1. Family of murdered SA nurse Gayle Woodford pay tribute to “generous and loving” woman.
The children of murdered outback Nurse Gayle Woodford have remembered their mother as a “devoted and beautiful person”.
Speaking publicly for the first time since her disappearance last Wednesday, Gary and Alison Woodford said their mother was someone who dedicated much of her life to helping others.
“Our family would like to take this opportunity to express our devastation on the loss of our beautiful loving wife and mother,” Mr Woodford said.
“We are having difficulty coming to terms with this unprovoked and premature end to mum’s life.
“Anyone who knows mum would appreciate the kind, generous and loving, devoted and beautiful person she was.
“She always devoted her life to not only her family and friends but has given so much to the community. She wanted to make a difference to people’s lives through her nursing and caring for others.”
A 36-year-old man has been charged with Ms. Woodford’s murder after her body was found in a shallow grave about 1.5 kilometres east of her home town of Fregon on Saturday after a three-day search.
2. Pakistan explosion leaves many dead at a children’s park.
At least 65 people are dead and over 300 are injured in an explosion in a public park in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
The suicide bomb went off at about 6:40pm local time in the parking area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, a few metres away from children’s swings, where much of the park was full of families celebrating Easter.
“Most of the dead and injured are women and children,” said Mustansar Feroz, the police superintendent for the area in which the park is located.
Pakistan’s president has condemned the blast and the regional government has announced three days of mourning.
The Taliban faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement for the group, a spokesperson said the target was Christians.
3. Man charged with sexually assaulting a tourist in Melbourne CBD.
A 33-year-old man has been charged with the sexual assault of a tourist in Melbourne’s CBD on Saturday morning.
The woman was entering Melbourne Central from Elizabeth St. are around 6.30am on Saturday when she was allegedly grabbed and sexually assaulted.
Police said she was not physically injured in the incident and managed to fight the man off to escape.
After a state-wide appeal for information where photos of the alleged perpetrator where released, police were able to charge the man after he he handed himself into police on Sunday afternoon.
4. Child models are being used to ‘sell’ adoptee children from broken homes.
Barnardos Australia are coming under fire for a marketing campaign that uses photogenic child models with attractive personalities to ‘sell’ adoptee children.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Australian Adoptee Rights Action Group are infuriated by the advertising campaign which they believe misrepresents the looks and character of adoptee children and can be compared to the online sale of small children.
Earlier this month the action group called for the campaign to be stopped, with Group head Catherine Lynch describing the website as being part of the “commodification of children”.
In a complaint to the charity she said: “We are aware models are being used and not photographs of the actual children but we do not consider this much different to any other kind of online sale.”
The charity receives tens of thousands of dollars in government funding every time a successful adoption is organised.
However, Barnardos chief executive Deirdre Cheers denies the accusations and do not believe children are commodified through the campaign.
“We are desperate to find families for these children and if an online campaign helps find the right families to care for them then we stand behind this practice 100 per cent,” she said.
5. Suspected Boko-Harem suicide bomber says she is a kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirl
Police are investigating claims that a would-be Boko-Harem suicide bomber could be one of the Nigerian school girls still missing after they were kidnapped by Boko Harem nearly two years ago.
The young girl, who was one of two girls caught with explosives in neighbouring Cameroon near the Nigerian border is claiming to police she is one of the missing schoolgirls.
Around 270 schoolgirls were kidnapped by the extremist group in Chibok in northern Nigeria in April of 2014, sparking a world wide media campaign to #bringbackourgirls.
Although around 50 girls managed to escape, a further 219 remain unaccounted for.
According to The Independent, Yana Galang, who is a part of the Chibok Abducted Girls Movement says if the reports prove true it could be crucial for locating many of the other abducted schoolgirls.
“If it is true, we are very happy about it. If we see her with our eyes, we will know where our girls are,” she said.
6. New study shows Netflix is still at the top of its game while Foxtel falls by the wayside.
Fairfax Media are reporting that a new survey of 2000 subscription TV users is showing that Netflex reigns supreme in a list of five Australian pay-TV services.
According to the study, the US video streaming juggernaught earned five out of five stars for “overall customer satisfaction”, “value for money” and “ease of sign-up”.
Foxtel appears to be the biggest loser out of Netflex’s introduction in Australia, coming a poor joint third, with just three out of five stars for “value for money” and “overall satisfaction”.
According to Fairfax Media, the head of Canstar Blue, Megan Doyle, isn’t surprised by the results.
“It seems that everyone has been talking about Netflix over the last 12 months – if you don’t have the service yourself, you probably know someone who does,” she said.
“There’s definitely a bit of halo effect with Netflix.”
Netflix is estimated to have seduced more than 1 million Australians since its introduction in Australia last year.
7. Melissa Tapper is the first Australian athlete to compete at Olympics and Paralympics.
A 26-year-old table tennis player from Melbourne is the first Australian athlete to compete at both an Olympics and Paralympics, after finishing in the top three of the five-player Olympic qualifier on Friday.
“I can’t believe I’m a part of Australian sporting history,” she said.
“I was ridiculously nervous before my matches today,” she added. “I am so excited and stoked with this result, it has come from a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication and a lot of support.
“Rio is going to be an experience of a lifetime. I want to do the best I can in the Olympics and win gold in the Paralympics.”
Tapper was born with nerve-damage to her right arm and shoulder.
Tapper also won a team bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Top Comments
How can the tourist who was sexually assaulted not suffer any physical injuries?
Not really sure, but sometimes the definition of sexual assault can be somewhat broad. For example, he may have grabbed her breast or groped her in some way - under the law, a sexual assault (quite rightly), and an upsetting thing to go through, but not necessarily something which will cause a physical injury. At least, that's what I'm assuming.
Are you really saying that if someone doesn't have physical injuries they haven't been sexually assaulted?
No not at all. I was genuinely asking and Rush has answered..thanks
At least 72 dead and over 320 injured. Why the difference in covering an event that took more than twice as many lives as the Brussels bombings last week? http://www.nbcnews.com/news...
And where's the Pakistani flags on our Facebook profiles to note this or are the lives of European victims more important than those of non European ls. It would seem so