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Crowd numbers slashed for SCG Test

Fan numbers have been slashed for the upcoming third Test between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground, after authorities decided on a reduced 25 per cent capacity limit.

Some 24,000 fans – about half the ground's capacity – were due to attend the event on Thursday.

Now, half of them will have to stay home and the entire event will be reticketed.

Cricket Australia this afternoon announced all current ticketholders would receive a full refund, and have first crack at buying the new available seats via Ticketek from 5pm today.

Any unsold tickets will go on sale to the general public at noon tomorrow.

"In response to the public health situation in NSW, we are working closely with Venues NSW and NSW Health to put appropriate biosecurity measures in place for our staff, players, match officials, broadcasters and fans to ensure we play the third Test at the SCG safely," Cricket Australia interim CEO Nick Hockley said.

"Reducing the capacity of the venue is crucial in achieving social distancing requirements, and we sincerely thank ticketholders for their patience, as we process refunds today, reconfigure the SCG seating plan to deliver these social distancing measures and go back on sale."

NSW Acting Premier John Barilaro had earlier said the match would go ahead but in a COVID-safe manner.

LIVE UPDATES: No new locally acquired cases in NSW

"NSW Health, through [Dr] Kerry Chant's team, have been working with the SCG and Cricket [Australia] to find that framework," he said.

"Of course, each day we are confronted with other issues.

"There is now a consideration that if it is wet weather, what does that look like? Will people be leaving their zones, their seats and congregating under the shelter? They're the things we've got to deal with."

NSW's Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said her team has provided its advice to the government regarding the framework.

"We have certainly taken the matter seriously. We are concerned about the Berala cluster in particular and [we're] putting in a range of strategies," she said.

NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday for the first time since December 15.

However, NSW Health identified two new cases connected to the Berala BWS cluster after 8pm.

There were seven new overseas-acquired cases in hotel quarantine.

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Donald Trump urges Georgia official to 'find votes' in leaked call: report

US President Donald Trump pushed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" votes to overturn the election results after his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, according to an audio recording of a phone call obtained by The Washington Post.

In excerpts of the stunning one-hour phone call on Saturday, Mr Trump lambasted his fellow Republican for refusing to falsely say that he won the election in Georgia and repeatedly touted baseless claims of election fraud.

"The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry. And there's nothing wrong with saying that, you know, um, that you've recalculated," Mr Trump said in one excerpt of the call.

Mr Raffensperger responded, "Well, Mr President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong."

In another excerpt, Mr Trump said, "So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state."

The White House, the Trump campaign and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the Post.

The White House declined to comment to CNN.

CNN has reached out to Mr Raffensperger.

The Post's report was published several hours after Mr Trump said on Twitter that he had spoken to Mr Raffensperger on the phone in an attempt to convince him to look into unfounded conspiracy theories about the vote in November.

According to Mr Trump, Mr Raffensperger refused to do so.

In response, Mr Raffensperger cryptically delivered a strong message to the president.

"Respectfully, President Trump: What you're saying is not true. The truth will come out," the tweet read.

https://twitter.com/GaSecofState/status/1345753643593687040

Mr Raffensperger, a Republican and a Trump supporter, has consistently turned back Mr Trump's claims of voter fraud in Georgia.

He has overseen three different recounts of the vote and conducted several other reviews of the process.

He recently tasked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation with conducting an audit of the signature match system in Cobb County that determined the system was 99.9 per cent accurate and revealed no evidence of fraud.

The Post also reported that Mr Meadows, lawyer Cleta Mitchell and other Republican allies of the president were also on the call.

The call represents the latest extraordinary effort by Mr Trump to change the results of the race he lost following weeks of legal and political efforts by the president, his legal team and Republican allies to overturn the free and fair election.

The ask comes just days before Congress will meet to certify Mr Biden's victory, a traditionally ceremonial exercise on Capitol Hill that will look dramatically different this year as Republicans in both chambers plan to object to the counting of Electoral College votes.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer seized on the call in a tweet, suggesting to Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas that he and his GOP allies should investigate the president for his actions.

Mr Cruz was among 11 Republican senators who announced on Saturday they would support an objection to the Electoral College votes, if one is brought, and propose an election commission to conduct an "emergency 10-day audit" of the election returns in the "disputed states" – despite no credible evidence suggesting widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

"You want to investigate election fraud? Start with this," Mr Schumer, a New York Democrat, wrote in a tweet aimed at Mr Cruz that included a link to the Washington Post's report.

– reported with CNN