Morning News Bulletin 23 November 2024

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TRANSCRIPT
Donald Trump’s hush money trial sentencing suspended indefinitely
Climate negotiations hit a deadlock as small states reject wealthy nations’ financing proposal
A knee injury means Alyssa Healy is set to miss Australia’s ODI series against India.
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A US judge has indefinitely delayed the sentencing of President-elect Donald Trump in the criminal case in which he was convicted of 34 felony counts.
The judge has also ruled that Trump may seek a dismissal of the case, which involved paying hush money to a porn star.
Prosecutors asked Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to consider deferring the proceedings of the case until after Trump finishes his four-year presidential term.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges, which he claims are politically motivated.
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Negotiations at the COP29 Climate summit in Azerbaijan are expected to go overtime after lower income nations rejected an initial $250 billion offer from wealthy nations to help tackle climate change.
The rejected deal raised the existing commitment of $100 billion per year, which experts and smaller nation delegates say falls far short of what is needed.
The Alliance of Small Island States, which already face existential threats from climate change, says the current offer shows contempt for vulnerable people.
Founder of Plant-for-the-Planet Felix Finkbeiner says the figure needed to actually support vulnerable states is $1 trillion.
“It’s very hard to compromise on the 1 trillion because anything significantly below 1 trillion will mean we sail right past the 1.5 degrees. We might not get there at this COP, but it is essential that we correct that number over the coming months and years.”
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The family of Melbourne teenager Holly Bowles have confirmed her death as the latest fatality in a suspected mass methanol poisoning event in Laos.
Ms Bowles passed away with her parents by her side at a hospital in Bangkok just one day after the passing of her best friend Bianca Jones.
The death toll of the suspected mass methanol poisoning in Vang Vieng now stands at six.
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The chair of Queensland’s Indigenous truthtelling and healing commission says the plan is to complete inquiry, even as the new Liberal state government says it plans to abolish it.
Premier David Crisafulli says he plans to follow through on his election promise to end the Queensland’s truthtelling inquiry and repeal its treaty legislation.
Inquiry chair Joshua Creamer says he has tried numerous times to seek clarity from the government on the next steps – and no details have been forthcoming.
He says online submissions have been reopened – as the state government has not yet legally repealed the relevant statutory legislation.
“And under the Path to Treaty Act, myself and other members – we have certain responsibilities, duties and functions. And given the inability of the government to move swiftly, we decided to recommence the work of the inquiry. There will be some limitations to that. Our submissions portal will be open at least until early January at this stage. And the end of that juncture, we are proposing to produce a report.”
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The Greens say the party will oppose the government’s mis- and disinformation bill, when parliament resumes next week.
Under the proposed bill, digital platforms are liable to establish policies, risk assessments and complaints mechanism to deal with misinformation and disinformation.
The Coalition already announced it would oppose the bill, saying the bill would give an financial incentive to platforms to censor online speech.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the party is aware of the harm of mis and disinformation, but says the bill fails to address a key contributor to the issue.
“The government’s bill as it is just doesn’t stack up. It doesn’t deal with the real issues that drive this disinformation, that fuels the serious harm online, and it doesn’t get anywhere near dealing with the dangerous algorithm that fuel and underpin these big tech giant platforms. We have to tackle the business model of these big tech companies.”
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Captain Alyssa Healy is set to miss Australia’s one-day series against India due to a knee injury.
Australia is today set to name a squad for their home series against India and a brief tour of New Zealand, both comprising three ODIs.
Healy has endured a frustrating run with injuries, missing the end of Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign with a foot injury.