This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for this morning's news as it happens.
Key events
Live updates
That's it for The Loop this morning
By Brianna Morris-Grant
Thanks for joining us today! If you're catching up, here's what we've covered:
- Fleetwood Mac member Christine McVie has died aged 79 after a short illness.
- Soccer fans have gone wild in Federation Square after the Socceroos made it through the final 16 in the World Cup.
- The US House committee has six years of Donald Trump's federal tax returns after years of fighting for them.
- More Medibank data has been released on the dark web, amid reports hackers have shared all files in their possession.
- And how did your Spotify Wrapped fare for 2022? The streaming site released their most-played artists, songs and more for the year.
You can keep up-to-date with other news on the ABC's website, by subscribing to our mobile alerts, and by watching News Channe or listening to local radio here.
Lion cubs saved from war in Ukraine arrive at US sanctuary
By Shiloh Payne
Four lion cubs that were orphaned during the war in Ukraine have arrived safely at a Minnesota animal sanctuary that has pledged to provide them with a permanent home.
A male cub named Taras and three females named Stefania, Lesya and Prada, who are all between four and five months old, spent the last three weeks at the Poznan Zoo in Poland.
Their arrival on Tuesday marked the final step in an arduous journey after they lived through sporadic bombings and drone attacks in Ukraine, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare
Crypto founder 'didn't ever try to commit fraud'
By Brianna Morris-Grant
The former CEO of collapsed crypto exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried has made his first public appearance since the firm's stunning downfall.
FTX's collapse stunned investors and left creditors facing losses totaling billions of dollars — it also left many predicting the end of cryptocurrency.
Now Mr Bankman-Fried has said he didn't knowingly commingle customer funds on FTX with funds at his proprietary trading firm, Alameda Research.
He told Reuters the company did not "secretly transfer" but rather misread its "confusing internal labeling.
FTX filed for bankruptcy and Mr Bankman-Fried stepped down on November 11, after traders pulled $8.85 billion from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal.
"By late on November 6 we were putting together all of the data [...] that obviously should have been part of the dashboards I was always looking at [...] and when we looked at that, there was a serious problem there," he said.
He added he "didn't ever try to commit fraud" and that he was "shocked" by the events of the past few weeks that led to the company's demise.
Premium prices predicted for cherries and berries
By Brianna Morris-Grant
If you were planning on including cherries in your Christmas dessert, you might be left out of pocket.
Unrelenting rain over the past month has resulted in a tough start to Victoria's cherry and berry season with growers struggling against poor-quality and dying trees, and boggy orchards.
Lois and Bill Hotson have been growing cherries on an orchard outside Chiltern in north-east Victoria for 40 years and said this year had been difficult.
"To this point, we can describe it as a challenging year, but it's not all doom and gloom," Mr Hotson said.
"The biggest impact on us has been for our early season varieties."
"Cherries are selling at a fairly premium price at the moment. From what I'm hearing all around, prices are up because of short supply."
- Continue reading this story at the link below.
Tributes flood in for Christine McVie
By Brianna Morris-Grant
Tributes to Fleetwood Mac member Christine McVie have poured in from musicians and fans after her death aged 79.
Her bandmate Stevie Nicks shared a handwritten letter on Twitter, bidding farewell to her "best friend in the whole world since the first day of 1975".
"I wanted to get to London — but we were told to wait," she wrote.
"So, since Saturday one song has been swirling around in my head, over and over and over.
"I thought I might possible get to sing it to her, and so, I'm singing it to her now."
What are your memories of Christine McVie and Fleetwood Mac?
Ecuador declares animal health emergency after bird flu outbreak
By Brianna Morris-Grant
Ecuador will slaughter some 180,000 birds at a poultry farm in the Andean province of Cotopaxi, south of the country's capital Quito after a bird flu outbreak.
The Agriculture Ministry has declared an animal health emergency, sparking quarantine efforts across potentially infected areas.
"During the next 90 days, it will not be possible to move birds, products and by-products of avian origin such as eggs, hens, chickens, among others, from the farms affected by the outbreak," they said.
