Austria Ibiza Politics Scandal
All remaining ministers from Austria's far-right Freedom Party are to resign after a corruption scandal involving one of their party leaders, Heinz-Christian Strache.
The footage released by German media shows him offering contracts to a Russian oligarch's daughter on the Spanish resort island of Ibiza in return for election assistance.
Austrian Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, called for a new election expected to occur in September over the affair.
Greenpeace blockades BP Headquarters
Greenpeace activists at 3am on Monday morning blockaded the entrances to the BP headquarters in London by encasing themselves in heavy containers.
The activists called for an end to all new oil and gas exploration and accuse BP of fuelling the climate emergency.
The oil company’s annual general meeting is today and activist Paul Morozzo says they are going to stay as long as they can.
An Horse - Modern Air
Before their 6 year break, Brisbane-to-Montreal-and-New-York duo An Horse were 2 albums into their career and touring non-stop with the likes of Tegan and Sara, Death Cab for Cutie, Silversun Pickups, Nada Surf, Cage the Elephant, and Brand New when a series of distracting life events forced them into a hiatus of sorts. That hiatus led to an extended break from touring and recording that’s finally ending with their 2019 album Modern Air, out now on Lame-O Records / Poison City Records.
The songs on Modern Air manage to be both propulsive and loping, lean mission statements about negotiating modern living easter-egged with intelligence and humour, melodic and percussive ear candy, heart and teeth, hope and anger.
They sound like themselves, two-headed and singularly focused, a particularly effective evolutionary step in a long tradition of of guitar-based indie-rock, angular in spaces, jangly in others, sometimes both at the same time. They take a familiar vocabulary and teach it new words, one sugary harmony barbed-wired to unflinching insight at a time.
11am Zedlines
[Image Source: Flickr/Benson Kua]
Children as young as 10 jailed in maximum-security
Four Corners have revealed children as young as 10 years old are being held in maximum security adult watch houses in Queensland.
To tackle the issue, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has ordered for the separation of Youth Justice from Child Safety.
The Premier said the new department will use the same existing staff but have a more focused approach.
Boom of local luxury hotels to benefit Brisbane
Brisbane is preparing for a boom of luxury hotels for a shift in the tourism industry, securing future investments in the city.
The addition of 4,535 hotel rooms across 14 hotels was planned to try and attract more visitors, and hopefully encourage more major convention organisers to host the events within the metropolis.
Brisbane City Council Deputy Mayor, Councillor Krista Adams, said the significant boom will benefit both the tourism and hotel industries.
Social media snaps to save coasts
Crowd-sourced social media photos have helped create new insights into how New South Wales beaches have responded to changing weather and wave conditions, including extreme storms.
The images are part of a citizen science project called Coastsnap, led by engineers from the University of New South Wales Water Research Laboratory and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
Aussie entry excites Cannes
A Melbourne filmmaker has made waves at the Cannes Film Festival, with her genre-bending documentary-horror film about Satanic panic.
Pia Borg debuted ‘Demonic’ at the Adelaide Festival in 2018, and is now showcasing the 28-minute feature at the world-renowned international film festival.
Demonic was funded by the Adelaide Festival’s HIVE initiative - a partnership with the ABC TV Arts, Screen Australia, and the Australian Council for the Arts - and will be screened to Aussie audiences on ABC and iview later in the year.
Swiss support gunlaw reform
Switzerland has voted in support of stricter gun laws.
After pressure from the EU to crack down on current laws, the majority of the swiss public has voted in favour of the reform, despite gun usage being a strong part of the country’s military influenced culture.
The President of the ProTell gun lobby, Jean-Luc Addor, has said the result of this referendum has left the population’s liberties eroded, and he does not believe this will prevent a single terrorist attack.
North Ireland calls for Marriage Equality
Northern Ireland residents have marched for the legalisation of same sex marriage.
Thousands of people across Belfast have showed their support for marriage equality in hopes the current, restrictive laws are amended.
The Democratic Unionist Party, currently in power, are opposed to this change despite the calls for change from the public.