Month: August 2022

Categories
US

Two men attacked in DC probed as possible hate crime: cops

Two men attacked in DC probed as possible hate crime: cops

Two men in Washington DC were attacked in a potential hate crime by assailants who allegedly used an anti-gay slur and referenced “monkeypox,” authorities said.

Metropolitan Police Department said the pair of hateful suspects approached the victims and made derogatory comments “based on their sexual orientation” around 7 pm Sunday.

The suspects called the couple “monkeypox f—–s” and punched them several times, according to an ABC story, which cited an incident report.

The victims were rushed to nearby hospitals, police said.

Police on Tuesday announced it was “investigating this offense as potentially being motivated by hate or bias.”

One of the victims told NBC Washington that he didn’t immediately realize the extent of what happened.

“One of them comes up to me and punches me in the jaw, giving me a gash right here that needed about three stitches,” Antonio, who requested anonymity, told the outlet.

“I started noticing that I’m covered in blood. I didn’t realize how bad my lip was until other people saw it. I thought it was just, you know, a cut on my face,” the victim added to the outlet.

Two suspects are accused of assaulting and hurling homophobic slurs at two men in Washington, DC.
Two suspects are accused of assaulting and hurling homophobic slurs at two men in Washington, DC.
MPD
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced police is investigating the alleged hate crime.
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced police is investigating the alleged hate crime.
WUSA
One of the victim's shirts was full of blood after punched multiple times.
One of the victim’s shirts was full of blood after being punched multiple times.
WUSA

“The first moment, I was just angry and I was just like, ‘What kind of ignorance is this?’” Antonio recalled. But he told the outlet he was “not shocked” by the apparent motivation for the assault.

“I think it’s been a buildup over the last couple of months and years of conversations we’ve had about LGBTQ people,” I explained. “It can happen here.”

DC Major Muriel Bowser, in a statement posted on Twittersaid she was “extremely disturbed” by the possible hate crime.

Authorities in Washington, DC are looking for suspects believed to be involved in a hate crime.
Washington DC authorities have declared the assaults a hate crime.
WUSA
A victim named Antonio was punched in the jaw.
A victim named Antonio was punched in the jaw.
WUSA

“I want to send my support to the victims,” Bowser said Tuesday. “Whenever a hate crime happens in our city, it is our collective responsibility to understand the role we each play in building a safer community for every person who lives in and visits DC”

The city’s police department’s LGBT Liaison Unit is “part of” the probe, according to the mayor.

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Categories
Business

Cost of negative gearing tax breaks to rise, economists say

Cost of negative gearing tax breaks to rise, economists say

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we got to $5 to $6 billion per annum in net rental incomes, but it won’t go back to previous highs,” he said, adding that it would peak when the average variable rate hits 6 per cent and flow through in the 2023-24 financial year.

He said the cost of negative gearing dropped to a low in 2019-20 due to declining variable mortgage rates and a slowdown in investor lending after macroprudential measures.

But with rates on the rise again that rental income losses is tipped to climb again, experts say.

But with rates on the rise again that rental income losses is tipped to climb again, experts say.Credit:Rhett Wyman

While the current strength of the rental market would help partly offset negative gearing claims, an increasing number of investors piled into the market during the pandemic property boom at significantly higher levels of debt too, Oliver said.

“A 10 per cent rise in rents will partly offset the increased loss of the property of higher rates but if interest rates double it doesn’t nearly offset that increase in interest costs,” he said.

“It’s the same question as ‘will rising wages offset the cost of rising cost for owner occupiers?’ Partly but not much. The rents and wages are going up but when you see a doubling in interest rate costs they’re not going to keep up with that.”

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Independent economist Saul Eslake said the combination of negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount would cost taxpayers significantly in coming years as the tax settings encourage property investors to defer and permanently reduce tax.

“With interest rates rising the probability is more landlords will start reporting losses again and those who do will report bigger ones,” Eslake said.

He said defenders of negative gearing fail to highlight that it is overwhelmingly used by the wealthy to reduce their tax.

“Someone in the top tax bracket is more than three times as likely to be a negatively geared landlord as someone who has taxable income of less than $90,000,” he said.

“It is primarily used by people in the top tax bracket either to get them out or to reduce the amount they pay at the top rate.”

The federal government has ruled out changing negative gearing tax concessions.

