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President Donald Trump is scaling back major joint military exercises with South Korea after Seoul declined to support U.S. operations against Iran, a sharp U-turn with an ally his administration publicly praised just days prior.

The move came just three days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio called South Korea an "indispensable partner" and said the allies had entered a "historic new era" of cooperation following Trump’s state visit to Seoul last fall.

Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital that Trump appears to see the drill reduction as a win-win for the U.S. — pressure Seoul to move faster on investment and burden-sharing while offer Kim incentives to reopen diplomacy.

"He sees this as a two for one," Cha said. "A combination of things led to Trump's frustration, that South Korea is not moving the trade and investment framework agreement on investments faster and his desire to meet the North Korean leader."

TRUMP ORDERS MAJOR CUT TO US-SOUTH KOREA DRILLS AS NORTH KOREA RAMPS UP MISSILE TESTS

Behind the administration’s recent praise of Seoul, strains had been building, potentially leading to the mixed-messaging.

Trump has grown frustrated with the slow rollout of a $350 billion trade and investment framework, commercial disputes involving American companies and what he sees as South Korea’s unwillingness to do more for U.S. priorities, Cha detailed.

"That combination of things led Trump to make a decision where he said, 'Hey, yeah, I'm gonna scale down these exercises maybe it'll get a response from Kim Jong-un. At the same time, the South Koreans are rich, they should be doing their own exercises and like we should not be paying for them.'"

The deal would bring substantial South Korean investment to the United States while offering Seoul expanded cooperation on shipbuilding and nuclear-powered submarines.

But the first investments have moved slowly, despite Trump’s earlier threat to raise tariffs on South Korean goods by 25%, while parallel agreements with Japan are advancing faster.

The pressure on Seoul comes as Trump returns to another unfinished project from his first term: diplomacy with Kim.

Trump’s tumultuous relationship with the North Korean leader swung between threats of "fire and fury" and historic summits. The first was in Singapore in 2018 and the second in Hanoi in 2019, which was followed by a third meeting at the Korean demilitarized zone later that year.

NORTH KOREA EXPERT WARNS US CAN 'NEVER TAKE THEIR EYE OFF' KIM JONG UN FOLLOWING MISSILE TEST DURING IRAN WAR

The formal encounters made Trump the first sitting U.S. president to meet a North Korean leader, but the diplomacy ended without a denuclearization deal after negotiations collapsed over the terms of sanctions relief and North Korea’s nuclear program.

In announcing the exercise cut, Trump wrote that the drills "send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea, which he said "has been unthreatening and respectful" during his second term.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for more details. A War Department official said the department is "actively working on executing the Commander-in-Chief’s directive," while declining to offer details.

Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, has said her brother retains good memories of Trump, but North Korea has expanded its nuclear and missile capabilities since the first summits while deepening its ties with Russia and China.

Pyongyang has not ruled out returning to diplomacy, but it has also signaled that Washington would first need to abandon its demand for North Korean denuclearization.

NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES ANOTHER BALLISTIC MISSILE AS US, SOUTH KOREA PREPARE FOR MILITARY DRILLS

"Where they haven't ruled out negotiations with the U.S., but they have basically said, unless the U.S. accepts their nuclear status, there isn't really a reason to talk," Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center and director of 38 North, told Fox News Digital.

The drills are more than a show of force, they are where American and South Korean troops practice how to fight together if deterrence fails — from moving forces and equipment to sharing targeting information and operating under a single command structure.

Before Trump’s order, this year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise was set to incorporate lessons from the war in Ukraine, including drone warfare, GPS disruption and the prospect of losing communications in a crisis.

Those are no longer theoretical concerns for the alliance: North Korean troops have fought alongside Russian forces and brought battlefield experience back to the peninsula.

SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT JUMPS TO INVEST IN MILITARY AFTER TRUMP CUTS JOINT EXERCISES

"The exercises are the biggest military maneuver exercise that the Alliance does every year," Cha said. "There's nothing that can substitute for live fire and military exercises."

Town said the last-minute nature of the decision risks creating uncertainty inside the alliance.

