Month: August 2022

Categories
Sports

North Melbourne considering immediate AFL return for cancer survivor Ben Cunnington

North Melbourne considering immediate AFL return for cancer survivor Ben Cunnington

The prospect of throwing cancer survivor Ben Cunnington straight into the North Melbourne team to play Sydney this weekend is “really exciting” and would serve as a huge source of motivation against the top-four contenders, according to caretaker coach Leigh Adams.

Cunnington hasn’t played a senior game since round 19 last year after battling two bouts of testicular cancer that required a tumor to be surgically removed and a nine-week course of chemotherapy respectively.

The star on-baller’s return was further delayed recently by a calf strain and a bout of Covid.

While he’s more likely to line up in the VFL this weekend, if Cunnington gets through training on Thursday, he will be considered for a senior return against the Swans at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

“Pretty sure I know what his preference will be and the coach’s preference, it’ll just be what’s best for his body going forward,” Adams said at Arden Street on Wednesday.

“But at this time of year, it’s a great story for us, for the motivation of the group and the footy club, really.

“It’s been an amazing journey which will hopefully be capped off very soon.

“The last thing we want to do is put him in there and he breaks down and then he’s out for the rest of the year.

“We’re thinking it’s probably going to be the VFL even though we’d probably love it to be straight back in (the senior team).

“Deep down I know he’d love to play seniors, particularly being a game in Melbourne this weekend and we travel next weekend, so to have his support network and his family that have been through so much with him to be at the game would be fantastic.

“But … it’s only an hour flight to Adelaide (for the game against the Crows in round 22), take his family over there so it’s not too far.”

Adams admitted Cunnington had left a void in the North Melbourne midfield for the past 12 months that the Roos had struggled to fill. The bottom-ranked club remains on course for back-to-back wooden spoons for the first time in 87 years.

Paul Curtis and Aaron Hall are pressing for senior recalls after missing last week due to Covid, but Jack Mahony and Lachie Young will be line ball as they entered protocols on Sunday, which means they would exit them on game day.

Super coach Alastair Clarkson continues to be linked to North’s vacant senior coaching position for next season and Adams was excited by the possibility of the four-time premiership mentor signing on.

“The credibility as a footy club that would be gained by bringing in someone like him would be fantastic,” Adams said.

The future of Cam Zurhaar remains under a cloud after the out-of-contract forward put off talks until the end of the season, and Adams said the club would “love” the talented 24-year-old to stay at Arden Street.

“He’s obviously a fantastic player for us and a little bit of a barometer when we’re playing well,” Adams said.

And the North caretaker had similar feelings about Todd Goldstein, who is strongly rumored to be joining another club next season.

“I’ve got a soft spot for ‘Goldy’, I got drafted the same year as ‘Goldy’,” Adams said.

“I’d just love to see him be a one-club player.”

North/s 1996 premiership players will be in attendance on Sunday, and Adams said their presence would give the players an extra boost.

“It’ll be awesome,” Adams said. ”It’s exciting to have such great footy people around our footy club to impart some knowledge to our younger boys.”

Read related topics:MelbourneSydney

.

Categories
Australia

Greens will vote with Labor on climate bill, leader Adam Bandt announces

the Greens will vote with Labor to pass the government’s climate bill, leader Adam Bandt has confirmed.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, Bandt said: “The Greens have improved a weak climate bill, but the fight to stop Labor opening new coal and gas mines continues.

“And in this parliamentthe only obstacle to greater climate ambition is Labor.

“People need to be clear-eyed about the importance of this bill and that this government is bringing a bucket of water to a house fire.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has confirmed his party will vote with Labor to pass the government's climate bill.
Greens leader Adam Bandt has confirmed his party will vote with Labor to pass the government’s climate bill. (Sydney Morning Herald)

“Worse, even this smallest of steps on the road to tackling the climate emergency could be wiped out by just one of the 114 new coal and gas projects in the government’s investment pipeline.

“The fight begins now to get Labor to stop opening coal and gas mines.”

