WEBVTT - Why Albanese changed his mind about Bondi 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:04.840 Just twenty five days ago, two gunmen armed with high 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:08.200 powered weapons went to Bondou Beach on the first night 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:14.120 of Harnaka, and they murdered fifteen innocent people. They wounded 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:15.000 dozens more. 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:19.560 Last week, Anthony Alberezi announced a Royal Commission, something he'd 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:21.800 spent nearly a month arguing against. 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.160 I've taken the time to reflect, to meet with leaders 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.200 in the Jewish community, and most importantly, I've met with 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.600 many of the families of victims and survivors of that 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:32.560 horrific attack. 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.479 Now, former High Court Justice Virginia Bell will lead an 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.600 inquiry into the Bondai terror attack and the rise of 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:43.200 anti Semitism in Australia. It's a major shift the Prime Minister, 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.000 one that raises questions about how he makes decisions and 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:52.680 how he handles pressure. I'm Daniel James and you're listening 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:58.080 to seven AM today Press Gallery journalist Karen Middleton on 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:00.800 the scope of the Royal Commission, the political fall out 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.560 of the PMS reversal, and the risk that it all 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:15.279 could lead to deeper division. It's Monday, January twelve. Karen, 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:17.279 good to see you again. Let's start with the scope 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.800 of the Royal Commission. What will it look like and 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:21.080 when will it report back? 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:23.720 Well, it's broad, Daniel, it's very broad. 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.319 It's going to look at anti Semitism in Australia and 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:31.440 it's causes in institutions and society, So broaden that as 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:32.360 widely as you like. 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:36.199 This Royal Commission will cover four key areas I set 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:40.600 out in the terms of reference that I am releasing today. 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:45.880 One tackling anti Semitism by investigating the nature and prevalence 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:50.840 of any Semitism, examining its key drivers in Australia, including 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:55.720 religious and ideologically motivated extremism and radicalization. 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.000 It's going to look into institutions, the government, how much 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.080 resourcing there's been for agencies, law enforcement and. 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:07.640 Security, including through improvements to guidance and training within law enforcement, 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:12.720 border control, immigration and security agencies to respond to any 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:13.760 Semitic conduct. 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.640 And it's going to see if decisions that were made, 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.919 see if anything more is needed to prevent these kinds 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:21.000 of things happening. 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:24.640 Again, and for make any other recommendations arising out of 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:30.160 the inquiry for strengthening social cohesion in Australia and encountering 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:36.760 the spread of ideological and religiously motivated extremism in Australia. 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.280 What the Prime Minister has done is effectively combined this 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:45.000 Federal Royal Commission with the Agency examination that he had 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:47.600 already announced, So that was the one that former ASO 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.240 chief Dennis Richardson was doing. He will now work with 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:54.600 the new Commissioner, Virginia Bell on her commission, so he 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.840 will report his part and they will decide how to 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:01.640 give you those responsibilities up by April thirty of this year. 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:04.680 That's considered as an interim report of the Commission, and 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.280 then she will have to hand down her final report 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.080 by the fourteenth of December this year, which will be 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.160 the first anniversary of the Bondi attacks. 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.600 And as you said, it'll be run by a former Justice, 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:18.600 Virginia Bell. What considerations would the government have made when 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:20.160 picking her as Commissioner. 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.800 Well, she's done a review for them before. 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.280 Remember when they took office and it was discovered that 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:30.880 former Prime Minister Scott Morrison had held multiple ministries. Anthony Albanizi, 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:35.000 as Prime Minister, appointed Virginia Bell to examine how that 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.160 all came about, and she handed that report to the 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:38.520 government in twenty twenty two. 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:42.360 Virginia Bell is an eminent individual with an extensive and 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:47.440 diverse legal career as a community lawyer, a barrister, a 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.880 law reform commissioner, a Supreme Court as well as Court 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:56.160 of Appeal judge before assuming her high office in the 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:57.800 High Court of Australia. 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.640 So they have selected her despite some criticisms from within 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:05.720 sections of the Jewish community, including Josh Bridenberg, the former Treasurer, 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:08.600 had suggested that she would not be the best choice. 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:11.480 You would have thought, after two and a half years 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:16.040 of this unbelievably bad behavior we've seen in our country 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:20.359 towards the Jewish community, that the Prime Minister would have 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.920 got the support of the Jewish leadership for his choice 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:28.719 before putting that name out into the public realm. Unfortunately 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:29.880 that didn't happen. 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.400 But I think there's now support that the Royal Commission 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:33.960 has been called. 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.640 Our Royal Commission was not the way Anthony Alberanezi wanted 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.039 to handle this. In the week after the attack, he 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.800 announced a more targeted response, as you've referred to an 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:47.560 independent review of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. So 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.920 where does that announcement leave that plan specifically? 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:51.840 Well, that is. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.640 Really What's a bit unclear now that because he's combined 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.919 these two reviews, the Commissioner and Dennis Richardson will have 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.280 to work out how the labor is divided up. It's 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.600 possible they would do something like have Dennis Richardson focus 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:09.880 on the operational side of security law enforcement agencies in 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:14.160 relations specifically to the Bondi attack, what resources they had, 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:18.599 what recommendations they made that were or were not acted upon. 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.680 Virginia Bell could do the broader questions of whether the 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:25.440 law as it stands has been adequate to prevent anti 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:29.360 Semitic attacks or anti Semitism spreading, and this commission can 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:33.599 also look at border protection policies, immigration policies, the whole 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:37.200 of society. So they do have to divide those responsibilities 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.599 up and they will need Dennis Richardson's remit to be 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:42.560 reasonably focused in order. 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:44.240 For him to get his report in by April. 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.600 The Prime Minister has previously argued that a Royal Commission 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:51.159 would platform the worst of anti semitism. What is he 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.240 said now about how he's going to stop that from happening. 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:58.560 Well, he has issued instructions to Virginia Bell to ensure 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:02.440 that the Royal Commission does certain things, but also doesn't 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.880 do certain things. Now it's not allowed to impede the 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.520 progress of criminal proceedings against the man that has been 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:12.680 accused of these murders, bearing in mind that one of 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:16.919 the alleged terrorists was killed during the exchange of fire 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:20.280 with police on the fourteenth of December last year. They 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.040 don't want her to do anything or conduct an inquiry 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:25.680 that will impede national security and they don't want it 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:28.599 to impede social cohesion. So making sure that this does 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:33.040 not become a platform for further prejudicial comments anti Semitic 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.840 or otherwise that divides the community rather than bringing it together, 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:40.000 because the theme the Prime Minister has really emphasized has 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:44.080 been unity, and when he announced his reversal of his 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.000 decision on a Royal commission, one thing he said was 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:48.760 that it had become clear to him in the three 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.760 and a half weeks since the attacks that saying no 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.080 to a Royal commission was not going to achieve unity, 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.080 and that was a big part of the reason he 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:56.920 changed his mind. 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.440 The Special Envoy for Randy Semitism, Dellian Siegel's with the 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.760 Prime Minister as he announced the Royal Commission. She said 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.039 that he had listened to the Jewish Australians and had 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:10.240 made the right call. How significant was that in your view? 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.680 I think that was very significant. We'll remember that in 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.200 the first couple of weeks after the Bondai attacks, the 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:22.600 government finally made its formal response to Jillian Siegel's report 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.920 earlier in the year, and there was criticism of the 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:29.520 government for taking too long to do that. Jillian Siegel 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.720 stood beside the Prime Minister at Parliament House and made 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:37.160 that announcement and welcomed the response, although she did emphasize 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.040 she thought it should have come sooner. She has done 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.120 that again with the announcement of the Royal Commission. The 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.600 Jewish community and the broader Australian community have been calling 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:45.000 for a. 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.200 Process of this sort of authority. 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:51.840 And it's very important that those calls have been heard. 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:56.320 So she is playing a representative role, I guess with 0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:01.040 the Jewish community in some respects. She was by the 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:05.000 Jewish community leadership broadly as the Special Envoy when she 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.440 was chosen, and so she's really, I think, trying to 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:11.800 play a mediating role in that sense, and her standing 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.480 beside the Prime Ministry was saying, yes, we wanted a 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.120 royal commission. Yes we had to put hard for it. 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.760 It's taken maybe too long. We would have liked it 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:22.880 to happen faster and in a different way, but we're glad 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.480 this decision has been made and we're going to support 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:26.080 this process. 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:27.760 So I think it was very important that she. 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:28.360 Was there. 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:48.000 Coming up. Lord Albanese's reversal tells us about his leadership, Karen. 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.160 This announcement comes after almost a month of pressure from 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:55.000 some of the media, from Jewish groups, the opposition, sporting 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:59.080 grades and others. I suppose, so is this an admission 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:01.360 of failure by the Prime minister. 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:02.800 Well, it's a good question. 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.680 The Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi doesn't like to admit failure 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:10.720 or apologize or anything like that broadly speaking, and he 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.400 is certainly not admitting failure. But you have to say 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:17.439 that when an attack occurs that kills fifteen people, then 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:19.720 there has been a failure of government at every level 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.680 and agencies to keep people safe, which is the fundamental 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.600 job of all governments. The question is whether that was 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.760 a preventable failure or not. And then there's been the 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:32.920 debate about whether there's been a subsequent political failure in 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:35.880 the way the Prime Minister has chosen to respond in the. 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:37.320 Three and a half weeks since. 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.040 There are certainly some critics in particularly in the opposition, 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:43.800 who say it's taken far too long, and Opposition leader 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:47.040 Susan Lee is saying that it's a sign of weak leadership. 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:52.600 Australias deserve honesty, they deserve answers, they deserve leadership. But 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.240 he is saying it's a sign that he has listened, 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.640 that he has acted, and he's in fact now saying 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.839 that this Royal commission was called in record time if 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.360 you look at history and how long royal commissions have 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.760 taken to be mobilized. So he's trying to suggest that 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.000 he has been spending this time thinking carefully and drafting 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:12.640 these terms of reference and planning. 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:16.640 I mean, the truth is they were saying very strenuously they. 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:18.040 Didn't want to have one and they weren't going to 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.880 have one right up until just a week or two ago. 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.360 So the truth lies somewhere in the middle. 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.440 Is there a risk that by not holding his original 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.760 position and being willing to hold his ground, that he's 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.640 actually going to end up hurting himself politically even more. 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.560 Well, I think this whole process has hurt him politically. 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:40.480 It's very difficult to try and extricate the politics and 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.959 the party politics from the substance of the concerns around 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.640 the attacks at Bondai, because there's been a degree of 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.760 partisanship in responses to this whole issue going back to 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:56.439 certainly to the October seven attacks of twenty twenty three, 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:59.040 and so it's all bound up together and I think 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.319 it's become very hard to disentangle. But the Prime Minister 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.160 has been the focus of severe criticism for the way 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:07.880 he has responded to this attack. 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:10.040 Certainly the Jewish community were. 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.319 Very forceful in their expression of view that the government 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.480 didn't listen to them when they said they were scared 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.120 of this kind of thing occurring in the wake of 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:20.160 October seven. 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:24.520 To have to think that here in Sydney, Australia, I 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:28.800 have to have security full time at my synagogue, My 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:33.040 children go to school where they're told not to wear 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:38.920 their uniforms outside, and now twelve of our best are 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:42.199 gone down. So I mean, there are no words. 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:46.360 So it has certainly left him politically diminished. 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:48.680 If you look back to just May of last year 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:53.680 where he had won this incredible victory with his labor colleagues, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:58.160 a huge majority in the House of Representatives, unexpectedly large 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.200 and was seen as unassailable. I'm not sure that you 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:04.160 could reflect on his position as being anywhere near as 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:07.199 secure as it was Karen. 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:09.920 Setting aside the politics of how we've ended up here, 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:12.960 we now have a Royal Commission. So what will that 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.720 mean in practical terms? What can the public expect to 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:17.520 find out from this process? 