Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Albanese says
'A two-state solution is humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza,' Albanese said.
Ahead of Albanese's announcement, Netanyahu on Sunday criticized Australia and other European countries that have moved to recognize a Palestinian state.
'To have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole ... this canard, is disappointing and I think it's actually shameful,' the Israeli leader said.
Nearly 150 of the 193 members of the United Nations have already recognized Palestinian statehood, most of them decades ago. The United States and other Western powers have held off, saying Palestinian statehood should be part of a final agreement resolving the decades-old Middle East conflict.
Recognition announcements are largely symbolic and are rejected by Israel.
A two-state solution would see a state of Palestine created alongside Israel in most or all of the occupied West Bank, the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and annexed East Jerusalem, territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war that the Palestinians want for their state.
Albanese dismissed suggestions Monday that the move was solely symbolic.
'This is a practical contribution towards building momentum,' he said. 'This is not Australia acting alone.'
In neighboring New Zealand, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Monday that his government 'will carefully weigh up its position' on recognizing a Palestinian state before making a formal decision in September.
'New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,' Peters said in a statement.
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
White House lands on Trump-Putin summit location as officials race to prepare for historic Alaska meeting
American officials scrambling this weekend to identify and lock down a venue for Friday's summit between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart quickly discovered a major snag: summertime is peak tourist season in Alaska, and options both available and equipped to host the two world leaders were severely limited. When word reached certain prominent Alaskans that Trump and Putin were coming, a few began reaching out to the president's allies with a proposition: could their home be an option? It's unclear if those offers ever reached White House officials, who were calling sites in Juneau, the state capital, along with Anchorage and Fairbanks. Organizers of the summit soon came to believe the only city in the massive state with viable options for the summit would be Anchorage. And only Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, on the northern edge of the city, would meet the security requirements for the historic meeting, though the White House had hoped to avoid the optics of hosting the Russian leader and his entourage on a US military installation. That is where the two men will meet Friday, two White House officials said. The struggle underscored the rush now underway to nail down the details of Friday's meeting, the first time the top US and Russian leaders have met in more than four years. The summit is still largely a work in progress as US and Russian officials make haste to prepare for the high-profile encounter. The two countries' top diplomats — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — spoke Tuesday to discuss 'certain aspects of preparation,' according to Russia's foreign ministry. Usually, a high-stakes summit with a US adversary would be preceded by extensive negotiations over the agenda and outcomes. But Trump himself has said he is approaching the meeting as a 'feel-out' session, with few advance expectations for how it will proceed. The White House on Tuesday termed it a 'listening session.' 'The president feels like, 'look, I've got to look at this guy across the table. I need to see him face to face. I need to hear him one-on-one. I need to make an assessment by looking at him,'' Rubio said in a morning radio interview Tuesday with Sid Rosenberg, offering one explanation for why Trump's five known phone calls with Putin this year wouldn't suffice in determining the Russian leader's intentions. Landing on Alaska Trump's administration and the Kremlin landed on Alaska as the site for the summit after a lengthy behind-the-scenes back-and-forth, according to people familiar with the matter. There were few places that would work for the sit-down, the people said, particularly given a war crimes warrant issued for Putin's arrest by the International Criminal Court in 2023. With that fact looming, Russia balked at a European destination — even in a city like Vienna or Geneva, where US and Russian leaders have met dating back to the Cold War. While Putin himself raised the United Arab Emirates as an 'entirely suitable' location, many inside the White House hoped to avoid another lengthy trek to the Middle East after Trump's visit in May. In the end, sources said, it came down to Hungary — whose Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is close to both Trump and Putin — and the United States as possible hosts, according to two US officials. American officials were pleased and somewhat surprised when the Russian president agreed to a meeting on US soil — on land that once was part of the Russian empire, no less. 'I thought it was very respectful that the president of Russia is coming to our country as opposed to us going to his country or even a third-party place,' Trump said this week, as his team was rushing to finalize details of the summit. Others were not so taken. 'The only better place for Putin than Alaska would be if the summit were being held in Moscow,' said Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton, who fell out with Trump during his first term. 