- Thailand has a new Prime Minister...
- Speculation continues about the PM's chances of a face to face meeting with Donald Trump...
- The Socceroos defeat New Zealand in their first friendly
Anutin Charnvirakul is Thailand's new prime minister.
Anutin easily passed more than half of the lower house votes required to become leader trouncing the candidate of the Paetongtarn Shinawatra family's once-dominant ruling party to end a week of chaos and political deadlock.
Known as a shrewd dealmaker, Anutin has been a mainstay in Thai politics throughout years of turmoil, positioning his party between warring elites embroiled in an intractable power struggle and guaranteeing its place in a succession of coalition governments.
The business tycoon is the country's third prime minister in two years, after Shinawatra was removed from the role by the constitutional court last week for ethical violations over her handling of the border dispute with Cambodia.
Two powerful aftershocks have shaken eastern Afghanistan, triggering fears of more deaths and destruction.
The death toll from two previous earthquakes has already risen to at least 2,200, prompting the United Nations and aid agencies to warn of a desperate need for food, money, medical supplies and shelter for survivors.
The UN has released $10 million dollars in humanitarian assistance, while the Australian government has pledged $1 million worth of aid.
But UN Women's Special Representative in Afghanistan Susan Ferguson has told S-B-S delivering aid to the quake zone is very challenging.
"The infrastructure is very damaged because it is a very remote, dangerous area, and it's very hard to get aid in. Plus aid workers have to walk for several hours to get into some of the hardest hit areas, so trying to get aid in is also very, very difficult."
There is speculation that a fourth phone call between Australia's prime minister and the US president could bring Anthony Albanese a step closer to meeting Donald Trump in person.
Almost a year into Mr Trump's second term in office, Mr Albanese has struggled to organise face-to-face talks with the Republican leader.
A planned meeting in Canada in June was cancelled at the last minute because of escalating Middle East tensions.
United States Studies Centre director of research Jared Mondschein says it appears the two will sit down on the sidelines of the United Nations "leaders' week," which starts on September 22.
A new system has come into effect to measure songs on Australia's official music charts that it's hoped will help promote local artists.
Previously, the top four Australian singles, based on streams, downloads and sales, were all more than four years old.
But the new calculation method means the Singles and Main charts will only feature songs that are less than two years old.
Aria CEO Annabel Herd says the change will help promote diversity, especially in modern genres like RnB and hip-hop.
"You have so many great, young Australian artists from diverse communities in our big cities, around the country. So many First Nations artists that do so well in that genre, and other genres as well. What we are hoping with these changes, is that the charts will be freed up so that some new Australian music can jump into these spots."
To sport and in football news,
The Socceroos have won their first friendly against New Zealand, one goal to nothing.
The victory at GIO Stadium in Canberra has extended Tony Popovic's unbeaten start to life as the new national team coach to nine matches.
But the squad was made up largely of untested Socceroos, with Nestory Irankunda, Mohamed Toure and Max Balard being rolled out only in the last quarter of an hour.
Popovic says the side has a long way to go to reach the level he demands ahead of the World Cup.
"We can't decide now, okay - let's just play these games and we'll turn the switch on when it gets to the World Cup. So we have to maintain the level and we want to get better. I don't believe that we should stop doing that just because we have some young players."
