A daily 5 minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability.
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts.
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.
Kathleen Folbigg has been acquitted of killing her four children by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Ms Folbigg spent 20 years in jail after being found guilty of the deaths of her four children in 1989 and 1999.
The 56-year-old New South Wales woman has always maintained her innocence.
She was pardoned in June of this year when new medical evidence emerged and a landmark Special Commission of Inquiry found reasonable doubt over her guilt.
Ms Folbigg spoke after the decision, saying she hopes no one else will ever have to suffer what she's endured.
"I am grateful that updated science and genetics has given me answers as to how my children died, however even in 1999 we had legal answers to prove my innocence. They were ignored and dismissed. The system preferred to blame me rather than accept that sometimes children can and do die suddenly and unexpectedly and heartbreakingly. I think the system and society needs to think before of hurting their children."
She also said her children are with her today and they will be close to her heart for the rest of her life.
--
Ex-tropical cyclone Jasper has been downgraded to a tropical low, but Queensland authorities say heavy rain is continuing to fall.
Around 40,000 homes and businesses and homes are without power in far north Queensland, including around 25,000 of those in Cairns.
12 people and a dog were rescued in floodwaters as the system crossed the coast overnight.
The Captain Cook highway remains cut between Cairns and Port Douglas.
Authorities are warning people not to walk or drive through floodwaters.
The Bureau of Meteorology's senior meteorologist Laura Boekel says the system will continue to track towards the Gulf of Carpentaria over the coming days.
"We've seen widespread rainfall from this system, so a lot of catchments and a lot of locations have seen over 200 millimetres. So currently there's 20 gauges so far that have seen over 200 millimetres in the last 24 hours... A major flood warning is current for the Daintree River and the Daintree Village is likely to reach the major flood level during this morning. So that major flood level is nine metres. And further rises are possible as we continue to see this rainfall."
--
The United States has asked Australia to send a warship to the Red Sea amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East where Israel is waging war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The request came from the U-S Navy which wants the vessel to join an international task force following rising attacks on ships by Iran-backed militia trying to disrupt supplies.
US Major General Pat Ryder says they take the situation in the Red Sea extremely seriously and that the actions that they're seeing are a fragrant violation of international law.
"This is an international problem that requires an international situation. We do continue to consult closely with our international allies and partners on implementing a maritime task force. I don't have any specific announcements to make today and will have more to provide in the near future but as you highlight, we do continue to patrol the international waterways throughout the region to support freedom of navigation and efforts to ensure safety security and stability."
--
And in football,
The heroics of Matildas' stopper Mackenzie Arnold could see her crowned as the world's top woman goalkeeper in the FIFA Best awards - but Ange Postecoglou has missed out on the top men's coaching honour.
Arnold has been named by the world governing body as one of the three women keepers in line to be crowned best in the business in January, alongside England's Mary Earps and Spain's Catalina Coll.
But hopes of more Australian success at the international governing body's marquee annual awards ceremony, which will be held in London in January, have been dashed with Postecoglou, who was on the original short-list of five in contention for the Best Men's Coach dropped from the final trio.
Instead, when the short list was announced, Manchester City's treble-winning Pep Guardiola, Inter's Champions League finalist Simone Inzaghi and Napoli's Serie A-winning Luciano Spalletti were the trio left in the hunt for the honour.
That was SBS News in Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.






