News

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the British-Australian woman who was sentenced to ten-year-imprisonment for espionage in Iran, has been shifted to a notorious prison.

She was a lecturer at Melbourne University.

She was jailed in the year 2018. It was alleged that she was denied the opportunity for fair trial. She denied all charges levelled against her.

Australia has demanded immediate release of their citizen. It has warned Iran of serious consequences. It has asserted that the case of Dr. Moore was one of the highest priorities.

Iran has not yet responded about where she has been placed. A group of human rights activists have stated that she was admitted in Qarchak prison – which is notorious for its abusive treatment towards political prisoners.

It is notable that Iran has not yet denounced the statement made by the rights group regarding the matter.

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News

As Australia has witnessed a serious spike in Covid-19 cases in the recent past, the country has temporarily closed its border between Victoria and New South Wales, the two populous states in the country.

Melbourne, the capital of the Australian state of Victoria has witnessed hundreds of Covid-19 cases in the recent past.

The border between the two states was open, though the movement between these two states and other states was restricted.

It is the spike in the number of cases that has promoted the country to go this far – to impose a serious restriction.

The restriction means the travel between these two states will be restricted until the government decides otherwise.

As per a latest report, the decision to impose the restriction has been taken jointly by the central leadership and the state leadership.  

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News

The coronavirous breakout has left the world in a difficult situation. Many western countries are in a confused state. Many are not clear how they should handle those who return from the affected country.

Australia has launched a plan to quarantine the returnees in an Island away from the mainland.

The country is expected to place the returnees in the Island till they are found unaffected by the virus.

As per a preliminary report, several western countries may follow the step taken by the Australian government, though they are not likely to try what exactly the Australian government has done.

China has geared up their system to its maximum potential. The affected region has almost been quarantined completely.

As per a local report, in some regions in the country, the local people have even set up their own check posts to prevent the entry of the affected people into their territories, in addition to the strict mechanism installed by the Chinese government to detect the affected people.

The present disease outbreak is similar to the one happened with the outbreak of SARS in the country.

China with an advanced medical infrastructure is capable to handle any situation like the present outbreak. It is expected that the country will contain the disease soon.


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Health News

Kerry Robertson (61), an Australian women with terminal cancer, has been reportedly ended her life under the new assisted dying laws.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. The cancer, then spread into her bones, lung, brain, and liver.


Kerry Robertson

Ms Robertson’s death occurred at a nursing home in the state of Victoria in July.

The permission to use the the controversial legislation has been granted to Kerry Robertson. Although this exists only in Victoria, it is being considered in other states also. An approval process of 26 days is required for this.

The law has been passed by the state of Victoria in 2017 to legalise the practice, which went into effect this June.

A charity said that Ms Robertson took the decision to end her life in March, after the side effects of chemotherapy became severe. Reports said that she took medication to end her life after a 26-day approval process.

In a statement, her doctor said, “It was quick, she was ready to go. Her body was failing her and she was in incredible pain. She’d been in pain for a long time”.

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News

While attending a campaign event in Albury, ahead of the nation’s general election, the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been egged by a protester.

A 25-year-old woman, who threw the egg at the PM was arrested at the scene. New South Wales state police said that the woman was arrested on the spot. Local medias reported that the egg hit the PM’s head but it did not got broken.

The women was found wearing a beanie and casual clothes. The security guards suddenly grabbed and dragged her away, soon after the incident. Police inspector Scott Russell told, “We have a female in custody in relation to an incident involving the prime minister this morning”.

The PM described the egg thrower as “cowardly”. No one was reported injured in the incident. The protester’s name was not disclosed by the Police.

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Natural Disaster News

As Cyclone Veronica begins to make landfall in Australia’s Pilbara coast, a red alert has been issued along this area. Destructive winds and rain continues in the coastal regions of Australia by a second cyclone within 48 hours. Officials said that Cyclone Veronica lingered about 95km (60 miles) off the nation’s north-west coast on Monday.

The category two system is moving slowly and it is not expected to make landfall. The system has prompted warnings for locals to remain indoors. On Saturday, a category four cyclone named Trevor had hit the Northern Territory. Western Australia is expecting a threat of widespread flooding, as heavy rain and large waves continues.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) spokesman Darragh Wills said the danger was not yet over. He said, “It is still a cyclone, and there is still the red alert in force”.

“It is forecast to track west, so the impact will move along the coast along with that, although it is moving very slowly. If it moved more quickly the rain would go along with it, but it’s in the one spot more or less and the rain just keeps falling, so you’ll get all that rain in a smaller area.”

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News

Following the Ethiopia plane crash, Singapore and Australia banned the use of Boeing 737 MAX. The Nairobi-bound Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines had crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Adaba, on Sunday. All the 157 passengers were confirmed dead in the plane crash.

It is reported that CAAS, The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said in a statement that it was “temporarily suspending operation of all variants of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft into and out of Singapore in light of two fatal accidents involving Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in less than five months”.

Singapore authorities said that their suspension will take effect from 2pm local time (06:00 GMT). They said that the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, have six Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

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Crime News

George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic cardinal found guilty for child sexual assault after a trial in Melbourne. A jury found that he had sexually abused two 13-year-olds in 1996 and 1997, in the rooms of a Melbourne cathedral. George Pell, the Vatican treasurer is the third most senior Catholic in the world.

The verdict was handed down in December but due to some existing legal reasons, it could not be reported till now. Pell, is on leave from his role in Rome as Vatican treasurer. The abuse was happened months after Pell was inaugurated as archbishop of Melbourne.

George Pell is due to be sentenced next week but may be taken into custody at a plea hearing on Wednesday, having been out on bail since the verdict and recovering from knee surgery.

Pope Francis had not yet been revealed his response in public, regarding this issue. But just two days after the unreported verdict in December the Vatican announced that Pell and two other cardinals had been removed from the pontiff’s council of advisers.

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News

Julian Assange gets a new Australian passport, clearing one of several hurdles keeping the wanted WikiLeaks publisher from exiting the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and returning home.

The new passport that allows Assange to return to Australia was issued in September 2018, but it was unreported till Saturday. The previous passport of Assange, who is weakening in health, had been expired.

On Thursday, the officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) told that that Assange had a valid passport, reiterating a statement from last October.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade official confirmed in a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday that Mr Assange’s 2018 application for a new passport had been accepted. Consular and Crisis Management Division first assistant secretary Andrew Todd said, “Mr Assange does have an Australian passport”.

Mr. Assange, 47, was born in Townsville, Australia, in 1971. He has lived in the Ecuadorian Embassy since 2012, however, when he sought asylum in the face of the U.S. investigating his WikiLeaks website over its publication of classified State and Defense Department material. British authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in the interim, and he fears he will be apprehended if he leaves the embassy and extradited to the U.S. to face charges related to releasing hundreds of thousands of secretive documents.

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News

Austria must give compensation to an ex-policeman who was dismissed in 1976 for sexual indecency with two minor boys aged 14 and 15 . He had lost 25% of his police pension, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. The age of consent was 18 for male homosexuals at the time.

The man also got a three-month suspended jail term. Although the penalty was not challenged, the ECJ said that he was owed his lost pension, going back to December 2003. This case is a reminder that the anti-gay prejudice was rife in 1970’s. The Policeman had a service of 13 years before he got dismissed.

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