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OCTOBER 9 (GMT) – OCTOBER 10 (AEST), 2020

AUSTRALIAUKNORTH AMERICA

Trump says he’s ready for rallies

President Donald Trump insists he is ready to resume campaign rallies and feels “perfect” one week after his diagnosis with the coronavirus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans, as his doctor says the president had ”completed his course of therapy” for the disease. The president has not been seen in public since his Monday return from the military hospital where he received experimental treatments for the virus.

New storm menaces Louisiana

Boarded windows and empty sidewalks made parts of Louisiana’s Acadiana region look like empty movie sets as major Hurricane Delta roared ever closer to the US Gulf coast, apparently on track to smash into the same southwestern part of the state where Hurricane Laura blasted ashore six weeks ago. Forecasters said Delta would likely crash ashore somewhere on southwest Louisiana’s coast.

Aussies set for tax cuts

Income tax cuts will be brought forward for more than 11 million Australian workers after clearing federal parliament. The laws lump together fast-tracked personal tax cuts and a handful of business tax breaks at a total cost of almost $50 billion. Workers can expect to see the tax cuts flow through to their pay packets within weeks. And tax withheld since the start of July will be paid out once people lodge their tax returns for the financial year.

Push to extend furlough scheme

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under fresh pressure to extend the furlough scheme as pubs and restaurants in coronavirus hotspots look set to face new restrictions. The Liberal Democrats have urged Sunak to guarantee that the Government will help to pay the wages of employees who cannot work before any new shutdowns are mandated.

Officials meet over trade deal

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier is holding talks with his UK counterpart Lord Frost with time running out for a deal on a post-Brexit trade agreement. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he wants an agreement in place by the time of next week’s EU summit in Brussels next week. While both sides have reported progress in the negotiations, there remain significant issues, particularly on the issues of fisheries and state aid.

Ardern overrode election advice

The government has released the latest tranche of documents relating to the COVID-19 response and among the information is the Electoral Commission’s preference for a November 21 election date. Just five days before Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced she would be changing the election date to October 17, documents were sent out advising that the Electoral Commission had a preferred alternative date of Saturday, November 21.

NEW ZEALANDUKNORTH AMERICA

YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS

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AUSTRALIAASIANORTH AMERICA

Tensions flare in NYC hot spots

Hundreds of businesses and schools in New York City neighborhoods where coronavirus cases have spiked were closed by order of the governor, but questions swirled about how effectively officials could enforce the shutdown in areas where it has been met with resentment.

Military suprised by troop claim

The US military was blindsided by President Donald Trump’s assertion that all US troops will be out of Afghanistan by the end of the year, with US officials saying they are not aware of such a plan and have gotten no actual order to accelerate the more gradual pullout they’ve been executing. Trump’s comments, laid out in a confusing progression of comments and a tweet, alarmed Pentagon and State officials.

Surfer vanishes in shark attack

A surfer has vanished in a suspected shark attack off the Australian southwest coast, police say. A surfboard was found at Wylie Bay near the town of Esperance in Western Australia and a search was underway for the man who had been riding it, a police statement said. Ambulance officers reported the suspected shark attack at Kelp Beds Beach.

Scores hurt in high-rise blaze

A fire has spread through a high-rise apartment building in a South Korean port city, causing minor injuries to scores of people, officials have said. Footage from the scene in Ulsan showed a huge ball of orange flame soaring up the 33-floor building and shooting through the roof as firefighting crews tried to put out the blaze from below.

China joins COVAX alliance

China, which has four coronavirus vaccine candidates in stage 3 clinical trials, says it is joining the COVID-19 vaccine alliance known as COVAX. The country signed an agreement with GAVI, the co-leader of the alliance, China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Initially, China did not agree to join the alliance, missing the global deadline to join in September.

Minor parties face off in debate

With more than 16 minutes of ads spread in four blocks across the hour, and five leaders to bounce ideas and insults off one another, last night’s debate made for frantic, fractured viewing. It saw ACT’s David Seymour, the Green Party’s James Shaw, NZ First’s Winston Peters, the Māori Party’s John Tamihere and Advance NZ’s Jami-Lee Ross face off over – among other things – COVID-19, vaccines, debt, and the influence of China.

NEW ZEALANDUKNORTH AMERICA

YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS

FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 6

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NORTH AMERICA

Curt Duhon boards up windows on his son’s house to prepare for Hurricane Delta north

of Abbeville, Louisiana. - AP

Battered Louisiana coast braces for hurricaneBoarded windows and empty sidewalks made parts of Louisiana’s Acadiana region look like empty movie sets as major Hurricane Delta roared ever closer to the US Gulf coast, apparently on track to smash into the same southwestern part of the state where Hurricane Laura blasted ashore six weeks ago.

Forecasters said Delta – the 25th named storm of an unprecedented Atlantic hurricane season – would likely crash ashore somewhere on southwest Louisiana’s coast. The question was whether it would remain at devastating Category 3 strength or drop just before landfall to a still extremely dangerous Category 2 storm – with winds falling below 110 miles per hour (177 kph).

Either way, people in this battered coastal region were taking Delta seriously.

“You can always get another house another car but not another life,” said Hilton Stroder as he and his wife Terry boarded up their Abbeville home with plans to head to their son’s house further east.

As Delta churned north-northwest, the National Hurricane Center had a hurricane warning in place for the Gulf Coast extending from High Island, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana.

It marked the sixth time this season that Louisiana has been threatened by tropical storms or hurricanes. One fizzled at the southeast Louisiana tip and others veered elsewhere but Tropical Storm Cristobal caused damage in southeast Louisiana in June. And Laura demolished much of the southwestern part of the state on August 27, causing more than 30 deaths.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards noted that Delta appeared headed for the area near the Texas state line that was devastated by Laura, including Lake Charles and surrounding Calcasieu Parish, and rural Cameron Parish on the coast. “And we’ve got people who are very tired,” he noted. ■

President Donald Trump. - AP

NORTH AMERICA

Trump insists he’s ready to make capmaign return President Donald Trump insists he is ready to resume campaign rallies and feels “perfect” one week after his diagnosis with the coronavirus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans, as his doctor says the president had ”completed his course of therapy” for the disease.

The president has not been seen in public – other than in White House-produced videos – since his Monday return from the military hospital where he received experimental treatments for the virus. On Thursday, his physician, Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, said in a memo that Trump would be able to safely “return to public engagements” on Saturday, as the president tries to shift his focus to the election that’s less than four weeks away, with millions of Americans already casting ballots.

While Trump said he believes he’s no longer contagious, concerns about infection appeared to scuttle plans for next week’s presidential debate.

“I’m feeling good. Really good. I think perfect,” Trump said during a telephone interview with Fox Business, his first since he was released from a three-day hospital stay. “I think I’m better to the point where I’d love to do a rally tonight,” Trump said. He added, “I don’t think I’m contagious at all.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said individuals can discontinue isolation 10 days after the onset of symptoms, which for Trump was October 1, according to his doctors. Conley said that meant Trump, who has been surrounded by minimal staffing as he works out of the White House residence and the Oval Office, could return to holding events on Saturday.

He added that Trump was showing no evidence of his illness progressing or adverse reactions to the aggressive course of therapy prescribed by his doctors.

Earlier, the president’s doctors suggested they would work closely with military medical research facilities and other laboratories on “advanced diagnostic testing” to determine when the president was no longer contagious. ■

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UK

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. - AP

Calls for Sunak to extend virus furlough schemeChancellor Rishi Sunak is under fresh pressure to extend the furlough scheme as pubs and restaurants in coronavirus hotspots look set to face new restrictions.

The Liberal Democrats have urged Sunak to guarantee that the Government will help to pay the wages of employees who cannot work before any new shutdowns are mandated.

In a letter to the Chancellor, the party’s treasury spokeswoman Christine Jardine said the “fundamental premise for ending the furlough scheme no longer holds”.

