8AM ZEDLINES
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Lime Scooter Prices Rise as Competitors Roll In
Lime has raised the hire cost of its city scooters despite a new scooter competitor set to arrive on Brisbane streets next month.
Lime public affairs manager Nelson Savanh said prices were raised by eight cents per minute to ensure a safe premium service.
Competitors Neuron Mobility will be operating 600 orange scooters on Brisbane streets by August following Brisbane City Council approval last month.
MyGov Outage Disrupts Tax Returns and Centrelink
The main online portal for government services MyGov was offline for four hours last Friday disrupting tax returns and Centrelink users.
Affected Australians took to social media to raise their anger regarding the outage, which meant Australians couldn’t report their income to Centrelink.
General Manager Hank Jongen said investigations are underway to determine the cause of the outage.
Telstra Outage Blamed on Unusual Customer Traffic
A Telstra outage which caused issues for shoppers and bank customers around the country is been blamed on an "unusually large volume of traffic" in NSW.
The nation’s four big banks and major supermarkets were affected by the outage, which inhibited some EFTPOS terminals and access to ATMs on Thursday.
Telstra apologised for the outage and says it worked as quickly as possible to restore the disruption to its data services.
Power Blackout Causes Chaos in New York City
A New York City power outage plunged Times Square into darkness on Saturday after a blackout knocked out power to more than 7,300 homes and businesses.
People caught in the outage were stuck in elevators and subways, while Broadway theatre performances were cancelled.
John Mcavoy, executive chief of energy firm Con Edison, said the cause of the outage is unclear and does not appear related to excessive load.
Magnitude-6.6 Quake Strikes Western Australia
A magnitude-6.6 earthquake in the Indian Ocean has been felt across large parts of Western Australia.
The quake struck about 200 kilometres off the coast, between Broome and Port Hedland at 1:39pm on Sunday.
Geoscience Australia seismologist Phil Cummins said this event may happen every 20 years and people should be aware aftershock earthquakes may be triggered.
Brisbane Koala Injuries Rising
Nearly 100 koalas hit by cars or attacked by animals were hospitalised at the RSPCA’s Brisbane headquarters in the last year, doubling previous numbers.
RSPCA executive manager Sheila Collecott says the same koalas are repeatedly injured since rehabilitated koalas are legally required to be sent back to the same danger zone.
RSPCA experts are expecting new laws permitting wildlife groups to relocate koalas to safer areas will be introduced in the coming months.
Thelma Plum - 'Better in Blak'
Thelma Plum: Better In Blak
- Brissy girl and Gamilaraay woman Thelma Plum found herself in the spotlight last year after making a Facebook post detailing an altercation she’d had with Sticky Fingers’ Dylan Frost outside an inner-west Sydney pub. Online threats and abuse poured in when the post’s audience grew, and when Frost’s badly-executed apology drew further attention.
Bleached: Don't You Think You've Had Enough?
- Championing sun-drenched power pop with enough grit to appease punks, Bleached rep their LA locality with pride, endlessly weaving into their lyrics. The spirit is just inseparable from the music. Typically it's been impossible to hear the group without imagining sipping suds with your crew, lazing out on a sandy expanse, drinking in the sunshine or cruising along to a back-alley gig. However the place of sobriety this record is written from is a contradiction to the downing-drinks sentiment that listeners have become accustomed to.