We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. Australia to send 300 troops to Iraq to train in fight against Islamic State.
By Louise Yaxley, ABC.
Australia is poised to expand its military role in Iraq, with Federal Cabinet approving a plan to send another 300 soldiers to help train forces fighting Islamic State militants.
Some 200 Australian special forces are already in Iraq helping train Iraqi government forces.
Now Federal Cabinet has agreed to send up to 300 more troops as part of a joint training mission with New Zealand.
The plan was put to the Coalition party room this morning.
The move was flagged last week by New Zealand prime minister John Key, who told his country’s parliament that more than 140 New Zealand troops would be sent to Iraq as part of a new deployment alongside Australian personnel.
“This is likely to be a joint training mission with Australia, although it won’t be badged an Anzac force,” he said.
Related content: Australian women are fleeing overseas to become ‘jihadi brides’.
The ABC understands Mr Key phoned Prime Minister Tony Abbott ahead of his announcement, and the two leaders discussed the issue when Mr Abbott visited Auckland at the weekend.
The FederalOpposition is supporting the deployment providing four conditions are met.
It says the troops must be there at the request of Iraq’s government; the mission must be confined to Iraq; Australian ground combat units must not be deployed; and if the Iraqi security forces engage in unacceptable conduct, or the Iraqi government adopts unacceptable policies, then Australia should withdraw its support.
In Iraq, government forces have launched an offensive against Islamic State north of Baghdad, aiming to drive the militants out of the strategically important town of Tikrit, the birthplace of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
The offensive is the biggest military operation in the province since the Sunni Islamist radicals seized large areas of northern Iraq last June and advanced towards the capital.
Warning sounded over possible battle for Mosul
The joint Australian-New Zealand deployment would aim at training Iraqi troops to take back cities held by Islamic State, including Mosul.
Assistant Defence Minister Stuart Robert has warned that task should not be under-estimated.
“Mosul is a city of up to 2 million people. The last time a city of that size was taken would probably be Seoul in 1951, and, before that, Berlin 1945. So don’t underestimate the complexity of this task,” he said.
Mr Robert said the training was crucial because taking Mosul would require the Iraqi military to deploy up to 10 brigades.
This article was originally published by the ABC and was republished here with full permission.
2. The smart onesie that could save a life.
An Australian start-up, TechBeach, has designed a onesie that can monitor your baby’s temperature, heartbeat and breathing patterns – and send the information straight to your mobile.
The revolutionary jumpsuit has been praised by organisations as a way to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), also known as cot death.
“All parents worry about their babies, all the time – I didn’t sleep at all when my children were born,’ TechBeach CEO and father-of-three Giuseppe Porcelli told Daily Mail Australia.
“When they were too hot, when a cold came, when they had the flu – you’re scared. If this technology was available to us then, our lives would have been a lot more comfortable.”
However, Jill Green from not-for-profit SIDS organisation, Sids and Kids, has reminded parents not to rely solely on technology for the safety of their child.
“To have a safe sleeping environment; to keep the head and face uncovered, to have a safe mattress and bedding, to breastfeed and not smoke during pregnancy — these are the infant practices that we know reduce the risks of SIDS and fatal sleeping accidents — and we don’t want to take away from these messages,” Ms Green told Daily Mail Australia.
3. Man who was part of the horrific gang rape of a girl on a Delhi bus said “women are responsible for rape.”
One of the men who raped and killed a woman on a bus in Delhi, India has said from his jail cell that women are responsible for their rape.
In an interview which will appear on a BBC documentary, India’s Daughter, the driver of the bus, Mukesh Singh says:
“You can’t clap with one hand – it takes two hands. A decent girl won’t roam around at 9 o’clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Boy and girl are not equal. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes. About 20 per cent of girls are good.”
Mukesh Singh with police upon his arrest.The documentary focuses on the tragic incident in which 23-year-old medical student, Jyoti, was raped by a group of men on a moving bus in India in 2012.
After the attack, Jyoti was thrown from the moving bus, but died as a result of her execessive injuries.
Five men were arrested and sentenced to death by hanging for Jyoti’s assault and murder, while another 17-year-old boy was sentenced to three years in prison.
According to BBC, Singh — who is appealing his sentence — states: “The death penalty will make things even more dangerous for girls. Now when they rape, they won’t leave the girl like we did. They will kill her. Before, they would rape and say, ‘Leave her, she won’t tell anyone.’ Now when they rape, especially the criminal types, they will just kill the girl. Death.”
4. Veteran Greyhound racing trainers banned for life after live-baiting scandal.
By ABC.
Five Queensland greyhound trainers embroiled in a live-baiting scandal have been banned from training, preparing or owning a registered racing animal in the state for life.
Debra Arnold, James Harding, Reg Kay, Tony McCabe and Tom Noble were “warned off” by the Racing Queensland board during a meeting at Deagon in Brisbane’s north on Monday evening.
Michael Chapman’s case was adjourned while Greg Stella had his case referred back to the stewards for further investigation.
In Queensland, 13 trainers were suspended after the ABC’s Four Corners program revealed the use of live baiting to train greyhounds in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
Related content: The cruel, secret underbelly of greyhound racing has been exposed.
Of those 13, seven were asked to show cause as to “why they should not be warned off race tracks for life and prevented from taking further part in the industry”.
Five of them were banned for life, while six others remain suspended pending further investigations.
Previously, Racing Queensland chair Kevin Dixon said those banned for life would be prevented from visiting any racecourse – greyhound, thoroughbred or harness – in Queensland, placing a bet or training, preparing or owning a registered racing animal.
Mr Dixon said the bans were effective immediately.
This article was originally published by the ABC and was republished here with full permission.
4. Knox headmaster apologises for mishandling of sexual abuse in the school.
By Nicole Chettle.
A former headmaster of Knox Grammar in Sydney’s north, Dr Ian Paterson, has apologised to those who suffered sexual abuse at the school for failing to provide “a safe and secure place”.
Appearing at a hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, Dr Paterson said he should have known about the sexual abuse of boys in his care over a period of more than 30 years.
He acknowledged he was responsible for what happened at the elite boys’ school during his time as headmaster during the 1970s through to the 1990s.
“I should have known and I should have stopped the events which led to the abuse and its tragic consequences for those boys in my care and their families,” he said.
Related content: Lisa Wilkinson weighs in on the Knox abuse scandal.
“Reading your statements, watching your stories unfold has been shocking and heart-rending.
“My abject failure to provide for you a safe and secure place at Knox strikes at the very heart of a responsibility of a headmaster. I commend your courage in coming forward.
“Knowing that I was your headmaster when much of this abuse occurred is devastating.
“An apology for the hurt suffered by you and your families seems totally inadequate. Yet I do so with an awful feeling of uselessness in my heart.
“I accept that decisions I made were wrong. And that I failed to recognise and hence respond sufficiently to events that we now know were indicators of a sinister and much bigger picture.
“A picture of serious sexual abuse that would damage the lives of so many.”
This article was originally published by the ABC and has been republished here with full permission.