Australian teenage sprinter Gout Gout crushed the 200 metres field in his first senior race abroad on Tuesday, bettering his own national record by two hundredths of a second to finish in 20.02 seconds at the Ostrava Golden Spike.
The 17-year-old ran a textbook race in his European debut at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event in the Czech Republic, crossing the line 0.17 seconds ahead of Cuban Reynier Mena while Briton Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (20.60) was third.
Gout has drawn comparisons to Jamaican great Usain Bolt and he made headlines in December when he broke Peter Norman’s national record that had stood for 56 years in 20.04.
The teenager was confirmed in April for Australia’s team for the World Championships in Tokyo in September.
- Reuters
The NSW Greens says the party has referred Chris Minns’ “sweetheart deal” on hunting rights with the Shooters’ party for a parliamentary inquiry after the Legislative Council declined to rush the laws through.
The Greens’ spokesperson for agriculture and the environment, Sue Higginson, said the party had acted after an “outcry of concern” from voters about the dealwhich would enshrine a “right to hunt” in NSW, provide “resources and power to a statutory body stacked by the gun lobby”, and pave the way for a minister for hunting.
She said:
This bill from the gun lobby seemed to come out of thin air, and it’s no coincidence that the premier Chris Minns and his Labor government immediately supported it just when they were hoping to buy votes for their changes to the workers compensation scheme.
If passed, these laws would have a massive impact on the resources of local councils with all crown land managers having to consider shooting on public lands in their communities. Despite the massive impact that these laws would have, no one was consulted with on these changes before Chris Minns made his captain’s call to back the Shooters.
Leigh backs ‘productivity-enhancing’ AI technology
Andrew Leigh, the assistant minister for productivity, has backed a light-touch approach to regulating artificial intelligence, amid an ongoing debate over how best to manage the risks of the potentially transformative technology.
While most Australians accept the potential benefits from AI, surveys show that only one in three agree we have adequate guardrails in place to ensure the safe rollout of the technology.
Leigh, in a speech to the McKell Institute later today, will say Australia should only consider “AI-specific” rules once all existing regulatory options had been exhausted.
The goal is to protect the public while allowing productivity-enhancing innovation to flourish.
Leigh’s comments are further evidence that Labor has cooled on the idea of implementing a European-style stand-alone AI act, which is one of the options being considered as part of a government review.
Such high-risk applications could include predicting a person’s suitability for a job, likelihood of recidivism, or to enable self-driving cars.
Rather than destroying jobs, Leigh quotes overseas research showing that firms which adopted AI tools were more likely to grow their workforces.
In fact, the biggest employment risk from AI may not be job displacement – it may be working for a business that doesn’t adopt it and falls behind or fails entirely. Think of it as the equivalent of working for a boss who insists that the fax machine will make a comeback.
Deputy prime minister Richard Marles has said he wouldn’t want to “overstate” the chance of him crossing paths with US president Donald Trump at the Nato summit which started in The Hague overnight.
“Look, I wouldn’t want to overstate that,” he told ABC’s 7.30 last night.
There’s a lot of people at the Nato summit. There’s a lot of people in the rooms that we’ll all be in. And in gatherings such as this, the meetings that you have end up being pretty fluid.
Marles, who is also the minister of defence, said Australia “very much” called on Iran to stick to the ceasefire and exercise restraint.
“What we want to see now is de-escalation. Our concern throughout this has been the potential for escalation, and where this might ultimately lead,” he said, speaking after Israel accused Iran of launching missiles at Israel following Trump’s ceasefire announcement. Iran denied launching missiles.
When asked whether Australia would always back the US’s use of force, Marles said:
What we’ve done in this instance and what we do in every instance is to speak in accordance with what is Australia’s national interest. It’s not in Australia’s national interest to see Iran acquire a nuclear weapon.
The defence minister side-stepped the question of whether the US followed a rules-based order, saying “what America has done in the strikes that it has undertaken is to significantly stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and we have made clear that that represented a threat to the international order.”
Marles said more than 4,000 Australian citizens across Israel and Iran had indicated they wanted help to leave.
A special Australian Defence Force flight has left Tel Aviv with 119 Australians and their family members on board after they became stranded by the suspension of flights out of Israel amid its conflict with Iran.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said late on Tuesday night that Australian defence personnel and diplomats “have supported an Australian Defence Force assisted departure flight” out of the Israeli city.
Photographs posted on social media by the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, showed people being taken by bus to the airport.
An Australian Government assisted-departure flight has safely transported 119 Australians and family members from Tel Aviv.Commercial flights from Israel have resumed with some restrictions.DFAT officers remain at the Iran-Azerbaijan border to help Australians to leave Iran.pic.twitter.com/1VD0lnAbcU
Dfat added that commercial flights out of Israel resumed last night with some restrictions after a ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Iran.
A Dfat statement said:
Israeli commercial airlines have resumed operation for anyone wanting to leave Israel. Limitations and restrictions apply.
Travellers with existing tickets for cancelled flights are encouraged to keep speaking with airlines. This may be the fastest way for travellers to reach their final destination.
We will continue to communicate directly with registered Australians who wish to depart Israel about any further plans for assisted departures.
Consular officers remain positioned at the Iran-Azerbaijan border to assist departing Australians.
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’mMartin Farrerwith the top overnight stories and then it’ll beNick Visserwith the main action.
Richard Marleshas joined Nato leaders at their summit in The Hague where the main discussion will focus on European nations increasing their defence spending and how the west can help Ukraine to repel Russia.Donald Trumphas landed in the Netherlands but Marles has played down the idea that he might have a meeting with the US president to discuss the Aukus submarine pact. More details soon.
The judgment inAntoinette Lattouf’s unlawful dismissal case against the ABC is expected this morning at 11.30am at the federal court in Sydney. JusticeDarryl Rangiahwill hand down his ruling in the highly charged case which centres around whether the ABC acted unlawfully when the casual radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf was abruptly taken off air in December 2023. More coming up.
A special Australian Defence Force flight is on its way back to Australia from Tel Aviv with 119 Australians and their family members on board after they became stranded by the suspension of flights out of Israel amid its conflict with Iran. The foreign affairs minister,Penny Wong, revealed the news last night. More details coming up.