Traffic access back to normal after safety issues prompt intersection reversion

Special counsel Jack Smith is dropping the federal election subversion and the mishandling of classified documents cases against President-elect Donald Trump, seeking the cases' dismissal in court filings today.

Trump has said he would fire Smith once he retook the office, shattering previous norms around special counsel investigations.

"The (Justice) Department's position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated," Smith wrote of the election subversion case in a six-page filing with US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, DC.

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"This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant."

Smith's criminal pursuit of Trump over the last two years for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election and his mishandling of classified documents represented a unique chapter in American history: never before has a former occupant of the White House faced federal criminal charges.

Though the election subversion case culminated this summer in a landmark Supreme Court ruling that said Trump enjoyed some presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, Trump's strategy of delay in the case ensured that a trial never got underway before the November election.

In the election case Trump faced in Washington, DC, Smith charged the former president over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, a plot that culminated in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

"The Government's position on the merits of the defendant's prosecution has not changed," Smith said in the filing.

Chutkan had been deciding how much of Trump's conduct at the centre of the case was shielded by immunity after prosecutors last month laid out their arguments for why the Supreme Court's ruling should have no impact on the case.

After Trump won reelection this month, prosecutors asked Chutkan to pause a series of postelection deadlines in the case as they weighed their next steps.

In the documents case brought in Florida, Trump was indicted for allegedly taking classified national defence documents from the White House after he left office and resisting the government's attempts to retrieve the materials.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in both cases.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement called the move "a major victory for the rule of law".

"The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponisation of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country," Cheung added.

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Trump employees still face appeal

Smith, in a filing with a federal appeals court, said that prosecutors were keeping their case on mishandling classified documents alive against two of Trump's employees.

The case is before the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which is reviewing Judge Aileen Cannon's order dismissing all charges.

The co-defendants are Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, who work for Trump and are accused of helping the former president obstruct a federal investigation into sensitive government documents taken from his first administration.

Both have pleaded not guilty.

"The special counsel's decision to proceed in this case, even after dismissing it against President Trump, is an unsurprising tribute to the poor judgment that led to the indictment against Mr De Oliveira in the first place," John Irving, a defence attorney for De Oliveira, said.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. If they prefer a slow acquittal, that's fine with us."

A lawyer for Nauta, Stanley Woodward, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dismissing without prejudice

Smith said he was seeking to drop the charges against the president-elect "without prejudice," which would keep the door open for charges to be brought again in the future, calling the presidential immunity Trump will have as "temporary".

Smith said he consulted with Justice Department lawyers on the question and that they also weighed the possibility of pausing the case until Trump no longer had the immunity of the presidency protecting him.

Ultimately, however, the department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that the bar on prosecuting sitting presidents is "categorial," including for indictments handed up before a defendant enters office.

"Accordingly, the Department's position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated. And although the Constitution requires dismissal in this context, consistent with the temporary nature of the immunity afforded a sitting President, it does not require dismissal with prejudice," Smith wrote.

State cases will continue against Trump

As president, Trump will not have the power to interfere with the prosecutions brought against him by state authorities in Georgia and New York.

However, the courts in those cases will still have to work out immunity questions and issues raised by his return to the White House.

Last week, the judge overseeing Trump's criminal hush money case in New York postponed his sentencing indefinitely.

A jury in the state convicted Trump earlier this year on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment made during the 2016 campaign to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who alleged a prior affair with the president-elect. Trump denies the affair.

And Trump is still working to stave off prosecution in Georgia, where he is a defendant in a sprawling case that accuses him and several allies of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the Peach State.

A mammoth rape trial in France moved into a new phase as prosecutors began to lay out the verdicts and punishments they want for dozens of men accused of raping Gisele Pelicot while she was drugged and rendered unconscious by her husband.

After hearings stretching over nearly three months, the trial of 51 defendants in the southern city of Avignon is beginning to wrap up.

Pelicot's courage during the harrowing proceedings has helped transform her into an icon, even beyond France, for campaigners fighting against sexual violence.

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The public prosecutors started on Monday by focusing on Dominique Pelicot, the man that 71-year-old Gisèle Pelicot was married to for nearly 50 years and who she believed was a loving, caring husband.

