New Samoan prime minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa has been sworn into office in a marquee outside Parliament House after her political rival locked her out of parliament house.

Police barred Mata’afa from entering the legislative hall on her arrival and the parliament clerk announced he would only allow parliament to sit on the orders of outgoing Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.

Mata’afa's FAST party won federal elections in April inflicting a shock defeat on Malielegaoi, who had previously served as prime minister for 22 years.

Mali’s interim president and prime minister have been arrested and taken to a military base outside the capital Bamako following a controversial reshuffle announced yesterday.

Reports say interim vice president Colonel Assimi Goita, who engineered the coup last year which installed the interim government, ordered the arrests.

A new government of 25 ministers was announced yesterday following widespread criticism of the military’s control over the democratic transition process.

A Noosa advocacy group has been formed to fight Noosa council efforts to prepare the area for the effects of climate change and is bringing in an Adani-linked lobby group to help.

The Eastern Beaches Protection Association opposes the Noosa Shire Council’s Coastal Hazard Adaptation Plan which aims to set out long-term mitigation strategies to reduce the effects of rising sea levels on coastal communities.

Queensland Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Keiryn Dermody says hate crimes have risen as much as 30 per cent in Queensland in the last five years.

Dermody’s claim was part of his evidence at a parliamentary committee hearing investigating the need for stronger responses to hate and vilification crimes.

While he said the sharp rise in racial violence was in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dermody affirmed that “ideologically and religiously motivated violent extremism presents a growing threat to the safety of the community.”

WIN News says it will axe many of its regional television news bulletins in Queensland and Victoria and replace them with statewide bulletins, prompting community outrage.

The move could cost as many as 20 regional journalists their jobs and will affect the Mackay, Bundaberg and Hervey Bay regions in Queensland.

Media and Arts Alliance regional director for Victoria and Tasmania Adam Portelli says WIN News’ decision is a betrayal of its audience and risks turning regional and rural Australia into a “news desert.”

A number of venues have been added to the list of COVID exposure sites in Victoria after four new locally acquired cases were recorded in Melbourne overnight. 

The four cases include a woman in her 70s, a pre-school aged child and two males in their 30s and 70s. 

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said that the first case to test positive was likely to be highly infectious. 

Contact tracing and genomic sequencing are underway to determine whether the cases are linked to the Epping Woolworths contact tracing bungle last month.

Several airlines are set to redirect their flights away from Belarusian airspace after Belarusian authorities diverted a RyanAir flight flying from Greece to Lithuania in order to arrest a dissident journalist.

Belarusian air traffic control diverted the flight by warning of a possible bomb on board before scrambling a MiG fighter jet to guide the plane into Minsk airport where police were waiting to remove journalist Roman Protasevich.

Israeli police say they will arrest hundreds of Palestinians living in Israel over the coming days for their participation in uprisings in support of thirteen Palestinian families set to be evicted from East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

In a statement, Israeli police say Operation Law and Order will bring alleged criminals to justice after demonstrations which sparked 11 days of intense fighting between Israel’s defence forces and Palestinian armed group Hamas.