SBS News in Easy English 5 November 2025

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TRANSCRIPT:

Tobacconists across New South Wales could be shut down on the spot as a major crackdown on illegal tobacco and vaping begins.

Under new NSW Health powers, shops caught selling unlicensed or illegal products can be closed for 90 days, or up to a year for serious breaches.

Two stores in St Leonards have already been raided, with nearly 4,000 illegal cigarettes and 200 vapes seized.

New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park says anyone breaking the law will be caught.

Since January, NSW Health has seized almost 12 million cigarettes and 170,000 illegal vapes, and warns this is only the beginning.

Foodbank Australia is urging the government to introduce a national tax incentive to encourage farmers to donate excess produce rather than waste it.

Chief executive and former independent M-P, Kylea Tink, says similar schemes in the U-S and Germany have proven effective and should be used in Australia.

She says the country already produces enough food to feed its population three times over, but needs a better system to get it into people’s hands.

Each year, Australian farmers discard enough food to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground nine times, while millions of households struggle to afford groceries.

Foreign volunteers have joined Palestinian farmers in the West Bank to help with the olive harvest amid rising settler violence.

In Kafr Malik, near Ramallah, farmers say the presence of international supporters offers rare protection from harassment and attacks.

Local leaders say assaults on farmers have intensified this season, as settlers target groves near contested roads and villages.

Olive farmer Omar Al-Ghani says the volunteers’ presence makes a crucial difference.

"We are here in our olive groves because they come to help us, lift our spirits, and stand with us, making us feel more secure with their presence. If the army or settlers come and no one from outside is with us, then we have no rights. As long as these people are with us, they hold back a little and give us a bit more rights, not much, just a little more."

The Republican Party has been paying tribute to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84.

Mr Cheney was a conservative who became one of the most powerful vice presidents and a leading advocate for the invasion of Iraq.

He led the armed forces as defence chief during the Persian Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush before returning to public life as vice president under the younger President Bush.

Senator John Barrasso says Mr Cheney was a towering figure.

"His unflinching leadership shaped many of the biggest moments in domestic and U.S. foreign policy for decades. Dick is going to be remembered as a towering figure who helped guide the course of history, certainly in Wyoming and also in the United States and, of course, around the world. "

Novak Djokovic has overcome Alejandro Tabilo for the first time to reach the last eight at the Hellenic Championship in Athens.

Chilean Tabilo, ranked 89th in the world, had beaten the 24-time grand slam singles champion in both of their previous meetings, which came on clay in Rome last year and Monte Carlo in April.

The Telekom Center crowd offered constant support for the Serb, who moved with his family to Athens earlier this year.

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