UN Withdraw Workers from Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency have withdrawn foreign workers from Gaza “following a series of worrying security incidents” due to protests over UN job cuts.

The cuts follow the United States’ announcement that all funding will be cut from the UNRWA, and were mostly in the mental health services sector.

Protestors were dissatisfied with the job cuts and have appealed to international donors for funding.

QLD government paid to promote Dollarmites

A Right to Information request revealed the Commonwealth Bank pays the government $400,000 dollars every year to encourage kids to join their Dollarmites program.

After rejecting the request twice earlier this year, the Queensland Government was forced to reveal the sum as part of the Royal Commission into banking.

Financial author Scott Pape criticised the government and the Commonwealth bank for targeting children and placing them into a ‘marketing database’.

Layla Leisha found after 4 years missing

After being missing for more than four years, an eleven-year-old Queensland girl has been found by Australian Federal Police on Sunday.  

With a recovery order being issued by the Family court in June of 2014, Layla Leisha was believed to have been with her father at the time of her disappearance.

Early investigations suggested she had been residing with relatives in Lismore, NSW, however the AFP has declined to specify where she was found.

Indigenous teens dream in VR

Teens from a remote indigenous community are using new technology to create a virtual reality adaptation of their acclaimed comic book series ‘NEOMAD’.

The four teenagers from rural Pilbara, Western Australia, are in talks with the ABC and NITV recreate their digital comic, titled 'Future Dreaming.'

One of the creators, Max Coppin, said VR was a different mode of storytelling for them, but believes it is a part of their own cultural legacy.

Airport workers to protest working conditions

Workers at Australia’s five major airports will protest working conditions and pay in a global day of action today.

The Transport Workers’ Union said forced part-time hours, low pay, and split shifts have led to workers sleeping at the airport, endangering aviation safety and security.

The Brisbane protest will occur at the domestic terminal between Qantas and Virgin at 11am this morning.

Egyptian activist jailed for Facebook post

An Egyptian human rights activist has become the second woman to be jailed this year after speaking out on Facebook about sexual harassment.

Amal Fathy has been sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly making “public insults”, “spreading false news”, and “possessing indecent material”.

Amnesty International has called on Egyptian authorities to release Fathy from detention and drop all charges.

Faulty equipment left Indonesian unprepared for tsunami

An Indonesian Disaster Agency said they received insufficient warning before Friday’s tsunami due to faulty early-detection buoys off the Sulawesian coast.

A disaster management expert said the system hasn’t worked since 2012, and contributed to the deaths of more than 844 people in the disaster.

Efforts to alert residents to potential tsunamis were also inadequate, according to a spokesperson from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Review: As If No-one is Watching

 

We’ve all heard the phrase “Dance as if nobody's watching,” right? In some form or another, we understand what this means. We understand that when no one can see us, no one can judge us and we can be as free as we need to be in order to express our own inner world.