July 2022 – Page 35 – Michmutters

Month: July 2022

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Entertainment

are pies in Melbourne gloriously gourmet or too out there? Plus 12 of the best to try

The Builders Arms fish pie may not have pastry on the bottom, but it

Singapore chilli crab, lasagne, Massaman curry and more are being sealed under lids of pastry as Melbourne pie-makers explore their creative side.

The city is home to a bewildering array of gourmet pies thanks to new businesses – some of them lockdown projects – and established bakeries who are gamely experimenting with fillings.

Austro’s Sally Roxon has Polish heritage, while her husband is Austrian, so she gravitates to those flavors in the pies she offers from her South Melbourne bakery. There’s a Polish hunter’s stew pie, featuring sausage, pork belly and sauerkraut, and in the past mushroom stroganoff and beef goulash have featured.

Footscray’s Pie Thief is one of Melbourne’s most adventurous pie purveyors, with owners Aaron Donato and Scott Blomfield (an ex-Supernormal chef) breaking all the rules.

“I guess we don’t really look at other pies when we’re coming up with flavours,” says Donato. “We look at what’s a delicious meal and [ask] can that be turned into a foot?”

The Builders Arms fish pie may not have pastry on the bottom, but it's become a favorite dish at the Fitzroy pub.

The Builders Arms fish pie may not have pastry on the bottom, but it’s become a favorite dish at the Fitzroy pub. Photo: Grace Dorman



Singapore’s famed chilli crab and the kebab shop HSP have both run as weekly pie specials. There’s even a filling inspired by a burger from a famous fast-food conglomerate, who asked the pie to be renamed. It’s now called Big Thief.

The shop also offers vegan pies, with a plant-based pastry that went through many rounds of testing.

Magnum PI, as well as being the best-named pie shop in Melbourne, also gets points for the top-notch ingredients it uses, whether you eat meat or not. The mac and cheese pie loads up its white sauce with spinach and herbs in some attempt at healthfulness. Pulled beef is cooked with merlot for seven hours for the shop’s most popular pie.

West Melbourne cafe Udom House combines chef Aum Phithakphon’s Thai heritage with Melbourne coffee culture – and pies. Everything that’s served with steamed rice, from green curry to spicy bolognese-style pork, is also sealed in puff pastry.

Many of these gourmet pie-makers love the portability and accessibility of walking. A hand-held pastry is an excellent gateway to flavors people may never have tried.

But rising costs are being felt. Pie Thief won’t offer family pies because Donato says charging the true cost for all the required ingredients would make a pie of that size prohibitively expensive.

The haloumi pie at A1 Bakery in Brunswick gives you change from $5.

The haloumi pie at A1 Bakery in Brunswick gives you change from $5. Photo: Supplied



Wonder Pies founder Raymond Capaldi, a chef with 40 years’ experience, believes his family pie, which weighs one-kilogram and feeds four, should be priced closer to $30 instead of $24.

The cost of Wonder Pie’s ingredients, including flour and vegetable fat for the pastry, are steadily rising each month. But passing on those costs to consumers can be difficult, according to Capaldi, because there is only so many people will pay.

“I say we do the best pie we can for what you’re willing to pay,” says Capaldi.

The Fishmonger's Son fish pie was originally a collaboration between neighboring businesses The Pie Shop and Maria's Pasta.

The Fishmonger’s Son fish pie was originally a collaboration between neighboring businesses The Pie Shop and Maria’s Pasta. Photo: Parker Blain



Melbourne’s most exciting feet to try

Magnum PI

At this Fitzroy newcomer, pies of roasted cauliflower with beluga lentils or a vegan Sri Lankan curry are just as satisfying as meatier choices, which use free-range products sourced as locally as possible. Think pulled beef with merlot, saltbush lamb, or chicken with salsa verde. Magnum PI started as a lockdown hustle for former Pillar of Salt chef, Jason Kubasek, but we’re glad it stuck around. Most pies hover around the $9 mark, despite the premium ingredients. Don’t live near the mothership? Delivery is available for orders of $30 or more.