The federal government has ruled out changing negative gearing tax concessions.Credit:Peter Rae

Eslake said while it would be in bad faith for the federal government to break their election promise this term, it should be revisited in the next as it would be a fair and equitable budget repair measure in the long term and a policy decision that already lags international standards as the conservative Reagan administration in the US and David Cameron’s government in the UK had already abolished it in the 1980s and 2015, respectively.

“The irony is this is portrayed as a left-wing thing to do. Scaling back tax privileges enjoyed by property investors is not the exclusive preserve of left-wing governments.”

Grattan Institute economic policy program director Brendan Coates said it was inevitable negative gearing would increase.

“It will cost the federal government substantially as interest rates rise. They’ve been going down over time as rates over time have decreased,” Coates said.

Abolishing negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts are some of the easiest measures for budget repair, Coates said.

“The interaction of those two distorted investment decisions, those tax breaks which largely benefit the wealthy, are substantial budgetary costs,” he said.

“One less renter is one more first home buyer which is policy objective in its own right.”

Categories
Technology

Japanese Pixel Art Adventure Tokyo Stories Looks Very Cool

Japanese Pixel Art Adventure Tokyo Stories Looks Very Cool

BitSummit, Japan’s leading indie games event, was held over the weekend in Kyoto, and among the games showcased was one called Tokyo Stories that you have really got my attention.

Developed by Drecom, who are normally in the business of making phone games, it’s a moody adventure game set in Tokyo where, cryptically, “The city continues to tell her story, even after her disappearance.”

The game’s trailer looks fantasticwith an art style that builds its world in 3D, then gives everything a gritty pixel art effect, before smothering it all in some incredibly moody lighting:

Tokyo Stories [1st Promotion]

Looks amazing, right? By now though, you might also be wondering how the game actually plays, since that trailer was almost entirely made up of cinematic sequences. IGN Japan were at BitSummit, and after a hands-on demo with Tokyo Stories say that it’s built very much like a traditional PS1 game, with a fixed camera perspective that your 3D character walks around in, with most of your time spent simply wandering the city’s streets (you’re locked to a walking speed), exploring and learning about the world around you.

This might be a long shot for older heads here, but if anyone remembers the 2013 PS3 exclusive Rain, you might see some similarities here, and with good reason. Lead development on Tokyo Stories is Yuki Ikeda, who was also director on Rainand having been working on various projects at Drecom, this is his first all-new game in a decade.

Tokyo Stories is currently slated for PC and “consoles,” with a release date planned for sometime in 2023. If you want to see more on the game, its official Instagram account has some smaller clipsincluding one that shows how the game’s unique look is achieved:

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Categories
Sports

Star jockey Frankie Dettori to ride Verry Elleegant in her European debut

Verry Elleegant is edging closer to her European debut. Picture: Reg Ryan-Racing Photos via Getty Images

Sokolski thrilled with Dettori coup for Verry Elleegant

Verry Elleegant is edging closer to her European debut. Picture: Reg Ryan-Racing Photos via Getty Images Verry Elleegant is edging closer to her European debut. Picture: Reg Ryan-Racing Photos via Getty Images

“Frankie finally gets to ride a Melbourne Cup winner!”

This was the quip from Brae Sokolski, part-owner of Verry Elleegant, as he confirmed Frankie Dettori will ride his champion mare in her European debut later this month.

Verry Elleegant, winner of the 2021 Melbourne Cup and Australia’s reigning Horse of the Year, is due to have her first run for new trainer Francis-Henri Graffard in the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet (2000m) at Deauville on August 21.

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Dettori, the most famous jockey in world racing, has had a celebrated career in the saddle but the Melbourne Cup has proven frustratingly elusive.

He has ridden in the Flemington two-miler 17 times with seconds on Central Park (1999) and Max Dynamite (2016) his best results.

But Sokolski said it was a coup to secure Dettori to ride Verry Elleegant.

“We have the King (Dettori) and Queen (Verry Elleegant) combining – there is a real ‘romantic’ aspect to it,” Sokolski said.

“Frankie is getting towards the end of his career as our mare is, too.”

Brae Sokolski visiting Verry Elleegant at trainer Francis-Henri Graffard’s training base at Chantilly. Picture: Supplied

Sokolski said Dettori won’t get an opportunity to ride Verry Elleegant before the Deauville race.