"This last minute haphazard way of sending this message really sends a lot of mixed messages, but also creates a lot of angst in the U.S.-South Korea alliance," she said.

Trump’s order drew bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said: "North and South Korea are still technically at war."

"Our ability to help defend our ally against the North Koreans is because our forces are well trained and able to coordinate with the South Koreans. Hollowing out these joint exercises is shortsighted and a mistake," the retired U.S. Navy Captain added.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican, said reducing the drills "does nothing more than free up thousands of North Korea's troops to support Putin's systematic kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder of innocent Ukrainian citizens."

"President Trump is playing right into Kim Jong-Un's hands," Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., claimed on X.

"Our alliance with South Korea is critical to U.S. security and announcing a decision to unilaterally scale back joint exercises, over social media, all while touting a "very good relationship" with Kim, is a gross miscalculation," she added.

"Trump is rewarding a regime that sends weapons and troops to fight for Russia and has a long history of cooperation with Iran. Undermining our allies while making concessions to our adversaries is not a show of strength—it only emboldens those who threaten us.:"

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The special election to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., remained undecided in the early Wednesday morning hours.

The battle to succeed Swalwell comes after he resigned in April amid sexual assault allegations from at least five women. Prior to the allegations, Swalwell was also making a bid for California's gubernatorial race, but he dropped that bid as well.

Vying for Swalwell's seat are two women: progressive state Sen. Aisha Wahab and moderate Democrat and Bay Area Rapid Transit Board (BART) President Melissa Hernandez.

Tuesday's primary race will determine who will immediately fill Swalwell's seat for the remainder of the term. However, it is also serving as the primary race for the midterms, meaning that Wahab and Hernandez will face each other again in November.

STATE OF PLAY: HIGHLY WATCHED HONG RACE REMAINS TOO CLOSE TO CALL AS PROGRESSIVES NOTCH KEY PRIMARY WINS

Wahab and Hernandez both emerged as the "top-two" vote getters in the special election's jungle primary race held on June 16 for California's 14th Congressional District. Under California law, elections have open primaries, meaning whoever the top vote getters are, regardless of their party affiliation, will move on to the general election.

The race between Hernandez and Wahab mirrors a larger trend reflected across Democratic primary races, as far-left progressive candidates, often backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, are seeking to defeat establishment-backed Democratic candidates.

Wahab, who has served in the state Senate since 2022, is running on a campaign platform centered on cracking down on ICE, having co-authored legislation making it easier for citizens to sue agents, lowering prescription drug prices and pushing for investments in green and renewable energy. She has received the backing of Our Revolution, a group that was founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Attorney General Rob Bonta, and fellow progressives Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Congressman Greg Casar.

Hernandez, on the other hand, has taken a moderate approach on key issues such as immigration. Hernandez, who is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, acknowledged that the immigration system is "broken" but that she "supports smart border security and regional cooperation."

She has received the endorsement of close to a dozen Congressional members.

But despite Wahab's critical stance of ICE, she found herself in the hot seat when her father took to Facebook calling for his daughter's supporters to "call ICE" on Hernandez. The mishap led to Wahab's campaign to issue an apology on its website.

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A heated battle for Alaska's only U.S. House seat will see a handful of candidates face-off in November after four candidates advanced in Tuesday's rank-choice primary.

First-term incumbent Rep. Nicholas Begich III, R-Alaska, is hoping to hang onto his seat, and will have a chance to do so in November. But he is facing an insurgency from independent candidate Bill Hill.

AP called the race for Begich and Hill early on, and Begich led by a 47.9% to 29.5% margin. Both will advance to the general election. 

The crowded race in the open primary also featured two other Republicans, Ed Goldfarb and Clay Strickland, Democrats Eric Hafner and Yaquelin Reynoso, Libertarian John Foddrill, along with nonpartisan candidates David Ambrose, Lady Donna Dutchess, David Richey and Melania Salazar. William Schultz, a Democrat, dropped out of the race citing financial concerns, but remained on the ballot. 

