The Pokemon Company recently hosted a special presentation event to unveil more about their upcoming titles on Nintendo Switch, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Some of the game’s new features raised many questions among the fans.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Pokemon is among the most famous Nintendo games. The series’s popularity led it to get multiple anime and video game adaptations. The series will now welcome the ninth and the latest generation of the series, Scarlet and Violet.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
This new game would release on November 18, 2022. Further, these two would be the first games in the series to be an open-world RPG games. Additionally, the game will introduce many new features, unlike the past game.
Pokemon Scalet and Violet won’t have level-scaling gyms
Most Pokemon games have followed a similar concept. The players have to catch and train strong Pokemon to take down eight gyms to challenge the Pokemon League to win the title of Pokemon champion. However, the upcoming two games broke free of this cycle.
The latest Pokemon Present revealed that the new game is set in the Paldea region, where players are prestigious academy students. They have three career paths in the game, one of them is the Pokemon League. So fighting the eight gyms and challenging the league is no longer a necessity.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
However, that’s not the end of gym battles. In the past games, there was a set path to challenge each gym. But this time, there is no path and order, it’s up to the player which gym they want to take on first. However, this led to the speculation that the gym leaders would send pokemon based on the trainers.
But that might not be the case, as the developers mentioned it’s up to the players if they want to start with a strong gym leader or challenge the one nearest to their location. So, the player has to be wise while picking a gym to challenge as they won’t drop or increase their level to match the player.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Undoubtedly, these new games have many new features. So, it would be fascinating to see if these new features impress or disappoint the Pokemon fans. What are your thoughts about no level-scaling in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s open gym setting?
WATCH THIS STORY: Ranking The Highest Selling Nintendo Games of All Time
Aussie teen star Callum Peters has been “robbed” of gold after another farcical judging decision at the Commonwealth Games.
The Aussie, competing in his first senior tournament, showed nothing but class after the judges scores were announced with Scotland’s Sam Hickey being awarded the victory by the narrowest of margins.
The rollercoaster middleweight final was arguably the best fight of the entire Games.
However, it was overshadowed by the controversial finish which ended in a split decision 29-28 x3, 28-29 x2.
The greatest shock was the decision from judge No. 5 Mazlan Amzah to award Hickey the final round when all the other judges gave it to Peters. Peters had dominated the final round, repeatedly landing clean shots in the final minutes. That perplexing decision to award Hickey the final round ultimately decided the fight.
Peters just had to settle for silver.
Aussie sport commentators could not believe their eyes.
Sports reporter Phil Lutton posted on Twitter Peters had been “burgled”.
“That doesn’t look right at all to me,” I posted.
“Callum Peters gets the final round on four of the five cards but it’s not enough.”
He also posted: “Fair play to Sam Hickey, very tough Scot, but Callum Peters just burgled of gold there. One point the difference in the end, Peters absolutely dominant in that final round and one of the five judges gives it to the Hickey. Boxing delivers again.”
Hickey celebrated Scotland’s first boxing gold medal since 2014.
Fox Sports reporter Alex Conrad wrote on Twitter: “Sorry, WTF? Callum Peters robbed in that final boxing. Absolutely robbed. That is mind-boggling”.
The BBC’s Thomas Duncan also said the fight could have gone either way.
“There was a hug of mutual respect in the ring between Sam Hickey and Callum Peters in the ring there. What a fight that was, and it could have gone either way,” he said.
“But Hickey of Scotland is the Commonwealth champion. He puts his hands over his face, he ca n’t believe it. The crowd go wild.”
When Peter Meijer voted to impeach Donald Trump, breaking with nearly all of his Republican colleagues in one of his first acts as a newly elected member of Congress, Democrats praised him as the kind of principled conservative his party – and the nation – desperately needed.
But this election season, as Meijer fought for his political survival against a Trump-endorsed election denier in a primary contest for a Michigan House seat, Democrats twisted the knife and helped his extremist opponent win.
It is part of a risky, and some say downright dangerous, strategy Democrats are using in races for House, Senate and governor: spending money in Republican primaries to elevate far-right candidates over more mainstream conservatives in the hope that voters will recoil from the election-denying radicals in November.
