US Senate terminates border wall proposal, Trump to veto.
President Trump is vowing to veto a proposal that was terminated by the US Senate on Thursday, giving him clearance to build a wall at the Mexico border under claims of ‘emergency declaration.’
The vote to terminate the proposal was 59 - 41 votes, with 12 republican senators voting with the democratic side.
The vote marks the second Senate rebuke of the president in two days.
Drug use spike in regional Queensland
A report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has revealed alarming statistics of drug and alcohol use in regional Australia.
The report found a 41% increase in drug-induced deaths in remote and regional areas in the decade following 2007, compared to a 16% spike in major cities.
‘Very remote’ areas of Western Australia were found in the report to top the list of places where people aged 14 years or older were drinking alcohol at risky levels and who had most recently used illicit drugs.
State of emergency: healthcare a sore point in NSW election
The demand for emergency services and healthcare in NSW is continuing to grow, but governments can’t keep up.
The latest Bureau of Health Information found that visits to emergency departments were at a new record, up 3.4% to 749,504 for the October to December 2018 Quarter, compared to the same time last year.
The Australian Medical Association’s NSW president Dr Kean-Seng Lim, a GP has sounded the alarm for the need of more adequate resources.
Gateway Motorway project complete and opening today
The $1.1 billion Gateway Upgrade North project is complete, with the official opening of the newly widened section of the Gateway Motorway held today.
Federal Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Alan Tudge, attended the commissioning of the project today and says the upgrade was a significant investment from the Australian Government to improve conditions for motorways and freight productivity in South East Queensland.
TAFE Southbank receives state of the art training kitchens
Two state of the art training kitchens have been unveiled at the TAFE Queensland Southbank campus that will provide world class culinary training for the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu French hospitality school.
Deputy Premier and Member for South Brisbane, Jackie Trad, said the Palaszczuk Government has supported the TAFE Queensland and Le Cordon Bleu partnership with $3.7 million in funding towards an upgrade of the training facilities at TAFE Queensland’s South Bank campus.
Review: Celebration at 30th Alliance Français French Film Festival 2019
The 30th Alliance Français French Film Festival 2019 presents Celebration which opens with a sense of uncertainty, scattered thought and vacancy. The designer's hand is at a loss with completing a design sketch; a hand that once upon a time could have drawn up a power suit fit for Bianca Jagger or revealing see-through blouses designed to liberate the swingers of London’s happening sixties scene. There’s a sense of realisation and completion.
CHAI: PUNK
- Little less than two years has passed since Japanese quartet CHAI dropped their debut. Now comes PUNK and sophomore slumps be damned, damned to heck! Boiling with ceaseless, blending, vivacious chirrups and flavours of technicolour joy, CHAI’s latest outing is one wholesome dose of kaleidoscopic jubilee that should be savoured, down to the last drop.
10am Zedlines
Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons
Cyclone hits Mozambique, South-East Africa.
People living in one of Mozambique's largest cities have been warned to expect the "worst-case scenario" as a major cyclone makes landfall.
Cyclone Idai, which is carrying winds of up to 165km/h, is making landfall near the port of Beira.
A storm surge of at least six metres (20 feet) is expected near low-lying Beira, a city of 500,000 people, Météo France said.
Heavy rains have already killed about 100 people in Mozambique and Malawi.
Call for probe into Russia's role in American election to be public
The US House of Representatives has called for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's upcoming report on his probe into Russia's role in the 2016 election, to be released to Congress and the public.
The 420-0 House vote, with four conservative Republican lawmakers voting "present," gave Democrats who control the chamber a political victory and put pressure on Attorney General William Barr to make the report public after Mueller submits it to him.