Australia news LIVE: Second group of IS-linked families leave Syria for Australia, according to reports; Iran war and inflation hit jobs market as unemployment surges

A second group of Australian women and children with Islamic State links have left a camp in north-east Syria to return home, the ABC reports.

Overnight, the ABC reported witnessing buses at the al-Roj refugee camp to take the group to Damascus for onward flights.

Earlier this month, four women and nine children returned to Australia after spending years at the camp. Three of the women were arrested upon arrival and are separately facing charges including being a member of a terrorist organisation and crimes against humanity.

A total of 34 Australian women and children first attempted to leave the camp in February, but were turned back around 50 kilometres down the road.

Hello and welcome to our national news live blog for Friday, May 22. Here’s what is making news today.

• The Iran war, the surge in inflation and the Reserve Bank’s interest rate increases are starting to hit the jobs market. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported yesterday that the nation’s jobless rate lifted to 4.5 per cent from 4.3 per cent in April. It’s the highest unemployment rate since November 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Foreign Minister Penny Wong yesterday ordered the Israeli ambassador to Australia be hauled before the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to “reinforce” the government’s displeasure in a video posted by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting flotilla activists.
• The government announced a $7.2 million diphtheria support package yesterday, that Health Minister Mark Butler said will combat the biggest outbreak of the disease in Australia in decades.
• The prime minister has been repeatedly pressed on what his government is doing to support victims of domestic violence, after he was accused of dismissing women’s concerns in a radio interview earlier this week.
• Another group of Australian IS-linked women and children have departed a camp in north-eastern Syria, according to reporting by the ABC, and are believed to be on the way back to Australia.
• And abroad, an outbreak of a rare strain of the Ebola virus continues to spread through the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.