“Ideally, we would have him aboard her for her final serious gallop but it is not going to happen,” Sokolski said.

“But Frankie has the experience and Verry Elleegant is a much more mature mare now.

“As a young horse, she was difficult to handle but she is quite relaxed now so it should be an issue.”

Sokolski recently spent time at Graffard’s training base at Chantilly and reported Verry Elleegant has quickly adapted to her new training environment.

But Sokolski conceded a lot hinges on Verry Elleegant racing at her best in the Prix Jean Romanet.

“It is somewhat sobering because she has to perform now,” Sokolski said.

“Verry Elleegant is up to a middle distance and we know how good she is over this trip, she never runs a poor race.

“So, if she doesn’t perform then we are going to be confronted with a pretty stark decision very quickly – but this mare has always produced when it mattered.”

Verry Elleegant, winner of 11 Group 1 races and nearly $15m prizemoney, is now a seven-year-old mare and is in the twilight of her race career.

Ascot Races

Frankie Dettori will ride Verry Elleegant. Picture: Alan Crowhurst-Getty Images

But Sokolski said the feedback from Graffard in recent days was very positive after plans to run Verry Elleegant first-up at 1600m earlier this month were aborted.

“Francis wasn’t sufficiently pleased enough with Verry Elleegant to run her before now, even last week he was a little bit reserved about how she was going,” Sokolski said.

“But I spoke with him yesterday (Tuesday) and he is absolutely thrilled with the mare. He believes he has got her on song for this first-up assignment. If she runs well, we are very much on track.”

Sokolski’s long-term aim is to run Verry Elleegant in Europe’s most prestigious race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2400m) at Longchamp in early October.

Categories
Australia

SA support service combatting workplace sexual harassment gets $2 million funding boost

Sexual harassment victim Tessa Milford-Behn looks out a window.

Tessa Jones* was forced to give up a job she loved after a prolonged and traumatizing experience of sexual harassment.

The 28-year-old said her complaints went nowhere because her alleged harasser was a senior staff member who laughed when she asked him to respect boundaries.

“I just kept saying, ‘stop’ and kept saying, ‘I can’t take this anymore’ and there was no change in behaviour,” she told ABC News.

“Dealing with it was really, really difficult because I was so young, I had no tools to deal with it and I didn’t understand what was going on and why.

“I trusted this person completely — it was a bit of a nightmare.”

Ms Jones — who is now a self-employed creative director — turned to the Working Women’s Center in Adelaide for support after deciding to leave the toxic working environment.

“For me, I had to go through this, I couldn’t go around it, I couldn’t ignore it. I had to go straight through it and the center helped me do that,” she said.

The South Australian Government will give the center $2 million over the next three years so it can employ more lawyers as its caseload continues to increase.

SA Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the funding was “really important” and aligned with recommendations made by federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins during her 2021 review.

“Many women don’t just suffer sexual harassment at work, there’s often underpayment of wages so it’s critically important that women have a resource like the Working Women’s Centre,” he said.

Abbey Kendall stands in front of a park bench and a tree.
Working Women’s Center director Abbey Kendall says the funding will help employ more lawyers for the service.(Supplied)

Center director Abbey Kendall said demand for the service was “huge”.

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Categories
US

AP FACT CHECK: GOP skews budget bill’s impact on IRS, taxes

AP FACT CHECK: GOP skews budget bill's impact on IRS, taxes

Republican politicians and candidates are distorting how a major economic bill passed over the weekend by the Senate would reform the IRS and affect taxes for the middle class.

The “Inflation Reduction Act,” which awaits a House vote after passing in the Senate on Sunday, it would increase the ranks of the IRS, but it would not create a mob of armed auditors looking to harass middle-class taxpayers, as some Republicans are claiming.

While experts say corporate tax increases could indirectly burden people in the middle class, claims that they will face higher taxes are not supported by what is in the legislation.

A look at some of the claims about the package that emerged from a deal negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va.:

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY, R-CALIF.: “Do you make $75,000 or less? Democrats’ new army of 87,000 IRS agents will be coming for you — with 710,000 new audits for Americans who earn less than $75k.” – Tuesday tweet.

SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS: “The Manchin-Schumer bill will create 87,000 new IRS agents to target regular, everyday Americans.” —Friday tweet.

