Category: World News

Passengers onboard the coronavirus-afflicted Ruby Princess have been issued another health warning after a crew member was diagnosed with tuberculosis this week. NSW Health said the male crew member was being treated in Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The crew member was diagnosed weeks after passengers disembarked from the cruise

The coronavirus lockdown has led to a surge in pet adoptions. Adelaide’s RSPCA shelter has already beaten previous adoption records, despite it still being only May, and is confident a new online booking and screening system will prevent a flood of abandoned pets once the pandemic is over. Kyle Marie

A white Minneapolis police officer who pinned an unarmed black man with a knee to the neck before the man died has been arrested and charged with murder after three nights of violent protests in the Midwestern US city. Authorities have imposed overnight curfews to try to stem violent protests

Brisbane boss David Pourre says Queenslanders should be “incensed” by the A-League’s decision to shun the state and play the bulk of the remaining season in New South Wales. The Roar chief executive lashed out in a Facebook post on Saturday morning after FFA boss James Johnson confirmed on Friday

NSW has recorded no new cases of COVID-19 for the first time in almost three weeks as the easing of restrictions around the state nears. However health authorities warn it is likely people may have the virus and not be aware they have it. “While there have been no cases

Two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua says Tyson Fury is on his “hit list”. Joshua avenged the only defeat in his professional career when he saw off Andy Ruiz Jr. in Saudi Arabia in December, before a bout against Kubrat Pulev was postponed due to COVID-19. The coronavirus has also

A class of year two children in Victoria has been placed into quarantine for a fortnight after a student tested positive to coronavirus. The student is among three more cases linked to a school in Melbourne’s north-west. The COVID-19 cluster affecting Keilor Downs Secondary College has now grown to 11

The Morrison government is being urged to apologise to the thousands of Australians who suffered distress because of its failed robodebt scheme. The government announced on Friday $720 million will be refunded that had wrongly been sought for around 470,000 welfare debts thrown up by the scheme because of faulty

US President Donald Trump says the United States is “terminating” its relationship with the World Health Organisation. Speaking from the Rose Garden of the White House on Friday (local time), Mr Trump accused the UN agency of failing to enact reforms in the face of US concerns over its handling

There’s been much debate around the world about whether the public should be wearing face masks during the coronavirus pandemic. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends “wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain”. In Singapore you’ll be

The robo-debt collectors started calling soon after Steph’s mother died. It was 2018, and the Newcastle woman, 32, had been receiving a carers payment while helping to take care of her mum. After her mother passed away she was served a $10,000 debt that she didn’t owe. On Friday afternoon,

The four-square-metre social distancing rule will be ditched in Western Australia as states set targets for the much-anticipated stage three of pandemic recovery. WA will be the first to test a reduced two-square-metre rule from next Saturday while allowing gatherings of up to 300 people. It comes as most state

Foreword: The author is a journalist with more than 30 years experience writing for leading Australian publications who recently tested positive for COVID-19 and immediately plunged into a bureaucratic maze that was more unsettling than the virus. This is their story. You have a head

A month ago, scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico released a paper that described how the SARS-CoV-2 virus had mutated into a more contagious or transmissible form. The scientists said this strain was the result of a single mutation and was “of most concern.” The paper

The sacked police officer whose fatal knee-on-neck arrest of George Floyd sparked blazing riots in Minneapolis has been charged with murder and manslaughter. Derek Chauvin, 44, was filmed kneeling on Floyd as the unarmed and handcuffed African American gasped and pleaded “Please, I can’t breathe”. The man died shortly afterwards.

The extraordinary thing about the policymaking fairytale woven around Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter and ACTU secretary Sally McManus is that it took a national health and economic crisis to get them talking to each other. It’s clear this wasn’t the fault of McManus – she would have gladly had

“HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE MADE ME STUPID!” A gullible dingtwerp has incorrectly blamed his gormless thugwittery upon the drug hydroxychloroquine. He guzzled disinfectant saying, “It’s as simple as E=MC Hammer.” The World Health Organisation claims the drug is ineffective and dangerous when used on COVID-19 patients. “Huh? Is it ineffective or dangerous? It

