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Speaker 1: Today's biggest News from The Australian. I'm Christinamia with the

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Speaker 1: front's afternoon headlines. Donald Trump confirmed he spoke on the

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Speaker 1: phone with Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro as tensions between the

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Speaker 1: two nations rise, but the US President didn't elaborate beyond that, you.

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Speaker 2: Say it went well, I would say it went well

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Speaker 2: or badly the looks of phone calls.

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Speaker 1: In a social media post on Saturday, Trump said the

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Speaker 1: airspace above and around Venezuela should be considered closed. The

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Speaker 1: White House says its military build up in the region

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Speaker 1: is part of the administration's attempt to curb drug trafficking,

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Speaker 1: and the US President indicated strikes against Venezuela could be

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Speaker 1: just around the corner.

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Speaker 2: But we're going to take care of that situation. We're

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Speaker 2: already doing a lot, and we'll be starting to stop

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Speaker 2: them by land. Also, the land is easier, but that's

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Speaker 2: going to start very soon. We'd warned them stop said

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Speaker 2: poison to our country.

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Speaker 1: The Department of Defense is getting a makeover. Richard Miles

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Speaker 1: announced sweeping changes that will see three branches combined into

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Speaker 1: a newly formed agency and could see a third of

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Speaker 1: senior staff officers and program directors booted from the department.

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Speaker 1: Miles previously said everything is on the table as he

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Speaker 1: looks to cut costs and speed up long delayed programs.

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Speaker 1: Test cricketer Travis Head reckons batting orders are overrated, and

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Speaker 1: he says he's happy to open the batting when Australia

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Speaker 1: meets England in the second Test of the men's Ashes

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Speaker 1: series in Brisbane on Thursday.

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Speaker 3: So I've give myself as an option if that's what

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Speaker 3: was necessary for the team and best suited for the team.

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Speaker 3: And look, we've been in that conversation a fairbel over

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Speaker 3: the last two years. We're back at it again. So

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Speaker 3: for me, it's just about working out where at Steve

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Speaker 3: ron bailes dollars, where the guys see me best in

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Speaker 3: the team and where I can best contribute and how

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Speaker 3: are we going to the crew.

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Speaker 1: That's after Head put on a sensational second inning century

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Speaker 1: in the first Test in Perth and its heaping pressure

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Speaker 1: on an injured usman Kawaja to maintain his spot at

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Speaker 1: the top of the batting order. Check out those stories

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Speaker 1: live right now at the Australian dot Com dot au

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Speaker 1: and come back to the front first thing in the morning,