WASHINGTON REWARDS FAILURE. IT’S TIME TO SEND CAREER POLITICIANS HOME

Despite dropping out, Schultz was in third place at the time the race was called, followed by Hafner, who himself faces unique circumstances. 

Hafner is described by the Anchorage Daily News as a "federal inmate and perennial candidate," and a review of Ballotpedia shows Dutchess has run several times for office with little support. Hafner is serving a 20-year sentence for making false bomb threats and threatening judges and police officers. He was convicted in 2022.

Hill is a standout when it comes to running an independent campaign. He has raised more than $1.3 million in 2026, nearly all of it from individual donors.

SENATE CANDIDATE RUNNING AS 'INDEPENDENT' CONTINUES TO BE BANKROLLED BY LEFT-WING DONORS

A lifetime commercial fisherman and member of the Dena’ina Athabascan native Alaskan people, Hill has lived in Anchorage and Fairbanks in the past. He currently lives with his wife in the southwestern Alaskan town Naknek, which has a population of 470 people.

His platform incorporates popular positions from both sides of the political aisle. While he supports the Second Amendment, tax cuts and police and first responders, he also supports a "woman's right to choose" and making billionaires pay their "fair share," according to his campaign website.

Meanwhile, Begich led the charge to overturn a Biden-era rule restricting oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "Unlocking Alaska's resources" is listed as a major priority on Begich's campaign site, along with cutting costs, creating jobs, protecting Alaska's native communities and securing the border.

He serves as the Executive Vice Chair of the Congressional Western Caucus.

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If history is any guide, Republicans could be in store for a beating at the ballot box in November.

President Donald Trump’s average approval rating has dipped below 40%, while his disapproval rating has climbed into the high 50s. In previous elections, when presidents had approval ratings below 50%, their parties have almost always performed poorly in the midterms. Trump is nowhere near that threshold.

Congressional Republicans are not doing much better. The generic ballot shows that most midterm voters favor Democrats, and congressional disapproval has soared in 2026 compared to 2025. It now sits in the high 60s.

TRUMP’S ‘FIREWALL’ AGAINST SOCIALISM IN BATTLEGROUND STATE PUNCHES TICKET TO ELECTION

Republicans clearly need a new strategy. As strange as it might sound, one of the best models could come from their former nemesis, President Barack Obama, who managed to pull off one of modern political history’s biggest turnarounds in 2012.

Many Americans have forgotten that Obama’s reelection was far from assured. The Tea Party helped propel Republicans to a massive midterm victory in 2010. The recovery from the 2008 financial crash was extremely sluggish. Instability was spreading overseas, and fears about government spending were widespread. Throughout 2011, Obama’s approval rating remained in the low 40s and sometimes fell into the high 30s.

Obama turned things around in time for the 2012 presidential election by adopting two strategies that conservatives could use in 2026.

First, although many Americans were deeply unhappy with the economy in 2012, the Obama administration successfully persuaded millions of voters that their economic problems had been inherited from the George W. Bush administration.

Obama argued America could not afford to return to the failed policies that, in his view, caused the 2008 crash. Of course, his account conveniently ignored that many of those policies had been strongly supported by Democrats in Congress, but the political strategy worked.

The message became one of the centerpieces of Obama’s campaign. His team even adopted "Forward" as an official campaign slogan.

TOP REPUBLICAN PUSHES FOR RECONCILIATION 3.0 TO ADDRESS AFFORDABILITY

Republicans have an obvious opportunity to make a similar case today. They inherited one of the worst inflation crises in decades when they took power in 2025. Housing costs and the prices of most consumer goods skyrocketed under Democratic rule for numerous reasons, including reckless spending, unnecessary lockdown and stimulus programs, supply chain problems and the Biden administration’s obsession with costly "green" energy sources.

If Republicans want to survive November, they must convince voters that returning power to the architects of those policies could make the affordability crisis even worse.

The second strategy Republicans could borrow from Obama is related but distinct.

Obama acknowledged in 2012 that the country had more work to do, but he also argued that his administration had made real progress in recovering from the 2008 housing crisis. Finishing the job, Obama warned, was "going to take more time than any of us would like."

