Palm Springs: Palm Springs & Friends

- Erica Dunn is certainly under no obligation to make more music, right now. As a key player in Mod Con, Tropical Fuck Storm and of course, Harmony, the guitar slinging singer-songwriter has had an extremely accomplished few years. She has so much music though, it shouldn’t really be surprising that she has more. In fact, she has a whole other project that’s been bubbling away, quietly, for years, the name of which is Palm Springs.

Footy: Flora Fauna

- Flora Fauna is the third album by Melbourne band Footy. Apart from being an exercise in alliteration, it presents their first recorded outing as a trio with the new addition of multi-instrumentalist Evelyn Ida Morris contributing percussion, saxophone and keys. The addition promises a wide-range of new sonic possibilities for the primarily instrumental and keys-based band, and one that they’re apt to employ on this long-awaited record.

Laibach: The Sound Of Music

- Who doesn't love The Sound Of Music? Veteran Slovenian art-rockers Laibach are obviously fans of the classic 1965 musical and apparently they discovered, on a recent tour of North Korea, that it's one of the few pieces of Western culture that has penetrated widely into the Democratic People's Republic.

Russian rapper arrested for performing concert from his car roof.

Popular Russian rapper, Husky, has been jailed for 12 days after he defied a ban and performed to fans.

This came after his official concert was canceled under pressure from authorities who warned that the concert contained "extremism".

Husky's lyrics are known for mocking Russian authorities and one of his earliest songs openly criticised President Vladimir Putin.

Gay rugby player, Kenneth Acharia, avoids deportation from UK

Gay rugby player, Kenneth Macharia, has avoided deportation from the UK after concerns were raised that his sexuality would result in persecution in his home country, Kenya.

Kenneth plays for the British team the Bristol Bisons…. The team’s spokesperson says “Whilst this is good news, they have no confirmation that Ken will not be removed from the UK entirely.

Currently, homosexual acts are illegal in Kenya and punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Dutton pushes to get encryption bill passed before the end of the year

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has requested a federal parliamentary committee to look into a proposed law that would enable police to access encrypted messages.

Dutton wants the law to pass before the end of the year and has written to the committee leader, Andrew Hastie to fasttrack the report.

The Minister says he is “gravely concerned that [Australian] agencies cannot rule out the possibility that others may also have been inspired by events in Melbourne to plan and execute attacks" hence his desire for access to encrypted messages.

A Boeing 737 has been used to fight bushfires for the first time

A boeing 737 has been used to fight bushfires for the first time, dropping several loads of retardant on two blazes in the Newcastle area.

While a 737 has been tested in other situations to demonstrate its effectiveness, this is the first time in the world a 737 has been used to fight fires.

NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Chris Garlick said they were stoked with the effectiveness of the 737.

A woman has died after being hit by a truck on the Ipswich Motorway

A woman has died from serious head injuries after being hit by a truck on the Ipswich Motorway.

A Spokesperson for the Queensland Ambulance Service said the patient was assessed at the scene but was not transported to hospital.

Police are diverting traffic and significant delays are expected as a forensic crash unit investigates the accident.