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OctOber 19 (GMt) – OctOber 20 (AeSt), 2018

AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALANDUKNORTH AMERICA

Trump warns of consequences

President Donald Trump acknowledged it “certainly looks” as though missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead, and he threatened “very severe” consequences if the Saudis are found to have murdered him. His warning came as the administration toughened its response to a disappearance that has sparked global outrage.

O’Rourke: I’d impeach Trump

Democratic Senate hopeful Beto O’Rourke says that he’d vote to impeach President Donald Trump and believes Texas can lead the way to a national embracing of relaxed immigration policies and gun control – unapologetically liberal positions that may be hard for some in his deep-red state to stomach.

Libs facing historic defeat

The Liberal party is staring at a historic loss in the Wentworth by-election and a tenuous hung parliament as the race tightens. Held by the Liberals since the party’s inception, voters have signalled they will shake things up in the once safe blue-ribbon seat at Saturday’s poll. Even Prime Minister Scott Morrison was pessimistic when asked whether he expected Liberal candidate Dave Sharma to lose.

Tories savage extension plan

Theresa May is facing a fierce backlash across the Tory party against the idea of extending the UK’s Brexit transition period. Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith said such a move would see the UK paying “tens of billions of pounds” extra to the EU. The firestorm came after May signalled she is ready to delay the UK’s final departure from the EU’s hold until 2021 in a last ditch bid to end the deadlock over the Irish border issue.

May to push Global Britain idea

Theresa May is meeting her counterparts from China and South Korea as part of the Global Britain drive to boost the UK’s economic opportunities after Brexit. The meetings are happening on the margins of a giant summit bringing together 51 countries from across Europe and Asia in Brussels. On the agenda for the Asia-Europe Meeting are measures to improve connectivity between the continents and co-operation on trade and investment.

Surfer attacked by shark

A surfer has been airlifted to hospital after being attacked by a shark about 100 kilometres northwest of Auckland. The man was surfing at Baylys Beach in Northland when the attack happened, according to police. The man, who is in his 20s, was in pain and bleeding after being bitten on his hand, elbow and mouth, according to the New Zealand Herald, but was able to walk and talk.

YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS

FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 3

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OctOber 19 (GMt) – OctOber 20 (AeSt), 2018

AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALANDREST OF THE WORLDNORTH AMERICA

Trump threat to halt migrants

US President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the military and close the southern US border if Mexico does not halt a caravan of Central America migrants heading north, raising the risk of huge disruptions to trade. The 3200 km US-Mexican border is one of the busiest in the world, processing thousands of commuters daily.

Man rescued from mine shaft

An Arizona man who fell to the bottom of an old abandoned mine shaft, broke both his legs, fought off a trio of rattlesnakes and went two days without food or water before a friend heard his cries for help is lucky to be alive, said the head of a rescue team. “He is a very fortunate individual,” Operations Commander Roger Yensen of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Mountain Rescue Posse said of John Waddell.

Cause of chopper crash revealed

A helicopter pilot fighting bushfires on the NSW south coast was killed when his water bucket and line became tangled in trees and pulled the chopper down, an investigation has found. New Zealand-born Alan “Tully” Hull died in mid-August while water-bombing a blaze near Milton. An ATSB report into the incident, found “a number of witnesses observed the bucket and longline become tangled in trees”.

Mediators seek ceasefire

A team of Egyptian mediators shuttled between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers in a stepped-up effort to forge a ceasefire between the two enemies. The series of meetings came after Gaza militants fired a rocket that struck a home in southern Israel, triggering a series of Israeli airstrikes. It was the heaviest day of fighting in several months.

Afghans set to head to polls

Afghans are set to return to the polls for parliamentary elections this weekend, hoping to bring change to a government that has lost nearly half the country to the Taliban. In the eight years since Afghanistan last held parliamentary elections, a resurgent Taliban have carried out near-daily attacks on security forces, seizing large swathes of the countryside and threatening major cities.

Calls for influence inquiry

Allegations the leader of New Zealand’s largest political party tried to hide a donation from a businessman with Chinese Communist Party links have reignited concerns about foreign political influence. National Party member Jami-Lee Ross quit and laid a complaint with police alleging the leader of the opposition, Simon Bridges, asked for a $NZ100,000 political donation to be divided up to avoid revealing its origin.

YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS

FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 6

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OctOber 19 (GMt) – OctOber 20 (AeSt), 2018

NORTH AMERICA

Democratic Senate hopeful Beto O’Rourke. - AP

O’Rourke says he would vote to impeach TrumpDemocratic Senate hopeful Beto O’Rourke says that he’d vote to impeach President Donald Trump and believes Texas can lead the way to a national embracing of relaxed immigration policies and gun control – unapologetically liberal positions that may be hard for some in his deep-red state to stomach.

O’Rourke, an El Paso congressman giving up his seat to challenge Republican Senator Ted Cruz, had previously suggested that he’d support impeaching the president over alleged collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice. But he went further while appearing at a CNN town hall from the US-Mexico border town of McAllen, saying that even as members of Congress wait for more evidence to emerge during federal investigations, “I do think there’s enough there for impeachment.”

Cruz has accused O’Rourke of being the only Democratic Senate candidate in the nation to support impeachment. At least one other, California state Senator Kevin de Leon, who is challenging US Senator Dianne Feinstein, has said he too would vote to do so. Still, it’s a position that most candidates from both parties have avoided. Even O’Rourke conceded to moderator Dana Bash, “I know that this not politically easy or convenient to talk about.”

O’Rourke fielded audience questions for nearly an hour. Bash said Cruz was invited to attend and declined – even though the Republican’s campaign said he offered to make the McAllen event a debate and O’Rourke didn’t respond.

O’Rourke said he opposed Trump’s proposed border wall and that Texas should be a national model in how to overhaul federal immigration policy in a humane way. He said he was a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and Texas gun culture but added, “We lose 30,000 of our fellow Americans every year to gun violence.” ■

US President Donald Trump. - AP

NORTH AMERICA

Trump warns of consequencesPresident Donald Trump acknowledged it “certainly looks” as though missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead, and he threatened “very severe” consequences if the Saudis are found to have murdered him. His warning came as the administration toughened its response to a disappearance that has sparked global outrage.

Before Trump spoke, the administration announced that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had pulled out of a major upcoming Saudi investment conference and a US official said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had warned the Saudi crown prince that his credibility as a future leader is at stake.

Pompeo said the Saudis should be given a few more days to finish and make public a credible investigation before the US decides “how or if” to respond. Trump’s comments, however, signaled an urgency in completing the probe into the disappearance of the journalist, last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

The messaging underscored the administration’s concern about the effect the case could have on relations with a close and valuable strategic partner. Increasingly upset US lawmakers are condemning the Saudis and questioning the seriousness with which Trump and his top aides are taking the matter, while Trump has emphasized the billions of dollars in weapons the Saudis purchase from the United States.

Turkish reports say Khashoggi, who had written columns critical of the Saudi government for The Washington Post over the past year while he lived in self-imposed exile in the US, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul by members of an assassination squad with ties to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudis have dismissed those reports as baseless but have yet to explain what happened to the writer.

Trump, who has insisted that more facts must be known before making assumptions, did not say on what he based his latest statement about the writer’s likely demise. ■

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OctOber 19 (GMt) – OctOber 20 (AeSt), 2018

UK

British Prime Minister Theresa May. - EPA

May to push Global Britain messageTheresa May is meeting her counterparts from China and South Korea as part of the Global Britain drive to boost the UK’s economic opportunities after Brexit.

The meetings are happening on the margins of a giant summit bringing together 51 countries from across Europe and Asia in Brussels.

On the agenda for the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) are measures to improve connectivity between the continents and co-operation on trade and investment, sustainable development, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyber security and migration.

But hanging over the gathering is the question of how to deal with US president Donald Trump, whose protectionist trade wars have affected Europe and Asia.

The prime minister met counterparts from Thailand, Prayut Chan-ocha, and Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, for talks on the margins of the event.

She is due to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as well as the leader of South Korea.

There are no plans for a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, as UK relations with Moscow remain in the deep freeze following the poison attack in Salisbury.

Also attending the 12th ASEM summit since its creation in 1996 is Japanese PM Shinzo Abe.

UK officials said the talks with the Thai and Singaporean PMs covered a full range of security and foreign policy issues, but it is certain that high on the agenda was the prospect of improved trade links following Brexit.

Participants in the summit enjoyed a gala dinner before talks on deepening the partnership between the continents. ■

Iain Duncan Smith. - PA

UK

Tories savage May’s extension planTheresa May is facing a fierce backlash across the Tory party against the idea of extending the UK’s Brexit transition period.

Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith said such a move would see the UK paying “tens of billions of pounds” extra to the EU.

The firestorm came after May signalled she is ready to delay the UK’s final departure from the EU’s hold until 2021 in a last ditch bid to end the deadlock over the Irish border issue.

Duncan Smith said: “I couldn’t understand why we would offer to extend the transition period when we still haven’t got anything back in return.

“By extending the backstop we are likely to fall straight into the next budget of the EU which will mean tens of billions of pounds extra to be paid across to the EU.

“It would be very hard to tell the British people that we are extending another year or more into the implementation phase, and we’re then going to pay tens of billions of pounds over when we actually say we need it for other domestic programmes.

“We are in a negotiation but at the moment it begins to look more like a capitulation than a negotiation.

“We have got to get some steel in our backbone and do something about actually negotiating, rather than saying ‘what would you like?’”

Tory MP Nick Boles, who backed Remain in the EU referendum, said that he would oppose moves by May to extend the transition period.

He said: “I think that so many of the things that she has told us about what she was proposing have turned out either not to be true, or she hasn’t stuck to them, so when the Prime Minister first suggested this transition, and remember what this transition is, we stay in the EU in effect, bound by all of its rules, in all of its institutions, paying our normal contribution for two years.

“We have no vote. It’s actually worse than being a member of the EU. ■

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OctOber 19 (GMt) – OctOber 20 (AeSt), 2018

AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALAND

A shark tooth seen embedded in the surfboard of a man who was attacked in Northland.

- RNZ / NZ Police

Surfer attacked by shark in NorthlandA surfer has been airlifted to hospital after being attacked by a shark about 100 kilometres northwest of Auckland.

The man was surfing at Baylys Beach in Northland when the attack happened, according to police.

The man, who is in his 20s, was in pain and bleeding after being bitten on his hand, elbow and mouth, according to the New Zealand Herald, but was able to walk and talk.

Images of the man’s surfboard show that the shark left bite marks and a tooth in the board.

Baylys Beach Holiday Park owner Trish Rolfe said that several surfers were in the water at the time of the attack.

Department of Conservation marine scientist and shark expert Clinton Duffy said he believes the shark was a great white based on the markings and tooth.

Shark attacks are relatively rare in New Zealand. ■

Liberal candidate for Wentworth Dave Sharma and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. - AAP

AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALAND

Libs facing historic Wentworth defeatThe Liberal party is staring at a historic loss in the Wentworth by-election and a tenuous hung parliament as the race tightens.

Held by the Liberals since the party’s inception, voters have signalled they will shake things up in the once safe blue-ribbon seat at Saturday’s poll.

Even Prime Minister Scott Morrison was pessimistic when asked whether he expected Liberal candidate Dave Sharma to lose.

“I think the expectations are clearly set in this direction,” Morrison said.

Nationals MP Darren Chester was also blunt.“I don’t think the Wentworth by-election will be good for the

government,” he said.“I think we’re about to get a real-life opinion poll on what

Australians think of political parties that undermine their leaders and change leaders mid-stream.”

The government’s one-seat majority hangs in the balance and a hung parliament looms as Sharma faces fierce competition from independent Kerryn Phelps.

Phelps has shaped as firm favourite to claim the seat vacated by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull when he was knifed in August.

Morrison said there’s much at stake with internal Liberal polling suggesting Phelps could defeat Sharma as party faithful vent their anger about Turnbull’s axing.

Turnbull won the Sydney seat at the last election with a 17.7 per cent margin.

“I accept and understand that anger and outrage,” Morrison said.

“We have heard that the leading independent candidate has said she could not guarantee not bringing down the government on a vote of confidence in the government. Now, that is serious stuff.”

A non-Liberal victory would create “unnecessary uncertainty,” he said. ■

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OctOber 19 (GMt) – OctOber 20 (AeSt), 2018

NORTH AMERICA

A rescue team gathers around the abandoned mine shaft near Aguila, Arizona. - AP

Man rescued after falling down old mine shaftAn Arizona man who fell to the bottom of an old abandoned mine shaft, broke both his legs, fought off a trio of rattlesnakes and went two days without food or water before a friend heard his cries for help is lucky to be alive, said the head of a rescue team.