THE FACTS: That’s misleading. Last year, before the bill emerged, the Treasury Department had proposed a plan to hire roughly that many IRS employees over the next decade if it got the money. The IRS will be releasing final numbers for its hiring plans in the coming months, according to a Treasury official. But those employees will not all be hired at the same time, they will not all be auditors and many will be replacing employees who are expected to quit or retire, experts and officials say.

The IRS currently has about 80,000 employees, including clerical workers, customer service representatives, enforcement officials, and others. The agency has lost roughly 50,000 employees over the past five years due to attrition, according to the IRS. More than half of IRS employees who work in enforcement are currently eligible for retirement, said Natasha Sarin, the Treasury Department’s counselor for tax policy and implementation.

Budget cuts, mostly demanded by Republicans, have also diminished the ranks of enforcement staff, which fell roughly 30% since 2010 despite the fact that the filing population has increased. The IRS-related money in the Inflation Reduction Act is intended to boost efforts against high-end tax evasion, Sarin said.

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The nearly $80 billion for the IRS in the bill will also pay for other improvements, such as revamping the agency’s technology, said Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center and former Treasury official.

The Treasury says it will hire experienced auditors and workers who will improve taxpayer services, and that audit rates for those earning less than $400,000 are not expected to rise in relation to historical norms.

So that’s a long way from hiring 87,000 “agents” to go after average people in the United States, as the GOP claims have it. In any case, the bill has not mandated to hire that many people.

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REP. TROY NEHLS, R-TEXAS: “Americans asked for lower inflation and the Democrats gave us an armed IRS shadow army to spy on your bank accounts.” —Sunday tweet.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE. R-Ga.: “It’s going to hire 87,000 new IRS agents and it’s going to arm — as in guns, you know, Democrats are always upset about guns — 70,000 of these IRS agents.” — at the Conservative Political Action Conference, in an interview with the conservative Canadian news magazine The Post Millennial.

THE FACTS: That’s false. The bill will not create any such army, officials and experts say. Only some IRS employees who work on criminal investigations carry firearms as part of their work.

A division of the IRS called criminal investigation serves as the agency’s law enforcement branch. Its agents, who work on issues such as seizing illicit crypto currency and Russian oligarchs’ assets, carry weapons, Sarin said.

There were just more than 2,000 such special agents working at the IRS in 2021, according to agency documents. The branch will get money from the Inflation Reduction Act, but the bulk of the dollars will go toward other areas, according to Sarin.

The bill does not designate money specifically for a large number of armed IRS employees.

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NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE ADAM LAXALT, criticizing his opponent, Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto: “.@CortezMasto just voted to raise taxes for Nevadans making as low as $30k/year.” —Sunday tweet.

THE FACTS: Nothing in the bill raises taxes on people earning less than $400,000, contrary to Laxalt’s claims. There are no individual tax rate increases for anyone in the bill, experts say.

It’s possible, though, that the bill’s new corporate taxes, including a minimum 15% tax for large corporations, could cause indirect economic impacts. A report from the Joint Committee on Taxation said some people who make less than $400,000 might see such impacts.

“Economists are generally in agreement that the corporate income tax is borne not just by the businesses, but also by shareholders and by workers,” Holtzblatt said. “So that tax that gets imposed on the corporation, some of that might end up getting shifted to workers in the form of lower wages.”

Added Garrett Watson, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation: “Distinguishing between whether lower after-tax incomes happen because of a direct tax hike or indirect incidence may be a distinction without a difference for many households.”

However, supporters of the bill did not vote for tax increases on people earning $30,000, as Laxalt claimed.

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Associated Press writer Karena Phan in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.

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Find AP Fact Checks at http://apnews.com/APFactCheck

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

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Categories
Business

Report pinpoints Australian capital city neighborhoods worst hit by mortgage stress

In what will be grim reading for some, a property report has zeroed in on the specific Aussie postcodes set to face the worst mortgage stress over the coming months.
More than 1.8 million households are currently in mortgage stress, the report claimed, and that number will spiral with more Reserve Bank rate hikes likely on the way.
A general view of housing construction in the outer Melbourne suburb of Sunbury
Many homeowners are being forced to tighten their belts following the Reserve Bank of Australia hiking interest rates four times in as many months. (Paul Rovere)

Both low-income suburbs and affluent neighborhoods were flagged in the report.

Paul Feeney, chief executive of Otivo, told 9news.com.au he expects another 300,000 households will fall into mortgage stress over the next 12 months if interest rates rise by another one per cent, which is widely anticipated.

