Melbourne's trams to be solar powered
The Victorian government announced on January 19 that Melbourne's tram network will soon be powered by the first large-scale solar plant to be built in Victoria.
The solar plant, which will be completed by the end of 2018, is expected to be located in Victoria's north-west.
The project is expected to create 300 new jobs and will produce 75 megawatts of power, with about half of that production to be linked to the tram network.
The rest of the energy produced by the plant will flow into the broader electricity system.
Obama commutes Chelsea Manning’s sentence
In one of his last acts as US President, Barack Obama has commuted the remainder of former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning’s 35-year jail term.
Manning, who came out as transgender in 2013, was convicted of giving state secrets to WikiLeaks in 2013. The leaks, which contained more than 700,000 documents and videos, detailed the abuse of detainees and the number of civilian deaths during the Iraq War.
There were grave fears about what could happen to Manning under President Donald Trump. Manning is due to be released on May 17, seven years after she was first arrested.
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