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The Recap

Join the upstart editorial team as they Recap the big news stories of the week.

If you weren’t paying attention this week, we’ve got you sorted.

 

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Malcolm Turnbull becomes Australia’s 29th prime minister

This week we saw Malcolm Turnbull successfully challenge Tony Abbott’s leadership, 54 votes to 44. During his first day as PM, Turnbull confirmed the government would stick to its current climate change policies and that there’d be no changes to the ‘people’s vote’ held about marriage equality after the election. An ABC survey of 25,000 participants revealed that readers were ‘relieved’ that Turnbull had become prime minister, followed by ‘hopeful’ and ‘good’. The survey also showed that the public would be more likely to vote Liberal with Turnbull as leader.

Queensland government addresses domestic violence crisis

Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, is looking to improve responses to domestic violence. The announcement comes following the deaths of two women and a six-year old girl last week, as a result of domestic violence. The government will accelerate 140 recommendations in a report submitted earlier this year. Palaszczuk announced an extra $1.2 million in funding for domestic violence helpline, DV Connect. Since the brutal deaths last week, DV Connect said there has been an increase in victims seeking help, doubling to 400 calls a day.

Where will Syrian refugees be resettled?

Talks about where to resettle the extra 12,000 refugees arriving from Syria were held this week. It is expected that roughly 7,000 will be housed in Sydney, and the majority of the remaining in Melbourne, where there are large Syrian communities. Liberal backbencher, Michelle Landry, has called for resettlement to take place in regional communities. She believes it would help to fill agricultural jobs and increase the population of rural towns.

 

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Endangered rhinos to be sent to Australia

A project that’s supported by a world-renowned conservationist could save rhinos on the brink of extinction. It aims to relocate black and white rhinos, who are on the verge of potential extinction in Africa, to rural Australia by 2016. Dr. Peter Morkel told The Today Show that the demand for rhino horns had grown, which has seen a spike in poaching. He said Australia is an ideal location for the conservation and breeding project, with the rhinos to be placed in large areas and some at zoos and safari parks. “I think it’s the perfect country – it’s huge, plenty of good habitat… there’s money here,” he said.

Anti-depressant pill linked to suicide

A new study claims an anti-depressant, that was originally found safe for teenagers, could be doing more harm than good. Aropax was declared safe for use in adolescents in 2001, but the new research shows that it’s linked to suicidal and self-harming behaviour. It found that 11 out of almost 100 patients taking the drug engaged in such acts.

Study claims sadness changes perception of colour

New research shows that our gut instinct plays a vital role in our emotions. Researchers from the University of Rochester found that intuitive metaphors, such as feeling “blue” when we’re down, changes our perception of colour. In the study, researchers conducted two experiments. In the first, 127 participants watched either a very sad or very funny video to set the mood, and were then shown 48 consecutive, desaturated colour patches and asked to name whether it was red, yellow, green or blue. Those who watched the sad video were not as accurate in identifying the colours, but only colours on the blue-yellow axis. In the second experiment, 130 participants watched a sad clip. Again, those who watched were less able to identify colours.

 

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Hayne train

Jarryd Hayne’s debut as a San Francisco 49er got off to a shaky start, with his first fumbled possession resulting in a turnover. However, Hayne went on to help contribute to a 20-3 win over the Vikings. Hayne’s debut drew a bigger TV audience in Australia than the Superbowl.

Week one AFL finals recap

Richmond’s attempt to secure its first finals win in 15 years was unsuccessful as they bowed out in the first round of finals for a third consecutive year. Although Richmond dominated the third quarter, North Melbourne finished too strong and earned themselves a 17-point victory in front of crowd of more than 85,000 at the MCG. Even with the exclusion of their Brownlow medalist Matt Priddis, West Coast dominated in a 32-point win against Hawthorn, and now firm as serious flag contenders. Sydney Swans had some big name exclusions, including Lance Franklin and Kieren Jack, but still managed to get within nine-points of Fremantle. Adelaide provided a thrilling seven-point victory over the Bulldogs, making it through to the second week of finals.

The Eagles take on the Crows this Friday night at the MCG, and Sydney will face the Kangaroos on Saturday night. Listen to upstart’s preview here.

Another major for Djokovic

Novac Djokovic held off a gallant Roger Federer to win the U.S. Open men’s final in four sets. Federer’s last major win came at Wimbledon in 2012, but he insists he will be back again. “I love tennis. I’ll see you back here next year,” the 34-year-old said. It was an all-Italian women’s finale, with Flavia Pennetta winning the title in two sets. The match was the first U.S. Open final to feature two players ranked outside the top 20, since ratings were introduced.

 

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Facebook dislikes this

Facebook have announced that they will be adding a ‘dislike’ button to their social media site. “Probably hundreds of people have asked about this, and today is a special day because today is the day that I actually get to say we are working on it, and are very close to shipping a test of it,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. Some have argued that the button could be used as a tool for cyberbullying. Zuckerberg, however, argues that the button will be used to express empathy for times when “liking” a post is inappropriate, such as the death of a loved one.

ABC managing director steps down

ABC managing director, Mark Scott, announced that he will step down from his position next year at the end of his current term. Scott, who first took the job in 2006, revealed his decision in an email to his co-workers, encouraging them all to apply for the position. Scott also made news this week when he suggested that large online companies, such as Netlfix, Google and Apple, should have to contribute to the funding of Australian content.

Who swears the most on Twitter?

A study from the University of London confirms that left-leaning Twitter users swear significantly more on the site than their right-wing counterparts. After a list of the most commonly used English words were removed, two of the ten most used words by followers of the U.S. Democratic Party’s Twitter account were ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’. “What we think is going on is that the liberal side are expressing themselves with more emotion,” lead researcher, Matthew Purver said. Conservatives were more likely to talk about religion: ‘God’ and ‘psalm’, politics: ‘Obama’, ‘tax’ and ‘lie’, and patriotism: ‘America’ and ‘border’.

 

Audio produced by: Jack Howard.

Feature image: Jake Stevens.

Joely Mitchell, Tam Kendi, Ewa Staszewska, Tijan Biner, Johanna Brasier and Ethan Miller are the editors of upstart this semester. They are all third-year Bachelor of Journalism students at La Trobe University. You can follow them on Twitter here: @joelymitchell@tamkendi@EwaStaszewska@tijanb, @JohannaBrasier and@ethanmiller1994.

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