This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for this morning's news as it happens.
Key events
Live updates
That's all for The Loop this morning
By Peta Fuller
Thanks for joining us — if you're looking to catch up, here's some of what we covered this morning (click the link to jump straight to the post):
- Elon Musk has taken to the stand in a trial over his tweets about Tesla;
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Police found 'hundreds' of rounds and homemade suppressors at California shooter's home;
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NT's police commissioner has called for bipartisan support as crime crisis in Alice Springs prompts PM's visit;
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Four far-right Oath Keepers members have been convicted over the Capitol riots, with all found guilty of seditious conspiracy;
- Ticketmaster has blamed bots for Taylor Swift ticket sales dramas;
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M&Ms scrap its 'spokescandy', saying they didn't expect to 'break the internet' with a social media storm;
- And the Earth's inner core might be rotating in the opposite direction to the rest of the planet (but it's not time to panic)
You can keep up-to-date with other news on the ABC's website, by subscribing to our mobile alerts, and by watching News Channel or listening to local radio here.
Police found 'hundreds' of rounds and homemade suppressors at shooter's home
By Peta Fuller
We've had an update from the LA County Sherriff, Robert Luna, who revealed some of what police took from the shooter's trailer.
They found evidence the 72-year-old was making his own suppressors and had "hundreds" of rounds of ammunition stored in boxes.
Sherriff Luna said 42 shots were fired at the first ballroom in Monterey Park and praised Brandon Tsay, who saved "countless lives" by wrestling a MAC-10 assault weapon from the shooter at a second dance studio.
'There's something acutely underlying here': NT commissioner calls for bipartisan support
By Peta Fuller
The NT's police commissioner Jamie Chalker was just speaking with Jo Laverty on ABC Darwin's Breakfast program.
He said since changes to legislation last July kicked in, he has seen a "significant increase" in alcohol-related harm, but there's also been an influx of people in Alice Springs:
"We're certainly in a peak period, because there are so many more people in Alice Springs.
We know, unfortunately, if we're not at those takeaway licences premises for hours of trade, more alcohol pushes into the public domain.
We're dealing not only with those that are left in the CBD, but then also some of the harms that start coming through. And we've seen that in our domestic violence-related response."
He said it wasn't just a Territory problem, but similar conditions were happening in Townsville and the Kimberley.
"There's something acutely underlying here.. this needs bipartisan support.
[We need to] see how we turn the tide and take Aboriginal people with us, not continue to see policies that have been imposed upon them right back to the 2007 Northern Territory leadership response."
Alec Baldwin will keep lead in Rust despite indications of charge over shooting
By Peta Fuller
A lawyer for the production confirmed the move, despite prosecutors saying they'd charge Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
Ms Hutcins's husband Matt Hutchins will remain as executive producer, and Joel Souza (who was also hit when a live bullet was fired) will return as director.
Baldwin has denied responsibility for the shooting, saying live ammunition should never have been allowed on set.
Two students dead in US shooting
By Peta Fuller
More tragic news from the US, this time at an education program in Iowa helping at-risk teenagers.
Two students were killed and a teacher injured, with three suspects arrested.
The program for teens in grades 9-12 was founded by Will Holmes, a rapper whose stage name is Will Keeps.
Sergeant Paul Parizek said:
"The incident was definitely targeted. It was not random. There was nothing random about this," he said.
About 20 minutes after the shooting, police said officers stopped a car that matched witnesses' descriptions and took three suspects into custody — one ran, but was tracked down by a police dog.
Coming up: PM to travel to Alice Springs amid crime crisis
By Peta Fuller
The NT's police commissioner Jamie Chalker says he expects Anthony Albanese will travel there today as the town deals with a crime crisis. Chalker told ABC's Radio National:
"I understand that the Prime Minister is travelling now, I know the Chief Minister is heading down there this morning as well. I think it's a positive they're heading down there to see what is occurring on the ground, and doing a lot of listening."
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has been demanding the PM take the trip to central Australia, to speak with local authorities about what's needed to tackle the problem.
'This is a community on edge': Speculation on LA-area shooter motive
By Peta Fuller
Let's go back to the US with the ABC's correspondent Carrington Clarke.
He's at the scene today, and says while it's still speculative:
"There seems to be increasing information from police sources to other reporters and also from what we're gathering from community members that there might have been a domestic violence angle to this story, or potentially personal slight... This is a community on edge. They're still mourning."
Only two victims have been named so far, My Nhan and Lilian Li, but all were aged in their 50s, 60s and 70s.
Police are searching the 72-year-old shooter's home, which is in a trailer park for senior citizens.
We're hoping to hear more from police in the next few hours.
