Australia Says It Will Base Defense Spending on Country's Needs
Richard Marles, also Australia's defense minister, will join NATO leaders for meetings in the coming week at the Hague. 'There will inevitably be conversations around defense spending,' he said in a Sky News Australia interview on Sunday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Aussies eye $30m Powerball jackpot as price change revealed, tourists flock to Pacific neighbour in record numbers, Commonwealth's major backflip
Hello and welcome to Yahoo's live news blog this Thursday. Powerball players will be hoping they're the lucky winner tonight with the jackpot sitting at $30 million. It comes as the game's operators announced it plans to hike the price of a ticket by 20c from November. Fiji is becoming an increasingly-popular tourist destination for Australians. The island nation's tourism board says more Aussies travelled to the country last month than any previous month on record. Follow along as we bring you regular updates throughout the day. Albanese's reputation 'forever tarnished', Netanyahu says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Anthony Albanese will be 'forever tarnished' by his decision to recognise Palestinian statehood. It comes after he earlier this weak lashed the Prime Minister in a social media post, saying history would remember him as a 'weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews'. Netanyahu doubled down on his comments in a Sky interview set to air on Thursday night. 'I'm sure he has a reputable record as a public servant, but I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,' he told the broadcaster. 'You know, when the worst terrorist organisation on Earth – these savages who murdered women, raped them, beheaded men, burned babies alive in front of their parents and took hundreds of hostages – when these people congratulate the Prime Minister of Australia, you know something is wrong.' Read more from NewsWire here. Aussies head to Fiji in record numbers Australian tourists are flocking to Fiji in record numbers, according to its tourism board. "Our neighbours from Australia continued to show their love for Fiji, leading the way with the highest-ever number of Australian visitors in a single month (last month), accounting for 45 per cent of all arrivals," Tourism Fiji said, revealing that number sits just shy of one million visitors. Fiji, heavily dependant on tourism, has benefited from increased flights from its national carrier and Australian operators to and from the island nation in recent years. "There is definitely a buzz in the air. Fiji is absolutely the place to be right now – perfect weather, outstanding resorts, unforgettable experiences, and of course, the warmth of our people," Tourism Fiji CEO Brent Hill said. Aussies eye $30m Powerball draw with big change coming The Powerball jackpot has reached an impressive $30 million for tonight's draw and Aussies are being told to expect bigger prizes from the game more regularly. That's because lottery bosses flagged their plans to rise the price of a ticket to $1.40 from $1.20 yesterday. The Lottery Corporation Managing Director and CEO Sue van der Merwe said them ove would help "enable increased prizes across all divisions". The change, which still needs to be approved, is expected to happen in November. Commonwealth announces major backflip on redundancies Commonwealth Bank has apologised to staff it was set to axe and replace with AI technology, saying they got the decision wrong. The original plan was set to see up to 90 people lose their positions, with about half of those being replaced by a new AI chatbot designed to help customers. But CBA has announced a slight shift in that plan. CBA has now revealed that the staff set to be affected by the AI shift have been given two options. They can either keep their job or take a voluntary redundancy. 'CBA's initial assessment that the 45 roles were not required did not adequately consider all relevant business considerations, and this error meant the roles were not redundant,' a spokesperson for the bank said. 'We have apologised to the employees concerned and acknowledge we should have been more thorough in our assessment of the roles required. "We are also reviewing our internal processes to improve our approach going forward.' Read more from Yahoo Finance's Stewart Perrie here. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. Albanese's reputation 'forever tarnished', Netanyahu says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Anthony Albanese will be 'forever tarnished' by his decision to recognise Palestinian statehood. It comes after he earlier this weak lashed the Prime Minister in a social media post, saying history would remember him as a 'weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews'. Netanyahu doubled down on his comments in a Sky interview set to air on Thursday night. 'I'm sure he has a reputable record as a public servant, but I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,' he told the broadcaster. 'You know, when the worst terrorist organisation on Earth – these savages who murdered women, raped them, beheaded men, burned babies alive in front of their parents and took hundreds of hostages – when these people congratulate the Prime Minister of Australia, you know something is wrong.' Read more from NewsWire here. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Anthony Albanese will be 'forever tarnished' by his decision to recognise Palestinian statehood. It comes after he earlier this weak lashed the Prime Minister in a social media post, saying history would remember him as a 'weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews'. Netanyahu doubled down on his comments in a Sky interview set to air on Thursday night. 'I'm sure he has a reputable record as a public servant, but I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,' he told the broadcaster. 'You know, when the worst terrorist organisation on Earth – these savages who murdered women, raped them, beheaded men, burned babies alive in front of their parents and took hundreds of hostages – when these people congratulate the Prime Minister of Australia, you know something is wrong.' Read more from NewsWire here. Aussies head to Fiji in record numbers Australian tourists are flocking to Fiji in record numbers, according to its tourism board. "Our neighbours from Australia continued to show their love for Fiji, leading the way with the highest-ever number of Australian visitors in a single month (last month), accounting for 45 per cent of all arrivals," Tourism Fiji said, revealing that number sits just shy of one million visitors. Fiji, heavily dependant on tourism, has benefited from increased flights from its national carrier and Australian operators to and from the island nation in recent years. "There is definitely a buzz in the air. Fiji is absolutely the place to be right now – perfect weather, outstanding resorts, unforgettable experiences, and of course, the warmth of our people," Tourism Fiji CEO Brent Hill said. Australian tourists are flocking to Fiji in record numbers, according to its tourism board. "Our neighbours from Australia continued to show their love for Fiji, leading the way with the highest-ever number of Australian visitors in a single month (last month), accounting for 45 per cent of all arrivals," Tourism Fiji said, revealing that number sits just shy of one million visitors. Fiji, heavily dependant on tourism, has benefited from increased flights from its national carrier and Australian operators to and from the island nation in recent years. "There is definitely a buzz in the air. Fiji is absolutely the place to be right now – perfect weather, outstanding resorts, unforgettable experiences, and of course, the warmth of our people," Tourism Fiji CEO Brent Hill said. Aussies eye $30m Powerball draw with big change coming The Powerball jackpot has reached an impressive $30 million for tonight's draw and Aussies are being told to expect bigger prizes from the game more regularly. That's because lottery bosses flagged their plans to rise the price of a ticket to $1.40 from $1.20 yesterday. The Lottery Corporation Managing Director and CEO Sue van der Merwe said them ove would help "enable increased prizes across all divisions". The change, which still needs to be approved, is expected to happen in November. The Powerball jackpot has reached an impressive $30 million for tonight's draw and Aussies are being told to expect bigger prizes from the game more regularly. That's because lottery bosses flagged their plans to rise the price of a ticket to $1.40 from $1.20 yesterday. The Lottery Corporation Managing Director and CEO Sue van der Merwe said them ove would help "enable increased prizes across all divisions". The change, which still needs to be approved, is expected to happen in November. Commonwealth announces major backflip on redundancies Commonwealth Bank has apologised to staff it was set to axe and replace with AI technology, saying they got the decision wrong. The original plan was set to see up to 90 people lose their positions, with about half of those being replaced by a new AI chatbot designed to help customers. But CBA has announced a slight shift in that plan. CBA has now revealed that the staff set to be affected by the AI shift have been given two options. They can either keep their job or take a voluntary redundancy. 'CBA's initial assessment that the 45 roles were not required did not adequately consider all relevant business considerations, and this error meant the roles were not redundant,' a spokesperson for the bank said. 'We have apologised to the employees concerned and acknowledge we should have been more thorough in our assessment of the roles required. "We are also reviewing our internal processes to improve our approach going forward.' Read more from Yahoo Finance's Stewart Perrie here. Commonwealth Bank has apologised to staff it was set to axe and replace with AI technology, saying they got the decision wrong. The original plan was set to see up to 90 people lose their positions, with about half of those being replaced by a new AI chatbot designed to help customers. But CBA has announced a slight shift in that plan. CBA has now revealed that the staff set to be affected by the AI shift have been given two options. They can either keep their job or take a voluntary redundancy. 'CBA's initial assessment that the 45 roles were not required did not adequately consider all relevant business considerations, and this error meant the roles were not redundant,' a spokesperson for the bank said. 'We have apologised to the employees concerned and acknowledge we should have been more thorough in our assessment of the roles required. "We are also reviewing our internal processes to improve our approach going forward.' Read more from Yahoo Finance's Stewart Perrie here.
