8 Tuesday news bites (Oct 18)

1. Bali drug teen to head to Kerobokan jail

The 14-year-old boy accused – but not yet convicted – of marijuana possession in Bali will be moved to the notorious Kerobokan prison where Schapelle Corby and the Bali 9 are housed. The lead prosecutor in the case said he would be separated from other prisoners while they decide ‘what to do with him’. It could still be a week, at least, before charges are tabled in the courts.

2. The world’s population will hit 7 billion this month

That’s a lot earlier than March next year as predicted at one stage. Rod Tiffen broke down exactly what this means over the weekend, and said it best: “It took thousands of years – from prehistory to 1960 – for humankind to reach 3 billion. But then it took only 39 years – to 1999 – to add the next 3 billion. And now it has taken just 12 more years to move from 6 to 7 billion. Growth has been so rapid that the US Population Reference Bureau estimates that about 5 per cent of all the people who have ever lived are living now.”

3. As population grows, do we want to live to be 150?

The Dean of Medicine at the University of New South Wales says the first drugs that would drastically slow the ageing process will become available in about 10 years, allowing anyone born then to live until they are 150 years old … or even older. He said a girl born today could ‘reasonably’ expect to live until she were 100 or more, with advances in medicine and technology. But growing older by itself isn’t exactly a plus. It has to be healthy and wortwhile … do you think it could be, would you want to?

4. Actor Zachary Quinto is gay

Just as a Public Service Announcement for the women and gay men out there: the actor ‘came out’ in an interview with the New York Magazine, after having previously denied feeding the rumour mill about his sexuality. “A little while later in our conversation, speaking of the cultural bipolarity that can see gay marriage legalized in New York in the same year that yet another gay teenager, Jamey Rodemeyer, was bullied and killed himself, Quinto says, “And again, as a gay man I look at that and say there’s a hopelessness that surrounds it, but as a human being I look at it and say ‘Why? Where’s this disparity coming from, and why can’t we as a culture and society dig deeper to examine that?’ We’re terrified of facing ourselves.”

5. Nine admits it asked sport callers to talk done on pokie laws

The controversy over sport callers Ray Warren and Phil Gould – who called the Federal Government’s proposed new mandatory pre-commitment pokie reforms a ‘rubbish policy that won’t work – has deepened after Channel Nine admitted to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) that those views were its own. The network had originally maintained they were the opinions of the commentators.

6. Pollies get hiked ‘redundancy’ pay

Politicians who have served more than one term will get an increased six-month’s pay (worth almost $71,000) for a ‘resettlement allowance’ while those serving one term will get half as much on three month’s pay. That figure could rise is the politicians actually score a pay increase from the Independent Remuneration Tribunal next year.

7. Facebook refuses to shut ‘rape’ page

A Facebook page called ‘You know shes [sic] playing hard to get when your [sic] chasing her down an alleyway’ has more than 200,000 people who like it … but Facebook won’t shut it down, despite petitions of equal size from anti rape and victims’ groups. There are other pages too. Some others are called ‘Pinning your mate down and HIV Positive raping him for a laugh’. Facebook has previously said: “It is very important to point out that what one person finds offensive, another can find entertaining. Just as telling a rude joke won’t get you thrown out of your local pub, it won’t get you thrown off Facebook.” Where do you draw the line?

8. Bob Katter sings

At a meeting of his state candidates in Queensland the Federal Independent MP broke out into song. Katter’s Australian Party (that’s the full name) hopes to have over 80 candidates in the upcoming state election and wants to control the balance of power. For the singing, at least, you kind of just need to see it to believe it.

The news today brought to you by Rick.