Received

The virus causing COVID-19 is here to stay but the world is beginning to transition out of the emergency phase of the pandemic, the World Health Organisation's chief says.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing that the United Nations agency will publish a guide for countries next week on how to move from an emergency response to the long-term management of COVID-19.

"We remain hopeful that sometime this year, we will be able to declare an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern," Tedros said.

"But this virus is here to stay and all countries will need to learn to manage it alongside other infectious diseases."

© RAW 2023

The writer suing Donald Trump for allegedly raping her nearly 30 years ago has told jurors at a civil trial that the former US president sexually assaulted her and defamed her by lying about it.

"I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he lied and said it didn't happen," E Jean Carroll said in Manhattan federal court.

"He lied and shattered my reputation, and I'm here to try and get my life back."

Carroll, 79, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, is seeking unspecified damages from Trump, 76, who leads the Republican field in the 2024 presidential campaign.

She is suing over an alleged encounter in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996, where she says Trump raped her until she was able to flee.

Carroll is suing Trump for defamation after he denied her rape claim in an October post on his Truth Social media platform, saying he had not known her, that she was not his "type" and that she made up the claim to sell her memoir.

She is also suing under New York's Adult Survivors Act, which lets adults sue their alleged abusers long after statutes of limitations have run out.

Carroll testified that she had met Trump years before the alleged rape, finding him "very personable" and a "man about town".

At Bergdorf, Carroll recalled that she was leaving the store when Trump recognised her and held up his hand, prompting her to stop.

"He said, 'Hey, you are that advice lady,'" Carroll recalled.

"I said, 'Hey, you are that real estate tycoon.'"

Carroll said she and Trump engaged in banter, describing his tone as "joshing," with Trump seeking to buy lingerie for another woman.

She said Trump asked her to try on a piece of lingerie, prompting her to joke that he should try it on.

Carroll said Trump then ushered her to an open dressing room, shut the door, shoved her against a wall and pulled down her tights.

Carroll choked up and fought back tears as she described pushing him back.

Asked by her lawyer if she told Trump "no," Carroll said: "I don't recall saying it. I may have said it."

Carroll said she blamed herself at the time and feared she would lose her job and Trump would retaliate if she reported him.

She also said the damage was long-lasting.

"It left me unable to ever have a romantic life again," she added.

Lawyers for Trump are expected to question Carroll, including over her inability to remember when the encounter took place.

She recalled it was on a Thursday night but "I can't say I'm 100 per cent sure."

A six-man, three-woman jury is expected to decide whether to hold Trump liable for damages, and, if so, how much he owes.

The trial began on Tuesday, and is expected to last one to two weeks.

Trump stood by his criticism of Carroll in two posts on Wednesday on Truth Social, prompting US District Judge Lewis Kaplan to warn he could face more legal problems if he kept discussing the case.

"Does anybody believe that I would take a then almost 60 year old woman that I didn't know, from the front door of a very crowded department store, (with me being very well known, to put it mildly!), into a tiny dressing room," Trump wrote.

"She didn't scream? There are no witnesses? Nobody saw this?"

Trump also called Carroll's accusations "a made up SCAM" and said: "This is a fraudulent & false story - Witch Hunt!"

That led Kaplan to tell Trump's legal team, outside the jury's presence, that Trump appeared to be "endeavouring, certainly, to speak to his quote-unquote public" and to the jury about matters that have "no business being spoken about".

© RAW 2023

Australia's inflation has most likely topped out and is starting to moderate but it's unclear if the fall will be enough to convince the Reserve Bank to keep interest rates on hold next week.

Consumer prices lifted seven per cent annually in the March quarter but the moderation from the 7.8 per cent yearly increase in the December quarter was more or less in line with expectations.

Quarterly inflation growth rose 1.4 per cent in the March quarter, which ABS head of price statistics Michelle Marquardt said was the lowest quarterly rise since December 2021.

The trimmed mean, which removes spikes from the data and tends to be the RBA's preferred yardstick, moderated a little more than expected from 6.9 per cent in the December quarter to 6.6 per cent annual growth through to March.

The numbers have set the scene for another finely balanced cash rate decision, with little consensus from economists on whether another hike can be expected next week, or at all.

EY chief economist Cherelle Murphy said there wasn't much good news in the report aside from signs of inflation passing its peak.

While goods inflation continued falling, sinking to 7.6 per cent from 9.5 per cent in the year to the December quarter, the marker for services recorded its biggest yearly rise since 2001.

Higher medical services, travel costs and rents drove the 6.1 per cent rise in services from a 5.5 per cent lift in the previous quarter.

Ms Murphy said rents were only expected to keep lifting and the competitive labour market was also likely to maintain pressure on wages.

"The RBA may not be convinced it will reach its forecast for trimmed mean inflation of 6.2 per cent by mid-year, given the ongoing strong demand for some services, the impact of a tight labour market and renewed calls for cost of living relief on wages and rising rents," she said.

AMP Capital deputy chief economist Diana Mousina said rents and wages were the most worrying sources of bubbling inflation.

On one hand, public sector wage caps have recently been lifted in NSW and Victoria and there's a chance the minimum wage will be boosted in line with inflation.

But on the other, she said newly-lodged enterprise bargaining agreements were averaging 3.7 per cent and early signs of easing in the jobs market should take pressure off private sector wages.

Ms Mousina said slowing momentum in inflation was enough to convince the RBA to keep the cash rate on hold again but it was a "close call".

"The level of inflation is still high and the RBA may be concerned about future rental inflation and a potential public sector wage breakout so a 0.25 per cent rate rise can't be completely ruled out," she said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomed the moderation in inflation but said cost of living was still "unacceptably high".

"This confirms the importance of a responsible and methodical budget that provides security in uncertain times, sets Australia up for the future and doesn't add to price pressures - and that's what we will deliver on 9 May," he said in Sydney.

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said the government had failed to deliver promised cost-of-living cuts, including on power prices, with gas and other household fuels inflation lifting 14.3 per cent over the quarter.

"It's time for this government to take responsibility," he said.

© AAP 2023