More Australians will likely turn to high-risk payday loans when the government’s coronavirus stimulus measures run out in September, Australia’s corporate regulator has warned. But consumer advocates believe a surge in payday borrowers could prompt thousands of Australians to enter catastrophic ‘debt spirals’ and they urged the Coalition to avoid

As many as five bidders are duking it out for ownership of long-suffering airline Virgin, despite its pre-coronavirus financial struggles. The nation’s second-largest carrier was placed into administration in April following the introduction of travel restrictions designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. But Virgin Australia had been struggling

Retailers will need to pull out all the stops to survive the looming recession after another major Australian business succumbed to the coronavirus. PAS Group – the parent company responsible for clothing brands Review, Black Pepper and Yarra Trail – entered voluntary administration on Friday. The announcement leaves the company’s 1300

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have growing concerns over their safety after calling the police to report a drone flying over their LA home. The pair have reportedly called the police on at least 5 occasions after the drone flew as low as six metres above the property. A source

Two YouTube ‘celebrities’ been flayed online for “re-homing” their adopted son after nearly three years with the family. On Thursday, Myka and James Stauffer released a seven-minute video explaining that while they were aware four-year-old Huxley had special needs, they weren’t prepared for how tough it would be. “Once

More than $720 million raised through the Morrison government’s controversial robo-debt program will be refunded. About 470,000 debts were raised through the defunct welfare scheme, which is now the subject of a class action challenge. “Services Australia will now put in place the mechanisms needed to start making refunds, including

Victoria has toughened its stance on people returning to workplaces, flagging the possibility of fines for those who do not work from home if they can. The state, which is still reporting Australia’s highest number of coronavirus cases, had seven new infections on Friday. Premier Daniel Andrews said Victorians who

States and territories have agreed to dump COAG and replace it with a permanent National Cabinet, which will have a “job-making agenda” as the country continues through the easing of coronavirus restrictions. “COAG is no more. It will be replaced by a completely new system – and that new system

Two separate cases of alleged child neglect that have emerged in Brisbane this week will be independently investigated by the Queensland Child and Family Commission, the Queensland Government has announced. The commission will examine circumstances leading to the death of four-year-old Willow Dunn at a house in Cannon Hill, along

The NRL’s push be the first Australian sporting code to emerge from the COVID-19 shutdown has paid dividends after drawing the biggest television audience for a regular-season game in more than six years. A combined 1,306,938 million people across the country tuned in to witness Parramatta thrash Brisbane in the

Australian mining giant Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) has lost its High Court bid to appeal against a native title determination that covers one of its West Australian iron ore mines. The company was seeking to contest the exclusive possession rights of the Yindjibarndi people over land in the Pilbara that

The National Guard has been called in as Minneapolis braces for more violence after two days of rioting over the death of a black man who died while being arrested by a white police officer. Protests and looting have already ravaged several blocks in the city, with scattered clashes elsewhere.

Australia’s bleak retail climate has claimed another scalp with the owner of high-street clothing brands Review, Black Pepper and Yarra Trail sinking in to administration. PAS Group, which employs 1300 people and operates 225 shops in Australia and New Zealand announced on Friday it had entered voluntary administration. The ASX-listed

Detectives are investigating the sudden death of a 12-year-old boy in Cairns. Emergency services were called to Shang Park at Mooroobool in the city’s west just after 6:00pm yesterday, after reports of a fight between two groups of youths. It is believed the boy was with three others when they

A woman has been attacked by a lion at Shoalhaven Zoo on the NSW south coast. Emergency services were called to the zoo on Friday morning after reports the woman, in her mid 30s, suffered serious face and neck injuries in the attack, a NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said. She is

US President Donald Trump is escalating his war on social media companies, signing an executive order challenging the liability protections that have served as a bedrock for unfettered speech on the internet. The move follows the President lashing out at Twitter in recent days for applying fact checks to two

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has told Fox News that the company should step away from regulating online speech. Speaking on Thursday (local time), Mr Zuckerberg appeared at pains to distance his company from Twitter and its fight with US President Donald Trump, as the White House moved to scrap

Letters between the Queen and the governor-general who dismissed Gough Whitlam should be released, the High Court has ruled in a landmark decision. The judgement handed down on Friday comes after a legal battle by historian Jenny Hocking, who says keeping them secret only fuels public distrust. The so-called palace