What’s making headlines today
Hello and welcome to our live news coverage for Thursday, July 16. I’m Clare Sibthorpe and I’ll be keeping you up to date with all the headlines. Here’s what’s making news so far.
US strikes Iran again as Tehran warns of ‘existential war’: The US has launched another wave of strikes on Iran’s coastal defences and missile sites after reimposing a naval blockade of its ports, while Iran has threatened to shut off more regional energy exports, saying it is engaged in an “existential war” with America.
Revealed: The optometrists punished for putting patients before sales: Optometrists are being pressured to hit sales targets, rush consults and turn away clinical appointments during peak spending periods at multimillion-dollar optometry chains that their employees say prioritise profits over health.
Malcolm Roberts faces fresh condemnation for over notorious antisemitic mural post: A 2024 post made on X in May 2024 has drawn fresh condemnation from Jewish leaders after the One Nation senator continued to promote a string of conspiracy theories laced with antisemitic tropes, including the continued use of “globalist parasites” and claiming climate change was driven by policies “cabal” of “the major banking families in the world”.
Stoush over whether burning waste for energy is renewable: A heated dispute has erupted in the renewable energy sector over whether generating electricity from incinerating waste should count as clean energy, with one of the peak bodies slamming it as dirty and deceptive.
‘Shameful’: Spender says Roberts should resign over anti-Semitic post
Independent MP Allegra Spender said One Nation leader Pauline Hanson should demand Senator Malcolm Roberts’ resignation.
“It’s shameful that one of One Nation’s most senior MPs should endorse and share this notorious anti-Semitic slur,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Will Pauline Hanson or [One Nation MP] Barnaby Joyce ever hold him to account?”
Meanwhile, Joyce distanced himself from conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic tropes peddled by Roberts.
Trump thanks Iran’s ‘goodwill’ over US citizen release
Donald Trump expressed appreciation for the country he is at war with on Wednesday, saying Iran has allowed an American who was “wrongfully detained” under the Biden administration in 2024 to leave the country.
“She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition. The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The woman was identified as US-Iranian citizen Dena Karari in a statement by her lawyer, who said Karari ran a charity for children.
The lawyer said Karari had “been trapped in Iran on bogus charges of collaboration with a hostile state and espionage.”
“While subject to a coercive exit ban, she was interrogated dozens of times by Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and although never physically detained, she suffered enormous physical and psychological hardship.”
With Reuters
Evacuations in Texas as storms swamp the region
There were widening evacuation warnings and high-water rescues in Texas on Wednesday under relentlessly heavy storms that turned roads into rivers, washed away vehicles and spun up a tornado across a busy interstate highway in San Antonio.
Emergency services have participated in rescues of more than 40 people so far, mostly in the Uvalde County area, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesperson.
Forecasters warned that already dangerous conditions were likely to worsen in some hard-hit communities. The deluge dumped nearly 30 centimetres of rain in some areas and put people in dozens of counties under flood watches, including parts of the Texas Hill Country, where last summer’s devastating floods killed more than 100 people. Some of the flood watches were expected to remain in effect through Friday evening.
The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down in the northwestern part of San Antonio near Interstate 10. Videos posted on social media showed what appeared to be a small twister. Apartment buildings and other properties were damaged, local officials said.
There have been no reports of deaths or injuries from the tornado or the flooding.
AP
Where are the latest US strikes on Iran?
According to US Central Command (Centcom), a wave of strikes beginning at 5am on Thursday (AEST) targeted Iranian coastal defence systems, and cruise-missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier, Iranian media reported that a projectile had hit a location on Hengam Island in the strait as the US carried out a round of rare daylight attacks.
Iran’s Mehr news agency said four locations were hit around the city of Ahvaz, just inland from the northern end of the Persian Gulf, as well as Bandar Abbas, Iran’s principal port city on the Strait of Hormuz. No casualties were reported, Mehr said.
Explosions were heard in Konarak city, at the southern end of Iran on the Gulf of Oman, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said, while US projectiles also hit near Sirik and Qeshm in southern Iran, according to Iran’s semi-official media.
On Wednesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched retaliatory missile strikes at US military facilities in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain. State media said logistics, fuel and military equipment facilities used by the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain were among the targets.
‘Pretty dire’: Oil rises again as Hormuz attacks threaten supply
Oil climbed for a fourth day as the US continued its attacks on Iran in a bid to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
West Texas Intermediate traded above $80 a barrel, after adding 11 per cent in the previous three sessions, while Brent closed below $85. The US launched more airstrikes on Iran on Wednesday, and said it disabled an unladen oil tanker headed for a port in the OPEC+ member.
Crude has soared to its highest price in about a month as the escalation in the conflict revives concerns over flows from the energy-rich region, erasing part of a roughly 30 per cent slump in the second quarter. Meanwhile, near-daily Ukrainian strikes on Russian fuel-producing plants and tankers further threaten global supply.
“So not only have we now lost all of the Straits of Hormuz again, but we have also lost the crude oil and the refineries in Russia,” Jeff Currie, a senior adviser at Carlyle Group Inc., said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “The situation in energy, I would argue, is pretty dire.”
Bloomberg
AI plan is about sovereignty and control: PM
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the country is trying to “avoid a free-for-all” over the use of Australian content to train artificial intelligence models.
“This is about our sovereignty. It is about our control and people’s creativity is, of course, their property, effectively, and if you have property used without consent and without payment, then that is a form of theft,” Albanese told ABC Radio Sydney this morning.
“We will examine whatever is necessary to protect the interests of creatives effectively.”
The comments came after Albanese yesterday tried to grab hold of the fast-moving debate over AI in a speech at Sydney University.
Watch the US defence secretary reveal plans to test soldiers for testosterone
Earlier this morning, our North America correspondent Michael Koziol flagged that American soldiers will undergo testosterone level screening to ensure the US military is a “high-T” environment.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth framed the initiative – which will form part of the annual health assessment for soldiers aged 30 and over and be voluntary for those under 30 – as “taking care of your long-term health … ensuring you remain strong, resilient, and capable”.
Here’s his full speech announcing the move:
Non-stop test flight from France to land in Melbourne
A test plane of Project Sunrise, Qantas’ bid to launch the world’s longest non-stop commercial flights, will fly from Toulouse in France to Melbourne to arrive on Friday, July 24.
The A350-1000ULR, filled with sensitive test equipment, will make the journey of more than 20 hours from the Airbus factory as “part of [its] ongoing test flight program”, said a source with knowledge of the flight.
The plane, with the Airbus test registration F-WULR, contains specially designed monitoring equipment to evaluate its performance across various conditions and flight types. Its seats are fitted with piping which imitate both the weight and heat of passengers. It also has engineering monitoring stations to measure how the plane responds to various stresses.
Melburnians will be particularly pleased with the visit, after Qantas revealed last month that it doesn’t intend to base the A350, specially modified for ultra-long haul flight, out of Melbourne.
AI sector will go overseas ‘where they are not so stupid’: Joyce
Australia’s electricity prices and the Albanese government’s commitment to net zero will hamper the prime minister’s AI ambitions, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce says.
“How are you going to do it with some of the dearest electricity in the world?” Joyce asked on ABC radio earlier this morning, referring to the PM’s plan to encourage AI investment while protecting jobs, housing and the environment.
“These will be the most unaffordable data centres in the world. They might get built, but they are not going to be competitive.”
Joyce said he suspected AI developers will turn elsewhere after the government passes its proposed AI regulations early next year.
“I think what you’ll see in Australia is sort of residual capacity built, but the main game will be somewhere else where they are not so stupid as to try and run a nation on intermittent power, solar panels, wind towers.”
PM appears to duck ACTU’s push for mandatory AI consultation
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has suggested workplace AI consultations will be baked into enterprise bargaining agreements and not next year’s AI legislation.
The PM was asked on the ABC’s 7.30 program last night whether he supported the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ call for workers to be consulted before AI-induced changes are introduced to their workplace.
In response, Albanese said enterprise bargaining “of course occurs and … that encourages employers and employees to work together”.
“I don’t sit in those negotiations,” he said. “[But] I support the concept that businesses and unions are always better off – and businesses which are most successful – are ones that bring their workforce with them, including on the journey of change.”
Albanese said AI was already having an impact on many workplaces, including the ABC.
“I’m encouraging workers to recognise that artificial intelligence is happening. Change is happening. And they have an interest in shaping that change because, if not, then they don’t get a say,” he said.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
