TRANSCRIPT
- A rabbi says today marks an important moment in the national grieving after the Bondi terror attack
- Concern over proposed laws targeting protesters following the Bondi shooting
- In boxing, a former heavyweight champion defeats a social media star-turned-fighter
Australians are taking part in a national day of reflection, one week on from the Bondi terror attack that killed 15 people.
Flags will fly at half-mast, and people are being asked to light a candle in their windows to honour the victims and show their support for the Jewish community.
A minute's silence will be held at 6.47pm AEDT marking the moment when first sounds of gunfire rang out.
Rabbi George Mordecai from the Emanuel Synagogue in Woollahra says this weekend is an important time for the community to come together and grieve, including through rituals like a listening circle.
"The way that we sort of organise ourselves in these listening circle spaces is that the person speaking will hold a ritual object. And while they're holding that object, it's their time, it's their space. And we, everybody else in the circle have to engage or we engage in active listening. We're not allowed to interrupt that person while that person is speaking and expressing their grief. And we are bearing witness to their grief and listening even across difference, even when it's difficult for us to hear maybe."
Arrangements are underway to establish a permanent memorial at Bondi Beach and organise a national day of mourning in the new year.
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The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties says the rush to enact laws targeting protesters, following the Bondi attack could have harmful effects.
Premier Chris Minns has announced the state government is planning to draft news laws on hate speech after the Bondi attack.
The proposed laws would ban the chant "globalise the intifada" as well as give police greater powers to demand protesters remove face coverings.
Anyone who publicly displays the ISIS flag or symbols from other terrorist groups will also face up to two years in prison, and steep fines.
The President of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties , Timothy Roberts, says he has concerns about the proposal.
"He seems to think that he can get his way to social cohesion by regulating it through laws and using police powers of arrest. That's not how it happens, we get cohesion through talking about issues, hearing from more members of our society and coming together in sometimes quite powerful and moving displays like what we saw on the Sydney Harbour Bridge where we get to declare what our positions our. That's how we get social cohesion."
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Victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have expressed anger, after long-awaited records from cases against him were released with many censored pages and photos.
Blackouts across many of the documents, combined with tight control over the release by Trump administration officials, has added to scepticism over whether the disclosures would silence conspiracies of a high-level cover-up.
Jess Michaels says she spent hours searching through the documents to find her victim's statement and communication from when she had called an FBI tip line - but she could not find it.
The collection of material released by the U-S Justice Department includes photographs of former president Bill Clinton and other high-profile people, including Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson.
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A paraplegic engineer from Germany has become the first wheelchair user to travel in space.
An engineer with the European Space Agency, Michaela Benthaus, sustained a spinal cord injury after a mountain biking accident in 2018 and has since become an advocate for accessible space travel.
She blasted off into space aboard a Blue Origin New Shephard rocket - experiencing a few minutes of microgravity before returning to Earth via parachute-assisted landing in the West Texas desert.
She says it is an experience she will never forget.
"I think you should never give up on your dreams, right? I mean, there's also sometimes just a low probability that it comes true. And I just got very lucky, and I'm very grateful that Blue and Hans and everyone said yes to this journey."
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In boxing, former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has defeated American Jake Paul.
A knockout in the sixth-round left the social-media-star-turned prize-fighter nursing a broken jaw.
Paul, who stepped up from cruiserweight for the bout, and has brought a new audience to boxing through his fights and promotion company, Most Valuable Promotions.
But he proved to be no match for Joshua's size, strength and experience.
The match was broadcast live to Netflix's approximately 300 million subscribers.