The bill updates Australia’s obligations under the Paris Agreement – committing to a 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050.

It hands authority back to the Climate Change Authority to monitor Australia’s progress, and also requires the Minister for Climate Change, Chris Bowen, to report annually to Parliament on Australia’s progress towards these targets.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he is “very confident” the bill will pass through the lower house following Bandt’s announcement.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. (9News)

“This is an opportunity to end the climate wars,” Albanese said.

He urged the Coalition to agree to the climate bill so the “whole of parliament can be on the right side of history.”

“If the Coalition decides to break with their rhetoric and actually come to the table and listen to the business community who are saying that what we need is investment certainty… investment in clean and cheap energy,” Albanese said.

Albanese also said the Coalition is “obsessed by nuclear reactors” but is ignoring “the biggest nuclear reactor of all” which he says is the sun.

“They are stuck in the past, they are frozen in time while the world warms around them,” he said.

“We will not be held hostage to that behaviour, we will continue to advance our agenda.”

On Tuesday, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the Coalition would push for a debate about pivoting to nuclear energy after deciding to vote against the government’s climate bill.

What sea level rise will look like around the globe

The opposition said it was “high time” to have a debate about nuclear energy.

Dutton claimed nuclear energy could contribute to Australia’s energy security and reduce rising power prices.

Following today’s developments, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said today is a “good day for Australia”, the economy and “the future” as the government embarks on passing its climate bill.

“The climate wars may not be over, but they are certainly in retreat,” Bowen said.

Bowen echoed Albanese’s confidence that the bill will pass through the lower house after Greens leader Bandt confirmed the party would vote with Labor.

“We do not need this legislation to get on with the agenda but we wanted the legislation to send the message to the world that Australia is open to business when it comes to renewable energy,” he said.

Categories
US

Water levels ‘nearing the brim’ as sea level rise brings higher tides

A pickup truck throws a wake during high tide flooding in Scituate, Mass., in October 2021. National Ocean Service officials say such flooding is occurring at least twice as often as it did in 2000.

Categories
Business

Mum Lisa Fulmore defends are held over shooting of McDonald’s worker

Mum Lisa Fulmore defends are held over shooting of McDonald's worker

The mum of a man held in the shooting of a New York City McDonald’s worker over cold fries says that her son told her he did what he had to do.

Lisa Fulmore, 40, revealed her 20-year-old son’s chilling comments to the New York Post while describing exactly what led up to Monday night’s shooting that left a 23-year-old fast-food employee clinging to life.

“I talked to my son with the cops. My son is just saying that he gotta do what he gotta do and the [victim] came after him and whatever happened, happened,” she said.

The mother of three boys said the incident unfolded after she ordered McDonald’s on her mobile app and went to the Bedford-Stuyvesant eatery in Brooklyn around 7pm to pick up her food, which included fries.

“The fries were cold,” Fulmore said. “I asked the girl to change the French fries because the fries were cold. She went to the French fry machine for maybe 10 seconds and brought back fries, so I thought they were new fries, so I had left.

“So I taste the fries, and after I got to the third one, it was a cold fry still. So I went back to take the food back.

“I asked her, ‘Why would you give me the same fries and just put one or two on top to make me think that you gave me new fries?’ She started laughing, and all of them started laughing, acting like it’s funny,” Fulmore said.

“I was like, ‘What’s funny? I paid for food and I should get what I asked for.’ They laughed at me.

“One of them was like, ‘All of this over fries?’ So now I’m arguing with them back and forth.”

Referring to the worker who was later shot, Fulmore said: “The boy where they cook the food at was like, ‘You got all this food in your teeth.’

“So I said, ‘You wanna take it out? You’re saying I got all this food in my teeth, you wanna take it out?’”

Fulmore said she asked to speak to their boss and the workers said the manager had stepped out.

“Everybody started laughing again,” she said.

“This is when I was on the phone with my son. I was like, ‘They in this McDonald’s playing with me.’ I was like, I got kids their age, I’m not going to sit here and keep arguing with these little kids. He was like, ‘I’m coming down the block.’

