Australian Iconic Shoe Brand to Open 50 Stores in China
Australia’s iconic shoe brand, Volley, is set to open a chain of 50 stores in China with online demand soaring, after Asian pop star Faye Wong was photographed wearing them at Hong Kong airport two years ago.
The 79-year-old Australian tennis shoe brand will open its first standalone store later this month in Shanghai.
Since opening of Volley’s first pop-up store in May, the brand has seen the biggest growth month in China ever, with 70% of wholesale sales now being sent to China.
Unmarked Grave in Belgium Identified as Australian Soldier
Brisbane woman Kristine Broadway has identified the unmarked grave of an Australian soldier in Belgium as her great uncle, Private Robert Bowness.
Broadway used her skills as a history teacher to search for the grave, which was one of nearly 18,000 unmarked graves in Belgium.
The gravestone was found at Villers-Bretonneux, as Private Bowness was killed by a German artillery shell in Northern France.
$5 Million New Environmental Learning Centre in Boondall Wetlands
In Brisbane City Council’s plans to build a $5 million environmental learning centre in Boondall Wetlands, trees will be removed and other vegetation potentially damaged.
A new centre was part of Brisbane mayor Graham Quirk’s 2016 election commitment, when the council sought community feedback on a proposal for the new centre.
According to the assessment report, the proposed work would complement the existing Boondall Wetlands Environment Centre and car parking and accessibility improvements.
Brisbane a "place of culture"
Sydney and Melbourne have been skipped over as one of the world’s leading ballet companies decides to come to Brisbane.
Teatro alla Scala director Frederic Olivieri said "big numbers of costumes and equipment" will be brought for the shows at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in November.
QPAC had been negotiating for the past five years before announcing in March that La Scala had chosen in favour of performing exclusively in "a very important part of Australia with lots of culture": Brisbane.
One notion for One Nation
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party has told support to put federal Labor last in the super Saturday of by-elections held on July 28.
The One Nation Leader has drawn support from locals as she toured around the seat of Longman, being re-contested by deposed Labor MP Susan Lamb.
Senator Hanson said.“We will actually be putting independents and minor parties before the majors to give them a go, and I have no intention of supplying preferences directly from One Nation to Labor,"
Snow in desert country
West Australia’s high peak, Bluff Knoll in the Stirling Ranges national park, could see snow fall for the first time this year.
As Perth receives a cold front and unrelenting rain, temperatures at the peak are expected to drop to as low as three degrees celsius.
West Australians are rushing to the area to see the rare event, snow outside of an eastern state. The Great Southern Area is one of the few places in the state where snow has historically fallen.
Far-right sentiments felt in the school
A year seven student gave the Nazi salute to taunt one of his classmates amid a series of anti-Semitic bullying incidents at an inner west Sydney high school.
The Balmain Secondary College is reported to have had several such incidents in the previous month, and three students have been suspended from the state run school.
Around fifty per cent per cent of students at the campus are from the top socio-economic percentile. The state school has around eight hundred students, and forty per cent speak a language other than English at home.
Riots over police killing in French city
Rioting protesters clashed with police in the French city of Nantes after a young man was killed by a police officer.
When trying to avoid a checkpoint, the man reversing his car hit a police officer, prompting another officer to fatally shoot the driver, a police source says.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb condemned the violence, saying all necessary resources will be mobilised to calm the situation and prevent further incidents.
Former Ecuadorian president to be extradited
An Ecuadorian court ordered the arrest of former president Rafael Correa on charges of the alleged kidnapping of a political opponent in 20-12.
Former lawmaker Fernando Balda accused the then-president of masterminding his brief kidnapping, allegations Correa has denied.
Judge Daniella Camacho said she has alerted Interpol in an effort to have Mr Correa extradited from Belgium, where he currently lives with his wife.
Infinite Void: Endless Waves
- Six years on from their debut album, Melbourne's Infinite Void are back with Endless Waves, a second album of reverb-soaked moody post-punk. Not that they have been sitting around for the last half a decade. There have been a couple of split singles released with overseas bands and Infinite Void members Jacquie Hynes and Alicia Sayes are both active in the more raucous Deep Heat, who released an album a couple of years ago.