7 pieces of news you can use this Monday

Well hey there!

So, it was kind of a big news weekend in that the Government finally announced the intricacies of the new carbon tax. Not to mention NASA’s final space shuttle launch. Those things are always beautiful to look at. And to think we only invented flight at the beginning of the 1900s!

A quick congratulations to the Diamonds, Australia’s netball champions who beat New Zealand in a nervous extra time world championship last night.

Anyhow, you were probably out sunning yourselves or having fun so here’s a recap of the news you may have missed:

1. The carbon tax details were announced…

If you missed the basics, catch up on our cheat sheet on the main page. Or on the link above!

2. NASA launches final space shuttle.

Sad. The last manned space shuttle by NASA was launched over the weekend delivering 3.5 tonnes of food to the International Space Station. Atlantis is the final shuttle in a 30-year program of manned space flight and will be retired to the Kennedy Space Centre and put on show. From now until America’s private space industry takes off, NASA will send astronauts into space using Russian rockets.

3. Health professionals in WA say 18-year-olds are too immature to drink

The Clinical Senate of Western Australia has recommended the legal drinking age be raised to at least 20 years old because 18-year-olds just can’t handle the responsibility. The Senate contains 75 elite health professionals and made the recommendation to the state’s health minister. They said the driving age and drinking age were too close together. So, what do you think? Old enough to go to war, old enough to drink? Or is that way of thinking out the door?

4. Mel Gibson has a secret gay brother … who says he’s not a bad bloke.

Mel Gibson’s gay brother Andrew has spoken of his troubled brother and explained he was supportive of him when he came our decades ago and that he had ‘never heard him say anything anti Gay’. Cool. Glad we cleared that up. Oh, except for everything Gibson has said on the public record.

5. The running of the bulls is over for another year.

Just out of curiosity, why are we still doing this? The Darwin awards certainly get a work out here. Anyone else always barracking for the bulls here?

6. We have a new country … South Sudan!

South Sudan gained Independence from Sudan at the weekend and has already attracted plenty of congratulations. There has been much celebrating in Australia’s Sudanese community, many of whom voted in the referendum to separate. Australia has offered $16 million in foreign aide to the new country and will shortly be setting up diplomatic relations. How lovely.

7. Mother gives birth to 16lb baby boy in Texas

Yup, everything’s big in the great American state of Texas, including the babies. Who are giant. Mum Janet Johnson gave birth to her bub JaMichael Brown who weighed 16lb, or about 8 kilograms. It was by caesarian (luckily?) and the bub has now been nicknamed The Moose. Check out the vid: