Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Kris Swales

Afternoon Update: Australians in Middle East travel limbo; Pauline Hanson censured again; and Christina Applegate on life with MS

A plume of smoke caused by an Iranian strike is seen in the background as an Emirates plane is parked at the Dubai International Airport after its closure.
A plume of smoke caused by an Iranian strike is seen in the background as an Emirates plane is parked at the Dubai International Airport after its closure. Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

Good afternoon. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says travellers should be prepared for more flight disruption as the US-Israel war on Iran continues, warning there are limits to what the Australian government could do to help those stranded.

Wong said about 115,000 Australians are in the region, 11,000 of whom travel regularly in and out of on Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways – all of which have suspended flights. Formula One teams heading to Melbourne for the season-opening race have also have been forced into last-minute travel changes.

It comes as the Middle East conflict spread into Lebanon, where Israel carried out heavy airstrikes on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut. Donald Trump said he was prepared to talk to what was left of the Iranian leadership in the wake of the killing of the country’s supreme leader by US-Israeli airstrikes.

Follow the Guardian’s live coverage here.

Top news

In pictures

Host Kristen Bell, Chase Infiniti, Claire Danes and Australia’s Rose Byrne were among the crowd at the 32nd Actor awards, formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards. See all the red carpet highlights from Los Angeles, where Michael B Jordan, Jessie Buckley and the late Catherine O’Hara were among the big winners.

What they said …

***

“You’re an activist or a journalist, you need to make up your mind” – Angus Taylor

The opposition leader lashed out at the reporter Jason Koutsoukis for the Saturday Paper during a heated press conference in which Coalition MPs claimed the Australian “so-called children” being held in a Syrian detention camp are Islamic State sympathisers.

Full Story

Why is Albanese supporting Trump’s illegal strike on Iran?

The US and Israeli bombing of Iran has been deemed illegal by experts around the world. So where does this leave Australia on the international stage and why is the prime minister so staunch in his support for his US ally? Political editor Tom McIllroy speaks to Nour Haydar.

Listen to the episode here.

Before bed read

When Emmy-winning comedy star Christina Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, her body started giving up on her. In an extract from her memoir, she writes about losing control, gaining weight – and refusing to be a “good girl”.

Daily word game

Today’s starter word is: SEPT. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

Sign up

If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.