☕️ Israel announces aid measures

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“I've been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer. Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days...”
Actor Gwyneth Paltrow featured in an ad for U.S. technology company Astronomer. Astronomer’s CEO and HR chief both resigned last week after being captured together on a ‘kiss cam’ at a Coldplay concert. Paltrow, who is the ex-wife of Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, said in the video that the company was “thrilled that so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation”.

2.65 million
The number of votes tallied in Triple J’s Hottest 100 Australian Songs. The number one voted track was ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ by INXS, which was followed by ‘The Nosebleed Section’ by Hiltop Hoods and ‘Untouched’ by the Veronicas.

2022
The final episodes of "Neighbours" aired in Australia after running for 37 years.

NSW Independent MP Gareth Ward has been found guilty of sexually abusing two men.

A jury has found Ward guilty on three counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

The NSW District Court judge will hand down a sentence for Ward at a later date. Some of the charges against him carry a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

Ward pleaded not guilty to all charges levelled against him and will have the option to appeal the verdict.

Ward was a former NSW Liberal Minister, first elected to State Parliament in 2011.

He left the party when historic sexual abuse allegations first surfaced against him four years ago, relating to two men aged 18 and 24 at the time of the indecent acts.

Police later charged him, and he’s now been found guilty.

Ward was re-elected in his Kiama electorate at the 2023 state election. An MP’s seat is declared vacant if they’re jailed for more than five years.

NSW state Liberal leader Mark Speakman released a statement in response to Ward’s guilty verdict.

“What any victim of sexual abuse endures is appalling and their strength in coming forward can’t be overstated,” Speakman said.

“There is no excuse for the criminal behaviour... a complete abuse of power which has no place anywhere, let alone by those entrusted by the public to represent them.”

Call: 1800 737 732

Text: 0458 737 732

Video: 1800RESPECT.org.au

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

Israel has announced a “tactical pause in military activity” in parts of Gaza, and the creation of what it said were the establishment of “designated secure routes” for UN aid convoys.

It follows mounting international criticism, including a statement from Australian PM Anthony Albanese, on Israel’s restrictions on aid entering Gaza.

Last week, the UN said more than 100 Palestinians had died of starvation and malnutrition since October 2023, including 80 children. The World Health Organisation has accused the Israeli Government of causing “man-made... mass starvation”.

Last week, Israel and the U.S. withdrew from ceasefire talks after U.S. negotiators accused Hamas of not “acting in good faith”. Hamas denied the accusation.

In March, Israel blocked the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other aid supplies to Gaza. It said this was to pressure Hamas to release the estimated 50 hostages still held in Gaza. In May, Israel partially lifted the blockade in response to international pressure.

Since then, the Associated Press reports an average of 69 trucks per day have entered the strip, below the 500 to 600 the UN says is required for Gaza’s population.

Israel has consistently accused the UN of allowing Hamas to steal its aid, and of deliberately failing to distribute aid.

The UN has denied these claims, and said Israel was not providing safe routes for convoys to travel through Gaza.

Over the weekend, The New York Times reported several unnamed senior Israeli military officials said there was no proof that Hamas routinely stole UN aid, but did steal from smaller aid organisations. The IDF did not publicly respond to these reports.

Last week, the UN reported the IDF has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to access food since October 2023, the majority of whom were killed near aid distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a U.S.-Israel-backed organisation.

The IDF and GHF disputed the figures, stating that they were investigating.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, 10 Palestinians starved to death in one night last week. The WHO also said last week that 21 children under the age of five had died of malnutrition so far this year.

In a statement released yesterday, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) announced it would pause military operations in three areas of Gaza from 10am to 8pm each day.

It said it would introduce “designated secure routes” for aid trucks “to enable the safe movement of U.N. convoys delivering food and medicine to the population”.

Additionally, the IDF stated that it would permit aid drops by plane.

The UN’s key agency in Gaza, UNRWA, said “driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper, and safer [than air drops]... It's more dignified for the people of Gaza."

Gaza Health Ministry director Dr Muneer al-Boursh said the measures did not meet the requirements of Gaza’s people, saying: “Every delay is measured by another funeral”.

Last week, Israel and the U.S. announced their withdrawal from official ceasefire talks.

Israel says it wants Hamas to relinquish control in Gaza, and give up its arms. It is demanding the exchange of remaining hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October 2023.

Hamas says it is seeking a permanent ceasefire, and for Israel to withdraw its troops from Gaza entirely, in exchange for the hostages being released.

Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump said he believed Hamas “didn’t want” a ceasefire deal in Gaza, while Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would explore “alternative options” to retrieve the remaining hostages.

Last week, a group of 100 humanitarian agencies issued a joint statement warning the level of aid was now not only placing Gaza’s entire population at risk of acute malnutrition, but that their own employees and aid partners were at risk of malnutrition themselves.

Media organisations also raised concerns about the health of their staff in Gaza last week. The BBC, Reuters, the Associated Press, and Agence France-Presse said they were “deeply alarmed” about “the threat of starvation” to their reporters. Independent groups Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists say Israel has killed nearly 200 journalists since October 2023.

The leaders of the UK, Germany, and France met on Friday to discuss the crisis, issuing a statement urging Israel to lift aid restrictions and describing it as a “humanitarian catastrophe”.

Appearing on the ABC yesterday, PM Anthony Albanese said the Israeli Government was “losing support” internationally, saying “you can’t hold innocent people responsible” for the actions of Hamas, which Australia classifies as a terrorist organisation.

Albanese accused Israel of “clearly” breaching international law in stopping the flow of aid.

The PM said Australia was not ready to recognise a Palestinian state, a move made by France last week. France will be the first in the powerful G7 bloc and the UN Security Council to do so when it formally recognises a Palestinian state in front of the UN General Assembly in September.

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It’s the third country to be certified in South East Asia and joins a list of fewer than 50 malaria-free territories worldwide. To receive WHO certification, a country must be able to prove it has not recorded a locally acquired malaria case in at least three consecutive years. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus congratulated Timor-Leste on the “significant milestone”. The UN agency called it a “remarkable achievement for a country that… embarked on a concerted, nation-wide response shortly after gaining independence in 2002.” It comes after the small South American country of Suriname became certified earlier this month.

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Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

Atlanta-based rapper GloRilla’s house was robbed last week, and cops have made an arrest.

Not who you might expect, however.

WSB-TV Atlanta reports that while investigating the scene, police said they smelled drugs and found a “significant amount of marijuana in the house.”

GloRilla was then charged with possession of drugs. She turned herself in and was released on bail. People magazine reports the burglary investigation is ongoing.

On X, the rapper said: “Long story short my house gets home invaded and Im the only one that gets arrested. So that’s tea 🤷”

Reporting by Anju Dhanushkodi.

On Friday, a Canadian judge found five professional ice hockey players not guilty of sexual assault charges.

The five players were part of Canada's 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship team and were accused of assaulting a woman in a hotel room while celebrating their victory.

The multi-year case exposed serious issues within Hockey Canada, the sport's governing body, and has attracted intense international attention around the definition of consent.

Today, we'll break down what happened, how we got here, and what this verdict means.