TRANSCRIPT
- The world's biggest miners to pay $45-billion to settle Brazilian mining disaster case
- Queenslanders head to the polls as state election campaigning wraps up
- Nine Indigenous Olympians recognised as outstanding role models
Global mining companies BHP and Vale have agreed to pay a settlement of 45-billion dollars for a 2015 dam collapse in Brazil.
Brazil's government says it was the country's worst environmental disaster on record.
Under the agreement Samarco, a joint venture between Vale and BHP — will pay the compensation over 20 years.
The payments are meant to compensate for human, environmental and infrastructure damage caused by the release of a huge amount of toxic mining waste into a major river killing 19 people and ravaging entire villages.
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A man from Northern Ireland has been jailed for life in one of the U-K's largest catfishing cases.
Alexander McCartney has pled guilty to manslaughter after a 12-year-old girl from the US took her own life while he was abusing her.
McCartney created fake profiles to target as many as 3,500 victims aged between 10 and 16, from more than 30 countries.
He has been given a life sentence with a minimum of 20 years in jail for the extreme online sexual abuse of children - and manslaughter.
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Queenslanders will head to the polls today in what is predicted to be a close state election.
For much of this year, polling has suggested the L-N-P and party leader, David Crisafulli, would stride to victory, but after four weeks of campaigning some cracks have appeared.
Mr Crisafulli's campaign has focused on youth crime along with the election's other key issues of health, housing and cost of living.
But he has repeatedly refused to explain how he could guarantee there would be no changes to abortion laws after a crossbencher pledged to repeal them.
In the final hours of campaigning, Mr Crisafulli has pushed Queenslanders to vote for change.
"We've been working around the clock and we are going to drive this right up to polling day because this state needs a fresh start and it needs change. If Queenslanders want change they've got to vote for it, they've got to vote for change if they want to see change, because nothing will change if we get more of the same from a fourth-term re-elected Labor government that will have been in power for 14 years."
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Taiwan's President Lai Ching-Te says the country will continue to protect its sovereignty.
Taiwan's military staged night time live-fire drills on the Penghu islands yesterday, where they practised repelling an assault from the sea.
Mr Ching-Te says while the regional situation is complicated, nothing will change.
"I want to emphasise our insistence on safeguarding sovereignty rights and our efforts to maintaining the cross-strait status quo, hoping that both sides of the Taiwan Strait can be treated with dignity and commit to healthy dialogue exchanges. We will maintain a democratic and free lifestyle for generations to come that has not changed and will remain unchanged."
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An elderly couple has died and a driver is in hospital after a truck veered off a road and drove into a house.
81-year-old Jim Madden and his 80-year-old wife, Carmel, were at home in Tower Hill in Victoria's southwest when the truck crashed into their property on Friday.
The truck driver, a 70-year-old man, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Detective Sergeant Stephen Hill says the cause of the crash is under investigation.
"It's a pretty dead straight road, there's no reason for vehicles to swerve unless they're overtaking but how and why, and what was going on inside the truck that caused the collision is just something we'll have to look at over time."
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is calling for faster progress on talks for a free-trade agreement between India and the European Union.
Speaking during his keynote address at the 18th Asia-Pacific Conference in New Delhi he says if the countries work together it could happen in a matter of months.
In 2022, India and the E-U agreed to relaunch talks on a free trade agreement initially aiming to complete talks by the end of 2023.
However they have failed to make significant progress on a deal, with India blaming irrational standards set by the EU as one of the reasons.
Mr Scholz says the deal will benefit Germany's economy.
"Even today, Indians are the largest group of foreign students at our universities. Last year alone, the number of Indians working in Germany grew by 23,000. Their talent is a welcome addition to our labour market.”
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Nine Indigenous Olympians have been awarded grants in recognition of their efforts at the Paris Games and to assist in future development.
Beach volleyballer Talliqua Clancy, Boxer Callum Peters, Sprinter Calab Law and Hockeyroo Brooke Peris - along with five others have been chosen as outstanding role models.
The Australian Olympic Committee says the grants are a reward for being selected and to encourage them to continue to act as inspiration to their fellow Indigenous athletes.