'So, the initial setup, I think, is a great victory for Putin.' Previous Putin meetings The last time an American president met with Putin — President Joe Biden's 2021 summit in Geneva — the date and venue were announced three weeks ahead of time. But the planning between Russian and American officials started months before that. Biden, on a week-long swing through Europe, spent the days leading up to the sit-down in intensive preparation with top advisers, blocking out time in the mornings to parse potential directions the conversation could take and anticipate some of Putin's moves. He consulted other leaders, including the German chancellor, for pointers on how to approach the notoriously wily Russian leader. By the time the summit arrived, aides had planned the day down to the most minute detail, including what order the leaders would arrive, how long each session would last and what type of flower would sit on the table (it was white roses). American officials even ensured there were bottles of orange Gatorade — labeled 'POTUS' — inside a refrigerator at the 18th-century villa where the meeting took place. During Trump's first term, he and Putin sat one-on-one in Helsinki, Finland, during a summit in 2018 that ended with a remarkable moment when Trump sided with Putin over US intelligence agencies on the question of Russian election interference. Trump also met Putin alone in 2017, during their first encounter at the G20 summit in Hamburg. Mystery over meeting's origins While American and Russian officials have been in extensive conversations to prepare for the sit-down since it was agreed to last week, the encounter that prompted the event remains something of a mystery. Trump's foreign envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow last Wednesday for a meeting with Putin that resulted in the decision to meet, though what exactly Putin said in the meeting is still largely unknown. European officials spent much of the last week trying to ascertain the parameters of a peace deal that Putin offered up, but some said they were frustrated by the lack of clarity offered by Witkoff, a real estate developer and longtime friend of Trump's. Trump plans to hear from European leaders and Ukraine in a virtual meeting on Wednesday, arranged by the Germans so the president can get their perspective ahead of the Friday meeting. And he has promised to get on the phone with them, along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, immediately after the summit concludes. But Zelensky isn't expected to be in Alaska for the summit, so any potential trilateral meeting is off the table for now. Instead, Trump will spend at least part of the summit meeting with Putin one-on-one, the White House said Tuesday, allowing time for the two men to carry out a discussion unheard by anyone else aside from their translators. 'That's part of the plan,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said when asked whether the two presidents would meet as a pair. 'As for the other mechanics and logistics, I will let our team speak to that when they're ironed out.' It's not atypical for leaders to meet alone with their counterparts, but Trump and Putin's relationship has been the subject of intense scrutiny. And during Trump's first term, even senior officials said they sometimes were left in the dark about what was discussed when aides were left out. In Trump's previous two meetings with Putin, both encounters included translators, but not high-ranking aides. After the Germany meeting, Trump reportedly asked his translator for his notes. For his part, Putin has spent the days ahead of Friday's meeting placing phone calls to his remaining global allies — including some who have staged their own high-profile summits with Trump. That included North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, the Kremlin said Tuesday, who met three times with Trump during his first term, but still hasn't abandoned his nuclear weapons. This article has been updated with additional information
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Albanese accused of Palestine 'mess', surprise statistic despite Coles and Woolworths crackdown, commuter horror as train crashes
Hello and welcome to Yahoo's live news blog this Thursday. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says Anthony Albanese has made "a mess" of Australia's position on the Israel-Gaza war. Her comments come after Hamas welcomed the prime minister's call to recognise a Palestinian state. Supermarket prices have risen at their highest rate in five years, new research shows. That's despite the Albanese government promising to significant action to ensure Australians can afford their weekly shop. Follow along as we bring you regular updates throughout the day. The $750k Powerball winner has missed out on The mystery punter who scored June's incredible $100 million Powerball jackpot has made a costly $750,000 mistake by failing to step forward and reveal their identity. The prize money remains unclaimed despite an intensifying search for the winner, who purchased the unregistered ticket from a Bondi Junction newsagent in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Other than that, little is known about the new multimillionaire despite several theories emerging, including that the winner could even be a tourist. It's been nine weeks since the unknown player won the hefty sum. If, theoretically, they had taken their winnings and put it in a term deposit or something similar, earning somewhere around the market rate of 4.5 per cent, they would have made an extra $750,000 in the last two months alone in pre-tax income. That's about the median price of an apartment in Sydney's notoriously expensive housing market. Read more about what lottery officials are doing to find the mystery winner here. Surprise supermarket reveal despite Albo crackdown While the Albanese government has vowed to crack down on inflated supermarket prices, putting market leaders Coles and Woolworths on notice not much has changed in the past 12 months it seems. In fact, according to Canstar Blue research, the situation is the worst its been in the past five years. Research found the average spend on weekly groceries for a household of four had increased 11 per cent in the last year to $240. 