Despite personal claims to be worth near $4 billion, Queensland money magnet and former Federal politician Clive Palmer says he won’t reopen Queensland Nickel’s plant if the company’s liquidators win a submission to freeze $200 million of his assets.

Mr. Palmer recently won a separate legal victory and was award $350 million, but attests that he will be have no choice but to ‘enjoy the fruits’ of that victory if he remains tied up by liquidators.

Amongst those hardest hit by Telstra’s most recent dividend slash are around a million, mum, dad, and self-funded retiree investors.

The teleco reported a 5.8 percent fall in net profit to $1.7 billion this year, which translated to more than a quarter cut to December’s dividend passed on to domestic investors.

The reduction in profit comes after the company’s US video arm Ooyala maybe significant losses throughout the year due to quoted ‘non-cash impairments’.

17 people have been killed and others injured after a school shooting in Florida on Wednesday afternoon just before the school day was due to finish.

A fire drill had already been held that day which confused staff and students when a code red was read over the loudspeaker.

The gunman, a 19-year-old former student, was treated for minor injuries and then released into police custody.

An instagram-friendly frame stating “I took the leap” has been placed on a mountain outside Mackay named ‘The Leap’ and caused concern among traditional owners. 

The historical site is said to be named after an event where an Aboriginal woman chased by police jumped to her death in the 1860s. It is now also acknowledged as the site of a police massacre committed against the local indigenous population.

Domestic violence and homelessness outreach groups have renewed their calls for a dedicated female homeless shelter in Alice Springs following a spike in the number of women in the city sleeping rough and being assaulted.

The Northern Territory has the highest rates of homelessness in Australia, and yet Alice Springs, its biggest regional town, has no emergency accommodation facility for women fearing for their own safety.

A new report commissioned to review the two days of train chaos Sydney faced last month has found that the city’s tangled rail network and crew shortages were major contributing factors towards the system’s failure.

These major failures stopped trains on the tracks for 48 hours, left thousands of commuters stranded and saw other passengers turned away from stations due to overcrowding.

There are reports Manus Island refugees staying in a Port Moresby hotel have been stripped of their phone cards, just one month after they were also denied their weekly allowance for necessities such as toiletries.

The men had previously been given two phone cards a week, however after the security contract for the hotel was transferred, the cards have not been given out.

The contract states that the refugees staying in Port Moresby, and those still on Manus Island should receive a $30 weekly allowance for phone calls.

International aid has finally reached the besieged, rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region in Syria yesterday.

The convoy of nine trucks delivered aid to over 7,000 civilians with enough medical and food supplies to sustain them for a month.

Aid workers say the region is in desperate need of more convoys, with about 400,000 people currently living under the government-imposed siege.