10 things you need to know this morning in Australia

Good morning!

1. Market turbulence. Thursday was a better day for US markets after its worst session of 2019 on Wednesday. The Dow Jones 30 and S&P 500 were up 0.39% and 0.25% respectively, while the Nasdaq fell by 0.07%. The result follows a shocking result for the ASX on Thursday, which lost more than $50 billion in a single day. The ASX 200 — comprised of the country’s 200 biggest public companies — plummeted 1.8% within the first 15 minutes of the session and closed down 187 points. Trading platform CommSec confirmed that it was the single worst day in more than two years, with 94% of all listed companies making losses.

2. Nick Kyrgios fined $US113,000 for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) fined the Australian tennis player for five counts of unsportsmanlike conduct as well as verbal abuse and obscenity during the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, the ABC reported.

Nick Kyrgios fined $113k by ATP for the following offences during his 2nd round loss v Karen Khachanov at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati
ATP also considering if additional action warranted under Player Major Offense section of code, which could result in suspension pic.twitter.com/yrmifXHBlV

— Dan Roan (@danroan) August 15, 2019

3. US President Donald Trump encourages Chinese leader Xi Jinping to meet with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. In a tweet published on Thursday, Trump said a personal meeting would lead to “a happy and enlightened ending to the Hong Kong problem.”

If President Xi would meet directly and personally with the protesters, there would be a happy and enlightened ending to the Hong Kong problem. I have no doubt! https://t.co/eFxMjgsG1K

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2019

4. Autopsy reveals late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein had multiple broken bones in his neck. An autopsy report found Epstein had multiple broken bones in his neck, two sources familiar with the report told The Washington Post. One of the broken bones in Epstein’s neck was the hyoid, according to The Post. This type of fracture is associated with both suicidal hanging and homicidal strangulation but is more commonly related to the latter, according to the president of the National Association of Medical Examiners.

5. Currency exchange platform TransferWise launches a new debit Mastercard in Australia and New Zealand. The card allows users to spend their money overseas, converting currencies instantly without any of the hidden fees that other providers normally charge.

6. Australia's unemployment remains the same despite 41,000 new jobs being created in July. The unemployment rate remains at 5.2% as the proportion of people working and wanting to work — the participation rate — has never been so high.

7. Instagram admits to accidentally deleting 'likes'. On Tuesday, Business Insider Australia confirmed a large amount of users had ‘likes’ removed from their feed completely in six countries. Instagram incorrectly confirmed the removal of ‘likes’ was a part of a global test. The company has now backtracked and confirmed it was a bug – but would not confirm how many users were affected.

8. Facebook strengthens its fight against toxic content. The platform is simplifying group privacy settings and giving moderators tools to scan rule-breaking posts. In addition, Facebook groups will now fall into one of two categories - public or private. This does away with what was known as ‘secret’ groups.

9. Australia could be spared from the risk of a global economy downturn. The Reserve Bank of Australia warned the global economy faces the “risk of a self-fulfilling downturn” due to business anxiety over the US-China trade war. However, Australia could avoid the worst of the downturn because it isn’t very involved in the global tech supply chain - which is where the trade war has been hottest.

10. An Australian invented women's safety app can now be activated by voice thanks to Apple's Siri and Google Assistant. The WanderSafe app's new voice feature allows users to alert three people in their contact list that they are in danger by using unique phrase or word.

BONUS ITEM

Happy Friday! This woman noticed her oven door sounded similar to a famous Usher song:

RT oprahmagazine: RT hm_stephens: Here it is y’all ????????????‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/a3xdt3mxrC

— superfan_prh (@SuperfanP) August 13, 2019

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