TRANSCRIPT
- Financial advertisers on Facebook and Instagram face tougher requirements
- A new report on the health of Australia's largest river system released
- Australia women’s 7s team win their fifth straight Dubai title
Australians will be better protected from scams under new Meta-imposed advertising rules as digital giants face a crackdown on perceived anti-competitive behaviour.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram have announced plans to tighten requirements for ads promoting financial services including loans, credit cards and investments.
Beginning in early February, Meta will require businesses to provide their financial services licence number to post Facebook ads, while individuals will need government-issued ID.
The company has come under pressure to do more to combat investment scams featuring deepfake images of public figures, including Anthony Albanese, Guy Sebastian and Gina Rinehart.
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The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of more floods mid-week for eastern Australia, after widespread rain and thunderstorms affected the region over the weekend.
Parts of southern Queensland and eastern Tasmania each saw over 200mm in 24 hours through to 9am Sunday, with the vast majority of the rain falling through the night.
Authorities are urging people to monitor the weather alerts.
Senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, Angus Hines says by 11 o'clock tonight heavy rainfall and possible floods are forecast.
"From North Queensland down to Tasmania between 20 to 80 mm of rain for many. With pockets of heavy falls around the northeast Queensland coast, southeast Queensland, central interior New South Wales; and northern and eastern Tasmania where triple figures 100 mm-plus are likely in some locations through all those areas."
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A new report by a group of scientists has found low-cost, simple changes could improve the declining health of Australia's biggest river system.
Around 2.3 million people live in the Murray-Darling Basin, including many First Nations people.
A report by 12 scientists from Australia’s leading universities, as part of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists' report, found $13 billion in taxpayer dollars and 30 years of policy reform have failed to stop the deterioration of the Basin.
The trends of most indicators show no improvement or are worsening.
The researchers propose solutions, including a rigorous and transparent system for evaluating the basin’s health; as well as centralising data on threats to water quality, mass fish kills, and town water supply.
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The largest United Nations land conference date is getting underway in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh - the first time the event has been held in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Representatives from nearly 200 nations are expected to gather in over 12 days for the summit with the aim to expand efforts to restore 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land this decade.
A UN report released to coincide with the talks finds Forest loss and degraded soils are reducing resilience to climate change and biodiversity loss, creating negative feedback loops and driving the world to what the authors call a dangerous "precipice".
Barron Joseph Orr is the chief scientist of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
He says the summit will look at strategies to tackle desertification, land degradation, and drought.
"If we stopped land conversion today, it would be what we would need to return to productivity to get us back to where we were in 2015. So it's a very important number to be pursued. The problem, of course, is that we continue to degrade; and we continue to convert lands."
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The UN agency providing aid to Palestinians has suspended aid deliveries through the main crossing point into Gaza due to security concerns.
The head of Unrwa says Israel's policies has made it too dangerous to transport the aid - and he urged Israel to maintain law and order.
He says armed men looted nearly 100 trucks travelling on the route in mid-November, including stealing a smaller shipment on Saturday.
There has been no immediate comment from Israel on the decision.
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The Australia women's national rugby sevens team have beaten New Zealand 28-24, to win their fifth straight Dubai title.
Prolific try-scorer Maddison Levi scored a record 15th five-pointer of the weekend.
She now holds the record for the most tries at a single tournament.
The result comes four months after the team missed a medal at the Paris Olympics.
Australia's longest-serving women's Rugby 7s player, [[with a decade-long career]], Charlotte Caslick says she is proud of the team.
"I think we love the vibe of playing here. We love the weather. It is a dry field and it really suits the way we like to play. But I think every year we roll out more and more young girls and it shows the depth of our program. So I think the reason why we do so good here is the fact that our program is so strong."