But he has admitted that for years he mixed sedatives into her food and drink so he could rape her and also invite dozens of strangers that he recruited online to also rape her.

Prosecutor Laure Chabaud asked the panel of judges for the maximum possible penalty for aggravated rape — 20 years — against the victim's now ex-husband. Dominique Pelicot, who turns 72 this week, stared down at the floor, one hand on the handle of his cane, as the prosecutor spoke.

"Twenty years between the four walls of a prison," she said. "It's both a lot and not enough."

The court is expected to deliver its verdicts by December 20.

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Gisele Pelicot, who waived her right to anonymity, has pushed for graphic images that her husband filmed of the rapes to be presented in the courtroom, showing that she was unconscious and inert, audibly snoring.

"This woman was you, Madame Gisele Pelicot, an ordinary woman," said prosecutor Jean-François Mayet, turning to her, as he praised her courage and her desire to make shame change sides, so it falls on rapists and not their victims.

He noted that Monday also marked the international day for the elimination of violence against women and said that France faceD "a long path for our society to change its view of rape culture."

Gisele Pelicot sat quietly, sometimes staring up the ceiling, as the prosecutors detailed how Dominique Pelicot amassed and carefully catalogued a library of 20,000 photos and videos of the abuse that stretched over nearly a decade.

The evidence that he stored on hard drives, memory sticks and phones led investigators to dozens of the men he recruited, although about 20 others haven't yet been identified.

All but one of the defendants are on trial for aggravated rape or attempted rape. In previous testimony, she said they treated her "like a rag doll, like a garbage bag."

The defendants and alleged rapes are so numerous that the prosecutors were expected to take three days to summarize the evidence and detail the verdicts and sentences they want.

In the first cases that the prosecutors focused on Monday, after requesting 20 years imprisonment for Dominique Pelicot, they asked for sentences of 10 years or more for co-defendants also on trial for rape or attempted rape.

A tourist yacht has capsized and sunk in the Red Sea after warnings of rough waters, leaving at least 16 people missing.

The governor of the Red Sea region, Amr Hanafy, said rescuers saved 28 people from the vessel south of the coastal town of Marsa Alam, and some were airlifted to receive medical treatment.

Hanafy visited the site where the vessel sank, according to a Red Sea Governorate update on Facebook. A total of 44 people were on board the yacht, including 13 Egyptians, and 31 foreign nationals from the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, China, Slovakia, Spain and Ireland.

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The governor confirmed that rescuers were still searching for the missing, including four Egyptians and 12 foreigners. Meanwhile, those who survived suffered only bruises and abrasions and were taken to a hotel in Marsa Alam in good condition.

The boat, named Sea Story, had no technical problems, obtained all required permits prior to the trip, and was last checked for naval safety in March, according to officials.

Preliminary reports, based on statements from the yacht crew and tourists, said a large wave crashed into the boat, causing it to capsize, according to the governorate's update. Some of the passengers were inside the cabins when the incident unfolded within minutes, according to the statements.

The UK Foreign Office said it was providing consular support to "a number of British nationals and their families" after the sinking.

Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs also told The Associated Press in an email that it was "aware of this incident and is providing consular assistance" without revealing further details.

Meanwhile, Spain's Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of any Spanish nationals among the missing. The ministry said that five Spanish nationals were rescued and are out of danger.

The governorate received a report shortly before dawn Monday of a distress call made from the yacht, which had left Marsa Alam for a five-day journey.

It was not immediately clear what caused the four-deck, wooden-hulled motorised yacht to sink. But the Egyptian Meteorological Authority on Saturday warned about turbulence and high waves on the Red Sea and advised against maritime activity for Sunday and Monday.

Wind speeds were between 60km/h and 70km/h, and wave heights were three to four metres high, they said.

A person answering the phone at the company that operates the yacht, Dive Pro Liveaboard in Hurghada, Egypt, told The Associated Press they have "no information" and hung up.

According to its website, the Sea Story was built in 2022 and can hold 36 passengers.

The Egyptian military was coordinating rescue operations with the governorate.

Many tourist companies have stopped or limited traveling on the Red Sea due to the dangers from conflicts in the region.