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.600 Well, that's the big question. The Commission's got to work 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:24.280 out the structure. I think there's an expectation of public hearings. 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:26.040 I think there would be an outcry if there weren't 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:28.760 public hearings, So she has to work out the balance 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.480 between public hearings and in camera or private hearings. There 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:35.199 may be a case for private hearings where security agencies 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.880 and secret information and operational details are concerned, so we 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:41.960 should expect that there will be some of that. But 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:45.440 I think the emphasis in the terms of reference is 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.160 that this gets underway very quickly and is as. 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:49.520 Expeditious as possible. 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:51.920 So she's got to find a structure that is going 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:55.319 to be efficient but also draw as much information out 0:12:55.360 --> 0:13:00.120 of people as possible and satisfy the public expectation of 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.280 of public accountability, because I think that was where the 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.040 government went wrong. There was a sense that it had 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:09.240 not properly responded to the demands for public accountability and 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:11.560 facts to be laid on the table. 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.679 And the personal experience of the Jewish community. 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:16.000 So she's got you know, it's a tough job because 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.280 part of this is going to be the importance of 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.200 the process of allowing Jewish Australians to tell their stories 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:25.000 and other Australians who may have been subjected to prejudicial 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:29.680 treatment in the same context, and also extract information about 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:34.719 this particular attack and the circumstances around this attack more 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:37.439 broadly that are creating this problem in Australia. 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:39.960 And finally, Karen, I guess the question that a lot 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:42.439 of people are really concerned about at the moment is 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.600 what is the risk that this Royal Commission will actually 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:47.600 deepen divisions further. 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.320 Well, I think that's always a risk. This issue has 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:52.520 a lot of emotion with it. 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:54.559 There are a lot of people in Australia with deep 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:59.960 personal ties to both Israel and Gaza and the Palace 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.400 Inian territories. More broadly, and so this has long been 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:05.920 a very difficult issue for a lot of people in Australia. 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.400 Then we have the October seven, twenty twenty three attacks, 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.960 which have escalated all of that feeling, and then the 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:16.120 international politics that have gone with that. We see attacks themselves, 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:20.720 and then the Israeli response, and we've heard calls from 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:24.400 the government to try and separate feelings about the Israeli 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:29.200 government in its actions and ordinary Jewish Australians and Palestinian 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.880 Australians and other Australians of Muslim background to try and 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:35.160 separate all of that. So there is a huge risk 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:39.720 that this becomes a full crimp for everybody's prejudices, and 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.840 so the Royal Commissioner has challenged to try and traverse 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.600 that in a way that this becomes a positive experience, 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.680 that people telling their stories enables the rest of the 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.200 country to understand things from a point of view that 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:54.720 perhaps they don't experience in their own life personally. 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:56.560 And we know that's how prejudice works. 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.920 It's really often only seen by the person experiencing it. 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.400 So we want that process, but we don't want it 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.920 to further entrench the divisions and hatreds and then have 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:07.640 the opposite effect of intent. 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:11.200 Karen, thanks so much for speaking with this. 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:12.440 Thanks Daniel. 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:31.160 Also in the news, Victoria Police have confirmed the death 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:33.680 of one person as a result of the Longwood bush 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:37.280 fire in central Victoria. There are still several bushfires out 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:40.160 of control across the state and hundreds of buildings have 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.960 been destroyed. Authorities say bushfires could burn for weeks and 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:47.680 a state of emergency remains in place, and the United 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:51.560 States has told American citizens to leave Venezuela amid reports 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.960 armed militia are targeting them. The State Department issued a 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:59.080 security alert on Saturday that's grubbing reports of armed Progene 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:02.960 collectivos setting up roadblocks and searching cars for evidence of 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.720 links to America. The warning said Americans should remain vigilant 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.280 and exercise caution while traveling via road, and leave the 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:13.680 country as soon as possible. I'm Daniel James. This is 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:15.640 seven am. Thanks for listening.