Blog

Virgin Australia was forced to reinstate the cabin crew member following a ruling by the country's Fair Work Commission. Photo: 123RF/ Ryan Fletcher An Australian airline which fired a staffer after a Grindr hookup while on 'fatigue leave' probably would not have taken such action if he was married and straight, an employment law expert says. Virgin Australia was forced to reinstate the cabin crew member, Dylan Macnish, following a ruling by the country's Fair Work Commission. Macnish was dismissed after the airline obtained hotel CCTV footage and room swipe card records, the Guardian reported, after he had asked for a roster change due to fatigue. During a stressful shift the previous day, he had been urinated on by a passenger suffering a suspected stroke. Early the next morning, Macn...

By Gram Slattery, Reuters Donald Trump. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP The head of the Secret Service told Donald Trump in a private meeting that significant new security arrangements will be needed if he wants to keep playing golf, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. Trump asked Ronald Rowe, the Secret Service's acting director, in a meeting on Monday whether it was safe for him to continue playing, the newspaper said. Rowe said the Secret Service views the golf course at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as easier to secure because it is a military course. That meeting occurred a day after the Secret Service thwarted a second apparent assassination attempt on Trump in less than two months. On Sunday, Secret Service agents fired on Ryan Wesley Routh, the apparent would-be assas...

The police and military in Papua New Guinea are struggling to cope with chronic tribal "revenge killings" among "local terrorists" with high powered weapons in Enga Province. Photo: Supplied In 2022, Papua New Guinea's Parliament unanimously voted to change the country's gun laws making it possible for the courts to impose life sentences on people found to be in possession of illegal firearms. The amendments to the Firearms Act were tabled by Prime Minister James Marape and it came just three years after a previous set of changes. Parliament's decision reflected widespread public sentiments after the brutal mass murder of 16 women and children in James Marape's Hela Province and in the Pogera District of the Enga Province in 2019. Since then, Papua New Guinea, has joined the club of cou...

US President Joe Biden (C), British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (R) and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L) hold a press conference during the AUKUS summit on March 13, 2023, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego California. Photo: AFP / JIM WATSON AUKUS partners Australia, Britain and the United States said on Wednesday they are in discussions with Canada, Japan and New Zealand about potential collaboration on defence technology projects. The AUKUS defence technology partnership will deliver nuclear-powered submarines to Australia next decade, and is collaborating on other advanced weapons development they say will boost deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, amid concern over China's naval build-up. The Australian, British and US leaders said that new partners could contribute to t...