1. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in the US
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in New York for a whirlwind three-day trip, their first to New York.
They arrived without Prince George on a British Airways flight.
Overnight Prince William split briefly from his wife to travel to Washington to meet with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, while Chirlane McCray, the wife of New York City’s Mayor Bill di Blasio, welcomed Duchess Kate to Harlem at one of the community’s schools.
While they are there the two will raise money for their foundation, The Royal Foundation.
The Duke will make a speech at the World Bank to discuss a zero tolerance approach to the transportation across borders of illegal wildlife parts a key area of work for the United for Wildlife campaign.
2. US press unhappy with tour
Meanwhile Fairfax Media reports that the US press corp are unhappy with the fact the royal regulations stipulated a dress code for the media.
Men are encouraged to wear a suit and tie, while women are asked to wear pant or skirt suit.
The British monarchy’s official website states: “Those wearing jeans or trainers will not be admitted and casually-dressed members of the media will be turned away. This will also apply to technicians.”
“Why should the United States’ press corps – who barely bother to brush the muffin crumbs off their polo shirts before lobbing questions at the President of the United States – schlep extra pieces of clothing to work just so they can make small talk with a (perfectly nice-seeming) British air ambulance pilot in training and a former chain-store accessories buyer,” New York Magazine wrote.
3. Adelaide Test begins
Today marks the start of the first test in Adelaide and to mark the occasion Phillip Hughes has been named as Australia’s “13th man”. The test is undoubtedly an emotional and poignant one for the cricketing community.
Instead of a minute’s silence the Adelaide Oval will commemorate the life of Phillip Hughes with 63 seconds of applause.
The First Test squad: D Warner, C Rogers, S Watson, M Clarke, S Smith, M Marsh, B Haddin, M Johnson, R Harris, P Siddle, N Lyon. J Hazlewood (12th), P Hughes (13th).
4. Third Qantas plane makes unplanned landing
A third Qantas plane has been forced to make an unplanned landing overnight. The three flights which had to land were QF7, QF904 and a Qantas A380 passenger jet headed to Dubai.
Two planes made emergency landings at Perth Airport with a St John Ambulance spokesman saying paramedics were treating 75 people at the airport for smoke inhalation.
QF7 was turned back after various systems did not work including the movie system. They were four hours into the flight.
Earlier on Monday a Qantas A380 passenger jet travelling from Dubai to Sydney was diverted to Perth when the air conditioning developed a fault as the plane was over the Indian Ocean.
5. Call for more funding for vulnerable kids
Early Childhood Australia have called for the federal government to put additional funds into caring for disabled and low income children.
Early Childhood Australia chief executive Samantha Page told Fairfax Media that the federal government needed to concentrate on getting vulnerable and disadvantaged children into early childhood education.
“It’s an absolute priority,” Ms Page said.
Australia’s largest childcare provider, Goodstart Early Learning backed the call.
“Studies show substantial long-term savings to government and economic and social benefits flow from [the investment in] vulnerable children,” chief executive Julia Davison told Fairfax Media.
6. British businessman cleared of wife’s honeymoon murder
A British businessman accused of plotting to kill his new wife Anni during their honeymoon in Cape Town four years ago has been acquitted.
The South African judge found Shrien Dewani not guilty of the murder of his bride Anni saying the evidence against him was ‘riddled with contradictions’.
Dewani, who fought a four year battle against extradition to South Africa to face his accusers, sighed with relief as the Judge dismissed the case against him.
Dewani was accused of hiring two hit men to kill his new bride shortly after they arrived in Cape Town for their honeymoon in November 2010. It was alleged that he wanted to get out of the marriage and had visited gay dating websites a few days after the killing.
7. WA 4D ultrasound scam
A Facebook group set up for parents who had been the victims of a 4D ultrasound scam are pleased that the business is finally being held accountable.
The women had paid for 4D images of their babies but say they were provided fakes downloaded from the internet.
The business owner has now been charged with West Australia’s Department of Commerce receiving dozens of complaints.
For more read this post here.
8. Hamid Kehazaei case: Ill-fated asylum seeker forced to wait more than 24 hours for medical transfer
By Mark Willacy, Mark Solomons and Alex McDonald
A request to fly a seriously ill asylum seeker off Manus Island was not acted on for more than 24 hours because of delays, including the man’s lack of a visa to enter the PNG mainland.
