TRANSCRIPT:
- The Government's environment bill welcomed by the author of the report that triggered it
- The bodies of two more hostages returned to Israel by Hamas
- The grieving father of a teenager who died in a cricket training accident has spoken
The author of the review that triggered the government's environment reforms has fully endorsed Labor's nature legislation.
Graeme Samuel has told SBS the bill implements the 'totality' of the recommendations he made in his report, five years after it was delivered.
The Greens and Coalition have objected to the bill, with Greens leader Larissa Waters describing it as 1400 pages gift-wrapped for big business.
But Mr Samuel says environmental groups and business interests alike had substantial input into his report, and their desires were fully taken into account in the recommendations.
"I say to the Greens and I say to the Coalition without wanting to be political, please please stop your political games and get on with this legislation. Because this is one way for our children - our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, for future generations - to now get effective environmental protection and environmental restoration."
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Maverick Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has denied accusations he abused a female staff member inside Parliament House in an incident on Wednesday.
Sky News has reported he raised his voice and physically entered the space of a female Nationals staffer, while lodging paperwork requesting time off to attend a funeral.
In a statement to SBS News, Mr Joyce denied the allegation and said he respects the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service investigation that's now underway.
The former deputy prime minister and two-time Nationals leader has been at odds with his party in recent weeks, announcing he will not re-contest his seat of New England, while leaving the door open for a move to One Nation.
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Hamas has handed over two bodies it says are those of deceased Israeli hostages, a day after the fragile Gaza ceasefire was shaken by a series of deadly Israeli strikes across the enclave.
The office of Israel's prime minister says two bodies were received by Israeli forces on Thursday in Gaza, and are being taken to Israel for identification.
Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep the pressure on.
"No one believed we would do it, but thanks to the combined effort, we did it together. And we are determined to also bring back all our fallen captives. If I'm not mistaken, the Chief of Staff, the Minister of Defense, two others are already being received now. We will not stop, we will not relent, until we bring everyone home."
Under the ceasefire, Hamas released all living hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
It committed to handing over the remains of all 28 hostages killed, in exchange for 360 Palestinian militants killed in the war.
By Thursday, it had delivered 15 bodies.
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Residents of Brazil's capital Rio de Janeiro are outraged following a police operation in which at least 119 people were killed in the north of the city.
Rio de Janeiro's governor Claudio Castro has defended the operation, which targeted the Comando Vermelho drug gang, saying authorities wanted to arrest suspects alive.
Public defenders say the final body count of those killed in the favelas will rise to at least 132.
Journalist and Rio de Janeiro resident Rosa Bittencourt has told SBS Portuguese the community needs to know who exactly was killed.
“Of those 120 deaths, many were innocent people. Criminal or not, who are the people who died between yesterday and today? They’re the ones living in the favela - black people, poor people, the marginalised, the wage earners. Yes, there were drug traffickers among the dead, but nothing that justifies an operation of this scale, which killed everyone.”
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United States President Donald Trump says he has agreed to reduce tariffs on China to 47 per cent.
In exchange, China is set to resume buying US soybean, keep rare earths exports flowing, and crack down on the illicit trade of fentanyl.
Mr Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the South Korean city of Busan markes the end to the US leader's whirlwind diplomatic visit to Asia, where he also discussed trade deals with Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian nations.
The meeting, their first since 2019, lasted nearly two hours and focused largely on trade tensions.
After leaving South Korea, Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he thought it was an "amazing meeting."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun says Mr Trump will visit China next year, and has invited Mr Xi to visit the US in 2026.
“During the meeting, President Xi Jinping emphasised that the trade delegations of both countries exchanged in-depth views on important trade and economic issues and reached a consensus on resolving them. Both delegations should refine and finalise the follow-up work as soon as possible, uphold and implement the consensus that was reached.”
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Hurricane Melissa has torn through the northern Caribbean, causing widespread destruction and leaving thousands without power from Jamaica to Cuba and Haiti.
The storm has gained speed as it moves across open waters towards Bermuda.
Authorities have confirmed 25 deaths in Haiti, including 10 children, and four fatalities in Jamaica since Melissa made landfall.
It has since been downgraded from a Category Five to a Category Two storm.
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The devastated father of a teenage cricketer who died after a training accident has described his son as the shining light of their family.
Ben Austin died after being rushed to hospital in a critical condition on Tuesday, after he was struck in the neck by a ball at Ferntree Gully, in Melbourne's outer east.
His father Jace revealed a teammate was bowling when the accident occurred, as the 17-year-old prepared in the nets for a T-20 match.
