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A Harmony Day celebration in Sydney.

Language used to describe culture risks being ‘too sanitised’

A new study has recommended a standardised approach to counting cultural diversity in the workplace.

  • by Anna Patty
Sue McKerracher, CEO of the Australian Library and Information Association, with some of the most borrowed fiction books this year.

The library books readers couldn’t get enough of during the pandemic

The Civica Libraries Index is based on more than 34 million loans in Australia and New Zealand.

  • by Amelia McGuire
Artists impression of the six-month old Brisbane South State Secondary College at Dutton Park.

Where Queensland’s secondary schools of the future are heading

It had a politically challenged delivery, but the birth of Brisbane South State Secondary College gives Queenslanders a hint at the future of secondary education.

  • by Tony Moore
Selina Holder outside court on Monday.
Updated
Courts

‘Bizarre’ court fight kicks off with bombshell offer

A man who claims his reputation was ruined by an ex-girlfriend who accused him of being a sex addict and cheat offered to settle on the opening day of their defamation trial for $5000.

  • by Tom Cowie
Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall where confusing advertising signs are under the spotlight.

Untidy, obstructive advertising signs in Brisbane council’s sights

Complaints about advertising on footpaths, retail strips and in Queen Street Mall have triggered proposed changes to the city’s advertising bylaws.

  • by Tony Moore
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Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans has likened the new version of the NRL to a hybrid of Oztag and Touch Football and has questioned how the game can make changes so quickly without the consultation of players.

‘It’s left them guessing’: DCE wants players consulted before major changes

Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans, who is the president of the RLPA, has questioned how the game can make changes so quickly without the consultation of players.

  • by Sarah Keoghan
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Toowoomba is not the right place for a quarantine centre.

States, PM squabble over path to reopening borders

The row over Australia’s quarantine regime comes as a top business chief calls for a faster plan even if “some people may die”.

  • by David Crowe and Stuart Layt
Hester Hornbrook Academy principal Sally Lasslett (centre) with teacher Eric Woodward and youth worker Felicity Gibbons.

‘Last chance highs’ face funding cut as students fail to return from lockdown

Schools that educate the most challenging students say COVID-19 has undone a year’s progress and that some kids have become so disengaged they might never return.

  • by Adam Carey
Monty the ram who lives in Stanthorpe, near the Queensland-NSW border.

Monty the ram shrugs off ba-ba-backyard frost on chilly Queensland morning

The wind-chill factor saw the mercury fall by up to four degrees on Monday, with another chilly morning on the way.

  • by Toby Crockford
Pia Sappl spoke at a special hearing of the Disability Royal Commission on Monday about the challenge people with cystic fibrosis have, including  getting COVID vaccines.

‘Abject failure’: Fewer than 1000 disability residents vaccinated against COVID-19

The disability royal commission heard in some states less than 10 people living in residential homes had been vaccinated, three months into the vaccine rollout.

  • by Rachel Clun and Aisha Dow
St George Illawarra’s Tyrell Fuimaono gets his marching orders on Sunday.

Griffin tells Dragons to suck it up after stars accept big bans

St George Illawarra’s season threatens to unravel after four of their players took early guilty pleas, meaning they will miss a combined 13 matches.

  • by Adam Pengilly
COVID cases in India are falling in the major cities of new Delhi and Mumbai.

Glimmer of hope in India as COVID cases drop in big cities

In the last week, the number of new cases plunged by nearly 70 per cent in India’s financial capital Mumbai, home to 22 million people.

  • by Krutika Pathi and Aniruddha Ghosal
The Matildas

$40 million Fox Sports funding on Auditor-General’s radar

The Auditor-General will consider reviewing $40 million in federal government grants provided to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp since 2017 to support coverage of women’s sport.

  • by Jennifer Duke
WA authorities are considering the Bergin inquiry report and any ramifications for Crown Perth.

Crown ‘lied’ to watchdog investigation into China arrests

Victoria’s gambling regulator has told the Crown royal commission that the casino group lied to the watchdog’s investigation into how 19 of its staff were arrested in China in 2016.