TRUMP WILL ‘DELIVER’: RNC CHAIR SIGNALS MIDTERMS CONFIDENCE DESPITE ‘DOOM AND GLOOM’

Republicans could make "Let us finish what we started" one of their central messages in 2026.

There is little reason for Republican candidates to pretend that the promised American Golden Age has already arrived. Voters know that groceries, housing, healthcare and other basic necessities remain painfully expensive. Any campaign that ignores those realities could come across as insulting or hopelessly detached.

A more credible message would acknowledge Americans’ continued struggles while arguing that free-market policies are beginning to work and need more time to produce the results voters want. Republican policymakers inherited a crisis so large that no administration could reasonably reverse it in only two years.

There are plenty of victories for Republicans to tout.

SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME TO PROVE THEY CAN ACTUALLY GOVERN

Under President Joe Biden, there were more than 10 million border encounters, along with an unknown number of additional illegal entries that were never detected. Today, the border is secure, and illegal immigration is no longer a serious problem.

Under Democrats, the Consumer Price Index, a common measure of inflation, increased by a whopping 21% from January 2021 to January 2025.

Since Republicans took control of the federal government, CPI has increased by just 5%, well within historical norms.

The average sales price of a home also skyrocketed under Biden, increasing by more than $100,000 during his first two years in office.

THE SURPRISING HIDDEN COST QUIETLY ADDING NEARLY $132K TO NEW HOME PRICES REVEALED

Under Trump and congressional Republicans, home prices have hardly budged. Housing affordability remains a major problem, but conservative policies have at least stopped it from getting worse.

None of these accomplishments guarantees Republicans a victory. Elections are rarely won by statistics alone. Voters must believe that the country is moving in the right direction and that changing course could erase whatever progress has been made.

Obama understood this in 2012. He did not need voters to believe that every problem had been solved. He needed them to accept three basic claims: He had inherited a disaster, his policies had produced measurable progress and his opponents would reverse that progress.

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Whether voters accept a similar argument from Republicans could determine control of Congress in November. If Republican candidates continue acting as though public frustration is irrelevant, history suggests they could face a devastating defeat.

If they study Obama’s successful strategy, acknowledge the country’s continuing problems and make a persuasive case for finishing the work they began, they might still have time to change the trajectory of the election.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM JUSTIN HASKINS

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A federal appeals court panel on Monday upheld an order that disqualified Sigal Chattah as the top federal prosecutor in Nevada, finding that the Justice Department could not keep her in charge through the appointment and delegation mechanisms it used after her interim term ended.

A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judge's ruling that Chattah ‌was not validly leading the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada.

The ruling disqualifies Chattah from supervising the prosecutions in three criminal cases.

Chattah, who served as Nevada's Republican National Committee member before joining the U.S. Justice Department, was appointed interim U.S. attorney effective April 1, 2025, for a term of up to 120 days.

TRUMP-FIRED US ATTORNEY LAUNCHES UNPRECEDENTED COURT FIGHT AFTER 54 MINUTES ON THE JOB

As her tenure was about to expire in late July of that year, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi designated Chattah as first assistant U.S. attorney after Chattah resigned from the interim role shortly before the 120-day term expired. The Justice Department argued that the move allowed her to serve as acting U.S. attorney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act while a permanent U.S. attorney had not been confirmed.

Bondi also appointed Chattah as a special attorney, while DOJ maintained that her designation as first assistant — the No. 2 position in the office — allowed her to serve as acting U.S. attorney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.

Federal public defenders in Nevada challenged Chattah's authority in multiple unrelated criminal cases, arguing she should be disqualified because her appointment was unlawful and called for the cases to be dismissed.

U.S. District Judge David Campbell sided with the public defenders in September, and the Trump administration would then ​appeal.

The appeals court panel on Monday found that under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act provision DOJ relied on, a first assistant could automatically become acting U.S. attorney only if that person held the first-assistant position when the vacancy occurred.

