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SEPTEMBER 28 (GMT) – SEPTEMBER 29 (AEST), 2020

AUSTRALIAUKNORTH AMERICA

Trump hits out at ‘fake’ tax leak

President Donald Trump has dismissed claims that he only paid $US750 in federal income tax in the year he ran for office and paid no income taxes at all in many others as “fake news”. The revelations threaten to undercut a pillar of his appeal among blue-collar voters and provide a new opening for his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, on the eve of the first presidential debate.

Biden slams Trump over pick

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says the fate of the Affordable Care Act is at stake with President Donald Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Biden said voters know the “very soul of this country is at stake.” “They know that the decisions of the Supreme Court affect their everyday lives,” he added.

Cases reach single digits

Coronavirus testing remains a major issue for Victoria, even as new case numbers continue to plummet. Victorians are being urged to stay the course, with Premier Daniel Andrews saying they are close to taking “a really big step”. While Victoria had three more deaths, there were only five new cases – the lowest figure since June 12. Andrews says Victoria is well ahead of schedule with its reopening roadmap.

Tougher rules for parts of the UK

New local lockdowns, further restrictions and tough new fines for failing to self-isolate come into force across parts of the UK. People across England will be legally required to self-isolate from this week if they test positive for coronavirus or are contacted by the test and trace service. If they do not they risk being hit with new fines starting at £1000 and increasing up to £10,000 for repeat offenders or serious breaches.

UK-built satellites set for launch

Two shoebox-sized supercomputer satellites, built in the UK to monitor shipping movements from low-Earth orbit, are due for launch. The nanosatellites, which received more than £6 million in funding from the UK Space Agency, will join more than 100 other space objects providing support to maritime trade.

ACT Party relishing gain in polls

From a one man band to potentially bringing eight other MPs back to Parliament with him, ACT’s David Seymour has been performing out of his skin. The stars have aligned for the party that’s battled through successive leaders and scandals, to now be polling as the third largest party behind National.

NEW ZEALANDUKNORTH AMERICA

YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS

FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 3

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AUSTRALIAUKEUROPE

Merkel visited Navalny

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has confirmed reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited him in a Berlin hospital where he was being treated for what German authorities determined was nerve agent poisoning. “There was a meeting, but one shouldn’t call it secret,” Navalny said, referring to media reports alleging that Merkel made a secret visit to the Charite hospital where he spent 32 days.

G20 summit to go virtual

Saudi Arabia, which is presiding over the Group of 20 countries this year, says the upcoming November gathering of world leaders will be held virtually amid the coronavirus pandemic. The kingdom had originally planned to host world leaders for the G20 summit in Riyadh before the pandemic, offering Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the chance to share handshakes and wide smiles with presidents and prime ministers.

Deputy defends airport ‘bargain’

The deputy prime minister insists spending $30 million on a parcel of land near the Western Sydney Airport worth just $3 million was actually a bargain. Michael McCormack believes people will eventually congratulate the federal government for paying 10 times more than the land was worth. “That eventually will be hailed as a good decision,” he said.

Fresh calls for London lockdown

Ministers are facing renewed calls for the imposition of local lockdown restrictions in London amid fears coronavirus is spreading more rapidly in the capital than official figures show. Jas Athwal – the leader of Redbridge Council, the London borough with the highest infection rate – said cuts to testing capacity in the city meant the true picture was being “distorted”.

Mint reveals new high-tech coins

The Royal Mint has unveiled new gold bullion coins which can be authenticated as genuine by moving them in the light. The new edition Britannia coins go on sale from October 19 with new anti-counterfeit features, including intricate designs which make them very difficult to replicate. Demand for gold has surged during the economic uncertainty over the past six months as investors look for “safe haven” assets.

National has ‘explaining to do’

Labour continues to apply the acid over National’s economic plan, calling on leader Judith Collins to explain the full extent of the mistakes. It believes there could be up to $8 billion worth of errors in the party’s plan, released just over a week ago. Labour hasn’t released its own yet, but leader Jacinda Ardern says they will put out some “supplementary information” to follow September’s Treasury update.

NEW ZEALANDUKWORLD

YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS

FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 6

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NORTH AMERICA

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden. - AP

Biden slams Trump over Supreme Court pickDemocratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says the fate of the Affordable Care Act is at stake with President Donald Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

Biden said voters know the “very soul of this country is at stake.”

“They know that the decisions of the Supreme Court affect their everyday lives,” he added.

