SBS News in Filipino, Friday 9 May 2025
The Catholic Church has a new leader, Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead it.
President Donald Trump congratulates the appointment of the new Pope, calling it a 'great honour' for the US.
Update on Australian election results: Greens leader Adam Bandt accepts defeat; Senator Jacinda Price leaves Nationals to join Liberals; Liberal Party leader to be voted in on Tuesday, May 13.
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The Age
21 minutes ago
- The Age
Israel orders Greta Thunberg be shown October 7 video while in detention
US President Donald Trump dismissed the statement: 'I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg,' he said. 'She's a young, angry person ... I think she has to go to an anger management class.' He made a similar remark about the then 16-year-old activist in 2019. Israel has dismissed the aid ship as a stunt, with its Foreign Ministry labelling the boat 'the selfie yacht'. Officials said the flotilla carried what amounted to less than a truckload of aid. 'This wasn't humanitarian aid. It's Instagram activism,' Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said. Israel said the aid on board would be sent to Gaza through established channels, and circulated footage of what appeared to be Israeli military personnel offering sandwiches and water to the activists, who were wearing life vests. It also published a photo of Thunberg on social media after she disembarked. After an 11-week total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but humanitarian workers and experts say it is not enough and have warned of famine unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive. The United Nations said on Monday that it has only been able to bring minimal flour into Gaza and most aid has been looted by armed gangs or taken by starving Palestinians. Loading Palestinians also said Israeli forces and local gunmen working near the soldiers had fired on Monday towards a crowd heading to a new Israeli-backed aid distribution centre in the Gaza Strip, with Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry and local hospitals saying 14 people were killed. Dozens of people have died in shootings over the past two weeks while attempting to get aid from new centres run by a controversial new aid group backed by the US and Israel, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The United Nations and other aid groups have refused to work with the group, citing humanitarian concerns. Thunberg and the other activists were expected to be held at a detention facility in the city of Ramle before being deported, according to Adalah, a legal rights group representing them, which said that Israel had no legal authority to take over the ship and it breached international law. An attempt by Freedom Flotilla last month to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of the group's vessels was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta, organisers said. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the ship's front section. Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent, was among the volunteers on board the latest boat to be intercepted. She has been barred from entering Israel because of her opposition to Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. She was among six French citizens aboard. French President Emmanuel Macron asked Israel to allow them to return to France as soon as possible, his office said in a statement. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the crew and passengers were aware of the risks and that her ministry has advised against travel to Gaza for a decade and people who disregard that have a clear personal responsibility, Swedish news agency TT reported. Stenergard said the ministry's assessment was that no one on board was in danger and there was no need for consular support. Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of a blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's Palestinian population. Israel sealed off Gaza from all aid in the early days of the war ignited by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, but later relented under US pressure. In early March, shortly before Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas, the country again blocked all imports, including food, fuel and medicine. Hamas-led militants killed about 1200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas still holds 55 hostages, more than half are believed to be dead. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said that women and children make up most of the dead. Loading The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced about 90 per cent of the population, leaving people almost completely dependent on international aid. Efforts to broker another truce have been deadlocked for months. Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the captives are returned and Hamas is defeated, or disarmed and exiled.
ABC News
25 minutes ago
- ABC News
Albanese opens search for ideas to shape second-term agenda
Anthony Albanese will convene experts, unions and business leaders in Canberra later this year to brainstorm ideas for economic growth, as his government seeks a reform agenda to capitalise on its new-found parliamentary dominance. The prime minister used a National Press Club address on Tuesday to announce an August round table on the themes of growth and productivity with the express purpose of preparing the ground for "further economic reform", led by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. "Our government has secured a mandate to act," he said. "What we want is a focused dialogue and constructive debate that leads to concrete and tangible action." The move mirrors the Jobs and Skills Summit held in the Albanese government's first term, which underlined the case for its expansive workplace relations agenda. While naming the implementation of Labor's election promises as his first priority, Mr Albanese said he wanted the round table to lead to "long-term, lasting change" by seeking broad consensus. "Change that is imposed unilaterally by government rarely endures. Key to lasting change is reform that Australians own and understand … That's the long-term, long-lasting change our government wants to deliver," he said. There is no shortage of economic reform ideas which advocates say could boost productivity and living standards, including redesigning the tax system, improving social services and removing regulatory "red tape". The PM did not point to any specific ideas but said the round table would be "streamlined" and consider "a more targeted set of issues". Among the priorities he cited were faster housing and energy approvals, a better skills system, more user-friendly government services, and regulation to balance the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence. "Some of this is about government doing the basics better, targeting duplication, removing barriers to investment and reducing the cost of doing business. "But not every challenge can be solved by government stepping back. This is a time when government has to step up," he said. Mr Albanese also outlined a timeline for implementing the government's election policies, with 5 per cent home deposits slated to take effect "by next year" and all of the promised 50 new Medicare Urgent Care Clinics open by the mid-2026. The PM also used his speech to reveal key public service movements, with long-serving Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy to head up the prime minister's own department to replace the outgoing Glyn Davis. Jenny Wilkinson, the current Secretary of the Department of Finance, will become Treasury secretary, the first woman to hold the role. "We respect the vital role the Australian public service has to play … These outstanding public servants will continue to excel in their service to our nation." Mr Albanese again brushed off US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's suggestion that Australia lift its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP, well beyond the government's current plan to reach 2.3 per cent over a decade. "I think that Australia should decide what we spend on Australia's defence, simple as that," he said. "Arbitrary figures lead to a cul-de-sac, and we want to make sure as well that every single dollar that defence spends lead to actual assets. "It seems to me that if the health minister or the [communications] minister or the infrastructure minister came to us and said, 'we want you to spend X percentage of GDP but we won't tell you what it's for', that they wouldn't get far in an ERC process. "And there is no reason why defence shouldn't be governed by anything other than one factor: what do we need?" The prime minister also pointed to the importance of regional relationships as a complement to defence spending. "The work that we have done with our neighbours, including Papua New Guinea and Indonesia … is one of the things that we need to take account of as well, and something that my government is very focused on."
Sydney Morning Herald
38 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trump has zero credibility on the LA protests, but that may not matter
Washington: 'These are not protesters, they are troublemakers and insurrectionists,' US President Donald Trump said of people clashing with police on the streets of Los Angeles. 'They should be in jail.' Trump may have a point about some of the more extreme elements that have joined the protests in America's second-largest city to smash windows, loot and set cars on fire. But it's difficult to take him seriously – indeed, it's difficult to afford him any credibility at all – when this is the same man who just months ago pardoned and celebrated the rioters who stormed the US Capitol in his name on January 6, 2021. In LA, a relatively small group of protesters, demonstrators, rioters – whatever you want to call them – are copping the brunt of law enforcement and even the US military. In DC, Trump circumvented the legal system to set them free, even after some were convicted of seditious conspiracy, and lionised them as hard-done-by patriots. We may not be surprised by such blatant hypocrisy, but it is still striking to see it manifest so clearly, so obviously. No wonder the Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, is so incensed by the treatment doled out to protesters in his state – even those whose behaviour he condemns. Liberal California is a favourite and familiar punching bag for Trump. During last year's campaign, and even in the middle of January's deadly bushfires, he threatened to withhold aid from the state if Newsom didn't bow to his demands on water policy. Every authoritarian regime needs enemies. And it's difficult to get away from the feeling that Trump is making an example of California as he presses on with the next phase of his mass deportation plan, and seeks to keep the domestic focus on immigration, and law and order.
