This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for this morning's news as it happened.
Key events
Live updates
By Tom Williams
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That's all for The Loop this morning — thanks for being with us!
We'll be back tomorrow, but in the meantime, you can stay up to date on the ABC News website and by subscribing to our mobile alerts.
If you're just joining us, here's what you need to know:
- A search is underway for two men missing in flood waters in NSW
- Instagram says it's fixed a bug which kicked a lot of users out of their accounts
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Police in India have arrested nine people as they investigate the collapse of a suspension bridge
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COVID-19 case numbers are rising again in Australia
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Jair Bolsonaro is expected to end his silence today and speak about losing Brazil's presidential election
- Another horse has been scratched from today's Melbourne Cup
- The RBA is expected to raise rates again later today
By Tom Williams
Search underway for two men missing in NSW flood waters
A search is underway for two men missing in flood waters in the New South Wales Southern Tablelands.
Police say last night they were called to Bevendale, about 50km east of Boorowa, after reports a vehicle had been swept into floodwaters.
Police have been told a ute attempted to cross a flooded causeway when it was swept off the road by flood water.
Two men managed to free themselves from the cabin of the vehicle, however, another two men who are believed to have been travelling in the tray have not been located.
A search overnight was suspended due to poor light – it has since resumed.
By Tom Williams
Opening statements in Trump Organization's tax fraud trial
A New York court has heard opening statements as former US president Donald Trump's company, the Trump Organization, is on trial for alleged tax fraud.
Prosecutors say the company ran a 15-year scheme by Trump's most trusted lieutenant to avoid paying taxes on fringe benefits given to some of his top executives, including apartments and luxury cars.
In opening statements, prosecutors and defence lawyers sparred over the company's culpability for the actions of Allen Weisselberg, who has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify as a star prosecution witness in exchange for a five-month jail sentence.
"This case is about greed and cheating — cheating on taxes," Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger told jurors.
"(The Trump Organization) paid their already highly paid executives even more by helping them cheat on taxes."
A Trump Organization lawyer, Michael van der Veen, countered that Weisselberg had gone rogue and betrayed the company trust.
He claimed Weisselberg concocted the scheme without Trump or the Trump family's trust, cheated on his personal income taxes and lied to the company about what he'd done.
By Tom Williams
Australia among 50 countries condemning Xinjiang abuses in joint statement
Australia is one of 50 countries which have signed a joint statement read out during a UN debate which condemned "severe and systematic" human rights violations in China's Xinjiang region.
The signatories also include the likes of the United States, Britain, Japan, France and Israel.
Here's part of the statement, which was read out by a representative from Canada:
"We are gravely concerned about the human rights situation in the People's Republic of China, especially the ongoing human rights violations of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang."
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in August published a long-awaited report on Xinjiang, citing possible crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the far-western region.
Beijing rejects the allegations, claiming to be fighting terrorism and ensuring the region's development.
"Such severe and systematic violations of human rights cannot be justified on the basis of counter-terrorism," the joint statement added.
"In view of the gravity of the OHCHR assessment, we are concerned that China has so far refused to discuss its findings."
Signatories to the statement urged Beijing to "implement the recommendations of the OHCHR assessment" which include releasing those impacted and facilitating the safe reunion of families.
By Tom Williams
triple j announces J Awards 2022 nominees
Triple j has announced the nominees for its 18th annual J Awards, celebrating the best of Australian music.
Leading the pool this year are two returning J Award winners: Sampa The Great and King Stingray, which are both up for the Australian Album of the Year and Double J Australian Artist of the Year.
The likes of Flume, Julia Jacklin, Northlane, Midnight Oil, Courtney Barnett and Gang Of Youths are also up for awards.
You can see the full list at the link below, before the winners are announced on Thursday, November 17.
By Tom Williams
UN begins inspections of Ukraine nuclear sites amid 'dirty bomb' accusations
UN atomic watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has started its inspections of two nuclear sites in Ukraine, which are being carried out at Kyiv's request to address Russian accusations that it is working on a so-called 'dirty bomb' containing radioactive material.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said inspectors had started the work, and initial conclusions would be provided later this week.
Russia's defence chief had alleged Ukraine was preparing a "provocation" involving a radioactive device — a claim that was strongly rejected by US, British and Ukrainian officials.
By Tom Williams
Melbourne Cup 'will be pretty hard' for nearby flood-hit communities
As thousands of racegoers pour into Flemington racecourse ahead of this afternoon's Melbourne Cup, neighbouring residents are continuing to clean up from last month's flood damage.
