A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability.
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Greg Dyett.
One of the most powerful storms on record has battered Florida's Gulf Coast.
Hurricane Ian brought winds of up to 241 kilometres per hour and storm surges.
More than one million homes and businesses are without electricity.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says the worst has passed.
"In some areas, we think it's (storm surge) hit 12 feet. Now it is our meteorologists view that the storm surge has likely peaked and will likely be less in the coming hours than it has been up to this point."
Victoria's biggest coal fired power plant will close ten years earlier than forecast.
Australia's largest electricity generator A-G-L Energy says it will shut down all coal-fired generation by the end of 2035.
The Loy Yang power station - which provides almost a third of Victoria’s power - is among those closing.
The Loy Yang closure is ten years sooner than expected.
Parliament is considering introducing urgent reforms to the country's privacy laws by the end of the year, after almost ten million Australians had their details stolen in the Optus data breach.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says privacy laws are not fit for purpose in the digital age.
He told the Seven network harsher penalties are also being considered.
"Do these companies need to keep this data, and if they need to keep it, they've got to keep it safe. And that's what's happened here, it wasn't kept safe."
The European Union suspects sabotage was behind gas leaks discovered this week on Russian gas pipelines to Europe.
E-U Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis says any deliberate disruption of European energy will be met with a united response.
"All information available so far seems to indicate that this has been a deliberate act, deliberate damage which was created...... It's clear that any deliberate disruption of the EU energy infrastructure is completely unacceptable and it will be met with a robust and united response.”
Police around the nation have gathered to honour colleagues who have been killed while on duty.
Memorial services have been held in state capitals and regional towns for National Police Remembrance Day.
I'm Greg Dyett and that's SBS News in Easy English.
