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1. The Australian Christian Lobby backs Folau. The Australian Christian Lobby has set up a new fundraising page for Israel Folau after his original GoFundMe page was shut down. It has already raised more than $1.6 million.
2. Trump issues more sanctions on Iran. US President Donald Trump announced he is issuing new “hard hitting” sanctions on Iran. It comes after Trump halted a military strike against the country when it shot down a US Navy drone.
3. ABC and News Corp are taking legal action against the Australian Federal Police to nullify the warrants used to raid the public broadcaster and the home of journalist Annika Smethurst.
4. A senior Huawei executive has slammed the Australian government’s management of the National Broadband Network, describing the project as a “catastrophe”. David Soldani, Huawei Technologies Australia’s chief technology officer, said, “The NBN project has failed and Australia needs to stop expecting NBN Co to deliver high-speed broadband to all Australians – it is just not going to happen.”
5. SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket last night but it exploded. The launch was described as the company’s ‘most difficult launch ever’ after a core part of the rocket narrowly missed a landing pad, crashed into the sea, and exploded. The launch was an audition of sorts to get SpaceX a potentially multibillion dollar government contract for future launches.
6. Podcasts are a big win for Spotify. Spotify’s integration of podcasts into its steaming services could boost its advertising revenue, according to research by Guggenheim Partners. The researchers found that advertising revenue increased 54% last year to $US479 million, and could grow to as much as $US1 billion by 2021.
7. After a landmark court case, Facebook comments made by members of the public could lead to Australian media companies being sued for defamation. The case was between former youth centre detainee Dylan Voller who sued Nine Entertainment and News Corp Australia over a series of potentially defamatory Facebook comments posted by the public.
8. Boeing’s employee car park in Seattle is crowded with undelivered 737 Max jets. It comes after two fatal crashes involving the company’s 737 planes which, combined, killed 346 people.
9. Instagram still hasn’t removed a fake video of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said taking the video down now would be a “hollow victory” and that the “damage is done”.
10. We tested Beats’ US$200 Solo3 Wireless headphones. Find out what was great and not so great about them.
BONUS ITEM
Three US astronauts have returned to earth after spending 204 days in space. Watch the landing here:
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