'That's the biggest annual jump recorded in the last five years, and likely no surprise to anyone who's been at the checkout lately,' Canstar Blue spokesperson Eden Radford said. Opposition Leader blasts Albanese after Hamas praise Sussan Ley says Anthony Albanese is 'making a real mess' after Hamas praised his decision to recognise Palestinian statehood. Hamas, the Islamist militants behind the October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023, overnight issued statements to Australian media saying it welcomed any support to 'help the Palestinian people achieve their national goals'. The group - a registered terrorist organisation in Australia - runs Gaza, where Israel has waged a 22-month war in a bid to wipe it out and rescue hostages taken the October 7 assault. The Opposition Leader said on Thursday the Prime Minister needed to rethink his decision. 'On the same day, a listed terror organisation calls our Prime Minister a hero, while our closest ally, the US, says that these actions are going to make peace in the region less likely,' Ms Ley told Nine's Today. 'So it's really quite extraordinary, because remember, the Prime Minister used justification for this decision by saying Hamas would not be involved. 'And I saw the Treasurer yesterday saying, oh, Hamas will have no role in a future Palestinian state. Really? As if we can control these things?' Read more from NewsWire here. Commuter chaos as train and truck collide A truck and a packed commuter train have collided in Brisbane's south, sparking major delays on South East Queensland lines. Emergency services were called to a stopping at Bonemill Rd in in Runcorn shortly after 7am on Thursday after reports the trailer section of a truck and the train collided. A Queensland Ambulance spokesperson confirmed about 300 passengers were on-board the train at the time. Only a single person was left complaining of injury, with a split lip and back pain. The drivers of both the truck and the train were uninjured. Queensland Fire Department crews attended the scene but had left shortly before 9am. The incident sparked chaos on the state's train network, with services between Kuraby and Altandi suspended and replacement buses arranged. - NewsWire Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The $750k Powerball winner has missed out on The mystery punter who scored June's incredible $100 million Powerball jackpot has made a costly $750,000 mistake by failing to step forward and reveal their identity. The prize money remains unclaimed despite an intensifying search for the winner, who purchased the unregistered ticket from a Bondi Junction newsagent in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Other than that, little is known about the new multimillionaire despite several theories emerging, including that the winner could even be a tourist. It's been nine weeks since the unknown player won the hefty sum. If, theoretically, they had taken their winnings and put it in a term deposit or something similar, earning somewhere around the market rate of 4.5 per cent, they would have made an extra $750,000 in the last two months alone in pre-tax income. That's about the median price of an apartment in Sydney's notoriously expensive housing market. Read more about what lottery officials are doing to find the mystery winner here. The mystery punter who scored June's incredible $100 million Powerball jackpot has made a costly $750,000 mistake by failing to step forward and reveal their identity. The prize money remains unclaimed despite an intensifying search for the winner, who purchased the unregistered ticket from a Bondi Junction newsagent in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Other than that, little is known about the new multimillionaire despite several theories emerging, including that the winner could even be a tourist. It's been nine weeks since the unknown player won the hefty sum. If, theoretically, they had taken their winnings and put it in a term deposit or something similar, earning somewhere around the market rate of 4.5 per cent, they would have made an extra $750,000 in the last two months alone in pre-tax income. That's about the median price of an apartment in Sydney's notoriously expensive housing market. Read more about what lottery officials are doing to find the mystery winner here. Surprise supermarket reveal despite Albo crackdown While the Albanese government has vowed to crack down on inflated supermarket prices, putting market leaders Coles and Woolworths on notice not much has changed in the past 12 months it seems. In fact, according to Canstar Blue research, the situation is the worst its been in the past five years. Research found the average spend on weekly groceries for a household of four had increased 11 per cent in the last year to $240. 'That's the biggest annual jump recorded in the last five years, and likely no surprise to anyone who's been at the checkout lately,' Canstar Blue spokesperson Eden Radford said. While the Albanese government has vowed to crack down on inflated supermarket prices, putting market leaders Coles and Woolworths on notice not much has changed in the past 12 months it seems. In fact, according to Canstar Blue research, the situation is the worst its been in the past five years. Research found the average spend on weekly groceries for a household of four had increased 11 per cent in the last year to $240. 'That's the biggest annual jump recorded in the last five years, and likely no surprise to anyone who's been at the checkout lately,' Canstar Blue spokesperson Eden Radford said. Opposition Leader blasts Albanese after Hamas praise Sussan Ley says Anthony Albanese is 'making a real mess' after Hamas praised his decision to recognise Palestinian statehood. Hamas, the Islamist militants behind the October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023, overnight issued statements to Australian media saying it welcomed any support to 'help the Palestinian people achieve their national goals'. The group - a registered terrorist organisation in Australia - runs Gaza, where Israel has waged a 22-month war in a bid to wipe it out and rescue hostages taken the October 7 assault. The Opposition Leader said on Thursday the Prime Minister needed to rethink his decision. 'On the same day, a listed terror organisation calls our Prime Minister a hero, while our closest ally, the US, says that these actions are going to make peace in the region less likely,' Ms Ley told Nine's Today. 'So it's really quite extraordinary, because remember, the Prime Minister used justification for this decision by saying Hamas would not be involved. 'And I saw the Treasurer yesterday saying, oh, Hamas will have no role in a future Palestinian state. Really? As if we can control these things?' Read more from NewsWire here. Sussan Ley says Anthony Albanese is 'making a real mess' after Hamas praised his decision to recognise Palestinian statehood. Hamas, the Islamist militants behind the October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023, overnight issued statements to Australian media saying it welcomed any support to 'help the Palestinian people achieve their national goals'. The group - a registered terrorist organisation in Australia - runs Gaza, where Israel has waged a 22-month war in a bid to wipe it out and rescue hostages taken the October 7 assault. The Opposition Leader said on Thursday the Prime Minister needed to rethink his decision. 'On the same day, a listed terror organisation calls our Prime Minister a hero, while our closest ally, the US, says that these actions are going to make peace in the region less likely,' Ms Ley told Nine's Today. 'So it's really quite extraordinary, because remember, the Prime Minister used justification for this decision by saying Hamas would not be involved. 'And I saw the Treasurer yesterday saying, oh, Hamas will have no role in a future Palestinian state. Really? As if we can control these things?' Read more from NewsWire here. Commuter chaos as train and truck collide A truck and a packed commuter train have collided in Brisbane's south, sparking major delays on South East Queensland lines. Emergency services were called to a stopping at Bonemill Rd in in Runcorn shortly after 7am on Thursday after reports the trailer section of a truck and the train collided. A Queensland Ambulance spokesperson confirmed about 300 passengers were on-board the train at the time. Only a single person was left complaining of injury, with a split lip and back pain. The drivers of both the truck and the train were uninjured. Queensland Fire Department crews attended the scene but had left shortly before 9am. The incident sparked chaos on the state's train network, with services between Kuraby and Altandi suspended and replacement buses arranged. - NewsWire A truck and a packed commuter train have collided in Brisbane's south, sparking major delays on South East Queensland lines. Emergency services were called to a stopping at Bonemill Rd in in Runcorn shortly after 7am on Thursday after reports the trailer section of a truck and the train collided. A Queensland Ambulance spokesperson confirmed about 300 passengers were on-board the train at the time. Only a single person was left complaining of injury, with a split lip and back pain. The drivers of both the truck and the train were uninjured. Queensland Fire Department crews attended the scene but had left shortly before 9am. The incident sparked chaos on the state's train network, with services between Kuraby and Altandi suspended and replacement buses arranged. - NewsWire
The Hill
5 hours ago
- The Hill
White House puts a low bar for Trump-Putin summit
Trump and other administration officials have indicated Friday's summit in Alaska is not meant to be one that will bring an end to the fighting in Ukraine, using terms like 'listening session' and 'feel-out meeting' to describe the planned discussion about the war in Ukraine. The president and his team have also largely avoided predicting any deliverables that might come out of the meeting and noted that it will likely take a follow-up summit involving both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for any concrete progress to be made on a ceasefire. 'There's a very good chance that we're going to have a second meeting that will be more productive than the first,' Trump said Wednesday. 'Because the first is I'm going to find out where we are and what we're doing.' The White House has steered clear of making any firm commitments about what will come out of Friday's gathering in Anchorage, and details have been scarce as officials work to rapidly pull the event together on one week's notice. The president himself has offered mixed signals about what will happen. Trump is expected to meet one-on-one with Putin, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, and the event will take place at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. But other logistics were still being sorted out as the summit approached. 'This is a listening exercise for this president,' Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. 'Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present. And so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.' Trump is a wild card in Friday's meeting. He has avoided setting expectations for the event, telling reporters earlier this week that the conversation with Putin 'will be good, but it might be bad.' Trump on Wednesday threatened 'severe consequences' if Russia did not stop the fighting after this week's summit, then minutes later acknowledged that he is unlikely to be able to get Putin to stop targeting Ukrainian civilians. And he said he hoped to arrange a second meeting quickly involving Putin and Zelensky, or that perhaps a second meeting would not happen at all. 'If the first one goes OK, we'll have a quick second one. I would like to do it almost immediately,' Trump said. 'I think the second meeting – if the second meeting takes place. Now there may be no second meeting, because if I feel it's not appropriate to have it because I didn't get the answers that we have to have, then we're not going to have a second meeting.' Some critics have bemoaned that Trump is giving Putin a win simply by holding the meeting on U.S. soil without Zelensky or leadership from Ukraine present. And European allies have approached Friday's meeting with caution, expressing appreciation for Trump's efforts while bracing for the possibility that he may go off script. Trump has in recent days suggested Ukraine may have to give up land to Russia as part of a peace agreement, something Ukrainian leaders have said is a non-starter.