In Michigan, the gamble paid off – for now. Meijer lost after the House Democrats’ official campaign arm spent $425,000to elevate Meijer’s opponent, John Gibbs, a former Trump administration official who asserted, falsely, that Joe Biden’s victory was “simply mathematically impossible”.
It is impossible to know what impact the Democrats’ ad had on the race, but cost more than the Gibbs campaign raised.
Now, as the primary season nears its conclusion and the political battlefield takes shape, Democrats will soon learn whether the gambit was successful. While election deniers have prevailed in Republican primaries across the country without any aid from Democrats, critics say the effort has already undermined the party’s grave warnings about the threats to democracy.
“It is immoral and dangerous,” said Richard Hasen, a UCLA law professor and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project. He said the risk of miscalculation was great, particularly at a moment when the January 6 committee is attempting to show just how destructive Trump’s stolen election myth has been for American democracy.
“It’s hard for Democrats to take the high road when they’re cynically boosting some of these candidates in order to try to gain an advantage in the general election,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that what Democrats are doing is as bad as what Republicans are doing, but it still makes it objectionable.”
Meijer’s defeat has fueled a sharp debate among Democrats over the potential perils of the tactic, especially as the party warns of the risks posed by these very Republicans. But others argue it’s a necessary and calculated gamble in pursuit of keeping a dangerous party from winning power.
“If you let Republicans back in power, it is going to be those Maga Republicans who are going to take away your rights, your benefits and your freedom,” Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said, defending the strategy in a recent interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “We need to stop it.”
The president’s party historically loses ground during the midterms. Decades-high inflation and widespread frustration with leaders in Washington have dragged Joe Biden’s approval ratings to record lows, hampering Democrats’ efforts to preserve their razor-thin majorities in Congress.
The ads are ostensibly scripted as an attack – highlighting a candidate’s loyalty to Trump and their conservative views on abortion. In Michigan, for example, Democrats charged that Gibbs was “handpicked by Trump to run for Congress” and “too conservative” for the district. But when aired during a primary, the message is intended to appeal to the conservative base.
“The voters in the Republican primary had agency,” said Bill Saxton, the Democratic party chair in Kent county. “They had two choices.”
Saxton, whose county is situated in the west Michigan district, said it was now time to set aside the bickering over tactics and focus on the real threat: Gibbs’s extremism.
In 2020, Gibbs could not win Senate confirmation to direct Trump’s Office of Personnel Management over past comments he made, among them calling Democrats the party of “’Islam, gender-bending, anti-police, ‘u racist!’”.
Democrats’ efforts to pick their opponents extends far beyond a single Michigan House race. They have deployed this strategy in House, Senate and governor’s races across the country.
In Maryland, the Democratic Governors Association boosted Dan Cox, who attended the January 6 rally and called Vice-President Mike Pence a “traitor” for not stopping the congressional certification of Biden’s victory as Trump wished. He won the party’s nomination for governor. That was after Democrats’ spent millions of dollars to successfully promote the Trump-backed election denier in the Illinois Republican gubernatorial primary. Both states lean Democratic and the party is reasonably confident their candidate will prevail.
Doug Mastriano, an election denier, is the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania. His Democratic opponent of him spent big to support him in the primary. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP
The race causing the most angst is in Pennsylvania battleground. There the Democratic nominee for governor, Josh Shapiro, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in TV ads boosting the rightwing extremist Doug Mastriano – far more than the candidate spent on his own campaign. Mastriano, who attended the January 6 rally and has cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election, is now the Republican nominee in a swing state where the chief elections officer is appointed by the governor.
Polls show a tight race.
The strategy hasn’t always worked. In California, the incumbent Republican congressman David Valadao narrowly beat back a rightwing challenger despite Democratic spending on ads that highlighted his vote for him to impeach Trump.
And in Colorado, an outside group aligned with Democrats spent millions to boost an election denier who marched to the Capitol with rioters on January 6 over a relatively moderate Republican, businessman Joe O’Dea, in the race to take on the Democratic Senator Michael Bennet . O’Dea won and now the resources Democrats spent to make him unpalatable to the Republican base may help him appeal to moderate and independent swing voters.
Meddling in the opposition’s primary is not a new tactic. In 2012, Claire McCaskill, then a Democratic senator from Missouri, was facing a difficult re-election in a state where Barack Obama was deeply unpopular.
