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READ MORE Ms Plibersek also said she broadly supports standardised tests such as NAPLAN and PISA but backed a review of the NAPLAN tests that a number of state governments, including NSW, are demanding. “I’m not going to pretend for a second that I’m in the camp of people who say get rid of NAPLAN … I think we need data too,” Ms Plibersek said. “[But] I’m very supportive of the NAPLAN review that the states have initiated, I think after 10 years it’s right to ask ourselves, are we testing the right things, are we getting information quick enough, is it suitable for all children?” She also said she supports the continued publication of schools’ NAPLAN performance on the MySchool website. Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sbsnews-topstories/~3/h1zLrJ4Qfww/paraplegic-athlete-drags-himself-through-airport-after-wheelchair-left-behind-on-flight Share this: Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share o...

READ MORE For King Kong , England is up for Best Scenic Design of a Musical, Peter Mumford for Best Lighting Design of a Musical, and Peter Hylenski for Best Sound Design in a Musical. In another Aussie nod, Eddie Perfect – who also penned lyrics for the Broadway musical – earned a nomination for Best Original Score for his work on another Broadway spectacle, Beetlejuice . King Kong has been nominated for three Tonys, along with a special prize for animatronics artist Sonny Tilders. Credit: JOAN MARCUS “It’s a lovely acknowledgement for the industry here and the capabilities of the Australian talent pool, which is vast,” says Pavlovic of the unprecedented Aussie contingent on the nominees list. “It’s a proud moment for those individuals, but also for the Australian industry to see that recognised on a world stage.” For Pavlovic, who returns to New York later this month to begin rehearsals for Moulin Rouge ‘s Broadway run, Wednesday...

READ MORE Armed with a $50 million campaign budget and a preference deal with the Liberals, Clive Palmer’s rebranded party is set to make a big impact this federal election. “The United Australia Party is on track to win government at the next federal election,” the mining magnate declared in full-page newspaper ads earlier this election. While Mr Palmer is prone to exaggeration, the billionaire is on track to win a Senate seat and could influence the result in other seats. The latest Newspoll puts the United Australia Party’s support on 5 per cent nationally, and in crucial marginal seats in Queensland it’s as high as 14 per cent. It’s a staggering resurgence after the original version, Palmer United Party, ended in disarray. Short memory Launched ahead of the 2013 election, PUP had three Senators as well as Mr Palmer himself in the lower house at its peak. But the party was plagued by internal tensions and infighting. Less than two years after the...

READ MORE A Liberal candidate has pulled out of the election race after backlash after it emerged he said the”homosexual lifestyle” carried “appalling health risks”. Liberal candidate for the Victorian seat of Wills, Peter Killin resigned on Wednesday afternoon.  Earlier, he was forced to apologise after it was revealed he made a submission to the Ruddock review into religious freedom in which he wrote about the “dangers” posed by gay people. He has also lamented the fact he was not at the preselection for fellow Liberal Tim Wilson so he could have ensured there was “no homosexual MP”. Mr Killin on Wednesday issued an apology for the comments, but said he won’t stand aside, after a story was published in the Herald Sun. “My comments were wrong and I apologise unreservedly for making them,” he said in a statement. In his Ruddock review submission, he wrote: “The dangers and health risks (of gay people) have b...

READ MORE The trial was particularly wrenching for Minneapolis’s large Somali-American community, which has not always had an easy relationship with the rest of the city. In 2015 Noor became the first Somali-American officer to serve in Minneapolis’s fifth precinct, an achievement lauded by Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges, who said at the time it had been “highly celebrated, particularly by the Somali community”. Four years later, Noor was being placed in handcuffs. While others were breaking down, he looked ahead stoically, displaying no emotion. His lawyers requested post-conviction bail, but it was denied. Just after 5pm, two sheriffs escorted Noor out of the court and into custody – once a celebrated police officer, now a convicted murderer. Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sbsnews-topstories/~3/h1zLrJ4Qfww/paraplegic-athlete-drags-himself-through-airport-after-wheelchair-left-behind-on-flight Share this: Click to share on Twitter (Opens in...

READ MORE Caracas: China is the world’s largest oil importer and Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. For those two reasons alone, the economic relationship between our nations will inevitably grow. In fact, we hope for even more. There are many areas besides oil in which we can mutually benefit from trade and cooperation in the future. For that relationship to blossom, however, Venezuela has to change and abandon a model of governance that’s ruined us economically. The country is suffering a devastating humanitarian crisis.At least 87 per cent of Venezuelans live in poverty, subject to 90 per cent shortages in food and medical supplies. Basic services such as electricity and water have collapsed. The inflation rate exceeded 2.6 million per cent in January 2019 and threatens to reach 10 million per cent by the end of this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The author: Opposition leader Juan Guaido, self-proclaimed interim president of ...

