7 Friday news bites + Week in Pics (August 19)

Morning all. Sad news this morning as we find out an ABC helicopter carrying veteran journalist Paul Lockyer, cameraman John Bean and pilot Gary Ticehurst crashed in Lake Eyre, South Australia, killing all on board. For all the other news, we’ve got a summary here, brought to you by Rick today:

1. Disturbing new footage released of Aussie sheep with ‘knives sticking in them’ in Turkey.

The same animal rights group which helped break the story of the mistreatment of Australian live cattle in Indonesia has released new footage of Aussie sheep suffering before eventual slaughter in Turkey. The footage showed animals being tethered by their legs, strung up alive and simply stabbed in the neck (not cut) and slowly bleeding to death. Lyn White from Animals Australia said the country was breaking international standards ‘regularly’. The group had warned that it was not just the Indonesian live animal export trade that warranted scrutiny when the Four Corners story about cattle abuse first aired.

2. Hundreds turn out to angry meeting after toxic chemical leak

Mining explosives maker Orica experienced a toxic chemical leak at its Kooragang Island plant (Newcastle area) more than a week ago but local residents weren’t told for days. Now, as investigations continue into what happened and why Environment Minister Robyn Parker failed to act, the company has told residents not to drink the bore water until further public health advice. The leaked chemical hexavalent chromium posed no health risk, the Government said, despite warnings. It is the same chemical which polluted water in the Southern California town of Hinkley last century and the case which infamous legal campaigner Erin Brockovich helped prosecute in the 1990s.

3. Queensland to monitor sex offenders with GPS trackers

A dozen of the state’s released sex offenders, already on sex offender registers and with strict reporting arrangements after release from jail, will be strapped to Global Positioning Systems to ensure they stay away from children’s areas like schools and parks. The bracelets were able to monitor them around the clock and have been tested on 20 Government staff members.

4. Till 8.7 years do us part … the average length of a marriage.

That’s something we’ve spoken about before on Mamamia, but the new Australia Institute of Family Studies report shows we’re at least a little better off than in 1980 when the average length of a marriage from wedding to separation was 7.5 years. Until divorce it’s slightly longer with the current average of 12.3 years, up from 10.2 years in 1980.

5. Fascinating reminder of what the Net was like in 1995

For no reason except it’s interesting! Take it away:

6. Kate Winslet forms the ‘British Anti-Cosmetic Surgery League’

Tired of her fellow colleagues being pressured by Hollywood to look a certain way, Kate Winslet joined forces with friends Emma Thompson and Rachel Weisz to make a stand. She said: “I’m an actress, I don’t want to freeze my face.” She also remarked that extreme surgery for beauty went against her morals and what her parents taught her about natural beauty.

7. Kylie Minogue is an Aussie sound … what’s yours?

The Aussie pop princess and former soap star had her song ‘I should be so lucky’ added to the National Film and Sound Archive’s list of ‘Aussie Sounds’ this month and some of the news sites were casting around for other suggestions to join her. For better or worse, John Howard’s ‘we decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come’ springs to mind as a phrase that sticks. Have any to add?

Take a look at the pictures that got us talking this week: