1. Tori Johnson’s partner
The partner of Tori Johnson, Thomas Zinn, has spoken to TODAY’s Lisa Wilkinson just days after the tragic death of 34-year Tori in the Lindt Café siege.
He told TODAY that Tori was “a humble and very generous person.”
Tori Johnson was one of 17 people taken hostage by self-proclaimed ‘sheik’ Man Haron Monis in Sydney’s Martin Place on Monday, and one of two hostages to die.
For more read this post here.
2. Gun Laws
Former Prime Minister John Howard has said that comments made by NSW Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm yesterday calling for relaxed gun laws were “a very simplistic and flawed analysis”.
“The gun laws that were brought in in the wake of Port Arthur have made Australia a safe country and there’s very strong, properly based research evidence to the effect that gun-related homicides have fallen in this country,” Mr Howard told the ABC.
The former Prime Minister said that Australians did not support more relaxed gun laws because they “understood that the fewer guns there are in the community, the fewer gun related deaths there will be”.
“The truth is that in countries that have laxer gun laws, the likelihood of people who obtain a gun legally then using it for murderous, even terrorist purposes is much greater.”
3. Monis’s wife bail
NSW Attorney-General Brad Hazzard has ordered a review of the decision to grant bail to Amirah Droudis, Monis’s wife reports The Australian.
Mr Hazzard said yesterday that he had had expressed “concern to the Director of Public Prosecutions” that Amirah Droudis was granted bail by a NSW Local Court after being charged with the murder of Monis’s ex-wife.
Mr Hazzard said: “The charges laid against Amirah Droudis are extremely serious and her alleged actions involve a murder.
“In this case, the allegation is that he and she had involvement in the murder of Monis’s ex-wife and on behalf of our community I want to know whether every aspect of her being on bail has been examined in all possible detail.”
In other news on the Sydney siege
- Muslim leaders have said that no Muslim funeral home will accept the body of siege gunman Man Haron Monis and authorities should just dump his corpse at sea. News Limited reports that one said “We don’t care about him, we don’t know him, chuck him in the bloody shithouse. Nobody’s going to do his funeral, No Muslim funeral home will accept him.”
- Reports that police did not rush in to the Lindt Café as they feared he had explosives in his bag.The 50-year-old convinced the hostages that his backpack, which had electrical wires trailing from it, contained explosives. It turned out, in the end, to be broken stereo parts.
- Counter terrorism experts told News Limited that while Monis was visible behind the human shield of hostages bullet fired through glass could have deflected and hit a hostage.
- CCTV released by the Seven Network shows Man Haron Monis stalking out the Lindt Café hours before the siege. The Australian reports that he was spotted sitting in the Lindt Café for an hour “as cool as a cucumber”.
- Pakistan lays flowers. The Consulate General of Pakistan laid flowers at the Martin Place memorial yesterday. He told News Limited “We highly condemn the act by a lunatic. A frustrated person who killed two innocent people and terrorised many others Mr Aziz also spoke of the heartbreak over the massacre of 131 school children in Pakistan by the Taliban. “It’s unthinkable and literally it moved our hearts like we are bleeding and our eyes are full of tears,” Mr Aziz said.
- Field of Flowers. One the questions that authorities have to deal with is what to do with the field of flowers at Martin Place. News Limited report that NSW Premier Mike Baird said the flowers will be “clean composted” and put at a memorial site yet to be determined. “The NSW Government is in contact with authorities in London and Boston regarding flowers, tributes notes and condolence books to ensure we are operating on prior international best practice.” He said.
- There is an online condolence book which can be signed at https://www.nsw.gov.au/
- Victims to be buried by Christmas. The bodies of the siege victims Tori Johnson, 34, and barrister Katrina Dawson, 38, were released to their families last night.
- A funeral for Mr Johnson will be held next Tuesday
- A note placed in the sea of flowers at Martin Place by the daughter of Katrina Dawson is being called the note that broke the heart of the nation. With the simple words “I love you Mum. Love Sasha.”
[raw]
3. Sony hacking a national security risk.
The Sony hack that forced the cancellation of the film “The Interview” about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is being treated as a national security matter in the US the White House has said overnight.
Top Comments
No 11 - not as silly as it sounds. When I bought my current car I bought the model with manual wind windows because if you 'double lock' the doors with the key remote, you can't lift the locks from the inside. I wanted to make sure my kids could get out the windows if they ever accidentally got locked in.
Still, when the battery in the key went flat, it didn't occur to me for hours that I could just stick it in the door lock and turn it to get into the car!
No 6 - really?? A toy ruined his career and still upsets him 2 years later? Get a sense of humour. And a life.
Can smell a court case and a grab for money somewhere in the future
Actually, that could have been bullying. I was on a team where my poor co-worker was given a package of "stress relief combo" nut mix at the Division Xmas lunch Kris Kringle. Doubly cruel. Oh and it was out of date. Possibly triple cruel, as my colleague was pushing 50. Of course, Kris Kringle is anonymous, so she couldn't have known who was so cruel. I can fully imagine that being pretty traumatic and taking a while to get over. Depends on the context.