402 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, magnumpi.com.au

Pie Thief in Footscray get creative with their pie fillings

Pie Thief in Footscray get creative with their pie fillings Photo: Eddie Jim



Austrian

“Pies are just one string to our bow,” says co-owner Sally Roxon. That makes the beauties on offer here even more impressive. A rich chicken fricassee is enlivened by paprika, while zucchini gets the parma treatment thanks to napoli sauce and mozzarella. But the Polish hunter’s stew – pork belly, sausage and more – has been the breakout star of the cabinet, defying Roxon’s expectations that people would miss the slow-cooked beef pie it replaced. It’s typical of the hearty, comforting and deeply flavored Austro dishes casts in buttery puff pastry (all $9.50). Apparently, it’s one person’s sole job to make the puff, and you know what they say about practice: it makes perfect.

147-149 Cecil Street, South Melbourne, austrobakery.com

Party feet from the Pie Thief.

Party feet from the Pie Thief. Photo: Jason South



Babajan

A borek might not be sealed on the sides, but it does have a pastry bottom and top, which is more than some Melbourne pubs can say about their pies. At Babajan, each borek filling, layered between 10 sheets of filo, is just as rich and comforting as any traditional pie. Crowd favorites include silverbeet and feta, and baharat-spiced lamb with potato. But the surprise hit is tuna, slowly simmered in white wine with carrots and fennel, paired with kefalograviera cheese. Each is available as a single (from $8) or in larger trays for easy entertaining or family dinner. Pie purists can stick to the haloumi, feta and cheddar pie, which owner Kirsty Chiaplis says is her favorite way to start the day.

713 Nicholson Street, Carlton North; Shop 5, 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne; babajan.com.au

At Udom House everything from green curry to spicy bolognese-style pork, is also sealed in puff pastry.

At Udom House everything from green curry to spicy bolognese-style pork, is also sealed in puff pastry. Photo: Penny Stephens



Wildflower Bakery

Run by two British bakers, Matilda Rexton and Keith Doig, this Prahran shop rolls out three different kinds of pastry for everything from pork pies to hand pies (aka pasties) and your more typical round pie. Pasties are usually vegetarian, containing oozy bechamel and truffled mushrooms or spiced sweet potato with caramelised onion and corn. It’s even heartier stuff when you wade into pie territory: pork and beef Bolognese with cheddar is joined by weekly specials like lamb rendang. We’ll take one of everything.

21 St Edmond’s Road, Prahran wildflourmatilda.com

Pies at Austro bakery, which opts for hearty Eastern European-style fillings in its pies.

Pies at Austro bakery, which opts for hearty Eastern European-style fillings in its pies. Photo: Supplied



Foot Thief

There’s nothing that can’t be sealed in pastry, seems to be the motto of Pie Thief, which steals hearts with its line-up of lasagne, Thai chicken and barbecued jackfruit pies. For the pie of the week, the team really flexes their creativity: kashmiri lamb, venison braised in Garage Project stout, and Singapore chilli crab have all featured. There are always a couple of vegan pie options plus sweets like cookies, brownies and vanilla slice, and coffee by St Ali. In even better news, the team have added a weekend pie stall in Fitzroy adjoining their production kitchen.

297 Barkly Street, Footscray; 300 Napier Street, Fitzroy (weekends only); piethief.com.au

The Fishmonger’s Son

How many can claim that it took a village to raise their foot? In a sleepy pocket of Melbourne’s north last year, when takeaway was a lifeline for both diners and restaurants, that’s exactly what happened. The local fish shop teamed up with nearby Maria’s Pasta and The Pie Shop to create a fish pie ($35) that’s since become a permanent item and is still made to the same recipe, even though The Pie Shop is no longer. Feeding four, it brings together the best seafood on the day – perhaps salmon and scallops – white wine, dill, paprika, potato and carrot, sealed under a crisp and golden shortcrust lid.

703 Nicholson Street, Carlton North, thefishmongersson.com

wonder feet

You’ll understand what’s behind the name when you realize how finely engineered these feet are. Masterminded by top chef Raymond Capaldi, the steak and ale, cauli and leek and lasagne-filled pastries are made with shortcrust on the bottom and a rough puff on top. Capaldi won’t use butter in the puff because he says it goes rancid when pies are kept in a warmer. He uses a single muscle (brisket) for the steak and mushroom, so the beef cooks evenly. Each month, the team tastes its competitor’s feet. “It was like going back to school learning pies,” Capaldi says. With six stores around Melbourne and 11 choices in the larger pie that feeds four, we’re glad he hit the books again.