Surveying her prospective opponents, she devised a plan to lift the one she thought would be the weakest candidate, the far-right congressman Todd Akin. It worked: he won the primary, and she beat him decisively in the general.
But a decade later, she is urging caution.
“This has to be done very carefully,” she told NPR, adding: “You also have to be careful what you wish for.”
Maloney, the DCCC chair, has said the committee has a “high bar” for meddling in a Republican primary, but insisted that there are races where it “does make sense.” Still, it has become an issue for Maloney in his own primary race, where his challenger, Alessandra Biaggi, has accused him of playing “Russian roulette with our democracy”.
Some Democrats have also expressed misgivings about punishing the few Republicans willing to stand up to Trump. David Axelrod, a longtime Democratic strategist and political adviser to Barack Obama, said Democrats’ involvement in Meijer’s primary “makes them an instrument of Trump’s vengeance”.
Trump’s support has been one of the most decisive factors in choosing the party’s standard bearers, not Democrats, said David Turner, a spokesman for the Democratic Governors Association. In these races, he said Democrats seized the opportunity to expose a prospective opponent’s extremism early and pre-emptively blunt any attempt to “pivot” toward the mainstream during the general election.
Turner blamed Republican leaders for being “too cowardly to tell their voters the truth” about the 2020 election, a failure that he said ensured the success of election-deniers in the GOP’s 2022 nominating contests.
In Pennsylvania, one of Mastriano’s chief rivals was Lou Barletta, a signatory to the state’s fake elector scheme. And in Colorado, the candidate deemed more moderate won the Republican primary for governor but then selected an election denier to be her running mate.
“There aren’t any Liz Cheneys running for governor,” he said, referring to the Republican vice chair of the January 6 committee who may lose her primary over efforts to hold Trump accountable. “In terms of gubernatorial candidates, the scary part is that all these Republicans are regurgitating the same Maga talking points.”
Still, some Democrats argue that they are being held to a different standard than Republicans, who have failed to hold Trump and loyalists in Congress accountable. They say Republicans often cheer their leaders for being ruthless while Democrats are criticized for refusing to play hardball, especially when the stakes are the highest.
As a result of gerrymandering, Republican dominance of the redistricting process and historical trends, Democrats see few opportunities to flip House seats this cycle. Michigan’s third congressional district is one of them.
Gibbs has downplayed the impact of the ads, and projected confidence that he can win in November.
Hillary Scholten, the Democrat who will face him in the Michigan House race and had no involvement in the DCCC’s decision, called the focus on her party’s tactics an unwanted distraction from the issues voters care most about.
Scholten said: “It is the Republicans that decided who they wanted in their primary, and they chose John Gibbs, an extremist that embraces conspiracy theories and is way out of step with west Michigan. I’m focused on making sure he doesn’t get to Congress.”
Her newly redrawn Michigan district is considerably more favorable to Democrats this cycle than it was two years ago. And many Democrats believe Scholten, a former justice department attorney in the Obama administration who came close to beating Meijer in 2020, would have been a strong contender in a rematch.
While many are confident she can beat Gibbs, those still haunted by Trump’s against-the-odds victory in 2016 fear that in a “wave” election, Republicans deemed unelectable could be swept to power.
On the eve of his primary race, Meijer lashed Democrats in an online essay that accused them of “selling[ing] out any pretense of principle for political expediency”.
“Republican voters will be blamed if any of these candidates are ultimately elected,” Meijer wrote in an online essay published on the eve of the primary, “but there is no doubt Democrats’ fingerprints will be on the weapon. We should never forget it.”
Confronted with someone else’s wallet, most would like to think they’d drop it off to the nearest police station with the money and cards left inside.
But for one woman, the temptation of a wild night out on the town, an all-expenses-paid trip to a sex shop and pricey Qantas flights proved too strong.
University of Wollongong student Kirsten McNeice revealed her credit card was stolen and used for an extraordinary range of purchases, including bras, booze, food and sex toys.
Ms McNeice wasn’t aware of the woman’s weekend of paywaving until she looked at her bank statement earlier this week – something she now urges everyone to do more often.
The unknown woman spent more than $3,000 dollars on Ms McNeice’s card, according to bank statements seen by Daily Mail Australia.
She appeared to have made multiple trips to a popular Wollongong club, splashing cash around each time.
