ABC chair says pressing ‘digital titans’ for revenue is a ‘mainstream democratic imperative’

Kim Williams says funding local news and public interest journalism is crucial in a world where ‘the distortion of culture poses such a grave threat to democracy’

The tech giants must be pursued for a cut of their substantial revenue to fund journalism in order to fight disinformation and “navigate the dangerous world”, ABC chair Kim Williams has said.

Last week a parliamentary committee recommended the government impose a tech tax on companies like Meta and Google as well as establish a fund to help traditional news media organisations.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Ancient lost Mayan city with pyramids discovered accidentally by student – The Independent

  1. Ancient lost Mayan city with pyramids discovered accidentally by student  The Independent
  2. Scientists detect traces of an ancient Mayan city in southern Mexico using laser-sensor technology  ABC News
  3. Lost Maya city with temple pyramids and plazas discovered in Mexico  The Guardian
  4. A Lost Mayan City Has Been Found With Laser Mapping  WIRED
  5. Vast ancient Mayan city is found in a Mexican jungle — by accident  NBC News
Posted in Uncategorized

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to pay federal court over delay in defamation defence

Legal team for NT senator and shadow Indigenous Australians minister failed to file defence on time

The Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been ordered to pay up by the federal court, before a defamation suit against her has properly begun.

The shadow Indigenous Australians minister is being sued by the Central Land Council chief executive, Lesley Turner, over a media release which he claims defamed him.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese denies ever calling ex-Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to ask for an upgrade

Prime minister issues statement saying ‘all travel has been appropriately declared’ after allegations made in new book over politicians’ travel

Anthony Albanese has denied ever calling Alan Joyce for free Qantas flight upgrades during his time as transport minister and opposition leader.

The rebuke comes days after the claims were made in a new book by former Nine newspaper columnist Joe Aston, alleging a number of federal politicians had regularly received free business or first-class upgrades as part of their membership to the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge, described as the “speakeasy for Australia’s ruling class”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Attorney general considering releasing full robodebt report – As it happened

This blog is now closed

Mark Butler flags importance of an Australian CDC in future pandemic responses

The federal health minister, Mark Butler, spoke to ABC News Breakfast this morning, after the Covid inquiry report was released yesterday.

Currently, we’re the only developed country that doesn’t have that single authoritative body that can provide to governments and communities about an evidence-based approach to pandemic response and to other communicable diseases. So that is the foundation on which we build a system to respond to the next pandemic - because there will be a next one – much more effectively than we did to Covid.

We all remember just how incredibly difficult and challenging it was, how it affected every aspect of our lives. And in terms of how the government worked during that period of time – we worked with those public health experts and advisers. Our focus was very much on the health and wellbeing of our community, particularly the vulnerable members of our community who were most at risk.

This was a deadly disease. We saw, particularly overseas, it killed so many people. So we were focused on a public health response – a public health response that was focused on supporting the health of our community, and also too understanding the significant additional supports that we needed to provide to small businesses to support them during this incredibly difficult time.

Continue reading...

Mount Fuji’s Lack of Snow Is a Big Deal – Newser

  1. Mount Fuji's Lack of Snow Is a Big Deal  Newser
  2. Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji has yet to see snow this season, breaking a 130-year record  CNN
  3. Japan's Mount Fuji Has Now Remained Snowless for the Longest Time in Its 130-Year Record  Smithsonian Magazine
  4. Mount Fuji snowless for longest time on record after sweltering Japan summer  The Guardian
  5. Japan’s Mount Fuji faces the heat, records first snowless October in 130 years  Interesting Engineering
Posted in Uncategorized

Canada alleges Indian minister Amit Shah behind plot to target Sikh separatists – Reuters

  1. Canada alleges Indian minister Amit Shah behind plot to target Sikh separatists  Reuters
  2. Canadian official alleges Modi minister behind Indian plot targeting Sikhs in Canada  Axios
  3. Top India Minister Authorized Murder Plots in Canada, Official Alleges  Bloomberg
  4. Canada’s top officials say they leaked info on Indian ‘interference’, Amit Shah to US daily  The Indian Express
  5. Why did a Canadian paper name the Washington Post’s anonymous sources?  Columbia Journalism Review
Posted in Uncategorized

‘Hold your little ones really tight’: how an ordinary Melbourne primary school pick-up turned to tragedy

Auburn South primary school community mourns car crash victim Jack Davey, 11, as four students remain in hospital

It was an afternoon recess on what should have been an ordinary, sunny spring Tuesday at Auburn South primary school.

Within the grounds of the Melbourne school, five primary school students were seated around an outdoor table overlooking a soccer pitch. Moments later, the scene turned to one of horror.

Continue reading...

Broken Hill customers to get bill reprieve as power outages continue

Origin and EnergyAustralia agree to defer bills after brownouts cripple region for better part of a week

Customers who have suffered through Broken Hill’s mass outages are set for a temporary reprieve on their bills as locals continue to be hit with night-time power cuts in sweltering conditions.

