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Israeli President Isaac Herzog will get two very different receptions when he arrives in Australia on Monday – a warm welcome by a government determined to show solidarity with itsgrieving Jewish community, and mass protests by activists who consider him a war criminal.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese invited Herzog to visit as a gesture of unity with Jewish Australians after15 people were killedat a Hanukkah festival near Sydney's Bondi Beach – the worst terror attack committed in the country.

In the weeks after the December 14 attack, the government has repeatedly pushed the need for social cohesion. However, Albanese's decision to invite Herzog – the head of state of a country accused of genocide in Gaza, a claim Israel's government denies – has angered many Australians and even led to calls for the visitor's arrest.

"I really do understand the depth of feeling about this visit, the depth of feeling in the community about what we've seen in Gaza over the last two years… but this visit is about a mourning Jewish community, and I would ask Australians to recall that," Foreign Minister Penny Wong told ABC Radio.

Like many nations across the world, Australia has experienced sharp divisions over Israel's war in Gaza that have spilled into protests – with more planned in as many as 30 cities nationwide on Monday to mark Herzog's visit.

The largest will be outside Sydney Town Hall, where up to 5,000 pro-Palestinian protesters are expected to gather, despite restrictions on protests in the area imposed after the Bondi massacre.

Police say the protesters risk arrest if they move beyond the Town Hall square. Protest organizer Josh Lees, from the Palestinian Action Group, says demonstrators will not be intimidated.

"We will be there in huge numbers for a peaceful protest to say Herzog is not welcome," he said in a message posted to Instagram.

Major Jewish groups in Australia, including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Australian Jewish Association, have welcomed Herzog's visit and condemned the planned protests.

"President Herzog is a patriot and a person of dignity and compassion and holds an office that is above party politics," said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive ECAJ, which represents some 200 Jewish groups around the country.

"He is a person who has sadly had to comfort families, police and first responders after terrorist attacks many times, and will know how to reassure and fortify our community in its darkest time."

What the UN commission said about Herzog

As Israel's head of state, Herzog occupies a largely ceremonial role removed from the executive decision-making led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose stated aim to destroy Hamas following the group's October 7 massacre has resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The International Criminal Court issuedarrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in 2024for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Then last September, an independent UN inquiry found Netanyahu and Gallant – as well as Herzog – had"incited the commission of genocide."

The inquiry commission pointed to comments Herzog made less than a week after Hamas militantskilled and kidnapped hundreds of Israelison October 7, 2023. Herzog said "an entire nation" had been responsible for the Hamas attack.

His words "may reasonably be interpreted as incitement to the Israeli security forces personnel to target the Palestinians in Gaza as a group as being collectively culpable," the commission found.

After the report's release, Herzog angrily dismissed it as suffering from a lack of legitimacy.

The president's office has not responded to a CNN request for comment. But Herzog has previously rejected claims he blamed all Palestinian people for the attack.

One of the authors of the report, UN commissioner Chris Sidoti, a former Australian human rights commissioner, says the country has a legal and moral imperative to detain Herzog on arrival, though he doesn't think it'll happen.

"I feel quite confident that he would not even be attempting this trip if he had not received assurances from the Australian government that he would not be arrested," he said. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has confirmed that Herzog is protected by diplomatic immunity.

An Israeli official told CNN that Israel's justice ministry had assured Herzog and his delegation there was no threat of arrest, partly because it was a state visit and also because no warrants existed for anyone in their party.

One of Herzog's entourage, Doron Almog, chairman of the Jewish Agency, is also the subject of a formal complaint filed with the AFP by four legal groups including the Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ) and Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq.

Almog, a former general in the Israel Defense Forces, reportedly canceled a planned trip to South Africa for fear he'd be arrested there by a country that took a genocide case against Israel to the International Court of Justice.

Unlike Herzog, Almog does not have diplomatic immunity, the lawyers said.

CNN has reached out to the Jewish Agency for comment.

'This does not make Jews safer'

In an interview with The Australian newspaper prior to his arrival, Herzog said he wanted to use the trip to confront "lies and false information" about Israel.

"It's the time to get out of that brainwash campaign that has been going on within the Australian public for quite some time, both against the Jews and against Israelis."

But not all Jewish groups in Australia are poised to welcome him.

The Jewish Council of Australia, a progressive advocacy group, accused Albanese of using Jewish grief as a "political prop and diplomatic backdrop."

