Heavy police presence around Melbourne weapons expo; Two children die after house fire | ABC News

Protesters are planning to demonstrate outside a weapons and defence expo in Melbourne. we begin in Melbourne this morning where police have again deployed a so-called Ring Of Steel around a major International defense and weapons Expo fearing a repeat of yesterday's violent unrest 42 protesters were arrested during the clashes which saw Police use pepper spray and rubber bullets and parts of Melbourne CBD were brought to a standstill the anti-war demonstrators are again vowing to turn out in force today so let's get straight to Stephanie fer outside the land forces Expo Steph good morning so what's the mood on the street say like this morning good morning Michael well thankfully it's a lot more calm than some of those violent scenes that we saw yesterday but this massive show of force is still out in operation with police here you can see the uh public order response team are here with their riot shields and battens behind them the Stephanie Ferrier reports from the exclusion zone. Mounted Police are also out and just around here we've got all of the uniform officers now this so-called Ring Of Steel you were talking about has been expanded this expanded this uh exclusion Zone basically moved about 300 M over the bridge and now is at the northern edge of the Spencer Street bridge and so we're seeing that police are absolutely taking no chances this morning they've already searched the bags of just a handful of protesters who have arrived one man was uh just sitting quietly uh you can see some of the protesters that are just beyond this new water filled barricade here and they are also checking the credentials of everybody who turns up uh to make sure that they have the correct identification before they come into this land forces Expo once again for day two but we heard from police chief commissioner Shane Patton he says that he was appalled by the behavior he said it was appalling and that for protesters who purport to be anti-war and antiviolence they were clearly Hypocrites given what they did to his office offers this is what he had Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton speaks to say about that they were shoved they had bottles thrown at them they had balloons thrown at them that had different liquids in them uh we've had analysis that shows some type of um low-level acid that caused irritance to the police was used um a whole range of different attacks on my police officers uh so that's Shane Patton the chief Commissioner of Victoria Police there and he says that 7 officers required medical treatment but we've heard from the protest organizers from yesterday's blockade students from Palestine and they say in a statement Statement from Students for Palestine Spokesperson that uh they were brutalized with police Weaponry they say one person was shot at close range and had to be hospitalized another person they say uh was hit with a baton so hard that they also had to be hospitalized and protesters have vowed to return they say that they are going to uh be showing up to voice their anger and their objection to this land forces Expo which is a major Expo of defense and military hardware here and uh we're just waiting to see whether or not any of these protesters uh do turn up uh if we see any further than the handful that we've got here uh but clearly uh police are making sure that no matter what they are absolutely prepared for this morning case Ste thank Two of three children pulled from a housefire in Melbourne's north-west have died you let's stay in Melbourne because there's been a tragic development overnight with two of the three children pulled from a house fire on Sunday dying in hospital Patrick Mitchell is following this story for us he joins us now Pat this is just awful news a lot of Five-year-old and 1-year-old girls have died. people are going to be really affected by this when they hear about it this morning a truly devastating development in this um this incident so we've heard from police overnight they've confirmed a 5-year-old girl and a one-year-old girl who were pulled from that home in syum in Melbourne's Northwest have died in hospital there was a third child pulled from that home in a critical condition unfortunately that boy a three-year-old boy remains in a critical condition so our thoughts are with the family as that um that boy struggles in hospital um now this fire happened on Sunday night in sydon which is Northwest of Melbourne it was around 9:30 at night uh when firefighters arrived they found thick black smoke coming out of the the building and it took as police say up to half an hour for them to actually be able to go inside and find these children they were in a separate part of the house to the fire but they had critical injuries all three were taken to hospital in a critical condition and as we've found out sadly last night the 5-year-old girl and one-year-old girl have died um now there's still a lot to go in terms of the investigation uh Victoria Police has the arsoning explosive Squad in charge of the investigation it's still unclear how the fire started and uh significantly it's it's unclear exactly who was in the house with the children at the time whether anyone was indeed inside the house at the time the the family had only just moved into that house uh a week in the week prior to the fire um and uh the the mother is was with the um the children in hospital when they said they passed away yesterday morning okay Pat thank you thanks for the update okay Father of one of the victims from Hunter Valley bus crash says he has launched a class action lawsuit the father of one of the victims of last year's Hunter Valley bus crash has told us on news breakfast he has launched a class action over the tragedy 10 people were killed in the crash and many more were seriously injured the driver Brett Andrew button was handed a 32-year jail sentence yesterday I've launced a class action in the Supreme Court of New South Wales this week um was obviously waiting for driver sentencing that's targeting transport from New South Wes for um very Federal government to introduce misinformation bill today poor infrastructure which is a significant contributing factor uh to the tragedy and of course Links bus lines um who put the drve behind the wheel the government will introduce its long- awaited misinformation laws into Parliament today giving Australia's Media Watch Watch Dog greater powers to crack down on big tech companies under the proposed laws Rogue social media platforms could be slapped with a range of penalties including a maximum fine of 5% on the company's Global Revenue the community of Kendall south of Port mcari Kendall, NSW marks 10 years since the disappearance of 3-year-old William Tyrrell is marking 10 years since three-year-old William trell went missing near his home what happened to William who was last seen wearing a Spider-Man suit a decade on remains a mystery a day after the US Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet at September 11 memorial presidential debate us presidential candidates carela Harris and Donald Trump have shaken hands while attending a September 11 Memorial in New York former president Donald Trump said he enjoyed the debate but won't commit to a second one no we're looking at it but you know when you win you don't really necessarily have to do it a second time and a new Statue depicting Queen Queen Elizabeth II statue sparks mixed reaction in Belfast Elizabeth II Prince philli and two corgis has Sparks a mixed reaction the bronze statue was created by a Belfast artist and has drawn criticism for its perceived lack of resemblance to the queen I think it could be a better resemblance if you know what I mean it's not sort of like the photographs I've never really met the queen or Prince Phillip in the past so I don't know if that's is accurate or not