1. Barcelona terror suspect shot dead by police, as death toll rises to 15.
Police have shot dead the suspected driver in last week’s Barcelona terror attack, as the death toll from the incident – which saw a van plough through a crowded street in a popular tourist destination – rose to 15.
Mossos, the Catelonia police force, tweeted on Monday that Moroccan man Younes Abouyaaqoub was shot dead by police and it’s reported the 22-year-old was wearing a fake suicide belt at the time the manhunt ended.
He was the probable driver of the van and the last fugitive involved in the terrorist cell to be apprehended by authorities.
This comes as the Catalan regional Interior Minister Joaquim Forn confirmed the death toll from the attack has risen to 15, with the latest confirmed victim a man whose car was hijacked by Aboyaaqoub. The car was found on the outskirts of Barcelona with it’s owner dead in the back seat.
This brings the fatalities to eight males, including two children, and seven women.
2. North Korea labels Australia “suicidal” for its alliance with the US.
North Korea has labelled Australia’s involvement in war games between the US and South Korea a “suicidal act” after Australian defence personnel begun a 10-day military exercise with more than 17,000 American troops on Monday.
The same exercises in 2016 provoked North Korea to conduct nuclear tests. And, this time, North Korea’s official news agency has condemned Australia’s involvement in an editorial.
“This is a suicidal act of inviting disaster as it is an illustration of political immaturity, unaware of the seriousness of the current situation,” the agency said, according to translations. “Australia followed the US to the Korean War, the Vietnamese War and the war on terrorism, but heavy loss of lives and assets were all that it got in return.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier this month said Australia and the United States were “joined at the hip”, and pledged Australia would come to the aid of its ally if there was an attack by North Korea.
3. “We’ll take one child every day.” Gold Coast school receives bomb and hostage threats.
Classes have resumed at a Gold Coast primary school put into lockdown after threatening graffiti was found scrawled on a classroom window.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said classes resumed around 11am Monday after the school was given the “all-clear” by Queensland police.
In an email to parents, Ashmore State School said the graffiti warned about bombing the school and threatened to “take one child hostage every day until they disappear”.
A Facebook post from the school’s P&C said parents were given the option of picking up their children, who were kept safe with teachers and staff on the oval.
4. Joss Whedon’s wife says their painful relationship left her with PTSD.
He’s typically regarded as one of Hollywood’s most feminist men, but director of The Avengers Joss Whedon’s reputation has taken a hard knock after his ex-wife revealed he had multiple affairs throughout their 16-year marriage.
In a brutally honest post for The Wrap, Kai Cole exposes her former husband as a serial-cheater, saying the breakdown of their marriage and the sudden realisation of his lies left her diagnosed with a complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
“My entire reality changed overnight, and I went from being a strong, confident woman, to a confused, frightened mess,” she writes in the piece.
Cole calls Whedon a hypocrite and says it’s time to “clear up some misconceptions”.
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5. Coeliac disease linked to type 1 diabetes and Down syndrome, research finds.
Children with type 1 diabetes and Down syndrome should be more actively screened for coeliac disease, experts say.
“Recent studies show that children with diabetes mellitus type 1 and Down syndrome have a high prevalence of coeliac disease, which may present with abdominal pain and constipation rather than classical diarrhoea — also pointing to case finding in this group,” a recent study out tof the University of Newcastle and published in the Medical Journal of Australia states.
The latest estimates show coeliac disease in Australia affects an estimated one in 86 adult men (1.2 per cent) and one in 52 women (1.9 per cent). It can lead to nutritional deficiency if left undiagnosed and untreated.
6. Foetal alcohol syndrome is 12 times higher in Aboriginal children.
Rates of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder among Aboriginal children are up to 12 times higher than a newly-determined universal average that has triggered concern among experts.
Almost one in every 100 children worldwide suffer from the condition, which is caused by consumption of alcohol during pregnancy, according to research published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
The findings have sparked calls for greater intervention to cut the rates across the globe.