Cardinal George Pell won’t appeal child abuse sentence if conviction stands
Cardinal George Pell will not seek a reduced sentence if the court of appeal upholds his conviction for sexually abusing two Melbourne choirboys in the 1990’s.
Since February, Pell has been behind bars and is due to return to court next week to contest his conviction, but won’t be adding an appeal against his already six-year prison sentence.
Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the youngest world leader, outed in a confidence vote
Austrian conservative chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s government has been voted out of office by Austrian MPs.
Parliament passed a motion of no-confidence days after the country’s politicians found themselves in the aftermath of a corruption scandal.
Mr Kurz suggested he was more of a victim of the political crisis set off by video evidence, rather than an enabler who brought the far right to power in the country.
Myanmar soldiers jailed for Rohingya killings freed after less than a year
Myanmar has freed seven soldiers early who were jailed for the killings of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a military crackdown in 2017.
They were the only soldiers to be punished over the 2017 crackdown in the western state of Rakhine, which drove more than 730,000 Rohingya people to flee to Bangladesh.
The UN investigators dubbed this ‘genocidal intent’, Myanmar officials, however, deny any wrong-doing.
Review: English Baroque with Circa at QPAC
On Tuesday I found myself in quite a predicament. I’d lined up a first date with just about the loveliest lady a dating app could ever hope to show me, and I was also asked to review a show at QPAC that very same evening. First dates are risky enough, and I never thought I’d be asking a girl if she’d like to go and see a Baroque orchestra performing songs from the 17th century while circus performers demonstrated incredible feats of strength and athleticism, as an internationally renowned Soprano sang ghostly melodies from a swing suspended over the stage.
9AM ZEDLINES
Good morning, this is Maria, Zara, Floss and Jedd with your 9 am Zedlines
UQ students to vote on major issues
Students at the University of Queensland will stage a general meeting on two major issues on Wednesday.
The students will vote on the proposed demolition of the Schonell Theatre and a proposed UQ deal with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation.
The UQ student union councillor Priya De (DI) said the university cannot ignore a mass assembly of students on the two biggest issues to impact the campus in decades.
Increased funding for Big Pineapple
The development plans for the Sunshine Coast’s Big Pineapple have been boosted with an extra $2.5 million from the State Government.
The funding aims to rejuvenate the site and establish it as the tourist attraction it once was.
The master plan includes a treetops ropes course, water park and numerous cafes.
Apple hacked by Adelaide boy
A 17 year old Adelaide schoolboy faced the Adelaide youth court yesterday and has plead guilty to multiple hacking charges.
He hacked into Apple’s security system when he 13 years old and again for second time in 2017 at 15 years old.
He had no awareness of the gravity of the situation and thought it would lead to nothing more than a job opportunity from the tech giant.
Albanese new Labor leader
Anthony Albanese is to become Labor’s new leader after an uncontested leadership ballot.
At least four other Labour candidates considered a tilt for the position, but none officially nominated themselves by the deadline.
Albanese has said he wants to reach out to those who did not support Labor last Saturday and has vowed to be a “straight talker” in order to win back Labor votes.
Indonesian anti-feminism campaign
The campaign, “Indonesia Without Feminists”, recently went viral for its opposition to feminism and ridicule of the LGBTQI community.
It is a supposed opposition to western feminism deemed incompatible with their Islamic values and believe Indonesian women should mobilise to protect their children from ‘un-godly communism”, homosexuality and other ‘moral threats’.
The campaign is a part of a growing tech-savvy ultra-conservative movement using memes and hashtags like #UninstallFeminism to spread their messages.