HAMAS LEADER KILLED, ISRAEL CLAIMS
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed in Gaza, Israel’s foreign minister has said. AAP reports there has been no official comment from Hamas but sources in the group said indications suggested Sinwar was killed during an Israeli operation in Tal El Sultan.
Making the announcement on Thursday evening, Israel’s Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz is quoted by the BBC as saying: “This is a significant military and moral achievement for Israel and a victory for the entire free world against the axis of evil of radical Islam led by Iran. The elimination of Sinwar opens the possibility for the immediate release of the hostages and paves the way for a change that will lead to a new reality in Gaza — without Hamas and without Iranian control.”
In its live blog, the BBC reports the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a statement claiming Sinwar had been killed on Wednesday following a “year-long pursuit”. Previously Katz said the Hamas leader was killed on Thursday. The broadcaster said the reason for the discrepancy was not clear.
In its statement, the IDF declared Sinwar had planned and executed the October 7 attack on southern Israel and was “responsible for the murder and abduction of many Israelis”. The BBC added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel has “settled the score with him [Sinwar]” but the “task before us is still not complete” in reference to the Israeli hostages taken last year.
The AAP says Israeli media reported the IDF operation was a routine raid that caught Sinwar by chance.
The BBC also reported on Thursday at least 22 people were said to have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a school building in northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence Agency. Israel said the school was a Hamas command centre, something Hamas called “lies”.
Humanitarian groups have warned this week that Israel has allowed virtually no aid to enter northern Gaza since it began a renewed military offensive in the region.
Last week marked one year since the Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the killing of about 1,200 people, with more than 250 hostages taken into the Gaza Strip. More than 42,000 people have been killed by Israel’s response to the October 7 attack, Reuters said.
KING CHARLES ARRIVES
The AAP is keen to let you know King Charles III and Queen Camilla are arriving in Australia today, with the newswire declaring “members of the public will have multiple chances to glimpse Australia’s new monarch” — news which will thrill some more than others. Reuters states that an “ambivalent Australia awaits King Charles”.
The king and queen will spend their five-day tour attending formal dinners, wreath-laying, fleet-inspecting and hand-shaking as they visit Sydney and Canberra, AAP states. The trip is the first time King Charles has visited Australia since his coronation last year and is the 75-year-old’s first major foreign trip since being diagnosed with cancer.
After arriving later today, the couple will rest on Saturday, with official duties starting on Sunday. AAP says they will travel to Canberra on Monday, where they will visit the Australian War Memorial before receiving an official welcome at Parliament House. The king and queen will meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and also plant a tree, the newswire adds.
The PM’s presence in welcoming the king in Canberra has caused other headlines overnight, as the likes of The Australian and AFR highlight Albanese has had to pull out of attending the inauguration of Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto on Sunday due to the royal visit. The former claims Albanese will be the first Australian prime minister in decades to miss the swearing-in of a new Indonesian president. The papers are keen to point out the prime minister publicly committed to attending the inauguration just two months ago.
The government has highlighted the scheduling conflict was not apparent when Albanese made the commitment in August, with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles now travelling to Indonesia instead.
In terms of what the PM is actually doing between now and meeting King Charles in Canberra on Monday, the AFR flags he’s making his 24th visit to Western Australia since the 2022 election, where he will take part in the state’s annual fundraising telethon for children’s medical research on Saturday. The paper points out Dutton is also scheduled to head to WA today as the state remains pivotal to both parties’ chances at the next federal election.
Meanwhile, the ABC and The Australian are both drawing attention to research produced for US Congress which claims Australia could use AUKUS to invest in long-range bombers and other military capabilities rather than nuclear-powered submarines.
The ABC highlights the report, published by the Congressional Research Service, warns the costs of AUKUS Pillar 1 could “reduce, perhaps significantly, funding within Australia’s military budget for other Australian military capabilities” especially if the project goes over budget.
“If this were to occur, there could be a net negative impact on Australia’s overall military capabilities for deterring potential Chinese aggression,” the report states. The Australian says the alternative AUKUS plan involves nuclear-powered submarines not being sold to Canberra and instead eight new Virginia-class boats being built and retained within the US Navy and operated out of Australia.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
The 25th anniversary of the Dresden Symphony Orchestra featured a rather unique performance last week, one that was conducted by a three-armed robot.
MAiRA Pro S guided the musicians as they played a bespoke piece entitled “Robot Symphony”, euronews reports. The site quotes one member of the orchestra who said the robot “waits for no one”, adding: “It’s without mercy.”
Markus Rindt, the artistic director of Dresdner Sinfoniker, said the use of the robot was “not to replace human beings” but to perform complex music that human conductors would find impossible, The Guardian reported.
The site said Rindt worked with specialists from Technical University Dresden in creating MAiRA Pro S. It added the artistic director taught the robot how to conduct the same way he would a human, which included “displaying arm movements up to 40 times so she could integrate and adopt them with ever-increasing complexity during two years in development”.
