Australia news live: more wild weather on the way for Queensland; Iran denounces terror designation | Australia news
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Iran condemns Australia’s terrorism declaration
Iran has condemned Australia’s decision to designate the Revolutionary Guard as a group supporting terrorism, as relations between Canberra and Tehran deteriorate once again.
In August, Australia blamed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological wing of Iran’s military, for two arson attacks targeting the Jewish community in 2024 and expelled Tehran’s ambassador.
The Australian government said on Thursday it was using new legislation passed in the wake of the attacks to designate the Guard as a “state sponsor of terrorism”.
The government added: “These cowardly attacks on Australian soil are designed to undermine and sow division in our multicultural society by targeting Australian Jews with the aim of causing harm and inciting fear.”
“Iran’s attacks are unprecedented and dangerous acts of aggression carried out by a foreign country on Australian soil,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, leading to this listing.
Iran’s foreign ministry responded to the appointment, calling it a “humiliating and unjust act” and a “violation of the rules and norms of international law regarding the national sovereignty of states.”
“This irresponsible action is in line with the huge mistake made by the Australian government based on completely false and fabricated accusations by the security agencies of the Zionist regime (Israel),” the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement.
He also expressed “outrage that some Australian political officials are complying with the Israeli regime’s harmful policy by spreading lies against Iran.”
Relations between the two countries have become tense in recent months.
Canberra declared the Iranian ambassador persona non grata and gave him and three other Iranian diplomats a week to leave the country after blaming Iran for arson attacks targeting a kosher restaurant in Sydney and a synagogue in Melbourne.
This was Australia’s first deportation since the Second World War.
Canberra also recalled its own ambassador and suspended its embassy’s operations.
In June, Australia was one of the few US allies to openly welcome Washington’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities during a 12-day war between Israel and Iran.
-AFP, Reuters
New storms heading to southeast Queensland
Hail has pummeled the storm-hit region with more severe weather as east coast communities brace for damaging winds and heavy rain, Australia’s Associated Press reported.
Storms hit south-east Queensland for the fourth day in a row yesterday, with inner city Brisbane taking the first hit.
Although there is a slight recession today, more rain is expected on Saturday.
While the sky is expected to clear further as severe storms formed “bubbles” along the east coast last night, hailstones up to 4 cm in diameter covered the city yesterday.
Severe weather is expected to affect the state from the Sunshine Coast in the south-east to the Cape York Peninsula in the north.
“Storms are hitting” Angus Hines A Bureau of Meteorology official told AAP.
There’s a pretty comprehensive risk today, and there are still a number of communities, including very large communities on the east coast, that could be affected by some pretty severe storms.
The bureau had previously warned of “giant hail large enough to cause damage to property, vehicles and crops” for southeast Queensland.
You don’t want to be outside in this situation, so please cover your cars and stay inside when the storm approaches.
Damage caused by destructive winds of 100km/h and above is easy enough to knock down trees and power lines and cause property damage to homes, property and businesses.
More than 10,000 people were without power yesterday afternoon after days of “catastrophic” storms in the southeast.
Cyclonic winds toppled trees, lifted roofs and knocked down power lines, blocking roads and forcing schools to close while repairs continued.
At one stage more than 160,000 properties were left without power.
Hines said some relief could be seen with a “lull” in storm action forecasts for Friday, but it will be a “short reprieve” with stormy weather returning by Saturday.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I Martin Farrer with the last minute news of the previous day Nick Visser guides you through the weekend.
South-east Queensland will get a brief respite today after four days of severe storms bringing large hailstones and damaging winds. However, the harsh weather is expected to return again tomorrow. More details are coming.
The Center for Public Integrity has expressed concern that the $560 million invitation-only grant program created by the Albanian government is ripe for the pork barrel. More details coming soon.
Iran, on the other hand, accused Australia of violating international rules by describing the country’s Revolutionary Guard as a group that supports terrorism. More on this subject soon