Hosting Herzog "risks entrenching the dangerous and antisemitic conflation between Jewish identity and the actions of the Israeli state," Sarah Schwartz, the group's executive officer, said in a statement. "This does not make Jews safer. It does the opposite."

On Monday, the group says a full-page open letter signed by "hundreds of Jews" will be published in two major Australian newspapers to "send a loud message that Herzog is not welcome here."

After the Bondi attacks, many in the Jewish community said Albanese had not done enough to stamp outantisemitism that had worsenedsince Israel sought to avenge Hamas' murderous attack.

In the two years to September 2025, as Netanyahu's government turned much of Gaza to rubble and the Palestinian death toll grew, Jewish groups recorded more than 3,700 "anti-Jewish incidents" in Australia, including arson attacks onsynagogues, car fires, and antisemitic graffiti.

The shaken Jewish community was forced to increase its own security for fear that hatred could turn to bloodshed.

In the days after the Bondi Beach massacre – allegedly committed by afather and sonwho had embraced Islamic State ideology – the government announcedsweeping new gun laws, tougher rules on hate speech, and stronger powers for the home affairs minister to cancel visas on character grounds.

As his political opponents demanded he recall parliament and hold a special federal investigation into the attacks, Albanese asked Australia's governor-general to formally invite to Herzog to the country.

Just over a month later, police spent this weekend in talks with the Sydney-based Palestinian Action Group to try to convince it to accept a compromise protest location, away from the Town Hall.

Sidoti, the UN commissioner, said the Australian government had made a "tragic mistake" by inviting Herzog to the country at a time of deep division.

"This mistake should have been corrected weeks ago. It's still not too late to correct it, but it's increasingly unlikely with every hour that passes, and that's a grave pity," he said.

"This is a visit that will have serious consequences for social cohesion in Australia."

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Russia Ukraine War Small Businesses

Seconds later the lights go out, the ovens switch off and darkness envelops the room. Kutsenko, 31, steps outside into the freezing night, switches on a large rectangular generator and thepower kicks back in. It's a pattern that will be repeated many times as the business struggles to keep working through the power outages caused by Russia's bombing campaign onUkraine'senergy grid.

"It's now more than impossible to imagine a Ukrainian business operating without a generator," said Olha Hrynchuk, the co-founder and head baker of Spelta.

The cost of purchasing and operating generators to overcome power outages is just one of many challenges facing Ukrainian businesses after nearlyfour years of war. Acute labor shortages due to mobilization and war-related migration, security risks, declining purchasing power and complicated logistics add to the pressure, officials say.

Hrynchuk, 28, opened the bakery 10 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. That winter was the first yearRussiatargeted Ukraine's energy system. Hrynchuk says they barely know what it is to work under "normal" conditions, but have never faced the challenges they do now.

Production is entirely dependent on electricity and the generator burns about 700 hryvnias ($16) worth of fuel per hour.

"We run on a generator for 10 to 12 hours a day. You have no fixed schedule — you have to adapt and refuel it at the same time," Hrynchuk said.

'Operate at a loss'

Olha Nasonova, 52, who is head of the Restaurants of Ukraine analytical center, says the industry is experiencing its most difficult period of the past 20 years.

While businesses were prepared for electricity cuts, no one expected such acold winterand it's been especially tough for small cafés and family-run establishments, because they have the least financial resources.

The "Best Way to Cup" project, which has two venues and roasts and grinds its own coffee, is on the brink of permanent closure. Co-founder Yana Bilym, 33, who opened the cafe in May, said a Russian attack shattered all its windows and glass doors in August. Bilym said the cost of renovation was 150,000 hryvnias (about $3,400), half of which she financed with a bank loan that she only recently finished repaying.

Last month, after several consecutive large-scale Russian attacks on the energy sector, her entire building lost its water supply, and soon after the sewer system stopped working.

"We were forced to close. We believe it's temporary. Businesses in December and January, unfortunately, operate at a loss," Bilym said.

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Now she has to regularly check the coffee machine and the specialty refrigerators, which she fears may not withstand the cold. Bilym hopes the closure is short-term. Her husband volunteered to serve in the military on the front line and she wants him to have somewhere to come back to when he returns to civilian life.

Generators are expensive to run

Many businesses have become a lifeline for communities struggling with plunging temperatures. Ukraine's government has allowed some firms to operate during curfew hours in the energy emergency as "Points of Invincibility," allowing access to free electricity to charge phones and power banks, drink tea and have some respite from the cold.

Tetiana Abramova, 61, is a founder of the Rito Group, a clothing company that has been producing designer knitwear for men and women since 1991, the year Ukraine became independent.

