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Tuesday's news in under 2 minutes.

Peter Dowling

 

 

1. The Chair of the QLD Ethics Committee is being called to step down after he was caught sending sexts to his mistress from a Government phone. Let’s say that again: Chair of the ETHICS committee.

The images of Peter Dowling, which include close ups of his genitals placed artfully in a glass of red wine, were obtained by The Courier Mail after the woman who received them contacted the Parliament’s Speaker.

Mr Dowling, who is married and a father of two, is also being investigated for taking advantage of parliamentary travel allowances so that he could meet up with his mistress.

2. Entertainer Rolf Harris has been arrested again in the UK amid allegations of sexual abuse. The 83-year-old was first arrested in March but has been released on bail. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police told the media: “He has returned on bail today, where he was further arrested on suspicion of sexual offences in connection with further allegations made to Operation Yewtree. He has been re-bailed to a date later in August.” Harris denies all the allegations and no charges have actually laid yet.

Australian entertainer Rolf Harris

3. After five years of experimentation, Dutch scientists have reportedly created the world’s first “test-tube” burger. The burger, which was grown from cattle stem cells, cost around $332,000 to create (so, a little more than a Big Mac meal).

Tasters of the burger, which was cooked and eaten on live TV, described it as “close to meat”. The World Health Organisation predicts that the world’s population will outgrow meat production at some point in the future, so the experiment could come in handy for your great-great-grandchildren.

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4. A 26-year-old jockey died yesterday during the Darwin Cup, after being thrown from her horse. Mother-of-two Simone Montgomerie was riding Riahgrand when she was thrown. The rider was only 100 metres from the finishing line. The Cup Carnival was cancelled in the wake of Montgomerie’s death.

5. England has retained the Ashes. Rain last night ruined Australia’s chance at a comeback. Boo.

6. The youngest person ever to pass the Bar of England and Wales, since its establishment more than 600 years ago, is an American student named Gabrielle Turnquest. She is 18-years-old.

7. A study published in the United States has established a link between climate change and increases in violence around the world. Monsoons, heat waves and other climate events have been found to have coincided with increased violence.

Professor Solomon Hsiang, the lead author of the study, also cited an Australian study looking at domestic violence in Brisbane and told ABC that “it was demonstrating that based on hotter days, there was a higher rate of domestic violence calls into the local police department”.

RBA

9. A 40-year-old male nurse has been charged with two counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault, after allegedly raping a female patient in a public hospital. The man appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday and was released on bail.

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