Last month the Berlin Zoo shut down after a single bird tested positive after death.
Over 50 million birds have already been killed in the US due to a massive outbreak in the US.
The UK is also facing its biggest avian influenza outbreak ever — all poultry and captive birds are now legally required to be kept inside.
"We are now facing this year, the largest ever outbreak of bird flu and are seeing rapid escalation in the number of cases on commercial farms and in backyard birds across England," UK Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said.
Letter bomb sent to Ukraine's embassy in Madrid
By Shiloh Payne
A security officer at Ukraine's embassy in Madrid has been injured after opening a letter bomb addressed to the ambassador.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered all of Kyiv's embassies abroad to "urgently" strengthen security and urged Spain to take investigate the attack, a ministry spokesman said.
He says the perpetrators "will not succeed in intimidating Ukrainian diplomats or stopping their daily work on strengthening Ukraine and countering Russian aggression."
The letter arrived by regular mail and wasn't scanned.
- You can continue reading this story with the link below.
Democrats elect new House minority leader to replace Pelosi
By Brianna Morris-Grant
Democrats in the House of Representatives have named Hakeem Jeffries as their new leader.
The 52-year-old New Yorker will be the first black man to head a major political party in Congress when long-serving Speaker Nancy Pelosi steps aside next year.
He started out as a lawyer, working on affordable housing and policing issues, most notably the controversial "stop and frisk" practice.
First elected to Congress in 2012, Mr Jeffries was one of seven House managers who served as prosecutors in the first of the two Senate impeachment trials of former President Donald Trump.
The closed-door vote by Democrats was unanimous.
“We stand on their collective broad shoulders," Mr Jeffries said after it, talking about Nancy Pelosi and her team.
“The best thing that we can do as a result of the seriousness and solemnity of the moment is lean in hard and do the best damn job that we can for the people.”
Here's what Antarctica will look like by 2100
By Brianna Morris-Grant
Only a tiny portion of Antarctica — less than 1 per cent — is permanently ice-free.
But that's where most of its unique plants, mosses, lichens, algae, invertebrates and animals manage to survive.
Now scientists say that's all going to change.
Will we see trees growing on Antarctica? What's going to happen to the penguins?
Researchers have stepped up to paint us a picture.
United States facing 'heightened threat environment' in coming months
By Brianna Morris-Grant
Even as Australia lowered its terror threat level for the first time in almost a decade, the US will keep its raised for at least the next few months.
The US Department of Homeland Security says lone ofenders and groups motivated by a range of ideologies pose a danger.
They say threat actors could exploit several upcoming events — including the outcome of the midterm elections — to justify or commit acts of violence.
"Our homeland continues to face a heightened threat environment - as we have seen, tragically, in recent acts of targeted violence - and is driven by violent extremists seeking to further a political or social goal or act on a grievance," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.
Australia on Monday lowered its threat level from "probable" to "possible", where it had been since 2014.
ASIO's Director-General Mike Burgess told reporters in Canberra the decision there weer "fewer extremists with the intention to conduct an attack onshore".
How did you fare on Spotify Wrapped?
By Brianna Morris-Grant
Spotify users this morning woke up to find the numbers crunched on all their top artists, songs, and podcasts of 2022.
Australia's most-streamed artists were:
- Taylor Swift
- Drake
- Ed Sheeran
- The Weeknd
- Kanye West
Check out the full breakdown with music and pop culture reporter Mawunyo Gbogbo here.
What topped your Wrapped list? Harry Styles? Or that one obscure, 14-minute long white noise song you chuck on every night to go to sleep?
Let us know!
More Medibank data released on dark web
By Jessica Riga
Medibank has confirmed that further stolen customer data has been released on the dark web, amid reports that the hackers have released all files remaining in their possession.
The health insurer has steadfastly refused to pay the ransom demanded by hackers that illegally accessed the data of millions of customers, with the cyber criminals to this point drip feeding sensitive customer information onto the dark web.
William and Kate make first overseas trip since Queen's death
By Brianna Morris-Grant
The Prince and Princess of Wales have arrived in Boston for their first trip outside of the UK since the Queen died.