University of Wollongong student Kirsten McNeice (pictured) has revealed how her credit card was stolen before the thief went on a spending spree
The woman had multiple innings’ at Mr Crown (pictured) in Wollongong and spent nearly $400 at the venue
The thief’s daytime trips to Mr Crown, a public bar and nightclub, were broken up with visits to a Shellharbour bra and lingerie store and a $200 manicure.
She also ensured she would have a quick getaway when her hijinks outgrew the small industrial city – spending $876 on a Qantas ticket.
An $876 ticket would enable her to go to almost anywhere within southeast Asia and the Pacific, according to Qantas’ current offers.
The unknown woman went on a shopping spree around the retail district of Wollongong (pictured)
Ms McNeigh posted the bank records (pictured) on social media to the excitement of many University of Wollongong students
The unknown thief then parted at Mr Crown again, appearing to have ordered generously at the bar.
After leaving the pub, the woman bought a dinner at a local kebab shop with the $27 card swipe suggesting she opted for multiple kebabs or ‘snack packs’, perhaps to share with her friends.
The woman, at some point, retreated home for the evening, reloading for a Tuesday morning visit to the shops.
The mystery shopper made two matching purchases at Myer, a quick trip to Chemist Warehouse, and dropped a cool $80 at pajama store Peter Alexander.
The Wollongong grifter made an online fruit purchase before trundling down to a local Boost Juice, perhaps still craving a fruity hangover fix.
She then trekked to a quieter part of Wollongong, spending more than $400 at a discreet sex store, the Adult Warehouse, in the west of the city.
After that, her spending spree appeared to come to an abrupt stop.
Ms McNeice is already on track to receive her money back she said, but the culprit is still on the run.
‘Now it’s just a matter of finding her,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Thirteen rounds of drinks for your girlfriends at Mr Crown followed by a snack pack at King Kebabs? Respect.’
Ms McNeice said she believes she already had the name of the woman behind the in-and-out spree after asking a few of the businesses where the cash was spent.
Purchases made at a discreetly named company were actually for this Adult Warehouse store in the industrial area of Wollongong
Ms McNeice has left a statement with the police as they try to find the culprit.
Students in a local University of Wollongong Facebook group have followed developments in the case with interest, with one joking the episode needed to be a true crime podcast.
Ms McNeice had posted the expense sheets originally to the group, allowing the others to follow the inglorious money trail for themselves.
A later post in the group spurred a flurry of messages guessing at where the mystery woman would be by then.
‘She’s either at Mr Crown or Bras and Things, or on her way back to Mr Crown from Bras and Things,’ joked another.
‘Damn, did she get around… she wouldn’t have gotten that far on my bank card that’s for sure.’
LONDON — Fulham showed they don’t want to be in the Premier League just to make up the numbers again as they came close to beating Liverpool at Craven Cottage, with the game finishing as a 2-2 draw..
– Report: Fulham 1-0 Liverpool | Premier League table | Next Prem fixtures
Aleksandar Mitrovic, who scored 43 goals in the Championship last season, showed that at the age of 27 he might finally be ready for the Premier League. After heading home the first goal, he then won and converted a penalty to make sure the home side collected a point.
Liverpool had to rely on the old and the new, as Darwin Nunez scored their first equalizer and Mohamed Salah netted the second — and they assisted each other’s goals.
JUMP TO: Player ratings | Best/worst performers | Highlights and notable moments | Post match quotes | Keystats | Upcoming fixtures
rapid reaction
Liverpool risk losing early ground
It feels almost absurd to suggest this on the opening day of the season, but such are the standards Liverpool and Manchester City have set in recent times that dropping two points at Fulham represents an early blow in the title race.
Jurgen Klopp’s side lost only two games in the league last season and were twice behind at Craven Cottage, showing admirable tenacity to fight back.
City have a tough-looking opener at West Ham United on Sunday, but they now have a chance to establish an early advantage over their closest rivals. Liverpool spent so much of last season chasing City — the last thing they want is that same feeling early in the new campaign.
– ESPN+ guide: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, FA Cup, more (US) – Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (US only) – Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access
Nunez cameo excites… but injury problems deepen
Nunez marked his Premier League debut with a goal and an assist to salvage a point and lift a Liverpool display that was badly lacking inspiration prior to his 59th-minute introduction.
