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Ride-sharing company Uber has announced an urgent investigation into claims of sexual harassment and discrimination in the organisation and threats from management against those who complain. A blog post by the former employee who has made the allegations has gone viral. Women working in the tech industry say what's been detailed in the post is sadly not surprising.
Topics: sexual-offences, law-crime-and-justice, crime, laws, australia
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Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, has died suddenly while at work in New York City. The 64-year-old spent more than a decade as the country's top UN envoy and he is being remembered as a passionate advocate for Russia.
Topics: death, community-and-society, government-and-politics, world-politics, russian-federation, australia
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| UpdatedFamine has been declared in South Sudan, in areas of the country's war-torn south. Around 100,000 people are at immediate risk of starvation, while another five million face severe shortages of food. But aid authorities say the famine is entirely man-made and the UN blames the government for blocking food supplies as a civil war drags on into its third year.
Topics: famine, disasters-and-accidents, south-sudan, australia
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| UpdatedAt the child sexual abuse Royal Commission the Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn Christopher Prowse has again admitted it was a mistake not to attend a healing ceremony for Marist abuse victims last year. Archbishop Prowse is a former Bishop of Sale, which commission data shows is the diocese with the highest percentage of priests accused of abuse in the country. The Archbishop told the commission the opportunity for priests in country dioceses to become very familiar with their parishioners was a possible reason abuse was rife in Sale.
Topics: royal-commissions, law-crime-and-justice, sexual-offences, australia
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| UpdatedIn a corporate scandal playing out in courts this lunchtime with Seven West Media, former employee Amber Harrison's lawyers are fighting the extension of an injunction that prevents her from leaking more confidential corporate documents.
Topics: courts-and-trials, arts-and-entertainment, television, law-crime-and-justice, laws, australia
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| UpdatedThe movement and transfer of major weapon systems is now larger than at any time since the Cold War. The latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has found while the Middle East is a key destination, there is also an arms build-up in Asia.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, defence-industry, australia
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| UpdatedOne of the key challenges for President Trump's new National Security Adviser will be how to deal with Chinese activities in the South China Sea. The US has just sent a fleet to the region, drawing a strong Chinese response. Research Fellow at the United States Studies Centre Ashley Townshend says China is trying to deter the more confrontational positions under Donald Trump's presidency and to send out a message to the region that the US is causing the militarisation in the area, rather than China's placement of military assets on artificial islands.
Topics: world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, united-states, china
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US President Donald Trump is talking up his new National Security Adviser as 'a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience'. The President has appointed General HR McMaster to replace his disgraced former adviser Michael Flynn, who resigned last week.
Topics: world-politics, united-states
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The latest proposal to fix Federal Parliament's terms at four years is receiving a cautious response because it would give Senators eight years in Parliament before facing another election. Liberal MP David Coleman is putting up the idea as a way to give the business and general community more certainty. Constitutional and political observers say it would do that, but they that voters may balk at giving senators such a long term.
Topics: elections, federal-parliament, australia
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Researchers believe Australia is now well on the way to eliminating the potentially deadly virus Hepatitis C within the next 10 years. They say the Federal Government's aggressive approach to funding treatments is paying off, with the cure rate lifting close to 100 per cent.
Topics: hepatitis, pharmaceuticals, health-policy, australia
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A Victorian Coroner has recommended a trial of a safe injecting room for heroin users in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond. At last count, the suburb was responsible for 34 heroin related deaths in 12 months, of 172 in the state, and use of the drug is rising. Both the Government and the Opposition remain opposed to a trial, but the Australian Sex Party's Fiona Patten has introduced a private members bill that's currently before the Parliament. Residents in the Victoria Street precinct have been calling for a trial and are hoping the Coroner's report will be just the ammunition they need to change the Government's mind.
Topics: heroin, health-policy, richmond-3121
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Tension is building between Malaysia and North Korea as the investigation continues into the death of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un. The North Korean ambassador to Malaysia has questioned why it has taken authorities so long to release the autopsy results, suggesting that the investigation is politically motivated.
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, world-politics, korea-democratic-people-s-republic-of, malaysia
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The Commonwealth Bank has been accused of refusing to pay the full employer superannuation entitlement to more than 7,000 part-time workers. The Finance Sector Union claims some of the bank's lowest paid workers have been 'ripped off' on the compulsory employment component since 2009. FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano speaks with the ABC's Peter Ryan.
