TRANSCRIPT
- The Kremlin blamed for visa delays holding up the arrival of journalist Masha Gessen in Australia
- The Democratic National Convention gets underway in Chicago
- In golf, Min Woo Lee to compete in the Australian Open
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Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen has been granted an visa to speak at a festival in Australia, after facing delays in the application process, including a demand for additional documentation that the writer claims was not possible to source.
An outspoken critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the US-based journalist was sentenced in absentia to eight years in jail in July - on charges of spreading false information about the military.
Gessen says criminal charges are bogus and designed to intimidate.
A visa has now been granted, allowing for the speaking engagement at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas to go ahead this coming weekend.
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The New South Wales Electoral Commission says 14 local council elections in the state have been called off due to a lack of candidates.
The local government areas that will not hold elections on September 14 include: the Cobar, Cowra, Junee, Warrumbungle and Berrigan shire councils.
In a statement, the electoral commission says a by-election will be held at a later date to fill the vacancies in the local government areas that received "fewer candidate nominations than the number of councillors required".
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The Democratic National Convention has kicked off in Chicago, with roughly 50,000 people gathering for the event.
That includes thousands of people protesting near the venue, voicing their opposition to the war in Gaza.
The convention holds particularly high stakes for the party, one month after an unprecedented mid-campaign switch from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris.
The chair of the Democratic National Committee, Minyon Moore, says it is a historic moment.
"Throughout his term, he (Joe Biden) has brought us together and revived our country and our country's soul. And last month, in a true act of patriotism, he passed the torch to the next generation and the next president of the United States, Kamala Harris."
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Experts are meeting in Bangkok this weekend to make progress on what would be the first international treaty to tackle the surging problem of plastic pollution ahead of a final round of negotiations in South Korea in November.
Yet many parties who have been closely tracking the negotiations — environmentalists, tribal leaders, frontline community members— say they've been shut out of the talks in Bangkok.
Many plastic industry representatives say they can’t get in the room either.
The international coordinator for the International Pollutants Elimination Network, Bjorn Beeler, says after three years of negotiations, the stakes are very high for this global agreement.
"Plastics are really made out of fossil fuels, oil and gas. So oil and gas exporting countries have a very large stake, especially as the world transitions away from fossil fuels from energy towards materials. And so you've got many countries, mainly in the Gulf states, for example, that are exporting fossil fuels, who have a very large stake. And this is really slowed down the process."
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A report has found one in four Australians have severely limited access to childcare, while another 700,000 have virtually no access at all.
Victoria University's Mitchell Institute mapped childcare access across nine nations for more than 10 million children, tracking approaches that provided fairer access for families.
About 24 per cent of Australians live in what's called a childcare desert, where there is more than three children per childcare spot.
The research found in countries likes Australia, France, England, and Wales, more affluent areas had better access to childcare.
Lead author and institute director Peter Hurley says the report shows for the first time the impact of different government policies and how nations compare.
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And in golf, Min Woo Lee is returning home hoping to complete unfinished business after committing to the Australian Open golf championship in Melbourne.
He secured a historic Australian double last year, and has now confirmed he will tee it up at his national championship for a fifth time.
Lee finished third last year a week after winning the Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane to fall short of completing the rare and prestigious double of both Australian "majors".
Lee is now a fixture on the PGA Tour and has risen to world number 40.
The tournaments will be held from November 28.
