This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for Wednesday morning's news as it happened.
Key events
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Live updates
That's it for The Loop today
By Felicity Ripper
Thanks for joining us for The Loop this Wednesday morning.
If you're just now catching up, here's a bit of what we covered (click the link to jump straight to the post):
The dead fish clean up is set to commence in NSW
By Felicity Ripper
Contractors have arrived to clean up millions of dead fish carcasses from the Darling-Baaka River at Menindee in Western NSW.
Police are reassuring residents inthat water quality in the region is good, despite the recent mass fish kill.
New South Wales Police Commander Brett Greentree is part of the team co-ordinating the recovery and says checking water quality is a top priority.
"I've been assured that water quality through that treatment plant is of a high quality," he says.
"There has been no issues in the town water.
"I understand and appreciate there is that smell in the community but that water quality is monitored 24/7 by the water treatment centre but that is still of a high quality."
Farmers are worried about a bee parasite outbreak
By Felicity Ripper
A farmer on the NSW Central Coast says many people in the agricultural industry are concerned about the latest deadly varroa mite outbreak.
Six new varroa mite infestations have been discovered in the Central Coast, Hunter and Mid North Coast regions, taking the number of infected sites to 137 across the state.
Avocado farmer and Chair of the NSW Farmers Central Coast Horticulture Branch Tim Kemp says while it's still unclear how the ongoing outbreak will impact farmers, it's a worry.
"The concern is that there is very long lasting impacts and not having any bees around is a very large concern for not just avocado growers but farmers all up in this area," he says.
Read more here:
Messi fans have mobbed a restaurant where he was eating with family
By Felicity Ripper
A steakhouse in the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, was mobbed by hundreds of soccer fans when word spread that Lionel Messi was inside having dinner.
People rushed to the exclusive Don Julio restaurant eager to get a glimpse of the man who led Argentina to its third World Cup title last year.
Messi eventually needed a police escort to leave.
A 2032 Olympics forum is underway in Brisbane
By Felicity Ripper
A forum is being held in Brisbane today, to help set out a plan for the legacy of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics.
Hundreds of sport, business and community leaders will discuss economic, cultural and environmental opportunities.
The President of the Australian Olympic Committee Ian Chesterman says organisers are committed to getting the most out of the Games.
"We want to see more people involved in sport, we want to see more athletes aspiring to be the best they can be," he says.
"We want to see more volunteers involved, we want to see more coaches involved.
"So let's really start now to make a plan to make sure we have an incredibly successful, strong sport system in 2032, which serves us for a decade or more to come."
Uganda passes bill banning identifying as LGBTQ
By Shiloh Payne
Uganda's parliament has passed a law that criminalises identifying as LGBTQ, handing authorities broad new powers to target Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence.
Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, and more than 30 African countries already ban same-sex relations.
The new law appears to be the first to outlaw merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, according to rights group Human Rights Watch.
Supporters of the new law, however, say it is needed to punish a broader array of LGBTQ activities, which they say threaten traditional values in the conservative and religious East African nation.
As well as same-sex intercourse, the law bans promoting and abetting homosexuality as well as conspiracy to engage in homosexuality.
Biden awards artists at the White House
By Felicity Ripper
US President Joe Biden has welcomed singers, authors, artists and humanitarians to the White House to present them with medals — and then stole the show himself with a quip about seeking re-election.
Bruce Springsteen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mindy Kaling and Gladys Knight were among the 22 people and organisations being honoured.
When author Colson Whitehead’s award was announced, Mr Biden noted that the author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys has already won back-to-back Pulitzer Prizes.
The president, who is expected to announce for re-election this spring, quickly picked up on that and joked that he was looking “for a back-to-back myself", drawing a laugh from the audience.
The death toll from the Afghanistan earthquake is climbing
By Felicity Ripper
You may have read earlier that a magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit Pakistan and Afghanistan.
At least nine people are now known to have died.
Dozens of others have been injured.
The tremor was very deep, at nearly 200 kilometres, and its epicentre was in the Hindu Kush mountain range in Afghanistan.
How artificial intelligence is helping to detect heart disease in remote Australia
By Shiloh Payne
It takes years of study and months of experience for a sonographer to get a usable ultrasound of a person's heart.
Now new artificial intelligence technology is allowing relatively untrained people to get good pictures on their first try.
It's part of an Australian trial testing whether AI can produce comparable results to a professional
Researchers are hoping it could make heart scans more accessible in regional Australia.
You can continue reading about this story below
Kaufusi to miss NRL battle for the history books
By Felicity Ripper
Dolphins forward Felise Kaufusi will miss Friday night's inaugural Battle of Brisbane against the Broncos in the NRL.
He's been suspended for four matches after failing to have a dangerous contact charge downgraded at the judiciary last night.
Kaufusi says he doesn't believe his past record at the judiciary counted against him.
"Not at all. Like I said, I thought we had a good case to fight there to get it downgraded and unfortunately that wasn't the case. So this will take some time to sink in and we'll go from there," he says.
Melbourne Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes also had an unsuccessful trip to the judiciary, and was suspended for two games for a late hit on Titans half Tanah Boyd.
