news

Friday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Rolf Harris trial

A second alleged victim has given evidence against Rolf Harris.

 

 

 

A woman in the UK who claims she was indecently assaulted by Rolf Harris when she was a young girl has broken down in the court as she recalled the incident.

The 84-year-old singer is facing 12 counts of indecent assault against four alleged victims between 1968 and 1986.

He has pleaded not guilty.

The woman told the court that she was at a community performance of Harris singing when she went up to get his autograph.

She says he leaned into her as he signed the autograph.

“The next thing I knew I felt his hand,” she said.

“He was looking at me, smiling, and I smiled… from out of nowhere I felt his hand go down my back and up my legs.”

“Nothing like that had happened to me before and he seemed like a nice man.”

But then again, almost straightaway, “his hand shot up between my legs… aggressively and forcefully, it didn’t matter if it was going to hurt me or not.”

She said she understood it was wrong. “I wanted to scream out… but it didn’t come out.”

“He scared me because he was looking at me all the time.”

Harris’s lawyer said that the singer has never been to that community centre.

The case continues.

2. Opposition formal budget reply

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has made his formal budget reply and has indicated that he will oppose $13 billion worth of cuts and tax hikes, including changes to university funding, the $2.3 billion fuel excise increases, delays on Newstart payments and the $7 GP co-payment.

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He called the changes to Newstart that would force unemployed people under 30 to wait six months before they can receive the payment “probably the single most heartless measure in this brutal budget”.

“Prime Minister, how are people under 30 looking for work supposed to survive for six months on nothing?” he said.

3. Greens to oppose changes to childcare subsidy in the senate

Will the changes to the childcare benefit affect you?

Greens childcare spokeswoman Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has said the party will oppose the proposed changes to the childcare subsidy in the Senate.

Tuesday’s budget outlined a proposed three-year freeze on the income eligibility threshold for the Childcare Benefit, which would save the budget $33 million next financial year, rising to $77 million by 2017-18.

The new freeze on the indexation of eligibility thresholds for childcare support means $230 million less will go to parents than would otherwise have been the case in that period.

The savings will be “redirected by the government to repair the budget and fund policy priorities,” the budget papers say.

Senator Hanson-Young said “(r)ipping more than $200 million out of the pockets of Australian mums and dads is not the way to fix our nation’s broken childcare system.”

4. Specialists fees to hit $100

It will soon cost $100 to see a specialist along with the $7 co-payment to see a doctor, analysis by News Limited shows.

According to the analysis, the $100 charge is the result of the government’s decision to continue a freeze on Medicare rebates for specialists.

The AMA have said that the recommended fee for specialists is expected to be $170 next year while the Medicare rebate is $72.75, thus leaving a gap fee of $97.72

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 5. Turkish mining disaster

The Prime Minister has faced a social media scandal with an image of one of his advisors kicking a protester going viral.

Yusuf Yerkel, one of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s advisers, kicked the protester who was being held on the ground by Special Forces police officers.

6. Peter Greste lawyer resigns

The lawyer for Australian journalist Peter Greste has resigned from his case whilst criticising Al Jazeera for prioritising its criticism of Egypt over the freedom of its journalists.

Greste, along with 18 others, was arrested on December 29 and later charged with colluding with the now banned Muslim Brotherhood to falsify news and defame Egypt.

All 19 deny the charges.

7. Pregnant woman sentenced to death

A woman who is eight months pregnant has been sentenced to death in Sudan.

Meriam Ibrahim, who married a Christian man, was sentenced to death Thursday after she refused to recant her Christian faith.

The woman was raised a Christian but had a Muslim father.

She was convicted of “apostasy” on Sunday and given four days to repent and escape death.

She was sentenced after that time expired.

Amnesty International immediately condemned the sentence, calling it “abhorrent”.

8. Honeymooner search

The search is on for these honeymooners.

A Sydney man is on an international hunt to find a couple who lost a memory card filled with pictures of their honeymoon from right around Australia.

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Richard Pussell, who manages Sydney Aquarium, found the images when he was looking through lost property and said he wanted to see them reunited with their owners.

“I can’t bring myself to erase the SD card,” he wrote.

“Luckily they took a photo of a welcome card in a hotel so I know their last name is Benetti and they were married in 2012 before August.”

His Facebook appeal is going viral.

9. Flight forced to land after domestic violence

A budget airline flight from Sydney to Singapore has been forced to make an emergency landing in Bali after a violent incident between a couple escalated dramatically.

A woman with a broken arm and man attached to a drip were escorted off the Scoot Airlines flight to meet with an ambulance when the plane landed in Denpasar.

10. Funnel-web spider nearly kills girl

A six-year-old girl from Sydney’s northern beaches has been rushed to hospital after mistaking a large funnel-web spider for a toy and picking it up.

The girl needed three vials of antivenom to fight the effects of the spider’s bite.

For more, read this post here.

11. Café staff to lose penalty rates

The Fair Work Commission has issued a long-awaited decision that will see between 30,000 and 40,000 workers lose some of their penalty rates for working on Sundays.

The decision means that the loading for working on Sundays will drop from 75 per cent to 50 per cent from July.

The decision applies only to the two lowest grades of employees in a restaurant, bar or cafe.

Restaurant & Catering Australia chief executive John Hart told The Age that some businesses, now shut on Sundays, could consider reopening.

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“This will provide labour cost relief for restaurant and café operators currently trading on Sundays,” he said.

11. Words to attract a mate

A study of which words seem to entice a partner by a dating website has revealed that women describing themselves as sweet, ambitious, thoughtful or funny are more likely to attract male attention.

For men, those who claim they are optimistic, physically fit, perceptive and funny are who women are interested in.

12. Fruit juice limits

The UK to set recommended limits on juice.

Children and teenagers should limit themselves to just one glass of fruit juice – at 150ml a day, according to an apex body in the UK.

Health officials have issued the warning as a study found that children and teenagers are consuming around 40 per cent more added sugar than the recommended daily allowance.

It is the first time an official limit to fruit juice has been recommended in the UK.

In Australia, government recommendations do not specify a daily limit for carbohydrate, sugar or added sugar intake.

13. Ferry captain charged

The captain of the South Korean ferry that sank last month, leaving more than 300 dead or missing, has been indicted along with 14 other crew members.

South Korea’s prosecutor has brought homicide charges against the ship’s captain and three other crew members, saying they failed to carry out their duties to protect passengers in need when the ferry sank on 16 April.

If convicted, the four men could face death penalty.

What news are you talking about today?

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