TRANSCRIPT
- Israel agrees to a ceasefire with Lebanon
- Calls to set up a national racism framework
- No changes to Australia's squad despite a drubbing in the first test with India
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his security cabinet will approve a ceasefire agreement to end fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Mr Netanyahu told the cabinet Hezbollah is “not the same Hezbollah anymore” and that Israel has pushed the group “decades back”.
The ceasefire is to last for 60-days and will require Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon, and Lebanon's army to deploy in the region.
Despite the diplomatic breakthrough, hostilities raged as Israel conducted extensive air strikes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.
Any ceasefire in Lebanon would not directly affect Israel's war in Gaza.
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Pakistan's capital Islamabad has been forced into lockdown as supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan protest to demand his release from prison.
The government says four troops were killed on Tuesday [[26 Nov]] as clashes between protestors and security forces continue to escalate.
It follows the death of a police officer on Monday - as well as reports one civilian has been killed.
The army has been deployed to try and prevent thousands of demonstrators reaching parts of the city close to key government buildings.
But the protestors pushed their way through blockades and tear gas, defying a two-month ban on public gatherings imposed last week.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has issued a call for calm.
“It is easy for us to respond a bullet with a bullet. Rangers will open fire and there will be no protesters there after five minutes. But we are saying, restraint, restraint as their lives could be lost. They are our people, Pakistani people. But there is a (red) line when you have to take decision because we have to protect our own people (security personnel) too.”
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Police in Laos have detained eight people for questioning as part of an ongoing investigation into the deaths of six tourists from suspected methanol poisoning.
Local media is reporting all those detained are Vietnamese nationals and include the manager and seven staff of a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng.
Among those thought to have died from methanol poisoning are two 19-year-old women from Melbourne, Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles.
They reportedly consumed alcoholic drinks on a night out and later died in separate Thai hospitals.
Loved ones of the two women have started a crowdfunding effort aimed at relieving the financial burdens for their families and boosting awareness of methanol poisoning to help save lives.
The fundraiser has already accumulated $320,000, prompting the families to increase their goal to $500,000.
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Australian leaders are being urged to commit to a landmark plan aimed at eliminating racism through sweeping legal reforms.
An anti-racism report from the Australian Human Rights Commission, seen as the most comprehensive plan of its kind in the nation's history, was delivered to the federal government yesterday.
It calls for a number of major legal and policy changes including the introduction of a national framework with 10-year commitments.
This includes the acknowledgement of what it calls the "systemic and structural nature of racism" in Australia as well as the "historical and ongoing impacts of settler colonisation on First Nations peoples".
Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman says racism is more complex than some may believe.
"People think, 'if I don't see someone being racist to someone else or if I'm not directly racist to someone else', then racism isn't happening. But just because you don't see interpersonal racism, doesn't mean that we don't have systemic and institutional racism. There was one example that struck me: an African woman who took her child to see a doctor and, as a result of the doctor ignoring her wishes and disrespecting her cultural safety and giving something to the child, the child ended up with permanent hearing impairment. There was no interpersonal racism there but there was systemic racism that led to a lifelong disability for this child."
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Queensland's first Muslim MP has been sworn into parliament as the legislature gets back to business after last month's poll.
Labor Member for Sandgate Bisma Asif wore a white sari and swore her oath on the Koran as she made history.
The 28-year-old was born in Pakistan and moved to Australia when she was eight years old.
**
Australia's cricket team is sticking with the same squad for the second test in Adelaide, despite the devastating defeat inflicted by India at the first test in Perth.
With less than a fortnight until the match at the Adelaide Oval, there could have been a temptation to shake up the eleven that opened the Border-Gavaskar series with a record 295-run humiliation.
But coach Andrew McDonald will give Australia's under-performing batting line-up a chance to redeem themselves after being blown away by India's fast bowling superstar Jasprit Bumrah.
