Hamas says truce is close; man charged with raping 90-year-old woman; and essential workers in rental stress

By Antoun Issa

Good afternoon. The Coalition have been on the attack since the high court ruled indefinite immigration detention was unlawful, describing the cohort affected as “hardened criminals”.

But it turns out five of the 93 people eligible for release under the ruling had already been released by the Morrison government.

A home affairs document, published by the high court today, also confirms that not all the 93 had convictions in Australia.

Top news

• Hamas chief says ‘we are close to reaching a truce agreement’ | Hamas political bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh, has told Reuters that the militant group is approaching an agreement with Israel in Qatari-led negotiations. Israeli forces continued their offensive in northern Gaza, closing in on the Indonesian hospital where thousands of patients and displaced people have been sheltering for weeks. There were also reports of an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Hebron, and the arrest of celebrated Palestinian poet, Mosab Abu Taha, in Gaza. Yemen’s Houthis have released a video of their capture of what they said was an Israeli cargo ship in the Red Sea. Israel said the vessel was a British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship.
• RBA keeps eye on Middle East tensions | The Reserve Bank considered leaving the cash rate unchanged this month, noting uncertainties including how the “escalation of tensions in the Middle East” was “likely to dampen consumer confidence and global demand”. The RBA ultimately decided to lift the cash rate on 7 November to reduce the risk of a “larger monetary policy response” in coming months.
• Robbie Williams fan dies after Sydney concert fall | A woman in her 70s has died after an induced coma after falling down six rows of seating at Allianz Stadium in Moore Park on Thursday evening.
• Man charged with raping 90-year-old woman | Police allege a 34-year-old man broke into an aged care home at Bateau Bay on the NSW Central Coast about 12.40am last Wednesday before attacking the woman. The sex crimes squad commander, Jayne Doherty, said it was “horrendous that someone, any person in the safety of their home, would be attacked like this, but to [allegedly] attack a very defenceless old lady is beyond belief”.
• Beijing rejects Australian claims China sonar injured navy divers | The Chinese government has accused the federal government of “making trouble” with “rude and irresponsible” claims about the sonar incident that injured Australian navy divers last week. The Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, said on Saturday that several divers from the HMAS Toowoomba sustained injuries from sonar pulses emitted by a Chinese warship in international waters off Japan.
• Essential workers pushed into serious rental stress | Essential workers can’t afford rent in any part of the country, a new heat map from Anglicare Australia shows. The cost-of-living crisis around the world has also fuelled a growing appetite for instant ramen, our Tokyo correspondent reports.
• Lachlan Murdoch meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy | The media mogul met the Ukrainian president in Kyiv, in a sign of support for the country. Meanwhile, a second ex-Australian soldier is reported to have died last month while fighting against invading Russian forces.
• Fears of abortion setback in Argentina | Javier Milei, the newly elected far-right president often compared to Donald Trump, has previously vowed to repeal country’s 2020 landmark legalisation of abortion and shutter the ministry of women, gender and diversity.

Main image: A document released by the high court showed the person who spent the second longest time in detention was living in the Australian community under a ‘residence determination’ granted by the Morrison government in February 2022. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

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