"Nor can the Attorney General create a de facto Acting ‌U.S. Attorney ⁠by delegating all of the functions and duties of the U.S. Attorney to someone else," wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Eric Miller, an appointee of President Donald Trump.

The unanimous panel also included U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr., another Trump appointee, sitting by designation, and U.S. Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas.

The Justice Department had argued that Chattah’s designation as first assistant automatically allowed her to serve as acting U.S. attorney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and, alternatively, that the attorney general could delegate U.S. attorney functions to her. The panel rejected both arguments.

TRUMP PICKS JAMES MCDONALD TO LEAD POWERFUL SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK AFTER JAY CLAYTON'S DEPARTURE

This is the latest court setback for the administration's efforts to keep temporary appointees serving as top federal prosecutors without Senate confirmation. The dispute comes amid controversy over the Senate Judiciary Committee's so-called "blue slip" tradition, which can allow home-state senators to significantly impede U.S. attorney nominees when the committee chairman honors their objections.

Trump did not nominate Chattah for the permanent Nevada U.S. attorney post, instead nominating George Kelesis in February 2026.

In December, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of ​Appeals found that Alina ⁠Habba, a former personal lawyer for Trump, was not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey and disqualified her from supervising cases.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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There are already nearly 4,600 data centers in the United States, and thousands more in the works. In 2025, companies spent almost $400 billion on U.S.-based data centers, with spending trending even higher this year.

From New York to Texas, the backlash is growing. "Leading the nation" read a sign on the podium as New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced a statewide moratorium on hyperscale data centers. Texas followed on Aug. 3, when Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced a pause on new data center grid connections until state agencies can audit the projects. At least 14 other states are considering similar actions, including Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and even Virginia, whose northern suburbs are the data center capital of the world.

These misguided efforts seek to protect residents from data centers by ensuring they miss out on the benefits. Communities that excluded canals and railroads in the 19th century often found themselves bypassed by new economic activity.

TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT EFFECTIVELY PAUSES NEW DATA CENTER PROJECTS PENDING STATEWIDE GRID AUDIT

States that make it hard to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure risk a similar mistake. Compute can be accessed remotely, but the communities that permit the necessary physical infrastructure – like data centers – will still attract capital, expand their tax base and create jobs and other opportunities that other areas may miss out on.

The resistance does not come from nowhere. The biggest worry is that data centers will drive up local prices for power. Overall, however, this just hasn’t happened. When the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory explored why retail electricity prices rose above inflation from 2019-2024, it offered seven explanations, none having to do with data centers.

Still, it’s fair for people to worry that data centers’ voracious need for power will stress the grid and squeeze consumers. Policymakers and the hyperscalers, major cloud computing and data center providers, themselves are taking steps to minimize this risk. Utilities in 19 states, for example, have imposed "large load tariffs," in which big power consumers pay for new generation and transmission (and sometimes more).

The White House announced in late July that Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, xAI and more than 200 other players have agreed to pay for 100% of the power infrastructure required by data centers.

FOUR WAYS TO HARDEN AMERICA'S POWER GRID BEFORE OUR GLOBAL ENEMIES STRIKE

Once the power problem is sorted, the remaining issues, such as noise and traffic, are local. So are the potential benefits, such as tax revenue and construction jobs. Communities should therefore have the right to decide whether the benefits are worth the disruption. This is a version of the Coase Theorem, an economic theory that holds that private parties (in this case, one side being a community) can negotiate solutions to externalities on their own without heavy government intervention.

And localities are indeed proving themselves willing and able to negotiate good deals for their residents. Lancaster, Pa., for example, secured commitments that will limit noise and water usage, along with $20 million for the city’s economic development and sustainability efforts. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, struck a community betterment agreement with Google and QTS that included job and wage guarantees. Teachers in Richland Parish, La., received bonus checks of as much as $51,000 thanks to higher local sales tax revenues generated by the construction of a nearby massive data center.

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State-level restrictions also carry a whiff of luxury belief, with people who don't live in areas where data centers could be built imposing their preferences on those who do. Many struggling communities with more land than prosperity would love the chance to negotiate with a hyperscaler.

