We’ve rounded up all the latest news from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. Young woman who died at Stereosonic was a pharmacist from Sydney.
The young woman who died at the Stereosonic music festival at Sydney Olympic Park is believed to have taken an ecstasy tablet and mixed it with MDMA.
25-year old Sylvia Choi of Oyster Bay, a qualified pharmacist, died on Saturday night after being rushed to hospital.
Another woman, a 22-year old who was also admitted to hospital and placed in an induced coma has now been discharged.
Assistant Commissioner Frank Mennilli offered his condolences to the family of Ms Choi.
“A young woman has lost her life as we believe as a direct result of a drug overdose. We won’t know the full extent of the situation until an autopsy is conducted,” he said.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to pass on my condolences to the family and loved ones of the young person who passed away. It must be an extremely difficult time for them.
“It is extremely frustrating. We have been working hand-in-hand with the organisers, the venues, we put out numerous messages to try to warn people about the effects of drugs but unfortunately the messages sent do not get through to some people.”
2. Doctors push for drug testing at festivals.
Meanwhile a group of doctors are pushing for drug testing to be allowed at Victorian music festivals so party goers could test the make-up of drugs they’re planning to take.
Canberra-based emergency physician David Caldicott who heads the push told Fairfax Media he had conveyed the idea to police and is calling on the Andrews government to back his plan.
Dr Caldicott said drug checking saved lives and could deter festival goers from taking the dangerous substances.
“This is so mainstream in Europe now. There’s actually a guideline about how to best do it.”
Those planning on taking the drugs can submit scrapings or samples of their drugs to onsite laboratories and then they are issued information about the substance.
If the tests find a harmful substance it is displayed on a screen as a public health announcement without naming who owned the drugs.
“At no stage within this system is there any suggestion that we are encouraging drug use. Nobody ever gets told ‘this is great and you should use it’.”
Rainbow Serpent Festival director Tim Harvey said they would support the idea.
“We need some progressive and brave politicians who recognise the current approach isn’t working and can communicate the benefits of changing strategies to the mainstream Australian population,” he said.
3. Paris welcomes leaders to UN Climate Conference 2015.
140 world leaders are arriving in Paris to take part in two weeks of talks that aim to reach the first truly global deal to cut greenhouse gases.
In a promising sign of 195 countries attending, 177 have made pledges to either cut emissions or slow emissions growth.
World Leaders including US President Barack Obama, China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin will all attend the conference.
French President Francois Hollande says he hopes a deal can be achieved, but that it will not be easy.
“Man is the worst enemy of man,” he said. “We can see it with terrorism. But we can say the same when it comes to climate. Human beings are destroying nature, damaging the environment.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who was flying in from Malta, where he lobbied Commonwealth leaders to send a strong signal of the importance of a deal in Paris said, “What we want from Paris … is a strong and durable agreement that commits all countries to effective, credible action on climate change.”
As delegates to the talks started to arrive, climate marches were held in cities across the globe with tens of thousands marched in central Sydney on Sunday.
In Sydney, many people carried placards reading “There is no Planet B” and “Solidarity on a global scale”.
Mayor Clover Moore tweeted to say that, according to organisers, the true number of demonstrators was “at least 45,000”, which would make it the biggest ever such march in Sydney.
4. Paris protests see 100 arrested.
About 100 people have been arrested after a climate change protest in Paris turned violent.
Paris police chief Michel Cadot said officers identified around 200 or 300 who had violated a ban on all protests.
It comes after a state of emergency in France was declared following the Paris terror attacks which killed 130 people.
Earlier a thousands pairs of shoes were been placed in Paris’s Place de la Republique in protest after a separate climate change march was cancelled in the wake of the terror attacks.
The installation, made up of shoes donated by Parisians, was organised by activist group Avaaz to reflect the steps marchers have been prevented from taking after police cancelled the march. One pair of shoes was said to belong to Pope Francis
5. Anti-vaxxers setting up vaccine free underground childcare centres.
The Courier Mail reports that Facebook groups are advertising unregulated black-market childcare for un-vaccinated kids.
One woman posted that she was willing to care for other’s children next year and would accept cash as payment “equivalent to whatever childcare fees are now with the rebate” reports The Courier Mail.
A Brisbane family daycare provider advertised they were “transitioning to a vaccine-free environment”.
Health Minister Sussan Ley told The Courier Mail said the idea of vaccine free child care facilities was frightening.
The Australian Medical Association Queensland president Dr Chris Zappala said he was “appalled and surprised” by the development. He said the Facebook posts were “ill informed and almost hysterical”.
6. Families of missing surfers travel to Mexico.
The families of two Western Australian men missing for more than a week in Mexico are travelling to the country to try and get some answers.
The men, Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman were travelling in a van towards Guadalajara, but failed to arrive at their destination by November 21.
A statement by their families released yesterday said they are aware a “tragic event” has occurred, but still do not know exactly what has happened.
The Daily Mail reports that Mexican news outlets say there has been the discovery of a burnt caravan containing two bodies.
Josie Cox, the partner of Dean Lucas posted on Facebook that she was on her way to get some answers.
For more read this post here.
7. Re-vamped childcare policy to go before Parliament this week.
Some families could be $4000 better off under the $3 billion Jobs For Families package that will be introduced into Parliament this week.
Foreshadowed over the weekend the planned changes to childcare include reforms that will leave families with a combined income of under $170,000 a year around $30 a week better off from July 2017.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said “This is an incredibly fair measure ensuring that those on the lowest incomes, get the most subsidy, those working the most hours get greatest number of hours,” Mr Birmingham said.
Couples earning a combined $250,000 a year and above, will no longer get the 50 percent rebate.
8. Newborn baby found buried under asphalt.
A newborn baby girl – believed to be less than two days old – has been found buried alive under asphalt by a river in California.
CNN reports that police were alerted to the baby after passers-by heard muffled cries.
The newborn was found cold to touch and was immediately rushed to hospital – where she is currently in a stable condition.
The baby had been wrapped in a blanket before being hidden in a hole in the ground under asphalt.
Paramedics treated her at the scene before transporting her to the hospital.
Police say the baby girl was born within the last 36 to 48 hours. She’s lucky to be alive.
“We do know that if the child had spent the night there in those conditions the baby wouldn’t have survived,” Police said.
If the parents are found, they will face attempted murder and child endangerment charges.
Los Angeles County has a so-called “Baby Safe Surrender Program” that provides parents the option to hand their baby over at any LA county hospital or fire station, no questions asked.
“I don’t know how someone would just dump the baby and throw them in that hole and forget about it,” resident Angel Flores told KABC.
9. Teacher at elite school says that girls were happier when they were simply expected to marry rather than go to university.
A teachers at an elite school in the UK has written an opinion piece for a magazine complaining about how “today’s girls aren’t going on nature walks or learning poetry off by heart – they’re cramming their heads full of facts”.
Blanche Girouard, who teaches religious education at the £20,000 a year St Paul’s Girls’ School suggested girls were “happier” when they were “simply expected to marry rather than go to university.”
“And yet there are aspects of that era that are enviable” she wrote although “it seems heinous that parents had such limited ambition for their bright daughters.”
She said girls were “cramming their heads full of facts”.
“It’s time we backed off and gave today’s girls the time and space to work out what they actually want.
“Happiness and success don’t turn on A*s and a place at Oxford.”
Parents at the school have strongly criticised the teacher’s comments.
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