SBS News in Easy English 14 July 2025

SBS Australia

14-07-2025

Around 625,000 more Australians will now be able to donate plasma from today. Previous donor rules prevented many people from the LGBTIQ+ and sex worker communities from donating plasma if they had sex within the past three months. Lifeblood says the changes make Australia the first country in the world to remove all sexual activity-based restrictions on plasma donation. German backpacker Carolina Wilga is in a stable condition in hospital, after surviving eleven nights stranded in the Western Australian outback. The 26-year-old survived on minimal food and water and was exposed to freezing temperatures, before she flagged down a passing motorist on Friday afternoon. Premier Roger Cook says she is recovering at Fiona Stanley Hospital, and is in good spirits. "Extraordinary, extraordinary feat of surviving in the wilds. For 11 nights, she has to get over a very difficult physical ordeal. They threw every resource had it, and because of that, they were able to locate her van as quickly as possible." The EU and Indonesia have sealed a landmark free trade deal in Belgium. Indonesia and the EU have concluded a decade of negotiations for the agreement which is set to be formalised later this year. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says it marks a long-term commitment. "The European Commission has adopted a decision on a visa cascade. It means from now on Indonesian nationals visiting the European Union for a second time will be eligible for multi entry Schengen visa, this will make it easier to visit but also to invest, to study and to connect. In short, we are building a bridge between our societies." A national campaign has been launched to raise awareness of meningococcal disease, as the peak season for the illness gets underway. Meningococcal disease a bacterial infection which can progress rapidly, with some people becoming critically ill within 24 hours. There have been 56 cases reported nationally so far with this year. 18 of them were in New South Wales. Sotheby's is selling what it calls the largest piece of Mars ever found on earth. The 25 kilogram red, brown and grey chunk was found in Niger in November 2023. The auction house's vice chairman for science and natural history, Cassandra Hatton, says it is a very large piece. "It's more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars. And we've only taken a small piece of it to study, to confirm that it was Martian, but there's all sorts of interesting data that can be found inside of this rock."In golf, Grace Kim has produced one of the most astonishing golfing fightbacks in history to join Australia's group of major champions." Kim recovered from four shots behind in a dramatic final round to clinch victory over world No.2 Jeeno Thitikul on the second playoff hole at the Evian Championship in France.
She says she is feeling such a rollercoaster of emotions as it all sinks in.