“That’s when I think the pressure will really hit,” he said.

“Particularly if inflation keeps going up and wages don’t increase.”

Should Feeney’s prediction materialize, more than half of all Australian households with a mortgage would be in mortgage stress, up to 54 per cent from the current 45 per cent.

Even if households scramble to cope with the steep repayments, Feeney said the level of stress and anxiety inside countless Aussie homes will be significant.

“It is worrying,” he said.

The most vulnerable postcodes fell into “two distinct groups,” Feeney said, lower income households and higher-earning suburbs.

Feeney said he was “very surprised” to see some of Australia’s “more well-off suburbs” now under pressure, including parts of the eastern suburbs in Sydney, inner Melbourne and upscale areas of Perth.

Four-straight RBA hikes was “eating” into people’s surplus savings, he said.

For many, wages have remained static or gone backwards because of rising inflation.

“That’s why we’re seeing… the number of those in mortgage stress increasing.”

For a borrower with a $500,000 loan, the latest RBA decision meant a monthly repayment increase of $140, or an additional $472 every month since the RBA began lifting rates in May.

After August’s announcement, a person with a $750,000 loan is paying an extra $211 each month, up $708 since May.

Those with a $1 million mortgage are paying $281 more each month, which equates to an eye-watering $944 increase.

For its report, which surveyed the cashflows of 52,000 households nationally, Otivo highlighted three postcodes in each capital city set to feel the biggest impact from the most recent RBA announcement.

Otivo defines a household being in mortgage stress when its monthly surplus is reduced to zero or runs into negative because of increased mortgage repayments.

The top three postcodes are highlighted below.

Map of affected Sydney suburbs in the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report.
In Sydney, some suburbs in the Eastern Suburbs will be among those to feel the heat of the interest rate rises. (9News / Otivo)

In Sydney, some parts of the city’s eastern suburbs who have traditionally had very few households with mortgage stress will now begin to feel the heat of interest rate rises.

Suburbs like Chifley, Eastgardens, Hillsdale, La Perouse, Little Bay, Malabar, Matraville, Phillip Bay, Port Botany have gone from 0 per cent mortgage stress to 43 per cent in mortgage stress, the report said.

Map of affected Melbourne suburbs in the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report.
The three Melbourne post codes flagged in the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report. (9News / Otivo)

In Melbourne, the report projected suburbs in the inner-south will be hit hardest.

Many of those suburbs have never suffered mortgage stress, but they will now begin to feel financial pressure over the next 12 months, the report concluded.

Map of affected Brisbane suburbs in the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report.
The top-three hardest hit Brisbane suburbs highlighted in the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report. (9News / Otivo)

In Brisbane, suburbs in Ipswich including Brookfield, Chapel Hill, Fig Tree Pocket, Kenmore, Kenmore Hills, Pinjarra Hills, Pullenvale, Upper Brookfield face mortgage challenges.

The latest RBA hike has led to almost 52 per cent of households in these suburbs falling into mortgage stress, according to the Otivo report

Map of affected Perth suburbs in the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report.
The parts of Perth affected most by RBA interest rate hikes, according to the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report. (9News / Otivo)

Some of Perth’s most affluent suburbs in the prestigious south-west will soon be hit with mortgage stress, the report warned.

Almost 59 per cent of households in postcode 6153 (Applecross, Ardross, Brentwood, Mount Pleasant) will be buffeted by the most recent RBA interest rate announcement.

Map of affected Adelaide suburbs in the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report.
These Adelaide neighborhoods are set to feel the pinch of RBA hikes the most, according to the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report. (9News / Otivo)

In Adelaide, postcodes in the west are set to suffer with rising monthly repayments, because of recent RBA decisions.

Map of affected Hobart suburbs in the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report.
Areas in Hobart predicted to be among the worst affected by mortgage stress in the Otivo Mortgage Stress Report. (9News / Otivo)

The three post codes worst affected in Hobart lie in the city’s north and central neighbourhoods.

Categories
Technology

Only A Computer Could Do This Super Mario Bros. Trick — Until Now

Only A Computer Could Do This Super Mario Bros. Trick — Until Now

the Super Mario Bros. speedrunning community is constantly looking for new ways to push the state of the art, and one player just achieved what was previously thought of as an impossible feat…at least for a human.

