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News in 5: Meghan Markle's powerful rule-breaking speech; PM's poll slip; 5yo boy drowns.

-With AAP

1. Meghan Markle’s rousing speech broke one of the most well-known royal rules.

Meghan Markle gave an unusually political speech on feminism and women’s suffrage in New Zealand.

New Zealand is celebrating its 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage – it was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote.

Speaking at Government House, in front of a portrait of her grandmother-in-law the Queen and with Kiwi Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in attendance, Meghan commended the country and talked about the importance of feminism.

The royal family is usually barred from speaking about politics – with this speech the Duchess has once again broken royal protocol.

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“The achievements of the women in New Zealand who campaigned for their right to vote, and were the first in the world to achieve it, are universally admired,” she told the crowd.

“Women’s suffrage is about feminism, but feminism is about fairness. Suffrage is not simply about the right to vote, but also about what that represents: the basic and fundamental human right of being able to participate in the choices for your future and that of your community. The involvement and voice that allows you to be a part of the very world you are a part of.”

She said that women’s suffrage is about not just the right to vote for women, but also about what the represents: “The basic and fundamental human right of all people – including members of society who have been marginalised – whether for reasons of race, gender, ethnicity or orientation – to be able to participate in the choices for their future and their community.”

Meghan ended the speech with a quote from Kate Sheppard, New Zealand’s most recognised suffragette who appears on their $10 note.

“‘All that separates, whether of race, class, creed or sex, is inhuman and must be overcome’.” she said.

The speech was extremely well-received on social media, with one person calling it spectacular.

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2. The honeymoon is over for Scott Morrison, poll shows.

The honeymoon seems to be over for Scott Morrison, with the Prime Minister and the Coalition slipping in the latest Newspoll.

Mr Morrison still leads Opposition Leader Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister 43 per cent to 35 but his lead has been whittled down to eight points. His personal approval rating has fallen into negative territory, with 44 per cent of voters dissatisfied and 41 per cent satisfied with his performance.

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The Coalition’s primary vote is back where it was a month ago at 36 per cent, lower than the last Newspoll of Mr Turnbull’s tenure, and it trails Labor 46 to 54, the poll published in The Australian on Sunday night shows.

The Greens’ primary vote has dropped to nine per cent, losing two points, while One Nation is still on six per cent.

3. Five-year-old boy and 30-year-old man drown on Queensland coast.

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A five-year-old boy and a man believed to be his father have drowned while on holiday on the Queensland coast.

The pair died after they were taken by ambulance from the beachside lagoon at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays region on Sunday afternoon, a Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman said.

The Courier Mail reported the boy and the 30-year-old man were international tourists who had been cooling off in the water.

Authorities are unable to say exactly how the accident happened, but witnesses told the Courier Mail the pair had been swimming near a bridge in the lagoon when it appears they found themselves in deeper water.

A witness said she was “in shock” when she saw the child, who didn’t look like he could swim, jump into two-metre deep water alone.

“It seriously happened so, so quick. The little boy would have jumped in right away and went straight to the bottom, he was wearing a full body suit and it took [the father] a bit to get under the bridge.”

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman confirmed both were pulled from the water unconscious about 4pm.

Paramedics attempted CPR on the father for more than 30 minutes but he could not be revived.

Both father and son were pronounced dead at Proserpine Hospital a short time later.

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A report will be prepared for the coroner.

4. Football club in mourning after boss dies in helicopter crash.

Leicester City fans have laid flowers on the club’s pitch as they waited for official news about the fate of owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, whose helicopter crashed outside the ground.

Emotional fans cried and embraced each other, while players tweeted their condolences on Sunday after local media reported that Srivaddhanaprabha had been on board.

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There has still not been official confirmation of who was on board the helicopter belonging to Srivaddhanaprabha which crashed shortly after taking off from the stadium on Saturday evening following a Premier League match.

Tributes flooded in for the owner, who took over in 2010 and helped Leicester claim their unlikely Premier League triumph in 2016.

“I know the whole Srivaddhanaprabha family and the father, and what he has done for Leicester is incredible,” former Leicester and England manager Sven Goran Eriksson told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“He took the club from second division up to the first division, winning it, and made them a big Premier League club.

“When you know him as I do, and of course the whole team and all the staff, you know that he is a very, very generous man.”

Other Premier League clubs’ offered their support and thoughts via social media, as well as former players, including Gary Lineker and Peter Shilton.

“Thoughts are with everyone at Leicester City,” Lineker wrote on Twitter. “A terrible tragedy. Heartbreaking.”

So far, the rescuers have not given details of the number of victims, but there is little hope that the occupants of the helicopter could have survived. It’s been reported one of Srivaddhanaprabha’s two daughters, two pilots and one other person were in the aricraft.

Sky News reported that Srivaddhanaprabha had been at the match, and that the helicopter had taken off from the pitch minutes earlier.

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5. The 11 victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting have been identified.

A 97-year-old woman, two brothers and a couple in their 80s were among the 11 worshippers murdered at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the US.

The suspected gunman, 46-year-old Robert Bowers of Pittsburgh, stormed the building during a Saturday morning service. He also wounded six others including four police officers before being arrested.

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Bowers, who had made anti-Semitic posts online and shouted about killing Jewish people during the attack, has been charged with federal hate crimes and could face the death penalty. He will appear before a judge on Monday afternoon, US Attorney Scott Brady said at a news conference.

“The fact that this attack took place during a worship service makes it even more heinous,” Brady said on Sunday.

The Tree of Life synagogue in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighbourhood, a heavily Jewish area, was holding a Shabbat religious service when the gunman burst in.

Five of the victims lived in Squirrel Hill and the rest were from other Pittsburgh neighbourhoods and communities surrounding the city.

David and Cecil Rosenthal, 54 and 59-year-old brothers; Sylvan Simon, 86, and his wife Bernice Simon, 84; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, Daniel Stein, 71, Melvin Wax, 88 and Irving Younger, 69, were killed, according to officials.

The oldest victim was Rose Mallinger, 97, of Squirrel Hill.

FBI Special Agent Robert Jones said Bowers was armed with an assault rifle and three handguns. Jones added that he did not know why Bowers picked that particular synagogue for his attack.

Authorities believed the suspect entered the synagogue, murdered the worshippers and was leaving when he encountered a uniformed police officer, Jones said. The pair exchanged gunfire, Jones said, and Bowers re-entered the building before a SWAT team arrived.

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Bowers surrendered and was taken to a hospital where he was listed in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds.

Federal prosecutors charged Bowers late on Saturday with 29 criminal counts including violating US civil rights laws.

Bowers had made many anti-Semitic posts online, including one early on Saturday. In another, he slammed Trump for doing nothing to stop an “infestation” of the US by Jews.

A social media post by Bowers on Saturday morning said a Jewish refugee organisation, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in”.

US Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat who is Jewish, said on Sunday the country needs to combat a climate of hatred and division that he said President Donald Trump helped foster.

“Honestly I think this president’s whole modus operandi is to divide us. He gets up in the morning with new and inventive ways to divide us,” Schiff said on CNN’s State of the Union.

On Saturday, Trump called the shooting an act of pure evil and called on Americans to rise above hatred.

KDKA television in Pittsburgh cited police sources as saying Bowers walked into the building and yelled “All Jews must die.”