1. Australia’s top Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has fronted the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into child sex abuse. Pell was questioned for around four and a half hours during which time he said: “I am fully apologetic and absolutely sorry.”
He admitted that members of the church had tried to cover up instances of child sex abuse in the church by other members of the clergy.
2. Thirty-seven-year-old Roger Kingsley Dean pleaded guilty to 11 counts of murder and 8 counts of grievous bodily harm when he appeared at the Supreme Court yesterday.
Dean is accused of setting fire to the Quakers Hill nursing home where he worked on November 18, 2011. Eleven elderly people were killed in the fire and eight others were injured. Dean’s trial is expected to go for four weeks.
3. Horse trainer Gai Waterhouse has been handed a $5500 fine by racing stewards for failing to give an accurate report of her horse More Joyous’ condition before racing on April 27. Waterhouse said she would consider appealing the fines. Earlier this month, Waterhouse’s son Tom was cleared of any wrongdoing in regards to the scandal, but owner John Singleton pleaded guilty to bringing racing into disrepute and was fined $15,000.
4. Police in the US state of North Carolina responded to a call of a $5 box of Pop Tarts being stolen. According to the police report, Charlotte-Mecklenburg told police her son was the culprit – and police then placed the boy under juvenile arrest.
As you do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bE1r0nNlKKM
5. A new study has revealed that more than 50 per cent of women would rather give up sex than go without their phones for a week. The poll of more than 4000 women from the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Brazil found 57 per cent of women would choose their smart phone over intimacy. The study also found that 50 per cent of women would be willing to break up with someone via a phone call.