In 2018, speedrunner HappyLee used a computer assist to demonstrate a new method to shave a few frames off of Super Mario Bros. world 4-2. It involved using precise inputs to make Mario glitch (clip) through a row of blocks — the top row — near the start of the level, which pushed him rightward faster than ever before. Then it required a super-precise jump onto a warp pipe. The speedrunning community had assumed a full, perfect run of 4-2 using this “top clip” trick could never be performed by human means due to the sheer precision required, and luckily, it has since discovered alternate, easier methods for min-maxing 4-2. But on Monday, a speedrunner named Tole managed to perform the “top clip” 4-2 trick without computer assistance.

Here’s what’s happening: Through precise inputs, Tole made Luigi clip through the corner of the top block, touching the ground inside of the wall for one frame, and then jump out from inside of the wall. According to HappyLee’s original discovery, this maneuver should shave three frames from the run. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s particularly important in world 4-2 because of a Super Mario Bros. concept called frame rules.

Frame rules are a somewhat esoteric concept. In Super Mario Bros., the program only checks for level completion every 21 frames. Therefore, if you enter an end-of-level castle just after the most recent check, you’ll have to wait up to 20 frames for the next level to begin.

One speedrunner helpfully explains the frame rule using a bus analogy. Imagine that the castle at the end of each Super Mario Bros. level is a bus stop. The bus only arrives (the game records the player beating the level) once every 21 frames (about 0.35 seconds). So to set world records in some levels, you can’t just be faster by a tiny amount of time; you have to be fast enough to catch the previous “bus” that’s departing for the next world.

Catching the first possible bus in level 4-2, as was first demonstrated by computer-assisted runs, is sometimes called “Lightning 4-2.” That’s why HappyLee’s computer-aided trick, in which Mario saves a few frames by clipping through the top block in level 4-2, made waves: It was another way for runners to beat the frame rule and theoretically catch that first bus. Current Super Mario Bros. speedrunning champion Niftski used a similar trick in his new world-record run this past week. The difference was that he jumped underneath the block and ran inside the wall — a different method entirely, and much more practical for humans to use in real runs.

Kotaku reached out to Tole, but did not receive a comment by the time of publication.

Since there exist easier Lightning 4-2 methods, the “top clip” Lightning 4-2 Tole pulled off will probably just be for bragging rights. But speedrunners who understood the incredible difficulty at play here were suitably impressed by Tole’s feat. “Holy cow, I doubted this method’s viability for years and you pulled it off,” said one commenter. “THIS IS FUCKING INSANE,” wrote another, the emphasis theirs.

Categories
Sports

Robertson’s intentions exposed in new All Blacks coaching revelation

Robertson's intentions exposed in new All Blacks coaching revelation

New Zealand rugby reporter Robert van Royen has claimed Crusaders coach Scott Robertson is “definitely” not keen to take over the All Blacks right now.

Many believe the six-time Super Rugby title winner would be perfect for the role, having only achieved success since taking over at the franchise in 2017.

In comparison, current head coach Ian Foster has struggled with the All Blacks, with their most recent series loss to Ireland prompting many to believe Robertson’s injection would be the best way forward.

However, van Royen understands the coach is “set” on sticking with the Crusaders for the time being.

“From what I understand, yes, he definitely wasn’t keen to take the job,” van Royen said on SENZ Mornings.

“I believe before they even went and everyone was demanding a change before then that he definitely wasn’t keen at that stage.

“I also believe… even if it was offered to him a year out from the World Cup, there would have been some real thinking required to take it.

“When he signed that last contract … he basically set his sights on, ‘Look, I’m going to go for it in 2023’.”

Van Royen reiterated that should NZR look for a replacement for Foster at the close of the South African tour, Robertson would be unlikely to be in the mix.

“His mindset is set on the Crusaders until the end of next year and then if it comes up at the World Cup he gets it, if he doesn’t he goes elsewhere,” van Royen continued.

“He’s got that out clause even though he’s signed till 2024 with New Zealand Rugby, so yeah, he was really set on that.

“I haven’t been as in the loop talking to various people behind the scenes since I’ve been over here (in South Africa), but last I heard that’s definitely the case.”

Robertson is currently contracted with the Crusaders through to 2024 and has also been appointed head coach of the Barbarians FC who will take on the All Blacks XV in November.





