TRANSCRIPT:
- Australia's housing prices increase amid record levels of unaffordability
- Benjamin Netanyahu seeks a pardon in a bid to end a five-year corruption trial
- Max Verstappen wins the Qatar Grand Prix
Surging home prices have wiped out the benefits of the last three interest rate cuts to new buyers.
New data from property analytics firm Cotality reveals home values grew by one per cent in November, with the median dwelling now worth nearly $890,000.
That follows a blistering result in October, when prices rose at a rate of 1.1 per cent rise.
The Reserve Bank is not expected to make any changes when it holds its final meeting of the year next week.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the country’s president for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial, arguing the case is undermining national unity and hindering his ability to govern.
The country's longest-serving prime minister denies the bribery, fraud, and breach of trust charges against him.
His lawyers said in a letter to the president's office that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings would result in a complete acquittal.
In a video statement, Mr Netanyahu says the ongoing five-year trial is tearing the country apart.
"The state of Israel faces great challenges alongside great opportunities. In order to push away the threats and realise the opportunities, a national unity is required. The continuation of the trial is tearing us apart from the inside, is stirring heated controversies, intensifies rifts. I am sure, like many others among the people, that the immediate end of the trial will help a lot in lowering the flames and in promoting a wide reconciliation that our country needs so much."
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There are mixed reactions in Jerusalem over Mr Netanyahu's push for a pardon in his corruption trial.
At the city’s main market, some residents said the request was overdue and could finally draw a line under years of legal battles, while others saw it as a chance for the country to move on and regain a measure of unity.
Critics, however, argue the opposite.
Yohanan Plesner of the Israel Democracy Institute warned that seeking clemency, while claiming innocence, risks lowering public standards for elected officials.
"In this case, Netanyahu’s request, he basically says 'I’m completely innocent, I’m sure that I can prove this innocence, but not for my own interest, for the country’s interest I’m requesting this pardon.' So there is no assumption of responsibility whatsoever."
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One man has been arrested in Melbourne after anti-immigration protesters and counter protesters marched through the city's CBD.
Watched by heavily armed police, several hundred walked through the CBD for an anti-immigration rally on Sunday as a few hundred anti-racism counter protesters gathered just streets away.
The anti-immigration event was organised by anti-vaccine protester Monica Smit, who was also behind a Sydney march on Saturday that attracted about 100 people.
Police are investigating the display of a Nazi symbol, as well as man who threw a can of drink at police and other incidents involving offensive behaviour.
Addressing the crowd, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson repeated false claims that cast immigration levels as the key cause of domestic issues like housing and healthcare.
"For too long, since I've been elected to parliament, 1996, I have seen the plan to divide us as a nation with multiculturalism globalisation. To take away who we are with dignity."
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The death toll of floods in southeast Asia has risen, with flood-affected residents now struggling with the clean up.
More than 160 people died in Thailand, and at least 300 people lost their lives in Indonesia, after week-long torrential rain sparked floods and landslides in the region last week.
Some residents have complained they weren't warned of swelling water levels, leaving them trapped by the floods.
Experts also accuse Thai authorities of disastrous mismanagement over the floods.
Pranee Ratthanunee is one of the flood victims in Songkhla province in Thailand.
"I'm beyond stressed. Now, I want the government to provide as much assistance as possible. Because everyone is completely destitute. There's nothing left. Each person has only what they are wearing. This outfit is all I have left."
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In sport, Oscar Piastri has slipped to third in the Formula One drivers' championship, after Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix.
McLaren made a strategic error not to make pit stops under an early safety car, which cost Piastri the result he was seeking.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown says it was a costly mistake.
"We made the wrong decision. (I) feel terrible for Oscar and Lando. Oscar was absolutely impeccable all weekend. But we let them down. You know you win or lose as a team. But definitely not a great moment. Our evaluation of the safety car came out on that lap was clearly incorrect. So we will go back and study that."
Verstappen is now just 12 points behind Lando Norris in the championship standings.
