Happy hump day! The inquiry into the Bruce Lehrmann case continues to unearth surprising details. Today’s revelation? That the ACT is the least likely jurisdiction in Australia to lay charges in alleged sexual assault cases – six times lower than the national average.
ACT police’s Det Supt Scott Moller, however, rejects the assertion that this influenced the handling of Brittany Higgins’s allegation that she was raped at Parliament House. “The team that work on sex assault cases are a dedicated, professional group of investigators,” he told an inquiry today.
Meanwhile, Australian Netflix users will have received an alert that they will no longer be able to share passwords outside of their household.
Top news
Australian tourist dies in Kazakhstan | Kazakh police say they have found the body of Jake Michael Herd, near Big Almaty Lake in the Tian Shan mountains at an altitude of about 2,500m, three days after he went missing.
Age discrimination commissioner calls for police review | The commissioner, Dr Kay Patterson, made the call after 95-year-old Clare Nowland was Tasered by a police officer. Patterson said the incident was appalling and there should be a review into whether sending a mental health team would be more appropriate.
Modi in Australia | The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, held a press conference with Anthony Albanese, without taking questions from the media. Modi, who leads the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party, called on Australia to take “strict actions” against anyone attacking Hindu temples in Australia.
Not guilty plea in Cassius Turvey death | The four people accused of fatally bashing 15-year-old Indigenous Perth boy Cassius Turvey have pleaded not guilty to his murder and have been committed to stand trial. Cassius was allegedly chased down and attacked with a metal pole as he walked home from school with friends on 13 October 2022.
Netflix expands password crackdown | Australia is among more than 100 countries that have had their password-sharing abilities limited. The streaming video pioneer has been looking for new ways to make money as it faces signs of market saturation, with efforts including limits on password borrowing and a new ad-supported option.
Ron DeSantis to launch presidential campaign on Twitter | The news that the ultra-conservative Florida governor will launch his campaign during a live Twitter appearance with Elon Musk marks the tech billionaire’s latest attempts to shore up engagement at a moment of crisis for the social media company. Read this analysis.
Taiwan’s last known ‘comfort woman’ dies | The country’s last known survivor of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery has died at the age of 92, according to the island’s foreign ministry, which called the issue a “wound in human history”. Referred to as “comfort women”, more than 200,000 women were sexually enslaved by Japan’s military during the second world war, mostly from South Korea but also from Taiwan, China, and Indonesia.
Miami zoo enrages New Zealand | A viral video showing a kiwi bird housed by Zoo Miami – being handled and patted by guests under bright lights sparked immediate outrage in New Zealand, with thousands signing a petition calling for the bird to be returned home. The zoo has apologised.
In pictures
From Dua Lipa to Gigi Hadid, flip-flops to #mermaidcore, here are some of the best looks at the Cannes film festival red carpet.
What they said …
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“Don’t F&*! The Planet.” – Atlassian
It’s the direct and flavoursome title of the Aussie tech firm’s corporate report – a guide for other companies to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
In numbers
The open letter argues it is “imprudent to hitch Australia’s most expensive and lethal defence capability to an increasingly uncertain ally that is in relative decline, politically unstable, and exhibiting troubling signs of sliding into an illiberal democracy”.
Before bed read
An ambitious Indigenous agricultural venture is taking place in northern Victoria – to create the largest yabby farm in the southern hemisphere.
“We need to unlock the library of 60,000 years of knowledge to weave that into what we’ve learned in the last 200 years to actually redefine what Australian agriculture is going to look like into the future,” says Joshua Gilbert, a Worimi man and agricultural consultant.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: COS. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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