The Loop: Russia releases US Navy veteran, New York nurses end strike, and 'atmospheric river' wreaks havoc in California — as it happened
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This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for this morning's news as it happens.
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By Felicity Ripper
Thanks for joining us today, here's a bit of what we covered (click the link to jump straight to the post):
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By Felicity Ripper
Mildura Rural City Council is urging people to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes, after Murray Valley Encephalitis virus was detected in the area.
The Victorian Health Department confirmed the positive test yesterday.
It marks the first time a case of MVE virus has been found in Victoria in more than a decade.
By Felicity Ripper
Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley, has been rushed to hospital after reportedly suffering a full cardiac arrest.
“My beloved daughter Lisa Marie was rushed to the hospital," her mother Priscilla said in a statement.
"She is now receiving the best care.
"Please keep her and our family in your prayers. We feel the prayers from around the world, and ask for privacy during this time.”
By Felicity Ripper
Researchers have discovered an exoplanet the same size as Earth, using the James Webb Space Telescope.
An exoplanet is a planet found outside of the solar system, orbiting other stars in the galaxy.
Astronomer Dr Kevin Stevenson from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory helped lead the research team and said data captured by the telescope was enabling them to start building a picture of conditions on the exoplanet.
By Felicity Ripper
Australia's medicine regulator is reviewing applications for four-in-one rapid antigen tests.
The swabs would be able to diagnose COVID, R-S-V and two types of flu at once.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has already approved RATs that can detect influenza A and B, and COVID in one test.
Australian Medical Association vice-president Dr Danielle McMullen says the at-home tests could help people get quicker access to treatment.
By Felicity Ripper
New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet has faced questions from reporters this morning about the Nazi uniform he wore to his fancy dress party in 2003.
During the live press conference, which just wrapped up, he said he wasn't aware that a photograph of him wearing the uniform existed, and was quick to shut down suggestions that this was political revenge.
He reiterated his apology to the Jewish community.
"I was out meeting with the Jewish board of deputies yesterday and we spoke about education and the importance of raising awareness of the atrocities that have occurred in the past and our commitment to ensure they never happen," Mr Perrottet says.
"One of the best ways of doing that is through education and I am committed to doing that."
By Felicity Ripper
A tornado has damaged homes and uprooted trees in Alabama as a powerful storm system pushed through the south.
The city of Selma received “significant damage from the tornado", Selma Mayor James Perkins' office wrote on social media.
The National Weather Service in Birmingham said a “large and extremely dangerous tornado” moved through the city.
The weather service issued a tornado emergency for several counties just north of the capital city of Montgomery as the same storm system moved eastward.
“This is a life-threatening situation. Take shelter immediately,” the Weather Service said.
By Felicity Ripper
The White House says the price hike for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine shots is hard to justify.
Moderna has confirmed that it's considering raising the prices of its covid vaccine in the US when it shifts from government contracting to commercial distribution.
The company's chief executive Stephane Bancel said it may charge up to $AU186 for each vaccine dose.
That's up from a reported average price of about $28 per dose.
By Felicity Ripper
New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet is likely to be grilled over his future as Liberal Party leader when he fronts the media this morning.
As I mentioned earlier, Mr Perrottet's yesterday admitted to wearing a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday party in 2003.
Acting Prime Minister Jim Chalmers described the revelations as a “shocker” and said it was appropriate that Mr Perrottet had apologised for it.
“My view about this … is that we want the state of New South Wales and we want Australia to be more inclusive and more tolerant and when something like this comes out, that's obviously a challenge for that,” he said.
“People in New South Wales will have an opportunity to express their view in March on a more inclusive and more tolerant state of New South Wales in the same way that people had that opportunity nationally in May.
“But obviously a pretty, a pretty shocking revelation, and very hurtful, no doubt to a whole bunch of communities and people more broadly.”
Mr Chalmers said he found it hard to believe that Mr Perrottet did not know as a 21-year-old that wearing the uniform would be offensive.
By Felicity Ripper
Anthony Albanese will meet members of Papua New Guinea's Defence Force today.
It comes as he wraps up a two-day visit to strengthen ties between the two neighbours.
Following a meeting in port Moresby yesterday, the leaders committed to finalising a bilateral defence treaty within months.
Mr Albanese will visit the coastal city of Wewak today, and lay a wreath on the grave of PNG's first prime minister Michael Somare, the man who led PNG to independance from Australia.
The Australian prime minister will then meet with the neighboring defence force, and inspect a new accomodation building at the local barracks.
By Felicity Ripper
Members of the UK royal family appeared in public on Thursday for the first time since the publication of Prince Harry’s explosive memoir, touring charities and a hospital.
Prince William and Kate seemed relaxed as they arrived at Royal Liverpool University Hospital in the home city of The Beatles, but they were confronted by a man outside who asked: “Do you ever plan to comment on Harry’s book, sir?”.
The couple ignored the question and soldiered on, touring the critical care ward, meeting nurses and posing for selfies.
King Charles III, meanwhile, traveled to Scotland to meet with local groups that help combat rural isolation.
Harry's book Spare recounts his grief at the death of his mother, a fight with his brother, and his unease with the role of royal “spare”.
