Telstra restores most services after a nationwide outage, Pacific leaders unite against China's missile test, Switzerland fans celebrate a first World Cup quarter-final since 1954.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Telstra restores most services after a nationwide outage...
- Pacific leaders unite against China's missile test...
- Switzerland fans celebrate a first World Cup quarter-final since 1954
Telstra says most services are back online after a nationwide outage disrupted calls, mobile data and payment systems.
The company says the outage was caused by a fault in its network. The cause is still under investigation, but there's no evidence of malicious activity.
The outage disrupted rail services, EFTPOS terminals and some government services, while some Triple Zero callers were also affected.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described the outage as deeply concerning, while Telstra has apologised to customers.
SBS spoke to Telstra customers affected by the outage.
Male voxie 1: "Tried to get a limebike I couldn't."
Male voxie 2: "Just about to duck over to the Telstra shop to try and find out. Reporter: Has it been offline today today? Well it was earlier but now I can't make calls."
Male voxie 3: "Oh it's been a little bit hard to get through, I had a specialist appointment I needed to try and cancel and couldn't call them."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Pacific Islands Forum leaders are drafting a strongly worded statement in response to China's missile test earlier this week.
China test-fired a long-range missile with a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean on Monday.
Mr Albanese says the Rarotonga Treaty, which establishes a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the South Pacific, makes the issue particularly important to regional leaders.
"Pacific of course derives from the word peace. So it is appropriate that Pacific leaders issue a strong statement. The Pacific - we want to be responsible for our security. Pacific leaders coming together to provide security for our own region - as members of the Pacific family."
The US military says it has struck more than 80 targets in its latest attacks on Iran, after accusing Tehran of attacking three ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command says the targets included air defence systems, radar sites and more than 60 small boats used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
Washington has also revoked Iran's ability to openly sell crude oil on world markets, raising fresh doubts about an interim agreement to halt the fighting.
Iran has vowed a decisive response, warning it will not allow outside interference in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Reserve Bank says more frequent global shocks could make inflation harder to control.
Speaking at the Australian Conference of Economists in Canberra, Chief Economist Sarah Hunter says conflicts, trade tensions and climate change are creating more persistent supply disruptions.
She says those longer-lasting shocks may require central banks to respond sooner, rather than waiting for inflation to ease on its own.
"If the shock is expected to be more persistent it is likely to have larger impacts and create greater risk of inflation expectations shifting and policy may come in to play while the shock infusing the inflations. In this world it might not be right for monetary policy to look through."
Farmers in Georgia are reviving ancient wheat varieties that nearly disappeared under Soviet farming policies.
The country is one of the world's oldest wheat-growing regions, but many traditional grains were pushed aside when Georgia was turned towards cash crops.
Conservation groups say the heritage wheats are more resilient to harsh weather and disease, making them valuable as climate change threatens food security.
Lali Meshki, from the Association of Georgian Wheat Growers, says they deserve protection.
"Yes, we, Georgia, have to give a part of our land to grow heritage wheats, to preserve them, to safeguard them because they are the treasure, not only for Georgia but for the world."
In football,
Fans supporting Switzerland are celebrating the country's progression to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1954.
Switzerland beat Colombia 4-3 in the shootout to advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face defending champions Argentina on Sunday
Watching the game in Sydney, this football fan has told SBS, it was a tense game.
"The world you can't believe it. It is unbelievable. It is from the heart. It is there. My heart is racing. I almost had three heart attacks there. It means the world for Switzerland. It means the world for the boys. We had a few injuries going into it. But we did the job, we got it done."
These fans supporting Colombia, say they're sad but proud of the team.
"It was very exciting to just watch Colombia. Unfortunately, we lost. It was a 50-50 chance for us. We knew it was a hard one. But we're happy that we came to here. It was really tough. You know it (penalty shootout) is not our strength. So we already knew that coming to penalties it was going to be really hard for Colombia. Either or we are going to lose or it was going to be a challenging one."
