source : the age
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has revised the number of Australians missing in Nepal and Tibet down to 38, from 43 yesterday morning, as it says five additional Australians have been accounted for.
Of the five citizens confirmed safe, one was in Nepal, one in Tibet, and three were outside of the disaster zone.
Because the Australians had not been in contact with families or next of kin since the floods struck last week, their welfare could not be confirmed initially.
Minister for International Development and Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly says the government assumes the additional Australians confirmed safe amid the disaster in Nepal and Tibet had not been able to make contact with their families since last week, but confirmed the number of missing Aussies had been revised down to 38.
“They hadn’t been able to make contact since the crisis began,” she told ABC’s News Breakfast. “We still hold grave concerns for the 38 Australians still missing.”
She said communicating with those in the disaster zone remained incredibly difficult.
“There are real logistic issues, including communications to find out where people are. But for those families that are still waiting, those 38 individuals that are unaccounted for, we understand that it’s a really concerning time, and we’ll continue to do whatever we can to try and locate those people.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has revised the number of Australians missing in Nepal and Tibet down to 38, from 43 yesterday morning, as it says five additional Australians have been accounted for.
Of the five citizens confirmed safe, one was in Nepal, one in Tibet, and three were outside of the disaster zone.
Because the Australians had not been in contact with families or next of kin since the floods struck last week, their welfare could not be confirmed initially.
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil says a temporary downturn in house prices should not alarm Australians after a report by CBA said a price recovery would not occur until 2027.
“It’s clear that house prices are softening around the country, and I really recognise that, you know, for many Australians, their house is their most important asset,” O’Neil told Seven’s Sunrise.
“What that report also shows us is that house prices will start to grow again, and CBA says that will happen at some stage next year. The housing market in Australia is inherently cyclical. We see periods of really strong house price growths that are followed by a period of housing downturn. That’s happened now about four times in the last decade.”
O’Neil said downturns in property prices were always expected, and were an inevitable outcome of the government’s attempt to stabilise intergenerational inequality in the housing market after it made major changes to property taxes in its May budget.
“We’ve seen house prices in our country grow by 300 per cent since the year 2000. If that happens for another generation in our country, our nation is going to be unrecognisable to us in terms of equality and aspiration.”
Washington: The United States military announced its first major strikes against Iran in more than a month, in what it said was an operation targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) following recent aggression.
The strikes began at 7.30pm Tehran time on Tuesday (2am Wednesday AEST), US Central Command said. “The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region.”
Iranian state-run media reported explosions near the port city of Bandar Abbas, and other locations. Islamic Republic of Iran broadcasting alleged the US attacked a fishmeal factory in Qeshm “and several non-military targets” in Hormozgan province.
Semi-official Iranian media outlets also reported the regime was launching missiles and drones at US assets in retaliation. Press TV published a statement attributed to the country’s military command vowing to inflict “crushing and devastating blows upon the vile and evil American enemy”.
The last time the US military confirmed strikes against Iran was on July 29.
Read the full story here.
Teach Us Consent chief executive Chanel Contos will use an address to the National Press Club later today to call on the government to implement an “opt-in” model for social media algorithms, a move she says will prevent platforms from serving damaging “manosphere” content to young men.
She will argue social media algorithms are exposing young, impressionable users to harmful content and fuelling a rise in sexual violence in Australia.
The advocate launched the “Fix Our Feeds” campaign in December, to address what she labelled the “systematic radicalisation” enabled by algorithms on social media platforms.
The federal government will deliver a draft of its Digital Duty of Care laws next month, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not indicated he would back the opt-in model.
It will be Contos’ second address to the National Press Club.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of national news for Wednesday, September 2. Here’s what is making headlines today.