She wrote: “We are now in the midst of a second coronavirus wave with reports that businesses, especially those in the hospitality industry, could be ordered to shut within days.

“The first Government-imposed lockdown was followed by the Job Retention Scheme. Now that Government is about to bring back business shutdowns, it must retain the furlough scheme.

“(Sunak’s) Winter Economy Plan ruled out an extension to furlough with the argument that ‘as the economy reopens it is fundamentally wrong to hold people in jobs that only exist inside the furlough’.

“But it is now perfectly clear that the economy is not reopening – it is facing new Government-mandated closures.”

Jardine continued: “When Government orders businesses to close, it should be good practice to support the livelihoods of their employees – and ensure that businesses remain viable until restrictions are lifted.

“I urge you to commit to the extension of the Job Retention Scheme to support the jobs and businesses that will not be allowed to operate. It is essential that this guarantee is given before new shut-downs are mandated.”

The Government’s furlough scheme – which supported millions of workers during the height of the pandemic – will end at the end of October.

It will be replaced by a less generous Jobs Support Scheme, which will see the Government pay up to 22 per cent of wages for workers who come back part-time from November 1. ■

- PA

UK

Brexit officials meet to discuss trade dealThe EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier is holding talks with his UK counterpart Lord Frost with time running out for a deal on a post-Brexit trade agreement.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he wants an agreement in place by the time of next week’s EU summit in Brussels next week.

While both sides have reported progress in the negotiations, there remain significant issues, particularly on the issues of fisheries and state aid.

The meeting in London comes after Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen agreed at the weekend to intensify negotiations in a final push for an agreement.

Speaking in Dublin, the European Council president Charles Michel said they had reached a critical stage.

“The coming days are crucial, this is the moment of truth,” he said.

“I have been very clear with Prime Minister Johnson.“It’s now for the UK to restore trust and to put all its cards

on the table.“The EU is doing its utmost to find an agreement with the UK,

but not at any cost.”Negotiations are due to resume again in Brussels next week

as the discussions go down to the wire.The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have been

perfectly clear about the need to work towards the October 15 European Council, the EU has agreed to intensified talks, those have been taking place this week and you will see more of them next week.” ■

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NEW ZEALAND

- RNZ / Nate McKinnon

Ardern overrode advice on changed election dateThe government has released the latest tranche of documents relating to the COVID-19 response and among the information is the Electoral Commission’s preference for a November 21 election date.

Just five days before Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced she would be changing the election date to October 17, documents were sent out advising that the Electoral Commission had a preferred alternative date of Saturday, November 21.

“Proceeding earlier than this does not give it sufficient time to re-standup advance and election day voting services,” the document said.

The commission generally advises to avoid dates within the school holidays and provincial or statutory holidays, which left only October 17 and November 21 as potential dates, which would not require a law change.

If the election were to occur on November 21, then the official result was estimated to come back on December 11.

The commission had set-up contingency plans for the election to be delivered at COVID-19 alert level 2, with up to 10 ‘clusters’ of up to 5000 cases in total at alert level 3 and 4.

“Should the election need to proceed at alert level 3 or 4, this could be done, but there will be significant operational implications for the Commission.

“The impact will depend on the size and number of regions at higher alert levels, and the numbers in isolation or quarantine. “

It also noted that at a higher alert level physical distancing would likely apply, meaning that voters would also experience longer wait times and that face-to-face engagement with voters, including for enrolment purposes, would also be significantly curtailed.

There was also concern that some people may be less willing to go to a voting place or even use a post box – decreasing voter turnout. ■

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. - AAP

AUSTRALIA

Australians set for fast-tracked tax cutsIncome tax cuts will be brought forward for more than 11 million Australian workers after clearing federal parliament.

The laws lump together fast-tracked personal tax cuts and a handful of business tax breaks at a total cost of almost $50 billion.

Workers can expect to see the tax cuts flow through to their pay packets within weeks.

And tax withheld since the start of July will be paid out once people lodge their tax returns for the financial year.

The legislation passed the upper house after the government capped time for debate.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the tax relief would help businesses invest and hire new workers.

