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TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Biwa Kwan.
Opposition leader Sussan Ley has offered to reunite the Coalition this week on the condiiton that the three senators who crossed the floor on hate speech laws remain on the backbench for six months.
Ms Ley described conversations with Nationals leader David Littleproud last night as 'constructive' - a fortnight after the Nationals announced an end to the Coalition arrangement with the Liberal Party.
Ms Ley says she feels confident about progressing talks with the Nationals.
"We had constructive conversations with the national party last night, but I want to make a point that they were they were constructive. We agreed to keep doing that because we are both parties on the non Labor side of politics."
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Teachers and principals in New South Wales who engage in hate speech could be fired under new rules for school staff.
The state government says the policy change applies from today.
The changes affect the code of conduct for staff across government, independent and Catholic schools - giving the regulator the power to direct a school to fire a staff member in the event of a breach.
Premier Chris Minns says it follows cases where prominent teachers or principals have been accused of hate speech, but the government felt it could not take action.
Deputy Premier Prue Car says the change is needed.
"This is a common sense change. The vast majority of schools this will never apply to. But it is important that the government sends a message to parents of New South Wales that schools should always be safe places. And in order for those to be as safe as possible, we will crack down on hate speech in schools and the community."
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The United Nations has welcomed the re-opening of the Rafah crossing into Gaza from Egypt, but appealed for an increase in the number of people allowed to cross the border.
The reopening marked a key step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire process but a mostly symbolic one, as few people will be allowed to travel in either direction and no goods will pass through.
Gaza health officials say there are around 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical care who hope to leave the devastated territory via the crossing.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric wants the restrictions at the border to be lifted further.
"As we have said before, civilians must be allowed to leave and return voluntarily and safely, as international law requires ultimately, essential humanitarian supplies must enter in sufficient quantities and with fewer restrictions through Rafah and all other crossings."
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The United States Justice Department says it's taken down several thousand documents and media relating to its Epstein investigation that may have inadvertently included victim-identifying information.
It blamed the release of sensitive information on 'technical or human error'.
The effect of errors in the documents was highlighted on Monday [[2 Feb US time]] at a sex trafficking trial in New York federal court.
The lawyers for two high-end real estate brokers and their brother had asked Judge Valerie Caproni for a mistrial because of documents that were made public without necessary redactions.
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In tennis,
Two mothers feature inside the Top 10 for the first time in rankings history.
Belinda Bencic and Elina Svitolina are the fifth and sixth players to be ranked inside the Top 10 as mothers, following Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Kim Clijsters nd Serena Williams.
Bencic says she is proud of the achievement.
"That means of course a lot to me. Making the top 10 means a lot to me. I am super proud of this achievement, but I think mainly I have to thank my support team - my family for helping me so much; to make this possible for me to do what I'm doing. To travel around the world and still play tennis. I think without them, I wouldn't be able to do that. And in general, I am just super happy. And also thanks so much for the fans for the support."
Under rules introduced from 2019, new mothers returning to the tour are able to use their previous ranking to enter 12 tournaments over a three-year period from the birth of their child.
And that's SBS News in Easy English. I'm Biwa Kwan.
