Key posts
Violent threats: Google blocks downloads of Trump’s Truth Social app
By Julia Love
Washington: Google’s Play store is declining to distribute Donald Trump’s Truth Social app, saying the network still needs to resolve the fact that it hosts violent threats and other content that goes against Google’s standards.
Alphabet-owned Google said it notified Truth Social of its violations and how to fix them on August 19.
“Having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
The share price of Donald Trump’s Truth Media clone of Twitter has plunged, along with user numbers.Credit:AP
Trump Media and Technology Group said that Truth Social was a family-friendly and vibrant community, which “has continuously worked in good faith with Google to ensure that the Truth Social Android App complies with Google’s policies without compromising our promise to be a haven for free speech,” the company said in a statement.
“It is our belief that all Americans should have access to Truth Social no matter what devices they use.”
Truth Social is former President Trump’s social network of choice.
Trump was banned from Twitter and suspended from Facebook and Instagram after the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
While the app is careful to remove some potentially offensive content, such as sexual images, it has played host to violent speech, such as calls for civil war to defend Trump’s honour.
Read more here.
Australian minister to fly to Africa as local leader labels Chinese mine ‘bloodthirsty’
By Eryk Bagshaw and Edward Adeti
Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts will fly to Ghana to campaign for the Australian mining industry as observers warn a deadly multimillion-dollar dispute between an Australian and a Chinese state-linked mine is a ticking time bomb.
Watts told African and Australian mining business leaders in Perth on Wednesday that Australia would continue to stand up for “democratic principles” and “the global rules-based order” when he travels to the West Africa Mining Security Conference in Accra in September.
“Instability and insecurity threaten the international rules-based order, and our shared peace and prosperity,” he said. “We want to help African governments deliver responsible, accountable and effective mining governance.”
Australia’s Assistant Foreign Minister Tim Watts.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed last week that Australian miner Cassius was preparing to launch a $395 million action against the Ghanaian government in the London Court of International Arbitration, alleging it had allowed Chinese miner Shaanxi to steal millions of dollars worth of gold from its mining concession. Dozens of local miners have been killed inside the Shaanxi mine in northern Ghana, which has also been beset by claims of corruption and allegations of murder. Shaanxi has denied the allegations.
Watts said Australian mining companies have invested an estimated $40 billion across the African continent and “earned a reputation for integrity and corporate responsibility, mining safety, ensuring environmental sustainability and protection, and for developing their workforce”.
He said he could not comment directly on The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s series Blood Gold because it was before the courts, but senior political leaders in Ghana have been outraged by the revelations.
Read more here.
Former cricketer Michael Slater accused of Sydney hospital assault
By Sally Rawsthorne
Former Test cricketer and commentator Michael Slater will face court in October on two counts of common assault and one count of attempt to stalk/intimidate, after an alleged incident at a Sydney hospital last month.
Police attended Slater’s Manly apartment as a concern for welfare check on July 14, then took him to Northern Beaches Hospital where he remained until July 18, when he allegedly assaulted a man.
Michael Slater, pictured here in October 2021, has been charged over an assault at a Sydney hospital.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
That same day, he was charged with breaching his bail conditions; the one-time cricketing great remains on bail for allegedly assaulting a 35-year-old woman in April this year. He has pleaded not guilty to the alleged assault of the woman.
Slater, 52, was not in Manly Local Court on Wednesday as two common assault charges and one count of attempt to stalk/intimidate against him was adjourned.
“Following an investigation into the alleged assault of a man at a Northern Beaches hospital on 18 July, a man was issued a Court Attendance Notice for common assault,” NSW Police said in a statement.
Read more here.
Solomon Islands places moratorium on all navy ships entering its ports
By Farrah Tomazin
Washington: The Solomon Islands has issued a moratorium on all nations requesting to send in naval ships while it works on new processes for military vessels entering port.
The announcement from Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Tuesday comes after it was revealed the US had been issued with a notice of the moratorium.
The Solomon Islands have had a tense relationship with the US and its allies since striking a controversial security pact with China in May.
Guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville in the East China Sea during routine underway operations on August 28, 2022.Credit:US Navy photo
“On August 29, the United States received formal notification from the Government of Solomon Islands regarding a moratorium on all naval visits, pending updates in protocol procedures,” the embassy said in a statement.
A spokesman for Sogavare earlier denied the reports of a moratorium. He told Reuters that Sogavare would make a speech on Tuesday welcoming a US navy hospital ship, Mercy, which arrived in Honiara on Monday for a two-week mission.
The embassy said Mercy had arrived before the moratorium.
Read more here.
Central Coast beaches closed after surfer bitten by shark at Avoca
By Nigel Gladstone
Avoca and North Avoca beaches are closed following a shark attack on a surfer who was bitten on the arm on Wednesday morning.
The young surfer was bitten on his right lower forearm about 10.30am.
A drone operator has been deployed to North Avoca beach to search for the shark, Central Coast Council said in a statement.
“Our thoughts are with the young surfer who sustained a wound to his right lower forearm, near his hand,” the council said.
“We ask that all community members avoid Avoca and North Avoca beaches at this time until the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and the council can investigate this incident further.”
DPI confirmed that mesh netting will be installed on Thursday on Central Coast beaches as part of the shark meshing program.
Steve Charters posted to Facebook that he was fishing at North Avoca on Tuesday afternoon and “there was plenty of salmon in close and leaping out of the water with sharks obviously after them”.
No snub: Marles makes belated trip to UK but can’t say when London post will be filled
By Latika Bourke
Glasgow: Defence Minister Richard Marles has refused to say if the federal government will appoint a High Commissioner to the UK by the end of the year, even though the countries are in critical negotiations over the acquisition of nuclear submarines under the AUKUS agreement.
Marles will on Wednesday, UK time, visit BAE’s shipyards in Barrow, in England’s north, where the nuclear-powered Astute-class submarines are made, amid growing expectations Australia’s first nuclear submarines will be bought “off-the-shelf” from either Britain or the US, but most likely from the Americans.
Defence Minister Richard Marles visiting BAE’s Govan shipyards in Glasgow.Credit:Latika Bourke
On Tuesday, he visited BAE’s shipyards in the Glasgow suburb of Govan, where he urged the company to get “back on track” with the program to supply Australia’s new Hunter class of frigates.
Marles, also the deputy prime minister, is on the first official visit to the United Kingdom by any minister from the new government after the May election and Australia has not had a High Commissioner in the UK since April, when former attorney-general George Brandis’ term expired. The Coalition did not extend his term ahead of the election.
The vacancy is being looked after temporarily by career diplomat Lynette Wood who is fluent in Japanese and widely regarded as a frontrunner to be sent to Tokyo.
The government has appointed bureaucrats as ambassadors to several countries since its election but left the London post vacant. Asked if Australia would have a High Commissioner in place in London by the end of the year, Marles would only guarantee that one would be sent “in due course”.
Read more here.
Australia’s five worst-performing super funds revealed
By Clancy Yeates
The financial regulator has named five superannuation funds that failed its annual performance tests, and as a result four of these funds are no longer allowed to accept new members.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) on Wednesday released the results of its annual testing of 69 no-frills MySuper products, which account for a total of 13.7 million superannuation accounts.
APRA said funds with 559,000 member accounts failed its performance test for the second year in a row.Credit:Louie Douvis
APRA said a MySuper product provided by Westpac-owned BT, a Westpac staff fund, and products from the Australian Catholic Superannuation Retirement Fund, Energy Industries Superannuation (EISS) and AMG Super had all failed the test.
With the exception of the Westpac staff fund, the other four that failed the test have now been closed to new members as a result of the APRA policy, which requires funds to close to new members if they fail the test two years in a row. In total, APRA said funds with 559,000 member accounts had failed the performance test for the second year in a row.
The largest fund that has been forced to close to new members is the BT MySuper fund, which holds $21.1 billion in assets.
Under a policy introduced to improve member returns, MySuper funds are assessed for performance by APRA each year, and if fund fails the test two years in a row it must close to new members. The threat has already sparked a series of mergers, and most of the poorest performing funds have already announced merger plans.
Read more here.
Union head says isolating workers need continued support in pandemic payment debate
By Angus Thompson
ACTU secretary Sally McManus says people need support to self-isolate if required under public health orders as isolation rules are reviewed at Wednesday’s National Cabinet meeting.
“You need to do that because of equity reasons,” McManus said on Wednesday morning, when asked if the $750 pandemic leave disaster payments for people unable to work should continue.
