Schools in Brisbane and Sydney evacuated after a series of emailed bomb threats

29/10/2020

(See Translation in Arabic section)

Brisbane/Sydney - M E T Int'l: About a dozen schools across Brisbane have been closed and are being scoured for bombs following a series of threats similar to those which closed a number of Sydney schools.

Police say the threats were made via email and they were taking all precautions and evacuating schools as per Department of Education “protocols”.

“It involves schools north and south of Brisbane,” a Queensland Police Service (QPS) spokesman said.

Queensland’s Year 12 students started sitting their end-of-year-exams on Monday.

The threats were made on Thursday afternoon while some 30 schools were shut down earlier this week in Sydney with the bomb threats originating from Eastern Europe, according to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Adviser to three Liberal PMs is the nation's new top spy

Canberra: A close adviser to three Liberal leaders will be vaulted to the top of the nation’s spy agencies in a cabinet decision that installs one of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s trusted advisers in the crucial role.

Former national security adviser Andrew Shearer will be the next Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence in a key appointment to oversee the nation’s wider security community.

A former diplomat and intelligence official, Mr Shearer was the national security adviser to prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott in a long career before he joined the Morrison government as cabinet secretary.

The decision installs a security chief with strong connections in the United States as well as a background in building stronger ties with Japan and other Asian neighbours over the past two decades.

His move clears the way for Chris Browne, currently the chief of staff to Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, to be named the next cabinet secretary.

The Prime Minister’s office confirmed the appointment to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and issued a brief statement on Thursday night saying Mr Shearer would start as Director-General in December with a five-year term.

"Mr Shearer has served Australia and its national interests domestically and overseas through a long and distinguished career in national security and intelligence," Mr Morrison said.

He will replace Nick Warner, the first director-general of ONI, which was created in December 2017 as the peak intelligence assessment and coordination agency.

Mr Morrison lauded Mr Warner two weeks ago for serving Australia over four decades in defence and intelligence.

PM’s prizes celebrate best of Australian science

Canberra: A TEAM instrumental in the world-first detection of gravitational waves has won this year’s Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.

Emeritus Professor David Blair and professors David McClelland, Susan Scott and Peter Veitch from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery received the $250,000 prize for their contributions to the international effort that led to the 2015 discovery.

“This year more than ever we have turned to our scientists in the face of one of our biggest challenges in recent memory, the COVID-19 pandemic,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

 Other prize winners were:

● The $250,000 PM’s Prize for Innovation: Professor Thomas Maschmeyer from the University of Sydney;

● The $50,000 PM’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools: Willetton Senior High School (WA) teacher Darren Hamley;

● The $50,000 PM’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools: Bonython Primary School (ACT) STEM Specialist Teacher Sarah Fletcher;

● The $50,000 Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year: Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre clinician-scientist Professor Mark Dawson;

● The $50,000 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year: UNSW Scientia Associate Professor Xiaojing Hao;

● The $50,000 Prize for New Innovators: Flinders University Associate Professor Justin Chalker.

Due to COVID-19, the 2020 awards presentation was held online and can be viewed at

industry.gov.au/pmscienceprizes.

Government could drug test women on 55 on jobless benefits

Canberra: The Federal Government has refused to rule out drug-testing women over 55 on unemployment support, says Shadow Minister for Social Services Linda Burney.

“The government’s plan to drug test unemployment support recipients remains in the parliament,” she said.

“Prior to the pandemic, women over 55 represented the largest cohort receiving unemployment support …”

At Senate Estimates, Labor Senator Helen Polley asked the Minister for Social Services Senator Anne Ruston if the proposal remained government policy.

The minister confirmed that it remained policy but refused to confirm clarify a timeline for when the policy would progress.

“I think the Australian people and particularly those who have lost their jobs during this recession, and because of COVID-19, let alone those people that was on unemployment before, have right to know whether or not the government is going to proceed,” Senator Polley said.

Penny Wong lashes out at 'lagging' Coalition response to Qatar incident

Canberra: Labor Senate Leader Penny Wong says the Morrison government has failed to provide the women involved in the Qatar incident with the “proper transparency” and “proper accountability” which the situation demands.

 Ms Wong said the Coalition’s response to the incident was ‘too little and too late’ arguing action should have been taken at the “earliest possible opportunity”.

