We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. 10-year-old boy arrested after he allegedly set alight another child.
An eight-year-old boy is currently in a serious condition after he was set on fire by another boy, aged just 10.
A statement released by the Queensland Police Service said that the incident occurred at 5:50pm on Saturday evening at Mount Isa.
“It will be alleged that a short time later a liquid was thrown at the boy. This liquid acted as an accelerant when it was ignited causing significant burns over the boy’s body,” the statement reads.
The ABC reports that the eight-year-old suffered severe burns to 40 per cent of his body, and after being treated at the scene, he was taken to Mount Isa Hospital.
Detective Inspector Chris Hodgman said the boy was suffering extreme pain.
“He was in a lot of pain, the paramedics got him straight to Mount Isa Base Hospital, he has been sedated, I believe,” he said.
The 10-year-old boy has been arrested and is reportedly helping police with their investigation.
2. Fathers struggling to receive compensation after children’s deaths.
Fathers of children who died at the Bacchmus Marsh hospital facility are allegedly being “discriminated” against as they fail to receive compensation for their losses.
Speaking with Fairfax Media, one father said following the death of his daughter, the mother of his child was offered compensation for her suffering, but he was never consulted.
“No one from the hospital has ever contacted me… I feel like I am being discriminated against, like somehow my loss isn’t the same as others,” he said.
The father alleges that it wasn’t until his partner was in labour at Bacchus Marsh hospital did complications arise. The baby’s heartbeat was not normal and when she was born, she wasn’t crying.
The medical team spent 20 to 30 minutes resuscitating the baby girl. A week later, the baby girl died in her parents’ arms.
Whilst the father and mother are still together, he says his partner was offered compensation from the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority for her loss, but he was left with nothing.
“I shouldn’t have to fight for the hospital to have to pay… I’m not broke, I have money, but they should be made to pay.”
A medical negligence lawyer, Anne Shortall, recognised the difference in help offered to mothers and fathers.
“I feel like they’re [fathers] being treated quite differently to the mothers,” she said.
“Fathers are often very traumatised… Sometimes you have a situation where mums are lot worse that the dad. Sometimes it’s the opposite, you have a mum who has managed reasonably well and the dad is severely affected.”
A spokesperson for the Health Services Commissioner said their “primary concern has always been, and remains, that the women and their families are provided with accurate information and receive the support they need and deserve”.
3. Report: Students who change school suffer in their academics.
Research released from the NSW Department of Education has revealed the impacts that regularly changing a child’s school can have on their grades.
Using enrolment data from 2008 to 2014, the report found that student mobility posed a significant issue for public schools across NSW. Subsequently, it was identified that “mobility has a detrimental impact on student outcomes”.
“Compared to stable students with similar backgrounds and levels of prior achievement, mobile students achieve lower reading and numeracy results and are more likely to leave school prior to completely year 12,” the report recognised.
It also identified that students who moved between kindergarten and grade three at least three times were up to 80 points below average in their reading capabilities.
Lila Mularczyk, president of the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council, said that it was the responsibility of parents and schools to work together to reduce the impacts student mobility can have.
“Mobility can be really difficult for children and can often interrupt their learning, so it is important that we focus not only on their education but also their wellbeing,” she said.
4. Candidate in Brisbane City Council election receives “vile” racist abuse.
A labor candidate campaigning for the Brisbane City ward of Calamvale has been subject to torrents of racist abuse since his pre-selection.
Mucktar Wesseh, who arrived in Australia from Sierra Leone almost 15 years ago, says that he has received a number of hateful emails and “supremacist graffiti” during the campaign.
FacebookMr Wesseh released the following email he had received last week:
“you disgusting ting muslim n***er you ruined by beautiful suburbs change of ever having a labor candidate win
“go back to your aids ridden country i hope you and all your ugly n***er family die
“you don’t deserve your position it would satisfy deeply to never see your filthy n***er face again
“i don’t know why you ever thought you would win in Calamvale, you ugly worthless n***er please die”
Mr Wesseh says that since his arrival in Australia he has faced racism, but nothing compares to this.
“This one took me by surprise because while I’ve had one or two remarks, to have some say, ‘I wish you and your family were dead because you’re a Muslim’, well, I’m not even Muslim,” he said.
“I’m a Catholic, you know? I’m a big Catholic, so it was a big shocker for me.”
Candidate sights for Mr Wesseh have also been vandalised with “white power” and genitalia being scribbled over his face.
5. Harvard law school finally removes shield due to slavery origins.
Following months of protests, Harvard law school has officially decided to remove their shield that has links to a slaveholder from the 18th-century.
The committee who decided to remove the shield said the school needed something that reflected their values.
“We believe that if the law school is to have an official symbol, it must more closely represent the values of the law school, which the current shield does not,” said the committee.
The shield shows three bundles of wheat, a symbol taken from the family crest of Isaac Royall Jr, after he donated his property to establish the first law professorship at Harvard University. However, most of the Royall family wealth was sourced from Caribbean sugar plantations and Massachusetts farms worked by slaves, according to The Guardian.
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