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"Enshittification" – a term that describes the gradual decline of a product or service, such as social media, when companies prioritise profit over user experience – has been named the 2024 Word of the Year by the Macquarie Dictionary.

The dictionary has been choosing a Word of the Year since 2006 and usually lands on a term that has gained widespread social and cultural significance.

Last year's word was "Cossie livs", a play on "cost of living".

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While "enshittification" may not roll off the tongue or have widespread colloquial recognition, it certainly applies to most people, according to the Macquarie Dictionary committee.

The committee said the word "captures what many of us feel is happening to the world and to so many aspects of our lives at the moment".

"All the streaming channels are making you pay more extra to not have ads is the perfect example of enshittification," Macquarie Dictionary managing editor Victoria Morgan told 3AW.

"It's usually associated with (making money).

"They get the customer base in and everyone is pretty happy but then they (try) and find a quick way to make money."

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'Right to disconnect' makes the shortlist

Other notable mentions from the committee included the "right to disconnect", which refers to the right for employees to be uncontactable during non-work hours.

"Rawdogging" also made the list, which describes the act of taking a long flight without electronic entertainment, devices, or reading material.

Shortlisted words included "brainrot", used to describe internet content deemed to be of low quality or value and "sigma", a slang term that refers to a person who is independent and self-sufficient and who prefers to be alone.

The Australian National Dictionary Centre, based at the Australian National University, announced last week, that "Colesworth" – a blended word referencing the country's largest supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths was chosen as its word of the year.

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Brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez will wait a further two months to find out if their convictions in the shotgun murders of their parents in their Beverly Hills home more than 30 years ago will be re-examined, after a judge delayed his decision.

The brothers were found guilty of murdering Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

While their defence attorneys argued at trial that they had been sexually abused by their father, prosecutors denied that and accused them of killing their parents for money. In the years that followed, they repeatedly appealed their convictions without success.

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Now, at 53 and 56, Erik and Lyle Menendez are making a new bid for freedom. Their lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition — a request for a court to examine whether someone is being lawfully detained — in May 2023, asking a judge to consider new evidence of their father's sexual abuse.

"Newly discovered evidence directly supports the defence presented at trial," the petition said.

The recent releases of the Netflix drama Monsters: Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and the documentary The Menendez Brothers in 2024 brought renewed public attention to their plight. Members of the public will be given the opportunity to win a seat in the courtroom to catch a glimpse of the brothers, who will be appearing virtually.

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Prosecutors recommended resentencing for the brothers last month, saying they have worked on redemption and rehabilitation and demonstrated good behaviour inside prison.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón held a news conference less than two weeks before Election Day, asking for new sentences of 50 years to life.

This could make them immediately eligible for parole because they were less than 26 years old when they killed their parents.

Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic said on Monday (Tuesday AEST) that he would consider the resentencing request on January 30, instead of December 11 as originally planned. The judge said he had 17 boxes of documents to review.

The brothers' extended family has pleaded for their release, saying they deserve to be free after decades behind bars.

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Several family members have said that in today's world — which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse — the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.

Incoming Los Angeles district attorney Nathan Hochman told Today he had asked for additional time to review the case due to the weight of evidence that needed to be re-examined, and compared to the new evidence.

"This will be a high priority once I enter office, I will conduct this thorough review of the facts and the law, and then go into court and render a decision, and then be able to defend that decision as well," he said.

"It would be a disservice to both the Menendez brothers, the victims, family members, and the public for me to speculate where I'm going to end up."

Not all Menendez family members support resentencing. Attorneys for Milton Andersen, the 90-year-old brother of Kitty Menendez, filed a legal brief asking the court to keep the brothers' original punishment.

"They shot their mother, Kitty, reloading to ensure her death," Andersen's attorneys said in a statement last week.

"The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury's verdict was just, and the punishment fits the heinous crime."

Immediate freedom is one possible result of Jesic's upcoming decision; the judge also might weigh in on the merits of the evidence. And if the brothers don't get relief in court, they can hope California's governor will grant them clemency.

The new evidence includes a letter Erik Menendez wrote in 1988 to his uncle Andy Cano, describing the sexual abuse he had endured from his father. The brothers asked their lawyers about it after it was mentioned in a 2015 Barbara Walters television special.

