TRANSCRIPT:
- Tropical Cyclone Fina intensifies to a category 3 storm;
- Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene announces her resignation after a fallout with Donald Trump;
- England seizes control on day two of the Ashes.
Tropical Cyclone Fina is almost upon the city of Darwin in Australia's Top End after strengthening into a category three storm.
Destructive wind gusts have already been hammering remote communities, with the Bureau of Meteorology estimating gusts to 185 kilometres per hour along the southeastern coast of the Tiwi Islands.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro says there have already been power outages in some homes, while many stores have also been closed as business owners and residents hunker down.
But Ms Finocchiaro says there is no need for people to be worried.
"The shelves have pretty well been stripped bare of carton milk, canned goods, and toilet paper, those types of bare essentials... Yeah, but people are really encouraged - this is not a time to panic. This is a time to be prepared. In a couple of hours there will be a lot of communications coming out of our emergency operations centres. And people will be told when shelters here in Darwin will be opening, and what emergency stages we're moving to."
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Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has announced her resignation from the US House of Representatives.
The former longtime ally of Donald Trump - who recently had a dramatic falling out with the US president - has posted an almost ten minute long video to X to outline her plans to step down.
"I'll be resigning from office with my last day being January 5th, 2026, and I look forward to seeing many of you again some time in the future. May God bless you all and may God bless America."
The dispute between Trump and the Georgia politician has fuelled concerns among some Republicans that Trump's MAGA base could fracture a year before midterm elections, when Democrats hope to regain control of Congress.
This resignation will also narrow the Republican majority in the House to 218 members over the Democrats' 213.
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A school group has been mauled by a grizzly bear during a walk in British Columbia, Canada, leaving three children and a teacher seriously injured.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police says the attack happened in Bella Coola, 700km northwest of Vancouver.
Authorities believe the Acwsalcta School group had stopped near a river when the bear emerged from the forest and attacked, before teachers used bear spray and a noise device to drive it off.
British Columbia Conservation Officer Service spokesman, Sergeant Jeff Tyre, says they are still searching for the bear and are urging locals to avoid the area.
"We've got several traps out, right now. We are preparing to set out a whole bunch of cameras. And the biggest message is just if we can get people to stay out of the area, then we can, we don't want to get the bears necessary to leave, but we just want to establish what's going on in the area and know a lot more, naturally if nobody is in the area disturbing them."
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Australians with a student debt have begun receiving text messages confirming a 20 per cent reduction to their HECS or other study loan balances.
The cut applies to anyone who had an outstanding loan on the first of June this year, with the reduction calculated on the pre-indexation amount and processed automatically by the Australian Taxation Office.
Education Minister Jason Clare says most reductions will be completed by the end of the year.
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Artificial intelligence is being rolled out across some of the most hazardous stretches of Australia's coastline to help curb drownings.
The authority behind the project, Surf Life Saving New South Wales, says the technology is primarily designed to help prevent rock fishing tragedies by detecting incidents and alerting rescuers in real time.
The recreational sport has accounted for 201 deaths across Australia in the past 20 years.
Ten per cent - or 22 of those deaths - occurred in the single local government area of Randwick, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, while five rock fishers lost their lives on one beach in the tiny stretch of coastline at Little Bay.
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Pope Leo has urged young people not to rely on artificial intelligence to do their homework.
The pontiff has made the remarks to around 15-thousand American teens at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis via a live video link from the Vatican, telling them that AI is becoming one of the defining features of our time and requires responsible use.
He has told the group it should be used as a tool to aid learning, not replace effort.
"So be prudent, be wise, be careful that your use of AI does not limit your true human growth. Use it in such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think, how to create, how to act on your own."
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To sport now and in cricket...
England have seized control of the opening Ashes Test, taking a 40-run lead after dismissing Australia for just 132 early on day two in Perth.
Australia resumed on 9 for 123 but added only nine runs before Nathan Lyon fell in the slips, ending a disastrous batting performance against one of the quickest pace attacks to have travelled Down Under.
England are pushing for their first Test match win in Australia since January 2011, having been smashed 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0 during their past three tours.
