- Tsunami hits Russia and Japan after 8.8 magnitude earthquake
- Young man arrested for firebombing Melbourne synagogue
- Mitch Owen is set to play his first O-D-I for Australia after stunning T-20 debut against West Indies.
A tsunami, triggered by a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck off Russia's far east, has now hit coastal areas of Russia's Kuril Islands and Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.
Several people were injured in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan's eastern seaboard - which was devastated by a powerful earthquake and tsunami in 2011 - was ordered to evacuate.
The first tsunami wave hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on the Kuril Islands, according to local officials.
Tsunami warnings were also in place for Alaska, Hawaii and other coasts south toward New Zealand.
Hawaiian authorities have urged residents to evacuate low-lying coastal areas with the Mayor of Honolulu, Rick Blangiardi, urging residents to take the warnings seriously.
“We would not be doing this if just wasn't the most serious at this point in time. So please take this very seriously. And don’t, don't go down to the beach. Don't be looking at waves. Get yourself as high as you possibly can.”
A young man has been arrested, accused of playing a direct role in what police say was a "politically-motivated" firebombing attack on a synagogue.
Counter-terrorism police say the 21-year-old man is one-of-three people responsible for the arson attack at Melbourne's Adass Israel Synagogue.
There's been mounting pressure for police to make further arrests over the December 2024 fire, which destroyed two of the synagogue's three buildings.
Two congregants who were preparing for morning prayers escaped the blaze, with one suffering minor injuries.
Police expect further arrests and additional charges are anticipated.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has thanked the Jewish community for their patience amid the police investigation.
Protesters have disrupted Question Time in Parliament calling for sanctions against Israel as pressure mounts on the federal government's response to the crisis in Gaza.
It comes as the Prime Minister has condemned Israel for restricting access to food in Gaza and the killing of hundreds of aid-seekers.
But he has been increasingly agitated by the Greens and others who have asked why the Australian government haven't levied equivalent sanctions on Israel as those taken against Russia following their invasion of Ukraine.
RANIA: "Why haven't you imposed sanctions on the broader Israeli government?"
ALBANESE: "Well what we haven't done is go for slogans, frankly. I mean, which is the sanction that you would like?"
RANIA: "It's not what I would like. What people have been calling for are sanctions on the broader Israeli government."
ALBANESE: "They don't call for that, that's the point."
The Australian Federal Police is reporting a 17 per cent rise in exit trafficking cases from 2022–23 to 2023–24, with nearly a quarter of all human trafficking complaints in the past two years linked to it.
Exit trafficking involves sending someone overseas under the false promise of return, while the offender deliberately prevents their return and can in some cases involved forced marriage or other types of control.
The Queensland-based Bangle Foundation supports victims of domestic violence, particularly women from South Asian backgrounds.
Director Yasmin Khan told SBS Urdu that there needs to be more education about the dangers of exit trafficking.
"Women also need to be educated that you being controlled like that or told that you're not allowed to leave the house or that you're not allowed to study or that you're not allowed to work and, if you do work, all your money's got to go into my account, you can't have a bank account and you can't ring your parents: that's not on. You are an independent woman that's got her own mind and her own agency, and you can study and you can work, and the laws of this land allows you to do that and the laws of your religion allow you to do that. Then he shouldn't have that control over you. So women need to smarten up as well."
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is celebrating new data showing both headline and underlying inflation have fallen to four-year lows in the June quarter, paving the way for interest rate cuts.
The Australian Buraeu of Statistics report shows trimmed mean inflation of 0.6 per cent in the June quarter and in line with economists' expectations.
Over the year, underlying inflation rose 2.7 per cent, down from an annualised 2.9 per cent in the March quarter.
The last time the trimmed mean was that low was in December 2021.
Mr Chalmers says the new data proves the drop in inflation into the Reserve Bank of Australia's target range is sustained and resilient.
In cricket,
Big-hitting allrounder Mitch Owen is set to play his first one-day-international [[O-D-I]] for Australia after making a stunning T-20 debut against the West Indies.
The Hobart Hurricanes hero has been selected in both of Australia's white-ball squads for their upcoming matches against South Africa in Darwin, Cairns and Mackay.
On his debut, the 23-year-old smashed a powerful fifty last week against the West Indies, averaging 41.66 runs over four matches.
It has been a rapid rise for Owen since last December, going from a virtual unknown before the Big Bash League started to now being an important part of Australia's cricket future.