Two power companies – Origin and EnergyAustralia – have agreed to defer bills to those who have been affected by the outages that crippled the region for the better part of a week.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Wednesday briefing: Five key messages that will define the budget

In today’s newsletter: Labour has told two stories about Rachel Reeves’ budget. Will it be an end to austerity – or an acceptance of “the harsh light of fiscal reality”?

Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning. There will be no triumphalism, no big giveaways and certainly no rabbits out of hats: this, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been at pains to tell us, is going to be a very grownup budget. And even though Reeves will promise today that “the prize on offer is immense”, we might also therefore expect it to be a painful one. Since the entire thing appears to have been briefed out in advance over the last few weeks, nobody can say they haven’t been warned.

In a way, it feels like two budgets: the optimism and ambition of a minimum wage rise, a major boost for the NHS, and significant new investment in infrastructure; and a bleaker story about misleading pledges, limited ambitions, and the biggest set of tax increases in budget history.

UK news | The suspect charged with the murder of three girls in Southport is to be separately prosecuted on suspicion of possessing terrorist material and producing ricin, a powerful poison, police have said. Axel Rudakubana is due to appear in court on Wednesday.

US election | Kamala Harris urged American voters to elect a “new generation of leadership” in a speech at the same place Donald Trump spoke on January 6 almost four years ago. Likening her opponent to a “petty tyrant”, Harris told the crowd: “Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list … I will walk in with a to-do list.”

Middle East | Israel is not addressing the “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, the US envoy to the UN has said, ahead of a deadline for the Israelis to improve the situation or face potential restrictions on US military aid. The warning came as Gaza’s civil defence agency said 93 people had been killed in an airstrike on a crowded block of flats.

Conservatives | Britain’s former colonies should be thankful for the legacy of empire, Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has said. Jenrick’s comments, which follow an agreement among Commonwealth leaders that “the time has come” to discuss reparations, were condemned as “an obnoxious distortion of history”.

Mexico | A team of researchers have stumbled on a lost Maya city of temple pyramids, enclosed plazas and a reservoir, all hidden for centuries by the Mexican jungle. The discovery was made possible by the use of laser mapping techniques in an area previously ignored by archaeologists.

Continue reading...

‘Waiting to die’: Layla Moran raises plight of NHS surgeon who fears for parents in Gaza

Exclusive: Surgeon who treated Lib Dem MP has worked for NHS for 20 years and grew up in the Jabaliya camp

In April, Layla Moran was admitted into hospital for sepsis. For a while, doctors thought antibiotics would clear the infection but it soon became clear she needed surgery. While recovering, a surgeon told her he had removed her appendix. “He told me his name and I was like, ‘Hold on, where are you from?’”

Like Moran, Mohammad is Palestinian. The NHS surgeon grew up in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza and has worked for the health service for 20 years. Moran, the Lib Dem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, had to remain in hospital for an extra week. During that time, the pair got to know each other.

Continue reading...

Nuclear submarine shipyard fire at Barrow-in-Furness leaves two in hospital

Residents told to stay indoors with doors and windows closed as emergency services say there is no nuclear risk from ongoing fire at BAE Systems complex

Two people have been taken to hospital after a fire broke out at BAE Systems’ Barrow-in-Furness shipyard in Cumbria, police said.

Cumbria constabulary said the fire at the nuclear submarine shipyard broke out at about 12.45am and was ongoing.

Continue reading...

Wah! Sakshi Fires First Arrow At Vijayamma – Gulte

  1. Wah! Sakshi Fires First Arrow At Vijayamma  Gulte
  2. Jagan Reddy's Mother Sides With Sister Sharmila, Party Calls Her "Biased"  NDTV
  3. 'Jagan and Sharmila will reconcile soon': Mother YS Vijayamma writes open letter amid feud between siblin  The Times of India
  4. YS family’s property dispute: Vijayamma breaks silence, corroborates daughter Sharmila’s claim  The Hindu
  5. Vijayamma Addresses Family Asset Dispute In Open Letter  Deccan Chronicle
Posted in Uncategorized

Biden says he meant to condemn comedian, not Trump supporters, in ‘garbage’ comments

Edited video clip of president’s remarks suggests he insulted Trump backers, but his wording is unclear

Joe Biden put out a statement that he had “meant to say” earlier on Tuesday that a pro-Trump comedian’s “hateful rhetoric” about Puerto Rico was “garbage”. But in an edited video clip already widely circulating on social media Tuesday evening, a phrase that came out of Biden’s mouth was “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters”.

Republican politicians and rightwing media outlets quickly picked up the clip to argue that Biden had called Trump’s supporters garbage, comparing his remarks with Hillary Clinton’s labeling of half of Trump supporters as belonging in “a basket of deplorables” in 2016, a comment that is widely seen as undermining her campaign.

Continue reading...