“He is a very fortunate individual,” Operations Commander Roger Yensen of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Mountain Rescue Posse said of John Waddell.

Waddell owns the land where the shaft is located north of Phoenix and was using a rope to lower himself into it when he lost control and fell at least 50 feet (15 meters) to the rocky ground. He had a cellphone but no service.

One of his friends, Terry Schrader, had known Waddell was going to attempt a descent and the pair had agreed that he would go look for Waddell if he didn’t hear from him.

Schrader ventured by the shaft outside the town of Aguila.“As I pulled out my truck I could hear him hollering, ‘Help,

help!’” Schrader said.Schrader had to drive out of the area to get a good enough

signal to call the authorities.Fifteen members of the posse overseen by the office’s

Search and Rescue Team rushed with specialized equipment to the property.

One rescuer rappelled into the shaft and assessed Waddell’s injuries, determining that he had possible ankle and leg fractures as well as friction burns to his hands. He was alert, but dehydrated and was given IV fluids.

Yesen said it took about three hours to lift Waddell to safety.He was then airlifted to the hospital in Phoenix. Waddell was

in good condition at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix, said hospital spokeswoman Alexis Kramer-Ainza. She said Waddell was undergoing surgery for two broken legs.

Sheriff Paul Penzone said he had no doubt that the posse, working with his office’s Search and Rescue Team, saved Waddell’s life. ■

Honduran migrants walk through traffic in Guatemala City, Guatemala. - EPA

NORTH AMERICA

Trump threat to halt migrant caravanUS President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the military and close the southern US border if Mexico does not halt a caravan of Central America migrants heading north, raising the risk of huge disruptions to trade.

The 3200 km US-Mexican border is one of the busiest in the world, processing thousands of commuters daily and much of the half-a-trillion dollars of annual trade between Mexico and the United States.

“I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the US Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

Several thousand Honduran migrants moved this week through Guatemala, and some were trying to cross to Mexico, local media said.

Some hope to eventually enter the United States to escape violence and poverty.

Mexico’s government said it had sought assistance from the United Nations refugee agency to deal with migrants claiming refugee status at Mexico’s southern border, one day ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Mexico City.

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who takes office in December, said that he believed “an agreement can be reached” on the migration issue.

“We’re going to take care of our relationship with the United States government,” he said. “It’s very important to have a relationship of friendship.”

Trump told a political rally in Montana that he wanted “to thank the Mexican government because they are stopping it hopefully before it ever gets to Mexico”.

In the caravan, Central American migrants hiked from Honduras through muddy jungle and residential streets, some toting babies along with backpacks, images showed.

In Guatemala City, where migrant shelters filled with people, waves of people departed at daybreak on roads leading to Mexico. The nearest border is about 177 km away.

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OctOber 19 (GMt) – OctOber 20 (AeSt), 2018

REST Of THE WORLD

A man rides his motorbike in front of campaign posters for parliamentary candidates, in

Kabul, Afghanistan. - AP

Afghans set to head to polls despite threatsAfghans are set to return to the polls for parliamentary elections this weekend, hoping to bring change to a government that has lost nearly half the country to the Taliban.

In the eight years since Afghanistan last held parliamentary elections, a resurgent Taliban have carried out near-daily attacks on security forces, seizing large swathes of the countryside and threatening major cities.

An even more radical Islamic State affiliate has launched a wave of bombings targeting the country’s Shiite minority, killing hundreds.

Both groups have threatened to attack anyone taking part in the vote.

In areas where the government still provides relative security, Afghans face a different array of challenges.

Increasingly influential ultraconservative clerics blame the country’s many ills on years of Western influence, threatening to roll back the limited gains made by women and civil society since the 2001 US-led invasion.

Many of those Afghans brave enough to defy the death threats hope to vote in a new generation of younger and better-educated leaders.

But they fear that former warlords and the political elite will cling to power by lavishing entertainment and cash handouts on impoverished voters.

“I am still not hopeful it will be fair,” said Saeed Matin, a fruit seller in a mostly Shiite neighbourhood of Kabul who was bundled up against the chilly autumn evening.

He waved off the threats from the Taliban and said he hoped for new leadership, pointing to campaign posters showing younger candidates.

“They are young and educated and I wish they could do something, but 100 per cent I am worried the warlords,” he said. ■

Damage to the house that was hit by a missile fired from Gaza Strip in the city of

Beersheba, Israel. - AP

REST Of THE WORLD

Mediators seeking Midlle East ceasefireA team of Egyptian mediators shuttled between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers in a stepped-up effort to forge a ceasefire between the two enemies.

