More than 70 people are dead after a building fire in Johannesburg; The Immigration Minister removes a Covid-era visa for international students; And in rugby league, The Melbourne Storm records a 32 to 22 victory over the Brisbane Broncos.
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TRANSCRIPT
- More than 70 people are dead after a building fire in Johannesburg;
- The Immigration Minister removes a Covid-era visa for international students;
- And in rugby league, The Melbourne Storm records a 32 to 22 victory over the Brisbane Broncos.
More than 70 people are dead, including 12 children, after a building fire in Johannesburg.
It's taken place in a five-storey building occupied by homeless people.
More than 50 others are injured.
Emergency services say some of the people living in the building threw themselves out of windows to escape the blaze.
Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda has formed a committee to investigate how to repurpose historic structures in the neighbourhood.
"I have set up a submayoral committee that is focused on the inner city in particular, the reestablishment and repurposing of these buildings that are here in a very, like I said, humanitarian approach on how we treat the citizens in the city of Johannesburg, because we have to take into account, it’s not only those that find themselves in dilapidated buildings but those that are on the streets as well."
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Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has announced the elimination of a special visa for international students trapped in Australia during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Pandemic Event Visa - Subclass 408 was introduced at the peak of the pandemic in 2020 to fill labour shortages and support international students who were unable to leave Australia.
The visa will be closed to new applicants from the 2nd of September and will be closed to all applicants from February 2024.
The government has also discontinued other pandemic-era policies, such as unlimited work hours for international students and work exemptions for Working Holiday Visa holders.
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New data reveals Australia's housing market is firmly in recovery mode after interest rate rises.
Property data provider CoreLogic's national Home Value Index increased by 0.8 per cent in August, a 4.9 per cent increase since February.
August's growth rate is slightly higher than the 0.7 per cent increase in July but remains below the 1.1 per cent rise in June and 1.2 per cent jump in May.
Brisbane saw the highest increase in home values, followed by Sydney and Adelaide.
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An Israeli soldier has been killed and several others wounded in a suspected truck ramming attack by a Palestinian in the West Bank.
Overnight, Palestinian militants set off an improvised explosive device near a convoy of Israeli troops in Nablus, in the northern West Bank.
In Jerusalem, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by an Israeli police officer after allegedly stabbing a man.
According to an Israeli military official, the suspected ramming attack was carried out by a Palestinian man, who was 41 and had a permit to work in Israel.
He drove into a group of off-duty soldiers who were standing by the side of the road, dressed in uniform, and was later shot dead by Israeli security guards at another checkpoint six kilometres away.
One soldier was killed, while three soldiers, two people in a passing car and a Palestinian worker were injured.
In the past year and a half, there has been a rise in Palestinian shooting and vehicle ramming attacks against Israeli citizens and soldiers.
There has also been an increased number of Israeli military raids and mass arrests in the West Bank and an upturn in violence against Palestinians by settlers.
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Rescue and repair efforts are continuing following Hurricane Idalia that killed at least three people and destroyed homes in Florida.
The cyclone which has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it headed north through Georgia and then into South Carolina.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says individual assistance, including shelter and temporary housing will be provided for impacted individuals.
"We are working hard to restore power across the state of Florida. As of 6 a.m. today there are approximately 146,000 power outages reported across the state, but power is being restored quickly. Thus far, 420,000 accounts that lost power during the storm have been restored and the bulk of the outages at this point are in that Big Ben region. A lot of the rural counties that bore the brunt of the storm."
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In rugby league,
The Melbourne Storm extended their winning streak to 14 games after defeating the Brisbane Broncos 32-22 at Suncorp Stadium.
The win opens the door for Penrith to claim the NRL minor premiership.
