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Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Tee Mitchell.
Almost three million workers in Australia will receive a wage increase of 4.75 per cent.
The Fair Work Commission will raise the minimum wage from $24.95 to $26.44 per hour for from next month.
Unions had asked for an increase of 6 percent, while the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry requested a 3.5 per cent rise.
The pay rise is expected to help narrow the gender pay gap, because women often work in lower paid, casual or part-time jobs.
Justice Adam Hatcher is the President of the Fair Work Commission.
"We have concluded regrettably that it would not be practicable or responsible in the current uncertain circumstances to award a real wage increase for employees who are reliant on modern award wage rates that would be sufficient to close the real wage gap entirely. However, we consider that we should at least ensure that Modern Award reliant employments are generally not worse off in real times, then they were at 1 July 2025."
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Oxfam has released an analysis showing the richest 20 Australians now hold more wealth than the poorest 3 million households.
They looked at the 2026 Australian Financial Review Rich List and found there are now 178 billionaires in Australia.
Together, those billionaires are worth more than $686 billion.
Oxfam says their collective health has been increasing by around $50,000 per minute.
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Australia will impose new sanctions against three Israeli individuals and four entities.
The sanctions are designed to discourage violence from so-called settlers in the West Bank.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says farming outposts have been targeted for the first time.
She says the decision was taken in coordination with New Zealand.
Australia has previously sanctioned Israeli government ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
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A cruise ship that was at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak has been disinfected and is ready to set sail again with passengers.
The ship's owner, Oceanwide Expeditions, says it will depart on Saturday for a trip to the Norwegian Arctic.
From there, the ship is due to set off on June 13 on a voyage through the Arctic Ocean.
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The United States President Donald Trump says he has brokered a deal to de-escalate the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
He says Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to stop attacking each other, but fighting has continued in southern Lebanon.
Israel had been stepping up its attacks on Hezbollah, and threatened to attack Beirut, Lebanon's largest city.
Mr Trump said he believes a broader deal with Iran, which is allied to Hezbollah, could be reached within days.
But former assistant US secretary of state for political-military affairs, Mark Kimmitt says he is more sceptical.
"I certainly hope so, but I wouldn't bet next month's pay cheque on it - every time he says there's going to be a deal next week the Iranians kind of pocket that and say let’s now give him a deal next week, they're doing everything they can to make him look bad."
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The James Boag brewery in Launceston will close in November after more than 140 years.
The owner, Lion, said the decision was due to a long-term decline in national beer sales and rising costs.
The brewery will shift its production from Tasmania to mainland Australia, and the move will impact 42 jobs.
Thanks for listening to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Tee Mitchell.
