The Royal Commission into Labor's home insulation scheme will hold a preliminary hearing in Brisbane today. The Federal Government set up the inquiry earlier this month. It will investigate the decision-making process and whether the deaths of four young tradesmen could have been avoided. 

 

The United Nations is relocating all its non-critical staff from south Sudan as the violence in the country escalates. Six days of fighting between government and rebel forces has left more than 500 people dead. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes. The Federal Government is warning Australians in south Sudan to leave immediately.

 

And there are fears scores of people may be trapped under the wreckage of a train that derailed and crashed in one of America's...ah...ah...sorry, Africa's biggest slums. Four cargo wagons toppled onto makeshift homes in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Rescue workers have pulled at least seven people alive from the rubble.  

 

And tens of thousands of anti-government protesters have held another rally through the streets of the Thai capital Bangkok. Protesters marched to the home of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, demanding that she resigns. The main opposition says it will boycott snap elections which will be held in February.