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Josh Butler

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Canberra
As seen in: The Guardian Australia, Medium, MSN, MSN Australia, MSN Ireland, MSN UK, HuffPost, The Guardian, Yahoo Canada, Yahoo News Malaysia, Yahoo News New Zealand and
Covers:  Crime, emergency services, some arts and entertainment
Doesn't Cover: Everything else
Political reporter & COS @GuardianAus - send memes & tips: DMs open • josh.butler@theguardian.com • secure: joshbutler.journalist@protonmail.com •
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Saving your soul: experts on exorcism

Saving your soul: experts on exorcism

illawarramercury.com.au — Often thought of as nothing more than a plot device in movies, the act of exorcism is being taken seriously by the Catholic Church. "Belief in the devil is at the heart of Christian tradition," says Sarah Ferber, associate professor of history at the University of Wollongong. Journalism is a business rooted in reality. Numbers, quotes, facts and figures - things that can be verified, quantified, analysed and checked. Journalism is about concrete proof and detail, which makes spending a day talking about God and the devil, heaven and hell, demonic possession and exorcists living right here in Wollongong, quite a departure from the norm.
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Mass Rapes Reported in Darfur as Conflict Escalates

Mass Rapes Reported in Darfur as Conflict Escalates

Inter Press Service — More than 200 Darfuri women were reportedly raped by Sudanese troops in one brutal assault on a town in October 2014, with the conflict in war-torn Darfur escalating to new heights. A report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday claimed up to 221 women in the town of Tabit, in northern Darfur, were raped over a 36-hour period between Oct. 30 and 31.
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Housing crisis: 'It's not a place you want to be with kids'

Housing crisis: 'It's not a place you want to be with kids'

illawarramercury.com.au — "Life is a drag. It's this constant depression, like it's never gonna end. We're right next to the train station, sometimes you think, should I just jump under the train?" Sarah* is a single mother with young boys. They live in a ''family room'' at the Piccadilly Motor Inn. The room has a double bed, a bunk bed, a shower, toilet and mini fridge. It is no bigger than a standard single bedroom.
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Housing crisis: Piccadilly motel a family's last resort

Housing crisis: Piccadilly motel a family's last resort

illawarramercury.com.au — The Piccadilly Centre has been called many things - an eyesore, a hotspot of crime, even an "enclave of scumbags" in a 2012 Brand Wollongong report. But for a slice of the Illawarra's most at-risk people, Piccadilly is something else entirely - home. For years, the Piccadilly Motor Inn has been a last resort for the region's homeless.
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Twiplomacy Gets Its Day in the Sun at U.N.

Twiplomacy Gets Its Day in the Sun at U.N.

Inter Press Service — Formerly derided as the domain of time-wasting and self-obsession, social media has emerged as an unlikely shining light for international relations and social activism. The trend has been dubbed 'twiplomacy' - Twitter diplomacy - with world leaders, diplomats and non-governmental organisations alike harnessing the people power of social media to amplify their own messages and goals.
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LIVE REVIEW: FOALS AT THE ENMORE

LIVE REVIEW: FOALS AT THE ENMORE

www.pagesdigital.com — Foals' set began in darkness. After Alpine's opening set served up a flurry of colour and vibrancy and energy - mainly due to their pair of pint-sized, tights-clad frontwomen - Foals announced their return to Sydney with a pitch black stage and a screaming klaxon piercing the packed Enmore Theatre. Several minutes (too long) of this wail was finally punctured by a blinding, epileptic strobe light show as the five Oxford boys one-by-one wandered on stage to slip into the opening bars of 'Prelude,' the opener of latest album 'Holy Fire.'
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How's the serenity in Bulli rock pool?

How's the serenity in Bulli rock pool?

illawarramercury.com.au — A thin band of concrete and stainless steel is all that separates the flat sheet of Bulli tidal pool from the heaving Pacific Ocean. It's mid-morning. The Olympic-sized pool at Waniora Point lies quiet. A lone swimmer paddling slow laps along the northern wall is all that disturbs the water's turquoise glass surface.
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Farm Projects Boost Bangladeshi Women, Children

Farm Projects Boost Bangladeshi Women, Children

Inter Press Service — Women in Bangladesh are carving healthier, wealthier futures for themselves and their children - and they have chicken eggs and pineapples to thank. Since 2009, the non-profit group Helen Keller International has overseen programmes in the eastern Bangladesh region of Chittagong, mentoring women in agriculture to produce food not only for their own families, but also to sell at market.
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