A daily 5 minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability.
At least 20-people have died and more than are 450 injured in Lebanon after devices including walkie-talkies, smartphones, and solar energy equipment blew up across the country.
The blasts appear to be a second wave of attacks after at least 12 people were killed and around 3,000 were injured yesterday after thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah blew up.
Hezbollah and the Lebanese Government are blaming Israel for the attacks, but the Israeli Government has refused to comment.
The Lebanese Health Minister says hospitals are dealing with a lot of casualties.
"What we have observed is that the vast majority of injuries are actually injuries to the face and the hand. we've seen alot of people who have practically lost their eyesight and probably the use of one their hands at least. The spectrum of patients coming to the emergency room was wide. We've seen children, including two have died."
Meanwhile, Israel's Defence minister Yoav Gallant says the country is "opening a new phase in the war", and the "centre of gravity is shifting to the north".
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The Federal Government has abstained from a United Nations vote calling on Israel to end its "unlawful presence" in the Palestinian Territories.
The resolution received 124 votes in favour while 43 countries - including Australia - abstained and Israel, the United States and 12 others voted no.
Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the wording of the resolution wasn't something Australia could support.
"We would have preferred to have been in a position where we could support a resolution that reflected the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion, and we worked very hard in New York with other countries to try and get changes to the resolution that would enable us to support it. We voted for two different resolutions over the last few months because we were able to get a set of words that we could support. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Nevertheless, we support the principle of self determination for the Palestinian people. "
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Australia's unemployment rate was unchanged over July to August and employers hired more people than predicted over the month.
The unemployment rate was steady at 4.2 per cent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The number of unemployed people fell by around 10,000, while the number of employed people grew by around 47,000, in August.
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The US central bank has cut interest rates by half a percentage point amid concerns about rising unemployment in the US.
It's the first cut in official borrowing costs since early 2020 after it reduced rates to near zero because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The official US borrowing rate now stands at 4.75-per cent to 5-per cent.
US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell says the pace of price rises is continuing to come down in North America because of higher interest rates.
"We come into this with a policy position that was put in place, as you know, I mentioned in July of 2023, which was a time of high inflation and very low unemployment. We've been very patient about reducing the policy rate. We've waited. Other central banks around the world have cut, many of them several times. We've waited. And I think that that patience has really paid dividends in the form of our confidence that inflation is moving sustainably under 2%."
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And in sport,
Totò Schillaci, one of Italian football's greatest stars of the 1990s, has died at the age of 59.
He was the surprise star of the 1990 World Cup, when he was the competition's leading goal scorer.
Coming on as substitute in Italy's first game, Schillaci went on to score six goals throughout the World Cup, helping Italy to a third place finish.
