Australia’s Lebanese is outraged at Israel’s attacks which have killed thousands and displaced millions. Is it genocide? Jude Manning reports.

Is a genocide modelled on Gaza about to happen in Lebanon?

Recent comments from Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz suggest Israeli action in southern Lebanon amounts to war crimes and potential genocide, concurrent with the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Katz said that southern Lebanon would “become Gaza.”

We will implement the Rafah model … and that’s what we did.

The US is directly participating in Ukrainian strikes against targets inside Russia by supplying weapons, intelligence, and communications support to Kiev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Lavrov rejected Western claims that Russia and China were allegedly supplying Iran with weapons used to attack American military facilities.

He accused Washington of hypocrisy, pointing to its own role in the Ukraine conflict.

“The Americans, through arms supplies paid for by the European Union, the provision of intelligence, the Starlink system and much more, are not simply helping, but are directly participating in guiding Ukrainian weapons toward targets, including civilian targets, on Russian territory,” Lavrov said.

US President Donald Trump wants FIFA President Gianni Infantino to be the next secretary-general of the United Nations, the New York Post reported on Tuesday.

The Post cited a person close to Trump as saying that the president believes Infantino is “respected by everyone around the world” and has a “special ability to bring people together.” It is unclear, however, whether the Swiss-born football executive wants the job, the newspaper added.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran of not being serious about negotiations with the United States.

"The problem we're having right now is that they're not serious about talks. If they're serious, we're serious. If they're not, then we will do what is necessary to protect our interests and also the interests of our allies," Rubio said during the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting.

On the night of June 18, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict that began on February 28. However, on the night of July 8, Washington resumed strikes against Iran, citing Tehran's actions against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran called the US attacks a serious violation of the agreements reached and began retaliatory strikes against US bases in the Middle East.

Australia’s news companies must set aside traditional rivalries when it comes to exposing the dangers of artificial intelligence, the editor-in-chief of one of the world’s oldest media organisations has urged.

“News organisations are competitors. That is healthy,” Reuters boss Alessandra Galloni said while delivering the annual Andrew Ollie Lecture in Sydney on Tuesday night.

‘Plunder’: Media chief on AI’s theft of news

Story by Amy Jackson

Over the weekend, I traded notes with Marc Faber—global investor and editor of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report. One snippet from our chat set the tone:

At major market tops, it isn’t uncommon to see the formation of anti-bubbles alongside bubbles. And those anti-bubbles can bottom when the bubbles peak. In fact, some of the greatest buying opportunities can take place at major tops such as 2000. If you look at some of the Old Economy rejects, the cheapest many of them ever got over the past 30 years was in March 2000.

Mises Wire

The Quiet Rise of Chinese Innovation

BY Kevin Duffy

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that military personnel aged 30 and older will undergo testing for testosterone deficiency as part of annual health screenings.

In a video posted on X, captioned "High-T Department", Hegseth said he was authorising the screening programme for troops to ensure "you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best".

Troops with low testosterone levels will be offered voluntary hormone replacement therapy. 

According to rumors, President Trump is hoping to receive a Peace Prize. Unfortunately, his actions are counter-productive. He is bogged down in both the Ukraine War and the Iran War, without a clear end in sight for either of them. However, there is a very slight chance that one or more obscure options might succeed in bringing the two quagmires to a close.

A ROUTE TO A PEACE PRIZE [A GUEST ARTICLE BY RYAN L DUDLEY]

21 July 2026 by Ryan Dudley

One such extremely speculative option is as follows:

ONE–PREPARATION

The Israeli embassy has criticised Labor’s draft Israel-Gaza platform ahead of this week’s national conference, warning it places too much responsibility on Israel.

The Israeli embassy has made an extraordinary intervention in Australian domestic politics, criticising aspects of the draft party platform on the Israel-Gaza conflict that goes to Labor’s national conference in Adelaide this week.

Michelle Grattan

He's only been Prime Minister for a couple of hours, and already Andy Burnham is shaking things up.

The former Manchester mayor became the Prime Minister of Great Britain earlier today (20 Jul), weeks after outgoing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer announced his resignation.

Several EU member states have demanded exemptions from the bloc’s latest proposed Russia sanctions package, or blocked some of its measures outright, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing diplomats.

Greece, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Portugal all repordedly asked for changes, reflecting growing resistance to Brussels’ sanctions attempts, as more member states balk at measures they believe would damage their own national economies and corporate interests.

Several rounds of talks last week failed to produce agreement on the EU’s proposed 21st sanctions package targeting Russia’s energy, financial, crypto, trade, and fisheries sectors. It would also ban Russians who have served in the military since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022 from entering the bloc.

In the second of a two-part series, Robin Brown and Nick Bogiatzis show how it is the politicians most loudly claiming to defend “Western values” who are among the most dedicated to undermining them.

Pauline Hanson stands on the myth of a monocultural Western civilisation under siege. So does Reform UK’s Nigel Farage. US Vice President JD Vance does too. The Liberal Party’s new president Tony Abbott has made a career out of it. These politicians share the political usefulness of invoking “Western values” to exclude, demean and restrict the rights of people outside their preferred cultural group. They are either ignorant of, or dishonest about, the values they claim to defend.

Evidence to the public inquiry into AUKUS is exposing risks around nuclear accidents, sovereignty, jobs, waste and Australia’s role as a US military base.

I have been watching and listening to the livestream broadcast of the Public Inquiry into AUKUS. Truthfully, I have been doing more than watching. As a board member of the Australian Peace and Security Forum, which is supporting the Inquiry, I have been hanging on every piece of evidence, every presentation, every media story.

The US and Iran are on the precipice of all out conflict, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing sources familiar with discussions in the While House. According to the paper’s sources, Washington is ramping up its air war assets in the Middle East.

US planning for wider war with Iran – WaPo

The White House is likely unaware it lacks the resources needed for an extended military campaign, an American official has told the paper

The warning comes as the Pentagon confirmed that at least four US service members had been killed after Iranian forces launched retaliatory strikes on American military facilities in the region. According to the New York Times, US forces were hit by Iranian missile and drone attacks several times over the past week, wounding dozens of troops and damaging several Black Hawk helicopters.