Locations across Melbourne, wonderpies.com.au

A1 Bakery

Some eat for the falafel wraps, others are all about the manoush. But the real gold at this Melbourne institution comes in the form of the cheese pie ($4.50). Don’t be fooled by first impressions. What looks like a rather plain and doughy crescent is hiding molten haloumi, baked until warm and oozy. It’s the perfect salty contrast against the slightly sweetened bread pocket. Other pie-adjacent treats include triangles filled with spinach and cheese or marinated spinach, or ring-shaped kaak filled with halloumi and coated with sesame seeds.

643-645 Sydney Road, Brunswick, a1bakery.com.au

Babka

If you’re a believer in the saying it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, Babka is your spirit animal. A Brunswick Street mainstay for 30 years and counting, the bakery keeps its pie line-up the same from week to week and prefers classic fillings – mostly. A Moroccan-inspired lamb pie, involving lamb fillet cooked with dried apricots, bay leaves and peppercorn, is a surprise find. But beef with mushroom and red wine, spinach with ricotta, feta and pine nuts, and chicken and white wine keep the ship steady. Don’t even try to leave without a wedge of lemon tart.

358 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

Udom House

Newsflash: the best Massaman curry you can get in Melbourne may be hiding inside on foot. Udom House, a West Melbourne cafe run by chef and barista Aum Phithakphon, has embraced pies as a vehicle for Thai flavors like green curry, Massaman and dishes that remind Phithakphon of her childhood. Vegetarian fillings might include stir-fried pumpkin with garlic scrambled egg or jackfruit with northern Thai flavours. Curry pastes are made from scratch, the coffee is by Padre (and includes Thai drinks not often seen here), and there’s kaya (coconut) jam for sweet-tooths.

343 Victoria Street, West Melbourne, 0468 789 851, @udomhouse on Instagram

The Builders Arms Hotel

Not for the faint-hearted, the fish pie at this northside pub is a hulk of a thing. It asserts itself from the get-go, arriving in a square ceramic dish with a billowing hat of puff pastry. Pierce it with your fork and you’ll be greeted by aromas of fennel, dill and shellfish, thanks to the bisque-based sauce that’s crying out for bread (or hunks of pastry). You might be mad it’s a pot pie, but the generous proportion of sauce to ocean trout, white fish, prawns and sorrel should set things right. Our advice is to skip lunch so you arrive hungry, or share it between two.

211 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, buildersarmshotel.com.au

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Categories
Sports

A day of suffering at Tour de France Femmes – 13 riders leave on stage 7

LE MARKSTEIN FRANCE JULY 30 Kim De Baat of Belgium and Team PlanturPura reacts after crossing the line during the 1st Tour de France Femmes 2022 Stage 7 a 1271km stage from Slestat to Le Marksteinc TDFF UCIWWT on July 30 2022 in Le Markstein France Photo by Dario BelingheriGetty Images

Stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes was never going to be an easy day for the non-climbers with the mountains arriving in full force, but with so many carrying crash wounds and then a brutal long-range attack from Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar ) to split the field early, the penultimate stage became a race ending day of suffering for many.

There were 13 riders who stepped out of the Tour de France Femmes on the day of the 127.1km stage to Le Markstein Fellering, which included three category one climbs. Even before the stage started the crashes of previous days had taken a toll, with stage 4 winner Marlen Reusser (SD Work) suffering from a concussion and therefore registering a DNS, as did sprinter Rachele Barbieri (Liv Racing Xstra).

Categories
Australia

Linda Burney flags Makarrata commission for truth and treaty is on the horizon

photo of a woman with her hair back in a ponytail wearing a white shirt

Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney has given the strongest indication yet that a truth and treaty process is in the works.

Speaking at the Garma Festival in north-east Arnhem Land, Ms Burney said the public should not forget that the Uluṟu Statement from the Heart was not only about a referendum.

“So many parts of this country [are] deciding how they’re going to explore the truth,” she said.

“When we think about the effect that a national truth-telling process would have on Australia, it’s remarkable.

“One of the things that we’re thinking about at the moment is what form that would take.”

“I see this as, you know, a thousand flowers blooming.

Large Aboriginal flag flying in sky with sunlight behind in city setting
The Uluru statement includes a First Nations’ Voice in the constitution, and Makarrata, referring to the process of conflict resolution, peacemaking and justice.(Getty Images: Trevor Collens)

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Categories
US

Oklahoma school board downgrades Tulsa Public Schools for allegedly shaming White people in training

Oklahoma school board downgrades Tulsa Public Schools for allegedly shaming White people in training

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The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted this week to downgrade the accreditation of Tulsa Public Schools after a teacher reportedly complained that the school district’s training materials “shame white people.”

The board voted 4-2 to lower the status of Tulsa Public Schools to “accredited with warning” on Thursday after the State Department of Education determined an implicit bias training for teachers in August 2021 violated House Bill 1775. The law, which restricts discussions of race and sex in public schools, is widely seen as targeting critical race theory. The state investigation began after a complaint from a teacher who has not been publicly identified, according to the Oklahoman.

The board also demoted another district, Mustang Public Schools near Oklahoma City, to “accredited with warning” after it self-reported that a teacher had violated House Bill 1775 by using an exercise that made students uncomfortable on account of their race or sex.

The demotions mark the first enforcement action under the law, which Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed in May 2021, the Oklahoman reported. All four members who voted to downgrade the districts were appointed by Stitt.

The law does not explicitly mention critical race theory — an academic framework for examining the way laws and policies perpetuate systemic racism — but prohibits teaching what it calls “discriminatory principles,” including that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex , is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”

The measure came amid Republican efforts to bar teaching about systemic racism and oppression in schools following the nation’s racial reckoning in 2020, which opponents say is leading to self-censorship and fear among teachers. The American Civil Liberties Union sued Oklahoma over the law in October, alleging that it violates students’ and teachers’ First and 14th amendment rights.

What is critical race theory, and why do Republicans want to ban it in schools?

Representatives for the Tulsa and Mustang school districts did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday. In a statement to the Oklahoman, Tulsa Public Schools denied that the training stated that people of a certain race were inherently racist, saying it would “never support such a training,” but the system defended the need for implicit bias training.

“In Tulsa, we are teaching our children an accurate — and at times painful, difficult, and uncomfortable — history about our shared human experience,” the district told the newspaper. “We also teach in a beautifully diverse community and need our team to work together to be prepared to do that well.”

Charles Bradley, the superintendent of Mustang Public Schools, said in a statement published by News 9 that he was “shocked” by the board’s demotion, which he called a “harsh action.”

HB 1775 prohibits teaching that any individual “bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.” It also bans any course material that would make a student “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex de ella.”

ACLU sues Oklahoma, saying law restricting teaching of gender and race theories is unconstitutional

The complaint against Tulsa Public Schools stemmed from a 20-minute implicit bias training for teachers conducted by a third-party vendor last August. The administrative rules for HB 1775 extend the prohibitions in the law to teacher trainings.

Tulsa’s training informed teachers that they must be “aware of our own inherent biases, as well as historical biases against minorities,” the Oklahoman reported. In response, a teacher filed a complaint with the state alleging that the training materials “specifically shame white people for past offenses in history, and state that all are implicitly racially biased by nature,” according to Public Radio Tulsa.

The outlet identified the teacher who filed the complaint as Amy Cook, who was investigated earlier this year for allegedly proselytizing in class and briefly ran for the state Senate. On her campaign website, she wrote that as a Tulsa Public Schools teacher, she has witnessed “spiritually damaging programs, liberal brainwashing, and political indoctrination being slipped into our schools.”

Brad Clark, the general counsel for the State Department of Education, announced at the board’s June meeting that his agency’s investigation into the complaint found the district in violation of the law.

“It was a close call, but we believe the spirit of that training, or the design of it, was contradictory to House Bill 1775,” Clark said in June.

Though Clark recommended the district be demoted one level to “accredited with deficiency,” board member Brian Bobek introduced a motion at Thursday’s meeting to downgrade it one step further, to “accredited with warning.” That level indicates the district has an issue that “seriously detracts from the quality of the school’s educational program,” per the state’s accreditation standards.

Bobek argued that anyone who took the training “is going to be biased, potentially” and called it an “egregious” violation that merited warning status.

Board member Estela Hernandez agreed, accusing the Tulsa district of deliberately flouting the law and arguing that the extra level of demotion was necessary to “send a message.”

The state’s finding that the training violated the law was met with pushback from board member Carlisha Williams Bradley, who said implicit bias “does not equate to inherent racism.”

“Maybe this is why some of this content should be taught in schools because I just don’t know that we all have a shared understanding of definitions and language here,” she said at the meeting.

New critical race theory laws have teachers scared, confused and self-censoring

Williams Bradley and state Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, who won a primary last month to be the Democratic nominee for governor, voted against downgrading both districts. Hofmeister said she voted no because she supported the state agency’s recommendation of only demoting the districts one level.