  • by Patrick Hatch
A man walks past the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City.

Australia news LIVE: NSW eases COVID restrictions; Israel-Palestine conflict continues

Social restrictions eased in Greater Sydney on Monday after no new COVID-19 cases were linked to an eastern suburbs couple, and the UN has weighed in on the escalating Israel-Palestine crisis.

  • by Michaela Whitbourn and Broede Carmody
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Novak Djokovic will chase a 10th Australian Open crown at next year’s opening grand slam.

Australian Open boss insists 2022 grand slam will remain in Melbourne

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley insists the tournament will go ahead in Melbourne following a report that said it could be forced offshore because of border closures.

  • by Daniel Cherny and Jon Pierik
A Kirpan, or ceremonial dagger, is one of five things a baptised Sikh is required to carry on their body. They can range in size from tiny, 4cm knives to long swords.

Sikhs defend students’ right to carry ceremonial daggers at school

The NSW government is “urgently” reviewing laws allowing students to carry knives to school for religious reasons after a student used one in a stabbing.

  • by Jordan Baker and Laura Chung
Taipei has urged people not to panic shop as an outbreak shatters Taiwan’s record on fighting the coronavirus.

Nobody rushed to get vaccinated in COVID-free Taiwan. Now it’s in lockdown

Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea all flattened the curve with quarantine and contact-tracing. Now their sluggish vaccination programs are being questioned.

  • by Eryk Bagshaw and Chris Barrett
Aaron Summers (right) will play in the Pakistan Cup in Karachi.

Former BBL cricketer in court on child abuse charges

Aaron Summers, 25, has been charged with possessing child abuse material and grooming a minor after his alleged behaviour was brought to the attention of cricket authorities.

  • by Daniel Cherny
Architect-turned-sculptor Jan van Schaik with one of his Lost Tablets artworks, made from second-hand LEGO and selling for $3500 each.

Would you pay $3500 for a ‘sculpture’ made from second-hand Lego blocks?

Architect-turned-sculptor Jan van Schaik says his Lost Tablets series was inspired by the Parthenon.

  • by Karl Quinn
Clive van Horen from CBA appears at the Federal Court for the Royal Commission. 24 May 2018. The Age Business. Photo: Eddie Jim.

Suncorp’s new banking boss says speed trumps price in home loan push

Former CBA banker Clive van Horen says Suncorp does not need to be the cheapest offer in the market as the bank accelerates its push into the lucrative mortgage market.

  • by Charlotte Grieve
Jayne Hrdlicka CEO of Virgin (file image).

Virgin CEO calls for open borders, even if ‘some people may die’

The head of Virgin Australia says the nation needs to get used to living with COVID, and believes it’s “not in anyone’s interests” to keep the borders locked forever.

  • by Stuart Layt
Please Explain podcast.

What closing international borders is costing states and businesses

Today on Please Explain, Tory Maguire is joined by state political editor Alexandra Smith to discuss how businesses and state governments are handling extended border closures.

  • by Tory Maguire
Jack Madocks gets wrapped up by the Hurricanes defence.

Fairy floss football: The problem areas awaiting next Waratahs coach

NSW pushed the boundaries with their investment in youth and it is fair to say the boundaries are pushing back. Their next coach has a big job on his hands.

  • by Wayne Smith
Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker model the 2021 South Sydney Indigenous jersey.

‘It’s a good reason to wear it’: NRL caves to Souths’ Indigenous strip

South Sydney and the NRL were locked in a stand-off over wearing their Indigenous strip two weeks in a row before the latter acquiesced to the club’s request.

  • by Christian Nicolussi
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A 47-year-old motorcyclist from the Darling Downs has died after a crash in the Central Highlands on Wednesday morning.

‘Totally preventable’: Queensland records highest number of road fatalities in ‘many years’

A woman remains in hospital in a critical condition after a fatal school bus crash west of Brisbane, as the state recorded an unusually high number of road fatalities by this time of year.

  • by Cloe Read
Australia’s hope Montaigne will be competing in Eurovision remotely.

