TRANSCRIPT
- Peter Malinauskas launches an examination of Optus' conduct after the deaths of two South Australians were linked to the telco's outage.
- Estonia seeks NATO help after Russian warplanes enter its airspace.
- And in sport, Canada ends New Zealand's eight-year reign as women's rugby world champions.
South Australia's premier Peter Malinauskas says there will be a thorough investigation into the Optus outage linked to the deaths of three people, including an eight week-old baby and a 68-year-old woman.
Optus has apologised for a technical failure during network upgrades on Thursday that led to around 600 customers in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory being unable to access 000 emergency calls.
Describing Optus' failure to notify the states affected as incompetent, Mr Malinauskas says their conduct will be examined.
"There will be a thorough examination conducted independently by the South Australian government on every single matter pertaining to their (Optus') conduct regarding this incident."
Optus could face multi-million dollar fines and legal penalties after the failure.
—
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is travelling to New York today (Sat) to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
It's his first visit to a General Assembly, and is being held amid globally divisive conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
Mr Albanese announced earlier in the year Australia would confirm Palestinian statehood at this General Assembly, along with other countries including the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Belgium.
—
Three Russian military warplanes that violated Estonian airspace have been intercepted by NATO (Saturday AEST).
Estonia's government says three MiG-31 fighter jets entered the country's airspace without permission and stayed there for a total of 12 minutes.
Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna says Russia has done this four times this year, and describes the recent incident as "unprecedentedly brazen".
The European Union High Representative Kaja Kallas says it is clear Russia is testing how far they can go.
"We had very intensive discussions about the international situation and also regarding Russia's actions really. And of course our plea is also to the countries that have more close relationship with Russia is to really call them on stopping this. Of course on our side we see that we must show no weakness because weakness is something that invites Russia to do more."
Ms Kallas says Russia is becoming increasingly more dangerous not only to Ukraine but also to all its neighbours.
Others including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen have also criticised the move online.
—
United States President Donald Trump says he has agreed to approve a deal over TikTok with China's President Xi Jinping.
Mr Trump says President Xi have spoken on the phone and the deal could be signed later to help keep the video app TikTok online in the United States.
"I had a great call with president Xi and as you know we approved the TikTok deal. We're in the process with some big - some of the biggest investors in the world, American investors, great people - and we look forward to getting that deal closed."
It's the first call in three months between the leaders.
President Trump also says he is looking forward to meeting Mr Xi in South Korea at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum end of next month (Oct 31-Nov 1).
—
Australia is facing a critical shortage of registered stem cell donors.
At any one time, around 1,000 Australians are urgently waiting for a suitable donor match as part of their life-saving treatment.
On World Marrow Donor Day (Sept 20) the Leukemia Foundation and Stem Cell Donors Australia are urging potential young donors between the age of 18 and 35 to come forward.
The Head of Research at the Leukemia Foundation, Bill Stavreski, has told SBS Macedonian those waiting usually have a critical and urgent disease, like leukemia or lymphoma.
"It's got to the point where the majority of unrelated donors for Australians who are having a stem cell transplant or waiting for a stem cell transplant are reliant on overseas donors. That is quite critical for many who are on the waitlist or about to have a stem cell transplant."
He says the current number of people registered of approximately 65,000 is just not enough, and more Australians should register to donate.
—
Canada has ended New Zealand's eight-year reign as women's rugby world champions.
Canada stormed into the Women's Rugby World Cup final with a conclusive 34-19 victory over the Black Ferns in Bristol, after weathering a second-half storm from the shell-shocked title-holders.
Hosts England or France will meet Canada in the final - the Six Nations rivals clash in Bristol on Saturday (Sunday AEST) and both sides will have watched the precision of the Canadians as they downed the Kiwis.
Six-time champions New Zealand had not lost a World Cup match since 2014, a run comprising 18 consecutive wins.
***
