TRANSCRIPT
- UN-backed global hunger monitor confirms famine in Gaza City.
- The Gurindji Freedom Day Festival is underway in the Northern Territory.
- And in rugby, England thrash the US in front of a record crowd at the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
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United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher says famine could have been prevented in Gaza.
It follows the declaration of a famine in Gaza City by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system with 514,000 people - almost a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza - experiencing the severe hunger and starvation risk.
The IPC report says the number of people experiencing famine is due to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.
Israel has dismissed the findings as false and biased saying that the IPC report ignored Israeli data on aid deliveries and was part of an international campaign aimed at denigrating Israel.
Mr Fletcher, the UN's aid chief, blames Israel's heavy restrictions on food aid entering Gaza for the severity of the hunger crisis.
"It is a famine that we could have prevented had we been allowed. Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel. It is a famine within a few hundred metres of food. It is a famine in 2025, a 21st century famine watched over by drones and the most advanced military technology in history."
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The chances of a Russia-Ukraine summit have faded as US President Donald Trump appears to tire of peace efforts and Russia has poured cold water on efforts to end the grinding war in Ukraine.
On Monday, President Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy had agreed to meet face-to-face, but on Friday he compared the two men to "oil and vinegar."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says no meeting is planned, while President Zelenskyy says Russia is trying to prolong the war and are scared of diplomatic talks.
"Ukraine, unlike Russia, is not afraid of any meetings between leaders. We are ready to work productively to the maximum."
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The Gurindji Freedom Day Festival is underway in the Northern Territory as people travel from across the country to mark the 50th anniversary of the Gurindji land handback, an historic turning point for the Aboriginal land rights movement.
In 1975, after an almost decade long struggle, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam poured sand into the hands of Gurindji man Vincent Lingiari - and granted the Gurindji people a lease to a parcel of land at the Wave Hill cattle station in the Northern Territory.
Dr Robin Smith, senior lecturer in Indigenous Futures at Charles Darwin University, says the now iconic image of the sand exchange was deeply significant.
"It was a symbolic gesture of returning the land, but it was also because Vincent Lingiari, by then was almost blind, so he couldn't see properly. So if he could feel the sand in his hand, he could feel that he was being given that land at Wattie Creek, which is now known by its Gurindji name, which is Lajamanu."
This move by the government paved the way for the Northern Territory Land Rights Act in 1976, which enabled Aboriginal people to claim land rights based on their traditional and cultural connection to Country.
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Governments are being urged to hold for-profit childcare providers to account amid concerns safety changes will not address key drivers of abuse.
Federal, state and territory education ministers have agreed to a $189 million trial of CCTV at 300 small and medium childcare operators.
A national register for childcare workers is expected to roll out in February, but mobile phones will be banned from September, site visits will increase and workers will have mandatory training to detect and report suspected grooming and abuse.
The crisis meeting came after Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown was charged with sexually abusing eight children under the age of two.
Australia's National Children's Commissioner Anne Holland says governments have acknowledged that they should have done more earlier to address safety.
"There's a lot that we've already known we should have been doing, and governments have not acted to implement those recommendations. So that is an indictment of all governments across the federation, and that's why this historic press conference from the education ministers was so profound because they acknowledged that they have failed and that they've committed to not failing that way again on these matters."
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In rugby,
Trophy favourites England have launched their bid for the Women's Rugby World Cup crown by thrashing the United States 69-7 in front of a record home crowd.
England overcame early nerves in Sunderland to score 11 tries to one for a 28th straight victory.
The effort was appreciated by a record women's rugby Test attendance of 42,723.
The tournament-opening result on Friday ticked all of the boxes for England, who are in the same group as Australia.
Australia will play a crucial game against the United States next weekend in York, with the winners likely to advance to the quarter-finals along with the home side.
