news

Friday's news in just two minutes.

Drummer Lee Rigby

 

 

 

 

1. The victim of the horrific murder in the streets of London has been named as 25-year-old Drummer Lee Rigby.

On Tuesday, Drummer Rigby was run down by a car and then hacked to death by two men with butcher’s knives. The men were shouting ‘Allah Akbar’, which means ‘God is great’ in Arabic throughout the attack.

In a statement, the UK ministry of defence said: “An extremely popular and witty soldier, Drummer Rigby was a larger than life personality within the Corps of Drums and was well known, liked and respected across the Second Fusiliers.”

“He was a passionate and life-long Manchester United fan… A loving father to his son Jack, aged 2 years, he will be sorely missed by all who knew him. The Regiment’s thoughts and prayers are with his family during this extremely difficult time.”

2. Reverend Fred Nile has joined members of the Australian Christian Lobby in calling on the Australian Government to allow a referendum on gay marriage this coming election day. Nile told Fairfax that if the referendum went ahead, the people’s position would be clear. He said: ”The question has to be black and white: Do you agree that homosexuals should be legally married? ”I think the majority of people would vote no if the question was clear.”

3. Tributes are flowing in following the death of Hazel Hawke. She was 83 years old. You can read more about Hazel’s remarkable contribution to public life, here.

4. The wife of an Australian man given a $25 million fine and a sentence of 10 years in a Dubai jail for alleged fraud, says she’s still in “utter disbelief” about what is happening. In an interview with the ABC’s Lateline, Angela Higgins said that her husband Matthew Joyce was innocent and that she doubts the family will ever be able to pay the huge fine.

ADVERTISEMENT
Angela Higgins and Matthew Boyce

Angela said: “We can’t begin to make head or tail of it. And so harsh, especially after the Australian judgement that proved Matt’s innocence and yet that same information, that same evidence is found in a completely different direction over here and we know it’s untrue. Matt’s as innocent as the day is long and you just can’t comprehend how it can be emphatically clear on one side and then diabolically devastating.”

5. Scientists around the world will soon begin a study looking into the genes that cause anorexia nervosa. Working with 8000 women from Australia, the United States, Norway and Sweden, they’ll look at which genes cause women to suffer from eating disorders and why some women are more likely to suffer than others.

Professor Nick Martin from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research told Fairfax, “Only a very small number, one per cent of women, actually suffer from this condition, so clearly it is not just the exposure to the environmental factors, because everybody would be getting it and they are not.”

6. Charles Ramsey, the Cleveland man who assisted in the rescue of Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus, has reportedly been offered ‘free burgers for life’ from fast food restaurants around his hometown. At the time of the rescue, Mr Ramsay told the media: “I’m eating my McDonald’s, I come outside, I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of her house. So I go on the porch and she says, ‘Help me get out, I’ve been here a long time.'”

7. An 80-year-old man has become the oldest ever person to climb Mount Everest. It’s the third time Yuichiro Miura – who is from Japan and has previously had four heart surgeries – has reached the summit. He told journalists: “I feel like the happiest person in the world. How could I have come so far at the world’s oldest age of 80?”

Have you seen anything in the news that you want to talk about?