Afternoon Update: Trump’s low-energy 2024 announcement, NBL player comes out as gay, and how to feed 8 billion
Donald Trump has announced his presidential run for 2024 in a rambling, hour-long speech that was so “low-energy” and “uninspiring” – as one former Trump aide described it – that Fox News cut away mid-speech.
Trump pressed ahead with the announcement despite a Republican backlash that blames the former president for the party’s poor showing at last week’s midterms. Further tumult in US politics is all but guaranteed, but more importantly, a tense Republican primary season awaits as party heavyweights and Rupert Murdoch abandon Trump in favour of the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis. Will Trump’s base jump on the DeSantis bandwagon too?
Top news
Trump’s legal headaches |Angry Republicans and Murdoch aren’t Trump’s only concerns. The twiceimpeached ex-president also has a number of legal hurdles as federal and state authorities investigate his personal, political and financial conduct, and that of his business empire.
Poland missile |US president, Joe Biden, has said “it is unlikely” a missile that killed two people in the Polish town of Przewodów was fired from Russia, possibly due to the weapon’s trajectory. The president held an emergency meeting with Nato and G7 leaders in Bali after the missile strike – the first time the territory of a Nato country has been hit during the Ukraine war. Poland is expected to call an emergency Nato meeting to discuss the incident, for which Russia denies responsibility.
Zachary Rolfe |The Northern Territory
police officer who shot and killed Kumanjayi Walker, 19, in 2019 has refused to answer some questions from a coroner, arguing his answers could lead to disciplinary proceedings by the NT police force. Rolfe was found not guilty of murder and two alternative charges after a six-week trial in the NT supreme court in Darwin earlier this year but faced questions for the first time today at an inquest into the death of Walker.
Flood death |A woman’s body has been found in flood waters in the New South Wales town of Eugowra, where locals say they are still in shock after an “inland tsunami” devastated the town. Police are yet to formally identify the body, but believe it is that of missing 60-year-old woman Dianne Smith – a receptionist at the local doctor’s office. An elderly man, 85-year-old Ljubisa “Les” Vugec, is also missing.
NBL player comes out as gay |Isaac Humphries, a Melbourne United player, has been lauded for his courage after publicly coming out and becoming the only openly gay male professional basketball player currently playing in a top-tier league, anywhere in the world. Watch Humphries’s three-minute address to his teammates where he reveals his struggles with his sexuality.
No more Deliveroo | The food delivery service has announced it will end its operations in Australia, leaving its riders in a cloud of uncertainty. The company said in a statement that “it cannot reach a sustainable and profitable scale in Australia without considerable financial investment.”
Australia’s lead role at Cop27 |The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has been asked to take a leadership role in the final days of faltering negotiations at the UN summit in Egypt. Bowen will co-facilitate talks on how to fund climate financing for poor countries with Indian climate change minister, Bhupender Yadav. Observers have described negotiations over a potential agreement as slow and largely directionless. Norman Swan apologises |The ABC journalist has apologised to the late
Kimberley Kitching’s family for saying on ABC News the Labor senator’s death may have been linked to Covid-19. Swan also linked Shane Warne’s death to Covid, saying “it’s too much of a coincidence” that the cricketing great died not long after a Covid infection. “I 100% accept that I got it wrong,” Swan later said.
Hearing loss risk |Yes, excessive use of headphones, earbuds and attendance at loud music venues can cause hearing damage, at least according to a new global study. An international team of researchers estimate that 24% of 12- to 34-year-olds – or more than 1 billion people – are listening to music on personal listening devices at an “unsafe level”. The findings were published in the journal BMJGlobal Health.
Wages down, profits up |Australians continue to see their purchasing power decline, with the latest wage price index coming in at an annual rate of 3.1% – far shy of the 7.3% pace of inflation. That means Australians, on average, have suffered a 4.2% pay cut, at a time when major corporations continue to post rising profits – the Commonwealth Bank announced a $2.5bn September quarter profit yesterday.
Full Story
Robodebt: conspiracy or stuff up? A few bombshell revelations have come out of the robodebt royal commission so far. How did the robodebt saga unfold, and was it a conspiracy against the most vulnerable in our society or a genuine stuff up? Listen to this 26-minute episode.
What they said …
Sarah Matthews, Trump’s former deputy press secretary, echoed a widely observed reaction to the presidential announcement.
In numbers
The premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan, defended the state’s juvenile prison system after disturbing footage showed a child struggling to breathe while officers restrained him. Lorena Allam, our Indigenous editor, asks: “How much more CCTV footage of kids being tackled, teargassed, beaten and restrained do Australian governments need to see before anything substantial changes in how they treat children and young people?”
Before bed read
The world has hit 8 billion people and is predicted to reach 10 billion by 2050. That means more food is needed – the UN projects that food production from plants and animals will need to increase 70% by 2050. But food production is already responsible for nearly a third of carbon emissions as well as 90% of deforestation around the world. Here are some potential solutions.
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