The treasurer celebrated an outcome that could have been worse, but a structural challenge remains as workers are left with the burden of repair

It’s official, Jim Chalmers has not managed the budgetary equivalent of a “three-peat”.

After delivering two straight surpluses, Monday’s final budget outcome confirmed the country’s finances slumped to a deficit of $10bn in 2024-25.

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Plan calls for immediate end to war between Israel and Hamas but lacks detail on how key points will be executed

The White House peace plan for Gaza proposes an immediate end to the devastating war between Israel and Hamas that has raged in the coastal territory for nearly two years, while pointedly excluding the Palestinian militant group from any future governing role.

Assuming both sides agree to a detailed list of conditions, the end of fighting will be accompanied by the release of all Israeli hostages, both dead and alive, “within 72 hours” of Israel publicly accepting the deal.

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In a combative speech, the prime minister will pledge to raise living standards and ‘face down’ threats of a volatile world

Keir Starmer will attempt to brush aside critics of his economic strategy by insisting it can be the “antidote to division” being sown by the populist right.

Under pressure to be more radical, the prime minister will tell the Labour party on Tuesday that economic growth “can either build a nation or it can it pull it apart” depending on who and which parts of the country might benefit.

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The US president has won regional backing, but Hamas’s response and Israel’s intentions leave the outcome in doubt

At first glance, the 20-point plan outlined by President Trump and agreed by Benjamin Netanyahu appears more likely to end the two-year conflict in Gaza than anything we have seen so far. Trump has sunk a lot of political capital in bringing peace to the Middle East after “thousands of years”, as he put it. There is apparent deep and wide regional support and, seemingly, that of the Israeli prime minister.

But this is less a detailed roadmap than a rough back of an envelope sketch that allows an equal chance of getting badly lost as reaching the desired destination.

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