“This is the plan that Australians have needed,” he said.“This is the plan that has been legislated, made law in our

parliament, in three days.”The low income tax offset will now be lifted from

$445 to $700.The top threshold of the 19 per cent personal income

tax bracket will increase from $37,000 to $45,000 backdated to July 1.

And the top threshold of the 32.5 per cent income tax bracket will rise from $90,000 to $120,000.

Adjustments will be made to ensure taxpayers have the correct amount of tax withheld from their pay going forward.

The low and middle income tax offset will be retained for 2020-21 and received after individuals lodge their tax returns for the financial year.

While Morrison celebrated the speed at which the bill cleared parliament, crossbench senators are furious Labor helped the government push the tax changes through.

Independent senator Rex Patrick admitted he was speaking from an uninformed position as he did not have enough time to scrutinise the hundreds of pages explaining the bill. ■

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NORTH AMERICA

- AP

Trump’s move catches military off guardThe US military was blindsided by President Donald Trump’s assertion that all US troops will be out of Afghanistan by the end of the year, with US officials saying they are not aware of such a plan and have gotten no actual order to accelerate the more gradual pullout they’ve been executing.

Trump’s comments, laid out in a confusing progression of comments and a tweet, alarmed Pentagon and State officials who fear that putting a definitive date on troop withdrawal could undercut negotiations to finalize a peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government. They also fear a hasty withdrawal could force the US to leave behind sensitive military equipment. And they continue to stress that the Taliban has still not met requirements to reduce violence against the Afghans, a key element of the US withdrawal plan.

The Taliban welcomed Trump’s announcements, which started with a tweet saying “we should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas.” He reinforced early withdrawal plans in a Fox Business Channel interview that understated the number of troops currently in Afghanistan.

“We’re down to 4000 troops in Afghanistan. I’ll have them home by the end of the year. They’re coming home, you know, as we speak. Nineteen years is enough. They’re acting as policemen, OK? They’re not acting as troops,” Trump said.

Multiple US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive troop details, said they know of no plan for either new deadline. Instead, they pointed to comments by National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, who told an audience in Las Vegas that “as of today, there are under 5000 and that will go to 2500 by early next year.”

US officials said troop numbers have not yet been reduced to 4500, but will hit that goal in November as planned. The military has also consistently said that counterterrorism troops would remain in Afghanistan for some time to deal with al-Qaida and Islamic State threats. ■

Caption here…

NORTH AMERICA

Tensions flare in New York City hot spotsHundreds of businesses and schools in New York City neighborhoods where coronavirus cases have spiked were closed by order of the governor, but questions swirled about how effectively officials could enforce the shutdown in areas where it has been met with resentment.

The new rules were also met with legal resistance, as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, filed lawsuits over a provision limiting attendance at indoor religious services to no more than 10 people.

Confusion and dismay reigned as the restrictions began to take effect.

In Brooklyn’s Borough Park section, the scene of two nights of protests against the clampdown by Orthodox Jews, some merchants subject to the shutdown order appeared to be operating as usual at midday, including a barber shop, cellphone stores and a toy store.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said 1200 city workers would be out on the streets doing enforcement, though some of those efforts involved trying to educate businesses about rules imposed with little warning in hastily drawn zones with confusing borders.

All nonessential businesses in areas designated “red zones” in parts of Queens and Brooklyn by Gov. Andrew Cuomo were supposed to shut. Public and private schools were supposed to close, as well, within both the red zones and surrounding “orange zones” designated by the Democratic governor.

Exactly where those zones began and ended, though, wasn’t easily apparent from maps released by the governor’s office or the city. Parents at one Brooklyn school protested that their school had been shut by the city even though it lay outside the area the governor had designated for school closures.

The new restrictions involve parts of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, sections of Orange and Rockland counties in the Hudson Valley and an area within Binghamton. ■

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ASIA

- AP

China joins COVAX vaccine allianceChina, which has four coronavirus vaccine candidates in stage 3 clinical trials, says it is joining the COVID-19 vaccine alliance known as COVAX.