The visit is off to a rocky start, with one of Queen Elizabeth II's former ladies-in-waiting — and William's godmother — resigning over allegations she asked a black British charity worker "what part of Africa" she was from.
William and Kate will meet with environmental entrepreneurs and child development researchers, visit an anti-poverty program and local flood defenses.
Boston University professor and British history expert Arianna Chernock says the visit it "less about saving the Earth and more about saving the royal family".
The pair will also check out a Boston Celtics basketball game.
US House panel gets Trump's tax returns after long legal battle
By Jessica Riga
Here's more on this update out of the US.
CNN is reporting a US House of Representatives committee has obtained Donald Trump's tax returns, following a years-long court fight with the Republican former president who accused the Democratic-led panel of being politically motivated.
The Ways and Means Committee, which had been seeking Trump's tax returns spanning 2015 through 2020, will have little time to do its work, with Republicans poised to take the House majority in January.
The committee said it needs the documents, which it obtained following a Supreme Court decision clearing the release, to establish whether the Internal Revenue Service is properly auditing presidential returns and whether new legislation is needed.
Trump, who on November 15 began his third consecutive run for the presidency, fought the committee tooth and nail to avoid releasing them.
He was the first president in four decades not to release his tax returns as he sought to keep secret the details of his wealth and the activities of his real estate company, the Trump Organization. It had long been customary, though not required, for major party presidential candidates to release their returns.
A major question hanging over the committee's work is what will happen to the returns when Republicans take control of the House from the Democrats. The committee first requested Trump's returns in 2019.
Silicon Valley leaders welcome Elon Musk's management of Twitter
By Jessica Riga
Speaking of Elon Musk, Silicon Valley leaders have welcomed his management of Twitter, with Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings going so far as to call the billionaire "the bravest, most creative person on the planet."
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was keen to see how Elon Musk's management of content moderation on Twitter would fare, arguing it was good for platforms to take different approaches.
"You can agree or disagree with what Elon is doing, or how he's doing it, but I do think it's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out," said Zuckerberg, speaking at the New York Times DealBook conference.
"I would guess that not everything is going to work, but I think some things might work," he said.
The praise comes as the European Union warns Musk that Twitter needs to beef up measures to protect users from hate speech, misinformation and other harmful content to avoid violating new rules that threaten tech giants with big fines or even a ban in the 27-nation bloc.
Who here among us stayed up to watch the World Cup?
By Jessica Riga
Hey Brianna 🙂 Hey Tom 🙂 We made it in!!! ⚽️ ⚽️⚽️🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲
- Natty
Argentina beat Poland 2-0 to set up last 16 clash with Australia
By Jessica Riga
*rubs hands together* This is going to be good!
After the Socceroos incredible victory over Denmark this morning, it's now confirmed they'll face Argentina in the knockout stage.
EU warns Musk to beef up Twitter controls ahead of new rules
By Jessica Riga
A top European Union official has warned Elon Musk that Twitter needs to beef up measures to protect users from hate speech, misinformation and other harmful content to avoid violating new rules that threaten tech giants with big fines or even a ban in the 27-nation bloc.
Thierry Breton, the EU's commissioner for digital policy, told the billionaire Tesla CEO that the social media platform will have to significantly increase efforts to comply with the new rules, known as the Digital Services Act, set to take effect next year.
US House committee now has six years of Trump's tax returns
By Jessica Riga
CNN is reporting the US House Ways and Means Committee now has six years of former president Donald Trump's federal tax returns after the Supreme Court declined to intervene last week.
We'll bring you more updates on this breaking story as they come to hand.
Coming up: Australia's very first Climate Change Statement
By Tom Williams
The Minister for Climate Change, Chris Bowen, is set to release three things today:
- Australia's very first national Climate Change Statement
- New emissions projections
- Independent advice from the Climate Change Authority
Those three things were all required under the new Climate Change Bill act, which the government passed earlier this year.
"This is what transparency is about. This is what progress is about," Bowen said when he flagged the upcoming releases in parliament recently.
Here's an excerpt from his speech:
