Amazon workers across Europe are striking over salaries, benefits, and work conditions

Thousands of Amazon workers across Europe are striking over salaries, benefits and work conditions, with German walkouts joining those in Spain and Poland.

German trade union spokesperson Stefanie Nutzenberger says while the online giant gets rich, it is saving money on the health of its workers.

Secretary General of Spain’s Workers Commissions, Unai Sordo says Amazon must resume negotiations and guarantee the workers unquestionable rights.

 

Australians find they may already have a "My Health Record"

After trying to opt out of “My Health Record”, an online summary of your healthcare information, Australians have been shocked to discover they already have a health record set up.

Residents were told they had until October 15th of this year to dismiss their online record.

Almost 6 million Australians currently hold a My Health Record according to the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA).

 

NT workplaces may be preventing women from reporting cases of sexual assault

The small-town culture of Northern Territory workplaces may prevent women from reporting cases of sexual harassment, according to an anti-discrimination commissioner Sally Sievers.

Sievers says workplaces are supposed to have a robust, confidential complaint process to report sexual harassment, but in smaller places like NT, many people do not know the process exists.

Seivers also says many women who initially said they had not been sexually harassed would realise they had been after outlining what constituted sexual harassment.

 

Cinema groups competing over the future of a Brisbane skating rink

Competing cinema groups are fighting over the future of the Red Hill Skate Rink site in inner city Brisbane.

A $10 million dollar redevelopment was proposed by Five Star Cinemas and given the green light last year, but Reading cinemas is seeking to have this approval overturned in the Planning and Environment Court.

The arena was burnt down on Boxing Day in 2002 and was added to the council’s heritage register in 2016.

World's oldest bread found in Jordan

Researchers have found the remains of the world’s oldest bread at a prehistoric site in north-east Jordan.

The bread was baked around 14,500 years, more than 4,000 years before early plant cultivation and farming societies.

University of Copenhagen researcher Amaia Arranz-Otaegui says they now must analyse the relationship between bread production and agriculture, as bread may have provided an incentive to begin farming.

 

Japan faces heatwave, 14 people dead

Japan is currently facing an intense heat wave, which has killed around fourteen people and hampered recovery efforts in flood-affected areas.

Temperatures over the weekend ranged from 34 to nearly 40 degrees, with temperatures of 35 degrees considered intensely hot days in Japan.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency says the heat wave is due to the layering of two high pressure systems, and is expected to last the rest of the week.

 

Forget carrots, eating oranges could improve your eyesight

Regularly eating oranges may improve your eye health according to new research from the Westmead Institute.

The Institute analysed the diet of 2,000 Australians over the age of 50 for a 15 years period focusing on how their diet related to their risk of age-related vision impairment, and it was the consumption of oranges in particular that stood out.

Lead researcher at the University of Sydney, Bamini Gopinath, said that while these results were exciting, more studies needed to be done to hone in on the the links to oranges and Macular Degeneration.

New drug treatment for ice addiction to be trialed

A new drug treatment for ice addiction will be trialed with around 180 people over a twelve week period.

Participants will take N-Acetyl Cysteine, a drug use for paracetamol overdoses, to reduce the urge to take crystal methamphetamine and other harmful substances.  

There is currently no approved medication to treat ice dependence, and most people with addictions must wait for access to counselling services and rehabilitation.