Both were fortuitous: His goal, just 13 minutes after coming on, came as he tried an improvised flick, only for Tosin Adarabioyo to turn the ball onto Nunez with the ricochet flying past Fulham goalkeeper Marek Rodak. The 23-year-old’s assist for Salah’s equalizer came as he tried to collect Trent Alexander-Arnold’s forward pass only to touch the ball into the Egyptian’s path for a tap-in. But both moments were products of his movement and energy from him. It can only be a matter of time before it starts.
Klopp was concerned about Liverpool’s injury problems before kick-off — Caoimhin Kelleher, Diogo Jota, Ibrahima Konate, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kostas Tsimikas and Curtis Jones are all unavailable — and Thiago Alcantara may now be added to that list. The midfielder limped off six minutes into the second half with what appeared to be a hamstring problem.
Alexander-Arnold caught out again
There is no doubting Alexander-Arnold is one of the best full-backs in the world with the ball at his feet, but those nagging doubts about his defensive ability will persist after being caught out for Fulham’s opening goal.
Kenny Tete’s cross was superb, but Alexander-Arnold was not alive to the danger at the back post as Mitrovic squeezed a header past Alisson.
Liverpool finished last season by losing the Champions League final to a Real Madrid goal which owed plenty to another lapse in concentration from Alexander-Arnold. It is a lesson he needs to learn, otherwise further damage will be inflicted.
player ratings
Fulham: Rodak 7, Tete 8, Adarabioyo 7, Tim Ream 8, Antonee Robinson 7, Harrison Reed 8, Joao Palhinha 7, Bobby Decordova-Reid 7, Andreas Pereira 8, Neeskens Kebano 8, Mitrovic 9. Subs: Manor Solomon 6, Tom Cairney 6, Duffy 6.
Liverpool: Alisson 6, Alexander-Arnold 6, Joel Matip 6, Virgil van Dijk 6, Andrew Robertson 7, Jordan Henderson 6, Fabinho 6, Thiago 6, Salah 7, Roberto Firmino 5, Luis Diaz 6. Subs: Harvey Elliott 7, Nunez 8, James Milner 6, Fabio Carvalho 6.
Best and worst performers
BEST: Aleksandar Mitrovic — Can I finally do it in the Premier League? On this evidence, absolutely. All-action display: superb header for the opening goal and made Virgil van Dijk look ordinary to win a penalty for the second.
WORST: Robert firmino — His place in the Liverpool side is under threat from Nunez and there was little from the Brazilian here to suggest he should keep it. Liverpool were much more threatening when he went off just before the hour mark.
“You can’t always hug the boys — we do that usually when they deserve it,” Klopp told broadcaster BT Sport. “You start the game in a specific way which was the opposite to how we wanted to start — really, completely opposite.
“We got a point for a really bad game by my side, and now it’s a question of how did it happen. I said it to my colleagues, the attitude was not right in the beginning, then we wanted to fight back but you don’t ‘t find it easy anymore.
“We never had the momentum and yeah, we could have won the game because we had then the bigger chances obviously, but that would have probably been a bit too much today.”
Key Stats (provided by ESPN Stats & Information)
This is the only the second time that Liverpool has started a Premier League season with a draw against a newly promoted side. The other was in 2006-07 when Liverpool drew 1-1 at Sheffield United and finished third.
Darwin Nunez has now scored in both of his first two games since signing from Liverpool from Benfica this summer. He is the first Liverpool player aged 23 years or younger to score in a Premier League season opener since Philippe Coutinho in 2015.
up next
Fulham: The Cottagers will be on the road next Saturday when they head north to take on Wolverhampton Wanderers, then it’s the big local derby against Brentford at Craven Cottage on Saturday, Aug. 20.
Liverpool: There’s a behind-closed-doors friendly on Sunday against Aston Villa, with Liverpool next in competitive action on consecutive Mondays, against Crystal Palace at Anfield on Monday, Aug. 15 and a trip to Manchester United on Aug. 22.
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — Ending his most recent COVID-19 isolation, President Joe Biden on Sunday left the White House for the first time since becoming infected with the coronavirus last month, settling in for a meeting with first lady Jill Biden in their home state of Delaware.
