While Elon Musk has had his grievances with Australia in the past, he's hailed the country's solar power rollout. Source: Reuters
Yahoo's live news blog for Thursday, November 14 has concluded. Elon Musk has heaped praise on Australia for leading the world "into the future" when it comes to solar energy.
Close to $200,000 has been raised for Eleanor Bryant's family after her tragic death earlier this week. The kindergarten teacher was killed when a truck crashed into her daycare northwest of Melbourne.
Follow along as we bring you regular updates throughout the day.
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Tom Flanagan
Elon Musk shares Australia's renewable success
Elon Musk has shared Western Australia's success with solar power, telling his followers it will be "the vast majority of power generation in the future".
The billionaire owner of Tesla shared a story that said the state had recorded a period where more than 80 per cent of its power had been generated from solar. His praise was seen by more than 50 million people on his social media platform X.
Musk has been a big talking point during the US election as one of Trump's most prominent supporters.
He has been spending plenty of time with the Trumps at his Mar-a-Lago estate following his election win and this week was announced head of a new government department targeting overspending.
Solar power will be the vast majority of power generation in the future https://t.co/DhLfYJjsrm
Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia have resumed flights to and from Bali after an ash cloud grounded flights for the holiday destination.
A volcanic eruption on an Indonesian island to the east of Bali was the cause of the giant plume of ash that halted activity.
Disrupted customers are being contacted with rebooking information with airlines continue to monitor the situation. While not all flights have resumed, further flights are being added to deal with the backlog of passengers.
Tom Flanagan
Hunt for gunman after shots fired in Sydney CBD
In some developing news now, police are looking for a gunman after shots were reportedly fired behind the NSW Parliament House in Sydney.
Officers from the public order and riot squad were searching an area around the Domain park area after police believe a gel blaster was used in the incident about 1pm, NSW Police said in a statement.
The man reportedly drove along Hospital Rd and fired shots into the Domain and drove off.
Australian Associated Press
Students able to see questions before exams
Victorian Year 12 exams have potentially been compromised for a third year in a row after a blunder blamed on human error.
The Victorian Curriculum And Assessment Authority upload sample exam papers to familiarise students on details such as instructions and time limits.
Education Minister Ben Carroll confirmed PDF sample papers allowed tech-savvy students to view some of the possible questions on actual Victorian Certificate of Education exams.
"If you were a sophisticated enough student, you were able to essentially manipulate that PDF, cut and copy and then paste it into a blank Word document and see what some of the questions could have been," he told reporters at state parliament on Thursday.
"There has been human error here. It's still not acceptable human error and I will get to the bottom of this."
Popular Christmas item missing from shelves this year
Christmas this year won't be the same for households who love a box of Celebrations, with the popular festive chocolate assortment vanishing from shelves.
The move was confirmed by a Mars spokesperson who said cost pressures and supply issues were to blame.
However the spokesperson said it was not goodbye forever and was assessing if the brand could be brought back at a later point.
Celebrations offers miniature versions of classics like Mars, Snickers, Bounty and Galaxy.
Tom Flanagan
Australia Post to deliver seven days a week
Australia Post is reintroducing weekend deliveries in a move to cope with the Christmas boom.
Executive general manager for parcel, post and eCommerce services, Gary Starr, said the weekend deliveries would help ensure customers receive their parcels before the big holiday.
“With the holiday season just around the corner, we know how important it is for our customers to receive their parcels on time,” Starr said.
Weekend deliveries will stay in place until Christmas, depending on volumes.
Snapchat, the popular digital platform mostly used by young Australians, may be able to dodge the Albanese government’s plan to ban social media for kids under 16.
The app lets users exchange photos, videos and messages rather than offering a posting board-type feature, such as Facebook, Instagram or X.
This Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2017, photo shows the Snapchat app on a mobile device in New York. Snap Inc. reports earnings Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland confirmed on Thursday that Snapchat could get around the age restrictions if it successfully argued it was a messaging service rather than a social media platform.
She said that “Snapchat under the Online Safety Act, depending on how it’s defined, could fall within that definition”.
“But we will go through in a methodical way, through having these criteria and the eSafety commissioner applying what will be a very transparent process,” Ms Rowland said.
A man in the US has been found dead on a tanning bed at a gym three days after entering the facility.
The discovery in the Indianapolis gym on Monday was made after other gymgoers smelt a foul odour in the building, local outlet WTHR reported.
The gym franchise Planet Fitness said "robust protocols" are implemented at its gyms, however the man's family is demanding to know why checks of the premises were allegedly not made.
A police investigation continues.
Alleged Sam Murphy killer pleads not guilty
The man accused of killing missing Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy will plead not guilty and take the case to trial, a court has been told.
Patrick Orren Stephenson, 23, sported a large beard as he was beamed into the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning, wearing a white shirt from the Melbourne Assessment Prison.
He kept his arms crossed in front of him and spoke to confirm he could see and hear the court.
Samantha Murphy (left) and Patrick Orren Stephenson (right).
