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Here’s how you avoid the alert
By Christopher Harris
Want to skip the loud 2pm emergency alert? Turning off your phone is not enough, according to Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain.
“It will override silent and do not disturb settings,” she told News 24, a channel which used to be known as Sky News before rebranding.
“So if you don’t want to receive the alert, we are telling people they need to put their phone in airplane mode or switch it off altogether at least an hour before the test.”
Price of oil drops
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The price of oil dropped and US equity futures rose early on Monday after the US refrained from striking Iran for a second straight night, which eased concerns over disruptions to Middle East crude supplies following weeks of escalating conflict.
The price of Brent crude fell below $US90 a barrel, while Nasdaq 100 contracts advanced more than 1 per cent. The dollar edged lower against major peers, with the Australian dollar and euro leading gains as investors trimmed demand for haven assets.
After striking Iran for 13 days, the US has apparently held off since late Friday without explanation, raising questions about President Donald Trump’s next move.
Iran’s army said on Sunday that Tehran had also suspended its military response. The pause came as Iranian and Omani officials held talks over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, raising hopes that the key oil transit route may avoid further disruption.
Bloomberg
Hanson to learn verdict in racial discrimination appeal
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After a tumultuous few weeks in the political spotlight, Pauline Hanson is set to learn the verdict in her racial discrimination appeal.
The One Nation leader is battling a 2024 Federal Court finding that she racially vilified Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi in a tweet posted shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Hanson’s tweet included telling Faruqi to “piss off back to Pakistan”.
Hanson’s barrister told an appeals court in November that her remarks might not have been pleasant but they did not intimidate people of colour.
Hunt for men who jumped off 184-metre building
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The Seattle Police Department is searching for two men who climbed over the glass wall of the city’s iconic Space Needle, flipped over the edge and parachuted down from the 184-metre structure.
The jumpers face trespassing charges, according to a report provided by public affairs officer Brian Pritchard.
The BASE jumpers purchased tickets and entered the Space Needle about 8.50pm on Friday (Seattle time), the police department said.
The attraction has a round observation deck surrounded by high glass windows that are open to the sky above.
‘The prime minister doesn’t see one dollar’: Plibersek bats off Point Piper donation questions
By Christopher Harris
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has batted away questions about whether money raised by the Labor Party at a controversial Point Piper dinner should be repaid.
As previously revealed by this masthead, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended an exclusive dinner hosted by a rich 25-year-old whose billionaire father was accused by the Tax Office of repeatedly deceiving authorities to funnel huge sums of money from China into Australian bank accounts and mansions.
“I understand why people are concerned,” Plibersek told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program.
She cited planned changes to donation laws that would bolster transparency around political donations “within just days”.
Asked whether Albanese should give the money back, Plibersek said it was a matter for the Labor Party.
“It doesn’t go to the prime minister. The prime minister doesn’t see one dollar of it. This is a matter for the party.”
Why new alert system is better and more accurate
By Christopher Harris
Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain is appearing on breakfast television to spruik the upcoming test of the country’s emergency management system at 2pm today.
“[This] system is much more accurate than the current system,” she told the ABC’s News Breakfast program.
She said the new alert system did not rely on any one telco provider, was not subject to network congestion, and can geolocate alerts to within 160 metres of where an incident is occurring.
“So we can make those Aus Alerts hyper localised,” she said.
She was also asked about the future of her Labor colleague, beleaguered Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, who is facing the threat of a leadership challenge.
McBain said: “I think Jacinta Allan has done a really fantastic job in the time that she’s been given.”
Will the Coalition do a deal with One Nation? ‘Of course we would be pragmatic’
By Christopher Harris
Opposition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg has said his party would be pragmatic when it comes to forming a coalition with One Nation.
“So if the numbers were the numbers and we had to be in coalition with others, then of course we would be pragmatic,” he told Channel Nine’s Today breakfast program.
“Well, we would definitely like work out whoever would be interested in being in a coalition with us if that’s what the numbers were. Of course. We’re not crazy,”
One Nation has witnessed a surge in polling this year.
Support for the party stood at about 26 per cent earlier this month, according to a Resolve Poll.
Support for the Coalition was 23 per cent, Labor support steady at 28 per cent, and the Greens were unchanged at 12 per cent.
Berlin Pride attack suspect shot dead by police
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The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack that left one person dead and 29 injured was shot and killed by police during a confrontation in a suburb of the city, authorities said.
Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours after the attack in downtown Berlin. Prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the attack occurred a few hundred metres from a party near the Brandenburg Gate that was supposed to close out the city’s Pride festival.
Ballout, 21, was tracked down about 6pm Sunday (German time) at a garden in Spandau, a Berlin suburb, the city’s police department wrote on X. They said he apparently ran towards officers with a sharp instrument, and police fired at least one shot. He died at the scene.
AP
Iran to halt strikes if US bombing pause holds
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Dubai: Iran will halt its own attacks as long as the US does the same, a senior Iranian official said.
The US pressed pause on its bombing campaign after President Donald Trump’s advisers told him they were running out of targets and expressed worries about depleting the US arsenal.
After 13 nights of intensifying US airstrikes on Iran, the Pentagon suspended the campaign late on Friday, with no US attacks reported on either Saturday or Sunday.
Iran, which had been following each night of US attacks with its own strikes on neighbouring countries that host US bases, has also so far held fire for two days.
The Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Tehran’s position remains that if the attacks stop, Iran will also halt its operations. “That message has already been conveyed to the United States,” the official said.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told US media on Sunday that Trump had decided to pause attacks to allow more time for diplomacy.
Reuters
National warning system to be tested
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The new “AusAlert” national warning system is scheduled to sound on up to 25 million phones across Australia at 2pm (AEST) this afternoon, with a text message that reads: “This is a TEST alert of AusAlert, Australia’s new emergency warning system. NO ACTION IS REQUIRED.”
Years of planning have gone into the 10-second alarm due to sound in hours, which will use the same broadcast technology that operates in more than 30 countries across the world.
The new national alert system will be used to issue a wide range of warnings, including for natural disasters, threats to public safety such as shooting incidents, as well as health and biosecurity threats such as a disease outbreak.
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