Disaster Assistance extended in Western Australia

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Mon, 19/04/2021 - 11:30

Disaster assistance in Western Australia has been extended to a further seven local council areas as the state continues to reckon with the damage caused by last week’s Tropical Cyclone Seroja. 

Minister for Emergency Management David Littleproud said the cyclone had left a devastating trail of destruction and the assistance was being extended as the scale of the damage continued to become clearer.

The jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements is now providing support to 13 local government areas.

Hong Kong marks first Chinese National Security Day

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Mon, 19/04/2021 - 11:28

Hong Kong has marked the first Chinese National Security Day since sweeping national security laws were introduced, which the Chinese government dedicated to promote the nation to defend against foreign threats.

China expanded the definition for national security that goes beyond defense against military or terror attacks.

Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, said while national security in democracies stands for the security of a country against external threats. China’s apparatus targets all external and internal threats. 

Louise Terra - 'Follow The Moon Into The Ocean' EP

Submitted by charlottec on Mon, 19/04/2021 - 11:26
Castlemaine-via-Melbourne musician Louise Terry has been traversing the vast electro and experimental art-pop expanse long before the inception of her near-namesake solo moniker Louise Terra began. Known for her involvement with such Melbourne indie outfits as Sugar Fed Leopards, Sawtooth and Flying Scribble, Louise Terra has trickled out a string of singles and multimedia collaborations to her name since 2016, most notably with film-maker Rachel Feery in the production of a virtual-reality music video for her single, ‘Nature Calling’ in 2019. Now, the ever-evolving songwriter and producer delivers her anticipated debut EP, Follow the Moon Into the Ocean and reveals a third and final tease from the collection with her new single and accompanying video, ‘Yuu’. ‘Yuu’ rounds out a trio of singles lifted from Terra’s EP, following in the wake of previous tracks ‘Nature Calling’ and ‘J.B’. Upbeat and playful, ‘Yuu’ exemplifies Louise Terra’s keen ear for bent sonic textures, lush swirling vocals and intricate rhythms, taking cues from left-field electronica and dream pop, gravitating towards the personal and transcendental. Directed, shot and edited by local filmmaker Jeannie Brown, the accompanying video that will also land next week pays homage to surrealist and experimental abstract cinema, following Louise through milky bathtubs, fields of windswept grass, and pitch-black forests clad in stunning costuming by Alice Edgeley. The result opens up a whole new world of wonder to escape to when listening to the subdued tones of ‘Yuu’. “The making of Yuu was a labour of love. Louise and I realised early on we both possessed a healthy enthusiasm for surrealistic visual and temporal distortions in art. This provided a stepping stone for what became a series of playful experimentations both on set and within the editing process. Not all experiments made the final cut but all were invaluable collaborative, joyous discoveries in their own right. The lengthy delays in scheduling provided a means for ideas to mature and unfold of their own accord.” – Jeannie Brown From choir-girl beginnings, to obsessively listening to The Pixies, through to studying a theatre degree only to graduate and start fronting her own indie bands, Louise Terra has feasted on a steady diet of experimental pop and electronic music since her musical beginnings in the late Nineties. Steeped in a rich set of influences, such as Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Enigma and Susumu Yakota, the sounds on her upcoming EP Follow the Moon Into the Ocean present a shimmering meeting place between meditative and danceable. Drawing on her dreams, psyche and memories, the songs on the EP are self-reflective though somewhat mercurial.

South Brisbane protest for greater pedestrian safety

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Mon, 19/04/2021 - 11:25

Residents of South Brisbane have planned a protest in support of greater pedestrian safety for residents with impaired mobility and vision on the 28th of April.

Residents say that the Brisbane City Council has continued to dismiss or ignore their requests for a zebra crossing to be installed in the vicinity of Hope Street, South Brisbane.

They’re planning to block the intersection of Peel and Hope Streets from 8:00am to 8:30am in order to apply pressure on the Council to meaningfully consider their request for a crossing.

Refugees in Brisbane forcibly moved to Brisbane Immigration Detention Centre

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Mon, 19/04/2021 - 11:22

Refugees being held at the Kangaroo Point Hotel were removed by police and transferred to the Brisbane Immigration Detention Centre late on Friday afternoon.

Ian Rintoule of Refugee Action Coalition reports that around 50 to 60 protestors gathered in less than an hour in response to what they say were forcible removals of the refugees.

Mr Rintoule says that 17 of the men who were moved to the Brisbane Immigration Detention Centre have been transferred to Melbourne this morning, with no confirmation of where they will be held once there.

Bi-weekly Nation Cabinet meetings resume

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Mon, 19/04/2021 - 11:21

Bi-weekly National Cabinet meetings will begin again today, with aims to get Australia’s contentious COVID-19 vaccine rollout back on track. 

The reinstalment of the regular meetings comes as the federal government overhauls its existing plans as a result of updated medical advice that the preferred vaccine for people under the age of 50 is now Pfizer due to concerns of very rare blood clots.

The National Cabinet has not met this regularly since the peak of COVID-19 in the first half of 2020.

Haiti yet to receive a single COVID-19 vaccine

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Mon, 19/04/2021 - 11:19

Haiti has not received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine to date despite being one of 10 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that will receive the COVAX vaccines free of charge.

The COVAX initiative, a program backed by the World Health Organization, was to supply vaccines for middle and low-income countries.

Countries must submit detailed readiness and delivery plans to show that they are able to begin rolling out vaccines effectively, which the government has failed to do as a result of the current political chaos situation in Haiti.

Hundreds of boats join search for missing Brisbane man

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Mon, 19/04/2021 - 11:14

There are reports that over 217 boats joined a search for missing Brisbane man Trent Riley in Moreton Bay over the weekend.

The 26-year-old went missing while finishing alone in the Bay on Wednesday of last week.

Friends, relatives and community members have launched kayaks, jet skis and boats to assist in the search efforts, which continue today. Members of the Let’s find Trent Riley Facebook page have made calls for licensed drivers and life jackets after more boats and jet skis were donated to the efforts.

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