TRANSCRIPT
- Cheers for Australia's Olympians as they return home from Paris..
- About one-in-three Australian students are failing to meet basic literacy and numeracy standards
- Kyle Flanagan found guilty of biting Stephen Crichton and will serve a four game suspension.
The Australian Olympic team has received a warm welcome from Prime minister Anthony Albanese as they arrived at the Sydney airport this morning from Paris .
The team secured Australia's 4th place finish after claiming a record 18 gold medals, 19 silvers and 16 bronze in Paris - the team's most successful Olympics yet.
Mr Albanese commended the team.
"Every single one of these athletes has done us proud, and as the athletes went down the stairs there, not everyone had a medal around their neck, but every single one of them was worth their weight in gold. every single one of them has done, our country proud. "
About one-in-three Australian students are failing to meet basic literacy and numeracy standards, as entrenched disadvantage widens educational disparities.
Almost 1.3 million students across more than 9400 Australians schools and campuses took the national assessment program for those in years three, five, seven and nine.
Female students outperformed male counterparts in writing, with 73 per cent testing at "strong" or "exceeding" levels compared to 58 per cent of boys in year seven, while male students performed better in numeracy than female students.
The results also showed a higher proportion of Indigenous students needed additional support.
Education Minister Jason Clare says the results demonstarte that more needs to be done for the Australian education system.
"The better and fair schools agreement that I've released, signed by the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory Government sets out the sort of reforms that I want to tie extra funding to things like, phonics checks and numeracy checks, when kids a little in year one, things like evidence based teaching, things like investing in catch up tutoring, that means providing extra support for kids who are falling behind by getting them out of the classroom and into a room where there might be one teacher and a couple of kids. The evidence shows that when you do that right, kids who fall behind can learn as much in six months as they otherwise learn in 12 months."
Monkey pox is spreading at an alarming rate in Africa leading to the declaration of a public health emergency in the continent.
Mpox is an infectious disease transmitted through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.
Most cases are mild, but it can kill.
Director-General of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Africa Jean Kaseya, says although cases are spreading rapidly across the continent, it could affect ther parts of the world.
"This is not just an African issue. Mpox is a global threat, a menace that knows no boundaries, no race, no creed. It is a virus that exploits our vulnerabilities, playing off our weakest points. And it is in this moment of vulnerability that we must find our greatest strength and demonstrate that we're all learning from the COVID lesson and applying solidarity."
A man who rescued three kids and a driver from a sinking school bus is among 46 others who have been recognised with Australian Bravery Decorations.
Joshua Humphries was taking his daughter to school when he saw a partially submerged bus on a flooded causeway near the Northern Territory town of Batchelor in March 2023.
The vehicle was already more than a metre deep when he arrived at the isolated area.
He recalls seeing the children on the bus hanging out the window while waving their arms and yelling for help.
The dad drove his ute into the water, yelling for the kids to climb out of the front window of the bus, and eventually saving the driver too.
Governor-General Sam Mostyn awarded him a commendation for brave conduct, among the dozens of Australian Bravery Decorations recognising the efforts of people involved in life-threatening situations.
Bluesfest, one of Australia's longest running and famous festival is set to end in 2025 after running for 35 years.
Organisers of the Byron Bay area event, which has been held since 1990, says the April 17 to 20 edition will be the last one.
It comes after the shock cancellation of the Splendour in the Grass festival, which was due to be held in July, while other events such as the Falls Festival and Groovin the Moo have also been scrapped.
Bluesfest director Peter Noble declared at the March 2024 edition that the 2025 event would go ahead despite the festival scene's murky future, but announced today that its time was up.
In sport,
Kyle Flanagan has been found guilty of biting Stephen Crichton and will serve a four game suspension.
The decision was reached following a lengthy hearing at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night leaving St George Illawarra to attempt to make the finals without their five-eighth.
Mr Flanagan pleaded not guilty to the act, but failed to prove he didn't intentionally bite Crichton.
He maintains he did not bite Stephen Crichton despite the ban.
"Disappointed with the result, my focus turns now to the Dragons and how I can help them over the next four weeks. No doubt, I didn’t bite Stephen Crichton but I thank them for a fair hearing, and my focus is on the Dragons for the next four weeks.”