The president tested negative Saturday and Sunday, according to his doctor, clearing the way for him to emerge from an isolation that lasted longer than expected because of a rebound case of the virus.
“I’m feeling great,” Biden said before boarding Marine One outside the White House.
The Bidens were expected to spend the day in Rehoboth Beach, a popular vacation destination.
Biden originally tested positive on July 21, and he began taking the anti-viral medication Paxlovid, which is intended to decrease the likelihood of serious illness from the virus. According to his doctor, Biden’s vital signs remained normal throughout his infection, but his symptoms included a runny nose, cough, sore throat and body aches.
After isolating for several days, Biden tested negative on July 26 and July 27, when he gave a speech in the Rose Garden, telling Americans they can “live without fear” of the virus if they get booster shots, test themselves for the virus if they become sick and seek out treatments.
But Biden caught a rare rebound case of COVID-19 on July 30, forcing him to isolate again. He occasionally gave speeches from a White House balcony, such as when he marked the killing of an al-Qaida leader or a strong jobs report.
He continued to test positive until Saturday, when he received his first negative result. While the president was isolating in the White House residence, the first lady remained in Delaware.
The Bidens are scheduled to visit Kentucky on Monday to view flood damage and meet with families.
With grocery bills rapidly increasing due to supply chain issues and rising inflation, all Australians are feeling the pinch. But in remote Aboriginal communities, the situation is even more dire.
A social media post of a receipt from the Docker River store in the remote indigenous community of Kaltukatjara, in the Northern Territory – where many families already live close to the breadline – showed a 2L bottle of Pura Milk cost $9.20.
While supermarket chain Aldi has warned grocery prices will “inevitably” continue to rise after the inflation rate surged to 6.1 per cent, by comparison, at a Sydney Woolworths, the same product this week cost $3.10.
In the post from April 26, Facebook user Spirit Walker pleaded with former aboriginal affairs minister Ben Wyatt to step in to help those living in the small township, southwest of Alice Springs.
“!!!Getting close to $10 dollars to pay 2L milk out in Aboriginal communities soon!!!” he wrote. “You need to do (some) more work aboriginal affairs minister Ben Wyatt because this is going beyond the joke now uncle?
“(Help get this food price back down low again out in community.)”
He added: “Prices like this for everyday goods has been the experience for Aboriginal people since the first stores opened.”
Back in December 2021 during the Morrison government’s Food Security inquiry, Mr Wyatt said “Improving food security and making affordable, fresh and nutritious foods more available in remote indigenous communities is an important part of improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people .”
But Spirit Walker insisted since then “nothing has been done” to resolve the cost of living crisis.
The post hit a nerve on the social media platform, receiving 602 reactions, 346 shares and 183 comments, with one Facebook user branding the hefty price tag “highway robbery”, while others stated the situation was “disgusting” and a “disgrace”.
“That’s completely unfair and taking advantage of people that are living under the poverty line, it’s inhumane and as far as I am concerned it’s against basic human rights to not be able to access fairly priced food, goods and services,” one wrote.
Another commented, “I have a feeling it’s going to get a lot worse, the entire supply chain relies on a fragile system and finite energy sources. Time to decentralize again and look to community farming.”
The indigenous township of Kaltukatjara had a population of 355 at the 2006 census.
One social media user defended the store, stating: “The shop has to supply BBQs for the whole community throughout the year.
“It has to provide food hampers for Xmas and other occasions when community members need to attend other communities for funerals, etc. The shop has to pay for the bus service to get them there. The last one I knew of was $6000.
“How are these services to be provided if the shop doesn’t make a profit …”
Donna Donzow, an operations manager for the non-profit EON Foundation which helps grow and supply fresh produce to communities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, told 7NEWS.com.au she noticed a mixed salad pack was $17 in Minyerri, a town 240km southeast of Katherine, in June.
The same product cost a mere $3 at a Sydney Woolies this week.
Guardian reported that a 2021 Amsant report showed groceries were 56 per cent more expensive in remote communities than regional supermarkets in the Northern Territory due to poor quality roads and long supply chains.
According to Rob Totten, store manager of a supermarket in Maningrida, Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, the price of some food products had “gone through the roof”.
“Baked beans have gone from $29.95 to $33.80 a carton. One carton of corned beef was $151 in April and it’s now $176,” he told TheGuardian.