The board’s vote came less than a month after Stitt called for a “special audit” of the Tulsa district over its use of coronavirus relief funding and for allegedly teaching critical race theory, which the district denies.

Williams Bradley told The Washington Post on Saturday that the decision was an “obvious attack” on Tulsa Public Schools, which she noted is a majority-minority district.

“It is appalling and terrifying that we have schools and educators who can be penalized for having conversations about true facts, history and implicit bias that we all have based on the differences of our lived experiences,” she wrote in an email.

While the Tulsa complaint involved teacher training, the complaint against the Mustang district centered on a lesson for students, which was investigated internally and self-reported to the state, Clark said.

The exercise, which was taught by a single teacher, asked students to answer questions about whether they had experienced or perpetrated discrimination or bullying, according to News 9. The district determined that the lesson violated the law because it made students feel discomfort based on their race or sex.

The state also recommended Mustang be demoted one level to “accredited with deficiency,” but board member Jennifer Monies argued the panel must be “consistent with how we apply” HB 1775 and avoid the appearance of “unfairly targeting” the Tulsa district.

The same four members then voted to downgrade Mustang Public Schools two levels to “accredited with warning.”

Categories
Business

How to wipe out most of your mortgage repayment increases

How to wipe out most of your mortgage repayment increases

The speed and scale of interest rate rises have been, well, scary. They are calculated to be so – surging consumer prices need to be stopped.

However, rather than waiting in trepidation for the next upwards rate move – there will likely be another 50-basis-point Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rise on Tuesday – you could probably give yourself a rate cut by taking a little pre-emptive action.

Refinancing to a lender offering a lower mortgage rate can save big money.

Refinancing to a lender offering a lower mortgage rate can save big money.Credit:stock

Despite recent mortgage rate rises, there remains a huge gulf between what the big-four banks are offering on their variable-interest rate mortgages and what can be found at some smaller lenders, who generally offer the best rates. And I mean huge.

If your home loan is on an advertised big-bank package mortgage interest rate, you are likely paying 2.67 percentage points more than the cheapest comparable product. If you are on the discounted package rate, you are still forking out 1.61 points over the odds. That adds up to a lot of money you are paying for nothing in your fast-rising monthly mortgage payments.

However, by simply switching home loans from a discounted big-bank rate to the best available, you would almost entirely undo the “damage” the RBA has so far done with your higher mortgage payments.

In case I haven’t got your attention yet, let’s put some dollar figures on this.

By switching from a big-bank mortgage rate to the best available, you could under the damage the RBA has done with your higher repayments.

The average national mortgage is $611,158; today, the big-four bank average discounted rate is 4.7 per cent (compared to the headline rate of 5.76 per cent), while the mortgage interest rate on the most competitive, the comparable product is at 3.09 per cent.

If you refinance that mortgage to the lowest rate – and $380 billion worth of home loans has been refinanced since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis – you would shave $540 a month off your repayments, cutting them to $2927 (based on a 25-year mortgage ).

Categories
Technology

New Approach Allows Robots to Learn Faster Using Fake Data Sets

New Approach Allows Robots to Learn Faster Using Fake Data Sets

To get robots to learn in much the same fashion as humans, engineers from the University of Michigan have developed an approach that allows robots to work with soft materials, like rope and fabrics, with increased performance. In simulations, the larger training data sets doubled the success rate of a robot looping a rope around an engine block and improved it by more than 40% from that of a physical robot executing the same task. The novel method could cut learning time for robots working with new materials and working in new environments down from weeks to just hours.

“That task is among those a robot mechanic would need to be able to do with ease,” explains Dmitry Berenson, associate professor of robotics at UM. “But using today’s methods, learning how to manipulate each unfamiliar hose or belt would require huge amounts of data, likely gathered for days or weeks.” During that time, the robot would manipulate that rope until it understood the number of ways the hose could move and contour, a long, drawn-out process.

To reduce that amount of time, the team altered an optimization algorithm to enable a computer to make some of the generalizations we humans do, such as predicting how dynamics observed in one instance might repeat in others. In one example, a robot pushed cylinders on a surface populated with obstacles. During trial runs, the cylinder didn’t hit anything, while in others, the cylinder collided with other cylinders, moving those in the process. If the cylinder didn’t collide with anything, that motion could be repeated anywhere on the table where the trajectory doesn’t bump into other cylinders. While this is intuitive for humans, robots need to garner that data. Rather than performing time-consuming experiments, the engineer’s program can create variations on the initial result from that first experiment that the robot can utilize in the same fashion.