100 properties were flooded by the Maribyrnong River, but Flemington Racecourse was unscathed because of its flood wall.
The wall was approved in 2004 by the then-Labor government, despite objections from residents and local councils.
Deputy leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell, has told ABC News Breakfast that the decision was made at the expense of people's homes.
"People around here in Maribyrnong and where I live in Kensington are still pretty upset that the Flemington racecourse got to protect their property at the expense of people's homes and their property," she said.
"We've had 100 people had their homes flooded, we've had hundreds more lose cars and other property.
"And I think watching revellers come to theMelbourne Cup will be pretty hard for those people who lost everything."
By Tom Williams
Instagram says it's fixed the bug which kicked people out of their accounts
Instagram says it has now fixed a bug which was causing many of its users to have issues accessing their accounts.
Some users had reported receiving messages which said "we suspended your account on October 31, 2022" when they opened the Instagram app on their phones.
Others reported that their number of followers dropped, presumably because some of those accounts were locked.
Some other users also had the Instagram app repeatedly crash when it was launched on their phones.
By Tom Williams
Telstra says floods were the likely cause of outages this morning
Telstra believes flooding was the likely cause of widespread outages this morning to its services across southern New South Wales and northern Victoria.
The telecommunications company says there was a power outage in Boorowa overnight and a cable cut at Adelong.
It says its battery backup at Boorowa kept services running for a number of hours overnight, but ran out at around 3am this morning.
Telstra says technicians have been able to install a generator at its Boorowa site and services should start to progressively return.
By Bridget Judd
Oath Keepers member testifies that Capitol riot was reminiscent of the French Revolution
A Florida man who stormed the US Capitol with other members of the far-right Oath Keepers has testified that he believed they were participating in a historic "Bastille-type event", reminiscent of the French Revolution.
Graydon Young, a government witness at the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates, said he saw parallels between the mob that attacked the Capitol in 2021, and the French people who “stood up and resisted kings and tyrants” more than two centuries ago.
“The people were obviously attacking the government and their function,” Young said during the trial’s fifth week of testimony.
Young, 57, was the first Oath Keepers member to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge related to the Capitol attack. He's the second group member to testify for federal prosecutors at the trial under a cooperation agreement.
By Tom Williams
Cormac Roth, son of actor Tim Roth, has died aged 25
Cormac Roth, a musician and son of English actor Tim Roth, has died aged 25 after living with cancer, his family has said.
Roth "died peacefully in the arms of his family who loved and adored him" on October 16, the family said in a statement, adding that "he maintained his wicked wit and humour" to the end.
"The grief comes in waves, as do the tears and laughter, when we think of that beautiful boy across the 25 years and 10 months that we knew him," they said.
"An irrepressible and joyful and wild and wonderful child. Only recently a man. We love him. We will carry him with us wherever we go."
Corman Roth was a guitarist, composer and producer. He revealed on his Instagram account that he had been diagnosed with stage 3 germ cell cancer in November 2021.
By Bridget Judd
Nine arrested after bridge collapse in India kills 134
Police in western India have arrested nine people as they investigated the collapse of a suspension bridge in one of the country’s worst accidents in years.
The collapse on Sunday evening in Gujarat state plunged hundreds of people into a river, killing at least 134.
As families mourned the dead, attention turned to why the 143-year-old pedestrian bridge collapsed and who might be responsible. The bridge had reopened just four days earlier.
Inspector-General Ashok Yadav says police have formed a special investigative team, and that those arrested include managers of the bridge’s operator, Oreva Group, and its staff.
“We won’t let the guilty get away, we won’t spare anyone,” Mr Yadav said.
Gujarat authorities opened a case against Oreva for suspected culpable homicide, attempted culpable homicide and other violations.
By Tom Williams
Norman Swan says COVID-19 case numbers are rising again in Australia
A new COVID-19 variant has emerged in parts of Asia, and case numbers are on the way up again in Australia after the last remaining restrictions were lifted last month.
Host of Health Report on RN, doctor Norman Swan, has told ABC News Breakfast that "the surge is on, unfortunately".
"In Victoria, case numbers have gone up by 24 per cent in the last week. Hospitalisations by about 20 per cent," he said.
"The numbers nationally are about 11 per cent in cases, although it's a really dodgy figure because we're not testing in any way systemically.
"Deaths were up 30 per cent, but that's off a very low base. And various states are reporting the new variants that are going around the world."
Dr Swan said XBB, BQ.1 and BQ1.1 were part of "a new set of variants that are immune evasive and pushing BA.5 out of the way".