It participates in Ukraine Fashion Week, the country's biggest fashion show, and exports garments to the United States. Abramova took out a loan in 2022 to purchase a powerful 35-kilowatt generator costing 500,000 hryvnias ($11,500) to keep the business running during blackouts and a wood-fired boiler for heating.

"At work we have heat, we have water, we have light — and we have each other," she said.

But it's not easy. Operating on generators is 15%–20% more expensive than using regular electricity. As a result, production costs are currently about 15% higher than normal. Added to that, customer numbers have dropped by about 40% as many people have left the country, so the focus is now on attracting new clients through online sales.

"Profitability has fallen by around 50%, partly due topower outages," she said. "This affects both the volume and efficiency of our work. We simply cannot operate as much as we used to."

'Main goal is to survive'

A macroeconomic forecast by theKyivSchool of Economics for the first quarter of 2026 says strikes on the energy system are currently the most acute short-term risk to the country's GDP. The analysis says if business manages to adapt, output losses could be limited to around 1% or 2% of GDP. But if the energy system failures are prolonged it could lead to larger losses, of as much as 2% or 3% of GDP.

Abramova, an entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience, says she spent nearly 100,000 hryvnias ($2,300) over two months on generator servicing to maintain production. But she cannot pass all those costs on to retailers.

"For us now, the main goal is not to be the most efficient, but to survive," Abramova said.

Associated Press writer Susie Blann contributed to this report.

They wore high-visibility vests and spotless white hard hats, he noticed, even while parked in their vehicle. His search for the Wisconsin-based electrician advertised on the car's doors returned no results.

On Tuesday, when their Nissan returned to the lot outside his restaurant, Ramirez, 31,filmed his confrontationwith the two men, who hide their faces as he approaches and appear to be wearing heavy tactical gear beneath their yellow vests.

"This is what our taxpayer money goes to: renting these vehicles with fake tags to come sit here and watch my business," Ramirez shouts in the video.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to inquiries about whether the men were federal immigration officers. But encounters like Ramirez's have become increasingly common.

As thesweeping immigration crackdownin Minnesota continues, legal observers and officials say they have received a growing number of reports of federal agents impersonating construction workers, delivery drivers and in some cases anti-ICE activists.

Not all of those incidents have been verified, but they have heightened fears in a statealready on edge, adding to legal groups' concerns about the Trump administration'sdramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tacticsnationwide.

"If you have people afraid that the electrical worker outside their house might be ICE, you're inviting public distrust and confusion on a much more dangerous level," said Naureen Shah, the director of immigration advocacy at the American Civil Liberties Union. "This is what you do if you're trying to control a populace, not trying to do routine, professional law enforcement."

A 'more extreme degree' of deception

In the past, immigration authorities have sometimes used disguises and other deceptions, which they callruses,to gain entry into homes without a warrant.

The tactics became more common during President Donald Trump's first term, attorneys said, prompting an ACLU lawsuit accusing immigration agents of violating the U.S. Constitution by posing as local law enforcement during home raids. A recentsettlementrestricted the practice in Los Angeles. But ICE deceptions remain legal elsewhere in the country.

Still, the undercover operations reported in Minnesota would appear to be a "more extreme degree than we've seen in the past," said Shah, in part because they seem to be happening in plain sight.

Where past ruses were aimed at deceiving immigration targets, the current tactics may also be a response to theMinnesota's sprawling networks of citizen observersthat have sought to call attention to federal agents before they make arrests.

At the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the city's central hub of ICE activity, activists told The Associated Press they had seen agents leaving in vehicles with stuffed animals on their dashboards or Mexican flag decals on their bumpers. Pickups with lumber or tools in their beds were also frequently spotted.

In recent weeks, federal agents have repeatedly shown up to construction sites dressed as workers, according to Jose Alvillar, a lead organizer for the local immigrant rights group, Unidos MN.

"We've seen an increase in the cowboy tactics," he said, though he noted the raids had not resulted in arrests. "Construction workers are good at identifying who is a real construction worker and who is dressing up as one."

Using vintage plates

Since the start of the operation in Minnesota, local officials, including Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, have said ICE agents had been seen swapping license plates or using bogus ones, aviolation of state law.

Candice Metrailer, an antiques dealer in south Minneapolis, believes she witnessed such an attempt firsthand.

On Jan. 13, she received a call from a man who identified himself as a collector, asking if her store sold license plates. She said it did. A few minutes later, two men in street clothes entered the shop and began looking through her collection of vintage plates.

