45-foot-tall statue of a naked woman in a yoga pose will not be allowed to be installed on the National Mall. The National Park Service has blocked activists from installing a giant sculpture of a nude woman on the National Mall in Washington.🙀😢

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Remember Volkswagen’s microbus? Automaker introducing an all-electric version

Volkswagen will make the VW I.D. Buzz, an all-electric microbus, available for sale.

The German automaker plans to begin production of a new, all-electric version of the its famous van.

The extremely groovy vehicle, called the ID Buzz, won’t arrive in dealerships until 2022, VW said.

The van will be part of Volkswagen’s planned ID line of electric vehicles. The first, a compact car simply called the ID, was unveiled as a concept car at the Paris Motor Show last September. The ID Buzz concept van was unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show in January.

The name Buzz plays off the word “Bus,” VW said. ID stands for any number of things including “Idea,” “Identity” or “Intelligent Design.”

The electric compact car will go on sale before the van does, VW said.

Source: Far out: VW plans an electric hippie bus – Aug. 19, 2017

It happens here: Underage forced marriage in suburban Australia

For decades, Australian girls (and a small number of boys) have been married off to much-older partners against their will. The weddings are sometimes large and lavish, but rarely does anyone speak out.

Sarah doesn’t look happy in her wedding photos. In her sister Bee’s words, her make-up was “something else,” an attempt to make a girl look like a woman that came off as clownish.

“I sat there forcing a smile,” remembers Sarah. “Everyone wasn’t happy with me because you can’t look miserable.”

Sarah had only just started taking an interest in makeup – and boys, for that matter – like most girls her age. She was 14.

It was this interest that triggered her mother – a conservative Iraqi-Australian woman – to arrange her daughter’s forced marriage.

At 16, Sarah gave birth in a public hospital with her much-older husband at her side. No one raised concerns about their relationship.

Not long after that, when the relationship soured and police were involved, it was filed as a domestic violence case. Even then, no one took action over Sarah’s status as a child bride.

Not all cases of young Australians being forced to marry play out like Sarah. It many cases, girls have been taken to their parents’ country of birth to marry.

Source: It happens here: Underage forced marriage in suburban Australia | SBS News

Six guilty of murdering Patrick Slater on Australia Day

FIVE young adults and one teenager accused of killing Patrick Slater in a violent 49-second mobbing after Australia Day celebrations have been found guilty of murder.

The accused, dubbed the “Patrick Slater slayers” by prosecutor Carmel Barbagallo, were charged after the 26-year-old was fatally stabbed in the early hours of January 27 last year.

After a six-week trial and a day and a half of deliberations, a jury today convicted Christopher Birdsall, Dylan Anthony, Robert Pickett and brothers Clinton and Stefan Mead of the charge.

An 18-year-old, who can not be named because he was aged 17 at the time, was also convicted of murder.

Prosecutors alleged the “slayers” murdered Mr Slater during a rolling brawl that ended with a short and violent mobbing at the Esplanade train station complex about 3.30am.

Mr Slater bled out quickly after someone plunged a weapon, likely a screwdriver, into his chest and through his aorta and lungs on the forecourt of the Ernst & Young building.

Eight people were charged in the months after the attack, including an 11-year-old boy who is being dealt with in Perth Children’s Court.

Another child, who was aged 14 at the time, stood trial with his co-accused for one day before the jury was told he would no longer be part of proceedings.

Mr Slater had been celebrating Australia Day with his sisters, his cousin Barney Brockman and Mr Brockman’s girlfriend.

Over a 45-minute period, they were involved in three violent fights with a group that initially included Birdsall, Pickett, three boys aged 17, 14 and 11 and their companions…

Source: Six guilty of murdering Patrick Slater on Australia Day | Perth Now

#F1 Kimi Raikkonen a ‘laggard’ and must do more: Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne

Kimi Raikkonen has become a “laggard” and must do more for Ferrari, the team’s president Sergio Marchionne has said.

The Finn’s season continued to stutter in Sunday’s Austrian GP as he finished fifth, 20 seconds behind race-winner Valtteri Bottas, having started third on the grid.

While Sebastian Vettel leads the world championship, Raikkonen has rarely matched his team-mate’s pace in 2017 and is fifth in the standings, 88 points behind the German.

The 2007 world champion is out of contract at the end of the season and Marchionne said the 37-year-old was falling behind his rivals.

“I think Kimi has got to show a higher level of commitment to the process,” he said ahead of Sunday’s race.

Source: Kimi Raikkonen a ‘laggard’ and must do more, says Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne | F1 News

Peta Credlin: Liberal Party run by ‘little men with soft backbones, with no heart and no soul’

Peta Credlin says the Liberal Party is run by ‘little men with soft backbones, with no heart and no soul’. MORE https://t.co/E6iWhCGm8F http://pic.twitter.com/zOjBpve6zb

— The Bolt Report (@theboltreport) June 26, 2017

Grenfell Tower fire: Death toll increases to 79 and expected to rise further

The death toll from the Grenfell Tower fire has risen to 79 and is expected to increase further, police have revealed. More follows…

Source: Grenfell Tower fire: Death toll increases to 79 and expected to rise further | The Independent

Watch Love Actually sequel Australia: it’s finally online.