Hi there. It's Monday, September 26 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.
Parliament resumed today — here's what happened
After a two-week break following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, parliament resumed today for the last sitting week before October's federal budget.
Here's some of what happened today:
- Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said last week's massive breach of Optus customer data should not have happened. Shadow Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said she wanted the government to toughen penalties for cyber criminals, while The Greens called for changes to metadata retention laws
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the rising cost of servicing Australia's debt was putting pressure on next month's budget. He said the government would crack down on multinational tax avoidance to help address budget pressures, but warned Australia wasn't immune to a global downturn
- Veterans' Affairs Minister Matt Keogh apologised to serving and former military personnel who have been let down by his department and Defence over numerous decades, while delivering the government's initial response to early findings from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide
- Former Australian Paralympian and disability advocate Kurt Fearnley was appointed chairman of the National Disability Insurance Agency board
Today we heard more about resistance to conscription in Russia
Police have clashed with protesters in southern Russia, after President Vladimir Putin decided to conscript hundreds of thousands more men to fight in Ukraine.
Russia's first military mobilisation since World War II has triggered protests in dozens of cities across the country.
In the Muslim-majority region of Dagestan, police fired shots into the air after dozens of villagers blocked a major road, videos taken at the scene showed.
Other videos posted on social media showed confrontations with police in the regional capital of Makhachkala as protesters shouted "no to war".
The Kremlin plans to add about 300,000 more troops to its invasion force in Ukraine, but European nations are divided on whether to welcome those who are fleeing the draft:
- German officials have voiced a desire to help Russian men deserting military service and have called for a Europe-wide solution
- French senators argued Europe had a duty to help and warned that not granting refuge to fleeing Russians could play into Putin's hands, feeding his narrative of Western hostility
- Some other EU nations were adamant that asylum should not be offered to Russian men who are fleeing now, given the war has moved into its eighth month
News you might have missed
- Geoff Hogg, the acting chief executive of Australia's second-biggest casino operator, Star, has resigned. It comes as the company struggles to retain its casino licence in Sydney after an inquiry found it was unfit to run such an establishment
- WorkSafe is investigating how a 26-year-old woman came to be hit by a roller coaster at the Melbourne Royal Show, leaving her in a critical condition in hospital. Police said the woman may have walked onto the coaster's tracks to retrieve a mobile phone
Here's what Australia has been searching for online
- Australia vs. India. Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav scored half-centuries to give India a six-wicket win over Australia in the third and final T20I in Hyderabad, securing a 2-1 series win. India, the number-one ranked side, lost their openers inside the first four overs, but were carried by a third-wicket stand of 104 between Kohli and Yadav
- Giorgia Meloni. The leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party has claimed victory in the country's national election, and is on course to become its first female prime minister. While Italy's rightist alliance looks set to win a parliamentary majority, its three main parties have different positions on important topics such as the European Union, government spending and the invasion of Ukraine
One more thing: NASA is about to test its asteroid defence tech
On Tuesday morning at around 9:14am AEST, NASA is planning to have a small spacecraft hit a small asteroid moonlet (well, think of it as a boulder that's around the size of a stadium) in an attempt to push it off course.
And they're not just doing it for fun.
It's all part of a Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) — the world's first full-scale mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid collisions.
Because we all know what happened to the dinosaurs…
You can keep reading about the mission here, or learn more in the video below.
We'll be live-blogging the collision as it (hopefully) happens tomorrow morning.
You're up to date!
We'll be back tomorrow with more Loop-y goodness.
ABC/wires
