Good morning, it's Friday, March 11. Here's what you need to get going today.
One thing you’ll be hearing about today: Zachary Rolfe's murder trial
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The Northern Territory police officer has faced trial over the shooting death of 19-year-old Yuendumu man Kumanjayi Walker during an attempted arrest in 2019
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He was charged with murder and two alternate charges of manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death — pleading not guilty to all three
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Jurors have heard evidence from more than 40 witnesses over more than four weeks
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They retired to consider they verdict yesterday afternoon, with deliberations expected to continue this morning
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They have indicated they will not be deliberating over the weekend, but have up to eight days to consider their verdict
And another thing: There's going to be a national cabinet meeting today
It's the first national cabinet meeting in about a month. Here's what's on the agenda:
- An epidemiology update
- The vaccine rollout
- The winter preparedness plan
- Moving to Phase D of the National Plan,
- The floods
- Japanese encephalitis virus
And we're assuming that new Omicron sub-variant BA.2, which is thought to be driving the NSW case spike, will come up.
BA.2 is thought to be more transmissible, but early research suggests there's no difference between the severity of it and Omicron BA.1.
Ukraine update: A fourth round of peace talks were held
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says he discussed a 24-hour ceasefire with his Russian counterpart in Turkey, but not much came of the talks.
He said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not commit to a humanitarian corridor to allow evacuees to escape the southern port of Mariupol and there was no progress on agreeing to a wider ceasefire.
Mr Lavrov said his country wanted what he called a friendly, demilitarised Ukraine and reiterated a Russian demand that Ukraine should adopt neutral status.
Mr Kuleba said that was Russia demanding Ukraine's surrender.
News while you snoozed
Let's get you up to speed.
- The body of cricket icon Shane Warne arrived in Melbourne overnight, six days after his death in Thailand. A state memorial service will be held for him on March 30 at the MCG
- English football giants Chelsea won't be able to sell tickets to matches after the UK government froze the assets of Russian owner Roman Abramovich
- Victorian Labor senator Kimberley Kitching died suddenly in the Melbourne suburb of Strathmore. It's believed she suffered a heart attack
The news Australia is searching for
- Obi-Wan Kenobi: Disney+ dropped the teaser trailer for its new limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi, which will be available for streaming in May. But no, it won't be released on May 4. For some reason Disney went with May 25 instead.
- Grimes and Elon Musk: The singer revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair that the pair have a second child together. In 2020 the pair welcomed a baby boy called X AE A-12, which Grimes pronounces as "X A.I. Archangel," but she mostly just calls him X. Grimes never meant to reveal she had a second child, but when Devin Gordan was interviewing her in her home, he heard a baby crying. Her name is Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, but she gets called Y for short. PS: Grimes pronounces Sideræl like "sigh-deer-ee-el".
One more thing: It's Friday, that means it's news quiz day!
It also means it's time for another unhinged collage representing the week that was!
Good luck!
That's it for now
We'll be back later on with more.
ABC/wires
