Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 20 April. Top stories The federal energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, has urged his state and territory counterparts to get behind the national energy guarantee as they prepare to meet in Melbourne today. Victoria and Queensland have both raised barriers to consensus as the states and territories try to push the Neg through to the next stage of detailed work. And on Thursday the Nationals leader and transport minister, Michael McCormack, complicated the issue by dismissing the need to curb emissions in the transport sector. McCormack said he would not support "unrealistic [emissions reduction] targets that are going to force people off the roads" and no significant action was required in transport: "The emissions at the moment are low. They are good. We are actually meeting our Paris agreement targets." The latest emissions data shows emissions are falling in the electricity sector, but rising in other sectors, including transport – up 3.1% in the year to September 2017. Facebook has moved more than 1.5 billion users out of reach of European privacy law, despite a promise from Mark Zuckerberg to apply the "spirit" of the legislation globally. The company has moved responsibility for users from Ireland to the US, where privacy laws are less strict. Privacy researcher Lukasz Olejnik said the shift carried large ramifications for the affected users, including those in Australia and New Zealand. "This is a major and unprecedented change in the data privacy landscape. The change will amount to the reduction of privacy guarantees and the rights of users," he said. ""Data protection authorities from the countries of the affected users, such as New Zealand and Australia, may want to reassess this situation." The scandalous revelations from the banking royal commission have prompted a new demand for Australia's corporate regulator to be given the power to impose harsher penalties. On Thursday the Commonwealth Bank admitted some of its financial advisers had been charging dead clients for financial advice, while earlier in the week an AMP executive admitted the company had misled the regulator by saying it had mistakenly charged customers fees for no service, despite it being a deliberate policy. The chief executive of the consumer group Choice, Alan Kirkland, said: "It's clear the likes of AMP and CBA feel no compulsion to abide by the law and that's why the law needs to change and we need to see bigger penalties." The tangled web of Australian government refugee policy has worked to ensure there are no loopholes allowing people who sought asylum by boat to settle in Australia, but it has created a number of tragic catch-22s."We didn't know we'd be stuck with a slow death," says Afghan refugee Nasreen, as she recalls fleeing the country with her two children to follow her husband to Australia. The Hazara family – all of whom have been found to be refugees – have since been split three ways, with no chance of reunification in sight. Mohammad, who has lived in Australia since 2011, is banned from living with his children. "Why is a five-member family separated into three?" Mohammad asks. "Six of the best years of the best part of their lives has passed. They wish to study and enjoy their life, but it's gone." The secret behind the ability of a group of "sea nomads" in Southeast Asia to hold their breath for extraordinary periods of time while freediving to hunt has finally been revealed – and it's down to evolution. The Bajau people are able to dive tens of metres underwater with no conventional diving aids. Scientists have discovered that over time, the Bajau people have undergone natural selection, resulting in certain versions of genes becoming widespread – many of which are linked to biological changes, including having a larger spleen, that could help the Bajau to hold their breath underwater for many minutes at a time. The team say the findings could eventually prove useful in medical settings. Sport Chelsea have kept their slim hopes of making the Premier League top four alive with a 2-1 win at Burnley. Victor Moses scored the winner for the London club, to dash the home side's hopes of overtaking Arsenal in sixth place. In the other overnight game Southampton could do no better than a 0-0 draw at Leicester, leaving their survival hanging by a thread.
The New Zealand speedway rider Ivan Mauger, who died this week aged 78, was "the sport's greatest star in its most popular era, a perfectionist who pioneered hitherto undreamed-of levels of professionalism on and off the track." Julian Ryder looks back on Mauger's sport-obsessed Christchurch upbringing and his rise to become indisputably the best in the world. Thinking time | 
Posts
Energy minister Josh Frydenberg. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP 
No comments:
Post a Comment