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All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

Ukraine War:

Ukraine to start evacuations in Kherson and Mykolaiv:

Fears war damage to infrastructure is too severe for civilians in newly liberated areas of south to survive.

Ukraine is to evacuate civilians from recently liberated areas of the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, amid fears that the damage to infrastructure caused by the war is too severe for people to endure the winter.

Residents of the two southern regions, which were shelled regularly by Russian forces in the past months, have been advised to move to safer areas in the central and western parts of the country, said Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk.

The government will provide transportation, accommodation and medical care, she added.

Twitter Collapes : What would it mean for the war in Ukraine?

It is a pertinent question, given the importance of strategic influence and information warfare to the conflict in Ukraine.

Twitter is the communication tool of choice for many emergency services, politicians and academics, and has featured in several previous conflicts.

But the war in Ukraine has seen a Cambrian explosion in the use of social media — especially Twitter — to share images and stories from inside Ukraine, disseminate situation reports on the war, build crowdfunding efforts, track war crimes, and for government and non-government entities to conduct strategic influence activities.

Ultimately, however, the sun will still rise even if Twitter fails. Numerous other blogs and social media tools will fill the gaps left by ongoing shenanigans in San Francisco.

The war in Ukraine will continue regardless of Twitter's fate. If Twitter dies, we may have access to less information about the conflict. But one less social media feed — regardless of the size of its user base — will not have a significant impact on the current trajectory of the war.

Russian launched 400 strikes on Sunday:

Russian forces launched almost 400 strikes on Sunday in Ukraine’s east as part of a campaign of artillery fire, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Sunday night address. “The fiercest battles, as before, are in the Donetsk region. 

Although there were fewer attacks yesterday due to worsening weather, the amount of Russian shelling unfortunately remains extremely high,” the Ukraine president said. 

“In the Luhansk region, we are slowly moving forward while fighting. 

As of now, there have been almost 400 artillery attacks in the east since the start of the day.” 

Russia has moved troops to reinforce positions in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions after withdrawing from Kherson.

Moldova:

45 countries and institutions will meet in Paris on Monday to pledge millions of euros of aid for Moldova, as fears mount that it could be further destabilised by the conflict in Ukraine, according to a Reuters report.

Moldova, which lies between Ukraine and Romania, has felt the effects of rising food and energy prices as well as an influx of thousands of refugees arriving in the country of about 2.5 million people.

Socceroos look to team spirit to shock France

Australia coach Graham Arnold will rely on his players to have each other’s backs when they meet the millionaire world champions

After a lengthy and dramatic qualifying campaign, the Socceroos find themselves in Group D alongside France, Tunisia, and Denmark. 

For the second consecutive World Cup finals, Australia will play their opening group-stage match against France.

The difference this time, though, is that Les Bleus are reigning champions, and are widely expected to reach the pointy end of the tournament once again given the heft of talent at their disposal.

They've won just one of their past six games — a 2-0 win over Austria in September — and have, bizarrely, struggled to score goals, with their last 2+ goal margin coming in March against South Africa.

Staying defensively solid, winning one-on-one battles, controlling space without the ball, cutting off midfield passes to France's forward line, transitioning quickly, and maximising set pieces will be key for Australia to potentially secure a shock result.

Chalmers, ACTU at odds on IR

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 4 : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Phillip Coorey, David Marin-Guzman - Portmac.News Summary

Independent senator David Pocock has advised that he will decide whether to support the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill when a Senate inquiry releases its report on the legislation.

Pocock still has concerns about the multi-employer bargaining provisions of the bill, and contends that a Senate vote on some parts of the legislation should be delayed until next year.

Meanwhile, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has reiterated that multi-employer bargaining is primarily targeted at low-paid workers in female dominated industries.

He has assured the Australian Industry Group that enterprise bargaining will continue to have precedence; however, the ACTU wants this provision to be removed in order to ensure more widespread use of multi-employer bargaining.

Treasurer plays down odds of super-profits energy tax

The Australian - Page 4 : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Geoff Chambers - Portmac.News Summary

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers told a gathering of business leaders at an Australian Industry Group event at Parliament House on 22 November that his desired strategy when it comes to curb surging energy prices was temporary and targeted regulatory intervention as opposed to a special tax on energy producers.

