The latest developments
Thank you for joining our live coverage of the war in the Middle East.
Here are the latest developments:
- US President Donald Trump claims to have made progress in talks with Tehran but also threatened to “completely obliterate” Iranian energy assets, including major oil hub Kharg Island and “possibly all” desalination plants, if a deal is not reached “shortly”. Trump said the US was in “serious discussions with a new, and more reasonable, regime to end our military operations in Iran”.
- Iran has denied claims it is discussing a ceasefire with the Trump administration, saying there have been “no negotiations” with the US since the war began. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei said the US submitted a request to negotiate, accompanied by a set of proposals for a ceasefire deal, but “all our efforts and capabilities are devoted to defending Iran’s essence”.
- The United Nations has urged Israel to repeal a law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis, after the bill was passed in parliament overnight. It comes as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the war was “definitely beyond the halfway point”, while he orders his military to further expand its operations in southern Lebanon.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accepted that halving the fuel excise won’t completely alleviate increased costs driven by war in the Middle East, conceding Australia was “not immune from what has happened”. The change to the fuel excise will see a 26 cent reduction to each litre of petrol sold. The measure will come into effect tomorrow, but may take until the weekend for petrol stations to pass along the saving.
Michigan synagogue attack inspired by Hezbollah: FBI
The FBI have said an attack on the largest Jewish temple in Michigan earlier this month was an “act of terrorism” inspired by Hezbollah.
Ayman Ghazali, a 41-year-old man who was born in Lebanon and became a US citizen in 2016, killed himself during the March 12 attack.
He crashed his truck into the Temple of Israel synagogue before opening fire on security guards and causing an explosion using fireworks, said Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Detroit field office.
Reuters
Treasurer dismisses inflationary excise concerns
The Treasurer has rejected the idea that a cut to the fuel excise is inflationary, saying the three-month timeline of its implementation proved it was responsible policy.
“I think the main reason this is responsible is because it is temporary, and we’ve found the most responsible way, I think, to help people with the cost of living, to take some of the edge off these higher petrol prices in a way that doesn’t overdo it,” Jim Chalmers told journalists in Canberra.
“The reason that’s consistent with our broader budget strategy is one of the reasons why it’s so important. We got the budget in better shape over the course of the last three or four years, substantially better shape than what it was in 2022.”
Excise cut to take up to fortnight to flow through
Customers should not expect to see immediate cuts to their petrol bill with the government’s halving of the fuel excise taking up to a fortnight to flow through, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said.
Speaking at a press conference today, after the government announced a three-month 26 cent reduction in petrol taxes per litre, Chalmers said: “It’s really important to remember that the excise cut is levied to or applied to wholesale fuel sales, so the full 26 cents won’t show up at 12.01 tonight.”
“It is about the replenishing of the stocks in the tanks, because it’s applied to the wholesale obviously, the fuel in the tanks right now has been purchased at the higher rate. And so people should expect it would take, you know, somewhere between maybe one and two weeks for the full benefit of the excise to flow through,” he said.
Chalmers said it was important to “manage expectations” of motorists who may be expecting to see an immediate discount. He said that the consumer watchdog would continue to monitor price gouging.
Budget to be ambitious despite economic strain
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said the upcoming federal budget will still be ambitious despite the economic strain of the war in the Middle East, while acknowledging there will be savings made in the budget.
“Every budget that we hand down is calibrated to the economic conditions. It would be strange if it wasn’t, and clearly, when we’re seeing the way that the global economic conditions are playing out here in Australia, any diligent responsible government factors that into their budget planning,” Chalmers told a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra.
“I would encourage you to still expect that this budget is an ambitious budget. This budget will balance the pressures of the here and now with the demands and obligations of the future. There will be a focus on some of the intergenerational issues in our economy and in our budget, there will be efforts to boost productivity and lift the speed limit in our economy,” he said.
The budget is set to be handed down on May 12.
“There’ll be savings in the budget. Now, clearly, in the preparation for every single budget, but probably especially this one, given we’re dealing with more than the usual amount of global economic uncertainty, we put a lot of effort into making sure that the budget reflects the times.”
The latest developments
Thank you for joining our live coverage of the war in the Middle East.
Here are the latest developments:
- US President Donald Trump claims to have made progress in talks with Tehran but also threatened to “completely obliterate” Iranian energy assets, including major oil hub Kharg Island and “possibly all” desalination plants, if a deal is not reached “shortly”. Trump said the US was in “serious discussions with a new, and more reasonable, regime to end our military operations in Iran”.
- Iran has denied claims it is discussing a ceasefire with the Trump administration, saying there have been “no negotiations” with the US since the war began. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei said the US submitted a request to negotiate, accompanied by a set of proposals for a ceasefire deal, but “all our efforts and capabilities are devoted to defending Iran’s essence”.
- The United Nations has urged Israel to repeal a law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis, after the bill was passed in parliament overnight. It comes as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the war was “definitely beyond the halfway point”, while he orders his military to further expand its operations in southern Lebanon.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accepted that halving the fuel excise won’t completely alleviate increased costs driven by war in the Middle East, conceding Australia was “not immune from what has happened”. The change to the fuel excise will see a 26 cent reduction to each litre of petrol sold. The measure will come into effect tomorrow, but may take until the weekend for petrol stations to pass along the saving.
Oil spill concerns after tanker hit at Dubai port
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said a giant Kuwaiti crude oil tanker, Al Salmi, was directly targeted in what it described as an Iranian attack while anchored at Dubai port in the United Arab Emirates, causing damage to the vessel and a fire onboard, the state news agency KUNA said on Tuesday.
The corporation said the tanker was fully loaded at the time of the incident and warned of a possible oil spill in surrounding waters, adding no casualties were reported and an assessment of the damage was under way, KUNA added.
Reuters
Consumer confidence falls further as war continues
The ANZ-Roy Morgan measure of consumer sentiment, which fell to an all-time low last week, has dropped even further as the war in the Middle East continues.
The measure, which started in 1973, dropped another 4.3 points over the past seven days.
Not only are shoppers more pessimistic about the economy and their own finances, they are increasingly worried about inflation which they expect to hit 7.3 per cent.
ANZ economist Sophia Angala said the combination of pessimism about the economy and fears of higher inflation was likely to flow into shopper spending.
“We expect household spending to weaken in response to the impact of inflation and higher interest rates on disposable incomes,” she said.
On Monday, economists at HSBC said they expect the economy to contract during the upcoming June quarter with a chance of a follow-up contraction in the September quarter.
Netanyahu won’t put timeline on ending war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Iran war is “definitely beyond the halfway point” in terms of missions, though possibly not in terms of time.
In an interview with US media outlet Newsmax, Netanyahu said that he didn’t want to “put a schedule on” the timeline for ending the war.
Netanyahu added the US was leading in terms of any potential military solutions to open the Strait of Hormuz, though he said, in the long term, the solution to the strait may be to re-route oil via pipelines to the Red Sea, or even up to Israel for shipping straight from the Mediterranean.
Bloomberg, Reuters
Excise cut won’t ‘alleviate the impact of the war’, says Albanese
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said his government’s halving of the fuel excise will help motorists, but accepted that it will not completely alleviate the increased costs associated with the war in the Middle East.
“It makes a difference, but it doesn’t alleviate the impact of the war. We’ve been up front about that. We’re not immune from what has happened with that global price spike that is having a major impact on the global economy, no matter that there’s no country that is immune from the impact of this,” Albanese told ABC radio this morning.
Yesterday the government announced a cut to the fuel tax would come into effect tomorrow. The change will see a 26 cent cut to each litre of petrol sold.
It may take until the end of the weekend for some petrol stations to begin passing along the saving as they sell out of more expensive stock they have already purchased.
“The longer the war goes on, the worse the impacts will be. And I understand that people are really, really concerned about this. This is the biggest spike in petrol and diesel prices in history, that’s what we’re dealing with. So what we have done is to alleviate some of that, to make a difference. I accept that it doesn’t make up for the increase in price, but it does, of course, make a difference.”
Iran denies it’s in talks with Trump administration
Iran has denied suggestions it is discussing a ceasefire with the Trump administration.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei claims there have been “no negotiations” with the US since the war began.
Baqaei’s latest comments appear at odds with those of Donald Trump, who said overnight that the US was in “serious discussions with a new, and more reasonable, regime to end our military operations in Iran”.
Writing on X, Baqaei claimed the US had submitted a request to negotiate, accompanied by a set of proposals for a ceasefire deal, which reached Iran through intermediaries including Pakistan.
“Our position is very clear. At present, as America’s military aggression and invasion continue with full intensity, all our efforts and capabilities are devoted to defending Iran’s essence,” Baqaei wrote.
“We have felt the previous experiences with our flesh, skin, and bones, and we do not forget the betrayal that was inflicted upon diplomacy in two instances within less than a year.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