The former vice president sidestepped any talk of expanding the court to counter conservative gains should he defeat President Donald Trump in November and Democrats regain a Senate majority.

Biden called that scenario a distraction from the practical effects that Trump’s nominee, conservative federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett, could have if she succeeds the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“Never before in our nation’s history has a Supreme Court justice been nominated and installed while a presidential election is already underway. It defies every precedent, every expectation of a nation where the people, the people are sovereign and the rule of law reigns,” he said.

Biden repeated his calls that the Senate delay confirmation proceedings until after the November 3 election, moving ahead then if Trump wins another term or awaiting a nomination from Biden if the Democrat prevails.

The focus on health care reflects the Democrats’ larger strategy in recent days.

They tacitly concede Republicans are likely to confirm Barrett, giving conservatives a 6-3 court majority.

So, rather than fight a losing battle, as they did with Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s 2018 confirmation, Democrats want to raise the pressure on Republicans by focusing on how a conservative supermajority of justices might affect Americans’ everyday lives.

Justices are scheduled on Novembers 10, a week after Election Day, to hear another challenge of the 2010 health care law. ■

President Donald Trump. - AP

NORTH AMERICA

Trump lashes out at ‘fake’ income tax leakPresident Donald Trump has dismissed claims that he only paid $US750 in federal income tax in the year he ran for office and paid no income taxes at all in many others as “fake news”.

The revelations threaten to undercut a pillar of his appeal among blue-collar voters and provide a new opening for his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, on the eve of the first presidential debate.

Trump has worked for decades to build an image of himself as a hugely successful business mogul – even choosing that moniker as his Secret Service code name. But The New York Times revealed that he paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he won the presidency, and in 2017, his first year in office. He paid no income taxes whatsoever in 10 of the previous 15 years, largely because he reported losing more money than he made, according to the Times, which obtained years’ worth of tax return data that the president had long fought to keep private.

“Donald Trump needs this election to be about Joe Biden as a choice,” said longtime GOP consultant Alex Conant.

“This keeps the focus squarely on Trump’s character and the chaos going into the most important night of the campaign, the debate.”

At this point in the race, with voting already underway in many states and so few voters still undecided, it is unclear whether any new discoveries about Trump would make any difference. Trump’s support over the years has remained remarkably consistent, polls over the course of his presidency have found.

Yet the tax allegations go to the very heart of Trump’s appeal, especially among the blue-collar voters in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan who propelled him to the presidency in 2016. Trump was supported by about two-thirds of white voters without college degrees, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center, versus only about two in 10 nonwhite noncollege graduates. ■

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UK

One of two shoebox-sized supercomputer satellites that were built in the UK to monitor

shipping movements from low-Earth orbit. - PA

UK-built supercomputer satellites ready for liftoffTwo shoebox-sized supercomputer satellites, built in the UK to monitor shipping movements from low-Earth orbit, are due for launch.

The nanosatellites, which received more than £6 million in funding from the UK Space Agency, will join more than 100 other space objects providing support to maritime trade.

Made by Spire Global UK in Glasgow, each device has an onboard supercomputer with machine-learning algorithms that can provide “hyper-accurate predictions” of the locations of boats, according to the UK Space Agency.

The nanosatellites will calculate the arrival times of boats at ports to help port businesses and authorities manage busy docks safely, the agency said.

The machines will be transported into space on a Soyuz launcher from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia at 12.20pm UK time.

Science minister Amanda Solloway said: ”Satellites are shrinking in size and growing in ambition.

“A satellite the size of a shoebox may sound like a gimmick, but these nanosatellites are driving a revolution in how we observe planet Earth – with each holding the power and intelligence of a regular satellite.

“The Government is ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of this revolution and the Spire nanosatellites we have backed will help us do just that.”

Engineers at Spire Global designed, built and tested the spacecraft at the company’s Glasgow headquarters.

The nanosatellites were developed under the European Space Agency (ESA) Pioneer programme – a partnership co-funded by the UK Space Agency.

Meanwhile, the Government is also supporting the development of spaceports across the country, which will allow satellites to be launched from the UK soil for the first time in the coming years. ■

Old Compton Street in Soho, London, after pubs and restaurants were subject to a 10pm

curfew to combat the rise in coronavirus cases in England. - PA

UK

Tougher restrictions for parts of the UKNew local lockdowns, further restrictions and tough new fines for failing to self-isolate come into force across parts of the UK.

People across England will be legally required to self-isolate from this week if they test positive for coronavirus or are contacted by the test and trace service.