“I was like, ‘Alright.’ … Then I told him, ‘No, don’t come to McDonald’s because I don’t want you to get in trouble.’”

But she said her son was already at the restaurant.

“He was like, ‘I’m coming in.’ So I came in. I heard them saying stuff to me, so he was like, ‘You all gotta back off my mother.’

Again referring to the worker later shot, Fulmore said: “My son said, ‘come outside’ to the boy in the back.”

The employee did not exit the restaurant at that point and Fulmore said she then told her son to just leave “because I didn’t want him to get in trouble”.

“So I’m thinking my son was gone,” she said. “I’m thinking it was over because my son left the store.”

According to Fulmore, 10 or 15 minutes later the male worker came over to her asking: “Where your son at?”

She said she told him her son left and to mind his own business.

“He went looking for my son,” she said. “The next thing you know, maybe like 10 minutes later, you hear a gunshot. So I ran to the door. I said, ‘Who’s shooting?’”

She said someone replied, “Your son.”

“I looked, and I saw a boy on the ground, and then I saw my son running the other way. I called 911 and then I sat there and waited.”

When asked if her son had a gun, Fulmore said she didn’t know, adding, “I don’t even know if my son did that,” referring to the shooting.

“The only thing I know is that my son was arguing with the boy and the boy did go out looking for my son.”

She said the victim changed his shirt at one point, “and he had something under the blue shirt, that’s why he put the big blue shirt on”.

Law-enforcement sources said the victim had no prior arrests and there was no indication he was carrying a weapon when he was killed.

But Fulmore, referring to the critically injured worker, said: “There was no reason for him to go outside looking for somebody. Whatever happened outside, you caused that to happen.”

Fulmore’s son is in police custody but has not been charged in the shooting.

He has been previously arrested several times, including for grand larceny in 2019 and assault and theft of service in 2018, police sources said. He also has numerous sealed arrest cases, they said.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Kate Sheehy

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

.

Categories
Entertainment

Edward Cullen cardboard cut-out stolen from Cinema Nova in Melbourne

Edward Cullen cardboard cut-out stolen from Cinema Nova in Melbourne

It’s unclear whether the theft was planned ahead of time or a spur-of-the-moment decision, though either way the heist was well executed. “It looks to me like they were watching when someone was distracted,” Fenwick Elliot said. “They had lookouts on the stairs, and then they were watching the candy bar. When they knew that [the staff] they were busy serving, they grabbed it and made a run for it.”

CCTV footage seen by cinema employees points to four young women, presumably Edward Cullen fans, as the perpetrators.

News of the theft was posted on the cinema’s Instagram, prompting an unexpected wave of messages, responses, theories and commiserations.

“Whoever stole this is on my list because I wanted to take a pic with him, and he was gone by then,” said one commenter.

“As if they left at 1:31am and didn’t finish all five films. Fake fans,” said another.

While the theft of a piece of cardboard is unlikely to be the biggest concern for Cinema Nova, as it adjusts to a post-lockdown world where audiences are starting to return to the movies, it has left staff feeling deflated.

loading

“It was so lovely to see the balance of the ironic enjoyment of twilight, and a really genuine joy, and I think that’s really come across with how people have reacted [to the theft],” said Fenwick Elliott. “I’ve gotten so many messages being like, ‘We’re so sorry, do you need information?’ People really care.”

So, what options are there if the thieves have a change of heart, are overcome with guilt, or simply pull from Cullen’s company? There are a few ways they can return the cut-out. Fenwick Elliott says the morning is a good time to drop it off unseen as there are few people around at that time.

“Or they could go to the back delivery door, press the buzzer and just run like hell.”

A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here.

Categories
Sports

The silver, the secret, and a baby named Birmingham: The emotional journey of Samoan weightlifter Vaipava Nevo Ioane

A weightlifter screams in joy as the weights fall to the ground.

Samoan champion weightlifter Vaipava Nevo Ioane had a heavy heart when he boarded his flight to Birmingham.