READ MORE Former Charles Manson disciple Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme says that nearly 50 years after the notorious Tate-LaBianca murders, she still loves him and is ‘honored’ to have met him. To this day the late Charles Manson still has a hold over his “family” members. Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme was a teenager with nowhere to go when she met the infamous cult leader , who ordered two horrific murder sprees in Los Angeles during the summer of 1969. During an ABC special on April 30 entitled Manson Girls , the now 70-year-old Fromme said of Manson, “I don’t think you fall out of love. I feel very honored to have met him, and I know how that sounds to people who think he’s the epitome of evil.” We’ve got five things to know about her. 1. Fromme didn’t participate in the infamous Manson murders. She was not along when under Manson’s orders, family members Susan Atkins ,  Patricia Krenwinkel , Linda...

READ MORE Ellen DeGeneres gifted Blake Shelton the same present that supposedly landed Jennifer Lopez a proposal in just one week. She even asked the country singer if he was going to marry Gwen Stefani, point-blank. Ellen DeGeneres , 61, attempted to speed along a proposal between Blake Shelton , 42, and Gwen Stefani , 49, with a surprise present — and no, it wasn’t a Cheetos Christmas tree (her last gift). On the May 1 episode of  The Ellen DeGeneres Show,  the daytime host informed Blake that she’d be gifting him the same pre-engagement present she bestowed upon Jennifer Lopez , 49, in Feb. 2019. “So Jennifer Lopez was here last time and I wanted to help her out because she wanted to marry [ A-Rod ], obviously, like Gwen wants to marry you,” Ellen mused, which earned a hearty laugh from Blake. Ellen had presented JLo a gigantic clock with her and A-Rod’s faces plastered on it, just to remind the retired MLB star that “time is pas...

READ MORE Seibold was quick to point out Dearden wasn’t rewriting history, rattling off Tim Brasher (18), Brad Fittler (17) and Julian O’Neill (18) as other teenagers to excel. There are also plenty of peer examples in the current Broncos set up with David Fifita (19), Payne Haas (20 last week), Patrick Carrigan (21) and Thomas Flegler (19) all playing major roles for the club this year. “I think good young players have always come through but it’s an interesting one here where we’ve got a crew of young guys coming through all at the same time,” Seibold said. “We wouldn’t go down this route if we didn’t think they were capable of doing their jobs.” One big change since January has been Dearden’s weight, which has been boosted from 78 to 85kg after a month-long gym program at the start of the season. Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sbsnews-topstories/~3/h1zLrJ4Qfww/paraplegic-athlete-drags-himself-through-ai...

READ MORE David Saker insists his relationship with Justin Langer was “fine” but the former Australian bowling coach is now keen to return to coaching, expressing interest in taking on the vacant Melbourne Stars head coach role. Saker, the former Victorian and Tasmanian fast bowler, resigned from his post as Australian assistant coach with immediate effect in February, leaving Cricket Australia without a bowling coach months out from the World Cup and Ashes. After undertaking a search, CA ultimately appointed Adam Griffth and Troy Cooley to fill the role for the respective series. Changes: David Saker is no longer Australia’s bowling coach. Credit: PA Formerly the England bowling coach and Victorian and Melbourne Renegades head coach, Saker took on the Australian assistant job in 2016, forming a strong bond with head coach Darren Lehmann. However in the wake of the Cape Town ball tampering catastrophe, Lehmann was replaced by Langer, with Saker’s passion wan...

READ MORE For Melbourne Victory’s vastly experienced captain Carl Valeri, finals are a familiar part of the A-League landscape, a post-season pressure cooker that he delights in being a part of. For his teammate Ola Toivonen, finals, where the champion team is decided through a small-scale knockout cup rather than by the league table, are an oddity and a curiosity. They are the footballing equivalent of Australia’s unique flora and fauna, bountiful Down Under but rarely used in other parts of the planet. ”Yes, it is odd, but I am looking forward to it,” said the tall Swede, one of Victory’s best players during his first season with the club. Melbourne Victory’s Ola Toivonen. Credit: AAP Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sbsnews-topstories/~3/h1zLrJ4Qfww/paraplegic-athlete-drags-himself-through-airport-after-wheelchair-left-behind-on-flight Share this: Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new...

READ MORE “This warrants further research into ‘why women (doctors) are less active / interested in pursuing business skills? “In my interaction with many female doctors, I have observed that they put lesser priority on understanding money matters, dealing with staff issues, managing commercial aspects and other business-related ‘stuff’,” he said. Asked if he stood by the comments, Mr Joshi said he had worked with the medical community for years and advocated strongly in support of equal pay for women in medicine. “Women have been shown to outstrip their male counterparts in every area including clinical care, communication and collaboration, while taking equal or bigger share of family responsibilities at the same time,” he said. Article source: https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/issan-thai-street-food-review-20190411-h1de33.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed Share this: Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) C...