Topics: superannuation, banking, unions, australia
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| UpdatedLiberal MP and chairman of the House Economics Committee David Coleman will today release a draft private members bill to introduce four year fixed terms for federal politicians. Mr Coleman says parliamentary terms around the world are typically four or five years and that a fixed system, where everyone knows where they stand, is superior to one where the average term is just over two and a half years.
Topics: elections, federal-parliament, australia
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| UpdatedThe United Nations has expressed 'profound concern' about Australia's boat turn-back policy and failing international protection standards after a group of asylum seekers sent back to Vietnam were allegedly jailed and beaten. Three of the women intercepted in 2015 have fled for a second time, this time with young children, but their boat has broken down in Indonesia.
Topics: refugees, government-and-politics, world-politics, vietnam, australia
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| UpdatedWith the Government considering offering subsidies to help implement carbon capture and storage technology, the coal industry is claiming it can reduce carbon emissions more cheaply than renewable technologies. But the industry is balking at supporting a carbon price policy that would help level the economic playing field between competing technologies.
Topics: coal, alternative-energy, australia
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| UpdatedA new era of exploration is about to begin in Antarctica. Australia is investigating new runway sites on the icy continent that would allow planes to land there year-round. The Australian Antarctic Division has a team of engineers and geologists exploring the Vestfold Hills near Davis Station.
Topics: geography, business-economics-and-finance, antarctica, australia
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Donald Trump has intensified his war on America's media - now describing them as 'enemies of the people.' During his brief time in the White House, the President has accused the media of peddling so-called 'fake news' and attacked journalists every chance he's had. Senior Republicans have condemned the remarks and media outlets say they'll continue to hold the Trump Administration to the strictest levels of scrutiny. One of the journalists who broke the Watergate scandal says Donald Trump's behaviour is worse than Richard Nixon.
Topics: journalism, media, government-and-politics, information-and-communication, united-states
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| UpdatedA linguistics expert says educators and policy makers need to embrace a second or third language for students, if they want to improve outcomes. University of South Australia Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics, Kathleen Heugh, says Australia can learn a lot from Kazakhstan, which last year soared past Australia on a range of education markers, in the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.
Topics: education, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, languages, australia, kazakhstan
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| UpdatedWorkers at the Australian Taxation Office have one of the shortest full time working weeks in the country. Today, it was revealed they successfully fought off a nine minute increase to their daily hours. ATO Management was seeking the change as a productivity boost. But leading Labor market experts argue productivity isn't the same things as time spent in the office.
Topics: industrial-relations, business-economics-and-finance, tax, work, australia
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Cambodia's authoritarian government has changed the political laws, in what some commentators are calling the 'final triumph of dictatorship'. Australia played a key role in helping Cambodia emerge from the Khmer Rouge years, but Human Rights Watch calls today the final consolidation of absolute power in the hands of Hun Sen, who's ruled the nation for more than 30 years.
Topics: government-and-politics, human, cambodia, australia
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| UpdatedThe child sexual abuse Royal Commission has heard the Catholic Church is determined to regain its credibility through its new professional standards body Catholic Professional Standards. But the Royal Commission is already querying the transparency of the new body.
Topics: royal-commissions, community-and-society, child-abuse, catholic, australia
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| UpdatedA landmark Native Title compensation case, which awarded $3.3 million to traditional owners, is being appealed in the Full Federal Court this week. The case was the first to decide how native title rights should be compensated if extinguished. But the Northern Territory Government is challenging the judgment, which will have implications for similar cases across the country.
Topics: native-title, government-and-politics, law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, nt, australia
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| UpdatedWater companies in Victoria are to become part of the front line against domestic violence. From July this year, the people who process water bill payments will be part of the State's attempts to prevent abuse. The policy's been praised for its leadership, but the companies are being warned to know their limits when it comes to helping vulnerable women.
Topics: domestic-violence, business-economics-and-finance, community-and-society, women, vic, australia
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| UpdatedIndonesian officials still haven't been granted consular access to one of their citizens who's been detained over the alleged assassination of Kim Jong Nam. The woman in her mid-20s has been in Malaysian police custody since last Thursday. Her family in Indonesia insist she thought she was appearing on a prank television show. Her brother says an agent paid her up to $300. Police in Malaysia have linked 11 people to the plot, including six north Korean nationals.
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, government-and-politics, law-crime-and-justice, malaysia