Australia news LIVE: Liberals see off One Nation challenge; US fast-tracks arms deals for Middle East allies

Good morning and welcome to the national news blog from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Follow along for rolling coverage of breaking news from Australia and around the world.

Here’s what you need to know this morning:

• Charges are yet to be laid three days after Kumanjayi Little Baby’s accused killer, Jefferson Lewis, 47, was arrested on Thursday. Lewis was flown to Darwin for his own protection following his arrest, and has since been released from hospital into police custody.
• The Trump administration has ​bypassed congressional review to approve billions of dollars of military sales to Middle Eastern allies.
• The Liberal Party claimed victory in the Nepean byelection in Victoria on Saturday night, but the results suggest a complicated road ahead to November’s statewide poll.
• US President Donald Trump told lawmakers that American military operations in Iran have “terminated” as he skirts a deadline to gain congressional approval for the war that began two months ago.
• Trump said he was “not satisfied” with Iran’s latest proposal, after saying he would stick with the “incredible” naval blockade of Iranian ports amid concerns that the vital Strait of Hormuz would not reopen anytime soon.
• And King Charles has visited the Caribbean nation of Bermuda, after concluding his four-day tour of the US.

A planned drawdown of 5000 US troops from Germany should spur Europe to strengthen its own defences, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday, but two top US Republican lawmakers expressed concern.

The Pentagon announced the drawdown from Germany, its largest European base, on Friday, as a rift over the Iran war and tariff tensions placed further strain on relations between the US and Europe.

“We’re going to cut way down and we’re cutting a lot further than 5000,” US President Donald Trump said on Saturday.

The German leadership had been pushed for troop increases as a deterrent against Russia.

US President Donald Trump said he was reviewing a new Iranian proposal to end the war.

“I’ll let you know about it later,” he said before boarding Air Force One, adding that “they’re going to give me the exact wording now.”

Two semi-official Iranian outlets, Tasnim and Fars, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said Iran has sent a 14-point proposal via Pakistan in response to a nine-point US proposal.

Trump rejected a previous Iranian proposal this week. However, conversations have continued, and the three-week ceasefire appears to be holding.

The vast Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica had so much meltwater running down its face, it looked like it was weeping, scientists say.

“You see that they are melting, almost crying in front of you,” said Dr Yixi Zheng, a climate scientist at the British Antarctic Survey.

Sometimes called the “doomsday glacier” because of the vast amount of water it contains locked up in solid form, Thwaites is melting rapidly.

Polar scientists used radar to show it was thinning between 40 and 140 metres per year.

The Antarctic melt is pushing up sea levels but also appears to be affecting the ocean currents which help regulate local climate and weather around the world, Caitlin Fitzsimmons reports.

An Australian member of a Gaza aid flotilla said activists were shot with rubber bullets, hit with rifle butts and bashed after Israeli soldiers boarded their boats.

Zack Schofield was one of six Australians detained by the Israeli military on Wednesday while attempting to transport aid to Gaza.

Some people were shot at point-blank range with rubber bullets as soldiers boarded their boats in international waters, Schofield told AAP.

“Some of us were kicked and punched as we were being processed on our own boats, many of which were sunk,” Mr Schofield said.

After concluding a visit to the US that most observers hailed as a success, King Charles travelled to Bermuda - his first trip to a British overseas territory as monarch.

US correspondent Michael Koziol reports that the King’s gift of a ship’s bell was an astute way to reinforce the importance of the AUKUS naval pact.

In a town that has grown accustomed to Donald Trump’s unfiltered monologues, obsequious odes from his underlings and awkward Oval Office appearances by foreign leaders, the King’s visit was a breath of fresh air widely regarded as a diplomatic masterstroke.

For AUKUS proponents, it was manna from heaven – and that was exactly as the King intended it.

Read more here.

A man has been arrested after two men and a woman were killed in south-west Sydney overnight.

Emergency services found the bodies of a woman in her 60s and a man in his 20s at a home in Rosemeadow near Campbelltown just after 1.30am on Sunday, police said.

Another 64-year-old man had suffered serious head injuries and was treated at the scene by ambulance officers. He was taken to Liverpool Hospital, where he later died.

At about 2.30am, a silver sedan arrived at the scene at Juliet Close in Rosemeadow and police arrested the 32-year-old male driver.

Accused child killer Jefferson Lewis allegedly pushed a children’s toy pram into Charles Creek Camp when he emerged from hiding on Thursday, the NT News reports.

Lewis was bashed by residents when he entered the camp before being treated by paramedics and detained by police. He was taken to Darwin where he remains in custody but has not been charged.

A crumpled child’s toy pusher sits at the scene, as well as a pink plastic unicorn toy, the NT News reported.

Also at the scene were remnants of the paramedic response including bandage, rubber gloves, face masks and medical scissors.

A police spokesman said any evidence related to the abduction and death of Kumanjayi Little Baby had been collected from the scene.

It has been a week since five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby was abducted from her home at the Old Timers Camp, and it has been three days since her tiny body was found in a river bed.

The Liberal Party claimed victory in the Victorian state seat of Nepean on Saturday night, despite a cut to their primary vote and serious challenges from a rising One Nation and a popular local independent.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson told a jubilant crowd of party faithful she was excited to welcome Liberal candidate Anthony Marsh as the next member for Nepean.

She took the stage at the Verve Bar at Rye Hotel just after 9pm, when with 79.23 per cent of the vote counted, Marsh had 38.49 per cent of the primary vote – enough to push him to victory on preferences.

“I have stood by Anthony for weeks, I worked alongside him for months on this byelection campaign, and he had worked tirelessly every single day to listen to the residents down here on the peninsula,” Wilson said.

Election analysts called the election for Marsh by 8pm. But his primary vote was well down on departing MP Sam Groth’s 48.1 per cent mark vote when he won the seat at the 2022 election.

Read more here.

The Trump administration has ​bypassed congressional review to approve military sales totalling over US$8.6 billion (A$12 billion) to Middle Eastern allies Israel, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

The State Department announcements on Friday came as the US and Israel’s war against Iran marked nine weeks since its start and more than three weeks since a fragile ceasefire came into effect. The State Department said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required immediate sales to those countries and waived the congressional review requirements for the sales.

The announcements included approving military sales to Qatar of Patriot air and missile defence replenishment services costing $4.01 billion and of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) costing $992.4 million.

They also included approval of the sale to Kuwait of an integrated battle command system costing $2.5 billion and to Israel of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems costing $992.4 million. The State Department approved a sale to the UAE of APKWS for $147.6 million.

Reuters

Good morning and welcome to the national news blog from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Follow along for rolling coverage of breaking news from Australia and around the world.

Here’s what you need to know this morning:

• Charges are yet to be laid three days after Kumanjayi Little Baby’s accused killer, Jefferson Lewis, 47, was arrested on Thursday. Lewis was flown to Darwin for his own protection following his arrest, and has since been released from hospital into police custody.
• The Trump administration has ​bypassed congressional review to approve billions of dollars of military sales to Middle Eastern allies.
• The Liberal Party claimed victory in the Nepean byelection in Victoria on Saturday night, but the results suggest a complicated road ahead to November’s statewide poll.
• US President Donald Trump told lawmakers that American military operations in Iran have “terminated” as he skirts a deadline to gain congressional approval for the war that began two months ago.
• Trump said he was “not satisfied” with Iran’s latest proposal, after saying he would stick with the “incredible” naval blockade of Iranian ports amid concerns that the vital Strait of Hormuz would not reopen anytime soon.
• And King Charles has visited the Caribbean nation of Bermuda, after concluding his four-day tour of the US.