We’ve rounded up the latest headlines – from Australia and around the world – so you can catch-up on the latest news in under five minutes.
1. Bali Nine: PM Abbott says Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran deserve mercy.
By ABC
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the Government is continuing to plead with Indonesia to spare the lives of Bali Nine drug traffickers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
Both men have now had their appeals for presidential clemency formally rejected and face execution by firing squad.
In a statement, Mr Abbott said Chan and Sukumaran “deserve mercy”, and described them as “reformed characters” who had helped to rehabilitate other prisoners.
The Prime Minister’s statement did not detail whether or not he had spoken to Indonesian president Joko Widodo personally about the matter, but said he and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop were maintaining “every possible effort” to prevent Sukumaran and Chan being executed.
Mr Abbott said he spoke to the families of both men today and would continue to offer them the Government’s support.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said his thoughts were also with the families of the two men.
Mr Shorten said he had been briefed on the situation and was satisfied the Government was doing “everything it can”.
A version of this post originally appeared on ABC News and has been republished with permission.
2. Use of child soldiers by Islamic State is unforgivable. But there are 250, 000 other children being used in wars worldwide.
The Islamic State has released a video purporting to show a young boy executing two men, News.com.au reports.
In the video the boy appears fatally shoot two “Russian spies” after they are interrogated over an an alleged attempt to infiltrate the IS group in Syria.
The boy, who claims to be from Kazakhstan, calls himself Abdallah and told an interviewer in an earlier video he wanted to grow up to kill “infidels”.
While the practice of using child soldiers in unforgivable, it is also nothing new – UNICEF estimates that there are over 250,000 children involved in armed conflicts worldwide.
Since 200o, children have been used in armed conflict in almost every region of the world according to Child Soldiers International and in at least 19 countries since 2011.
The numbers fluctuate, but tens of thousands of children under the age of ten are currently serving in government armed forces or armed opposition groups – some are as young as ten years old.
3. Hundreds join anti-Charlie Hebdo protests in Sydney, condemning free speech and the “arrogant West”.
By ABC
Hundreds of people have gathered in western Sydney to protest against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which published an image of the Islamic prophet Mohammed after jihadists murdered 12 staff members.
Police said about 800 people attended the rally, organised by controversial Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir outside the Lakemba railway station at sunset.
Four people were arrested and 10 were removed from the area for breaching the peace, Campsie Local Area Commander Superintendent Michael McLean said.
Many of the protesters held placards pledging their love for the Prophet Mohammed, who was depicted on the magazine cover holding a sign displaying the words “Je suis Charlie”.
Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Wassim Doureihi said Muslims had a duty to respond to the magazine.
“It is unacceptable for a Muslim to remain silent in the face of the attacks on our beloved prophet,” he said.
One speaker at the rally, Sufyan Badar, took aim at what he called the arrogant West.
“They force their world view onto us: ‘We are the arrogant West and you Muslims have to accept our world view, you have to accept our freedoms … to insult your prophet’,” he told the crowd.
He dismissed the defence of freedom of speech.
“We rejected freedom yesterday, we rejected freedom today and we reject your freedom tomorrow,” he said.
A version of this post originally appeared on ABC News and has been republished with permission.
4. Women defy Iranian ban on women at football matches by capturing their attendance at the Asian Cup in joyful photos on social media.
The Iranian and Iraqi football teams played last night in the Asian Cup quarter final. But people watching the match in Iran were shown only part of the action.
Television networks in Iran have been censoring images of women attending the games because their attire is considered “inappropriate”. As the camera pans the crowd, Iranian viewers are shown footage of a different game, so that women at the match can’t be seen.
In Iran, women are prevented from attending football matches because of the potential for women and men to mix in the crowd. A government department within the country has decided that “mixed attendance at sport events is un-Islamic and that it threatens public order”.
But now images of Iranian-Australian women at football matches are reaching women in Iran via social media.
The International Campaign for Human Rights deputy director in Iran, Gissou Nia told the ABC, that social media is making it very difficult for Iranian authorities, because women in Iran are able to search Instagram to see pictures of Iranian women at football games in Australia, supporting their national team.
“[The women] have the Iranian flag painted on their cheeks, they’re wearing Iranian flag leggings, they’re draped in the flag. And they’re at the games, in the stadium, and it just brings that sense of something being forbidden, and not being allowed to attend and participate as a gender equal, it just really brings that into sharp focus.”
Catch more news headlines in this 90-second news update by the ABC:
[raw]
[/raw]
Top Comments
Number 3 - where are all the women? I cannot spot even one! Typical.
Perhaps Rupert Murdoch's tweet wasn't so far off the mark. Pity the 800 demonstrators weren't denouncing the murder of the Charlie Hebdo journalists and the Jews in the Parisian supermarket. Those 800 would probably feel more at home in the souks of Riyadh where the threat of a good flogging would squash any blasphemous tendencies.