To produce that fabricated data, the engineers focused on three qualities: it needed to be relevant, diverse and valid. For example, if the focus is centered on moving cylinders on a table, then information on the floor is not relevant. That data must also be valid, so simulations with two cylinders occupying the same space would be invalid and need to be identified so that the robot knows it isn’t possible.

The engineers put their findings to the test for the rope simulation by expanding the data sets using the extrapolated position of the rope to other locations in a virtual environment and having the rope behave the same way it did in the initial experiment. Using traditional training methods showed that the robot could wrap the rope around an engine block 48% of the time while using their new method pushed that success rate to 70%.

Categories
Entertainment

Movie review: Delicious mystery homage Murder Party delivers on fun and games

Movie review: Delicious mystery homage Murder Party delivers on fun and games

Murder Party’s title is deceptively simple. But within those two words are several puzzle boxes and twists.

That’s the fun of it, and murder party knows exactly what it’s about.

It also knows exactly where it comes from and why a moviegoer might choose to buy a ticket to a film called murder party. It has one purpose – entertain and challenge the keenest of murder mystery fans – and it delivers on that promise.

A French farce that revels in the tropes of its delicious genre, murder party owes almost everything to all of its predecessors. There’s the obvious one, Knives Outaping even its distinct font in the movie’s marketing.

But there’s a raft of influences ranging from Alfred Hitchcock to Cluedoand its full embrace of the thrills and conventions of all that came before is why murder party is such a charming and entertaining little movie.

Architect Jeanne (Alice Pol) is called to the isolated country estate of a games empire family to present her vision for their grand renovations. Upon arriving, she realizes the family – patriarch Cesar (Eddy Mitchell), his son Theo (Pablo Pauly), his daughter Lena (Sarah Stern), his wife Salome (Pascale Arbillot), his sister Jo (Miou-Miou) and butler Armand (Gustave Kervern) – are all a bit kooky.

When Cesar drops dead, seemingly poisoned, the murder mystery game the family were engaged in, kicks in for real. A voice over a PA tells them that they must play a series of games to uncover the killer. If they guess correctly, they’ll be freed. If they’re wrong, they’ll be killed. If they don’t play at all, also dead.

The reserved Jeanne is a reluctant joiner but the quest for survival is a great motivator.

There is so much here for genre fans to drink in. There’s the conspicuous hat-tip to the godmother of closed house mysteries, Agatha Christie, with its ensemble of cloistered characters and limited suspects running around a baroque mansion.

The use of bold flashing color evokes Vertigo while the outsider among the games empire family recalls 2019 slasher comedy Ready or Not. The second game in the film is an escape room challenge while it also has flashes of fellow French dark comedy 8 women.

murder party is a cornucopia of references but rather than descend into some prosaic mishmash, it’s a clever and playful homage.

Like the Cluedo moviebeforeit, murder party clearly loves the genre and it’s inviting the audience to be part of the fun and games. And it’ll manage to keep you guessing with a few tricks you won’t see coming.

Rating: 3/5

Murder Party is in cinemas now

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Categories
Sports

Commonwealth Games 2022 schedule today, Day 3: Watch live stream and coverage as major crash in the Men’s cycling sees two hospitalized after flying into the crowd

Commonwealth Games 2022 schedule today, Day 3: Watch live stream and coverage as major crash in the Men's cycling sees two hospitalized after flying into the crowd

English Olympic champion Matt Walls has been injured after being catapulted over the barriers and into a horrified crowd in another high-speed crash at London’s velodrome.

Walls was being treated for injuries in the stands of the Lee Valley VeloPark after he was caught up in a multi-rider crash on the final lap of the Commonwealth Games 15km scratch race qualifier on Sunday.

See the horror crash unfold in the video player below

Cyclist flies into the crowd after major crash

Cyclist flies into the crowd after major crash

British Cycling reported he would be going to hospital along with another rider, Isle of Man’s Matt Bostock, who had to be taken out of the sand on a stretcher.

One man in the crowd received treatment for cuts to his arm while a young girl also received minor attention.

Spectators were left ducking for cover after Olympic omnium champion Walls, high on the banking, was sent spiraling into the air, landing in the front seating section of the arena.

