Fortitude Valley Movie Theatre to be Transformed into Restaurant

Cook’s Picture Palace, Fortitude Valley’s first movie theatre, will be transformed into a restaurant and rooftop bar.

The restaurant and bar will be opened by Signature Hospitality Group and Gurner in June.

Founder, Tim Gurner says this is an opportunity to regenerate this piece of Brunswick Street to bring it in line with the new face of the Fortitude Valley.

Measles Cases Rise in the US

The Record on US measles patients could make them lose the diseases elimination status.

With 60 new cases on the past week and a total of 971 cases in 26 states, it’s the highest number since 1994.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention says the loss of elimination state means erasing the hard work done by all levels of public health.

 

Papua New Guinea Elects New PM

Papua New Guinea's former finance minister James Marape has been elected as the Pacific nations new Prime Minister.

After weeks of political unrest, Mr Marape received an overwhelming majority of 101 votes to eight.

 

Mr Marape declared his desire to make  PNG “the richest black Christian nation” in the world and is committed to reviewing resource laws.

Sydney Doctors Leave Children Hospital Network

More than a hundred senior doctors from a Sydney hospital in Randwick have voted to leave the city’s Children Hospital Network over ongoing disputes.

Doctors at the Randwick hospital say tensions escalated when the network continued to send their patients requiring heart surgery to another Sydney Children’s Hospital.

Randwick surgeon Angus Grey says their hospital needs to be offering heart surgery services for the customer’s sake otherwise ‘blood will be on [the Health Minister’s] hands’

Report Identifies Every Child in NT Detention Centres is Aboriginal

Northern Territories’ Social Policy Scrutiny Committee report that every child in detention in the territory is Aboriginal.

Almost three years after the royal commission in to the Don Dale Detention Centre, Department officials told the committee on Thursday that there are 22 boys and two girls, in detention, all of whom are Aboriginal.

A member from Territory Families said they were still “not ready” to implement some of the changes recommended by the royal commission, including raising the criminal responsibility age from 12 to 14 years old.

Rise in Rate of Homelessness in Brisbane Hits Youth and Older Women

High rates of Brisbane youth and older women are becoming homeless due to the rising cost of rent and lack of entry-level jobs.

Gentrification of inner-city areas is forcing them further out into the suburbs.

Support workers in Brisbane say the issues that lead to homelessness are shifting from substance abuse and mental health issues to an inability to pay rent or find work.  

Humpback Whale Skelton New Tourist Project

A 15-metre-long humpback whale skeleton is hanging at Point Lookout in North Stradbroke Island as a tourism project.  

The whale platform is one of the key projects in the island’s economic transition from mining to tourism.

Chief executive of the Quandamooka Yooloooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation Cameron Costello says the whale platform will give visitors and locals a greater understanding of humpback whales in Quandamooka culture.

US Accuses Russia of Nuclear Testing

The United States claims Russia could be conducting low-level nuclear tests, breaching an international ban on nuclear testing.

Russia signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 2000.

Lieutenant General Robert Ashley says Russia has the capacity to conduct these tests, however, no evidence has been provided yet.