TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
- Australia deploys aid to Vanuatu after it was struck by an earthquake;
- Alan Jones set to make his first court appearance today;
- And in football, a Chelsea player reportedly fails drug test.
Australia is among the countries deploying aid to Vanuatu after it was struck by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake.
The tremor rattled nearby Port Vila for 30 seconds, causing destruction in the capital.
At least six people are dead and authorities fear the death toll will rise, as the extent of the damage is assessed.
A building housing the diplomatic posts for the United States, United Kingdom, France and New Zealand was among the worst hit, with the bottom floor of the US embassy crushed by the floors above .
The US and other nations have reported all of their staff as safe.
The United Nations has reported damage to reservoirs and a hospital.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia is sending search and rescue teams to Vanuatu.
"I have had contact with my counterpart, who requested assistance. I have indicated publicly that we are providing search and rescue and medical teams. I say to the people of Vanuatu: Australia stands with you. In terms of Australians in Vanuatu, I again say: contact our emergency consular team if you require assistance."
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Retired broadcaster Alan Jones is to make his first court appearance today ((Wed 18)) since being arrested and charged with historical sexual assault offences.
The 83-year-old is expected to appear at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court as he faces a series of charges relating to nine alleged victims.
Alan Jones is facing 26 charges including 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault where the alleged victim was under his authority.
He also faces allegations of assault with act of indecency, sexually touching a person without consent and common assault.
The alleged offences took place between 2001 and 2019, with the youngest of the alleged victims 17 years old at the time.
Lawyer Chris Murphy says his client will defend the charges.
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Hundreds of thousands of Australian Facebook users could be among those eligible for some portion of a $50 million settlement.
After an investigation into privacy breaches by Australia's privacy regulator, Meta will make available $50 million in penalty payments to affected Australian users - estimated to be around 300,000.
The investigation looked into the Cambridge Analytica scandal of 10 years ago where the private details of millions of Facebook users around the world were used, mainly for political advertising.
As part of the agreement, the regulator has dropped proceedings against Meta in the Federal Court.
Australia’s privacy commissioner Carly Kind told SBS, the settlement is groundbreaking.
"And so, I mean, from a privacy perspective, our concerns are that, first of all, people lost control of their personal information, particularly those who were just friends of somebody who downloaded the app. They had no knowledge, let alone control that their personal data was being disclosed in that way. And secondly, that that data was being used in potentially nefarious, but certainly unclear ways that weren't really within the reasonable expectations of Facebook users at the time. That is for political targeting and campaigning purposes."
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Ukraine has taken responsibility for killing a senior Russian general in charge of nuclear protection forces.
Russian authorities say a remotely-operated bomb hidden in an electric scooter killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his assistant outside an apartment building in Moscow, just a few kilometres southeast of the Kremlin.
A Ukrainian source has told AFP and Reuters newsagencies the attack was a special operation by Ukraine's SBU security service.
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In football,
Premier League club Chelsea have been notified that one of its players has failed a drug test.
The English Football Administration have told the London side there was an adverse finding in a routine urine test of Ukrainian midfielder Mykhailo Mudryk.
The player has denied taking any forbidden substances to his knowledge, with Chelsea saying it will seek to determine what caused the test failure.
The 23-year-old from Krasnohrad is largely considered a substitute in this year's squad, having played seven games so far in the season.