The series of meetings came after Gaza militants fired a rocket that struck a home in southern Israel, triggering a series of Israeli airstrikes. It was the heaviest day of fighting in several months.

The four Egyptian intelligence officials entered Gaza from Israel, and then returned to Israel after meeting with Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ top leader.

Khalil al-Haya, a top Hamas official, said the Egyptians had discussed ceasefire efforts, as well as on-and-off attempts at reconciliation with the rival Palestinian Authority. The talks were ongoing.

The Islamic militant Hamas seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, leaving the Palestinians divided between rival governments in Gaza and the West Bank.

Gaza’s economy has been ravaged by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that was imposed after the Hamas takeover. Hamas has been leading weekly protests near the Israeli border for over six months in an attempt to ease the blockade.

Those protests have intensified in recent weeks as Egyptian and UN ceasefire efforts faltered.

Last week, some 14,000 Palestinians thronged to the perimeter fence, burning tires and throwing rocks, firebombs and grenades at soldiers on the other side.

Following the rocket attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Security Cabinet for a lengthy, late-night meeting. But Israel refrained from further retaliation, suggesting it was giving the Egyptians a chance to restore calm.

UN Mideast envoy Nickolay Mladenov urged all friends of Israel and the Palestinians to join the UN in calling on all sides “to step back from the brink” of war, calling Gaza a “powder keg.” ■

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OctOber 19 (GMt) – OctOber 20 (AeSt), 2018

Calls for inquiry into foreign influenceAllegations the leader of New Zealand’s largest political party tried to hide a donation from a businessman with Chinese Communist Party links have reignited concerns about foreign political influence.

National Party member Jami-Lee Ross quit and laid a complaint with police alleging his former boss and the leader of the opposition, Simon Bridges, asked for a $NZ100,000 political donation to be divided up to avoid revealing its origin.

Bridges firmly denies any wrongdoing and says that, while he had dinner with Chinese businessman and community leader Zhang Yikun and discussed donations, the money received was from a number of individuals.

A secret recording of Bridges discussing donations also included him talking about potential new candidates for his party, including a business partner of Zhang’s, and saying “two Chinese would be nice”.

There is no suggestion Zhang acted improperly in any way.A colleague currently travelling with him in China told New

Zealand media he said he was not the donor and was deeply disappointed to be caught up in the allegations.

But questions have been raised about Zhang’s connections to the Chinese government, with reports he spent five years as a member of the Communist Party’s Consultative Conference in Hainan Province.

University of Canterbury professor Anne-Marie Brady – who rose to prominence with a 2017 report into China’s increasing influence on New Zealand – says the saga is a chance to begin a long-needed review into New Zealand’s electoral practices.

“[There’s been a] failure of our political parties to prevent foreign government interference into our democratic political process,” she said.

“All the major political parties are affected in one way or another so there’s a real opportunity to pull together ... New Zealand has been warming up to this conversation.” ■

AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand opposition leader Simon Bridges. - AP

Chopper crash due to tangled water bucketA helicopter pilot fighting bushfires on the NSW south coast was killed when his water bucket and line became tangled in trees and pulled the chopper down, an investigation has found.

New Zealand-born Alan “Tully” Hull died in mid-August while water-bombing a blaze near Milton.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau released its preliminary report into the incident, finding “a number of witnesses observed the bucket and longline become tangled in trees at the edge of a clearing followed by the helicopter colliding with terrain”.

ATSB investigators who attended the site discovered the helicopter upside down in a clearing with the bucket and longline still attached.

The bucket was caught in trees at the edge of the clearing and the helicopter’s tail rotor located about 20 metres from the main wreckage.

Transport safety executive director Nat Nagy said the investigation is ongoing.

“Investigators will now be looking at the pilot’s qualifications, experience and medical records, the maintenance records from the aircraft, as well as examining recovered electronic data from the aircraft,” he said.

The final report will be released in the second half of 2019.Hull was posthumously awarded the NSW Rural Fire

Service commissioner’s commendation for service a week after the crash.

“Tully will always be remembered as an accomplished pilot and member of the firefighting fraternity for his professionalism and courage, which will never be forgotten,” the award citation read. ■

- AAP

AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALAND