TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
- Russia says it will never bow to pressure from the US following sanctions;
- Two Optus chief executives to leave the telco next year;
- And in cycling, Australia wins two medals in the World Track cycling championships in Chile.
United States President Donald Trump has imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, a day after cancelling a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Russia's major oil companies have had sanctions imposed, and the US Treasury department says it's prepared to take further action.
European leaders have agreed on a new raft of sanctions against Russia targeting its shadow fleet of oil tankers and banning its imports of liquefied natural gas.
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas says the EU is pleased to receive signals from the US about support for Ukraine.
"Russia is responsible for the damages caused in Ukraine and has to pay for those damages and the frozen assets we have and the reparations loan on the basis of that for Ukraine to defend itself. It sends three very important signals. One is to Ukraine, that we are supporting them to defend themselves. The other one is to Russia, that they can't outlast us. And the third one to America, to show that we are taking very important steps ourselves."
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United States Vice President JD Vance has criticised a symbolic vote in Israel's parliament about annexing the occupied West Bank, saying it goes against Trump administration policies.
The Knesset narrowly passed a preliminary vote in support of annexing parts of the West Bank, pushed by its hard-liners — some of whom were upset over the ceasefire and the security sacrifices it required of Israel.
A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says the vote is a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord.
As he was leaving Israel, Vice President Vance described it as insulting.
"I mean, look, if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt. And I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy. And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that. But we certainly weren't happy about it."
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The head of a humanitarian organisation in Sudan has condemned the killing of one of her aid workers and called on the warring parties to respect international law.
The civil war in Sudan has been raging for two and a half years now and has generated the largest humanitarian crisis on the planet.
Reena Ghelani, CEO of humanitarian group Plan International, says it's incredibly risky working to deliver aid to active war zones.
"We had a colleague of ours killed in North Darfur. We've had offices that have been looted and hit by military action, El Fasher was one. Luckily we got our colleagues out just before. So, it's highly risky and — in fact —150 aid workers plus have lost their lives in the Sudan war. We actually need all the warring soldiers and armies protect aid workers and let them pass through safely."
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Two chief officers at Optus have resigned following the two Triple-Zero outages in recent months, one linked to four deaths.
The company's Chief Financial Officer and board director Michael Venter and Chief Information Officer Mark Potter are to leave Optus in March.
Optus chief executive Stephen Rue says the announced departures follow long-term and open discussions.
In September, a firewall update caused an outage which prevented over 600 calls from connecting to emergency services in South Australia, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and some parts of New South Wales.
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Environment Minister Murray Watt has defended the government's proposed environment laws after concerns raised by the Coalition and the Greens.
The government's long-awaited rewrite of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act has been criticised by the Greens as going too soft on polluters, and by the Opposition as too hard on industry groups .
Minister Murray Watt has rejected calls from environment groups and the Greens for a so-called "climate trigger," which could block projects that generate significant environmental harm.
He's told Sky News the laws will include much heavier penalties on polluters.
"One of those options is to strip a company of 10 per cent of its profits if it's a particularly egregious breach of environmental law or its conditions. Of course, not every breach would end up being that kind of money but that's a very high amount of money, potentially up to $825 million, that's the maximum there. But of course, more minor breaches would result in smaller fines. But this is a way of making sure that we are protecting the environment and sending that clear message."
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And to sport now,
Australia has won two medals at the world track cycling championships in Chile.
After winning the round-one match race against the United Kingdom on day one, the men's team will next face Denmark to fight for the gold medal.
Matt Richardson won silver in the team sprint, while Leigh Hoffman combined with Daniel Barber and Daniel Elliott to beat France in the ride-off for third.
