1. Spear attack victim
Liam Knight, 18, who was speared through the head with a 2.85m metal rod at a backyard party last January in Sydney, has condemned two teenage girls for bragging about inviting the gatecrasher who attacked him.
On Friday, after an unnamed 17-year-old was convicted of assault, two teenageed girls took to Instagram to post a selfie that boasted they were “The girls that showed no remorse”.
Liam Knight has posted on his Facebook page that the girls are “absolute filth and the scum of the earth”.
“They are basically the reason I am disabled for the rest of my life and they think it is an absolute joke.”
The Daily Telegraph reports that the girls have since posted their own Facebook comment saying, “Of course we are remorseful, what’s occurred is a tragedy. There are many factors at play here. So please don’t point the finger at us.”
2. ADF taskforce uncovers hundreds of allegations of rape and abuse
The Australian reports that a taskforce, set up to investigate Defence Force abuse, has uncovered 220 cases of child sailors at the navy’s West Australian training base in the 1980s that were raped or brutalised.
The newspaper reports, “Almost 500 former and serving Defence Force members have received reparation payments of up to $50,000 for damage caused by the abuse they suffered — a cost to Defence of more than $21 million.”
3. Oscar Pistorius trial resumes
After a two-week recess, the trial of Oscar Pistorius resumes in South Africa.
His defence will take up the challenge of attempting to prove that the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp was a mistake.
So far, defence lawyers have only presented three of up to 17 witnesses they say they may ask to testify.
4. Judge slammed after light sentence
A judge is under fire for sentencing a confessed rapist to just five years in jail because his 14-year-old victim was not a virgin.
Despite a written confession from the rapist, the judge told Dallas Morning News, “She wasn’t the victim she claimed to be.”
“He is not your typical sex offender. There are rape cases that deserve life. There are rape cases that deserve 20 years. Every now and then, you have one of those that deserve probation. This is one of those and I stand by it.”
For more, read this post here “Outrage after judge gives rapist probation as 14-year-old victim “wasn’t a virgin.”
5. Australian paedophile dies
A 94-year-old Australian man facing paedophile charges in Thailand has died while awaiting trial.
Karl Joseph Kraus, from Western Australia, was suffering from prostate cancer and dementia when he died on Thursday, four years after his arrest on charges of sexually assaulting four Thai girls aged between five and 15 at his home near the northern city of Chiang Mai.
6. Sinn Fein leader released
In Northern Ireland, Gerry Adams has been released from the police custody, meaning the decision on whether to charge him with the murder of Jean McConville in 1972 will be made by Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service at a later date. Jean was a mother-of-10 from Belfast.
7. Cancer drugs being denied
A group of oncologists and support groups, calling themselves Australia’s Cancer Drugs Alliance, is pushing for an overhaul of medication subsidies to make 36 cancer drugs currently unavailable accessible to all who might need them.
The Herald Sun reports that Australia’s Cancer Drugs Alliance is calling on the Federal Government to establish a fund to provide immediate access to the treatments while it conducts a wider overhaul of the PBS to hasten approvals.
8. Ukraine crisis
Pro-Russian activists have attacked the police headquarters in the Ukraine city of Odessa, forcing the release of several people held over deadly violence two days ago.
Friday’s clashes led to more than 40 deaths. Most victims were pro-Russian separatists killed when the building they were in caught fire.
10. Screen time study
A study has shown that children under three who used smartphones and tablets scored lower in verbal tests than those who didn’t.
Yet 60 per cent of the parents of the children in the study believed that playing on touchscreen devices helped with toddlers’ learning and development.
The results showed that children playing non-educational games such as Angry Birds actually scored lower in verbal tests than children who are not exposed to smart phone games.
10. The law to make children behave
A proposed bill set to come up before the parliament in Spain will make it a law for children to do their chores and complete their homework.
Known as the Child Protection Bill, the proposed law also includes a series of measures designed to keep children safe from sexual predators.
But the parts of the bill attracting attention is the section that obliges children to behave toward their parents and siblings in a “respectful” manner, as well as be obedient at school and also do homework without unnecessary complaining.
11. Boy dies trying to be Spiderman
A five-year-old boy in Jakarta has died after possibly pretending to be Spiderman.
The police are investigating to see if the boy was mimicking Spiderman after he jumped out of his apartment window after being told he was not allowed to watch the latest Spiderman movie.
12. Protests around the world
Protesters have taken to the streets around the world calling for the release of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by militants in Nigeria.
Crowds from Los Angeles to London rallied carrying posters that read #BringBackOurGirls.
Demonstrators gathered outside the Nigerian High Commission in London, where they chanted “Bring them back!” as well as “Not for sale!” and “African lives matter!”
What news are you talking about today?
Top Comments
Regarding number 1, I have an 18 year old daughter who attends numerous parties or "gathos". I noted that lots of her peers were always net working with guys from various schools, and inevitably they would turn up at the parties. I had to lay down some very simple rules to my daughter. If you attend a party do not invite any other males to meet you outside etc. And if some guys do show up uninvited, under no circumstances are you to go outside and talk with them. It is rude to your hosts and can create major fights, and its usually the hosts or host's guests who get injured while the scum bag gate crasher walks free. Unfortunately girls start the fights, and boys fight them.
I think it's a bit of a generalisation to state that girls start the fights and boys fight them. Both genders start them, lets be honest.
Aside from that I agree with what you tell your daughter.
Another day, more hideous news.
Just on the abduction of the Nigerian school girls ... Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has called for civil war to reclaim his country from Islam. Back in 2010 he called Britain a 'cesspit' for Islam to thrive under its PC views of religious freedom.
'“We should assemble all those who are pure and cannot abide other faiths, put them all in rockets, and fire them into space."
What did the 76-year-old Mr. Soyinka—who divides his time between the U.S. and Nigeria—make of his country's placement on a watch-list of states deemed to be incubators of Islamist terrorism? "That was an irrational, knee-jerk reaction by the Americans. The man did not get radicalized in Nigeria. It happened in England, where he went to university.
"England is a cesspit. England is the breeding ground of fundamentalist Muslims. Its social logic is to allow all religions to preach openly. But this is illogic, because none of the other religions preach apocalyptic violence. And yet England allows it. Remember, that country was the breeding ground for communism, too. Karl Marx did all his work in libraries there."
Why is Britain the way it is? "This is part of the character of Great Britain," Mr. Soyinka declares. "Colonialism bred an innate arrogance, but when you undertake that sort of imperial adventure, that arrogance gives way to a feeling of accommodativeness. You take pride in your openness." And so it is, he says, that Britain lets everyone preach whatever they want: It confirms a self-image of greatness.'
I think there's a lesson in there for Australia as well.
Australia is nothing like Britain - Australia is insular and xenophobic compared with GB, most countries are, and I don't see it changing any time soon.