The lawyers hadn't known of the letter and realised it had not been introduced at their trials, making it effectively new evidence that they say corroborates allegations that Erik was sexually abused by his father.

More new evidence emerged when Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, recently came forward saying he had been drugged and raped by Jose Menendez, the boys' father, when he was a teen in the 1980s. Menudo was signed under RCA Records, where Jose Menendez was chief operating officer.

Rossello spoke about his abuse in the Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, and provided a signed declaration to the brothers' lawyers.

Had these two pieces of evidence been available during the brothers' trial, prosecutors would not have been able to argue that there was no corroboration of sexual abuse, or that their father Jose Menendez was not the "kind of man that would" abuse children, the petition argues.

While clemency might be another pathway to freedom for the brothers, California Governor Gavin Newsom said last week that he won't decide until Hochman reviews the case.

Hochman, a Republican-turned-Independent who unseated the progressive Gascón on December 2, has said he wants to carefully look at the evidence before making any decisions.

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Two states are facing a blackout warning today as temperatures along much of the New South Wales coast are set to nudge 40 degrees.

The heatwave is predicted to sweep Sydney, the Hunter, and the Illawarra regions in particular, putting electricity reserves to the test as millions turn on the air conditioning.

And critical power generators are undergoing maintenance, with four still offline this morning.

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Authorities have issued blackout warnings for today and tomorrow, with tomorrow's warning also covering Queensland residents.

The highest-risk blackout times are between 3.30pm and 7.30pm.

People have been urged to limit their use of electric lights and also air-conditioning if they can safely do so.

READ MORE: Special counsel Jack Smith drops election subversion case against Donald Trump

Temperatures in the next couple of days are expected to be 10 to 12 degrees higher than average, closing in on 40 tomorrow in Sydney's west.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said it "has alerted the energy industry and is working with power station operators and transmission businesses to boost electricity availability".

Late yesterday afternoon, AEMO advised that energy reserves had improved after transmission outages were cancelled.

Premier Chris Minns said he aimed to let people know what's going on.

"We've had early reports that the grid could be under a lot of pressure. I acknowledge that," he said.

"We will be as quick as possible with updates to the community about potential interruptions with supply."

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"He burned the face I used to kiss every night."

Those were the devastating words of a father grieving his murdered daughter, who was killed and thrown into a bathtub full of acid by her husband.

Arnima Hayat, 19, was found dead at her Parramatta home in Sydney two years ago.

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Her husband faced a sentencing hearing in the New South Wales Supreme Court today over the gruesome killing.

Meraj Zafar apologised to the family, with his lawyers arguing he's a changed man.

Almost three years after the mother-to-be and medical student was brutally murdered by her husband, those who loved her most were still lost for words.

"As a father it's very hard to say something about my daughter," her father, Abu Hayat, said.

It was January 2022, when Zafar either choked or smothered his wife in their North Parramatta apartment, before he dumped her in a bathtub full of acid.

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His internet searches at the time included "whether hydrochloric acid can burn through skin" and "how many years do you get in Sydney for murder".

Her father today told the court: "He burned the face I used to talk to and kiss every night."

"Can you imagine someone burning your child?" he said.

The couple had only been married for four months.

Zafar was worried Arnima would leave him.

Arnima's mother broke down as she faced her daughter's killer who appeared via video link.

"I sit by her grave every Friday, stroking the grass because I can no longer stroke her hair," she said.

"I kiss and hug her tombstone, longing to hold her and smell her."

Zafar's lawyers today tried to argue for a lesser sentence, saying he's not only remorseful for what he's done but he's already accepted the need to begin self rehabilitation.

They argued these are positive signs that should be taken into consideration when sentencing.

His sorrow over the crime was dismissed by the family.

"I want punished him a long, long time," her father said.

Zafar will learn his fate next month.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

Barbara Taylor Bradford, a British journalist who became a publishing sensation in her 40s with the saga A Woman of Substance and wrote more than a dozen other novels that sold tens of millions of copies, has died. She was 91.

Bradford died on Sunday at her home in New York City, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Starting with A Woman of Substance, published in 1979, Bradford averaged nearly a book a year as one of the world's most popular and wealthiest writers, her net worth estimated at more than $US200 million ($307 million) and her fame so high that her image appeared on a postage stamp in 1999. In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II awarded her an OBE (The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire).

