Good afternoon readers, and welcome to the Afternoon Update.
Donald Trump’s “I don’t like you” quip to Kevin Rudd at the White House dominated the headlines, but the Australian ambassador to the US has since been praised for his role in Anthony Albanese’s first formal meeting with the US president.
The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, said the former PM “deserves his share of credit” for the US relationship; Malcolm Turnbull wrote the critical minerals deal was “testimony to Rudd’s effectiveness”. It comes after Sussan Ley suggested Trump’s remark meant Rudd’s position was no longer tenable.
Josh Butler writes from Washington DC that Trump told Rudd “all is forgiven” after the meeting, in which Albanese caught the US president at his effusive best.
Top news
October heat records broken across Australia as Sydney braces for temperatures ‘way above the norm’
More than 1,000 guns and parts seized in illicit weapon crackdown in Australia and New Zealand
Thousands detained as Myanmar military raids notorious KK park scam compound
‘Moment of national pride’ as Peter ToRot becomes Papua New Guinea’s first saint
Bob Vylan ‘not regretful’ about IDF chant at Glastonbury: ‘I’d do it again tomorrow’
In pictures
While living in the Middle East, Narender Kumar and his family celebrated Diwali with other Indian expats. This year Kumar and his wife, Sarita Khawas, who migrated to Australia from Saudi Arabia last year with their two children, are celebrating Hinduism’s festival of light in their new home in Box Hill, in Melbourne’s east.
What they said …
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“I don’t want anyone else going through the torment that we went though.” – Eloise Massa
Massa’s two-year-old son Joe waited in Northern Beaches hospital’s emergency department for three hours before suffering a cardiac arrest and dying. She has welcomed the NSW government’s decision to spend $190m to buy back the private hospital and integrate it into the public hospital system.
Full Story
Australian Gaza flotilla activist on his time in a notorious Israeli prison
Earlier this month Surya McEwen was among hundreds of humanitarians and activists onboard an aid flotilla bound for Gaza when the fleet was intercepted by the Israeli military.
The Australian activist joins Nour Haydar to talk about what it was like being inside Israel’s Ketziot prison, the conditions detainees face and why he continues to fight for Palestine.
Before bed read
When Christopher Nolan’s space epic, Interstellar, was released in 2014, critics picked at the plot holes and scientists picked at the science. Now, 11 years later, it’s having a second life as the internet’s favourite film. Sian Cain asks: was it just ahead of its time?
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: LINK. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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