Daily News Roundup

 

TUESDAY AUG 11

The Ten network has announced mass redundancies in its TV news department, laying off news and weather presenters, journalists and camera crews in what has been described as the biggest shake-up in news at the network, reports the Guardian.

Almost all the presenting staff in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide will lose their jobs.

High profile casualties of the cuts include Studio Ten presenters Kerri-Anne Kennerley and Natarsha Belling and veteran weather man Tim Bailey.

The future of Joe Hildebrand, a News Corp columnist and co-host of Studio 10 remains unclear.

Ten’s chief content officer Beverly McGarvey has told staff in a video hookup the network is making changes so it is more efficient and that the changes “reflect the state of the media industry”.

The 90-minute weekday 5pm 10 News First bulletins will be centralised in Sydney and Melbourne, with Brisbane and Perth news bulletins read out of Sydney and the Adelaide bulletin read out of Melbourne.

All the weather presenters will be made redundant and replaced with one national weather presenter.

“There will also be some changes to the presentation of Studio 10, the details of which will be communicated to the relevant staff,” McGarvey said.

“We remain committed to our news organisation, and deeply value this team’s work.”

Ten has been rapidly withdrawing from news since CBS, Network 10 Australia’s US parent company, merged with media giant Viacom in December.

In May the network closed its digital news site Ten Daily, laying off 30 editorial staff.

Ten’s news director Ross Dagan said the decision to cut staff was difficult.

“It is in no way a reflection of their talent, contribution or passion,” Dagan said. “They are exceptionally gifted people. We are incredibly proud of them and their work. There is no doubt they will be missed.

“These painful changes reflect the state of the media industry in recent years and the need for all media companies to achieve new efficiencies.”

###

Queensland police and the Department of Child Safety are monitoring two teenage girls in hotel quarantine on the Sunshine Coast after they breached the state’s border controls.

The pair, aged 16 and 15, were located and detained at the Noosa Civic Shopping Centre on Monday afternoon.

The news of their detention came as Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services announced this morning that the state had recorded 331 new coronavirus cases and 19 deaths in the past 24 hours.

It was Victoria’s equal deadliest day after 19 lives were lost in the 24 hours leading up to Monday as well.

Queensland reported no new cases overnight while NSW reported 22 new infections including several fresh cases linked to a school in Sydney’s north west.

Queensland police said the detained teenagers had been in Sydney and travelled to Queensland from New South Wales last Friday.

A decision will be made whether to keep the pair, one from New South Wales and one from the Sunshine Coast, in hotel quarantine or send them back to New South Wales.

Superintendent Craig Hawkins said the teens had been tested for COVID-19 and the results came back negative.

Any charges for the pair will be considered through the youth justice system.

“There are a couple of things here we have to deal with, the fact they’ve come through the border point without being honest,” he said.

“[They’ve] been in Queensland for a few days.”

Queensland Police said neither of the girls displayed symptoms on Monday.

The teenagers arrived in Queensland via train at Roma Street in Brisbane.

Police tracked them down within 24 hours of becoming aware they had been in Sydney.

“These girls haven’t shown any symptoms and there’s certainly no suggestion at this stage that they are positive,” Superintendent Hawkins said.

Victorian authorities have warned that there will be many more deaths ahead for the state.

Deputy chief medical officer Professor Michael Kidd noted the drop in coronavirus cases in Victoria was “promising”, but said deaths usually follow around seven to 10 days after someone is first diagnosed.

“We are seeing the first promising signs of a reduction in daily numbers of cases, but it is too early to be certain,” Prof Kidd said at a press conference on Monday.

“We need to follow the numbers very closely over the coming week.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said at least a third, or eight, of the 22 new coronavirus infections in her state included several fresh cases from the new cluster at the Tangara School in Sydney’s north west.

Yesterday, NSW Health said there were nine cases linked to the outbreak at Tangara.

It is the highest number of new infections recorded in a day in NSW in almost four months — the last figure this high was on April 16, with 29 cases.

Ms Berejiklian said four of the 22 new cases were returned international travellers in hotel quarantine, while another two acquired their infections in Victoria.

“It is a daily battle in NSW, we have to be on our toes, we are in a state of high alert,” she said.

“My anxiety has not subsided in relation to what a knife’s edge NSW is on.”

###

US President Donald Trump says a person has been shot outside the White House, forcing a Secret Service agent to escort him from the press briefing room.

Mr Trump said he understood the person who was shot was armed and was taken to hospital. No-one else was injured.

“It was a shooting outside of the White House,” Mr Trump said.

“It seems to be very well under control … But there was an actual shooting, and somebody has been taken to the hospital. I don’t know the condition of the person.”

Mr Trump said two shots were fired in “rapid succession’ during the incident.

He said the shooting was “near the edge of the White House grounds” and he was taken to the Oval Office while “law enforcement” dealt with the situation.

###

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab and his Government have resigned in the wake of the deadly blast that ripped through Beirut last week.

The announcement came on the third day of demonstrations in the capital, with protesters again hurling rocks and dodging tear gas in clashes with security forces.

The city’s Governor says more than 200 people are now believed to have been killed as a result of the August 4 blast, which occurred when a stockpile of more than 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded.

Many Lebanese blamed the Government for allowing the material to be stored in Beirut’s port for seven years, and are angry at what they regard as corruption in the country’s political establishment.