Ticketmaster blames bots after Taylor Swift sale dramas
By Peta Fuller
The ticketing giant will front a US Senate committee today, but the written testimony has already dropped.
The company says it learned "valuable lessons" after Swift's sale was disrupted by record bot traffic.
Joe Berchtold, Live Nation Entertainment president and CFO, said:
"In hindsight, there are several things we could have done better including staggering the sales over a longer period of time and doing a better job setting fan expectations for getting tickets."
And those bots right now:
M&Ms scrap 'spokescandy', saying they didn't expect to 'break the internet'
By Peta Fuller
Not a headline I expected to write today, but here's a quick recap if you've missed this whole thing:
- The brand found itself at the centre of a social media storm last year, after it replaced two female characters' high-heeled shoes with flat footwear
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Right-wing critics, including Fox News's Tucker Carlson, said adding the purple M&M was "woke"
The news today? Overnight, the chocolate brand said the barrage of criticism meant it would appoint actor and comedian Maya Rudolph instead of the colourful talking chocolates.
M&M also says they didn't think the changes at the time would "break the internet" and hoped Rudolph will "create a world where everyone feels they belong".
Premier League side Everton confirms it sacked its manager
By Peta Fuller
Frank Lampard will depart the side after a string of poor performances left the club in a relegation battle.
Lampard's last game in charge was Saturday's 2-0 league defeat at West Ham United, which kept them second-bottom of the table on 15 points after 20 games, two points adrift of the safety zone.
Two people have died after a police pursuit in Sydney
By Peta Fuller
Two bodies have been recovered from a burnt-out car following the police pursuit in Sydney's inner west.
Police say officers began the chase in Strathfield just after midnight when a car failed to stop.
A short time later, the car rolled and was engulfed in flames near the M4 Motorway at Homebush — a critical incident investigation is underway.
BREAKING: Death toll from LA shooting rises
By Peta Fuller
An 11th person has died after the dance hall massacre near Los Angeles over the weekend.
One of the four still being treated succumbed to a gunshot wound, local authorities said.
Another wounded patient at the LA County-USC hospital was in serious condition, and the two others were recovering
BREAKING: Four Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy in Capitol riots
By Peta Fuller
It's the second major trial of far-right extremists accused of plotting to forcibly keep former president Donald Trump in power.
It comes weeks after the group's leader, Stewart Rhodes, was convicted.
Seditious conspiracy is a rarely prosecuted Civil War-era law that prohibits plotting to overthrow or destroy the government and carries up to 20 years in prison.
The 12-member jury found Oath Keeper members David Moerschel, Joseph Hackett, Roberto Minuta and Edward Vallejo guilty of that charge, as well as other felony and obstruction charges.
'I needed to take this weapon': LA shooting hero tells how he helped stop second attack
By Peta Fuller
Investigators are still looking into why 72-year-old Huu Can Tran killed 10 people in a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club, but more details are emerging about the *second* venue he targeted.
Brandon Tsay was in the lobby of the Lai Lai Ballroom when the gunman entered.
He told ABC America that he wrestled the gun away from the assailant:
"Something came over me. I realised... I needed to get the weapon away from him, I needed to take this weapon, disarm him or else everybody would have died.
When I got the courage, I lunged at him with both my hands, grabbed the weapon... and we had a struggle."
Elon Musk testifies in Tesla tweet trial
By Peta Fuller
A quick recap:
- Musk is facing a class action lawsuit from Tesla investors, alleging he misled them with a tweet saying funding was secured to take his electric car company private — for $420 per share.
- That tweet resulted in a $40 million settlement with securities regulators after the deal never came close to happening.
Now, the billionaire Twitter owner has testified he thought the financial backing *was* locked in, during 2018 meetings with representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (although no specific funding amount or price was discussed).
After it became apparent that the money *wasn’t* in place to take Tesla private, Musk stepped down as Tesla’s chairman while remaining CEO as part of an earlier settlement, without acknowledging any wrongdoing.
News Australia is searching for
By Peta Fuller
- Fulham v Tottneham: Are you waiting patiently for a the start of this one? You can thank London's tube lines for the delay:
One more thing: Earth's inner core has... reversed?
By Peta Fuller
It's not as bad as it sounds.
Scientists don't know much about *how* the inner core works (and there's definitely debate), research suggests it might now be rotating in the opposite direction to the rest of the Earth.
An article published in Nature Geoscience analysed earthquake waves over 60 years — with Peking University scholars saying it almost stopped in 2009 and turned in the opposite direction.
They told AFP:
"We believe the inner core rotates, relative to the Earth's surface, back and forth, like a swing... one cycle of the swing is about seven decades (changing direction every 35 years)."
So that means we're due for another around... 2045. Mark it in the calendar.
