TRANSCRIPT:
- The Easter drowning toll rises again after the death of a nine year old boy;
- The world's oldest astronaut has returned to earth;
- AFL coaches condemn fan behaviour after Port Adelaide's win against the Swans on Sunday.
A nine year old boy has died after becoming trapped between rocks at a popular holiday spot on the New South Wales mid-north coast.
Police and other emergency services say they tried to free the boy from the site at South West Rocks, but he died at the scene.
The boy's death means the toll from drownings in Australia over the Easter weekend has now increased to seven, with one of the deaths occurred in Victoria and the others in New South Wales.
Chief Executive Officer of Surf Lifesaving New South Wales Stephen Pearce says the last three days have been awful.
"This has been absolutely horrific from a coastal drowning perspective. It would be the worst Easter drowning toll that we have seen in New South Wales on our records."
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A flood of fake social media profiles has been detected that are inundating political discussion and reaching millions of Australians during the federal election campaign.
Disinformation detection company Cyabra says that one in five accounts analysed on X, formerly Twitter, and involved in discussing the election were fake and used AI-generated images and emotionally manipulative language.
The company says one account posted more than 500 times and reached about 726,000 users.
It says the primary narrative promoted by the bots was attacking the Labor Party to discredit Anthony Albanese and undermine his political standing by amplifying the message that the government was incompetent, economically damaging and too progressive.
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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged to introduce a pilot national sex offenders disclosure scheme if the Coalition wins government in May.
Mr Dutton says the pilot would allow parents or carers to apply for information from police about whether someone interacting with their child is a convicted sex offender.
Opposition spokesperson Michaelia Cash says the details would be worked through with states and territories, which are primarily in charge of handling crime and law enforcement.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says while his party is open to good ideas - there is already an information sharing register in place.
"There is a national child offenders system in place right now. My government will respond positively to any request from police or security agencies, as we have done. My government is the first government to set up national firearms register. (It) didn't exist before."
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Several thousand people have rallied in London to protest a U-K court decision that found the definition of a woman is based on biological sex under equality law.
The demonstrations occurred outside the Supreme Court, which handed down its judgement last week.
The UK government has welcomed the ruling, saying it has brought clarity to the legislation.
But protester Ian Buchan says trans people are being used as scapegoats.
“Trans people simply want to go about their lives and simply live and exist and that is their right. They’re such a tiny proportion of the population today that it’s extraordinary that we’ve let this culture war develop to the point where they’re allowed to be vilified. But it’s really so clear to me that they are scapegoats; they are patsies for a wider pitch of something that is happening.”
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NASA's oldest active astronaut has returned to Earth on his 70th birthday.
The space agency says Don Pettit became a septuagenarian while hurtling towards the Earth in a spacecraft to wrap up a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
Pettit and his crewmates Ovchinin and Vagner orbited the Earth over 3,500 times during their 220 days in space.
It was the fourth spaceflight for Pettit, who has logged more than 18 months in orbit throughout his 29-year career.
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In AFL news,
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has condemned an incident from the weekend that saw a cardboard clapper thrown at defender Aliir Aliir in his side's win over Sydney on Sunday.
The fan was removed from the stadium and interviewed by police after the incident, which came after Aliir took a mark on the goal line in the final quarter at the SCG.
Mr Hinkley says fans ought to have respect for the footballers they've come to see, and enjoy the game.
His Sydney counterpart Dean Cox has echoed those sentiments.
"Anything (abusive) from fans, members, supporters to players or anyone involved in footy - we don't condone. That's one thing that I stand firm on and so do the club... Come and enjoy the footy. Support, cheer - but leave it at that."
