1. Man charged with abduction of Queensland girl.
A 35-year-old man from South Isis has been charged following the abduction of a three-year-old girl in Queensland last week.
The police also charged the man with one count of break and enter and one count of deprivation of liberty in relation to the April 10 kidnapping.
He is due to face Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
2. Babies born in detention should not be transferred to Nauru: Lawyers.
Lawyers representing 26 infants born in immigration detention in Australia have written to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison urging him not to transfer them to Nauru until the court case of baby Ferouz is settled.
The case, which will determine whether babies born in detention can be defined as “unauthorised maritime arrivals”, is being run by law firm Maurice Blackburn.
Lawyers from the firm travelled to Christmas Island last weekend to meet families whose babies were born in detention there.
3. AC/DC said to be splitting up.
Australia’s most successful hard rock band of all time, AC/DC, may be calling it quits.
Perth radio station 6PR reported yesterday that the band’s founder and songwiter Malcolm Young and his family are moving back to Australia due to illness. Entertainment commentator Peter Ford also tweeted yesterday that there is a “sad detail” behind the band’s decision not to play again.
4. Two miners dead after wall collapse
Two men, 35 and 49, have been killed after a deep underground coal mine located at Paxton in the NSW Hunter Valley collapsed.
Eight miners were working about 500 metres below the surface when the wall collapsed.
Emergency services were called to the mine at 9.15pm last night but the two Cessnock men were pronounced dead at 12:15 this morning.
The police are preparing a report for the Coroner on the death of the two men during the mine collapse, and inquiries into the incident continue.
5. Australia stops to watch the moon turn red.
The world paused to watch the moon turn red between 5:30 and 6:30pm (Eastern Standard Time) last night.
The lunar eclipse was the first of a series of four: subsequent eclipses will occur on October 8 this year and April 8 and September 28, 2015.
If you’ve noticed the moon’s organgey appearance this week, that’s due to a “syzygy” — or a perfect alignment of three celestial bodies — of the sun, the Earth and the moon, National Geographic explains. The moon’s unusual colouring is due to sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere and refracting to the red end of the spectrum.
6. Works on new Sydney airport to begin in 2016.
The Prime Minister has confirmed that Badgerys Creek will be the site for a second airport in Sydney, with work expected to begin in 2016.
The site is expected to be fully operational by 2024, with the development to be funded largely by the private sector.
Tony Abbott confirmed yesterday the construction would come with a major infrastructure package and that it will operate around the clock.
After decades of debate about the location, Mr Abbott has said he wants to “get cracking”.
7. Pakistani brothers arrested on suspicion of cannibalism.
Two men have been arrested by Pakistani police on suspicion of eating a newborn baby whose head was found at their home.
Farman Ali was detained a day after police arrested his brother Mohammad Arif following the grisly discovery at their house, officials said yesterday. Arif has told the police that Ali stole the body of the infant from a graveyard about 300km south of Islamabad, before the pair cooked and ate it.
The brothers had been arrested for eating human corpses in the same village, in a remote district in Punjab province, in 2011. In that case, the police found the body of a 24-year-old woman at the men’s house.
The corpse was missing a leg, which the men had eaten.
8. Body suspected to be Aurelie Lhorme retrieved.
The police have retrieved a body suspected to be missing French tourist Aurelie Lhorme from the base of remote cliffs on South Australia’s Far West Coast.
Officers abseiled down the 80m cliffs and made the grim discovery on Monday evening.
The body is expected to be formally identified by tomorrow.
The police have contacted the 30-year-old solo traveller’s family to notify them of the discovery.
9. ‘Royal prank call’ case to High Court.
On 14 March, the Federal Court decided in Sydney FM station’s favour, ruling that the communication watchdog didn’t have the right to investigate whether 2Day had committed a criminal offence by airing the so-called “royal prank” in December, 2012.
10. Women and superannuation
One in three Australian women does not have a single cent in superannuation, according to a startling new report.
A new study by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia found that 35 per cent of women have no money stashed away for retirement, while a staggering 60 per cent of women aged 65 to 69 had no superannuation.
11. Man raped teen Harry Potter fan after meeting her in a chat room.
A man who had sex with a teenager he met in an online Harry Potter chat room has been jailed for 17 years.
Businessman Nicholas Cheese, 27, spent three nights with the 13-year-old girl at a motel in Maine in the UK and filmed parts of their sexual encounters.
The judge told Cheese he had subjected the girl to “a range of sexual experiences many adults would refuse to explore”.
12. Valentine’s Day card released in the Pistorius trial.
Reeva Steenkamp told Oscar Pistorius she loved him in a card meant for Valentine’s Day just hours before she was shot dead, his murder trial heard.
Returning to the witness box for re-examination, Pistorius read out Ms Steenkamp’s Valentine’s letter, in which she wrote: “I think today is a good day to tell you that I love you”, and signed off with her name, kisses and a smiley face.
The athlete’s defence team, led by Barry Roux, used the card to suggest the couple were in a loving relationship.
What’s making news in your world today?
Top Comments
Re No.1, why aren't you mentioning the little girl's name and the details of the case more specifically? I mean, the media coverage of her and her family has been dense the last couple of days, and now since someone has been arrested no identifying details are being published. I also noticed on Nine News that the little girl, her mum and her dad's faces are also being blurred out. Is it because someone has been arrested? I just don't get it.
Yes, I think that's the case. So as not to show bias in the case or something something. There seems to be enough lawyers who visit this site who would be able to clear it up. I obviously just wanted to sound smart :p
It's down to legal requirements I believe. Now someone has been arrested they cannot use the names of the victims involved.
It was stated in another article about this that the girls name now cannot be used "for legal reasons".
Any lawyers want to elaborate for us?
I'll leave it to the legal eagles to answer this properly. In short, now that someone has been arrested and charged all names and identities are suppressed to ensure a trial free from prejudice.
If you go back to some of the earlier comments on MM when this story first broke you will see the reason why this is necessary.
I could be wrong, but I wonder if there is now some suggestion of sexual assault? (I really friggen hope not)
I know it's illegal in australia to identify minors who have been sexually assaulted or abused, so maybe the media now has to be careful to identify the child if there have been some serious charges laid or considered. Or maybe they are just playing it safe?
I would think that 100 school aged GIRLS (specifically) being kidnapped from their school in Nigeria the same day as the bombing that killed over 70 people would have made this page! The kidnappings were by a terrorist group that the government believe are also linked the the bombing.
I shudder to think what is going to happen to those poor girls.
100 children!!!!!!
Oh my God. I had read about the bombings but hadn't read about the girls. That is so terrible. Jesus, the amount of hatred that people have for one another amazes me.
I haven't read this news either!!! 100 GIRLS!?!? Now I feel sick just thinking about what is happening to them :( Awful!