The Lazarus Project Sky’s time-twisting espionage series “The Lazarus Project,” starring Paapa Essiedu, has been renewed for a second season to air next year. Joe Barton (“Giri/Haji”) thought the show. The eight-part first season launched in June and became the second biggest Sky original drama of the year so far. [Source: THR]
brutal nature IDW is teaming with Latin American animation studio Anima on “Brutal Nature,” an adult animated series based on Luciano Saracino and Ariel Olivetti’s IDW comic about a collection of masks that transforms a young man into innumerable beasts and monsters. Fernando De Fuentes and Jose C. García de Letona will produce. [Source: Variety]
asphalt Radar Pictures (“Jumanji’0 and N4XT Experience are developing a driving-themed reality competition series based on Gameloft’s “Asphalt” video game series.
Gamers, car enthusiasts and adrenaline-seekers will compete to earn a spot on the track. From there, finalists will move into Asphalt House and hone their driving skills in order to face off in real-life races in their supercars. [Source: Deadline]
Fargo FX chairman John Landgraf has teased that the upcoming fifth entry in the “Fargo” anthology series is “particularly comedic” this year and much more comedic than in recent years. The new season takes place in 2019 in the upper Midwest. Juno Temple, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Jason Leigh lead the cast. [Source: THR]
The Sandman While a renewal order has yet to be handed out for Netflix’s series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s magnum opus, executive producer David S. Goyer has revealed that writing on the second season is well underway and is “going smoother” than the first season. The first season adapted stories across the first two of the ten trade paperbacks that make up the series. [Source: Den of Geek]
Chelsea got off to a positive start despite a sluggish performance in the Premier League opener as they secured a 1-0 victory against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday evening.
A quiet first half saw the home side enjoy the best share of the chances, but it was Thomas Tuchel’s side who took the lead after Abdoulaye Doucoure fouled Ben Chilwell inside the box for Jorginho to score Chelsea’s first goal of the season. The Toffees reacted well after the break as Demarai Gray found space inside the box before testing Edouard Mendy, and it was the home side who came close again to finding the equalizer but for some desperate defending.
Chelsea continued to struggle to create meaningful chances despite some substitutions that saw Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek introduced, with a cautious approach preferring to resist pressure from the home side who lost patience as the game went on. Ten minutes of added time following a medical emergency in the stands forced Chelsea to remain resolute deep into injury time, and they were able to hold on for three vital, hard-fought points.
– Premier League team-by-team guide and burning questions – O’Hanlon: Ranking the Premier League’s best players (E+) – Premier League kit ranking: Which jerseys are 2022-23’s best?
Positives
Thiago Silva and Edouard Mendy were the standout stars for Chelsea on the day, with their vital contribution in helping to earn a clean sheet.
Negatives
Chelsea’s attacking play was predictable and poor too often, which saw them struggle to create chances from open play. Thomas Tuchel must also find a way to help support Raheem Sterling, who was crowded out by the opposition.
Manager Rating (out of 10)
4 — A win for Chelsea is all that matters, but Thomas Tuchel has plenty to work on after his side’s performance today. The Blues could have easily been punished, with their style of play not doing enough to support the attack, and that is something that must be improved in the next game.
Player Rating (1-10; 10 = best, players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)
GK Edouard Mendy, 7 — A strong hand in the first half denied James Tarkowski from opening the scoring, and the Senegal international then palmed away Demarai Gray’s effort just moments into the second half.
DF Kalidou Koulibaly, 6 — The former Napoli centre-back looked positive at dealing with some defensive situations, particularly balls in the air, but an overall mixed Premier League debut for Everton could have been better with more care taken over some of his passes into midfield.
DF Thiago Silva, 8 — A vital interception that stopped a pass from Demarai Gray that would have created the best chance of the first half epitomises the 37-year-old’s defensive display on the day. Silva’s reading of the game set the standard for his team.
DF Cesar Azpilicueta, 6 — Azpilicueta kept things simple and didn’t look to make many mistakes, though he could have been closer to Thiago Silva in some moments when Everton were quickly breaking down the flank.
FM Ben Chilwell, 6 — The 25-year-old made the most of contact in the box from Abdoulaye Doucoure to win a penalty just before the break to earn maximum dividends from an instinctive run into the box.
