Weekly News Roundup

Cameron Smith Announces Retirement

Cameron Smith has called an end to his representative career with Queensland and Australia just three weeks out from the beginning of the State of Origin series.

The 34-year-old officially announced his representative retirement at a media conference in Melbourne on Tuesday.

Smith said it was the right time to exit the representative arena.

“It’s been a fairly lengthy process for me to come to this decision,” he said.

“I probably started having small thoughts about finishing up my representative career last year.”

Peter Dutton Unveils Laws Allowing Police At Airports To Check ID

New airport security legislation, set to be introduced into Parliament by the Coalition, will see Police given the power to approach anyone in an airport in Australia and demand to see their ID, all without cause or suspicion.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton are set to unveil the new legislation later today, which forms part of the Coalition’s previously-announced $294 million package to boost security at major and regional domestic airports in a bid to address what the Prime Minister this morning labelled “dangerous times.”

The increased powers will give Police the ability to demand to see anyone’s ID at the airport, regardless of whether or not they suspect you are committing or planning to commit a crime.

Bob Dylan Announces Australian Tour

It’s been announced that Bob Dylan will be down under in August performing his greatest hits, thanks to an arena tour gracing cities and a couple of regional centre across Australia and New Zealand.

The tour will be the 76-year-old’s first visit to Australia since 2014.

The tour announcement means he’ll be the second Pulitzer Prize-winning musician to perform in Australia.

The dates include:

August 8
Perth
Perth Arena

August 11
Adelaide
Botanic Park

August 13
Melbourne
Margaret Court Arena

August 18
Sydney
ICC Sydney Theatre

August 20
Wollongong
WIN Entertainment Centre

August 22
Newcastle
Newcastle Entertainment Centre

August 24
Brisbane
Brisbane Entertainment Centre

August 26
Auckland
Spark Arena

August 28
Christchurch
Horncastle Arena

Daniel Johns Interview

In his first TV interview in more than a decade, the 39-year-old has explained what he was going through during this period of “trouble”.

Sitting down with Andrew Denton on his show Interview, Johns told the host how he was struggling with undiagnosed anxiety and was treating it with alcohol.

“I wasn’t well. But it wasn’t what people thought it was. I have had a pretty serious anxiety disorder for 15 years,” he revealed to the seasoned interviewer.

“Um, and it got really bad at a point and I was not coping and I didn’t know how to deal with it… I was just panicked. I was constantly panicked.”

In October 2014, Johns was caught drink-driving in the Newcastle suburb of Merewether after police had pulled him over for travelling more than 20km/h over the speed limit.

In February the following year, he was fined $880 and disqualified from driving for several months. And just a few months later in May 2015 he was taken to a Sydney hospital after falling outside a bar and hitting his head. Then in December 2016, he made headlines for stumbling and falling in a Sydney cafe in the middle of the day.

Co-Pilot is Partially Sucked Out Of Window

The co-pilot of Sichuan Airlines Flight 3U8633 from Chongqing to Lhasa on Monday, was sucked out of the plane when the windscreen cracked. The man, who was wearing his seatbelt at the time, escaped with a sprained wrist and facial cuts, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

According to the BBC, the captain of the flight, Liu Chuanjian, has been hailed as a hero on Chinese social media, after he managed to bring the plane down safely despite the sudden depressurisation and free-fall descent that occurred immediately after the windscreen cracked. Chaunjian told the Chengdu Economic Daily that it happened out of nowhere:

“There was no warning. The windshield just cracked and made a loud bang. The next thing I knew, my co-pilot had been sucked halfway out.”

Luckily, the co-pilot was wearing a seatbelt. He was dragged back into the chaos of the cockpit, where pressure and temperature had dropped and the equipment was failing.

“Everything in the cockpit was floating in the air. I couldn’t hear the radio. The plane was shaking so hard I could not read the gauges,” Chaunjian said.