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Categories
Australia

Victim of paedophile John Wayne Millwood alleges compensation being avoided through diving of assets

Man escorts a bride, whose identity is obscured, at a wedding.

A victim-survivor of Tasmanian paedophile John Wayne Millwood says his abuser has divested many of his assets to family members and third parties and declared himself bankrupt to avoid paying court-ordered compensation.

Millwood, 76 — a former Launceston businessman and art collector — sexually abused the survivor, known as ZAB, over a period of six years in the 1980s.

In 2021, ZAB won a civil Supreme Court case against Millwood, however, the victim-survivor said the compensation amount was now about $6 million — the original order was for a record $5,313,500 — because of interest on the unpaid amount.

ZAB said he made an application to the court to recover the compensation but was now hopeful he could recover the payment through provisions in the Bankruptcy Act.

While ZAB’s lawyers applied to the Federal Court to have Millwood declared bankrupt, before the case was due to be heard in that court, Millwood declared himself bankrupt.

According to a creditor’s petition filed with the Federal Court on behalf of ZAB, Millwood “failed to comply on or before 26 July 2022 with the requirements of a bankruptcy notice served on him on 5 July 2022”.

The case is listed for hearing on September 8, however, according to the National Personal Insolvency Index, Millwood declared himself bankrupt on July 21.

ZAB said he only found that out on August 8.

“Unfortunately, [Millwood’s] self-declaration of bankruptcy will prolong the trauma involved,” ZAB said.

ZAB said he and his lawyers had documents they planned to use in court to argue Millwood had divested assets while the civil court case was underway.

“As the major creditor — now owed $6 million in damages, costs and interest — I will, however, use the significant powers afforded under the Bankruptcy Act to claw back assets from those family members and other third parties,” he said.

“I have no doubt we will succeed in recovering the $6 million I am owed in full, and it will cost Millwood and his family far more in the long run.”

ZAB said law reform was needed “to ensure convicted paedophiles cannot avoid paying compensation to victims in this way.”

“Superannuation laws are in desperate need of reform, as they prevent us from accessing Millwood’s multi-million-dollar self-managed super funds to recover damages,” he said.

Lawyer Angela Sdrinis — who specializes in personal injury claims related to child sexual abuse — said that in her experience, successful plaintiffs often had trouble getting compensation from individual perpetrators.

“One of the things that have been flagged, but unfortunately hasn’t been acted, on was a proposal that legislation be passed whereby a perpetrator’s superannuation would be made available or accessible to successful litigants in matters like these, in cases of child abuse, Ms Sdrinis said.

She said that approach would be “a pretty good start”, but said not all perpetrators had large amounts of superannuation.

John Millwood at reception.
John Millwood was barred by the Parole Board from ever returning to Launceston.(Supplied: Old Geelong Grammerians)

Another reform Ms Sdrinis suggested was to make so-called freezing orders easier to obtain.

“One of the things that can be done in criminal prosecutions is that assets can be restrained, restraining orders can be made so that the assets are held safely, pending the outcome of the criminal process,” she said.

“There’s not really an analogous process in the civil law. Claimants can make applications for what are called freezing orders, but those orders are very expensive to obtain before a court.

“The law relating to freezing orders is pretty much that you’re only likely to get a freezing order if you can prove that the disposal of assets is absolutely imminent — like a ‘for sale’ sign on a house — you really have [to have] that situation.”

Ms Sdrinis said transfers of land and other assets could be reversed by order of the court, “if the evidence is that the defendant disposed of the assets in order to avoid having to pay, but that’s a difficult, expensive and complicated process”.

Record-setting compensation in civil trial

Millwood initially pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court to multiple child sex offences. In the lead-up to his trial, he changed his plea to guilty.

He was sentenced to four years in prison and was given parole in 2019 after serving just over half of his jail time.

ZAB brought a civil action against Millwood in 2018. That case went to trial.

Millwood was unrepresented and did not make an appearance.

Chief Justice Alan Blow ordered Millwood to pay the abuse survivor a record-setting amount of $5,313,500.

In his decision, Justice Blow said the abuse “had devastating consequences for the plaintiff’s [ZAB’s] mental health”.

“His adult life has been affected by his complex post-traumatic stress disorder and his depression in practically every possible way. There are prospects for improvement, but certainly not full recovery.”

The ABC has attempted to contact Millwood through his trustee.

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