The 34-year-old was carrying a sporting secret he wasn’t sure when or where to reveal.

But even then, something much bigger was on his mind.

On top of the secret he would later reveal to his coach and teammates, his wife was pregnant and would give birth any day.

Ioane social
Nevo with his wife and three children before heading to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games.(Supplied)

She had no support back home in Apia.

Nevo had spent his last days on Samoan ground finding a babysitter to look after their three young children for when the newborn would arrive.

The thought of his wife needing him while he was on the other side of the world was nearly too much to bear.

“All I could do was pray,” Nevo said.

On top of the pressure of the secret he was keeping, and the concern for his family, Nevo also knew he had to deliver for his country and his coach, Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork.

He had to bring home a gold medal.

Coach Jerry believes the Samoan government robbed his weightlifting team by blocking travel to the Tokyo Olympics because of COVID.

He still bristles at the mention of the whole saga.

“We were denied the opportunity to go to the Tokyo Olympics. Our government shut down our borders. We had a realistic chance to win a medal,” he said.

“A missed opportunity like that doesn’t come around many times. So we’re going to Birmingham to make a statement.”

B_Samoan Weightlifting team Comm games
The Samoan weightlifting team for the Commonwealth Games, with coach Jerry Wallwork second from right.(Supplied)

The statement nobody saw coming

With competition in full swing, Nevo easily progressed to the top two for his 67kg weight category.

For gold, he would have to beat 19-year-old Indian lifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga.

“We knew it was going to be tough, especially from the Indian,” coach Jerry said.

“He had a stronger snatch, but we had a stronger jerk.”

GettyImages-1411970746
Nevo performs a snatch in Birmingham, eventually claiming silver behind his Indian opponent.

Nevo’s second attempt at the snatch was a personal best at 127kg.

His second go at the clean and jerk was a Commonwealth Games record, at 166kg.

Things were looking good, but tight. He would have to go to 174kg to win the gold, and to lift an 8kg increase would be considered akin to a miracle.

“We started with 163kg to secure bronze, then got 166kg to secure silver but we had the job of jumping to 174kg to win gold,” Jerry said.

“It was close but it didn’t pull off.

“But I got to hand it to Nevo, he fought it all the way. From the snatch to the last jerk … it was one of the best performances of his career.”

When Nevo’s 174kg failed jerk crashed to the floor, he missed out on the gold but would take home a silver medal for Samoa.

And then it was time to make a different statement.

While still on the stage, he took off his shoes and placed them neatly together on the lifting platform.

.

Categories
Australia

Drift restaurant removal after 2022 Brisbane floods cost taxpayers $3.8 million

an image of the floating restaurant drift on the Brisbane river, damaged by flood

Taxpayers have forked out $3.8 million to remove a flood-damaged restaurant from Brisbane’s Bicentennial Bikeway and river after it was damaged in this year’s floods.

The structure of the former floating restaurant known as Drift was swept onto the Bicentennial Bikeway during the late February floods.

The state government then enacted special powers to remove the 200-tonne pontoon in late March, under the Queensland Reconstruction Authority Act, which had only been exercised once before following the 2011 floods.

The state government in late March said an independent engineering report had found serious safety issues with the structure, warning “in its current state, the pontoon is considered to be at risk of immediate and sudden collapse.”

Workers in April began cutting the structure into several sections in order to remove it from the bikeway.

.

Categories
US

Couple loses dream home in Elmo Fire

Couple loses dream home in Elmo Fire

DAYTON – The Elmo Fire exploded Monday afternoon as strong winds blew the fire east forcing evacuations.

A couple from Dayton had been building their dream home for the last 18 months, they felt helpless as they watched their home go up in flames.

“We don’t know where to go…that was our life savings…we have no idea, it’s less than 24 hours so we’re trying to figure it out, we have two dogs in the car, and these are the only shoes I have so we just have to start over,” said fire victim Lisa Holett.

Lisa and Steve Holett lost their dream home in Dayton when it was destroyed by the Elmo Fire, just weeks before moving in.

