Up to forty thousand homes and businesses are without power in North Queensland today as Tropical Cyclone Niran continues to develop off the coast. Winds are reaching one hundred and twenty kilometres per hour and the Bureau of Meteorology is warning that the currently Category One cyclone may intensify in coming days. Residents living between Cape Flattery and Lucinda are urged to take safety precautions and wait for updates.

A further 25 refugees have been released from temporary detention in Brisbane today. The news comes after the release of 25 refugees yesterday. Spokesperson for Refugee Action Collective, Ian Rintoul says, the releases today and yesterday are a face saving move for the federal government, a product of legal challenges and of the last years public protests. Protests have been held for the 120 people in temporary hotel detention with more to come on the 5th of March.

Papua New Guinean police are asking for calm as riots and looting follow the death of Sir Michael Somare, former and first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. Sir Michael Somare died of pancreatic cancer at 84 years old in the capital city of Port Moresby last Friday. Riots and looting broke out in Port Moresby and Lae during the national day of mourning yesterday, spurred on by local social media posts. Sir Michael’s daughter Dulciana Somare Brash condemned the looters on facebook.

A French court convicted former President Nicolas Sarkozy of corruption and peddling influence in Paris last night. The court found Sarkozy guilty of conspiring with his former lawyer to convince a judge to reveal information about an ongoing legal investigation and sentenced him to three years in prison. It is unlikely the former president will end up behind bars, however, with the judge ruling two years of Sarkozy’s sentence be suspended and allowing him to serve the remaining year under house arrest.

The Queen made her first Zoom call to Australia from London yesterday, calling the South Australian Governor and Premier, as well as sculptor Robert Hannaford, to discuss the installation of a bronze statue of the monarch in Adelaide. The statue is the third of its kind in Australia and is already a popular tourist attraction in the South Australian capital. Governor Le also informed Queen Elizabeth of Australia’s progress in rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine to frontline workers and bushfire recovery.

Queensland house prices are at an all time high as this month marks the sharpest monthly increase in the housing market since 2007. Prices rose by one point five percent in one month across Brisbane, with figures released by property analysts CoreLogic showing prices increasing in almost every region in queensland. Interstate migration to Queensland is the highest it’s been in 20 years according to Australian Bureau Of Statistics Demographer Andrew Howe. 

Country airline Regional Express made its first flight from Melbourne to Sydney yesterday, marking its entry into the world’s second busiest air routes. The regional airline is expanding its operations to include big city flights in a move to challenge Qantas and Virgin. The move comes following Regional Express’s announcement last week that it would end five of its regional air services at the end of March, blaming what it called Qantas’ ‘aggressive predatory moves’ to encroach on their regional operations.

Bravus, formerly known as Adani, is taking Prominent Stop Adani activist Ben Pennings to the Supreme Court today in a pre-trial hearing. Mr Pennings is being sued by Adani for breach of confidence inducing breaches of contract and conspiring with others to commit unlawful acts. Adani says Pennings has taken its confidential information but won’t tell him what the information is.