Hamid Kehazaei, whose skin infection had turned into potentially fatal septicaemia, was later taken by air ambulance to hospital at Port Moresby and then on to Brisbane where he was pronounced brain dead and his life support switched off.
Documents obtained by the ABC show staff working for government contractor International Health and Medical Services (IHMS) warned that all antibiotic treatment at the Manus camp had been exhausted and Mr Kehazaei’s condition was deteriorating.
A “recommendation for medical movement”, written on the morning of August 25, recommended “urgent transfer by commercial carrier, with a medical escort and ground transfer from airport to hospital in Port Moresby”.
“There is a commercial flight leaving Manus to Port Moresby today at 17:30,” Dr Yliana Dennett wrote at 11:30am.
“The medical officer Dr Richard McGrath is already booked on this flight and can act as a medical escort if approved.”
Mr Kehazaei, a 24-year-old Iranian, had been diagnosed with severe septicaemia in his leg spreading to the groin, which medical staff warned in their request for a hospital transfer could lead to a “life-threatening systemic infection”.
But the seriously ill man was not flown off the island until the afternoon of the following day.
He was flown from Manus not on a commercial flight but in an air ambulance, the cost of which had been estimated at $51,000, according to the documents obtained by the ABC.
The documents also reveal that once Mr Kehazaei made it to hospital in Port Moresby his condition deteriorated further and he went into cardiac arrest.
He died at the Mater Hospital on September 5.
International Health and Medical Services declined to comment to the ABC, referring questions to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison’s office.
Mr Morrison also declined to comment, saying the case was a matter for the Queensland Coroner.
A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.
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9. Mum gives birth to 6.3 kilo baby
A mother in the US has given birth to a 6.3 kilo baby – after being told she was expecting a baby half that size.
Mia Yasmin Garcia was born by caesarean section at the San Luis Valley Hospital in the US on Monday, weighing a huge 6.3kgs and measuring 59cm long.
Her father told 9-News, Colorado that her size shocked everyone including the hospital staff.
“They’re all shocked that they’re seeing a baby like that,” Mr Garcia said. “Even in the San Luis Valley, they were like whoa! They opened their eyes like they’ve never seen a baby like that!”
10. New Delhi bans Uber following rape accusations
New Delhi has banned Uber just days after a 27-year-old female passenger accused one of its drivers of raping her.
According to the BBC Delhi officials said the suspension of Uber’s services is not connected to the alleged attack, but rather to the fact Uber had been operating on the wrong license.
Uber has pledged to improve its screening processes in India after the arrest of a driver on rape charges.
11. 2014 devastating year for Children
UNICEF has declared 2014 a devastating year for children with as many as 15 million caught in conflicts in Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and the Palestinian territories.
UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said that “Children have been killed while studying in the classroom and while sleeping in their beds; they have been orphaned, kidnapped, tortured, recruited, raped and even sold as slaves,”
“Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.”
And an estimated 230 million children live in countries and areas affected by armed conflicts, it said.
12. Maddie McCann interviews
British police have arrived in Portugal to question a number of suspects over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Scotland Yard detectives are expected to interview Robert Murat, who was arrested as part of the Portuguese police investigation into her disappearance at the time.
As well as questioning seven suspects, four other people will be interviewed as potential witnesses reports 13. Con-artist on route to AustraliaThe Mirror.
13. Con-artist on route to Australia
Samantha Azzopardi, the 26-year old Australian woman who was arrested after duping authorities in Ireland and Canada pretending to be a sexual assault victim, is set to return to Australia this week after spending two months in custody in Canada.
Azzopardi has used more than 40 aliases and created headlines across the world when she was found wandering the streets of Dublin last year and was thought to be a teenage sex-trafficking victim from Eastern Europe.
14. Russell Brand tweets journalist’s number to 8.7 million followers
Russell Brand is in trouble with Twitter after he tweeted a picture with the mobile number of a Daily Mail journalist to his 8.7 million followers.
The tweet was a picture of the business card of Neil Sears, with his notes saying “call me” and an arrow pointing at his number.
The image was retweeted hundreds of times, and some of Brand’s fans replied to the initial tweet saying they had already called Sears.
Brand has since deleted the image and apologised.