He said ideally that any intervention would focus on domestic markets without harming Australia's international obligations, while he told the gathering that he acknowledged that energy was "The big pressure you're all facing".

Corruption commission must focus on integrity

The Australian - Page 21 : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Robert Gottliebsen - Portmac.News Summary

Integrity and corruption are among the issues on which teal candidates campaigned during the 2022 federal election.

The teals must ensure that legislation to establish the federal government's National Anti-Corruption Commission includes integrity clauses.

The government's focus is on corruption rather than integrity issues, while the Coalition turned its back on an integrity and corruption commission because it did not really want its decisions to be exposed to scrutiny.

However, a greater focus on integrity could have averted blunders such as the French submarines contract, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and the Australian Taxation Office's failure to address a GST scandal that all-but destroyed the nation's gold refining industry.

'Plan B' a must when green power dream turns to nightmare

The Australian - Page 11 : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Judith Sloan - Portmac.News Summary

Household and business users of electricity would like to know if there is a Plan B in place if the federal government's emissions reduction and renewable energy targets do not look like being met.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has himself conceded that transforming the National Electricity Market in what is a relatively short period of time will require a lot of investment in new renewable energy sources and transmission equipment, at the same time as coal-fired power stations continue to close.

The construction of new transmission lines is meeting with community opposition, while the cost of new solar and wind equipment is increasing.

War with China looms if tension not eased says Kev

The Australian Financial Review - Page 8 : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Andrew Tillett - Portmac.News Summary

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd says the next five years could shape and arguably determine the future stability of the Indo-Pacific region, and that war there is likely if the West and China cannot manage growing strategic tensions.

Delivering the JG Crawford Oration at the Australian National University on 21 November, Rudd said Chinese President Xi Jinping was putting his country on a war footing, and that China could be in a position to take action against Taiwan by the early 2030s at the latest.

However, he said he did not think that either China or the US was prepared to "Roll the dice" over Taiwan at the present time at least, viewing it as too risky.

Proposed merchant navy fleet will need tax breaks to work

The Australian Financial Review - Page 4 : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Ronald Mizen - Portmac.News Summary

The federal government has pledged to create a strategic fleet, aiming to have at least 12 commercially-owned ships operating under an Australian flag.

Maritime Industry Australia CEO Angela Gillham would ideally like to see a strategic fleet with as many as 120 vessels, but she says Labor's pledge will not succeed without addressing tax and skill issues.

This could include possibly removing income tax obligations for local seafarers and expanding existing company tax incentives.

New Aussie 'Covid variant soup' warning

Herald Sun - Page Online : 22 November 2022 - Original article by David Mills - Portmac.News Summary

Deakin University epidemiologist Hassan Vally is optimistic that the fourth COVID-19 wave in Australia will be shorter and sharper than previous ones, noting that this has been the case in countries such as Singapore.

He expects the current wave to peak in the next several weeks and says it is likely to be in the decline phase by Christmas.

The current wave has been described as a "Variant soup", with five different strains of COVID-19 circulating at present.

BA5 is still the dominant variant in Australia, although it is being rapidly replaced by variants such as BQ1 and XBB.

Australia officially recorded 75,590 new COVID-19 cases last week, but a decline in testing rates means the figure could be much higher.

Trevor McDougall wins science prize for 'Thermal flywheel'

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Donna Lu - Portmac.News Summary

University of New South Wales professor Trevor McDougall has won top honours at the prime minister's prizes for science, winning $250,000.

He has previously been recognised as a companion of the Order of Australia in 2018 for his work into ocean thermodynamics research, and his prime minister's prize for science was for his contributions to the field of oceanography and research on the ocean's role in regulating the climate.

McDougall describes the ocean as the "thermal flywheel of the climate system", noting that 92 per cent of the extra heat that the planet has received from greenhouse warming is in the ocean.

Simon Holmes a Court considering support for 10 NSW teals

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Michael McGowan - Portmac.News Summary

Australian businessman Simon Holmes a Court says his Climate 200 group does not have a cap on the number of 'Teal' candidates that it will support financially at the NSW election in 2023.

The group is helping to fund the campaigns of four independent candidates in the Victorian election, and Holmes a Court says it lacks the resources to fund every "Worthy" candidate; he expects this to be the case in NSW as well, but notes that Climate 200 could provide campaign funding for up to 10 candidates in NSW.

Climate 200 recently advised that it will support the election campaign of independent candidate Joeline Hackman in the seat of Manly, which is held by NSW Environment Minister James Griffin.

Afterpay capitulates on credit checks

The Australian Financial Review - Page 13 & 19 : 22 November 2022 - Original article by James Eyers - Portmac.News Summary

Treasury has released an options paper on regulation of the buy now, pay later sector, with submissions due just before Christmas 2022.

One of the proposed options would involve making the industry BNPL code of conduct enforceable by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, along with adding to it a "Bespoke affordability test" contained in the Credit Act.

The latter would require BNPL providers to undertake credit checks on new users, something that Afterpay has stated it is now resigned to undertaking.

Warnings ignored as peak restaurant body founders in debt

The Australian - Page 2 : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Max Maddison - Portmac.News Summary

Restaurant & Catering Australia has annual turnover of $3.5m, but sources have confirmed that it has debts of about $1.8m.

The growing debt has raised concerns about the solvency of the peak body for the nation's restaurants, cafes and catering industry, as well as calls for its board to step down at its upcoming annual general meeting.

Meanwhile, CEO Belinda Clarke has resigned after just over six months in the role, while chief operating officer Laura McLachlan has also stepped down.

News Corp staff still in the dark over editor's exit

The Age - Page Online : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Nick Bonyhady - Portmac.News Summary

Employees working for 'The Australian' say they have still not been told the real reason why editor-in-chief Chris Dore left the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper.

Statements from both Dore and News Corp Australia's executive chairman Michael Miller made reference to exhaustion and health issues in explaining Dore's departure, but other media outlets have reported that the real reason why Dore left was because he made lewd remarks to a woman at a function in the US in October.

Culture and communications expert Catharine Lumby says not being clear to staff why a senior figure has left a company is poor management practice, as it leads to speculation.

Publishing merger on verge of collapse

The Australian Financial Review - Page 16 : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Alexandra Alter, Elizabeth A. Harris, Benjamin Mullin - Portmac.News Summary

It was announced in 2020 that Penguin Random House would buy rival publisher Simon & Schuster in what was a $US2.175 billion deal, with most assuming at the time that the US government would approve it.

However, the Justice Department in 2021 sought to block it, and in October 2022 federal judge Florence Pan blocked the sale from going forward on antitrust grounds.

Penguin Random House can only appeal that decision if Simon & Schuster parent company Paramount agrees to extend the purchase agreement, which will expire on 22 November.

(See full story on Portmac.News today)

Facebook sued for collecting personal data to target adverts

The Guardian - Page Online : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Dan Milmo - Portmac.News Summary

British human rights campaigner Tanya O'Carroll has launched legal action against Facebook owner Meta in the High Court.

She has alleged that Meta is breaching UK privacy laws by failing to respect her right to demand that Facebook stop collecting and processing her data, with O'Carroll saying that people should have the right to use social media without having to be subjected to what she calls "Hugely invasive tracking surveillance profiling".

She is not seeking damages from Meta, merely a yes/no verdict on whether she can opt out of being profiled for advertising purposes.

Almost 1 million affordable homes needed by 2041

The Age - Page Online : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Shane Wright, Rachel Clun - Portmac.News Summary

Research conducted for the Community Housing Industry Association reveals that there will be 940,000 households in housing stress by 2041, up from 640,000 in the 2021 census.

The number of Sydney households in housing stress is tipped to rise by 56% to 225,000, while the number of Melbourne households in housing stress is forecast to increase by 61% to 177,000.

Ryan van den Nouwelant from the UNSW City Futures Research Centre, which conducted the research, says it should be used to help guide the Housing Accord, which was announced in the October federal budget and which aims to construct one million "Well-located" homes 

ASX slips as Healius, Perpetual weigh

The Australian Financial Review - Page 26 : 22 November 2022 - Original article by Cecile Lefort - Portmac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket posted a small loss on 21 November, with the S&P/ASX 200 easing 0.2% to close at 7,139.3 points.

Fortescue Metals Group was down 3.8% at $19.21, Woodside Energy fell 1.4% to $37.36 and Nanosonics shed 12.2% to end the session at $3.99.

However, Whitehaven Coal was up 3.2% at $8.45 and Westpac rose 1.5% to $23.97.