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Her books were published in 40 languages and sold more than 90 million copies around the world.

With titles like Breaking the Rules and Act of Will, she specialised in stories of women fighting for love and power in a man's world. Her favourite among her books was The Women In His Life, inspired by her husband's escape from the Nazis

Bradford was married for 56 years to German-born film producer Robert Bradford, who died in 2019.

A native of Leeds, West Yorkshire, she was an only child in a working class family who loved books early. As a girl, she had a story published in a local magazine. By age 16, she left school against her parents' wishes to become a reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Over the next 30 years, she would work as fashion editor of Woman's Own Magazine, cover a variety of beats for the London Evening News and, in the United States, write a syndicated column about interior design.

Although she wrote children's stories and advice books, novels were her dream. A Woman of Substance was a multi-generational chronicle of the travails and triumphs of retail baron Emma Harte, who would be featured in several other Bradford novels. The book has sold more than 30 million copies and was the basis of a 1984 television miniseries starring Jenny Seagrove as a young Emma and Deborah Kerr as Emma late in life.

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"And if you want to meet the real Emma, meet me," Bradford told the Telegraph of London in 2009.

"Emma had to be tough and ruthless at times: but then so am I.

"I have to be, as a businesswoman. And I'm a bloody good businesswoman."

Bradford and Emma Harte were linked by more than money: both had family secrets. As a young woman, Emma became pregnant by a man who refused to marry her and gave birth to a daughter.

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Years later, Bradford learned through her biographer that her own mother had been born out of wedlock. It is now believed that Bradford's maternal grandfather was Frederick Oliver Robinson, the second Marquess of Ripon and the owner of the Studley Royal estate.

Seagrove, who became friends with Bradford after starring in the miniseries, described her as a "powerhouse of glamour and warmth" and a "force of nature" who stayed true to her roots.

"Success never diluted her warmth and humour or her ability to relate to everyone she met, whether a cleaner or a princess," Seagrove said.

"She never, ever forgot that she was just a girl from Yorkshire that worked hard and made good. RIP dear friend."

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Bradford had a strict writing routine: at work behind her IBM Lexmark typewriter by 6am, break about 1pm, then back to writing until 6pm, at the latest.

According to an authorised 2006 biography, Piers Dudgeon's The Woman of Substance, Bradford more than adapted to her midlife fortune, living in a 500 square metre apartment overlooking Manhattan's East River, collecting Impressionist art and enjoying refills of pink champagne poured by her Moroccan butler.

When the Bradfords put their apartment up for sale in 2010, the asking price was just under $US19 million. They sold it to Uma Thurman in 2013 for $US10 million ($15.4 million).

Over the years, she met many other celebrities. Bradford befriended Sean Connery before he appeared in his first James Bond movie and remembered advising him, thankfully in vain, that he should lose his Scottish accent if he wanted to succeed.

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Around the same time, she met a fellow journalist at the Yorkshire Evening Post.

He was "lanky and disheveled with acne", and kept trying to talk to her even after she turned him down for a date at the movies.

He was Peter O'Toole.

"Years later, (Evening Post editor) Keith Waterhouse and I were at an event where the producer Sam Spiegel introduced the star of his new movie," she told The Guardian in 2021.

"Out walked the most beautiful man I'd ever seen, dressed as Lawrence of Arabia. Keith said: 'Don't you wish you'd gone to the pictures with him now?' I never got over Peter's transformation."

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Fishermen have been given a fright by a great white shark that surfaced metres from a jetty in Adelaide, thrashing in the water as it tore crab nets near unsuspecting swimmers.

The shark quickly took two nets at Semaphore jetty as crowds of people watched on.

Eyewitnesses said there were swimmers in the water nearby, with people rushing to get them to dry land.

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It's the second shark sighting in as many days off Semaphore, after another great white was spotted by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter approximately 50 metres offshore on Saturday. 

The helicopter crew successfully herded that shark back into deeper waters.

Surf Life Saving SA says it's not usual to see sharks along the coast at this time of the year, but since mid-October there have been 36 sightings.

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.