EU President to visit Australia after Middle East ‘wake-up call’
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Australia next week where she is expected to sign a long-awaited free trade agreement between the EU and Australia.
The president will be in Australia from Monday to Wednesday, and will meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday in Canberra.
“I look forward to welcoming President von der Leyen to Australia and continuing discussions to further expand our cooperation. Australia and Europe are friends and partners, working together to advance peace, security and economic prosperity,” Albanese said in a statement.
War could push inflation past 5 per cent, scar economy for years
Inflation could push beyond 5 per cent due to higher oil prices caused by the war against Iran, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will warn with fears the war could scar the Australian economy for years.
In a speech to Australian Business Economists tomorrow, Chalmers will reveal preliminary Treasury modelling of the impact of high-priced oil on economic growth and inflation.
He will say that if oil stays around $US100 a barrel before falling back to its pre-war level, it would mean “the prospect of inflation peaking in the high 4s or even higher this year is very real”.
But if oil reaches $US120 a barrel and then takes three years to fall back to its pre-conflict level, inflation is likely to push towards 5.5 per cent or even higher.
Iran continues to strike Gulf states
Across Wednesday, new attacks have been reported in multiple Gulf countries, including on Saudi Arabia’s vast Eastern Province, which is home to many of its oil fields, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia shot down a ballistic missile targeting the area of the Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts American forces and aircraft.
Gulf Arab states have faced more than 2000 missile and drone attacks on US diplomatic missions and military bases, as well as oil infrastructure, ports, airports, ships and residential and commercial buildings, and most of them aimed at the United Arab Emirates.
Among these was the Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE, where Australian military personnel are stationed. The ADF and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have both said there was only minor damage and no injuries from this missile attack.
Iran exporting millions of oil barrels despite war
About 90 ships including oil tankers have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since the outset of the war with Iran and it is still exporting millions of barrels of oil at a time when the waterway has been effectively closed, according to maritime and trade data platforms.
Many of the vessels that passed through the strait were so-called “dark” transits evading Western government sanctions and oversight that likely have ties to Iran, maritime data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence said.
More recently, vessels with ties to India and Pakistan have also successfully crossed the strait as governments stepped up negotiations.
As crude prices spiked above $100 a barrel, US President Donald Trump pressured allies and trade partners to send warships and reopen the strait, hoping to bring oil prices lower.
Iran executes man convicted of spying for Israel
Iran had executed a man convicted of spying for Israel, the Iranian judiciary’s media outlet Mizan said on Wednesday.
The man, identified as Kurosh Keyvani, had been convicted of providing Israel’s spy agency Mossad with pictures and information about sensitive locations in Iran, it said.
Iran, one of the world’s top executioners, long has killed people convicted of spying charges in closed-door hearings where they can’t fully contest the cases against them.
Reuters
Aussie shares climb on steady oil price, rate outlook
Australia’s share market has logged a second session of gains on easing oil prices, and as the Reserve Bank’s recent split interest rate decision softened the outlook for future hikes.
Oil prices faded by 2.4 per cent during the session, after Iraqi and Kurdish authorities agreed to resume crude exports via Turkey’s Ceyhan port, providing an alternative to the effectively halted Strait of Hormuz.
AAP
Japan’s leader faces tightrope walk as she prepares to visit Trump
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visits the White House on Thursday for meetings that offer US President Donald Trump a chance to lean on a key security partner for support in his Iran war, threatening to strain a decades-old alliance.
Takaichi is the first major ally set for face-to-face talks with Trump since he demanded that Japan, Australia and other nations send ships to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz waterway, largely closed by Iran in the conflict.
Japanese officials involved in the preparations said Takaichi had hoped to remind Trump of the dangers posed by a regionally assertive China prior to his visit there. That visit was initially planned for near the end of March but is now delayed.
In the past 24 hours, Trump has vacillated between chiding allies for their reticence to saying he does not need them, calling out those such as Japan and Australia, that rely on the United States for their own defence and depend heavily on crude supplies through Hormuz.
Plan to ban IRGC symbols reaches NSW parliament
People publicly displaying symbols associated with a state sponsor of terrorism and a radical Islamist group could be imprisoned for two years.
Legislation introduced on Wednesday to NSW parliament expands bans on terrorist symbols to all prohibited organisation symbols, capturing those affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and recently outlawed hate group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Waving flags or wearing clothes with their insignia will be punishable with a prison sentence of up to two years, a $22,000 fine or both, and $110,000 for corporations.
NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said the Labor-drafted bill follows in the federal government’s footsteps, aimed at holding extremists to account.
In pictures: The latest Israeli strikes on Lebanon
Images have begun to arrive of the latest Israeli bombardment on Lebanon.
As we reported earlier, the Israeli army issued an evacuation notice for a building in the Bachoura neighbourhood of central Beirut early Wednesday. These pictures appear to show that building coming down.
People on the ground heard gunshots following the notice, a tactic typically used to wake residents and draw attention to evacuate.
ADF says missile strike on UAE compound did ‘minor damage’
Returning now to the Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, which was hit by an Iranian missile earlier today.
This is significant because the Australian Defence Force has a longstanding presence there, along with British armed forces.
The Department of Defence has just released a statement, largely reiterating what we heard from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a few hours ago.
“No ADF personnel were injured in the incident, and all ADF personnel deployed to the Middle East are safe and accounted for,” the department said.
“The strike resulted in minor damage to an accommodation block and medical facility in the Australian section of the base.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