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas' Republican-controlled House approves new maps to create more winnable GOP congressional seats
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House on Wednesday approved redrawn congressional maps that would give Republicans a bigger edge in 2026, muscling through a partisan gerrymander that launched weeks of protests by Democrats and a widening national battle over redistricting. The approval came at the urging of President Donald Trump, who pushed for the extraordinary mid-decade revision of congressional maps to give his party a better chance at holding onto the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. The maps need to be approved by the GOP-controlled state Senate and signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott before they become official. But the Texas House vote had presented the best chance for Democrats to derail the redraw. Democratic legislators delayed the vote by two weeks by fleeing Texas earlier this month in protest, and they were assigned round-the-clock police monitoring upon their return to ensure they attended Wednesday's session. The approval of the Texas maps on an 88-52 party-line vote is likely to prompt California's Democratic-controlled state Legislature this week to approve of a new House map creating five new Democratic-leaning districts. But the California map would require voter approval in November. Democrats have also vowed to challenge the new Texas map in court and complained that Republicans made the political power move before passing legislation responding to deadly floods that swept the state last month. Texas maps openly made to help GOP Texas Republicans openly said they were acting in their party's interest. State Rep. Todd Hunter, who wrote the legislation formally creating the new map, noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed politicians to redraw districts for nakedly partisan purposes. 'The underlying goal of this plan is straight forward: improve Republican political performance,' Hunter, a Republican, said on the floor. After nearly eight hours of debate, Hunter took the floor again to sum up the entire dispute as nothing more than a partisan fight. 'What's the difference, to the whole world listening? Republicans like it, and Democrats do not.' Democrats said the disagreement was about more than partisanship. 'In a democracy, people choose their representatives,' State Rep. Chris Turner said. 'This bill flips that on its head and lets politicians in Washington, D.C., choose their voters.' State Rep. John H. Bucy blamed the president. 'This is Donald Trump's map,' Bucy said. 'It clearly and deliberately manufactures five more Republican seats in Congress because Trump himself knows that the voters are rejecting his agenda.' Redistricting becomes tool nationwide in battle for US House The Republican power play has already triggered a national tit-for-tat battle as Democratic state lawmakers prepared to gather in California on Thursday to revise that state's map to create five new Democratic seats. 'This is a new Democratic Party, this is a new day, this is new energy out there all across this country,' California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said on a call with reporters on Wednesday. 'And we're going to fight fire with fire.' A new California map would need to be approved by voters in a special election in November because that state normally operates with a nonpartisan commission drawing the map to avoid the very sort of political brawl that is playing out. Newsom himself backed the 2008 ballot measure to create that process, as did former President Barack Obama. But in a sign of Democrats' stiffening resolve, Obama Tuesday night backed Newsom's bid to redraw the California map, saying it was a necessary step to stave off the GOP's Texas move. 'I think that approach is a smart, measured approach,' Obama said during a fundraiser for the Democratic Party's main redistricting arm. The incumbent president's party usually loses seats in the midterm election, and the GOP currently controls the House of Representatives by a mere three votes. Trump is going beyond Texas in his push to remake the map. He's pushed Republican leaders in conservative states like Indiana and Missouri to also try to create new Republican seats. Ohio Republicans were already revising their map before Texas moved. Democrats, meanwhile, are mulling reopening Maryland's and New York's maps as well. However, more Democratic-run states have commission systems like California's or other redistricting limits than Republican ones do, leaving the GOP with a freer hand to swiftly redraw maps. New York, for example, can't draw new maps until 2028, and even then, only with voter approval. Texas Democrats decry the new maps In Texas, there was little that outnumbered Democrats could do other than fume and threaten a lawsuit to block the map. Because the Supreme Court has blessed purely partisan gerrymandering, the only way opponents can stop the new Texas map would be by arguing it violates the Voting Rights Act requirement to keep minority communities together so they can select representatives of their choice. Democrats noted that, in every decade since the 1970s, courts have found that Texas' legislature did violate the Voting Rights Act in redistricting, and that civil rights groups had an active lawsuit making similar allegations against the 2021 map that Republicans drew up. Republicans contend the new map creates more new majority-minority seats than the previous one. Democrats and some civil rights groups have countered that the GOP does that through mainly a numbers game that leads to halving the number of the state's House seats that will be represented by a Black representative. State Rep. Ron Reynolds noted the country just marked the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act's passage and warned GOP members about how they'd be remembered if they voted for what he called 'this racial gerrymander.' 'Just like the people who were on the wrong side of history in 1965, history will be looking at the people who made the decisions in the body this day,' Reynolds, a Democrat, said. Republicans hit back at criticism Republicans spent far less time talking on Wednesday, content to let their numbers do the talking in the lopsided vote. As the day dragged on, a handful hit back against Democratic complaints. 'You call my voters racist, you call my party racist and yet we're expected to follow the rules,' said State Rep. Katrina Pierson, a former Trump spokesperson. 'There are Black and Hispanic and Asian Republicans in this chamber who were elected just like you.' House Republicans' frustration at the Democrats' flight and ability to delay the vote was palpable. The GOP used a parliamentary maneuver to take a second and final vote on the map so it wouldn't have to reconvene for one more vote after Senate approval. House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced as debate started that doors to the chamber were locked and any member leaving was required to have a permission slip. The doors were only unlocked after final passage more than eight hours later. One Democrat who refused the 24-hour police monitoring, State Rep. Nicole Collier, had been confined to the House floor since Monday night. Some Democratic state lawmakers joined Collier Tuesday night for what Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez dubbed 'a sleepover for democracy.' Republicans issued civil arrest warrants to bring the Democrats back after they left the state Aug. 3, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott asked the state Supreme Court to oust several Democrats from office. The lawmakers also face a fine of $500 for every day they were absent.
Fox News
16 minutes ago
- Fox News
Vice President JD Vance opens up about President Trump's faith, hopes for Heaven
Vice President JD Vance discusses President Donald Trump's recent comments about the afterlife on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
