TRANSCRIPT:
- High Court agrees to hear challenge on under-16s social media ban
- Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland have announced they will boycott next year's Eurovision Song Contest
- Zak Crawley stars in England's second-test Ashes recovery
The High Court has agreed to hear a special case challenging the federal government's social media ban for children under 16 years of age, after an initial hearing on Thursday.
The case won't prevent the ban coming into effect on December 10 - after an application for an injunction was dropped - but the case could now be heard as early as February.
Two teenagers working with the Digital Freedom Project launched the challenge, claiming the ban breached the implied constitutional right to political communication.
After the challenge was first announced last week, Communications Minister Anika Wells told Parliament the government won't be deterred by legal proceedings.
"And despite the fact that we are receiving threats and legal challenges by people with ulterior motives, government remains steadfastly on the side of parents and not of platforms. We will not be intimidated by threats. We will not be intimidated by legal challenges. We will not be intimidated by big tech. On behalf of Australian parents, we stand firm."
**
Israeli media say Yasser Abu Shabab, a Bedouin tribal leader who led an anti-Hamas faction in Gaza, has been killed in Rafah.
He was a key figure in Israel’s effort to arm anti-Hamas clans, a policy Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in June.
Meanwhile, militants have returned the remains of Thai worker Sudthisak Rinthalak under the ceasefire deal.
Mr Rinthalak, who worked at Kibbutz Be’eri, was killed in the 7 October 2023 attacks and his body taken by Islamic Jihad.
His return leaves just one hostage unaccounted for, Ran Gvili.
Mr Gvili’s sister, Shira, says the uncertainty surrounding her brother’s fate has taken a heavy toll on their family.
“In the past two years we live in unknowledge. Every day we don't know nothing. And we see all the other family, that their son has come back, and we see in their eyes that they have relief, you know, because they know where is their son."
**
Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland have announced they will boycott next year's Eurovision Song Contest.
European Broadcasting Union members decided on Thursday not to call a vote on Israel's participation, meaning it can take part, despite boycott threats from some countries over the Gaza war.
The EBU says its members had backed a set of changes to its rules designed to reinforce trust, transparency and the neutrality of the event.
Irish broadcaster RTE said in a statement that Ireland's participation "remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and humanitarian crisis".
William Lee Adams, who runs a Eurovision blog, told the BBC this has major financial consequences for the competition.
"Spain contributed 330,000 euros to the 2024 edition. That's the last time the number was released. That's a huge amount of money. Add on top of that, the participation fee from the Netherlands, which is smaller than that, but still significant, and then Ireland... Slovenia, which is poised to confirm its withdrawal. These numbers start to add up."
**
Opponents of a controversial $1.13 billion stadium proposed for Hobart say they won't stop resisting the development despite being endorsed by state parliament
The stadium is a prerequisite for Tasmania gaining an AFL team, but concerns about the development have divided the state and destabilised the Liberal minority government.
Nine Liberal, Labor and Independent MPs voted in favour of the project, while five Greens and Independents voted against.
This week three key independents threw their support behind the idea, saying the government had agreed to a set of safeguards, including an $875 cap on public investment.
Speaking before the vote, Federal Greens MP Nick McKim said his party will continue to fight the stadium.
"Well, the stadium order is likely going past the Parliament today, but it's just the beginning of a large number of hills that the government and Macquarie Point are going to have to climb. There are no guarantees that this stadium is ever going to be built, and we will be bringing to the public's attention every issue to do with the increasing cost the government doesn't even have a fully designed stadium, they say 70 per cent. I doubt that. "
**
Under-fire opening batter Zak Crawley has helped England recover from an early Mitchell Starc double strike in an eventful first session of the second Ashes Test.
England was 9-for-325 at stumps on day-1.
England's Joe Root scored his first century in Australia - ending the day with 135 runs.
Root had never scored a Test century in Australia before, and critics had made a great deal of the former England captain's underwhelming record in Australia.
This is his 40th Test match hundred.
