TRANSCRIPT:
- Calls for tough action over the reported death of an Australian in Ukraine;
- South Korea's embattled president finally arrested by authorities;
- The US Congress bans transgender athletes from competing in women's school sports.
The federal government maintains it will respond strongly if they confirm an Australian man has died in Russian captivity.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the government is simply waiting for confirmation of what has happened to Oscar Jenkins.
"If there has been any harm caused to Oscar Jenkins, that is absolutely reprehensible - and the Australian government will take the strongest action possible."
The Coalition says it supports the sending of a strong message to Russia.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton says there are two things the government can do.
"And that is that the ambassador should be withdrawn and the ambassador here in Australia should be sent packing."
.
Firefighters are holding the line against two massive blazes that have ravaged parts of Los Angeles for the past week, even as desert winds and a parched landscape present extremely hazardous conditions.
Authorities say some 8500 firefighters from at least seven states and two foreign countries have gained slightly more control of the perimeter.
LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley says ground crews armed with hand tools and hoses have worked around the clock since the fires broke out on January 7 - battling terrible conditions.
"Life threatening and destructive and widespread winds are already here. For this significant wind event, we are taking an aggressive, lean forward posture and the LAFD is staffed all available resources, strategically placing fire patrols and engines in the un-impacted high fire risk areas in the city."
.
The president of South Korea has finally been taken into custody after an enduring standoff between police and his supporters and security detail.
It's understood Yoon Seok-yeol's presidential motorcade left the hillside residence where he has been holed up for weeks before arriving at the offices of the anti-corruption agency heading a probe into his ill-fated martial law declaration in December.
Yoon has released a statement saying he handed himself in to avoid any violence.
.
Advocates say 2024 was the deadliest year for gender-based murders in New South Wales.
Data from Domestic Violence New South Wales has found that out of 78 women who were killed in domestic violence situations, 25 lived in the state.
The organisation says the state still requires an urgent funding boost to frontline services, because it contributes the lowest amount of any state or territory.
.
Members of Victoria Police are mulling a vote of no confidence in the force's leaders as a pay dispute drags on.
It's understood a group of officers are discussing holding a vote and are gauging opinions from members across the force.
It comes as the Police Association's talks with the state government over a 24 percent pay rise have reached a deadlock.
.
A change could soon be coming to the way that obesity is measured in Australia.
A group of experts want obesity rates to no longer be calculated solely by the Body Mass Index [[BMI]], which relies mostly on a person's height and weight to measure body fat.
Monash University surgery department chair, Professor Wendy Brown, says the B-M-I has long been seen as problematic because of concerns it is an inaccurate way to determine health issues.
"If you are an athlete and you weigh a hundred kilos and you're solid muscle, your BMI might flick up to 30, but you're obviously a really healthy person because you're lean and you're fit and you're active. But if your BMI is 30 and that's largely made up of fat, particularly if that fat's carried around the central area or around your heart, then that becomes an unhealthy situation."
.
To sport news,
The US House of Representatives has approved a new law to ban transgender athletes from women's and girls sports at schools and other educational institutions that receive federal funds.
The legislation was approved largely along partisan lines, but two Democrats joined the Republicans in support of the bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has defended the bill in a press conference on Capitol Hill.
"This is a commitment that we have made because it comports with what is right and what is common sense. We know from Scripture and from nature that men are men and women are women, and men cannot become women."
