Good morning, all.

1. The Berejiklian government’s landmark renewable energy bill has passed the NSW upper house. It means the government will support the private sector to build $32 billion of renewable energy infrastructure by 2030. The bill was stymied for some time by One Nation leader Mark Latham, who tried to block it by introducing 249 amendments.

2. The head of power giant Origin says the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the clean energy transition. “COVID has resulted in the acceleration of technology in every aspect of our lives and there will be no turning back,” Frank Calabria said at The Australian Financial Review’s climate and energy conference. He said that the rapid pace required co-ordination between state and federal governments to manage the changes smoothly.

3. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has cautioned airlines on waiting until a COVID-19 vaccine is available, just days after Qantas said it would require one for international travel. While acknowledging a vaccine was part of a “permanent solution”, the peak body urged governments to reopen borders without one and without mandatory quarantine periods. Instead, IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac said widespread rapid testing before flights was “an immediate solution”.

4. Screen Australia revealed how much the local screen industry has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. In its annual Drama Report, it found that spending on drama production in Australia dropped 18% in 2019/2020 to $991 million. Production on 26 Australian drama titles was postponed.

5. A new report from Oxfam has called out buying practices among retailers that are affecting clothing manufacturers in Bangladesh. These included threats to switch suppliers if a factory didn’t drop their prices. A number of big retailers in Australia are named. “With just one month today until Christmas, shoppers should demand big brands end this cycle and do better in the way they do business,” Oxfam Australia CEO Lyn Morgain said.

6. Amazon Australia, Ali Express, eBay Australia and Catch.com.au are the four inaugural signatories to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Australian Product Safety Pledge. Companies which take the pledge commit to a range of product safety initiatives and reporting measures in the ecommerce industry. A 2015 sweep found that two-thirds of a list of banned and recalled products were available for sale online.

7. Salesforce has held talks to acquire the workplace messaging firm Slack, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The move would signal a more aggressive foray into office-communication software for Salesforce. There is no guarantee that the preliminary talks will lead to an acquisition, the report said, but it’s definitely an interesting one.

8. President Donald Trump has pardoned former national security advisor Michael Flynn. “It is my Great Honour to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!” Trump tweeted this morning. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to one count of lying to the FBI about his communications with Sergey Kislyak, then Russia’s ambassador to the US.

9. This year, Swedish life expectancy is set to fall by 0.3 years for women and 0.5 years for men. This would be the biggest drop in life expectancy in Sweden since 1944. The expected drop is largely down to the COVID-19 pandemic, Statistics Sweden said. The country is in the midst of a second wave, and cases are soaring. On November 16, Sweden’s prime minister announced stricter coronavirus measures after the country admitted its herd-immunity plan wasn’t working.

10. Legendary footballer Diego Maradona has died at the age of 60, according to reports from his native Argentina. He is reported to have suffered a cardiac arrest at his home in Tigre, Buenos Aires, where he had been recovering after undergoing brain surgery in early November. Maradona is widely considered one of the greatest football players of all time, but off the field he struggled with issues surrounding addiction and numerous health battles.

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