Who’s going to win Eurovision? Not Australia, probably

The song contest’s back after a year scrapped by COVID. But what exactly’s in store? And does Montaigne have a chance performing from home?

  • by Robert Moran
Amy Adams plays Dr Anna Fox in The Woman in the Window.
★★
Review

Despite its star power, almost nothing works in this new thriller

Two years after it was scheduled to debut, The Woman in the Window has arrived quietly on Netflix, like an unwanted party guest.

  • by Paul Byrnes
Anna Watson, MP with Protest leaders Chris Homer, Peter Moran,  John Davey outside NSW Parliament House on Thursday.

Mr Homer goes to Macquarie Street to save the farm

A disparate coalition of surfers, Shellharbour residents and the wider NSW beachgoer community is fighting to stop a multimillion-dollar tourism development at Killalea State Park, popularly known as The Farm.

  • by Heath Gilmore
Police say the man will front Southport Magistrates Court on Monday.

Man allegedly drove dangerously in front of police while four times over limit

A Sunshine Coast man has been charged by police after he was allegedly driving dangerously in front of officers and found to be four times the legal limit. 

  • by Cloe Read
A Chief Master Sergeant displays his insignia during a presentation of the United States Space Force flag in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

US Space Force leader claims Marxists taking over military, loses job

Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Lohmeier also decried anti-racism training and education and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.

  • by David Matthews
Queensland paramedics attended a "large number of incidents".

Skydiver in serious condition after rough landing north of Brisbane

A man has been flown to hospital in a serious condition after a hard landing during a skydiving incident at Toogoolawah, north-west of Brisbane.

  • by Cloe Read
Nearmap boss Dr Rob Newman believes the business will be able to successfully defend the patent infringement suit filed by two of its competitors.

Nearmap forced to explain disclosure of US legal battle

Aerial mapping provider Nearmap has been forced by the ASX to explain its disclosure of a legal battle with US rival Eagleview that sent its share price sharply lower this month.

  • by Colin Kruger
China has been trying to withdraw the pandemic-related stimulus it injected into its economy last year as part of a wider effort to deleverage and decarbonise and improve the productivity of its industrial base.
Opinion
Trade wars

China’s not winning its trade war with Australia

China hasn’t been able to hurt the Australian producers of the two big commodities that really matter. If this is a trade war, Australia is winning its first phase quite handsomely.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Scott Morrison speaking in Brisbane on Monday.

PM again dismisses Queensland’s Toowoomba quarantine proposal

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has again rejected suggestions a quarantine facility should be built near Toowoomba in southeast Queensland, saying the plan “lacks detail”.

  • by Stuart Layt
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The fire at Wooloowin on Brisbane’s northside on Sunday morning.

Pharmacist accused of trying to kill partner in Brisbane house fire named

A Queensland pharmacist accused of setting a Brisbane house on fire with his partner inside will spend at least the next month behind bars.

  • by Toby Crockford
Southern Queensland has been shivering this week.

Chilly morning ahead after Queensland town ‘feels like’ minus 6.6

Brisbane can expect similar conditions on Tuesday after recording its coldest morning of the year on Monday.

  • by Toby Crockford

‘It gives hope to athletes’: Study reveals brain fades not all down to CTE

A former Australian rules umpire is working on research in the US that offers some reassurance about head knocks in footy.

  • by Greg Baum
Research shows there is a link between working more than 55 hours a week and health problems later in life.

Long working hours a mass killer and COVID could be making it worse

Working long hours is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in a worsening trend and Australia is part of the region that is worst affected, the World Health Organisation says.

  • by Emma Farge
Liverpool’s goalkeeper Alisson Becker celebrates after scoring the winning goal.

Liverpool keeper’s stoppage-time header saves day for Reds

Alisson headed home from a corner to secure what could be a precious three points for Liverpool in their bid to qualify for the Champions League next season.

  • by Christian Radnedge
Glauber Contessoto, a Dogecoin millionaire, at his home in Los Angeles

He’s a Dogecoin millionaire. And he’s not selling

In February, when Glauber Contessoto decided to invest his life savings in Dogecoin, his friends had concerns.

  • by Kevin Roose
Nuix ASX launch in December 2020 and Tony Castagna.

Nuix to face investor music as shares tumble to record low

Data analytics group Nuix has confirmed that former chairman Tony Castagna still has a consulting role with the company. 

  • by Colin Kruger
Bill Gates relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has drawn scrutiny.

Bill Gates’ history of questionable behaviour

On at least a few occasions, Gates pursued women who worked for him at Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, say people with direct knowledge of his overtures.

  • by Emily Flitter and Matthew Goldstein
Police tape at the Mermaid Waters property where a woman was found dead on Monday.
Updated
Tragedy

Woman found dead in Gold Coast home

A woman’s body was found at Mermaid Waters on Monday morning.

  • by Cloe Read
Australian refineries have been battered by a slump in demand and margins during the pandemic.
Updated
Energy

Rescue deal for Australian oil refineries saves 1250 jobs

Ampol and Viva Energy reach a deal with the federal government to continue operating refineries in Brisbane and Geelong for at least another six years.

  • by Nick Toscano
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Professor Nigel McMillan

Drug designed as ‘heat-seeking missile’ to target COVID-19

Researchers from Queensland and the US have developed a promising new drug which they say can directly target COVID-19 virus particles and destroy them.

  • by Stuart Layt
Police investigations are ongoing into the alleged assault and torture of the man.

Tribunal upholds Qld cop’s dismissal for drunk driving, public urination

Former senior constable Isaac Cavanagh was sacked after crashing a police vehicle while drunk and off duty, and for urinating off a balcony at an office party.

  • by Cloe Read
Toby Greene will miss at least the next month with a shoulder injury.
Updated
AFL 2021

Giants dealt severe blow with Greene injury, Buddy to travel west for Swans

Greater Western Sydney’s stand-in captain Toby Greene will be sidelined for the next month after suffering a shoulder injury against Richmond.

  • by Vince Rugari
WA authorities are considering the Bergin inquiry report and any ramifications for Crown Perth.

Crown rejects Blackstone offer, still considering The Star proposal

Crown Resorts has formally rejected an improved takeover offer from US private equity outfit Blackstone saying it materially undervalues the company.

  • by Patrick Hatch and Alex Druce
Flashpoint: An Israeli border policeman swings their batons at Muslim worshippers outside the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Friday.

Why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict exploded again

A police raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, was one of several actions that led, less than a month later, to the sudden resumption of war between Israel and Hamas.

  • by Patrick Kingsley
Sam Kerr.

‘Taste of her own medicine’: Barca rub salt into Kerr’s wounds after UCL rout

A two-year-old tweet has come back to haunt the Matildas superstar after Barcelona destroyed Chelsea 4-0 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final.

  • by Vince Rugari
Lauren Jackson after the Opals won the FIBA World Championship final in 2006.

‘Mind-blowing’: Jackson first Australian player in basketball Hall of Fame

Jackson was a seven-time WNBA All-Star and three-time MVP who also won four Olympic medals and a world championship over her spectacular career.

Brisbane drivers are slowly emerging out of lockdown to celebrate Easter.

‘Just awful’: Inbound Story Bridge, Riverside Expressway clogged

4BC traffic reporter Olympia Kwitowski said many roads heading into the River City were “just awful”.

  • by Toby Crockford
Elon Musk’s Tesla has invested $US1.5 billion into bitcoin earlier this year.

Bitcoin tumbles after Musk hints Tesla may have dumped its holdings

Elon Musk continued to whipsaw the price of bitcoin, sending it to the lowest since February after implying in a Twitter exchange that Tesla may sell or has sold its cryptocurrency holdings.

  • by Patrick McHale and Yueqi Yang
Hidetsugu Ueno of Bar High Five in Tokyo on Saturday.

Are World War II-era rules to blame for Tokyo’s Games crisis? 

Japan, a country that’s witnessed the consequences of too much government power, has proved reluctant to implement strict rules to combat a mounting health crisis ahead of the Olympics.

