TRANSCRIPT
- Australia's longest-serving lord mayor claims victory in local elections.
- An independent inquiry to assess the water impacts of gas exploration in the Northern Territory.
- And in the NRL, the Cowboys keep their premiership hopes alive, after eliminating the Knights.
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Australia's longest-serving lord mayor, Clover Moore, has claimed victory in her race to secure an historic sixth term as mayor of Sydney.
Elsewhere in New South Wales, the Liberals are facing a wipeout in a number of local election races after the party failed to nominate 140 candidates across 16 council areas.
Clover Moore's race, which will see counting resume on Monday, has Ms Moore in the lead with almost 37 per cent of the vote, followed by Labor on 17 per cent, and the Greens on 13 per cent.
Ms Moore says, if her re-election is confirmed, she is keen to get to work once more.
"I will be wanting to continue the great work we're doing, continue the work that we're doing to take action on climate change. Continuing the greening program. Continue to provide affordable housing. We have specific projects like China Town and Oxford Street - that we want to see implemented. We have a very program of work, which we hope we're starting next week."
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Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has ordered an independent scientific assessment of controversial gas fracking in the Northern Territory.
Gas exploration and appraisal is already underway in the Beetaloo Basin, about 500 kilometres south of Darwin, which conservationists and traditional owners fear may impact or contaminate local water supplies.
The Independent Scientific Expert Committee will now examine whether the projects could impact local water and if so they will be referred to the environment minister for further scrutiny under expanded "water trigger" powers.
Three companies have links to projects in the basin, which have support from both major parties at the Territory level.
In a statement, Ms Plibersek said environmental decisions must be guided by science and national environment law.
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The head of NATO's military committee says Ukraine has a solid legal and military right to strike deep inside Russia to gain combat advantage.
NATO Military Committee Admiral Rob Bauer says the law on armed conflict gave a nation the right to defend itself and that did not stop at its border.
However, speaking at the same press conference in Prague, the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Karel Řehka, says there are also political considerations to weigh up.
"As was mentioned militarily, it makes perfect sense. And every honest military advice will probably tell you this. On the other side, there are sovereign political, decisions and it's the right of the country who provides the systems to decide. And it's important to take into consideration every aspect, you know, including the potential of escalation and other things."
To date, the US and UK have not given Ukraine permission to use long-range missiles against targets inside Russia, for fear of escalation.
President Vladimir Putin warns that lifting these restrictions would put Russia at war with NATO.
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In rugby league,
The Cowboys have kept their premiership hopes alive with a hard-fought and dramatic win over the Knights.
A late 73rd minute try from co-captain Reuben Cotter helped the team win 28-16 in the elimination final in Townsville.
The try came off a Jake Clifford kick that was then knocked around by Kyle Feldt and Heilum Luki before being knocked on by Newcastle.
Cotter scrambled to get to the ball ahead of Knights superstar Kalyn Ponga, scoring with the smallest of margins.
Cowboys coach Todd Payten says it speaks to the determination of the co-captain in key moments.
"I think that is a great example of someone who keeps competing until the play has stopped and Reubs has done that his whole career. Some of the tries in these bigger games are gonna be around kick defence and shapes and plays are probably not gonna be as potent against the good defensive teams so you've gotta fight and scrap and scramble and that's what we did."
Earlier, the Melbourne Storm secured a home preliminary final, after defeating the Cronulla Sharks 37-10 in Melbourne.
The Sharks will now face North Queensland in a semifinal match next week.
