Chair of the ABC, Ita Buttrose, is prepared to meet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison following raids of the ABC’s Sydney headquarters by the Australian Federal Police.

The raid was sparked by a number of stories in 2017 alleging unlawful killings by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.

Ms Buttrose complained to the Communication minister, Paul Fletcher, last week saying the raid was “clearly designed to intimidate".

Scott Morrison will today announce funding of $2.8 million to a school-based mental health program, after pledging to reduce youth suicide during the election.

The funding commitment will expand the online footprint of Batyr Australia, a preventative mental health organisation created by University students.

Batyr has previously focused on early intervention through storytelling at school, however Morrison says the funding will help the organisation deliver front-line services for at-risk young people.

The US State Department implemented its latest screening measure, requiring Australian’s to provide details of their social media accounts from the last five years.
 

Starting this month, Australians submitting an online application for the non-immigrant DS-160 visa are required to reveal whether they’ve used sites such as Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, as well as nominate their usernames.
 

These changes will affect students looking to study in the US, specialist workers and journalists.

German boat captain Pia Klemp faces prison in Italy for aiding illegal immigration after she saved people from drowning in the Mediterranean in 2017.

Klemp accused Italian authorities of organising a ‘show trial’ and could be looking at up to 20 years in prison.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, sought to stop migrant rescue ships from docking on Italian shores and in January made headlines with the forced evacuation of hundreds of asylum-seekers from Italy’s second-largest refugee centre.

A lantana removal expert claims the spread of the poisonous weed is a ‘catastrophe’ for Australia on a scale that has not been properly recognised.

According to Biosecurity Queensland the weed has spread to an estimated five million hectares of coastal and hinterland areas of Queensland and New South Wales.

Creeping Lantana is toxic to stock and smothers native bushland, affecting more than 1,400 native species.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announced last night that Brisbane ratepayers will face an average increase of 2.5% after the 2019 and 2020 budget is handed down on Wednesday.

The council’s $3.1 billion budget will retain last years 2.5% average increase for owner-occupied properties, or $40 a year.

This years budget will focus on infrastructure and lifestyle with a new platform of green space and parklands.

Economic analysis from the Australia Institute has revealed the government’s income tax plan will gift Australia’s top earners thirty-three billion dollars in benefits.

The Morrison government made it clear this unlegislated income tax package is one its its first priorities, stating it is an all-or-nothing deal.

The Australian Institute’s senior economist Matt Grudoff stated that low and middle income taxpayers are more likely than high income earners to spend their tax cuts and stimulate the economy.

A group of water scientists in a review of the Adani mine groundwater management plan say one of the world’s last unspoiled desert oases risks extinction.

The seven scientists concluded that the Adani mine risks permanently drying up ancient springs south-west of the mine.

The scientists are urging both Adani and the Queensland government to take more time to improve its groundwater management plan to better mitigate risks of drying up the spring.

At least 95 people have been killed in an overnight attack on an ethnic Dogon village in central Mali, Africa.

A Malian security source at the site described the village as ‘virtually wiped out’.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility, but tensions have been rising since an ethnic Dogon militia was accused of carrying out a massacre in a Fulani village in March.