 “I was very disappointed yesterday to find out that Minister Payne hasn’t even spoken to her counterpart," she told media.

 “The women concerned deserved their government standing up for them."

New human traffickers trying to set up a smuggling group for illegal immigrants

Canberra: Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has not ruled out an arrangement with New Zealand to transfer the remaining people on Nauru but warned there are people smugglers “who are attempting to put syndicates together”.

“The government has worked very hard to get people off Manus Island and Nauru over a number of years.

Decisions were made by a previous government where people were put onto those islands,” Mr Dutton said.

The minister was responding to a question from Independent MP Zali Steggall about whether the government would heed the calls from a petition to send 150 asylum seekers per year to New Zealand. Mr Dutton said the Coalition government has “worked very hard day and night” to get those asylum seekers off Nauru and Manus Island, and highlighted how the government has closed the detention centre on Manus.

 “In the case of Nauru, as I recall, the latest advice there, the number is down to 134 people,” he said.

 “I would be very happy to bring those people off Nauru tomorrow, but I need to manage in a way - as we have said before - where we don't see a new boat arrivals.

“On my watch, nobody has drowned at sea and I have not sent a single person to Manus and Nauru.

 I got all of the children out of detention and I have not ruled out an arrangement with New Zealand.

“We will work with New Zealand as we do on many, many issues.

“But we do know that up in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam at the moment, there are people smugglers who are attempting to put syndicates together.”

Ambassador to Holy See helps police with Vatican probe

Money transfers potentially linked to Cardinal George Pell's trial are being investigated.

Australia's ambassador to the Holy See has assisted federal police make contact with the Vatican in an investigation of money transfers potentially linked to Cardinal George Pell's trial.

The Australian Federal Police is reviewing information from the financial crime watchdog after Italian media alleged payments may have been made to influence the cardinal's child sex abuse trial.

Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells asked Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials to detail ambassador Chiara Porro's role in the issue.

"Our ambassador to the Holy See has assisted the AFP with making contacts," DFAT's John Geering told a Senate estimates hearing.

DFAT chief legal officer Simon Newnham said the AFP was the lead agency.

Earlier this month, Italian media reported unsubstantiated claims Cardinal Pell's nemesis at the Vatican, ousted Cardinal Angelo Becciu, wired $A1.1 million in Vatican money to a bank account in Australia. Cardinal Pell was convicted before being acquitted on appeal by the High Court in April.

Teen ‘too scared’ to reveal pregnancy gives birth in secret then puts baby in freezer

A frightened schoolgirl who hid her pregnancy gave birth to a baby boy – and then put him in her home freezer to die, according to police.

The 14-year-old Russian, Anastasia, said she was “too scared” to tell her parents she was pregnant, so she put the baby in a plastic bag and frozen him to death in the family’s garage, in the home in Verkh-Tula, southwest Siberia.

Neither her family nor her teachers had realised she was pregnant, The Sun reports.

By the time the baby was discovered, it was too late to save him.

Novosibirsk’s region official Nadezhda Boltenko told 360TV that the girl’s mother had called an ambulance for the schoolgirl after hearing her screams.

“She heard her moaning at night and thought her daughter was suffering from appendicitis,” Ms Boltenko said.

The 14-year-old girl was in fact bleeding heavily after going through labour on her own.

After giving birth, she placed the baby in a plastic bag and put him in the freezer in the garage.

In the ambulance, she allegedly told paramedics she had given birth, telling them where she had hidden the child.

The official working on the investigation called it a “terrible case”.

The schoolgirl is now in hospital in a “serious” condition, she said.

A neighbour who lived near the family allegedly said she wondered if the 14-year-old girl was pregnant, and mentioned this to Anastasia’s mum.

But the mum replied that her daughter had just gained some weight.

Anastasia Kuleshova, an official from the Russian Investigative Committee said “all the circumstances of the infant’s death” are being checked by detectives.

According to reports, the child’s father is aged 16 – and he and Anastasia had broken up in the summer.

Scientists confirm natural water supply on the moon

Scientists have identified tiny patches of ice on the moon called “ice traps” which could exist in permanent shadows and provide a natural water supply.

Some experts suggested many of the traps may have gone without a single ray of sunlight for billions of years.

A natural supply of water would allow astronauts to hydrate themselves and provide fuel for other space projects.