AMERICA'S AI BOOM IS A JOBS OPPORTUNITY, NOT AN EXCUSE FOR UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME

To be sure, the principle cuts both ways. Just as states should not enact blanket bans, they should not force projects on unwilling towns or counties. States and communities also should not rush to offer tax benefits or other incentives to hyperscalers that have proven willing to invest massive sums on compute. At the very least, the public should always know exactly, and beforehand, what kind of incentives are being offered.

AI will become an ever-greater part of our economy, whether the data center is near or far. What can be done is to embrace the opportunity, while limiting the potential harm. When it comes to data centers, that balance is best struck by those who will live near them.

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New South Wales in Australia is slated to begin a gun buyback scheme in November, the first state in the nation to kick-off the program as part of the national response to a shooting spree that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration in the state capital of Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Sunday.

Albanese and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said the scheme would start on November 2. People who return eligible firearms under the first phase would receive fixed compensation ranging from $450 to $1,000 per firearm, depending on the type. A second phase will provide a valuation pathway for certain higher-value firearms, capped at $10,000 per firearm.

Albanese's center-left government adopted new gun-control laws in January in the aftermath of the December 14 attack at a Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebration, including the gun buyback program and tighter firearms measures. New South Wales separately passed tighter state firearms laws in December, while the federal government also strengthened laws targeting hate speech and extremism.

The pair of alleged gunmen used firearms that were obtained legally. Australia's government said there were a record 4.1 million firearms in the country last year, including more than 1.1 million in New South Wales, its most populous state.

AUSTRALIA VOWS TO STRENGTHEN HATE SPEECH LAWS, GUN CONTROL IN WAKE OF BONDI BEACH ATTACK

"We must do everything we can to make sure the antisemitic terrorist attack in Bondi doesn’t happen again. That includes meaningful nationwide gun reform," Albanese said in a statement.

The initiative is set to be Australia's largest buyback since a similar effort following the 1996 massacre in Tasmania's Port Arthur, when a gunman killed 35 people.

"Australians are quite rightly proud of our gun laws, but the fact is there are more guns in Australia today than there were at the time of dealing with the Port Arthur gun buyback ," Albanese said.

New South Wales generally limits individual firearm ownership to four guns under restrictions sparked by the Bondi Beach attack, with exemptions allowingcertain licence holders, including some primary producers, sport shooters and others with specified genuine reasons, to possess more firearms. It estimates that up to 274,000 registered firearms — about 24% of the total number of registered firearms in New South Wales — and about 50,000 license holders are affected by the new limits on gun ownership and reclassification of some types of firearms.

VIRGINIA GUN SALES SPIKE AHEAD OF JULY 1 ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN SIGNED BY GOV. SPANBERGER

"After Bondi, we promised the people of New South Wales we would introduce the toughest gun laws in the country, and that’s exactly what we did," Minns said. "The next step is getting the guns that are no longer permitted under those laws out of circulation and permanently off our streets."

"There are potentially hundreds of thousands of firearms affected by these changes," Minns added. "We want those guns handed in, compensated for and safely destroyed. This is a big undertaking, but the principle behind it is simple: fewer dangerous guns in our community means a safer New South Wales."

The attack was allegedly carried out by a father and son who police believe were inspired by the Islamic State.

The 50-year-old father, Sajid Akram, was shot and killed by police at the scene, while the surviving suspect, Naveed Akram, 24, has not yet entered pleas on a slew of charges, including 15 counts of murder. Authorities have charged him with 59 offenses in total, including committing a terrorist act and 15 counts of murder.

A man identified as Ahmed al Ahmed has been praised as a hero for tackling and disarming one of the gunmen. He suffered gunshot wounds in the incident and is still recovering.

"After the tragedy at Bondi, we committed to dealing with the motive and the method," Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke said. "Since then, we have strengthened our hate crimes and hate speech laws, which are now the strongest in our country’s history."

"Today we continue the proud Australian tradition of sensible gun reform designed to protect our community from weapons which have no utility other than to cause harm." he added.

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