Both The Guardian and euronews reported the robot’s performance went well with the audience.
Say What?
Eliminated: Yahya Sinwar.
Israel Defense Forces
A post on X on Thursday evening from the IDF claimed the Hamas leader had been killed.
CRIKEY RECAP
Well, you have to give credit where it’s due. The Coalition has actually adopted a marginally better climate position: instead of a CoalKeeper tax, which would force households to fork out up to $400 a year to prop up economically unviable coal-fired power, now it only wants a GasKeeper Tax, which would force households to fork out an unspecified amount a year to prop up economically unviable gas-fired plants.
Oddly, the burden on taxpayers to bring gas into the capacity investment scheme failed to get a mention in some media coverage of the Coalition’s proposal.
The fossil fuel industry, naturally, thinks it’s a great idea to receive yet more taxpayer largesse on top of its price gouging of consumers and businesses, the handouts it’s already receiving from federal Labor, and the petroleum resource rent tax scam.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has reportedly been booted from his role as an adviser to the UK Board of Trade. According to Desmog and (picked up by UK leftie tabloid The Mirror but weirdly nowhere else that we could see), “all existing advisers to the Board of Trade have been stood down by the Labour government”.
The news gave us a good chance to remember the various flavours of horror his initial appointment created across the pond: figures as various as Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, Dr Who and Queer as Folk showrunner Russel T. Davies and legendary actor Sir Ian McKellen all took a look at the history of Abbottonian rhetoric on climate change, women, homosexuality and Indigenous affairs and concluded our former PM was a simply “awful” choice. Embarrassing, yes. But hey, Australia mentioned!
We asked Abbott to confirm whether this was true (in happier news, we also tried to congratulate him about a rumour we’d heard that he’d recently gotten his boat licence). We didn’t hear back on either point.
As part of the royal visit to Australia commencing tomorrow, Queen Camilla will be involved in a “discussion about domestic violence”, reportedly a cause Her Majesty is passionate about. But many of the main organisations and experts involved in Australia’s plan to address gendered violence say they have not been invited, and don’t know any others who will be attending.
Kerry Staines, CEO of First Nations Advocates Against Family Violence (FNAAFV), says despite working closely with the government on the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032, the organisation didn’t know anyone who made the guest list. “Given that we’re the only Aboriginal, community-controlled peak organisation that specialises in family violence, you would think if someone was gonna be invited it would be ourselves or one of our members.”
Perhaps it’s for the best that this ceremonial meeting won’t put the queen in a room with the sector’s leading voices, as the aftermath of the Rapid Review of Prevention Approaches report in August has seen disagreements and brewing tensions spill out into the media.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
AFL bans six Giants players amid sanctions for ‘unacceptable’ behaviour at post-season party (Guardian Australia)
Instagram adds features to help stop sextortion (BBC)
Meta fires employees for spending food allowances on personal items like acne pads and wine glasses (CNN)
Lachlan Murdoch told to rein in TMZ after photos of Liam Payne’s body published (The i paper) ($)
Review finds Nine has systemic abuse, bullying and harassment issues (AFR)
How accurate, or off-target, could the polls be this year? (The New York Times) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Whatever his policy, Peter Dutton will be a big target on workplace relations — Michelle Grattan (The Conversation): Peter Dutton has been receiving a good many political breaks recently — Anthony Albanese’s new house is the latest icing on the cake. Although the Coalition is not expected to win next year’s election, presently it looks placed to do well.
So, as they prepare their campaign, what issue would Liberal strategists be most afraid of? My bet would be the looming battle over industrial relations. This could be more dangerous for Dutton than his risky gamble to promote nuclear energy.
With the election set to be fought largely around the cost of living, the government will reach for workplace issues as a potential lifeline. Industrial relations is made for a ferocious Labor scare campaign that the Coalition will find extremely difficult to counter.
Nine’s ‘Punishment Island’ work culture has had a painful human cost — Amanda Meade (Guardian Australia): Some staff are still experiencing what it’s like to be ridiculed in the workplace. “I have been on ice [by my manager] for speaking up about a story,” one staffer said. “Everyone calls it ‘Punishment Island’. When I was younger I would be in tears about something like this. I have now become disengaged. I am exhausted by the games.”
In 2006 Mia Freedman, now the owner of mamamia.com.au, was brought on as creative services director with a brief to provide more female content.
The former magazine editor lasted a year and later said the environment was toxic and resistant to change.
Nine’s board has apologised to staff and committed to implementing all 22 recommendations, but the painful stories of the human cost remain.
“The anxiety I experienced before [each workday] was debilitating,” one staffer said. “He would humiliate me in front of everyone else on the team. I have endured thousands of micro-aggressions over time. It is death by a thousand cuts … There was a point when I wanted to kill myself.”