Mr Stephenson, the son of former AFL player Orren Stephenson, was charged with murder in March, a little over a month after the mother-of-three vanished after leaving home for an morning run on February 4.
Crown prosecutor Raymond Gibson KC told the court Mr Stephenson had elected to fast-track his case to the Supreme Court for trial in a process that would skip a committal hearing in the Magistrates’ Court jurisdiction where the evidence would be tested.
In some breaking news now. A woman has died in the early hours of the morning after she was hit by a 4WD, police say.
NSW Police were told a woman had been on the road at about 4am when she was hit by the vehicle travelling in a north bound lane in Goulburn in regional NSW.
Paramedics treated the 32-year-old woman at the scene, before she was taken to Gouburn Base Hospital where she later died.
The male driver of the four wheel drive, aged 63, was taken to hospital for mandatory testing. Investigations are ongoing and police are appealing for witnesses to come forward.
Workplace software company Deputy revealed its data showed there was a five per cent increase in absences on the day of the big race compared to previous weeks while that number shot to 10 per cent in just Victoria.
There was also a six per cent jump for absenteeism among shift workers for the day after, with plenty of workers likely nursing a hangover.
Tom Flanagan
Aussies raise close to $200k for kindergarten crash victim's family
The 43-year-old has been hailed a hero after she selflessly pushed children out of the way as the truck veered into the playground of her Riddells Creek workplace, northwest of Melbourne.
Close to $200,000 has now been raised for her family, with funds to support her husband Tim and their two children in the future.
"She was the light of our lives: a cherished mother, wife, daughter and sister, and beloved by all her family and enormous network of friends," a family statement shared earlier this week read.
"Her infectious smile, sense of humour and passion for life made her a joy to be around.
"There is an enormous hole in our hearts today."
Australians have rallied around Eleanor Bryant's family, raising close to $200,000 for them. Source: GoFundMe
CCTV reveals moments before grandmother fatally tasered
Surveillance footage has revealed the search for a 95-year-old woman in the hour before she was fatally tasered by a police officer in a rural nursing home.
Clare Nowland died of injuries sustained when Senior Constable Kristian White discharged his Taser at her chest in Yallambee Lodge nursing home in Cooma on May 17.
The police officer is facing trial in the NSW Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to manslaughter over the great-grandmother’s death.
The Crown alleges he breached his duty of care to Mrs Nowland and caused her unlawful death by either criminal negligence or a dangerous act.
The 34-year-old does not dispute that he deployed his weapon and it caused Mrs Nowland’s death, but his lawyers maintain it was a proportionate reaction to the risk she posed by holding a knife.
CCTV shows Clare Nowland out of sight of arriving officers. Source: NCA NewsWire
The jury has heard Mrs Nowland was carrying two knives and using a walking frame to wander around the nursing home after 3am.
She entered the rooms of four of her fellow nursing home residents during that two hour period and refused to put down the knives when asked.
The court heard the 95-year-old had become uncharacteristically aggressive in recent months, which a geriatrician told the court could be attributed to her undiagnosed dementia.
In the early hours of May 17, the jury was told Mrs Nowland threw a knife at one of the nursing assistants, which landed on the floor, and also held a knife towards nurse Rosaline Baker.
“I was kind of concerned, not knowing whether she was really going to attack me or not,” Ms Baker told the court on Tuesday.
“Every time (I asked) her to give me the knife, she was pointing it to me”.
The nurse called triple-0 for assistance with Mrs Nowland, whom she described as “very aggressive” during the call.
An ambulance was dispatched and police were notified due to the presence of knives.
Yet when paramedics and officers arrived, Mrs Nowland could not be located.
A lengthy search of the nursing home grounds ensued, which has been captured on the home’s surveillance footage.
Mrs Nowland can be seen ambling slowly through the home in her pink pyjamas before she enters the office where she would later be fatally tasered by Constable White.
Hawthorn and Melbourne couldn't reach an AFLW trade agreement on Tayla Harris, who faces a decision on whether to stay with the Demons or head into the draft.
A police raid on the office of South Korea's president marks a dramatic escalation of the probe into his martial law decree that plunged the nation into crisis.
Anthony Albanese has issued a clarion call for Australians to unite around common values and respect each other after two attacks on Jewish communities.
The grief-stricken mother of an Indigenous teen who fatally self-harmed in youth detention has called for those in charge at the facility to be held to account.
Australia and India are set to be greeted with a traditional Gabba wicket for the third Test, crucial given the hosts are a different side there pre-Christmas.
A resource-rich Bougainville could play an important part in the global transition to green energy, its president says as he invites international investment.
A man who falsely passed himself off as a paramedic at several motocross events, including two where children were injured, has been convicted but not jailed.
Government agencies are teaming up with Microsoft to track disinformation and criminal acts, with plans to use AI to detect attempts to interfere in elections.
Convicted wife-killer Dinush Kurera lent back and smiled as victim statements, including from his children, were read in court during a pre-sentence hearing.
Queensland's Liberal National government has been accused of "cooking the books" after claiming a major rail project has blown out to triple the original price.
