Evening News Bulletin 31 August 2024

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Source: SBS News

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the controversy over the next Census is premature... social media platform X banned in Brazil... and Aussie Alexei Popyrin stuns Novak Djokovic in the third round of U-S Open.


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TRANSCRIPT

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it's premature to be talking about a census that is two years away, but that every member of Australian society will be considered.

It comes after the federal government backflipped on its commitment to not include any questions on sexuality or gender identity in the upcoming census, following pressures from LGBTQIA+ groups.

The census is now set to include one question about a person's sexuality.

Advocates say that does not go far enough, as it would exclude intersex people.

Mr Albanese says the government will discuss these issues with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, who conducts the census, before going ahead.

"We value every Australian. And we'll work with the ABS. This is a census in 2026, it is two years away, and we'll work with the ABS. But I think that common sense would see that asking about sexual orientation is a common sense thing to do."


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Users in Brazil will no longer have access to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) after a Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered the suspension of its use nationwide.

It comes as the latest incident in an ongoing legal struggle between the company that belongs to billionaire Elon Musk and the Brazilian legal system.

The saga began in April, when justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X to shut down a series of accounts accused of spreading misinformation, with the company refusing to comply.

Mr Musk then removed the company's legal representative in the country because he said he feared for their safety.

After the company failed to meet the Supreme Court's deadline to name a new legal representative in the country, it has been banned and is expected to be removed from all devices in the country within the next few days.

***

The Pacific Islands Forum [[PIF]] secretariat has altered the communique from this week's summit in Tonga to remove an affirming reference to Taiwan, after an outburst from China.

In a tumultuous ending to the otherwise largely-harmonious regional gathering in Tonga, a clause endorsing Taiwan's status as a "development partner" went missing from the final text.

China claims control over Taiwan.

The publication mix-up reveals tension among P-I-F members over diplomatic allegiances.

With China-aligned Solomon Islands to take the chair role and host the next Leaders Meeting in 2025, it's thought these ripples may intensify.

***

Former U-S President Donald Trump's lawyers have continued a bid to halt proceedings in his New York hush money criminal case and postpone next month's sentencing indefinitely.

The action comes as he attempts to have a federal court intervene and potentially overturn his felony conviction.

In a letter to the judge presiding over the case in state court, Trump's lawyers asked that he hold off on a decision, slated for September 16, on his request to overturn the verdict and dismiss the indictment in the wake of the United States Supreme Court's recent presidential immunity ruling.

They also urged the trial judge, Juan Merchan, to postpone Trump's September 18 sentencing indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the Republican Presidential candidate is continuing his campaign by returning to Pennsylvania for the first time since his assassination attempt there back in mid-July.

He says there may have been an aspect of divine intervention that day.

"At Butler an amazing thing happened. You had two American flags very far apart, held up, I think, by different trends, they were very big flags, beautiful flags. And they were waving. And as that horrible event was taking place, the wind blew the flags together and they formed a perfect angel."

***

The Venezuelan capital of Caracas and many other parts of the country been plunged into darkness because of a power outage.

Businesses were forced to close early as they were unable to operate and could not use bank systems to process transactions.

The government said the incident was an act of sabotage by the Opposition, also it's presented no evidence of this.

Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro says the outage was due to an attack on the nation's largest hydroelectric project, named Guri.

“This criminal attack today has different characteristics. It has been an attack again on Guri (hydroelectric system in Venezuela). At this time that I am talking to you, we have determined the mechanisms that were used inside Guri and in the vicinity of Guri. How was it done? I will not say more because the investigation process is in full swing in order to achieve justice.”

***

In tennis,

Alexei Popyrin has pulled a stunning upset to reach the last 16 of the U-S Open, beating 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4.

The number 28 seed made the break in the first set and held firm despite the pressure from his highly experienced opponent.

Djokovic showed signs of trying to come back into the game in the fourth set, which he won comfortable by breaking the Australian's serve twice for a comfortable 2-6.

But Popyrin held firm and made it to the end of the match in the fourth and final set, showing the great Serb his earliest U-S Open exit since 2006.

The 25-year-old has told Channel Nine victory over a player of Djokovic's stature is particularly sweet.

"It's unbelievable because I've been in the third round (of a Grand Slam) about 15 times in my career but I haven't been able to get passed to the fourth round. And to be able to do it against the greatest of all time, to get into the fourth round, is unbelievable, so... yeah, it's a great feeling and the hard work has paid off."

Chris O'Connell, Jordan Thompson and Alex De Minaur are set to take to the court tomorrow for a place in the fourth round of the tournament.


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