If they do not they risk being hit with new fines starting at £1000 and increasing up to £10,000 for repeat offenders or serious breaches, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.

People who test positive for COVID-19 will also be fined if they knowingly provide false information about close contacts to the test and trace service.

The DHSC said that police will check compliance in the highest incidence areas and in high-risk groups based on “local intelligence”.

High profile and “egregious” cases of non-compliance will be investigated and prosecuted while action will be taken on tip-offs from “third parties” about people who have tested positive but are not self-isolating, the DHSC added.

But people on low incomes who cannot work from home and have lost income as a result will also be eligible for a new £500 test and trace support payment, it added.

Under new rules in England wedding ceremonies will also be restricted to 15 people.

Meanwhile, three more council areas in South Wales will go into local lockdown from 6pm on Monday, the Welsh Government has announced.

Neath Port Talbot, Torfaen and the Vale of Glamorgan will be covered by the restrictions, which mean people will not be able to enter or leave the areas without a reasonable excuse.

They will not be able to meet indoors with anyone they do not live with, with extended households suspended.

Restrictions are already in place in Cardiff, Swansea, Llanelli, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport, and Rhondda Cynon Taf. ■

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NEW ZEALAND

ACT leader David Seymour, on the campaign trail. - RNZ

ACT Party relishing gain in election pollsFrom a one man band to potentially bringing eight other MPs back to Parliament with him, ACT’s David Seymour has been performing out of his skin.

The stars have aligned for the party that’s battled through successive leaders and scandals, to now be polling as the third largest party behind National.

In the past the focus on ACT, come election time, has been whether or not it would get the nod from National in Epsom – the electorate seat that’s been the party’s lifeline for a number of election cycles.

Seymour now mounts the argument he’s able to secure that seat under his own steam.

Not only that, but ACT, as one of the smaller parties, has been polling over the 5 per cent threshold in recent months, meaning the Epsom seat is a ‘good to have’ for Seymour, but not as crucial for the party’s survival.

The combination of Seymour’s consistent and persistent campaign, his sole opposition to the first tranche of firearms reforms and the woes of political ally National, mean ACT is sitting pretty for the first time in two decades.

What that could mean is the biggest caucus ACT has had since 2002, when it had nine MPs under leader Richard Prebble.

In 2020 this could be a potential advantage, but also a potential liability, with a largely unknown and tested line-up of candidates. Based on the latest 1News Colmar Brunton poll, ACT could bag nine seats, with its party vote at 7 per cent.

And in last night’s Newshub Reid Research poll ACT is up three points to 6.3, which would give the party eight seats in Parliament.

It would be “one of the most diverse caucuses”, asserts Seymour: “We’ve got two Ngā Puhi. We’ve got two vegetarians. We’ve got men and women; we’ve got one South Islander”. ■

People wearing face masks walk past an outdoor photography exhibition of healthcare

workers in Melbourne. - AAP

AUSTRALIA

Victorian virus cases reach single digitsCoronavirus testing remains a major issue for Victoria, even as new case numbers continue to plummet.

Victorians are being urged to stay the course, with Premier Daniel Andrews saying they are close to taking “a really big step”.

While Victoria had three more deaths, there were only five new cases – the lowest figure since June 12.

Andrews says Victoria is well ahead of schedule with its reopening roadmap.

Several Melbourne restrictions are being eased on Monday, while the city’s curfew ended at 5am.

A new roadmap schedule was announced on Sunday, with October 19 looming as the next key date for adjusting Melbourne’s restrictions.

“We are so, so close and what’s important now is that everyone keeps following the rules,” Andrews said.

“If we can do it, and I’m confident that we can, we will be able to take big steps in just three weeks.”

The latest deaths take the state toll to 787 and the national figure to 875.

But only 6807 new tests were announced and authorities are set to announce a measure later this week where people in high-risk industries, such as aged care and meatworks, will be asked to be part of the testing program.

The premier has said repeatedly that tests must stay high for authorities to be confident in easing restrictions.

Jeroen Weimar from the Department of Health and Human Services said he was concerned about testing levels across outer regional Victoria.

He said waste water testing had been expanded and there were now 23 sampling sites across the state.

Weimar said the department had trialled saliva testing with 1000 Victoria Police officers and picked up one positive case in the Dandenong station.

