Australia news LIVE: Online predators use gaming to target Aussie children; Reality TV star arrested over domestic violence charges

Beirut: The Saudi-backed government of Yemen on Sunday announced a major military campaign against the Houthi militia, a key Iranian ally, plunging the Middle East even deeper into war.

In a televised speech, Rashad al-Alimi, the leader of the internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government, said that the government was seeking to reclaim all territory it had lost to the Houthis over the past 12 years.

The government and the Houthis have been engaged in fierce battles in recent weeks, after the Iran-allied militia took control of the country’s Red Sea coast, increasing pressure on shipping routes and energy markets unsettled by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

The Houthis and Saudi Arabia, which supports the government financially and militarily, have also attacked each other directly.

Al-Alimi’s announcement appeared to eliminate any hope that a truce would be reached. In his speech, he said that the government’s military operations would continue “until the country is liberated.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Brazilians queued in long lines to vote on Sunday in the first round of a tight presidential election, following a campaign dominated by corruption scandals, economic anxiety and accusations of US meddling.

The field of 13 candidates has been led by two clear frontrunners — leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 80, who is seeking a fourth term, and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who hopes to return his father’s right-wing movement to power.

A victory for the senator would extend a wave of wins across Latin America by right-wing candidates aligned with US President Donald Trump, while Lula’s reelection could create a headache for Washington, which has clashed with his government over trade and security.

Despite growing worries over the public finances and sluggish economic growth of Brazil, the campaign has offered meager policy discussion, as both leading candidates skipped the major TV debates.

Reuters

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of national news for Monday, October 5. Here’s what is making headlines today.

• Sadistic and nihilistic online networks are using Australia’s most popular gaming platforms to coerce children into self-mutilating and committing violence against their siblings and pets, experts warn.

• Reality TV star and fitness guru Sam Wood is behind bars in Queensland after being charged with alleged domestic violence offences in Noosa. Queensland Police said they had charged a 46-year-old Victorian man with assault occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence) and strangulation in a domestic setting after they were called to an address in Noosa on Saturday at around 9pm.

• The federal government has thrown down a challenge to state premiers over the rampant illicit tobacco trade, dangling fresh cash and pointing to Queensland’s dramatic crackdown as a blueprint for the rest of the country.

• Tenants who rely on credit cards to pay their rent could soon be forced into arrears, advocates warn, after a major rental payment platform blocked the method of payment in response to a new ban on card surcharge fees.