  • by Eryk Bagshaw and Christopher Jue
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Cyclone Tauktae nears India.

India, reeling from COVID, faces new disaster in Cyclone Tauktae

Heavy rainfall and winds from the cyclone, which formed in the Arabian Sea, had already pounded some states along India’s western coast, causing power outages, downing trees and resulting in deaths.

  • by Isabella Kwai
The fire at Wooloowin on Brisbane’s northside on Sunday morning - May 16, 2021.

Man allegedly set Brisbane house on fire with two women inside

A 34-year-old Wooloowin man is due to face a Brisbane court on Monday morning over the incident.

  • by Toby Crockford
Vehicles with Palestinian flags seen in London. Their occupants shouted anti-Semitic statements.

Britain’s Jews should not have to endure ‘shameful racism’, says Boris Johnson

Johnson was responding to a video that showed a convoy of cars bearing Palestinian flags driving through a Jewish community in north London, broadcasting anti-Semitic messages.

  • by William James
Workers clear the rubble of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday, that housed The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets, in Gaza City.

Associated Press wants probe into Israel’s bombing of its Gaza office

The attack took place one day after Israel’s military was accused of misleading foreign journalists by announcing it had launched a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, then retracting that claim an hour later.

  • by Raphael Satter
Wall Street ended a turbulent week with gains on Friday.

ASX set to jump; inflation concerns continue to hover

Wall Street investors are looking for clues on the pace of inflation and consumer spending and whether companies can sustain their strong earnings momentum.

  • by Lewis Krauskopf
Viva's Geelong oil refinery may not survive beyond the March quarter of 2021.

Multibillion-dollar rescue package for oil refineries

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will on Monday unveil the final details of the $2.4 billion plan aimed at retaining self-sufficient refining capability and limiting costs on motorists and businesses.

  • by Rob Harris
At the height of the UK epidemic, Salisbury’s medieval cathedral was used as a COVID-19 vaccination centre.

UK warning: COVID-19 complacency in winter will ‘bite you on the backside’

Victoria’s vaccination program is running well below capacity due to a shortage of AstraZeneca doses and public hesitancy about the locally manufactured vaccine.

  • by Chip Le Grand
The Israel stand on the opening day of the Arabian Travel Market exhibition in Dubai on Sunday.

War? What war? Business as usual as Israel promotes itself as a tourist destination

It’s an odd proposition at an odd time given that major airlines have suspended flights to Israel amid the deadly violence.

  • by Aya Batrawy
The tackle in which Raiders prop Josh Papalii (right) was sent off.

Top rugby medico says NRL on right path with send-off and sin-bin spree

Dr Martin Raftery led rugby union’s push to reduce contact with the head or neck. But he said concussion levels only reduced when referees started issuing red and yellow cards more frequently.

  • by Adam Pengilly
Australian cricketer David Warner (right) in full PPE with IPL teammate Kane Richardson.

Families of Australian Open tennis players had 100 per cent hit rate on exemptions

Cricketers and the partners of elite tennis players appear to be receiving special treatment when it comes to entering Australia.

  • by Katina Curtis
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Nuix ASX launch in December 2020 and Tony Castagna.

‘Anaemic at best’: The inside story of how the Macquarie-backed Nuix float went sour

It was heralded as Australia’s next great technology company, but a joint investigation has revealed questions about Nuix’s governance and financial accounts were raised well before its stock market listing last year.

  • by Adele Ferguson, Kate McClymont and Neil Chenoweth
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Coalition farm policy quietly grows climate plan alternative

Ambitious policies launched by the federal government could deliver similar outcomes to a carbon price and take the sting out of the climate culture wars.

  • by Mike Foley
The building housing the offices of The Associated Press and other media in Gaza City collapses after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

Deadliest strike: Attacks on Gaza City accelerate amid ceasefire attempts

The Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli air strikes in the heart of Gaza City have killed dozens of people in the deadliest single attack since the start of heavy fighting a week ago.

  • by Fares Akram and Joseph Krauss