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Moira Deeming endorsed for top spot on Victorian Liberal ticket

An outspoken state Liberal MP, who was previously ejected from her party, has made a shock comeback after winning a bruising internal battle, AAP reports.

Moira Deeming secured endorsement for the top spot on the party’s Victorian upper-house ticket for the Western Metropolitan Region after the other candidates withdrew from the running.

She previously dropped her candidacy after the party overlooked her for businessman and Indian community leader Dinesh Gourisetty, who garnered support from the party’s moderate wing.

But he was forced to step aside after it was revealed he previously provided a character reference for a now-convicted child sexual abuse offender, triggering another preselection contest.

Deeming was the only eligible nominee remaining for the position.

On Sunday, she thanked everyone who had supported her – including state Liberal leader Jess Wilson – adding she looked forward to exposing “Labor’s callous betrayal of hard-working families” ahead of the November election:

When we win, I will work tirelessly to restore good governance to this great state of Victoria.

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Bowen says Australian fuel supplies ‘OK’ through April and into May

Bowen said he’s been encouraged by how fuel retailers have passed on cuts to the fuel excise.

He told RN Breakfast:

We’re encouraged by how quickly that’s been passed on. Obviously, the ACCC is monitoring closely any particular service stations or suppliers that might not do the right thing. I’ll leave them to comment on their own actions and independent activities.

Bowen added that Australia’s fuel supplies were “OK” through the end of April and into May, saying orders were “locked in”.

After the first attack, 53-year-old Jnah resident Nancy Hassan thought she was safe at home.

“Shortly after, the planes were flying overhead, and we heard a huge bang, then stones rained down on us,” she told AFP.

Hassan lost her daughter in an Israeli strike on the same area during the 2024 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

“My daughter was killed, she was 23 years old. Today, her friends were killed. Every time, they bomb us in the neighbourhood without warning,” she added.

Zakaria Tawbeh, deputy head of the Rafik Hariri hospital, said they received “four killed, three Sudanese and a 15-year old girl, and 31 wounded”.

“Lots of glass was broken, and some of our patients had panic attacks.”

Israel also launched several strikes on the nearby southern suburbs, an area now largely evacuated but where Hezbollah holds sway.

In a statement, the military warned it had “begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure sites”.

Vital crossing 

On Saturday, Israel had said it would target the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, the main gateway between the two countries.

“Due to Hezbollah’s use of the Masnaa crossing for military purposes and smuggling of combat equipment, the (Israeli army) intends to carry out strikes on the crossing in the near future,” said the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee, urging people to leave the area.

The border post was quickly evacuated on the Lebanese side.

In Syria, borders and customs public relations director Mazen Aloush insisted the crossing was exclusively used by civilians, and said it would temporarily due to the threats.

Masnaa is a vital trade route for both countries and a key gateway to the rest of the region for Lebanese people.

Military expert Hassan Jouni told AFP that Israel’s threat to strike the crossing “is not based on sound security considerations, but rather aims to pressure the Lebanese government… to disarm Hezbollah”.

At another border crossing further north known as Qaa, an AFP correspondent on Sunday saw a long line of cars and vans waiting to enter Syria as people sought an alternative route.

Family killed 

Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the start of the war have killed more than 1,400 people, including 126 children, and displaced over a million, according to Lebanese authorities.

In the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Hatta, far from the border with Israel, an Israeli strike killed seven people including a four-year-old girl, the health ministry said Sunday.

The Lebanese army mourned an off-duty soldier killed in the attack.

The Israeli army had issued an evacuation warning for the town on Saturday evening.

Read moreLebanon condemns Israel’s ‘clear intention’ to impose new occupation of its territory

A source from Lebanon’s civil defence told AFP that a family of six who had been displaced from a town further south were waiting for a relative to pick them up in a vehicle when they were killed. The relative also perished in the strike.

An AFP photographer saw at least eight homes destroyed by attacks in Kfar Hatta.

As Israeli troops push into border areas in southern Lebanon, destroying villages, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reiterated his call for talks with Israel, saying he wanted to spare his country’s south from destruction on the scale seen in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

“Why don’t we negotiate… until we can at least save the homes that have not yet been destroyed?” he said in a televised address.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)