Reporting with AP
By Shiloh Payne
The man charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students will have a preliminary hearing in late June when prosecutors will try to show a judge that they have enough evidence to justify the felony charges.
Bryan Kohberger waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing during a status conference on Thursday morning.
The 28-year-old Washington State University graduate student is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary, and has not yet entered a plea and is waiting to learn whether prosecutors in the high-profile case will pursue the death penalty.
The November 13 slayings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin left the rural community in Moscow, Idaho, grief-stricken and afraid, prompting nearly half of the university's students to leave town for the perceived safety of online courses.
His attorney, Anne Taylor, told Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall that he was willing to waive his right to a speedy preliminary hearing, which would have required that it be held within two weeks.
"He's willing to waive timeliness to allow us time to obtain discovery in the case and be prepared," Ms Taylor told the judge.
Ms Marshall set the preliminary hearing for June 26 at 9 am, expecting it to last for five days.
Reporting with AP
By Felicity Ripper
A cyber attack at Queensland's second largest university left some students unable to receive Centrelink payments for weeks.
Two students at QUT have spoken to the ABC about the financial stress they suffered after a purported ransomware attack on December 22 saw the university shut down several computer systems.
By Shiloh Payne
US government agencies say 2022 was the fifth or sixth warmest on record.
It didn't quite spike a record high, but scientists are warning of warmer years ahead, caused by "relentless" climate change.
The La Nina weather pattern in the Pacific slightly reduced global average temperatures, but according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2022's global average temperature was 14.76C, ranking sixth hottest on record.
Other agencies that factor in the Arctic and the Antarctic say it was the fifth hottest, tied with 2015.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said global temperature is "pretty alarming".
"What we're seeing is our warming climate, it's warning all of us. Forest fires are intensifying. Hurricanes are getting stronger. Droughts are wreaking havoc. Sea levels are rising. Extreme weather patterns threaten our well-being across this planet."
By Felicity Ripper
France has fined TikTok 5 million euros ($AU7.8 million) for shortcomings linked to the video platform's handling of online tracking known as "cookies", which the ByteDance-owned company said it had now addressed.
French data protection watchdog CNIL said that its investigation only concerned the website tiktok.com and not the much more heavily used smartphone app.
The CNIL found that for tiktok.com's users, it was not as easy to refuse online trackers as to accept them.
The authority also found that users were not sufficiently informed about TikTok's use of the cookies.
Under European Union rules, websites must clearly ask for the prior consent of internet users for any use of cookies – small pieces of data stored while navigating on the Web.
They should also make it easy to refuse them, according to the EU's rules.
By Felicity Ripper
Dominic Perrottet. In case you missed it, the NSW premier fronted media yesterday to admit he wore a rented Nazi uniform at his 21st birthday fancy dress party in 2003.
Mr Perrottet apologised and said he was "deeply ashamed" of his "mistake"and decided to come clean after a phone call from a cabinet colleague a few days ago.
By Felicity Ripper
Russia has released a US Navy veteran who apparently illegally crossed the border from Poland into the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad last year and was held there for nine months.
Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced that Taylor Dudley had been handed over to US custody in Poland.
The State Department said it was constrained in what it could say about the case due to privacy concerns.
However, Mr Richardson said the US embassies in Warsaw and Moscow had played a role in securing Mr Dudley’s release and even mentioned several diplomats who worked on the matter by name.
Unlike in high-profile previous releases by Russia of imprisoned Americans — like WNBA star Brittney Griner and former US Marine Trevor Reed — there was no swap for Mr Dudley, who was never considered by the US to have been wrongfully detained.
Mr Dudley, 35, was reported missing last year by authorities in Lansing, Michigan.
A spokesman for his family said Dudley had traveled to Europe to backpack, had gone to Poland for a music festival and at some point crossed into Kaliningrad and was detained in April, 2022.
By Felicity Ripper
Thousands of nurses at two New York City hospitals have ended a three-day strike after reaching a tentative contract agreement that union officials said will relieve chronic short staffing and boost pay by 19 per cent over three years.
Nurses began returning to work on Thursday morning at Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center.
Each of the privately owned, nonprofit hospitals have over 1,000 beds and 3,500 or more union nurses, represented by the New York State Nurses Association.
Nurses are set to vote next week on ratifying the tentative deals, which union President Nancy Hagans called “truly groundbreaking".
“They set a new standard for safe staffing, for respect and for quality care for all,” she said at a news conference.
By Felicity Ripper
A bomb cyclone has left high tides and tree trunks scattered on beaches and flooding in nearby-streets in Rio del Mar in California on Wednesday.
The seventh consecutive atmospheric river since Christmas dumped more rain on Northern California on Wednesday, local time, offering little relief for a state already battered by floods, gale force winds, power outages and evacuations of entire towns.
While Wednesday's deluge was relatively minor, with less rainfall and mostly contained to northwestern California, another atmospheric river was expected to drench most of the state this weekend, according to the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center.
The parade of storms is forecast to continue, bringing even more heavy rain next week, the weather service said.
The storms have killed at least 17 people since the start of the year, according to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
By Felicity Ripper
Baby turtles!
The Wildlife Conservation Society has released video footage showing hundreds of thousands of baby giant South American river turtles, recently emerging from nesting beaches along the border of Brazil and Bolivia.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
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