The country signed an agreement with GAVI, the co-leader of the alliance, China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Initially, China did not agree to join the alliance, missing the global deadline to join in September.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement that “we are taking this concrete step to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, especially to developing countries, and hope more capable countries will also join and support COVAX.”

It is not yet clear the exact terms of the agreement and how China will contribute. The country’s leader Xi Jinping previously said that China would make the vaccine a global public good.The alliance is designed so that richer countries agree to buy into potential vaccines and help finance access for poorer ones. The Trump administration in the US had declined to join the alliance. ■

An apartment building is engulfed in a fire in Ulsan, South Korea. - AP

ASIA

Apartment high-rise fire injures dozensA fire has spread through a high-rise apartment building in a South Korean port city, causing minor injuries to scores of people, officials have said.

Footage from the scene in Ulsan showed a huge ball of orange flame soaring up the 33-floor building and shooting through the roof as firefighting crews tried to put out the blaze from below.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries. Hundreds of residents evacuated as the fire broke out while workers rescued another 77 who had escaped to the roof or other spaces.

South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety said at least 88 people were treated for minor injuries such as scratches or lightly inhaling smoke.

Officials are investigating the cause of the fire, which they said started at a balcony in one of the lower floors late Thursday and spread up the exterior of the building amid strong winds. The fire was nearly put out as of 9 a.m. Friday. ■

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Minor parties face off in fractured debateWith more than 16 minutes of ads spread in four blocks across the hour, and five leaders to bounce ideas and insults off one another, last night’s debate made for frantic, fractured viewing.

It saw ACT’s David Seymour, the Green Party’s James Shaw, NZ First’s Winston Peters, the Māori Party’s John Tamihere and Advance NZ’s Jami-Lee Ross face off over – among other things – COVID-19, vaccines, debt, and the influence of China.

TVNZ political editor Jessica Mutch McKay did a reasonable job of keeping the five men in suits in reasonable order, but none of them ever really got much time to elaborate.

When they did, an interruption would often lead to the interruptor taking centre stage, often derailing the conversation to another topic entirely.

That did not suit Seymour.“I would’ve liked there to have been more order and a

bit more time to get each person’s policy across and less interruption,” he said afterwards.”

Shaw was similarly put off.“This kind of format, you do tend to get a few people

shouting over each other. I actually don’t suspect that does them any favours and that’s not really my style,” he said.

Despite the difficulty of getting their point across, that strength on stage Shaw alludes to may prove to be a vital lifeline for his party, which lost a percentage point – down to six per cent – in in the latest Colmar Brunton poll.

With polls historically predicting the Greens higher than their actual election result, he admits every vote counts.

“We do know that we need to get everybody that supports the Green Party to a polling booth to make sure that they absolutely vote,” he said. “I would be comfortable with a few points more. We are not being complacent.” ■

NEW ZEALAND

From left, -David Seymour, Winston Peters, John Tamihere and James Shaw at the TVNZ

Minor Parties’ debate. - RNZ

Surfer vanishes after suspected shark attackA surfer has vanished in a suspected shark attack off the Australian southwest coast, police say.

A surfboard was found at Wylie Bay near the town of Esperance in Western Australia and a search was underway for the man who had been riding it, a police statement said.

Ambulance officers reported the suspected shark attack at Kelp Beds Beach.

“A witness called to say they saw a shark attack a person,” ambulance service spokeswoman Joanne Hill said. “We went to the scene. I understand they still haven’t found anybody.”

A 17-year-old girl was killed by a shark at the same spot in 2017.

In 2014, a 23-year-old man was also attacked by a shark off the beach, losing his arm and other hand.

A 57-year-old diver was killed by a great white shark off Esperance in January. His body was never found.

Pro surfer Matt Wilkinson had a close encounter with a great white shark off Ballina on the Australian east coast on Wednesday. A drone video showed the shark come to within inches of Wilkinson’s feet as he paddled his board before suddenly darting away. ■

- AAP

AUSTRALIA

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