Headlines: Molly Ticehurst ex-partner sentenced for her murder

0:00What you're about to listen to is our daily news podcast, but it is not all the TDA makes. TDA sport, TDA finance, TDA culture and the good newsletter. Four free newsletters, five minutes each on the one thing you actually want more of. The links to sign up to all of them are in the show notes. From the daily hours, I'm Lucy Tassel. I'm Zara Sidelah. It's Friday, the 11th of September. Here's what's making headlines this evening. Listeners are advised that this story contains distressing details. A New South Wales man has been sentenced to at least 20 years in prison for the murder of his ex partner, Molly Tice Hurst, committed while he was out on bail on charges of stalking and raping her. Daniel Billings stabbed Molly to death at her home in April 2024, following repeated threats to break into her house and kill her after they broke up months earlier. Billings was also charged with killing Molly's puppy after an earlier break up.

1:02Justice Natalie Adams sentenced Billings to a maximum term of 28 years for what she described as a brutal attack. She found Billings acted out of retribution, revenge and extreme hatred for Molly, angry after she reported the rape allegations. Justice Adams also said the fact that Billings have killed the only witness to his possible trial for rape added to the seriousness. If this story has raised any issues for you, help is available at 1-800-RESPECT, which is 1-800-737-732. Queensland's credit rating has been downgraded from AA-plus to AA by the ratings agency S&P. A downgraded credit rating means it'll be more expensive for the Queensland government to borrow money. It's Queensland's first credit rating downgrade in 17 years. S&P said high inflation, rising interest rates, high wages and weakening sentiment in the property market will reduce the state's budget position in the next 2-3 years and cited Queensland's sustained high infrastructure spending,

2:04leading up to the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, reducing how much cash it's forecast to have. Queensland Treasurer David Jnetsky blamed the previous government's infrastructure spending and federal government tax changes for the downgrade. At the same time, S&P improved Queensland's outlook from negative to stable, thanks to the state's large reserves of financial assets. S&P also affirmed New South Wales AA-plus credit rating and improved its outlook from negative to stable. The Houthi rebel group has taken over Yemen's port city of Mokka, an area vital to controlling shipping through the Red Sea, Houthi and Yemeni official say. Mokka represents the Iran-backed Houthi's biggest territorial gains since a true signed in 2022 to end a civil war in Yemen that lasted more than a decade. The move will affect global shipping, particularly of oil, as Saudi Arabia has relied on the Red Sea shipping route since the Iran conflict effectively closed the strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil used to flow.

3:08And today's good news. A medical trial in the US state of Texas has seen a three-year-old boy's case of liver cancer completely disappear. The three-year-old's cancer was determined as being resistant to chemotherapy when he was selected for a trial of a new immunotherapy, where the body's own system is used to fight disease. Scientists use the boy's cells to develop a treatment for him, then gave him two infusions of it over eight weeks. He showed signs of recovery after just the first infusion and no signs of cancer after the second infusion with no side effects. A year after the treatments, the boy is still cancer-free. While it's just one case, the researchers behind the trial said it showed their immunotherapy could be a quote, safe and effective treatment for liver cancer. That is some Friday good news if ever I have heard it. That is the latest from the Daily Ours newsroom. If you're looking for something else, you can catch up on this morning's deep dive where we explain why the alleged mastermind of 9-11 still hasn't stood trial. We'll be back on Monday with another deep dive, until then, have a great weekend.

4:10Just before you go, you've just heard today's TDA podcast. But here's the bit that we don't do in your headphones. There's four. TDA sport, TDA finance, TDA culture, and the good newsletter. Four free newsletters, five minutes each, that go deep on the one thing you'd actually want a bit more of. Whether that's the footy, your investments, whatever one's talking about in the group chat, or just a Sunday morning read that makes you feel good about the world. There's no jargon, no long articles, just more of the TDA reporting you love. Pick whichever one's yours, or it might be all for, the links to all of them are in today's show notes.