TRANSCRIPT
The federal government says it's addressed a 'technical issue' discovered in the visas of a group of asylum seekers in Australia.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil says the flaw was uncovered in legislation last weekend and had the immediate effect of making visas issued under that visa class since 2013 instantly invalid.
She says the problem applied to the 149 people released from indefinite detention following a landmark High Court decision last year, who were subject to strict reporting and monitoring conditions as a condition of their visas.
But the Minister has told Channel 7 that those visas have now been re-issued, and there is no need for concern.
"The important thing for your viewers is that community safety has been our absolute priority in everything that we have dealt with in this issue. So those tough visa conditions have been reapplied to people - whether it's ankle monitoring bracelets, whether it's curfews or the like. And we will continue to focus on that as we move forward on this issue."
Three people have been killed and dozens more injured in a Russian missile strike on residential buildings in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.
Video footage from the scene has shown a blaze engulfing the top of one apartment block and rescue teams ferrying the injured out of shattered entrances.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says rescue operations are still ongoing in the two buildings that were struck.
"A part of a nine-story building was destroyed, including the floors in between. There was a fire. Many are injured – over 30. There are severely wounded. Necessary assistance is being provided to everyone.”
Two people have reportedly been shot in a bus hijacking in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's second most populous city.
Local police say the pair were attacked outside the vehicle, and then the man hijacked the bus which had been waiting at the Rio transit station for its trip to city of Juiz de Fora in Minas Gerais state.
Police Colonel Marco Andrade says the man eventually handed himself in after holding 17 people on the bus hostage for around three hours.
The Colonel says those passengers appear to be unharmed.
“The kidnapper handed himself over to the military police, he is under arrest. All the hostages were released, (they are) safe, they are now undergoing preliminary assistance from firefighters to check their psychological conditions and other things.”
Qatar says it remains hopeful that a ceasefire deal can be reached on Gaza during the month of Ramadan.
Talks are a standstill, despite the hopes of US, Qatar and Egypt mediators to broker an agreement that would address prisoner release and aid delivery ahead of the normally joyous holiday.
Hamas is demanding guarantees that any such agreement will lead to an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected that demand, vowing to continue the offensive until “total victory” against the militant group and the release of all the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari says that Qatar is still working within the framework of a truce that has the "appropriate conditions".
"We were all hoping that the people of Gaza can receive the holy month of Ramadan with some notion of peace, some notion of normalcy. And, sadly, that did not happen... When it comes to expectations, I can't offer any timeline, sadly, at the moment. The situation is very complicated on the ground."
A stoush over the future of public housing towers in Melbourne has returned to court.
Lawyers for the state government are arguing that a plan to demolish and rebuild 44 public housing towers is not a breach of the tenants' rights, despite a failure to consult them over the proposal.
The project was a key pillar of the state government's housing statement, unveiled by then premier Daniel Andrews in September, and will lead to the forcible relocation of more than 10,000 residents.
Some 427 of the 484 residents who would be captured in the class action have already signed relocation agreements - but Louisa Grissini, who represents the tenants, says demolition should be halted.
"All Victorians have a right to live free from arbitrary interference with their home, free from forced evictions, free to look after the best interests of their children and communities. In this case we don't think that that has happened. So, we're asking the court to consider whether the decision that was made by the Victorian government was lawful."
To sport,
The husband of former Olympic rider Melissa Hoskins will face court today over her death.
Former world champion road cyclist Rohan Dennis was arrested in January and charged with causing death by dangerous driving, driving without due care and endangering life.
Police allege Dennis recklessly struck the 32-year-old mother of two with his car in front of their home in Medindie in Adelaide's inner north on December 30.
