8.03amHanson to learn verdict today in racial discrimination appealBy After a tumultuous few weeks in the political spotlight, Pauline Hanson is set to learn the verdict in her racial discrimination appeal.The One Nation leader is battling a 2024 Federal Court finding that she racially vilified Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi in a tweet posted shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.Senator Pauline Hanson will find out if her appeal is successful later today.BloombergSenator Hanson’s tweet included telling Senator Faruqi to “piss off back to Pakistan”.Her barrister told an appeals court in November that her remarks might not have been pleasant but they did not intimidate people of colour.7.57amHunt for men who jumped off 184-metre buildingBy The Seattle Police Department is searching for two men who climbed over the glass wall of the city’s iconic Space Needle, flipped over the edge and parachuted down from the 184-metre structure.The jumpers face trespassing charges, according to a report provided by public affairs officer Brian Pritchard.Seattle’s Space Needle.Visit SeattleThe BASE jumpers purchased tickets and entered the Space Needle about 8.50pm on Friday (Seattle time), the police department said.The attraction has a round observation deck surrounded by high glass windows that are open to the sky above.7.49am‘The prime minister doesn’t see one dollar’: Plibersek bats off Point Piper donation questionsBy Christopher HarrisSocial Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has batted away questions about whether money raised by the Labor Party at a controversial Point Piper dinner should be repaid.As previously revealed by this masthead, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended an exclusive dinner hosted by a rich 25-year-old whose billionaire father was accused by the Tax Office of repeatedly deceiving authorities to funnel huge sums of money from China into Australian bank accounts and mansions.Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek.Dominic Lorrimer“I understand why people are concerned,” Plibersek told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program.She cited planned changes to donation laws that would bolster transparency around political donations “within just days”.Asked whether Albanese should give the money back, Plibersek said it was a matter for the Labor Party.“It doesn’t go to the prime minister. The prime minister doesn’t see one dollar of it. This is a matter for the party.”7.25amWhy new alert system is better and more accurateBy Christopher HarrisEmergency Management Minister Kristy McBain is appearing on breakfast television to spruik the upcoming test of the country’s emergency management system at 2pm today.“[This] system is much more accurate than the current system,” she told the ABC’s News Breakfast program.Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain.Alex EllinghausenShe said the new alert system did not rely on any one telco provider, was not subject to network congestion, and can geolocate alerts to within 160 metres of where an incident is occurring.“So we can make those Aus Alerts hyper localised,” she said.She was also asked about the future of her Labor colleague, beleaguered Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, who is facing the threat of a leadership challenge.McBain said: “I think Jacinta Allan has done a really fantastic job in the time that she’s been given.”7.08amWill the Coalition do a deal with One Nation? ‘Of course we would be pragmatic’By Christopher HarrisOpposition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg has said his party would be pragmatic when it comes to forming a coalition with One Nation.“So if the numbers were the numbers and we had to be in coalition with others, then of course we would be pragmatic,” he told Channel Nine’s Today breakfast program.Opposition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg.Alex Ellinghausen“Well, we would definitely like work out whoever would be interested in being in a coalition with us if that’s what the numbers were. Of course. We’re not crazy,”One Nation has witnessed a surge in polling this year.Support for the party stood at about 26 per cent earlier this month, according to a Resolve Poll.Support for the Coalition was 23 per cent, Labor support steady at 28 per cent, and the Greens were unchanged at 12 per cent.6.40amBerlin Pride attack suspect shot dead by policeBy The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack that left one person dead and 29 injured was shot and killed by police during a confrontation in a suburb of the city, authorities said.Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours after the attack in downtown Berlin. Prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.Police stand in a garden house colony in Berlin’s Spandau district, where authorities said the suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride van attack was shot dead in a confrontation on Sunday.Getty ImagesInterior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the attack occurred a few hundred metres from a party near the Brandenburg Gate that was supposed to close out the city’s Pride festival.Ballout, 21, was tracked down about 6pm Sunday (German time) at a garden in Spandau, a Berlin suburb, the city’s police department wrote on X. They said he apparently ran towards officers with a sharp instrument, and police fired at least one shot. He died at the scene.Read more here. AP6.37amIran to halt strikes if US bombing pause holdsBy Dubai: Iran will halt its own attacks as long as the US does the same, a senior Iranian official said.The US pressed pause on its bombing campaign after President Donald Trump’s advisers told him they were running out of targets and expressed worries about depleting the US arsenal.After 13 nights of intensifying US airstrikes on Iran, the Pentagon suspended the campaign late on Friday, with no US attacks reported on either Saturday or Sunday.President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday.AP Photo/Rod LamkeyIran, which had been following each night of US attacks with its own strikes on neighbouring countries that host US bases, has also so far held fire for two days.The Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Tehran’s position remains that if the attacks stop, Iran will also halt its operations. “That message has already been conveyed to the United States,” the official said.The US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told US media on Sunday that Trump had decided to pause attacks to allow more time for diplomacy.Reuters6.35amNational warning system to be testedBy The new “AusAlert” national warning system is scheduled to sound on up to 25 million phones across Australia at 2pm (AEST) this afternoon, with a text message that reads: “This is a TEST alert of AusAlert, Australia’s new emergency warning system. NO ACTION IS REQUIRED.”Years of planning have gone into the 10-second alarm due to sound in hours, which will use the same broadcast technology that operates in more than 30 countries across the world.The new national alert system will be used to issue a wide range of warnings, including for natural disasters, threats to public safety such as shooting incidents, as well as health and biosecurity threats such as a disease outbreak.Read more here. 1 of 1
Australia news LIVE: AusAlert national warning system test today at 2pm; Iran will halt strikes if US pause bombing
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