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SBS News in Easy English 17 April 2024

A high-angle photo shows a small inflatable boat with people in it, positioned next to a large whale. The whale is partially tangled in a fishing net, and a rescue effort appears to be underway.

Rescuers help a whale caught in a shark net off the coast of Queensland. Source: AAP / Jerome Delay

A five minute news bulletin for English language learners


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TRANSCRIPT

The operators of Westfield Bondi Junction say the complex will re-open tomorrow for a reflection day where there will be no trading.

Ellliot Rusanow from the Scentre Group says counsellors will be available to support people.

"The centre will open as a community reflection day. There will be no retail trade tomorrow Instead, the centre will be open for members of the community to visit the centre, to walk through the centre and to pay their respects. There will be counselling services available on site in order to provide resources to all who need."

The Israeli army has released footage showing what it says is a strike on a car in southern Lebanon that's killed a Hezbollah commander.

Hezbollah identified the commander killed in the strike near the coastal city of Tyre as Ismail Baz.

Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces have been exchanging fire since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.

Gaza's Health Ministry says an Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in Gaza has killed at least 11 people.

It says the Maghazi urban refugee camp was struck and the dead were taken to a nearby hospital.

This man lost family members in the strike.

"Oh people of the world, what is happening is wrong, have mercy on us, stop the war, stop the war, children are dying in the streets."

The health ministry says Israel's operation since October 7 has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 76,000.

Israel says it has killed over 12,000 militants during the war.

Police in Melbourne have arrested five children after being forced to ram a stolen car that had been driven a high speed across a number of suburbs.

The Black BMW was allegedly observed travelling at more than 190 kilometres per hour on a tollway known as East Link before it was rammed by police in East Melbourne.

Police say five boys were arrested.

They allege they were armed with machetes and had committed armed robberies across Melbourne's southern and eastern suburbs yesterday afternoon and on Monday night.

Police are investigating whether mushrooms or other potentially toxic substances are linked to the death of a woman who became ill after consuming a drink at a health retreat in the Victorian town of Clunes.

Rachael Dixon became ill in the early hours of Sunday after ingesting a drink at the venue on Saturday.

Two others were hospitalised.

A researcher who studies fungal diversity, Alistair McTaggart, has told Nine Radio if magic mushrooms are consumed, caution is required.

"So magic mushrooms evolved this psychedelic compound, probably as a form of slug poison but when people eat that slug poison, then they have a profound experience, a very rewarding experience and it's likely that people will continue to be doing magic mushrooms and that's why we're seeing the changes in legislation in Australia."

Politicians in the United Kingdom have voted to ban anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes, which effectively ensures it will become law.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill passed by 383 votes to 67.

Several Conservative MPs, including former prime minister Liz Truss, say it will limit personal freedom.

But the Health Secretary Victoria Atkins says the plan should create a "smoke free generation'.


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