Celebrity chef Maggie Beer says nothing can forgive the abysmal standard of meals given to some aged care residents as the royal commission into the sector hears people were served meals from trolleys near maggot-infested rubbish bins.

The standard of care provided to an elderly man, often found in soiled pants, at a regional Queensland aged care facility was so appalling even his own granddaughter was too distressed to visit, the royal commission into aged care hears.

The massive yacht crushed several smaller boats as it came to a juddering halt at the Cairns Marlin Marina in Queensland.

A luxury superyacht has crashed while attempting to moor at a Cairns marina, narrowly avoiding a potential disaster on the busy tourist strip.

Myanmar's national sport is similar to volleyball but players use their feet instead of their hands. The game is now being regularly played in Australia by Karen refugees.

Queensland's Royal Flying Doctor Service trades training for loyalty in a new program to bring in more pilots.

A year after her murder, Toyah Cordingley's name still hangs in shop windows, on posters strung up on trees, and stickers on car bumpers in nearly every street in Cairns.

People still living at a Gold Coast nursing home that was partially evacuated last Thursday are told the facility will be referred to the aged care royal commission, a move backed by operator HelpStreet.

Former Commonwealth Games competitor Matthew Levings trained for years alongside Sun Yang. Now the Gold Coast tradie says China's Australian coach, Denis Cotterell, would never train swimmers he knew to be doping.

Arthur Miller faced a demand for almost $4 million for breach of contract the day before his Gold Coast retirement village Earle Haven was abruptly shut, prompting the evacuation of 68 elderly residents, the aged care royal commission is told.

It's largely unknown what seabirds and marine mammals do when they are out in Australia's remote waters, but an ongoing project aboard at 94-metre floating laboratory is changing that.

A fake doctor working at a Sydney hospital was detected as a fraud but allowed to continue working in the health system, an independent inquiry is told.

When speculation grew that a reigning British monarch would step down from the throne, it jeopardised the publication of a cookbook organised by one of Australia's largest community associations.

A motion calling for a royal commission into the MDBP narrowly passes on the final day of the NSW Farmers Conference.

From Rocki Strader: Christine OConnell helped me get 24 letters DocuSigned by various writers and returned back to me. And she set them up so quickly that I was easily able to get the letters distributed on time. She was responsive to all my newbie questions about the process, and made my life much easier! Thanks, […]

For a long time, Olivia Munn didn’t fully grasp a question that she got asked all the time in interviews: Journalists would want to know about the difference between being a man and woman in Hollywood. “I got it for years before it clicked with me one day when I answered it,” Munn said. “I […]

M. Night Shyamalan has rounded out the cast for his next movie. Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff and Vicky Krieps are in negotiations to star in the top-secret project. Shyamalan will write, produce and direct the untitled film, which will be released by Universal Picture. Like most Shyamalan movies, plot details are shrouded […]

(California Court of Appeal) - In an action brought by an actor who was employed as an extra in a movie entitled, A Haunted House 2, alleging that he was the victim of racial harassment because during his one day of work on the movie he was compared to a Black cartoon character and called a racial slur, the trial court's grant of defendant's anti-SLAPP motion to strike, Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16, is affirmed where plaintiff's claims arose from defendant's constitutional right of free speech because the core injury-producing conduct arose out of the creation of the movie and its promotion over the Internet.

(California Court of Appeal) - Reversing a trial court judgment relating to a motion picture company's contract to pay Bruce Willis to perform in a movie because the owner of the company was joined to arbitration despite his not having been named personally in the arbitration agreement relating to the never-produced movie Wake.

(United States Federal Circuit) - In a petition for cancellation of a trademark, brought by the owner of the INSIGNIA mark used to sell wines since 1978 against the registrant of the ALEC BRADLEY STAR INSIGNIA mark used for cigars and cigar products, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's denial of the petition is vacated and remanded for reconsideration where: 1) the Board erred in its legal analysis, in analyzing the 'fame' of INSIGNIA wine as an all-or-nothing factor, and discounting it entirely in reaching the conclusion of no likelihood of confusion as to source, contrary to law and precedent; and 2) as a result of this error, the Board did not properly apply the totality of the circumstances standard, which requires considering all the relevant factors on a scale appropriate to their merits.

(United States Federal Circuit) - Vacated and remanded a decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissing plaintiffs opposition to the registration of defendants trademarks including the term ZERO. The Federal Court of Appeals determined that the Board erred in legal framing of the question and failed to determine whether the marks were at least highly descriptive.

(United States Supreme Court) - Held that a private citizen cannot sue one State in the courts of another. Overruled Nevada v. Hall, 440 U.S. 410 (1979), which had held that a State may grant or deny its sister States sovereign immunity as it chooses. The plaintiff here sought to bring a tort suit against a California state agency in Nevada state court. The U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the Constitution barred the suit. Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the 5-4 Court.

(United States Second Circuit) - Granted. Petition for review of Board of Immigration Appeals decision denying Plaintiff application for asylum. Plaintiff demonstrated changed circumstances and BIA was required to consider entire application. Remand application to BIA for limited purpose of granting application.