READ MORE Group Captain Jerome Reid, the director of the RAAF’s modernisation project named Plan Jericho, said it wasn’t enough for the force to have “exquisite platforms” such the new Joint Strike Fighter, satellites and large surveillance drones. These needed a “constellation” of sensors such as the thumbnail-sized devices being developed at Sydney University. These would create a combat cloud whose data would be autonomously processed and then delivered to military commanders in what is termed “human-machine augmentation”. This so-called “augmented intelligence will enable us to cognitively overwhelm our competitors” by throwing challenges at them that are devised using the battle cunning and creativity that only the human mind can devise, yet at machine speeds, he said. “We’ll have classic sensors, quantum sensors, electronic warfare sensors, that can be stitched together into a combat cloud,” he said. Art...

READ MORE Another Victorian Liberal candidate is embroiled in an extremism row, publicly endorsing an attack on his party colleague, Goldstein MP Tim Wilson, as a “notorious homosexual”. The party’s candidate for the seat of Wills, Peter Killin, complained to fellow Liberal Christian right activists in December that not enough of them had shown up at a preselection vote for the seat of Goldstein in 2016 to prevent Mr Wilson being selected to represent the Liberal heartland seat. Mr Killin, who is contesting the Labor-held seat of Wills in Melbourne’s inner-north, made his remarks in the comments thread of the blog of Christian-right blogger Bill Muehlenberg. Peter Killin, Liberal candidate for Wills. The candidate’s comments came in response to a post by another commentator, Michael Taouk, who said he was not in the Liberal Party, calling for the “Liberal grassroots” to “remove preselection from that notorious homosexual Tim Wilson”....

READ MORE Baz Luhrmann at the National Gallery of Victoria in January. Credit: Lucas Dawson Creating Memphis and other key locations in Elvis’ life on the Gold Coast will be no obstacle given the celebrated director and his wife, four-time Oscar-winning production designer Catherine Martin, have created period versions of Paris (for Moulin Rouge! ) and New York (for The Great Gatsby ) in Sydney. While no figures were cited in an announcement by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the movie will be backed by both federal and state government filmmaking incentives. With no parallel announcement by the federal government, the biopic appears to have missed out on the cash injections that have attracted other international movies to Australia, including $24 million for what is believed to be Shang-Chi , Marvel’s first Asian superhero movie. Queensland has been the filming location for such Hollywood productions as San Andreas , Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tal...

READ MORE The original Fijian village of Vunidogoloa is abandoned. Houses, now dilapidated, remain overgrown with vegetation. Remnants of an old seawall built to protect the village is a stark reminder of what climate change can do to a community’s home. Vunidogoloa is one of four Fijian communities that have been forced to relocate from the effects of climate change. And more than 80 communities have been earmarked by the Fiji government for potential future relocation. Low lying coastal communities like these are especially vulnerable to threats of sea-level rise, inundation of tides, increased intensity of storm surges and coastal erosion. Extreme, sudden weather events such as cyclones can also force communities to move, particularly in the tropics. But relocating communities involves much more than simply rebuilding houses in a safer location. It involves providing the right conditions for people to rebuild the lives they knew, such as equitable access to resources and servic...

READ MORE Japan’s new Emperor Naruhito formally ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday, a day after his father’s historic abdication, and vowed to stand with the people as the country begins a new imperial era. In a brief address, his first to the nation since inheriting the throne, Naruhito vowed to “act according to the Constitution” while “always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them”. Naruhito officially became emperor at the stroke of midnight but the process was formalised in the ritual on Wednesday morning, which was off-limits to female royals – even his wife Masako. The emperor entered the Imperial Palace’s Pine Room in formal Western clothing and a heavy gold chain of office, accompanied by male family members including his brother Akishino. The 59-year-old was presented with the items his father Akihito relinquished a day earlier: sacred imperial treasures of a sword and a jewel, as well as the seal ...

READ MORE There were clashes on the streets of the Venezuelan capital, spurred by opposition leader Juan Guaido’s call on the military to rise up against President Nicolas Maduro, who said he had defeated an attempted coup. A carefully planned attempt by Mr Guaido to demonstrate growing military support disintegrated into rioting as palls of black smoke rose over eastern Caracas. Mr Maduro declared victory over the uprising, congratulating the armed forces for having “defeated this small group that intended to spread violence through putschist skirmishes.” “This will not go unpunished,” Maduro said in an address broadcast on television and the radio. “Prosecutors will launch criminal prosecutions for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace.” The opposition leader rallied his supporters with an early morning video message that showed him, for the first time, with armed troops h...