TRANSCRIPT:
- The Immigration Minister defends the refusal of a visa to a former Israeli minister;
- A man dies during a police operation in Rockhampton;
- Australian driver Oscar Piastri in a prime position ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Australia's Immigration Minister has defended his decision to refuse a visa to a former Israeli minister who had planned a speaking tour of the country.
Both the minister - Ayamet Shaked - and some Australian Jewish groups have branded the decision as antisemitic, while Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein called it unacceptable.
But Tony Burke has told Sky News the former Minister has previously described Palestinian children as little snakes.
He says the decision was therefore made on the grounds her speaking tour could seriously impact social cohesion.
"I think that while we accept that within Australia there'll be a whole lot of Australians with really strong views, I think people - if there's one comment I hear all the time, it's that they do not want the hatreds from overseas imported here. And whether those hatreds are demeaning of Israelis or demeaning of Palestinians, I'm going to have the exact same hard line."
.
A man has died during a standoff with police in the central Queensland city of Rockhampton.
Queensland Police say the 37-year-old man fell from a second-floor balcony railing as officers attempted to negotiate with him.
They had been called to the address amid reports of an unknown person trespassing on the premises.
The State Coroner has been advised, and the Ethical Standards Command is investigating the incident.
.
The Syrian government says it has withdrawn its forces from the city of Aleppo after an attack by rebels who are against the rule of president Bashar al-Assad.
The army says they had no choice but to redeploy after dozens of its soldiers were killed in a major attack by the insurgents, identified as the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
But air strikes have still targeted rebel gatherings and convoys in the city, according to the pro-government newspaper al-Watan.
.
Taiwan's president Lai Ching-te has arrived in Hawaii for a two-day transit in the US as part of a trip to the South Pacific.
There were no high-ranking US or Hawaii state officials to greet Lai at the Honolulu hotel where supporters cheered in Mandarin, some waving Taiwanese flags.
The stopover has drawn fierce criticism from Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and objects to official exchanges between the self-ruled democracy and the US, the island's biggest backer and military provider.
.
Meanwhile, the Taiwanese government has come out in support of the AUKUS partnership, describing it as a kind of Asian NATO.
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Francois Wu says a proposal for a NATO-like security pact in the region would likely anger Beijing.
But it's been revealed that he's told a group of Australian reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei in November that AUKUS is as good as that anyway.
.
Doctors have hailed the government's decision to subsidise a treatment for endometriosis that could save patients hundreds of dollars a year.
The newly subsidised drug Visanne is a daily tablet that works to shrink and suppress the growth of abnormal tissue - but without a subsidy, costs roughly $750.
Gynaecologist Professor Jason Abbott from the University of New South Wales says endometriosis is the main reason for over 40,000 hospital admissions every year, to treat inflammation, scarring and even infertility.
But the professor says that even after surgery patients need medication to help manage their symptoms - and this treatment has been an effective one.
"It has been a relief and a satisfaction to be able to offer to women a well-tolerated and highly efficacious treatment that relieves their pain, returns them to an excellent quality of life and reduces the need for repeated surgeries."
.
Mercedes's George Russell has been promoted to pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix after stewards gave Red Bull's Max Verstappen a one-place grid drop for driving unnecessarily slowly during qualifying.
Australia's Oscar Piastri has qualified fourth in the same race after winning the sprint and taking maximum points, to send the team 30 points clear in their chase for a first constructors' championship in 26 years.
Melbourne-born Piastri says it was good for his team to stay ahead of their rivals in their pursuit of that title.
"While we're probably disappointed with third and fourth (place), we are still ahead of Ferrari, so we at least have that and hopefully we can score some good points tomorrow (Sunday). It'd be perfect if we could seal the deal tomorrow. But we'll focus on ourselves and see where we end up at the end of the race."