Melbourne’s all-important rolling new case average is now down to 20.3 and is at 0.6 for regional areas. ■

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WORLD

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on a video conference call to other G20 leaders

during the coronavirus pandemic. - PA

G20 gathering of world leaders to be virtualSaudi Arabia, which is presiding over the Group of 20 countries this year, says the upcoming November gathering of world leaders will be held virtually amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The kingdom had originally planned to host world leaders for the G20 summit in Riyadh before the pandemic, offering Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the chance to share handshakes and wide smiles with presidents and prime ministers, such as Donald Trump, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi and China’s Xi Jinping.

Instead, the planned virtual meet-up strips the kingdom of the pomp that would have accompanied televised arrivals on Riyadh’s tarmac just two years after the killing and dismemberment of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi stained the crown prince’s reputation. Prince Mohammed has insisted he had nothing to do with the operation carried out by Saudi agents inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, despite US senators and intelligence officials saying he bore responsibility for the slaying.

Saudi Arabia said the virtual summit on November 21-22 will be chaired by King Salman. The meeting will focus on focus on “protecting lives and restoring growth by addressing vulnerabilities uncovered during the pandemic and by laying down the foundations for a better future,” a Saudi statement said.

The statement added that G20 countries, which represent the world’s biggest and most powerful economies, have contributed over $21 billion to support the production of vaccines and access to therapeutics, as well as injected $11 trillion “to safeguard the global economy”.

G20 nations, however, have been criticised for not taking cohesive action against the virus and its economic impact. The US, China and Russia have opted out of a collaborative effort to develop and distribute a vaccine. ■

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

EUROPE

Navalny visited by Merkel in hospitalRussian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has confirmed reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited him in a Berlin hospital where he was being treated for what German authorities determined was nerve agent poisoning.

“There was a meeting, but one shouldn’t call it secret,” Navalny said, referring to media reports alleging that Merkel made a secret visit to the Charite hospital where he spent 32 days.

“Rather, (it was) a private visit and a conversation with the family. I’m very grateful to chancellor Merkel for visiting me in the hospital,” the politician said.

German magazine Der Spiegel reported, without citing sources, that Merkel had made a secret visit to Navalny when he was at the Charite hospital in Berlin. It didn’t specify when the visit happened, but Navalny was discharged from the hospital last week.

Navalny spent 32 days in the hospital, 24 of them in intensive care, before doctors deemed his condition had improved sufficiently for him to be discharged. He will remain in Germany for the time being to continue his rehabilitation, his team said.

Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator who is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on August 20 on a domestic flight in Russia.

He spent those two days in a coma in a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk, where Russian doctors said they found no trace of any poisoning. German chemical weapons experts determined that he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok – findings corroborated by labs in France and Sweden.

The nerve agent used in the attack was the same class of poison that Britain said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018. Merkel called the poisoning an attempted murder and she and other world leaders have demanded that Russia fully investigate the case. ■

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UK

The new gold bullion coin which can be authenticated as genuine by moving it in the light.

- PA

Royal Mint unveils new high-tech bullion coinsThe Royal Mint has unveiled new gold bullion coins which can be authenticated as genuine by moving them in the light.

The new edition Britannia coins go on sale from October 19 with new anti-counterfeit features, including intricate designs which make them very difficult to replicate.

Demand for gold has surged during the economic uncertainty over the past six months as investors look for “safe haven” assets.

The Royal Mint said it has seen website sales of gold Britannia coins increase by 236 per cent from April to September when compared with the same period in 2019.

Customers can verify the new Britannia range by rotating the coins in the light.

The features include: A latent image, surface animation, micro-text and tincture lines depicting colours and patterns on metal.

The range includes a one-ounce gold bullion coin and half, quarter and tenth-ounce gold coins, as well as a one-ounce silver coin.

The coin prices will depend on changes in the gold price, and the Mint said exact pricing will be given when the coins are available to purchase in October.

It said the average paid for a Britannia coin since January is £1483.

The Royal Mint was one of the first Mints in the world to use advanced picosecond lasers – used in medicine and aerospace – for the production of coins. This technology enables it to create complex designs using indents which are 200 times narrower than the width of a human hair.

The Mint said the tiny indents enable it to create spectacular effects – such as the movement of waves seen in the background of the Britannia coins. ■

- PA

UK

Ministers face fresh calls for London lockdownMinisters are facing renewed calls for the imposition of local lockdown restrictions in London amid fears coronavirus is spreading more rapidly in the capital than official figures show.

Jas Athwal – the leader of Redbridge Council, the London borough with the highest infection rate – said cuts to testing capacity in the city meant the true picture was being “distorted”.

