TRANSCRIPT
- Oxfam says Israeli soldiers have rounded up and shot Palestinians in northern Gaza
- New guidelines to protect people from getting sick after drinking water tap water
- Cuba without electricity after Hurricane Oscar
Oxfam says Israeli soldiers have rounded up Palestinian men and women in northern Gaza and shot them.
The United Nations says it is concerned Israel is causing the destruction of the population in northern Gaza as it intensifies attacks and prevents medical workers from operating.
The Israeli army has released footage showing I-D-F soldiers rounding up dozens of Palestinians in northern Gaza, with the U-N saying they fear the arbitrarily detained are being subjected to torture.
The military siege on northern Gaza has seen Israel cut the region off from communication, food, water and aid with a strike on a residential building killing 87 people.
Oxfam's policy lead in Palestine Bushra Khalidi says it's currently impossible to reach the north.
"I've called my colleagues who are in Gaza City asking them about what's happening in the north. And nobody has communication with the north. The only thing that I was able to hear is about the school in the north, where apparently rounds of men and women were taken and basically killed at point blank. That's what I've heard from my colleague who is currently....We have colleagues in Gaza City still who said that that's what they heard.”
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The chief executive of Qantas has apologised to the near 1,700 former ground handlers who were illegally fired, before pledging to promptly engage in negotiations over their compensation payouts.
The Federal Court has ruled that three of the former Qantas employees should receive a combined $170,000 for the non-economic losses suffered.
In a statement, Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson says the company sincerely apologises and understand the onus is on Qantas to learn from the mistake.
The total sum of compensation is expected to consist of both non-economic and economic losses and the Transport Worker's Union will now engage in mediation with Qantas to determine the full amount.
Former Qantas worker Don Dixon spoke outside the court.
"Yeah, the stress level was off the Richter scale today. Anxiety walking in, very similar to when we went to the high court. You know, who would have thought ordinary people like us could ever have a hope in the world doing anything, you know, in the legal system and in the big corporate world? But, you know, it was certainly had sweaty hands sitting in there waiting for Justice Lee to read out his findings, although we didn't understand a lot of them, but that's why we have a legal team, but incredibly stressful."
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Australia has released new guidelines to protect people from getting sick after drinking water tap water.
The National Health and Medical Research Council's draft rules aim to reduce the allowable levels of some P-F-A-S chemicals in drinking water.
P-F-A Substances were made to be resistant to heat, oil, and water, and include firefighting foam.
The council's chief executive Professor Steve Wesselingh says more research is needed into their impact on human health.
"PFAS are human made, synthetic chemicals and they are produced to be resistant to heat, stains, grease, water, and they are produced to make things like Scotchguard, Teflon, and other things. They unfortunately don't break down easily in the environment and can last for a long, long time."
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Efforts to remedy an island-wide power outage in Cuba have been further delayed as Hurricane Oscar makes landfall along the east coast.
The Cuban government told residents that a majority of the island's power will be restored by Monday evening, but says the arrival of Hurricane Oscar will hamper efforts.
The nationwide blackout is now in it's third day and extends further than just lighting, with water supply in many areas relying on electric pumps.
The power outage was caused by a grid failure in a chain reaction on Friday, due to the unexpected shutdown of the biggest of the island's eight decrepit coal-fired power plants.
The Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, says while recovery is expected by Tuesday, it may take longer to get everything back to normal.
“Our experience is that whenever there is a meteorological event like this, the first impact is always on the electrical systems. Downed power lines, poles, transformers, insulators, which weaken the system even more and make it necessary to shut down the generation units that are online.”
