×
Australia news live: bird flu detected on Murray-Darling basin ‘should be ringing alarm bells’, expert says

Australia news live: bird flu detected on Murray-Darling basin ‘should be ringing alarm bells’, expert says

World news

Bird flu detected in inland NSW, on the Murray Darling Basin

Petra Stock

New South Wales recorded its first cases of H5 bird flu in two local birds on Saturday, including one found near Wentworth on the Murray-Darling Basin.

Jack Gough, chief executive of the Invasive Species Council, said:

double quotation markThat should be ringing alarm bells for governments because it suggests it could soon be spreading among inland bird colonies ahead of spring breeding season.

Birds in the Murray-Darling basin are already in decline due to feral animals, insufficient water to critical wetlands and the loss of habitat – now they have a deadly disease to contend with.

Samples from two deceased greater crested terns in NSW – the other found near Narooma on the south coast – tested positive at CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness.

On Saturday, a further 28 positive cases were confirmed in South Australia, bringing the state’s total to 147. An additional 13 suspected cases were also detected, including an ibis in Adelaide and a cormorant in Carpenter Rocks on the Limestone Coast.

Victoria confirmed 10 positive cases on Saturday, all from greater crested terns in south-west Victoria and Clyde in south-east Melbourne.

As of 3pm yesterday, Australia had a total of 215 H5 bird flu cases nationally.

Key events

Josh Taylor

Josh Taylor

SA premier meets Apple chief following social media ban

The premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas has visited Apple’s headquarters and met with outgoing chief executive Tim Cook in the United States.

Malinauskas posted on Linkedin that Cook was keen to discuss the social media ban, which kicked off with South Australia’s proposal last year before the federal government adopted a national approach.

Apple has been keen to credit Australia with inspiring planned changes to parental controls on iPhones and iPads, with Cook calling the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, earlier this year when Apple announced the changes.

Documents released under freedom of information laws this week suggest the pair discussed the possibility of Albanese visiting Apple’s California headquarters on his next trip to the United States.

The documents surrounding the call between Albanese and Cook reveal an unnamed employee at Apple following up the call in late June and enquiring about “the possibility of the PM visiting Apple Park in Cupertino (California) when he visits the US for the UN General Assembly.”

Any potential visit by Albanese to Apple may come after Cook steps down as chief executive, and is replaced by John Ternus on 1 September, as the UN General Assembly’s 81st session commences on 8 September.

Source link
#Australia #news #live #bird #flu #detected #MurrayDarling #basin #ringing #alarm #bells #expert

