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Court to rule in Pauline Hanson-Mehreen Faruqi case

A federal court judge is ready to rule on whether Pauline Hanson made a racial slur when she told Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to go back to Pakistan.

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NSW police dogs died in car’s special cooling ‘pod’ when engine switched off, force says

Investigation under way into whether mechanical failure resulted in deaths of German shepherds Xtra and Soldier in Sydney

New South Wales police are investigating whether engine failure led to a police car’s air conditioning failing and the subsequent death of two police dogs inside a special “dog pod”.

The German shepherds Xtra and Soldier were found dead inside the police vehicle by their handler on Thursday at about 12.30pm.

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Not one government has paid into fund for victims of Uganda warlord, says ICC

The international criminal court awarded a record €52.4m to survivors of Dominic Ongwen’s crimes but member states have failed to contribute

Not a single country has contributed towards reparations for the victims and survivors of the Ugandan warlord Dominic Ongwen, despite the international criminal court awarding €52.4m (£44m) in February, according to the ICC Trust Fund for Victims (TFV).

The ICC reparations order – the largest in the court’s history – was issued after a 2021 ruling in which the court found Ongwen, a former commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army militia group, guilty of various war crimes committed between 2002 and 2005, including murder, torture, sexual enslavement, the conscription of children into hostilities, and brutal attacks on four camps for internally displaced people in northern Uganda.

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Israel fights a seemingly endless war in Gaza’s most devastated region – The Associated Press

  1. Israel fights a seemingly endless war in Gaza’s most devastated region  The Associated Press
  2. Israeli Troops in North Gaza: You May Be Complicit in a War Crime  Haaretz
  3. Israel wants to close the circle of history in Gaza  Al Jazeera English
  4. ‘The Arabs will disappear’: emboldened Israeli settlers eye return to Gaza  The Guardian
  5. Exterminate, expel, resettle: Israel’s endgame in northern Gaza  +972 Magazine
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Qantas and Virgin among 1,200 major companies that paid no income tax in Australia in 2022-23

ATO finds 31% of large businesses reported nil tax paid as many companies deducted losses and used offsets to dial their bills down to zero

A major streaming service, media outlets, big airlines and a pizza chain are among more than 1,200 large companies that paid no income tax in 2022-23, a new ATO report reveals, as many businesses deducted losses and used offsets to dial their tax bills down to zero.

Netflix’s Australian operations generated more than $1.15bn in income in the 2023 financial year, documents show, but had no tax payable.

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North Korea boasts of ‘the world’s strongest’ missile, but experts say it’s too big to use in war – The Associated Press

  1. North Korea boasts of ‘the world’s strongest’ missile, but experts say it’s too big to use in war  The Associated Press
  2. See North Korea launch its ‘perfected’ ballistic missile  CNN
  3. North Korea boasts of new ICBM able to reach the U.S. mainland  NBC News
  4. US and Ally Stage Air Power Drills in Response to North Korea's ICBM Test  Newsweek
  5. North Korea, in the Spotlight Over Ukraine, Launches a Long-Range Missile  The New York Times
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David Crisafulli breaks election promise to elevate shadow team to Queensland government frontbench

LNP leader’s cabinet includes several changes, including former leader Tim Nicholls as health minister and Fiona Simpson in women’s portfolio

Queensland’s new premier, David Crisafulli, has unveiled his new cabinet, breaking a pre-election promise to automatically elevate his existing shadow team to the government frontbench.

The LNP leader repeatedly promised the shadow cabinet he took to last week’s election would be the cabinet after it.

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David Crisafulli: premier and minister for veterans

Jarrod Bleijie: deputy premier, minister for state development, infrastructure and planning, and minister for industrial relations

David Janetzki: treasurer, minister for energy and minister for home ownership

Ros Bates: minister for finance, trade, employment and training

Dale Last: minister for natural resources and mines, minister for manufacturing and minister for regional and rural development

Tim Nicholls: minister for health and ambulance services

Deb Frecklington: attorney general and minister for justice and minister for integrity

John-Paul Langbroek: minister for education and the arts

Dan Purdie: minister for police and emergency services

Laura Gerber: minister for youth justice and victim support and minister for corrective services

Brent Mickelberg: minister for transport and main roads

Ann Leahy: minister for local government and water and minister for fire, disaster recovery and volunteers

Sam O’Connor: minister for housing and public works and minister for youth

Tony Perrett: minister for primary industries

Fiona Simpson: minister for women and women’s economic security, minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and minister for multiculturalism

Andrew Powell: minister for the environment and tourism and minister for science and innovation

Amanda Camm: minister for families, seniors and disability services and minister for child safety and the prevention of domestic and family violence

Tim Mander: minister for sport and racing and minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games

Steve Minnikin: minister for customer services and open data and minister for small and family business

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Ellie Price murder: anguished mother blasts sentence that could see ‘vicious’ killer Ricardo Barbaro released in 17 years

Barbaro, 38, killed Ellie Price, 26, in her South Melbourne home in a stabbing attack a judge described as senseless and cruel

A killer who stabbed his defenceless girlfriend to death in a vicious and senseless attack should have been jailed for life, his victim’s mother says.

Ricardo Barbaro, 38, will instead be eligible for parole in 17 years. A judge sentenced him on Friday after he was found guilty of murdering Ellie Price at her South Melbourne home.

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At least 18 federal passport office officials under investigation after scathing audit report

Auditors examined APO contracts and found undeclared conflicts of interest and wrongly identified preferred suppliers

At least 18 officials within the federal government’s passport office are facing investigation after a scathing audit report revealed multiple instances where conflicts of interest were not declared and preferred suppliers had wrongly been identified ahead of time across $1.6bn in contracts.

The Australian National Audit Office’s report into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Australian Passport Office, released Thursday, found its contracting processes “fell short of ethical standards”, including a failure to keep proper documentation, appropriately deal with conflicts of interest and find value for money.

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Plane fails to land amid fierce typhoon in Taiwan – BBC.com

  1. Plane fails to land amid fierce typhoon in Taiwan  BBC.com
  2. Tropical Storm Kong-rey threatens Shanghai and China's coast  VOA Asia
  3. Kong-rey among biggest typhoons to hit Taiwan in decades  Yahoo! Voices
  4. China's Shanghai braces for torrential rain as Typhoon Kong-rey advances  Reuters.com
  5. Tropical storm Kong-rey moves toward Shanghai and China’s coast after sweeping Taiwan as typhoon  The Times of India
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War Day 391: Knesset Bans UNRWA, Hezbollah Command Center Destroyed – Anash.org – Good News

  1. War Day 391: Knesset Bans UNRWA, Hezbollah Command Center Destroyed  Anash.org - Good News
  2. Why Israel's UNRWA ban could be devastating for Palestinians  NBC News
  3. What to know about UNRWA, the U.N. organization banned by Israel  The Washington Post
  4. Gaza is on the brink of mass starvation. Will a new Israeli law make it worse?  Vox.com
  5. UNRWA chief says Israeli forces damaged agency's West Bank office; Israel disputes claim  Reuters.com
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‘People are scared’: Arizonans fear political violence as election looms

Nerves are particularly stretched in Maricopa county, which will likely decide which way the state swings in the polls

Pearl Hubbard picked up some yard signs for Kamala Harris at the vice-president’s speech in Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday afternoon, but wasn’t yet sure whether she’d risk displaying them outside her home in a city that sits in some of the most hotly contested political territory in the country.

“I’m scared to put them up,” Hubbard said. “As I drive … I only saw one place that had a [Harris] sign. Just don’t see them. I think people are scared to put them up.”

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