Midday News Bulletin 26 June 2025

SBS Australia

12 hours ago

In this bulletin;
NATO members agree to raise defence spending to 5 percent of GDP;
President Trump praised by head of NATO for attack on Iran's nuclear programme;
And in cricket, day one of Australia's First Test against the West Indies ends in controversy. Leaders of the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty organisation, NATO, have agreed to boost defence spending to 5% of their countries' GDP by 2035. The move follows months of pressure from U-S President Donald Trump. "I've been asking them to go up to five per cent for a number of years - and they're going up to five per cent." The US president described the decision, taken at a two-day NATO summit in The Hague, as a "big win for Europe and... Western civilisation". In a joint statement, members said they were united against "profound" security challenges, in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia. NATO secretary General Mark Rutte said the decision had been a hard one, but was urgently necessary. "Countries have to find the money. It's not easy. These are political decisions. I totally recognise that. But at the same time there is absolute conviction, with my colleagues at the table tha, given this threat from the Russians, that given the international security situation, there is no alternative. We've got to do this." Mr Rutte also praised President Trump for Tuesday's bombing mission which targetted Iran's nuclear program and suspected development of an atomic weapon. "The fact that he took this decisive action, very targeted, to make sure Iran wouldn't get his hands on a nuclear capability, I think he deserves all the praise." Tehran says the country's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and denies accusations it's developing a nuclear weapon. Iran's parliament has unanimously agreed to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA, the UN's nuclear regulator. The move was in response to the USA's bombing of the country's major nuclear facilities , and Israel's 12 days of airstrikes on its nuclear infrastructure as well as scientists and high-ranking military officers. The step will make it harder for an independent expert assessment of the damage inflicted on Iran's three key nuclear sites. It also makes it harder for the location of any highly enriched uranium to be uncovered. Two of Australia's big four banks are predicting a cut in interest rates when the Reserve Bank next meets following better-than-expected inflation numbers. Headline inflation for May fell to 2.1 per cent from 2.4 per cent the previous month, defying predictions of inflation remaining steady. The Reserve Bank hands down its next cash rate decision on July 8th, when the Commonwealth Bank and NAB believe the next cut will be announced. Westpac and ANZ predict a lowering of the cash rate in August. Harry Murphy Cruise from Oxford Economics told the SBS On the Money Podcast this is signalling a change in priorities. "Really I think the economy is moving into a slightly different phase from one where we're focussed on taming inflation to something where we're really trying to support growth." A woman will face court today accused of hacking her university's database in an attempt to save on parking. Police allege the 27 year old is behind a series of cyber attacks on Western Sydney University beginning in 2021, which began with an attempt to secure unauthorised discounts for parking on campus. She's accused of escalating her hacking activity to make alterations to her academic results, as well as threats to sell other students' confidential data on the dark web. It is believed that hundreds of staff and students were affected in the series of alleged hacks involving unauthorised access, data ex-filtration, system compromises and unauthorised use of the institution's infrastructure. The opening day of Australia's First Test against the West Indies has ended in controversy, after star batter Usman Khawaja refused an interview with local broadcaster SEN Radio, in protest over the network's treatment of cricket journalist Peter Lalor. Lalor was dropped from SEN's coverage of Australia's Sri Lanka tour in February after posting articles about Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on social media. Khawaja, at the time, publicly supported the veteran journalist online. The furor comes after Khawaja scored 47 runs on a disastrous first day for the Aussies in Barbados, who finished all out for 180.
Top-order batter Sam Konstas was bowled out for three, as was Cameron Green, at the hands of Shamar Joseph...the West Indies seam bowler taking four wickets for 46.