Calls for nationwide pill testing after suspected MDMA overdoses at Melbourne music festival

Of nine people transported by ambulance from the Hardmission festival held at Flemington racecourse on Saturday, eight were placed in medically induced comas. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP

Calls for nationwide pill testing after suspected MDMA overdoses at Melbourne music festival

Eight people were in induced comas after the Hardmission event at Flemington on Satuday

The suspected MDMA overdoses at a Melbourne music festival that left eight young people in medically induced comas over the weekend has sparked renewed calls for nationwide pill-testing programs.

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January 8, 2024

‘Chaos’ in New Zealand as sea lion breeding season overlaps with summer holidays

A sea lion in the driveway of a home in Dunedin, New Zealand. Photograph: Giverny Forbes/Department of Conservation

Animals have been popping up on golf courses and surfing contests in Dunedin as they reestablish a foothold on the South Island

Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington

A growing population of sea lions in the New Zealand city of Dunedin is provoking “overlapping chaos” as their breeding season coincides with residents enjoying peak summer weather.… Read the rest

January 7, 2024

Polling stations torched in Bangladesh day before election

By Nadia Ragozhina

BBC News

At least 14 polling stations in Bangladesh have been set on fire, including one on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka.

The wave of attacks came a day before voting began in the country’s election.

On Friday, a busy commuter train was allegedly set on fire, killing four passengers.

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January 5, 2024

UPDATED: Everyone is hungry in Gaza, warn UN humanitarians

© UNICEF/Abed Zagout An eight-year-old child waits her turn to receive food in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

UN humanitarians repeated dire concerns for civilians caught up in the war in Gaza on Tuesday, amid reports of continued Israeli bombardment of the southern towns of Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah, direct clashes on the ground and the firing of rockets overnight by Palestinian armed groups into Israel.

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January 5, 2024

Gaza war: ‘Intense ground battles’ reported, hospital hit kills five

© UNICEF/Abed Zagout People clamour for food in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip

Continuing airstrikes were reported across Gaza on Wednesday and “intense ground battles” between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters in refugee camps in central areas that have reportedly left many dead.

Airstrikes and missiles struck dwellings and public buildings on Tuesday including Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis killing five, among them a five-day-old baby, reports indicate.

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Tag: international