Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.
Anthony Albanese and the Singaporean prime minister, Lawrence Wong, have met to discuss securing fuel supplies and have signed a “joint statement on economic resilience and essential supplies”.
The two leaders signed the agreement to protect Australia and Singapore’s “mutual energy security” and “support the flow of fuels and LNG between our two countries”.
The statement acknowledged that Australia and Singapore are affected by global energy shortages caused by the Middle East crisis, and said that supply chain guarantees would be written into the Singapore-Australia free trade agreement so that it is legally enforceable by international law.
Singapore makes up more than a quarter of Australia’s refined fuel imports, including 55% of the country’s petrol, 22% of jet fuel and 15% of diesel worth more than $10bn. Australia supplies 32% of Singapore’s LNG, worth about $5bn.
Top news
Islamabad prepares to host historic negotiations between Iran and the US
Thousands of electric vehicles recalled in Australia due to battery fire risk
Grace Tame’s foundation announces closure over funding difficulties
In video
As the Artemis II mission enters flight day nine, the crew spoke about inspiring the next generation and “working on something big for the good of everyone” ahead of their return to Earth.
What they said …
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“It did feel like it came out of left field for us.” – Jacqui Heinrich, Fox News senior White House correspondent
Even well-sourced correspondents for conservative outlets were at a loss as to why Melania Trump chose to make a surprise statement denying she had any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell. With her reasons still unclear, reporters spent much of the day trying to find out what, if anything, Donald Trump knew about the first lady’s decision to put one of her husband’s biggest political liabilities back on the agenda.
Podcast
Gabrielle Chan on farmers managing fuel and fertiliser shortages during a war – Australian Politics podcast
Journalist, author and farmer Gabrielle Chan speaks to Guardian Australia political editor Tom McIlroy about the experiences of rural and regional Australians whose work and everyday lives have been upended by supply chain disruptions caused by the war in Iran.
Chan also talks about the rise in Pauline Hanson’s popularity ahead of the Farrer byelection, which is expected to be a strong contest between a One Nation and independent candidate.
Before bed read
Avowed ukulele lover George Harrison once wrote: “Everyone I know who is into the ukulele is ‘crackers’ … you can’t play and not laugh!” Playwright and journalist Melanie Tait is crackers for a ukulele. Learning to play the instrument has lit up her life like the nine o’clock fireworks, and made her as happy as falling in love.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: PERN. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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