Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.
The former prime minister Paul Keating has defended plans to meet with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, after the Australian newspaper labelled the meeting a “jarring addition” to the Chinese diplomat’s trip.
Wang will visit Australia this week for the first time in seven years. Wang is meeting Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, in Canberra – then on to Sydney for talks with Keating.
In a statement, Keating said it was normal practice for “former Prime Ministers of all countries [to] meet ministers of other countries most if not all the time”. He also said the Australian should be “contemptuously ignored” due to its editorial policy.
Keating has been one of the most outspoken and strident opponents of the Aukus pact, and has been critical of Wong’s performance as foreign affairs minister.
Last year, freedom of information documents revealed Keating had sent an explosive email to all of Anthony Albanese’s cabinet ministers, voicing his concerns about the Aukus pact.
Top news
Man dies after falling from hot-air balloon | A man has died after falling from a hot-air balloon in Melbourne’s north-east. Emergency services were called to Albert Street in Preston where a man’s body was located about 7.30am on Monday. The death was not being treated as suspicious.
John Pesutto’s leadership under fresh strain | The Victorian opposition leader is facing the prospect of three defamation cases amid growing speculation over the future of his leadership of the Liberal party. British gender-critical and anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull told 3AW radio on Monday she had instructed lawyers to file defamation proceedings against Pesutto this week. Melbourne woman and gender-critical activist Angie Jones also confirmed she would launch defamation proceedings against Pesutto.
Court releases mock certificates awarded by NT police unit | Certificates handed out by an elite Northern Territory police unit to its members have been released by a court, showing the force used the Aboriginal flag and a digitally altered image of the sprinter Usain Bolt on the awards.
Australia reverses visa cancellations for people fleeing Gaza | Palestinian groups and refugee advocates say they are “so relieved” that the federal government has reversed visa cancellations for people fleeing Gaza, after several were stranded on their way out last week. Several Palestinians claimed last week that after being granted Australian visas they had escaped Gaza and made it to an airport in Cairo, but were then told their visas were cancelled.
One dead, two in hospital after drowning tragedy | Two men remain in hospital after a drowning incident that claimed a third man’s life when they were swimming at a beach along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. The men were swimming in the ocean at Marengo near Apollo Bay when they got into trouble on Sunday afternoon, police said.
Tribute to young lawyer killed in suspected hit and run | A Sydney firm has paid tribute to promising young lawyer Mitch East after his death in a suspected hit-and-run incident on Fletcher Street, Tamarama, shortly after 4am on Sunday.
Putin claims he agreed to prisoner swap involving Navalny before his death | The re-elected Russian president has claimed he had agreed to a prisoner swap involving Alexei Navalny before the opposition leader’s sudden death in an Arctic prison last month. Speaking in central Moscow after early results indicated he had won Russia’s presidential election in a landslide, Vladimir Putin said unnamed people made an offer to release Navalny in a swap deal with the west a few days before he died.
Israel army launches raid on al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City | Israeli forces have launched a raid at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, a military spokesperson said, with reports of heavy gunfire from the complex. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said early on Monday that troops were “conducting a high-precision operation in limited areas of Shifa hospital”.
UK researchers find way of diagnosing bowel cancer without biopsies | Researchers in Glasgow have identified a new means of diagnosing and treating bowel cancer with imaging technology, avoiding the need for biopsies. Experts working with Cancer Research UK found that positron emission tomography imaging allows the entire bowel to be examined and tumours to be studied while inside the body, as opposed to examining the tissue once it has been removed.
In pictures …
Steve Harley – a life in pictures
The Cockney Rebel singer and songwriter has died aged 73. Here are some images that capture his style, attitude and achievements over a long career in rock.
What they said …
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“It’s time for an honest reckoning with white privilege and systemic racism, rather than tokenistic celebrations of skin-deep multiculturalism” – Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi on “Harmony Week”.
The Greens are urging the Albanese government to dump references to Harmony Week once and for all, saying the name whitewashes the international day set aside to get rid of racism. Harmony Day was first established in 1999 under the Howard government to replace the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
In numbers
Uber will cough up almost $272m to compensate taxi and hire-car drivers who lost out when the rideshare company “aggressively” moved into the Australian market. It was the fifth-largest class-action settlement in Australia’s history and came after what Maurice Blackburn Lawyers described as five “gruelling” years since it launched the legal battle on behalf of more than 8,000 taxi and hire-car owners and drivers.
Before bed read
Emma Wilkins was clicking a link that should have taken her to a review of a children’s book, when her computer screen flooded with porn. She couldn’t close the window fast enough, or – judging by the speed with which other family members flocked to find out what on earth was wrong – shriek loudly enough.
But, as she writes in the latest edition of Sharing the Load, she was teaching her kids a life lesson.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: UNBE. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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