Brazilian Vice Present Hamilton Mourao has told the Brazilian people that they are to blame for the country’s high COVID-19 case and deaths numbers. He said it is not in Brazlians’ nature to respect the rules and that the Brazilian people enjoyed partying and going out too much to wait for restrictions to ease. The comments come amid a continuing drop in support for the Bolsonaro administration, with Brazilians blaming the government for failing to adequately respond to the health crisis.

The top levels of Queensland’s public service are undergoing a reshuffle following the resignation of the Director-General of The Department of Premier and Cabinet Dave Stewart.

Mr Stewart is leaving his post of six years to become Queensland Agent-General in London.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk thanked Mr Stewart for his service and said the appointment of current Under Treasurer Rachel Hunter as his replacement was good timing as it coincided with Brisbane’s Women’s March yesterday.

Brisbane City Council is set to meet next Tuesday to receive a briefing on organising the 2032 Olympic Games and vote on submitting a formal bid.

The International Olympic Committee has already named Brisbane as its preferred partner for the games.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says hosting the Olympics would boost Brisbane’s economic recovery and give the city a lasting legacy.

New South Wales MP for the Animal Justice Party Emma Hurst is calling for a mandatory animal ban for anyone found guilty of bestiality. 

Currently, people convicted of bestiality charges are still allowed to own and work alongside animals and the maximum penalty for aggravated animal cruelty is a $22 000 fine or two years in jail. 

The mandatory bans are set to be debated next week in the New South Wales parliament.

Thousands of Syrian protestors took to the streets in the rebel-held city of Idlib last night to mark ten years since the uprisings that triggered the Syrian civil war.

The 2011 uprising began amid calls for the deposition of President Bashar Al-Assad and, after ten years and nearly 400 000 deaths, the protestors’ message has not changed. 

Idlib is currently protected under a cease-fire agreement which is preventing violence, but internal displacement and food insecurity remain serious threats to millions of Syrians.

The new UN-backed interim Libyan unity government was sworn in in the eastern city of Tobruk last night.

New Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and his three-member presidential council are tasked with organising elections in December this year that will end a decade of conflict and instability in Libya.

Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the previous UN-backed government and rebel leader General Haftar’s forces have been vying for influence across the country, with the resulting power vacuum allowing conflict and crime to thrive.

86 close contacts of the doctor who contracted COVID-19 while treating in the Princess Alexandra Hospital have returned negative results, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said this morning. 

Hundreds of further results are expected in the coming days, which will show whether the doctor spread the virus while he was infectious in the community before testing positive last week.