With a knack for defence and a focus on team play, Yasmin Halas has a promising future on the netball court.

(United States Second Circuit) - In a suit brought by a group of hotel-related businesses, along with their investor and guarantors, alleging fraud claims against a bank and its subsidiaries, the district court's dismissal of the fraud claims is affirmed where the because plaintiffs failed to list their cause of action in a schedule of assets in their now-concluded bankruptcy proceeding, they are barred on judicial estoppel and timeliness grounds.

(United States First Circuit) - Affirmed the fraud-related convictions of a man who falsely promised to provide professional legal assistance to individuals who were behind on their court-ordered child support payments. On appeal, the defendant made several claims of trial and sentencing error. The First Circuit affirmed his convictions and the order of restitution but remanded for resentencing using the proper version of the Guidelines Manual.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Held that an individual could obtain judicial review of the federal government's denial of his petition under the Paperwork Reduction Act, which authorizes individuals to petition for a determination of whether they must provide information requested by a government agency. Reversed and remanded for further proceedings in the district court, in a case involving information collected by the Patent and Trademark Office.

(United States First Circuit) - Orders revoking Attorney Ryan's pro hac vice admission and imposing monetary sanctions are affirmed, where Ryan falsified evidence and lied to the court about attempting to interfere with the deposition of his client.

(United States Federal Circuit) - In a case involves trade secrets relating to opaque polymers, which are hollow spheres used as paint additives for interior and exterior paints to increase the paint's opacity, the International Trade Commission's (ITC) decision, imposing default judgment sanctions for spoliation of evidence and entering a limited exclusion order against plaintiff, is affirmed where the Commission did not abuse its discretion in entering default judgment as a sanction for plaintiff's spoliation of evidence and further did not abuse its discretion in entering the limited exclusion order.

(California Court of Appeal) - In a dispute involving two competing healthcare companies, held that nurse recruiters who left one company to join the other did not breach clauses in their contracts that prohibited them from soliciting other employees to leave, because those clauses were unenforceable here. Affirmed summary judgment for the defendants.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Reversed the dismissal of a shareholder class action against Toshiba Corp. filed by investors who alleged securities fraud. The district court dismissed their claims on jurisdictional grounds and, on appeal, the plaintiffs argued that the district court misapplied principles regarding extraterritorial applicability of U.S. securities laws set forth in Morrison v. Nat'l Australia Bank Ltd., 561 U.S. 247 (2010). The Ninth Circuit agreed with plaintiffs and reversed and remanded with instructions to allow the plaintiffs to amend their shareholder complaint against the Japanese firm to overcome the jurisdictional hurdle.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Vacated and remanded. Plaintiff filed a 28 U.S.C. § 1782 application seeking issuance of a subpoena to Google, Inc. for the disclosure of certain subscriber information to assist him in ongoing litigation in England. The district court granted Plaintiff’s application for the information from Google. Concluded that there was doubt whether 1782 could be used in a foreign proceeding and vacated and remanded for further proceedings in the district court.

(United States Second Circuit) - Conviction of various fraud and conspiracy charges arising out of defendant's involvement in a conspiracy to defraud insurance companies in connection with claims under New York's No Fault Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Insurance Reparation Act, N.Y. Ins. Law section 5102 et seq., which requires that a medical services professional corporation providing treatment under the Act be owned by a licensed physician, is affirmed over defendant's claims that she was the owner of the professional corporation, where New York law is clear that ownership for purposes of the No Fault statute means more than mere paper ownership and that factors beyond formal indicia of ownership may be considered by a fact-finder in determining ownership under New York's no-fault insurance laws.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Affirmed in part, reversed in part. Minor league baseball players seeking class status in an action under the Fair Labor Standards Act appeal the denial of class certification in Arizona and Florida. The panel held certification is appropriate and consistent with “the great public policy” embodied by the FLSA.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Vacated. Partial enforcement to produce discovery documents in an equal protection claim vacated, where Plaintiffs did not have standing. There is no legally protected interest under which the board members of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority can assert a claim over disparate treatment compared to other municipalities regarding the passage of S.B. 2162.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Affirmed. Defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights were not violated when trial counsel failed to challenge his competency to waive counsel. Defendant’s due process right was not violated by state trial court’s refusal to hold a competency hearing sua sponte. Defendant’s Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were not violated by being shackled and restrained during trial.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a habeas corpus action, the district court's dismissal of the petition as untimely is: 1) affirmed where petitioner failed to establish entitlement to F.R.Civ.P. 60(b) relief for actual innocence; but 2) reversed where the district court abused its discretion by finding that petitioner was not abandoned by his counsel, who failed to respond to the court's order to show cause and notify his client of the order's issuance.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Vacating a district court judgment granting a writ of habeas corpus on the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing and affirming the denial of other forms of relief challenging the conviction and death sentence for first degree murder because although there were representation issues relating to sentencing the deficiencies were not prejudicial.

(United States Third Circuit) - Dismissal of plaintiff's suit, alleging trade-dress infringement and tortious interference, for lack of personal jurisdiction is reversed were defendant had sufficient contacts with New Jersey.