TRANSCRIPT
Three people are dead after a light plane crashed shortly after take-off at a regional airport.
Emergency services are at the scene after the aircraft plummeted to the ground soon after departing Shellharbour Airport, south of Sydney, on Saturday morning.
Police say they were notified of the disaster at about 10am.
The plane caught fire upon impact, with a Rural Fire Services spokesman saying one of their teams were quick to extinguish the flames but it was too late.
"Upon arrival the plane had crashed quite heavily on the airport, it was engulfed in fire. There was an R-F-S crew on scene doing training at the airport. They were on scene within minutes. Unfortunately due to the nature of the crash, there was nothing anyone could have done for the occupants of the light aircraft. It did disintegrate upon impact with the ground. One wing came off completely. There's not a great deal of it left."
A crime scene has been established and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has been notified.
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The New South Wales government has introduced new laws that hope to reduce aggressive behaviour and sexual assault around night-time venues.
New updates to the Liquor and Gaming guideline will allow managers to keep drunk patrons inside their venues until they sober up or can safely return home in a car.
The changes hope to address risks of sexual assault and aggressive behaviour on the streets outside venues.
Under previous laws, venues were forced to kick out any inebriated patrons even if they had concerns for their safety or the safety of others.
New South Wales Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy, John Graham, says it's a simple but important change to state laws.
"I see this as very common sense change. It's giving venues the choice about the safest way to deal with their patrons, rather than forcing them to push someone out of the venue, often at very short notice, even if they have concerns about the fact that it might put someone in a position which is unsafe. We've had issues out on the street at times, so there will be times when the venue will be the safest place and that's when we wanna give that option to operators."
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A major rival to Victorian state Opposition Leader Brad Battin has been promoted in a frontbench reshuffle.
Jess Wilson has been elevated to Treasury spokesperson.
She lost to Mr Battin the ballot to choose a new leader last year.
She's replaced James Newbury as Treasury spokesperson, despite Mr Newbury backing Mr Battin in that leadership contest.
First-term M-Ps Nicole Werner, Nick McGowan, and Richard Welch have all been elevated to the frontbench.
The coalition is in its third straight term of opposition in Victoria.
They have struggled to make headway in this term, despite the retirement of former premier Daniel Andrews, and controversies over crime and debt in the state.
The next Victorian state election will be held in November next year.
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The United Nations Security Council has expressed concern about escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela, with Russia accusing the U-S of using a shoot-first principle in attacking alleged drug boats.
The U-S has killed at least 21 people amid several strikes on vessels off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks which they claim were all carrying drugs at the time.
The lack of evidence provided by the Trump administration on these attacks has alarmed Democratic politicians and raised questions as to their legality.
At a meeting of the 15-member U-N council, countries including U-S allies France, Greece and Denmark have called for de-escalation and dialogue to resolve tensions, and adherence to international law.
Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia says Venezuela has every reason to believe the U-S is ready to move from threats to action against it.
“In other words, boats that people were on were simply fired upon in the high seas without a trial or investigation, according to the cowboy principle of shoot first. And now we're being asked to retroactively believe that they were criminals on board. And so Venezuela does have every reason to believe that the northern neighbour is ready to move from threats to action with the bringing to bear of its naval fleet.”
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A group have gathered in the southern U-S state of Tennessee to hold a prayer vigil after a devastating explosion at a military explosives plant left 19 people missing and feared dead.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis says the explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems about 80 kilometres west of the city of Nashville occurred at 7:45 am local time.
Mr Davis says there are multiple fatalities but it is still too early to know precisely how many people have died, saying it is still possible there are some survivors.
Felicity Howell, a nurse at the local middle school, says it's been a difficult day for the community.
"We've been doing a lot of prayer today. I think that's the only way that we can process it. I mean, there's, you know, the unthinkable happened. So, the only that we process it is through prayer. And I mean we've been a lot praying today. We've set up our churches about three miles from Accurate Energetics. So, we've set it up down there today. They've been bringing food in for the first responders and families. So we kind of just been station there for them to come pick up and use facilities and things like that. So just, stepping in and helping where we can."
Investigators from the F-B-I and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are at the scene working to determine the cause of the explosion.
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In football, the Socceroos have beaten Canada, one goal to nil, in Montreal.
Teenage star Nestory Irankunda scored the game's only goal, in the 71st minute.
It's his second goal in two games, after he starred in Australia's win over New Zealand last month.
The Socceroos are still undefeated since Tony Popovic took as over coach last year- now a run of 11 games.
Socceroos midfielder Mo Toure has told Paramount Plus he's not surprised, because of the approach Popovic brings.
"You know, the boss always demands hard work and dedication. And he's always on our side to back us, but he wants us to work very hard on and off the pitch, and you can see in the results what he is doing is working."
The Socceroos will continue their build-up to the 2026 World Cup with a game against the United States in Denver on Wednesday.