"One of them says, 'Hey, do you have any recent ones?'" Metrailer recalled. "Immediately, an alarm bell went off in my head."

Metrailer stepped outside while the men continued browsing. A few doors down from the shop, she saw an idling Ford Explorer with blacked out windows. She memorized its license plate, then quickly plugged it into a crowdsourced database used by local activists to track vehicles linked to immigration enforcement.

The database shows an identical Ford with the same plates had been photographed leaving the Whipple building seven times and reported at the scene of an immigration arrest weeks earlier.

When one of the men approached the register holding a white Minnesota plate, Metrailer said she told him that the store had a new policy against selling the items.

Metrailer said she had reported the incident to Minnesota's attorney general. A spokesperson for DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

A response to obstruction

Supporters of the immigration crackdown say the volunteer army of ICE-tracking activists in Minneapolis has forced federal agents to adopt new methods of avoiding detection.

"Of course agents are adapting their tactics so that they're a step ahead," said Scott Mechkowski, former deputy director of ICE enforcement and operations in New York City. "We've never seen this level of obstruction and interference."

In nearly three decades in immigration enforcement, Mechkowski said he also hadn't seen ICE agent disguising themselves as uniformed workers in the course of making arrests.

Earlier this summer, a spokesperson for DHSconfirmeda man wearing a high-visibility construction vest was an ICE agent conducting surveillance. In Oregon, a natural gas companypublished guidancelast month on how customers could identify their employees after reports of federal impersonators.

In the days since his encounter, Ramirez, the restaurant worker, said he has been on high alert for undercover agents. He recently stopped a locksmith who he feared might be a federal agent, before quickly realizing he was a local resident.

"Everybody is on edge about these guys, man," Ramirez said. "It feels like they're everywhere."

It was Jokic's 19th triple-double of the season. Tim Hardaway Jr. added 23 points for the Nuggets, who capped a three-game road trip with a win after losing at Detroit and New York.

Matas Buzelis scored 21 points and Collin Sexton added 17 for the Bulls, who have lost four straight.

The Bulls led 104-97 after closing the third period on a 16-2 run, but Denver started the final quarter on a 20-2 spurt to take the lead for good. Jokic and Julian Strawther capped the run with consecutive 3-pointers.

Chicago went the first six minutes of the fourth before making its first field goal and finished the final period 5 for 17 from the floor.

Jokic had nine points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in 17 first-half minutes, but the Bulls led 65-59 at the intermission.

Nuggets: Host Cleveland on Monday night.

Bulls: Visit Brooklyn on Monday night.

AP NBA:https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Coming off a three-hour meeting on Monday in New York, the WNBA promised it would have a counter to the proposal the players' union submitted six weeks ago. That offercame on Friday evening.

In the Friday proposal, the WNBA made a concession on team-provided housing, the person with knowledge of the situation said. In the revised agreement, one bedroom apartments will be available for players making the minimum salary. The two developmental players on each roster would be provided with studio apartments.

The players' union also voiced setting a standard for team facilities that would be codified in the new CBA, the person with knowledge of the situation said.

Game 1: Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray (12) celebrates with teammates after the Aces defeated the Phoenix Mercury, 89-86, at Michelob Ultra Arena.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Jackie Young #0 of the Las Vegas Aces battles for the ball with Alyssa Thomas #25 and Kahleah Copper #2 of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Chelsea Gray (12) and A'ja Wilson (22) of the Las Vegas Aces grab a rebound past DeWanna Bonner (14) and Satou Sabally (0) of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Alyssa Thomas (25) of the Phoenix Mercury shoots the ball against Jackie Young of the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Las Vegas Aces guard Jewell Loyd (24) looks to tip a loose ball away from Phoenix Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb (33).

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Las Vegas Aces forward NaLyssa Smith (3) shoots against Phoenix Mercury forward Natasha Mack (4).

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: A'ja Wilson (22) of the Las Vegas Aces celebrates after making a basket against the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Satou Sabally (0) of the Phoenix Mercury shoots the ball against Megan Gustafson (17) of the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Satou Sabally (0) of the Phoenix Mercury looks to shoot the ball against NaLyssa Smith (3) of the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: NaLyssa Smith (3) of the Las Vegas Aces reacts during the third quarter.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Chelsea Gray (12) of the Las Vegas Aces reacts against the Phoenix Mercury during the fourth quarter.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Alyssa Thomas (25) of the Phoenix Mercury drives to the basket against Jackie Young (0) of the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Alyssa Thomas (25) of the Phoenix Mercury shoots the ball against Jackie Young (0) of the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young (0) dribbles against Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper (2).

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Las Vegas Aces guard Jewell Loyd (24) drives against Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper (2).

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Kahleah Copper (2) of the Phoenix Mercury celebrates after her 3-point basket.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Head coach Nate Tibbetts of the Phoenix Mercury looks on during the first quarter.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Maddy Westbeld of the Chicago Sky (left) and Rae Burrell of the Los Angeles Sparks look on.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Jackie Young (0) of the Las Vegas Aces reacts in front of Kahleah Copper of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon looks on.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Dana Evans of the Las Vegas Aces, shoots the ball between Monique Akoa Makani and Natasha Mack of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces drives to the basket against Alyssa Thomas of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Kahleah Copper of the Phoenix Mercury grabs a rebound against the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Chelsea Gray of the Las Vegas Aces shoots the ball against Monique Akoa Makani of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces grabs a rebound against Kahleah Copper of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

The best photos as Aces, Mercury meet in 2025 WNBA Finals

Nothing has changed in terms of revenue sharing or player salaries. The WNBA is offering more than 70% of league and team net revenue. The players' union has asked for 30% of gross revenue. The salary cap would be $5.65 million per year, rising with league revenues.

The WNBA offer continues to include a maximum $1 million base salary, with a projected revenue-sharing component that raises players' max total earnings to more than $1.3 million in 2026. The league's maximum salary would grow to nearly $2 million over the life of the agreement, which would end in 2031. The minimum salary would be more than $250,000 and average salary more than $530,000.

The players' union plans to meet with leadership to review and assess the league's counterproposal, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports.

Theregular-season is supposed to tipoff May 8. But before that can happen the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire will have an expansion draft. Free agency and the WNBA draft also need to take place.

WNBA playersauthorized the union executive committee to "call a strike when necessary"in December.

"Having the strike on the table is something that we're very much aware of, but there's so many more conversations that have to happen," Ogwumike told the AP on Friday. "You know, we're not just going to say, 'Hey, today's the day (we'll strike).' You know, I think that's what we're demonstrating right now is negotiating in good faith."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:WNBA makes housing and facilities concessions in latest CBA proposal

The 23-year-old lefty from Australia outdueled Jon Rahm to capture the $30 million LIV Golf Riyadh title on Saturday at Riyadh Golf Club in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Smylie, who had not won outside of his home country, tapped in a 3-foot par putt under the lights to close LIV's first 72-hole tournament at 24-under-par 264.

"I wanted to come out here and make a statement," Smylie said. "I wanted to prove that I'm one of the best out here. And I feel like I've done that and it's only up from here."

Smylie, who entered the final round tied for the lead with Peter Uihlein, fired an 8-under 64 to edge Rahm by 1 shot. The Spaniard delivered the round of the tournament - a 63 - to push Smylie to the limit as he closed with four straight birdies.

"I think four rounds is better golf and better for the players who are playing good golf that week," Rahm said. "It also gives you more time for a comeback, but if you're playing good, it gives you more time to get a lead."

Uihlein wrapped his tournament with a 5 under 67 to claim third place by himself. Belgium's Thomas Pieters (65), Spain's David Puig (65) and Mexico's Abraham Ancer (66) shared fourth at 268.

Not only did Smylie collect his first LIV title, he and his three teammates from Australia claimed the team title as well. Smylie, captain Cameron Smith, Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman finished at 69 under to give Ripper GC a 3-shot win over Torque GC.

--Field Level Media

"The coalition is back together and looking to the future, not to the past," Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley ⁠said alongside National ‌Party leader David Littleproud in a media conference televised from Canberra.

The coalition split, the ‍second in less than a year, was triggered after Australia's parliament passed the centre-left Labor government's anti-hate laws in ​the wake of the mass shooting that killed ‌15 in December. The laws were backed by the Liberal Party but opposed by some National Party senators.

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"It's been disappointing, we've got to where we are but it was over a substantive issue," Littleproud said.

Under ⁠the long-standing partnership, the Nationals ​broadly represent the interests of ​rural communities and the Liberals city seats.

The coalition has come under recent pressure from populist Senator ‍Pauline Hanson's ⁠anti-immigration One Nation party, which has surged in polling, while the Liberal Party lost a swath ⁠of seats at last year's federal election, won by Labor ‌in a landslide.

(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; ‌Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)