudi Arabia.
