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Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Christinamio with the

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Speaker 1: Front's afternoon headlines. A beard by former Liberal staffer Bruce

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Speaker 1: Lamman to appeal the verdict in his defamation action against

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Speaker 1: Network ten has been thrown out by the High Court.

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Speaker 1: Lamman sued the TV network and presenter Lisa Wilkinson for

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Speaker 1: defamation in twenty twenty three over an interview with his

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Speaker 1: former colleague Brittany Higgins about her alleged rape inside Parliament House.

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Speaker 1: Though Higgins didn't name Laman in the interview, which aired

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Speaker 1: on the shuttered program The Project, he argued he was identifiable.

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Speaker 1: Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found on the balance of

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Speaker 1: probabilities Lamman did rape Higgins. Lamman lost on appeal in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four and later applied to the High Court

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Speaker 1: for special leave to appeal against that judgment by the

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Speaker 1: Full Court of the Federal Court, but the High Court

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Speaker 1: justices said on Thursday, quote the proposed rounds of appeal

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Speaker 1: have insufficient prospects of success to warrant a grant of

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Speaker 1: special leave, and the application does not involve a question

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Speaker 1: of law that is of public importance. It's Lahman's last

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Speaker 1: opportunity to challenge the outcome of the defamation action he

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Speaker 1: initiated in twenty twenty three. The fledgling ceasefire agreement between

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Speaker 1: the United States and Iran is already on shaky ground

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Speaker 1: amid confusion about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

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Speaker 1: Tehran agreed on Wednesday to reopen the vital shipping route

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Speaker 1: for two weeks as part of a temporary ceasefire, but

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Speaker 1: said continued strikes by Israel on Hesbalah militants in Lebanon

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Speaker 1: where a breach of the terms of the agreement. The

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Speaker 1: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps later announced ships passing through would

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Speaker 1: be required to take alternative routes to avoid possible collisions

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Speaker 1: with sea mines. Israel has said from the jump Lebanon

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Speaker 1: wasn't part of the ceasefire agreement, a position reiterated by

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Speaker 1: White House Presstery Caroline Leavett on Wednesday.

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Speaker 2: Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire that has been

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Speaker 2: related to all parties involved in the ceasefire as you know.

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Speaker 2: Prime Minister in nat Yahoo put out a statement last

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Speaker 2: night in support of the ceasefire. In support of the

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Speaker 2: United States' efforts and He's also assured the President they'll

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Speaker 2: continue to be a helpful partner throughout the course of

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Speaker 2: the next two weeks.

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Speaker 1: Leavett also denied reports by Iranian state media the strait

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Speaker 1: of Home Wars had been closed again. Israel launched a

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Speaker 1: barrage of strikes on commercial and residential areas in the

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Speaker 1: capital of Beirut hours after the ceasefire deal was struck.

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Speaker 1: Lebanese authorities said over one hundred and ten people were

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Speaker 1: killed and hundreds more were wounded in the attack. Hezbollah

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Speaker 1: retaliated by firing rockets at Israel, saying it has quote

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Speaker 1: a right to respond to strikes. Donald Trump told PBS

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Speaker 1: News Hour the conflict between Israel and the Iran backed

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Speaker 1: militant group wasn't the focus of the ceasefire agreement, while

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Speaker 1: Vice President Javance told reporters the confusion could be a

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Speaker 1: product of a genuine misunderstanding.

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Speaker 3: I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon,

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Speaker 3: and it just didn't. We never made that promise, We

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Speaker 3: never indicated that was going to be the case. Look,

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Speaker 3: if Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in

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Speaker 3: a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which

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Speaker 3: has nothing to do with them, and which the United

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Speaker 3: States never once said was part of the ceasefire. That's

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Speaker 3: ultimately their choice. We think that would be dumb, but

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Speaker 3: that's their choice.

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Speaker 1: Vance will lead negotiations with Iran in Pakistan over the weekend,

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Speaker 1: along with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushna. Trump

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Speaker 1: said in a truth social post on Thursday, US forces

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Speaker 1: will remain in the Middle East until a deal is struck.

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Speaker 1: We've used AI to bring that post to life.

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Speaker 4: If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely,

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Speaker 4: then the shooting starts, bigger and better and stronger than

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Speaker 4: anyone has ever seen before. It was agreed a long

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Speaker 4: time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to

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Speaker 4: the contrary, no nuclear weapons and the strait of horror

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Speaker 4: moves will be open and safe. In the meantime, our

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Speaker 4: great military is loading up and wrestling, looking forward actually

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Speaker 4: to its next conquest. America is back.

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Speaker 1: The President met with the Secretary General of the North

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Speaker 1: Atlantic Treaty Organization, Mark Ruter at the White House on

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Speaker 1: Wednesday evening local time. In that meeting, he reportedly vented

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Speaker 1: his frustrations about a perceived lack of support for Operation

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Speaker 1: Epic Fury, and then he started posting, here's Ai Trump again.

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Speaker 4: NATO wasn't there when we needed him, and they won't

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Speaker 4: be there if we need him again.

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Speaker 1: Ruter told CNN he gets it.

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Speaker 5: He is clearly disappointed and with many NATURE allies, and

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Speaker 5: I can see his point. But at the same time,

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Speaker 5: I was also able to appointed to the fact that

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Speaker 5: the large majority of European nations has been helpful basing

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Speaker 5: with logistics, with overflights, with making sure that they lift

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Speaker 5: up to the commitments.

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Speaker 1: The administration is reportedly considering punishing NATO allies Trump believes

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Speaker 1: shirked their obligations to the United States during the conflict.

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Speaker 1: That could mean withdrawing US troops from some member countries

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Speaker 1: and stationing them in places he deems more supportive. The

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Speaker 1: President previously threatened to leave NATO altogether, a move he

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Speaker 1: can't legally make without congressional approval. Here's Caroline leab ittt

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Speaker 1: earlier on Wednesday, I have.

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Speaker 2: A direct quote from the President of the United States

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Speaker 2: on NITO, and I will share it.

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Speaker 4: With all of you.

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Speaker 2: They were tested and they failed, and I would add

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Speaker 2: it's quite sad that NITO turned their backs on the

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Speaker 2: American people over the course of the last six weeks

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Speaker 2: when it's the American people who have been defunding their defense.

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Speaker 1: Check out those stories live right now at the Australian

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Speaker 1: dot com dot au and come back to the front

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Speaker 1: first thing in the morning for in depth analysis of

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Speaker 1: Operation Epic Fury by our Foreign editor Greg Sheridan. That's

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Speaker 1: right here Friday morning.