England’s Matt Walls, top left, and Canada’s Derek Gee, right, go over the barrier into the crowd at Lee Valley VeloPark on day three of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Credit: AP

Walls was riding up the banking trying to avoid others who had fallen lower down, and appeared to clip another wheel before being sent flying over the top.

Stay up to date with the latest developments of the story in the article below

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Categories
Australia

Pay rise: Teachers, nurses, police officers, cleaners and public servants offered six per cent wage rise over two years

Pay rise: Teachers, nurses, police officers, cleaners and public servants offered six per cent wage rise over two years

Western Australian teachers, nurses, police officers, cleaners and public servants have been offered a six per cent wage rise over the next two years as a buffer to rising inflation.

The Western Australia government has increased its pay offer for 150,000 workers to three per cent annually for the next two years, along with an additional $2,500 cost of living payment.

Premier Mark McGowan said the move was in response to peaking inflation and would cost the budget an extra $634 million over the next four years.

“Given the current economic climate we’ve listened and reviewed our wages policy,” he wrote on social media on Sunday.

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Categories
US

Pelosi confirms trip to Asia, but no mention of Taiwan

Pelosi confirms trip to Asia, but no mention of Taiwan

BEIJNG (AP) — The speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, confirmed Sunday she will visit four Asian countries this week but made no mention of a possible stop in Taiwan that has fueled tension with Beijing, which claims the island democracy as its own territory.

Pelosi said in a statement she is leading a congressional delegation to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan to discuss trade, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, security and “democratic governance.”

Pelosi has yet to confirm news reports that she might visit Taiwan. Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against meddling in Beijing’s dealings with the island in a phone call Thursday with his American counterpart, Joe Biden.

Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make its decades-old de facto independence permanent, a step US leaders say they don’t support. Pelosi, head of one of three branches of the US government, would be the highest-ranking elected American official to visit Taiwan since then-Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997.

The Biden administration didn’t explicitly urge Pelosi to avoid Taiwan but tried to assure Beijing there was no reason to “come to blows” and that if such a visit occurred, it would signal no change in US policy.

“Under the strong leadership of President Biden, America is firmly committed to smart, strategic engagement in the region, understanding that a free and flourishing Indo-Pacific is crucial to prosperity in our nation and around the globe,” Pelosi’s statement said.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after the communists won a civil war on the mainland. Both sides say they are one country but disagree over which government is entitled to national leadership. They have no official relations but are linked by billions of dollars of trade and investment.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but maintains informal relations with the island. Washington is obliged by federal law to see that Taiwan has the means to defend itself.

Washington’s “One China policy” says it takes no position on the status of the two sides but wants their dispute resolved peacefully. Beijing promotes an alternative “One China principle” that says they are one country and the Communist Party is its leader.

Members of Congress publicly backed Pelosi’s interest in visiting Taiwan despite Chinese opposition. They want to avoid being seen as yielding to Beijing.

Beijing has given no details of how it might react if Pelosi goes to Taiwan, but the Ministry of Defense warned last week the military would take “strong measures to thwart any external interference.” The foreign ministry said, “those who play with fire will perish by it.”

The ruling party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, has flown growing numbers of fighter planes and bombers around Taiwan to intimidate the island.

“The Air Force’s multi-type fighter jets fly around the treasured island of the motherland, tempering and enhancing the ability to maintain national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” military spokesman Col. Shen Jinke said on Sunday, referring to Taiwan.

Pelosi said her delegation includes US Reps. Gregory Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Mark Takano, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs; Suzan DelBene, vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee; Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and chair of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Andy Kim, a member of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.

A visit to Taiwan would be a career capstone for Pelosi, who increasingly uses her position in Congress as a US emissary on the global stage. She has long challenged China on human rights and wanted to visit Taiwan earlier this year.

In 1991, as a new member of Congress, Pelosi irked Chinese authorities by unfurling a banner on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing commemorating those killed when the Communist Party crushed pro-democracy protests two years earlier.

“It’s important for us to show support for Taiwan,” Pelosi, a Democrat from California, told reporters this month.

But she had made clear she was not advocating US policy changes.

“None of us has ever said we’re for independence, when it comes to Taiwan,” she said. “That’s up to Taiwan to decide.”

On Friday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby tried to tamp down concerns.

“There’s no reason for it to come to that, to come to blows,” Kirby said at the White House. “There’s no reason for that because there’s been no change in American policy with respect to One China.”

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Mascaro reported from Washington.

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