Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Biwa Kwan.
- Tens of thousands of CFMEU workers take to the streets
- The United Nations Secretary-General calls for climate justice for Pacific countries
- Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff enjoy comfortable wins in the first round of the US Open.
Tens of thousands of workers have downed tools across Australia to march through major capital cities in protest over the federal takeover of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union.
Up to 8000 CFMEU members gathered outside Melbourne's Trades Hall as a rally got underway in the union's hometown this morning.
Meanwhile, around 11,000 workers flooded the Sydney, Brisbane and Perth C-B-Ds calling for a reversal of the government's decision to place the construction arm of the union into administration amid allegations of links to organised crime and corruption.
The protesters risk being fined by the industrial watchdog if they have abandoned work to take part in the rallies, as the action is unprotected.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the government won't change their decision and he believes the industry will be better off for it.
"If there is unprotected industrial action then there are consequences for that. The government is not for turning and nor is the Australian public. They want to see this industry cleaned up. They want to see good unions and good businesses getting on with their job on a day to day basis. So the administrators are in place and they're in place for some period of time. That will leave an industry that is better off."
Australia's poor climate record is expected to come under the spotlight at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga as countries on the frontlines of rising sea levels and extreme weather plead for climate justice.
A report commissioned by the University of New South Wales earlier this month found Australia was the third biggest fossil fuel exporter on an energy basis in 2021, and ranked second on an emission basis trailing only Russia.
This means that Australia is linked to 4.5 per cent of the world's total carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, the United Nations is forecasting that Pacific communities will face dozens of days each year battling floods caused by climate change.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released a report at the forum of Pacific leaders today [[Tues 27 Aug]], highlighting the severity of the impacts of the climate crisis on the region.
“The world must look to the Pacific and listen to science. This is a crazy situation - rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity’s making. A crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale, with no lifeboat to take us back to safety. But if we save the Pacific, we also save ourselves. And Pacific Islands do not contribute to Climate Change, so they have a moral authority to ask those that are creating the sea level rise to reverse these trends.”
Education minister Jason Clare says imposing a cap on international students will make the system fairer for universities across the country.
International student commencements will be capped at 270,000 in 2025.
The total number of places at publicly funded universities will be similar to 2023 levels, at 145,000.
Places in the vocational education sector will decrease by about 20 per cent with a limit of 95,000 commencements.
Mr Clare says the government has informed universities about their individual caps today.
"We're writing to universities today setting out their individual levels. All up what I am telling you is for universities their numbers next year will be roughly the same as what they were last year. For some universities, some big universities, it will be lower than it was last year. For some of the small universities, it will be higher next year that it is this year. So it's designed to build better and fairer system."
The Pakistani government says it will respond in full force to a number of attacks by separatist militants which killed at least 73 people in the province of Balochistan.
They attacked police stations, railway lines and highways, with the militants targeting buses and trucks on a major highway.
Pakistan's military says 14 soldiers and police and 21 militants were killed in fighting after the largest of the attacks, while Balochistan's chief minister says 38 civilians were also killed.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi says the armed forces will crack down on the militants.
The Baloch Liberation Army armed militant group has taken responsibility for the attacks.
The assaults were the most widespread in years by ethnic militants fighting a decades-long insurgency to win secession of the southwestern province.
In tennis,
Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff have enjoyed comfortable wins in the first round of the U-S Open.
Djokovic has begun his bid for a record 25th grand slam title by defeating Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot 6-2 6-2 6-4.
The second-seeded Djokovic, again wearing a grey sleeve over his surgically repaired right knee, was competing for the first time since claiming an Olympic gold medal three weeks ago at the Paris Games.
Meanwhile, world-number-three Gauff cruised past France's Varvara Gracheva 6-2 6-0 as the American shrugged off disappointing performances in Toronto and Cincinnati to make a fast start at the year's final major.
