This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for this morning's news as it happens.
Key events
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Live updates
That's it for The Loop today
By Felicity Ripper
Thanks for joining us!!
If you're catching up, here's a bit of what we covered:
- Documents with classified markings have been discovered in former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home
- Chris Hipkins has officially been appointed as New Zealand's prime minister today
- Fox Corp says media mogul Rupert Murdoch has scrapped a proposal to combine the company with News Corp
- Germany has announced it will send Leopard tanks to Ukraine
- The sci-fi indie hit Everything Everywhere All at Once has led the Oscar nominations announced overnight, with 11
Dentists have called for subsidies for children to be extended to the elderly
By Felicity Ripper
Amid poor dental hygiene and mouth disease rates in Australians and the rising costs of living, dentists and advocates are calling for subsidies for children to be extended to the elderly.
A regional Victorian dentist and the national peak dentistry body are welcoming the four-year extension of the Child Dental Benefits Scheme — available to families on Family Tax Benefit A — to help get children in the dentist's chair.
But they want to see it expanded to senior Australians.
Kanye West could struggle to get a visa to visit Australia
By Felicity Ripper
A federal cabinet minister has suggested controversial US artist Kanye West may struggle to get a visa to enter the country, considering his history of anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Last year, West praised Hitler during an interview with far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
"I like Hitler," West told Jones, later adding he saw "good things about Hitler".
"I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis."
A proposal to merge Fox and News Corp has been scrapped
By Felicity Ripper
Fox Corp says media mogul Rupert Murdoch has scrapped a proposal to combine the company with News Corp.
The deal would have reunited a media empire he split nearly a decade ago.
Prominent News Corp investors have been critical of the proposal.
And now Mr Murdoch has sent a letter saying that he and his son, who is the CEO of Fox Corp, decided the move is "not optimal" for shareholders.
Chris Hipkins has been sworn in as New Zealand's prime minister
By Felicity Ripper
Chris Hipkins has just been officially appointed as New Zealand's prime minister following the resignation of Jacinda Ardern.
It comes after outgoing Ms Ardern left parliament for the last time as prime minister of the nation this morning, amidst applause and hugs from those waiting to say farewell.
Ms Ardern walked out of the New Zealand parliament building, affectionately known as the Beehive, with partner Clarke Gayford.
When asked by local media how he felt, Mr Gayford replied "relieved".
Oscars nomination a surprise for Jamie Lee Curtis
By Shiloh Payne
Jamie Lee Curtis has earnt a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
And judging from the photos she shared, it doesn't seem like she was expecting it.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sacked a bunch of top officials
By Felicity Ripper
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sacked over a dozen senior officials following corruption allegations, in Ukraine's biggest political shake-up of the war so far.
Coming up: Inflation figures will be released
By Felicity Ripper
The latest official inflation figures will come out this morning.
The Reserve Bank is expecting inflation to peak at 8 per cent in the December quarter of 2022.
We'll find out if that forecast is correct.
News Australia is searching for
By Felicity Ripper
Princess Eugenie. The British princess, a niece of King Charles, is expecting her second child with husband Jack Brooksbank later this year.
Eugenie married Brooksbank at Windsor Castle in 2018 and their first child, a son named August, was born in February 2021.
Taylor Swift Snubbed by Oscars for Best Original Song
By Felicity Ripper
Taylor Swift's song Carolina from Where the Crawdads Sing was snubbed from the original song race this Oscars.
Swifties were already mad that her short film didn't make the shortlist.
Lady Gaga and Rihanna earned Oscar nominations in the category.
Scientists have moved the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to midnight
By Felicity Ripper
Atomic scientists have set the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight than ever before, saying threats of nuclear war, disease, and climate volatility have been exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, putting humanity at greater risk of annihilation.
The Doomsday Clock, created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to illustrate how close humanity has come to the end of the world, moved its "time" in 2023 to 90 seconds to midnight, 10 seconds closer than it has been for the past three years.
Midnight on this clock marks the theoretical point of annihilation.
Coming up: Chris Hipkins will officially be appointed as New Zealand's prime minister today
By Felicity Ripper
New Zealand's Governor General will appoint Labour leader Chris Hipkins as prime minister in a formal ceremony today.
It comes after the surprise resignation of Jacinda Ardern who said she had "no more in the tank" to lead the country.
The Labour party elected former COVID-19 Response and Police minister Mr Hipkins to lead the party and the country on Sunday.
A third of teen boys look up to Andrew Tate
By Felicity Ripper
A survey has found a third of teenage boys in Australia look up to internet celebrity and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate.
In the study by Melbourne-based organisation The Man Cave, 28 per cent of teenage boys said they look up to the alleged human trafficker.
US sues Google over digital advertising dominance
By Felicity Ripper
The US Justice Department and eight states have sued Google, alleging that its dominance in digital advertising harms competition as well as consumers and advertisers — including the US government.
The government has alleged that Google’s plan to assert dominance has been to “neutralise or eliminate” rivals through acquisitions and to force advertisers to use its products by making it difficult to use competitors’ products.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press conference on Tuesday that Google's dominance in the ad market meant fewer publishers were able to offer their products without charging subscription or other fees, because they couldn't rely on competition in the advertising market to keep ad prices low.
As a result of Google's dominance, he said, “website creators earn less and advertisers pay more".
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake has struck Argentina
By Felicity Ripper
An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 has struck Santiago Del Estero, Argentina region, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.
The quake struck at a depth of 611 kilometres.
It comes after a powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck nearby on Friday.
Classified documents have been found at Pence's home
By Felicity Ripper
Documents with classified markings were discovered in former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home last week, his lawyer has told the National Archives in a letter.
It's the latest in a string of discoveries of confidential information in private residences.
The records "appear to be a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently boxed and transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration," Mr Pence's lawyer, Greg Jacob, said.
He said that Pence "engaged outside counsel, with experience in handling classified documents" to review records stored in his personal home after it became public that documents with classified markings were found in President Joe Biden's Wilmington residence.
The Justice Department already is using special counsels to investigate the presence of documents with classification markings taken from the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump and from President Joe Biden's home and former Washington office.
The Oscar nominations have been unveiled
By Felicity Ripper
The 2023 Oscar nominations have dropped overnight.
Dimension-hopping adventure Everything Everywhere All at Once topped the list of movies nominated on Tuesday for this year's Oscars as Hollywood's film academy chose several crowd-pleasing hits to compete for the best picture prize.
Everything Everywhere, a science-fiction flick about an exasperated Chinese immigrant struggling to finish her taxes, landed 11 nominations, including best picture and four acting nods.
Other films in the hunt for the top trophy at the Academy Awards included sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron's visual spectacle that currently ranks as the sixth-highest grossing movie of all time.
Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis, two of last summer's biggest blockbusters, also made the cut alongside Steven Spielberg's autobiographical coming-of-age drama The Fabelmans and dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherin.
Tar, Triangle of Sadness, Women Talking and a German remake of All Quiet on the Western Front rounded out the 10-picture list.
Germany to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine
By Felicity Ripper
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries such as Poland to do so.
The decision concerns at least one company of Leopard 2 A6 tanks that will be provided out of Bundeswehr stocks, said Spiegel magazine, which first reported the news.
One company usually comprises 14 tanks.
"Today the Chancellor made a decision that no one took lightly. The fact that Germany will support Ukraine with the Leopard tank is a strong sign of solidarity," Christian Duerr, parliamentary leader of the co-governing Free Democrats was quoted as saying by t-online news portal.
Other allies, such as Scandinavia, intend to go along with Germany in supplying their Leopard tanks to Kyiv, the magazine reported.
US officials told Reuters that Washington may soon drop its opposition to sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine, in a move intended to encourage Germany to follow.
One more thing
By Felicity Ripper
Priscilla Presley has thanked supporters following the death of her daughter Lisa Marie Presley.
Lisa-Marie, the only daughter of Elvis, was farewelled at a memorial in front of the family's famous Graceland mansion in the city of Memphis.
The 54-year-old singer-songwriter died shortly after being taken to hospital earlier this month.