He called for an immediate ban on different households mixing in the most overcrowded areas to prevent the situation getting worse.

“Quite clearly I think in overcrowded parts of London we have got to be looking at bringing that in so that different households can’t mix,” he said.

“Mixing face-to-face should be stopped immediately because there are problems and we are seeing there the pandemic take hold. It is only going to get worse with the flu season coming into play as well.”

His warning came after London mayor Sadiq Khan issued a call at the weekend for immediate action to stem the spread of the virus in the city, saying the capital was at a “tipping point”.

Redbridge currently has a seven-day rate of new COVID-19 cases of 68.1 per 100,000 people – up from 45.5 a week ago – making it the the 57th highest in England.

However, Athwal said there had been a sharp fall in the number of tests being carried out over the past two weeks, suggesting the true picture was even worse.

He said that a major testing centre in the borough at Ilford which had been conducting 700 to 800 tests a day had seen those numbers fall to 100 to 150 due to a shortage of capacity in the national laboratories.

“The big problem – and this is the spectre that is looming all over us – is the fact that we have lost 44 per cent of our testing capacity over the last couple of weeks so the numbers could actually be a lot higher than they are being shown all the way across London,” he said. ■

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National has ‘a lot of explaining to do’ Labour continues to apply the acid over National’s economic plan, calling on leader Judith Collins to explain the full extent of the mistakes.

It believes there could be up to $8 billion worth of errors in the party’s plan, released just over a week ago.

Labour hasn’t released its own yet, but leader Jacinda Ardern says they will put out some “supplementary information” to follow September’s Treasury update.

“What I will say is: ours stacks up; what I’m deeply concerned about is that the National Party’s has a significant hole – you cannot promote tax cuts, as well as spending, as well as debt reduction and claim that you’re not going to cut services,” she said.

National has admitted to two errors, and adjusted the plan accordingly, totalling about $4 billion, but continues to deny a third, relating to transport funding.

It rejects the claim it double counted money by tagging $3.9 billion to the non-existent NZ Upgrade Programme, as well as including it in the sum it’s allocated to capital spending.

Ardern says she believes National has double counted: “Yes, it certainly appears to be the case. They’ve since made claim that we’d see changes in the National Land Transport Fund; that still means an almost $4bn reduction right there”.

“They have a lot of explaining to do, and I do expect as leader of the National Party that job should be up to Judith Collins.”

Collins says there was “only one error, and the rest simply a different name for something, it’s been explained by the economists”.

“It’s just a typical thing from the Labour Party finance spokesperson [Grant Robertson] the ‘Minister of Misinformation’,” Collins said.

She dismissed Robertson’s comment they should rip the plan up and start again – “he doesn’t even have one,” Collins added.

But there have been a number of errors, counters Ardern, and “sizeable” ones. ■

NEW ZEALAND

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern and National leader Judith Collins continue to trade

budgetary blows. - RNZ

Deputy PM defends airport ‘bargain’The deputy prime minister insists spending $30 million on a parcel of land near the Western Sydney Airport worth just $3 million was actually a bargain.

Michael McCormack believes people will eventually congratulate the federal government for paying 10 times more than the land was worth.

“That eventually will be hailed as a good decision,” he said.“I appreciate that yes, it was very much over the odds,

I appreciate there’s a review going on into how that actually happened.

“But eventually when there is a need to be more runways and more infrastructure built at Western Sydney Airport, they’ll look back and say, probably, what a bargain that was.”

McCormack, who is also the Nationals leader and infrastructure minister, admits there should have been better processes around the land purchase.

“But there has been a decision taken,” he said.“The $30 million, yes it’s a lot of money, but in time it will be a

very good investment.”Labor frontbencher Catherine King was quick to pounce on

his remarks.“For the deputy PM to tick off these processes is simply

extraordinary and calls into serious question his judgement when it comes to the billions of dollars of infrastructure spending he oversees,” she said.

“Today’s comments again make it clear that the Morrison government simply cannot be trusted when it comes to infrastructure spending.”

The Australian National Audit Office handed down a scathing report into the land purchase last week, finding Department of Infrastructure officials had engaged in unethical conduct and failed to ensure proper probity.

The department has since appointed an independent investigator to examine the land deal and staff conduct throughout the purchase. ■

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. - AAP

AUSTRALIA

north america uk australia...1 day ago · uk to monitor shipping movements from low-earth orbit,...

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