news

Tuesday afternoon's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. Support for boy who came out to homophobic father.

After being told being gay was ‘worse than death’ by his own father, 15-year-old Tyler from Vancouver has received support from around the world.

The teenager posted the Facebook conversation he had with his dad on his Tumblr account, in which his father calls his sexuality an ’embarrassment’.

“We took care of you since you were a baby. We loved you, took care of you when you’re sick. Lost many days and nights in all your fifteen years,” his father wrote.

“Now this is what we get in return, shame and embarrassment.

“If only you didn’t reject God and his teachings in your life you could have been strong enough to stay away from evil and scums that surround you.”

Fortunately, Tyler has received an outpouring of support from fans on social media.

Daily Mail reports Tyler has not spoken to his father since his rejection.

2. A Queensland boxer has died, igniting calls to ban the sport.

A 23-year-old Toowoomba boxer has died after loosing a 10-round featherweight boxing bout.

His death has renewed calls for the sport to be banned in Australia.

Braydon Smith’s life support was turned off on Monday, less than two days after he collapsed after his fight.

 

Australian Medical Association (AMA) Queensland president Shaun Rudd said boxing was a sport that could never be made safe.

He told the ABC that it was particularly sad when somebody dies playing a sport when the whole idea of the sport is to try and knock the opponent out.

In a post-match interview, Smith said his opponent, Filipino John Morale was a lot stronger than he expected.

 

About 90 minutes after the match, Smith complained of a severe headache before collapsing

He was rushed to hospital where he was placed in an induced coma.

Sports lawyer Tim Fuller told the ABC that subsequent Queensland governments hadn’t done anything to regulate combat sports in the state, leaving them to regulate themselves.

“I think it’s disgraceful. It’s bordering on negligence,” he said.

3. Archbishop charged with conceiling child sex abuse.

Adelaide Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson has been charged with concealing child sexual abuse.

The charges relate to Hunter region paedophile priest Jim Fletcher, who worked with the Archbishop in NSW in the 1970s.

Archbishop Wilson announced in a statement he would take leave from his position after being notified of the charges filed against him by NSW Police.

The NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the Maitland Catholic Diocese recommended that a senior church official be charged over the matter, although the report did not name the official.

NSW Police said its operation, Strike Force Lantle, launched in 2010, investigated allegations of concealment of serious offences related to child abuse by clergy “formerly and currently attached to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese of the Catholic Church”.

They alleged that Archbishop Wilson, 64, concealed a serious offence.

He is due to appear in the Newcastle Local Court on April 30.

Archbishop Wilson is a former Bishop of Wollongong, where he was known as a “healing bishop” for his handling of child-abuse scandals.

Important day for Australia: child abuse victim

A victim of Fletcher, Peter Gogarty, said he felt overwhelming relief that a police investigation had resulted in charges against the Catholic Archbishop.

“I think it’s a very, very important day for Australia, that we’ve now had someone in such a high position charged,” Mr Gogarty said.

“I hasten to add, everyone in this country is entitled to the presumption of innocence, but…the fact that our legal system has decided to charge someone this senior is enormously significant.”

This post originally appeared on ABC and was republished here with full permission.

4. Dolce and Gabbanna hit back at Elton John, call him a homophobe.

Italian designers Dolce and Gabbana have hit back at Elton John for being authoritarian, ignorant and hypocritical in his recent response to the pair’s comments about IVF babies.

Yesterday, John, 67, posted on Facebook a response to Dominic Dolce labelling IVF babies as “synthetic.”

He accused the designer of “wagging your judgemental little fingers at IVF” and encouraged his fans to #BoycottDolceGabbana.

Celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Ricky Martin, Courtney Love and Martina Navratilova, supported John in his rejection of the designer’s comments.

However, Dolce and partner Stefano Gabbana has continued the row, saying John is being judgemental, and should not have been interpreted as a shot at anyone’s choices.

Gabbana told his Instagram followers to #BoycottEltonJohn and called him a fascist.

“I’m Sicilian and I grew up in a traditional family, made up of a mother, a father and children,” he said in a statement.”

This is the reality in which I grew up, but it does not imply that I don’t understand different ones.

“I was talking about my personal view, without judging other people’s choices and decisions.”

His business partner Stefano Gabbana revealed that he had been so infuriated by John’s statement he posted the comments #fascist and #boycotteltonjohn on the Instagram page.

According to the ABC, Gabbana linked John’s statements with homophobia, stating:

“Domenico [Dolce] has his ideas, he made some choices. Elton John made different choices. Different choices, different lives. Equal respect.

“What I see, particularly online, is a lot of gay people who are homophobic: gay people who will attack other gay people who express ideas that are different from theirs.”

5. The Block home used to hide biggest insider trading scam in Australian history.

Personal greed was the motive behind two men involved in a $7 million insider trading scheme that helped buy an apartment from The Block television show.

Former NAB banker Luke Kamay and former Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) employee Christopher Hill have been jailed and for their involvement in the worst case of insider trading to come before the courts in Australia.

Justice Hollingworth said it was Kamay that first floated the insider trading idea, which was embraced by Hill.

“Personal greed, pure and simple,” was the motivation for the offence, she said.

According to Sydney Morning Herald, Kamay, 26, of Eaglemont, was jailed for seven years and three months with a non-parole period of four years and six months, after pleading guilty to insider trading, money laundering and identity theft charges between August 2013 and May 2014.

Hill, 25, of Brighton, was jailed for three years and three months with a non-parole period of two years after pleading guilty to insider trading, identity theft and abuse of public office charges.

Kamay and Hill were arrested in May after a four-month joint Australian Federal Police and ASIC investigation following a tip-off from a stockbroker about the link between the pair.

What’s making headlines for you today?

Related Stories

Recommended

Top Comments

Alice O 10 years ago

Dear Gabbana: I do not think the word homophobe means what you think it means.


MomnDad 10 years ago

A big lawsuit comming up against Mother Nature for not rewarding gay relationships with reproductive ability.

Me 10 years ago

huh?