ACTU president Michele O’Neil (left) and secretary Sally McManus outside Parliament House.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“Some people are paid and some people are not paid. Obviously, for those people who aren’t paid it’s much harder for them to follow those orders, and that affects all of us in terms of there being a greater spread of the virus,” she said.
“For those not working in the health and the emergency departments of our hospitals probably don’t understand ... just how traumatic and terrible that has been. As a country, we’ve got to make sure that we follow the advice of the health experts so that we don’t lead to situations where we have overwhelmed hospitals and high levels of people dying.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned pandemic leave payments cannot be extended forever, ahead of state and territory leaders discussing whether the mandatory COVID isolation period should be reduced.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said there was a “common sense” approach to removing the payments and reducing the length of isolation.
“$750 [payments], I do think need to be reviewed as well because many small business employers you speak to talk about that being big a problem for them to get started back,” he told Sky television on Wednesday.
More people have flu and COVID symptoms but fewer get tested
By Nigel Gladstone
More Australians are reporting household members experiencing cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms, but fewer are getting tested for COVID-19, an Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey released today found.
Two in five (42 per cent) people reported a household member had experienced cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms in the past month, up from 32 per cent with symptoms in April and almost half reported someone in their household had taken a COVID-19 test in the same period, down from 62 per cent in April 2022.
David Zago, head of household surveys at the ABS, said the percentage of households where someone had a positive COVID-19 test in July had remained “about the same” since April – 27 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.
“One in four Australians reported that the job situation of someone in their household had changed due to COVID-19 in the last four weeks – 23 per cent up from 18 per cent in April,” Zago said.
In July, fewer Australian households with children reported their children’s school or childcare attendance was impacted by COVID-19 (15 per cent down from 33 per cent in April 2022).
“One in five (21 per cent) households with children reported a child’s school or childcare attendance was impacted by a cold or flu,” Zago said.
The survey of 2100 people was conducted via telephone interviews between the July 10 and 30.
Afternoon wrap
By Nigel Gladstone
Good afternoon, here’s the major news stories we’ve been covering so far today.
Most Viewed in National
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiuQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL2F1c3RyYWxpYS1uZXdzLWxpdmUtb3Bwb3NpdGlvbi1vcGVuLXRvLWJhY2tpbmctd29ya2FibGUtd2FnZS1kZWFsLXJlZm9ybXMtbmF0aW9uYWwtY2FiaW5ldC1tZWV0cy10by1kZWJhdGUtbWFuZGF0b3J5LWNvdmlkLWlzb2xhdGlvbi0yMDIyMDgzMC1wNWJlMGouaHRtbNIBuQFodHRwczovL2FtcC5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL2F1c3RyYWxpYS1uZXdzLWxpdmUtb3Bwb3NpdGlvbi1vcGVuLXRvLWJhY2tpbmctd29ya2FibGUtd2FnZS1kZWFsLXJlZm9ybXMtbmF0aW9uYWwtY2FiaW5ldC1tZWV0cy10by1kZWJhdGUtbWFuZGF0b3J5LWNvdmlkLWlzb2xhdGlvbi0yMDIyMDgzMC1wNWJlMGouaHRtbA?oc=5
2022-08-31 05:54:20Z
CBMiuQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL2F1c3RyYWxpYS1uZXdzLWxpdmUtb3Bwb3NpdGlvbi1vcGVuLXRvLWJhY2tpbmctd29ya2FibGUtd2FnZS1kZWFsLXJlZm9ybXMtbmF0aW9uYWwtY2FiaW5ldC1tZWV0cy10by1kZWJhdGUtbWFuZGF0b3J5LWNvdmlkLWlzb2xhdGlvbi0yMDIyMDgzMC1wNWJlMGouaHRtbNIBuQFodHRwczovL2FtcC5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL2F1c3RyYWxpYS1uZXdzLWxpdmUtb3Bwb3NpdGlvbi1vcGVuLXRvLWJhY2tpbmctd29ya2FibGUtd2FnZS1kZWFsLXJlZm9ybXMtbmF0aW9uYWwtY2FiaW5ldC1tZWV0cy10by1kZWJhdGUtbWFuZGF0b3J5LWNvdmlkLWlzb2xhdGlvbi0yMDIyMDgzMC1wNWJlMGouaHRtbA
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Australia news LIVE: National cabinet meets to debate mandatory COVID isolation; former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev dies - Sydney Morning Herald"
Post a Comment