TikTok Ceo takes to platform to call on users
By Felicity Ripper
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew says the Chinese-owned short video app company is facing a pivotal moment as a growing number of US politicians seek to ban the app over national security concerns.
Mr Chew says, in a video posted onTikTok on Tuesday, US time, that the app now has more than 150 million active monthly US users.
"That's almost half the US coming to TikTok," Mr Chew says.
Mr Chew's video received more than 2.5 million views since it was posted.
Mr Chew, who will testify on Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said some politicians had "started talking about banningTikTok".
"Now this could takeTikTokaway from all 150 million of you," he says in the video.
He asked TikTok users to leave comments about what they wanted politicians to know about "what you love about TikTok".
Japan's PM has visited Ukraine in a show of solidarity
By Felicity Ripper
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made an unannounced visit to Ukraine and met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He is the latest world leader to make the gruelling overland journey to show solidarity with Ukraine, touring Bucha on the capital's outskirts, left littered with dead last year by fleeing Russian troops.
He lay a wreath by a church before observing a moment of silence and bowing.
"The world was astonished to see innocent civilians in Bucha killed one year ago," Mr Kishida said.
"I really feel great anger at the atrocity upon visiting that very place here."
Xi and Putin have pledged to deepen their partnership
By Felicity Ripper
Day two of formal talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have ended with the pair promising a step up in strategic cooperation.
Mr Putin said he accepted China's plan for peace in Ukraine, but placed the ball in Ukraine's court.
Trade and economic co-operation appeared to be the focus of the talks, Mr Putin said, as his country deals with increasing economic isolation from Western sanctions.
You can read more here:
An earthquake has hit Afghanistan
By Felicity Ripper
A 13-year-old girl has died and dozens have been injured after a a magnitude 6.5 earthquake has affected an area 1,000km wide, including parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
The European- Mediterranean Seismological Centre says the quake was 194 kilometres deep and its epicentre was in the Hindu Kush mountain range in northern Afghanistan.
Police in the northern Pakistani district of Swat say the 13-year-old died after a wall collapsed on her.
At least 34 others have been injured.
Disaster authorities in Afghanistan say they don't have any immediate reports of casualties.
What Australians are searching for
By Felicity Ripper
- Donald Trump
The former US president posted on social media that he expects to be arrested today, Australia time.
And New York is bracing for his possible indictment, with police setting up barricades yesterday.
A small protest has gathered outside a Manhattan courthouse calling for authorities to condemn Mr Trump over an alleged hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign.
It would be the first-ever criminal case against any US president.
Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen is recovering from an attack
By Felicity Ripper
Allen was in South Florida to perform a show at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
He was attacked while taking a smoke break outside the Four Seasons hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
Police arrested a 19-year-old man, but said they don't have a motive for the attack.
They did not identify either the suspect or Allen in the police report.
But in a social media post, Allen, 59, says he's thankful for all the support he has received from this fans.
Greta Thunberg gets the OK to sue Sweden over climate policy
By Felicity Ripper
A court in Sweden has allowed a group of environmental activists, including Greta Thunberg, to file a lawsuit against the Swedish state for what they say is insufficient action on the climate.
The youth-led initiative Aurora, which is behind the lawsuit, said on its website that “the Swedish state does not treat the climate crisis as a crisis".
Last year, more than 600 people under the age of 26 signed a document as the basis for the lawsuit, saying the country has violated its citizens' human rights with its climate policies.
On November 25, Thunberg was among hundreds of activists who marched through the Swedish capital to the courthouse to file the lawsuit.
“We in Aurora hold the state responsible for the lack of climate work. Through a court process, we must ensure that the state respects human rights,” the group said on its site.
The action comes as scientists warn that chances are slipping away to limit future warming to 1.5C since pre-industrial times.
Gwyneth Paltrow's lawyer calls Utah ski collision story ‘utter BS’
By Felicity Ripper
Gwyneth Paltrow's lawyer called the story of a retired optometrist who is suing her over a 2016 ski collision “utter BS” during the trial's opening day in Utah.
Actor-turned-lifestyle influencer Paltrow appeared in court, and tried to shield herself from photographers' view with a notebook.
Paltrow and Terry Sanderson, the man suing her, sat across from each other in a Park City courtroom as their attorneys gave opening arguments detailing the crash.
Both described their clients as victims and blamed the other for the 2016 crash at Deer Valley, one of the country's most upscale ski resorts.
The two showed little emotion as attorneys questioned their credibility.
Two have been charged after a protest outside a church where Mark Latham was speaking
By Felicity Ripper
Riot police were called when around 500 people clashed outside a speaking event for New South Wales One Nation candidate Mark Latham in Sydney's south west last night.
LGBTI group Community Action for Rainbow Rights was holding what it says was a peaceful protest outside St Michael's Church in Belfield last night, where Mr Latham was speaking on religious freedom and parental rights.
Riot police were called and allege glass bottles and other projectiles were thrown at officers, with one striking a constable on the hand.
A 38-year-old man was allegedly pushed to the ground.
A 34-year-old man was arrested and charged with encouraging the commission of crimes and a 41 year old man was charged with common assault.
