Daily News Roundup

April 17

Elevan animal rights activists have been charged with trespassing at a Yangan abattoir in April, and at a Millmerran cattle feedlot last month.

Detective Superintendent Jon Wacker said the charges followed formal complaints from the owners of the properties.

“The Queensland Police Service respects the right of people to protest in a peaceful manner, however we have a duty to ensure the safety of protesters, farm workers and property owners,” Detective Superintendent Wacker said.

“Unauthorised protests in and around farmlands and industrial areas create significant personal and workplace safety risks.

“We will take enforcement action whenever necessary to ensure the safety of the community and to protect the rights of people to feel safe in their homes and at their place of work.”

The protesters will face court on 18 charges including trespassing and drug offences.

About 20 people allegedly chained themselves to equipment at a Yangan abattoir, south-west of Brisbane, earlier this month as part of an organised nationwide protest with others infiltrating abattoirs in Goulburn, New South Wales and in Laverton in Melbourne.

Activists also stopped traffic at Melbourne’s busy Flinders Street intersection during peak hour.

The action marked the one-year anniversary of the release of the documentary Dominion, which looks into practices employed daily on Australian livestock farms.

The protests prompted the Queensland Government to draft new laws cracking down on activists who invade farms and abattoirs.

Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said “militant” animal rights activists will, from the end of this month, face $652.75 fines issued either on the spot or after review of evidence from the protest site.

The fines will be issued by police or biosecurity officers.

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A critical 23 minutes separated the first Notre Dame fire alarms and staff seeing any flames.

The first fire alarms at the 850 year old medieval Gothic church, went off at 6:20pm (local time), but the fire was only discovered after second alarm went off at 6:43pm.

Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said the cathedral’s fire alarms went off twice on Monday evening, beginning at 6:20pm (local time).

A Paris judicial official, speaking anonymously, said staff checked under the roof after the first alarm and saw nothing — but when the fire was discovered 23 minutes later, after the second alarm, it was already too late to stop the inferno.

Architectural historians say the cathedral’s stone vaults, which worked with buttresses, served as buffers for the fire.

The official said investigators had now questioned about 30 people, who were mostly employees working on the renovation of the monument.

The fire blazed for several hours and damaged the roof, causing the cathedral’s large spire to collapse and coming perilously close to destroying the entire building.

France’s deputy interior minister Laurent Nunez said saving the cathedral came down to a key timeframe of between 15 and 30 minutes, praising the work of firefighters who contained the blaze.

More than $1 billion has been pledged to the restoration of Notre Dame cathedral, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying he wanted to see the cathedral rebuilt in five years.

Mr Macron said Notre Dame would be “even more beautiful” after the restoration, however experts said the staggering amount of cash flung at rebuilding efforts might not be enough to replace what was lost.

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A dog has been found swimming more than 220 kilometres from shore by workers on an oil rig in the Gulf of Thailand.

A worker on the rig belonging to Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, Vitisak Payalaw, said on his Facebook page the dog was sighted last Friday swimming towards the platform.

The crew managed to rescue the dog by putting a rope around its neck and hauling it up.

He said the crew speculated it might have fallen off a fishing trawler, and dubbed him Boon Rod, or “Survivor”.

The dog was returned safely to land, landing on Monday at the southern port of Songkhla, and was declared in good shape after being delivered to the animal protection group Watchdog Thailand.