MF Jorginho, 6 — A cool penalty saw Jorginho send Jordan Pickford the wrong way from the spot to hand Chelsea the lead. He had plenty of the ball across the 90 minutes but didn’t look to make enough interventions on the defensive side of his game.
MF N’Golo Kante, 7 — The France international broke up the play on a number of occasions. Kante was quick to stop the danger, while he kept things simple when transitioning the play forward.
FM Reece James, 5 — James regularly looked to stretch the play down the right flank, but Everton looked to counter his influence well by ensuring he was closed down. The 22-year-old picked up a needless yellow card for time-wasting before the hour mark.
FW Raheem Sterling, 6 — The England international enjoyed some promising moments in which he looked Chelsea’s brightest player going forward, but he was often left isolated and surrounded by Everton shirts.
FW Kai Havertz, 5 — An anonymous display from the Germany man who struggled to make any meaningful impact on the game.
FW Mason Mount, 5 — Mount struck a shot well early in the game to test Jordan Pickford in an otherwise quiet game for him. Astute movement helped carve a path for Chilwell to run through in the buildup to Chelsea being awarded a penalty.
Substitutions
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chilwell, 65″), 6 — A powerful run forced a foul from Vitaliy Mykolenko to give Chelsea a free kick in a dangerous area.
Christian Pulisic (Mount, 65″), 5 — The USMNT star came on for Mount just after the hour mark, but Pulisic didn’t get the service he required to make an impact.
Marc Cucurella (Koulibaly, 75″) N/R — Cucurella almost registered a debut assist with his well picked-out pass for Raheem Sterling, but the shot was blocked by Mykolenko.
Armando Broja (Havertz, 75″), N/R — Substituted in for Havertz for the final 15 minutes.
Conor Gallagher (Jorginho, 90+8″), N/R — A Chelsea debut saw Gallagher introduced for the final two minutes of the game.
Police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are working to determine if the murders of four Muslim men over the past nine months are connected, the latest of which occurred Friday night.
In a news briefing Saturday afternoon with local and federal officials, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina disclosed that a “young man who is part of the Muslim community was murdered.”
The victim’s name and the circumstances of the crime were not immediately provided. However, Medina said the killing is believed to be linked to the previous three, all of which have been described as ambush-style shootings.
“As with the previous three murders we mentioned on Thursday, there is reason to believe this death is related to those shootings,” Medina said.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, 27-year-old Muhammed Afzaal Hussain was shot and killed on Aug. 1, while 41-year-old Aftab Hussein was killed on July 26. Both were from Pakistan and members of the same mosque.
Those followed the November 2021 killing of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, a Muslim man of South Asian descent. Ahmadi was killed behind a market and cafe he owned with his brother.
Authorities Saturday did not release any suspect information, nor would they confirm if the murders were believed to be hate crimes.
“At this point, we don’t know that,” Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallego told reporters.
New Mexico State Police, the FBI and the US Marshals Service are among several agencies involved in investigating the killings. Medina said that overtime caps for officers have been lifted in order to allow the department to increase its patrols.
“I would like to assure those members of the Muslim community that we are devoted resources, but we also would like them to remain vigilant, watch out for one another,” Medina said.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham tweeted Saturday evening that she was deploying extra state police officers to Albuquerque to assist in the investigation.
“The targeted killings of Muslim residents of Albuquerque is deeply angering and wholly intolerable,” Grisham wrote. “I am sending additional state police officers to Albuquerque to work in close coordination with APD and the FBI to bring the killer or killers to justice – and they WILL be found.”
Grisham, Albuquerque’s mayor and civil rights groups have raised concerns, saying violence against members of the community based on race or religion will not be tolerated.
“The community certainly is in need of understanding the egregiousness of the conduct displayed in all three of these shootings,” Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico, said at a news conference Thursday. “If it’s true that we were targeted as Muslims, then they need to be very vigilant in protecting themselves and taking measures of precaution. They need to watch out for their surroundings.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations also announced Saturday that it is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
“This tragedy is impacting not only the Muslim community – but all Americans,” CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad said in a statement Saturday. “We must be united against hate and violence regardless of the race, faith or background of the victims or the perpetrators. We urge anyone with information about these crimes to come forward by contacting law enforcement.”
