A daily 5 minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability.
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Biwa Kwan.
The Australian government is being urged by Australian aid groups to use its influence to seek an urgent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
More than 30 Australian aid groups have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with the call.
Since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, some 1,400 Israelis and about 3,500 Palestinians have been killed - and the numbers continue to rise.
The executive director of ActionAid Australia Michelle Higelin says action needs to be taken now to stop more loss of life.
"ActionAid has staff on the ground in Gaza as well as local partners. Overnight, we heard that people are lining up the streets of south Gaza. They have no access to food, water or safe shelter. Those who do have shelter have no access to mattresses, to blankets - basic humanitarian supplies which are vital in this crisis. This is a humanitarian catastrophe that is preventable and avoidable."
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US President Joe Biden says Egypt is to be commended for agreeing to open up a crossing to allow aid into Gaza.
The United Nations says over one million people have been displaced over 10 days.
Mr Biden says the roads near the crossing need to be repaired before the aid arrives, which could be as soon as Friday.
"Which is going to take a little time to set up probably. But the point being that if Hamas confiscated or doesn't want to get through just confiscated it, then it's going to end (arrangement will end). But the bottom line is that El-Sisi (Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi) deserves some real credit because he was very accommodating."
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The chair of the Ethnic Communities' Council of New South Wales, Peter Asal, says the organisation is concerned by the increase numnber of reports by international students who have been targeted by property scams.
He says international students may not know their rights are therefore may be more vulnerable to dishonest and unscrupulous rental providers.
"Students from their language group - or from their communities - are being scammed into fake rental accommodation. Often that they're being put into unsafe rental accomodation arrangements, or crammed together into a space that's not suited for the number of people that are there. And often it's in our larger cities, so Sydney or Melbourne, and the students - the individuals involved - often don't know who to turn to."
People are being urged to be on the lookout for scams, including being suspicious of requests to transfer money online without seeing the property; and taking steps to verify that a purported real estate agent is who they say they are.
Those impacts should immediately notify their bank and file a report with Scamwatch - run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
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New research has revealed that a native Australian animal that is responsible for at least 42 per cent of the coral loss on Australia's Great Barrier Reef can survive marine heatwaves that kill corals.
The finding in a study from the University of Sydney signals a potential speeding up of the damage to coral reefs amid climate change.
Matthew Clements from the University of Sydney says the study found younger crown-of-thorns starfish can tolerate almost three times the intensity of the heat that causes coral bleaching.
"Generally for marine invertebrates, the juvenile stage is usually less tolerant of changes in temperature, it's called a thermal window. They have a lower thermal window compared to the adults."
The federal and state governments have invested more than 4.4 billion dollars over sixteen years until 2030 to help protect the reef, including programmes to kill the starfish.
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In football, Socceroos coach Graham Arnold says he sees huge potential in Italian Under-19 international Alessandro Circati, after his performance in his Socceroos debut.
As centre-back, the 19-year-old played a role at both ends of the pitch, and also contributed to Australia’s first goal in the 2-nil win over New Zealand [[18 Oct]].
Arnold says he is impressed by what he has seen so far from Circati.
"I went to watch him live Parma against Sampdoria. And the kid - you could see it from the grandstands. He is just so calm and mature. But as I said, giving some of these younger ones a try and a chance because that's the only way they can go up. And we've already lost three players due to retirement - Daniel Vukovic, Aaron Mooy and Tom Rogic. I do expect more to come. I have to plan in advance that we've got that covered."
I'm Biwa Kwan. This is SBS News in Easy English.