He said we have seen surges of COVID-19 every three to five months, and he urged Australians to get their third or forth vaccinations if they haven't already.
By Bridget Judd
Bolsonaro expected to end silence and speak about Brazil election
More than 20 hours after losing the election to his fierce leftist adversary, Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has yet to say one word publicly, but he is expected to break his silence today.
The head of an allied party, Claudio Cajado, said Mr Bolsonaro's aides want him to read a text about the election, but it is not certain that he will concede defeat.
Brazil is on edge, with pro-Bolsonaro truckers setting up roadblocks in 12 Brazilian states.
The president has barely been seen since Sunday night, and he has kept total silence — an unusual stance for the normally voluble leader.
By Tom Williams
Another horse scratched from today's Melbourne Cup
The Grahame Begg-trained Lunar Flare has been scratched after an early morning inspection by vets.
Racing Victoria said the mare presented with lameness in the off fore yesterday and has been ruled unsuitable to race.
But the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Interpretation will be allowed to run after recovering from a nail in the hoof.
It means 22 horses will now line up for the race this afternoon.
Here's what you need to know about the rest of the field:
By Tom Williams
Chinese cities brace for wave of workers fleeing iPhone factory, fearing COVID
Cities in central China have drawn up plans to isolate migrant workers fleeing to their hometowns from a vast assembly facility of iPhone-maker Foxconn in COVID-hit Zhengzhou, fearing they could trigger coronavirus outbreaks.
Zhengzhou reported 167 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the seven days to October 29, up from 97 infections in the prior seven-day period.
Apple supplier Foxconn, based in Taiwan, currently has about 200,000 workers at its Zhengzhou complex and has not disclosed the number of infected workers, but said on Sunday that it would not stop workers from leaving.
Late on Saturday, cities near Zhengzhou, including Yuzhou, Changge and Qinyang, urged Foxconn workers to report to local authorities in advance before heading home.
Under China's strict zero-COVID policy, cities are mandated to act swiftly to quell any outbreaks, with measures that could include full-scale lockdowns.
By Bridget Judd
Elon Musk fires Twitter board of directors, makes himself sole member
Twitter’s new owner has fired the company’s board of directors and made himself the board’s sole member, according to a company filing on Monday (local time) with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Elon Musk is also testing the waters on asking users to pay for verification.
A venture capitalist working with Mr Musk tweeted a poll asking how much users would be willing to pay for the blue check mark that Twitter has historically used to verify higher-profile accounts so other users know it’s really them.
Musk, whose account is verified, replied, “Interesting.”
By Tom Williams
One thing to know from overnight: An Instagram error has locked many users out
Instagram users have been reporting apps crashing and their accounts inadvertently locking them out, as the social media network experiences ongoing issues.
The Meta-owned platform said early this morning (on Twitter, of all places) that it was aware of the problem.
Some users have reported receiving messages which said "we suspended your account on October 31, 2022" when they opened the Instagram app on their phones.
Some reported that their number of followers dropped, presumably because some of those accounts were locked.
"We are aware that some Instagram users in different parts of the world are having issues accessing their Instagram accounts," said a spokesperson for Meta.
"We're working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologise for the inconvenience."
Last week, Meta's WhatsApp messaging platform also suffered a multi-hour outage, affecting users worldwide.
By Tom Williams
News while you snoozed
- A number of Russian air strikes have hit critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities in Ukraine, in apparent retaliation for what Moscow alleged was an attack on its Black Sea Fleet over the weekend. The mayor of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, initially said that 80 per cent of consumers were left without water supplies "due to the damage to a power facility" near the city
- The man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi, the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, told police he wanted to hold her hostage and "break her kneecaps," authorities said. Prosecutors have filed two charges against 41-year-old David DePape, days after police say he broke into the Pelosi home and struck the Democratic leader's 82-year-old husband in the head with a hammer. He was left seriously injured in the attack
By Tom Williams
Here's the news Australia is searching for online
- Cassius Turvey. Over a thousand people have gathered at a candlelight vigil in Perth's north-east to remember and mourn the allegedly murdered Indigenous schoolboy. 15-year-old Cassius died on October 23, 10 days after he was allegedly beaten while walking home from school with a group of friends. Vigils took place in other locations, and further gatherings will take place across the country on Wednesday
- The White Lotus. The second season of the popular HBO drama began yesterday, with new episodes to drop weekly instead of all at once. The new season has a whole new bunch of morally ugly characters — you can learn more about them in this explainer