Previous post

Census Proposal Would Stop Counting Undocumented Immigrants—and Ignore Race and Sexual Orientation<div><p><span class="lead-in-text-callout">The US Department</span> of Commerce, which oversees the <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/republicans-differential-privacy-census-overhaul/" class="text link">Census Bureau</a>, is circulating a proposed rule that would cease the collection of demographic data on racial minorities and LGBTQ+ people and prevent undocumented immigrants from being counted in the 2030 census, according to documents viewed by WIRED.</p><p class="paywall">The decision could have far-reaching implications for federal funding, particularly in states where there are substantial numbers of racial and ethnic minorities, as well as on immigrant communities across the country.</p><p class="paywall">The proposed rule, which is being circulated across government agencies for review, says the census will eliminate questions about race and sexual orientation “to protect from any distortions created from the inclusion of personal questions.” The memo also states that “illegal aliens (among others) should not be included in the apportionment count, they are not true inhabitants, members of the body politics [sic], or persons with ‘usual residence’ in the United States.”</p><p class="paywall">This would likely require the reintroduction of a census question about a respondent’s citizenship. During Donald Trump’s first presidential term, Republicans attempted to add a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/03/25/nx-s1-5338905/census-citizenship-question-trump" class="text link">citizenship question</a> to the census for the first time since 1950. The effort was <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18-966_bq7c.pdf" class="text link">struck down</a> by the Supreme Court, 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the Court’s then-larger liberal bloc on the grounds that <a data-offer-url="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/supreme-court-rules-citizenship-question-census/" class="external-link text link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/supreme-court-rules-citizenship-question-census/"}" href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/supreme-court-rules-citizenship-question-census/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">the justification</a> for adding the question was “contrived.” The decision did not, though, find that citizenship questions are inherently unconstitutional.</p><p class="paywall">The Department of Commerce did not reply to requests for comment.</p><p class="paywall">“This is about the Voting Rights Act,” says Danah Boyd, a professor at Cornell University who studies the census, referencing the landmark voter protection legislation that the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/finishing-voting-rights-act-supreme-court-declares-racism-over-again" class="text link">dismantled</a> earlier this year. Eliminating the collection of these data, she says, would make it difficult to make basic assessments, like whether a congressional district is predominantly made of minorities.</p><p class="paywall">“If we don’t know certain things, we can’t challenge them politically,” says Boyd. “If we don’t know that certain peoples live in a particular geography, we can’t say, ‘Oh my gosh, here’s some massive inequality.’”</p><p class="paywall">Republicans and the Trump administration have long taken <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/republicans-differential-privacy-census-overhaul/" class="text link">aim at the census</a>. More recently, members of the Trump administration have attacked a little-known statistical method called <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/republicans-differential-privacy-census-overhaul/" class="text link">“differential privacy,”</a> which is used to prevent census data from being used to reidentify individual respondents, claiming that it makes the results inaccurate. In August 2025, Republican representative August Pfluger made another attempt to reintroduce a citizenship question on the census, sponsoring a bill called the <a data-offer-url="https://mcusercontent.com/d4254037a343b683d142111e0/files/aae8dae1-a65f-58d1-a37e-2293fd46880f/PFLUGE_104_xml.pdf" class="external-link text link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://mcusercontent.com/d4254037a343b683d142111e0/files/aae8dae1-a65f-58d1-a37e-2293fd46880f/PFLUGE_104_xml.pdf"}" href="https://mcusercontent.com/d4254037a343b683d142111e0/files/aae8dae1-a65f-58d1-a37e-2293fd46880f/PFLUGE_104_xml.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">COUNT Act</a>, and in October, Republican senator Jim Banks of Indiana published <a data-offer-url="https://x.com/SenatorBanks/status/1975242153942020548/photo/1" class="external-link text link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://x.com/SenatorBanks/status/1975242153942020548/photo/1"}" href="https://x.com/SenatorBanks/status/1975242153942020548/photo/1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">a letter</a> to Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, writing, “There is a credible argument that the framers of the Constitution designed the Census to cover lawful inhabitants and not those who are present illegally.”</p><p class="paywall">Census questions are set between two and three years in advance of the actual survey, based on priorities set by the administration. The data from the census inform everything from the apportionment of congressional seats to federal funding that is allocated based on the size of a population.</p><p class="paywall">An employee at the Department of Health and Human Services, who asked to remain anonymous because they are not authorized to speak to the press, tells WIRED that “many HHS programs use Census data to appropriate funding. Removing undocumented individuals from the census will cause localities with high numbers of those populations to lose critical federal funding.”</p><p class="paywall">The employee says that removal of racial categories could specifically impact Native populations, which sometimes receive specialized funding. “Some programs use the ‘American Indian or Alaska Native’ category from the Census to make determinations of grants set aside for Tribal entities,” they say.</p></div>#Census #Proposal #Stop #Counting #Undocumented #Immigrantsand #Ignore #Race #Sexual #Orientationus census,immigration,undocumented immigrants,race,lgbtq+

Next post

Mbeumo scores equaliser as Manchester United holds PSG to 1-1 draw in pre-season friendly <div id="content-body-71322700"><p>Manchester United continued its unbeaten run in the pre-season friendlies as it held European champion Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) 1-1 at the Ullevi, in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Saturday.</p><p>The Red Devils were stunned early on in the match as Ibrahim Mbaye found the net within the first two minutes. The Senegal forward, who had impressed in the FIFA World Cup 2026, scored through his team’s first opportunity, forcing United to look for a reply quickly.</p><p>The Premier League side suffered a major blow as Mason Mount picked up an injury just after 20 minutes. But the team soaked up the pressure eventually and restored the lead after the half-hour mark.</p><p>Bryan Mbeumo, who had netted a brace against Atletico Madrid to guide United to a 2-1 win in the previous match, continued to spare his team’s blushes with another clinical strike.</p><p>United continued to pile on pressure and had six more shots on target against just two by PSG, but Russian goalkeeper Matvey Safonov’s heroics, including five crucial saves, ensured the match ended all square.</p><p>Michael Carrick’s men, who were humbled against Wrexham AFC, now have two wins and a draw in the three matches that have followed, extending their unbeaten run to three games. On the other hand, PSG’s last win came in May, a 2-0 win over Lens, and it has lost and drawn two games each since.</p><p class="publish-time" id="end-of-article">Published on Aug 08, 2026</p></div> #Mbeumo #scores #equaliser #Manchester #United #holds #PSG #draw #preseason #friendly

Related Posts

Post Comment

Wolfnewss | Powered By SpiceThemes