“You can’t have home insurance until the home is finished, so we had construction insurance which is like that (small hand gesture) and my husband did it himself, so there’s no reimbursement for that either,” said Holett.

Lisa was set to join her husband in retirement at the end of the year. Now she’s searching for answers thinking about what could have been…and what comes next.

“And we’re too old to do it again so, that was it, we’re not doing it again.”

Brigitte Cooley who has lived in Dayton since 1993 says she can’t believe what she witnessed Monday afternoon as the Elmo Fire blew out of control.

“It moved, it moved! The smoke and the flames and the flames everywhere, here were little ones, there were little ones and pretty soon it’s almost like it was sped up, you just can’t believe it,” said Brigitte.

Brigitte is amazed by the pilots operating aircraft through the heavy smoke.

“To guide those plans through the smoke, I’ll tell you they deserve a raise, a bonus and recognition, this is like serving in the military sometimes you know, this is war, we have a war against this fire.”

Lisa hopes nobody else suffers through the pain her family has endured, as the Elmo fire rages on.

“We just watched it go up in flames, we stood here, and it was our retirement home, our dream home that we’ve been building for 18 months, and it’s gone, all of its gone,” said Holett.

Those who would like to help Lisa and Steve Holett can do so here.

Categories
Business

Telstra launches new bundle mobile plans

Telstra launches new bundle mobile plans

Telstra has announced a shake-up of its mobile plans that target families with multiple services.

The new bundle plans are available to customers with at least one service on an eligible ‘upfront’ mobile plan, with individual SIM cards that allow for additional devices.

Customers are able to add up to five of these new bundle plans to their existing accounts to connect kids’ smartphones, tablets or mobile broadband hotspots.

Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >>

The new $47 mobile bundle plans come with 15GB of data, and unlimited standard national calls and texts.

A $10 data bundle plan gives you 10GB of data and is suitable for tablets and hotspots.

This article contains affiliate links, whereby 7NEWS.com.au may earn a commission if you click on a link – at no extra cost to you.

Telstra inks five-year deal with Microsoft

Telstra and Microsoft have signed a five-year agreement they say will help accelerate Australia’s digital transformation.

The deal is also one of the largest partnerships Microsoft has established with a telecommunications provider globally.

“Our strategic partnership with Microsoft is on a scale not seen before in Australia,” Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said in a statement on Tuesday.

As pressure grows on existing networks from remote working, high-definition streaming, online education and gaming, more bandwidth is coming.

Telstra will become Microsoft’s largest supplier of its network capacity requirements on terrestrial fiber in Australia, while Microsoft will become an anchor tenant on Telstra’s new ultra-fast intercity fiber network.

Microsoft technology will be used by Telstra to pitch new solutions for the manufacturing, retail, agriculture, utilities and finance sectors.

Telstra and Microsoft have also pledged to support hybrid ways of working and to reduce the environmental footprint as the Australian economy goes digital.

The deal accelerates Telstra’s migration of its internal information technology workloads to the public cloud, with Microsoft Azure as a preferred partner of the telecom giant’s ‘multi-cloud’ approach.

Microsoft will also explore increasing its capacity on Telstra’s Asia-Pacific subsea cable network.

Through these investments, Microsoft says it will be able to achieve unparalleled connectivity across key telecommunications routes in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific region.

Microsoft and Telstra will work together over the coming months to finalize the expanded partnership.

– with Marion Rae, AAP

.

Categories
Technology

Twitter may let you add images, GIFs, and videos to a single tweet

Twitter may let you add images, GIFs, and videos to a single tweet

Twitter supports various media file formats that can be added to a tweet to make one’s views more expressive. It has limited users to one media file format per tweet so far but that appears set to change in the near future. As reported by TechCrunchTwitter has begun a new test where select users are able to share images, videos, and GIFs within a single tweet.

We first heard about the feature earlier this year when Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a), a well-known app researcher, tweeted a few screenshots showing it in action. Twitter has now officially acknowledged the existence of the feature and said that it is currently under testing with a few randomly selected users.

The official statement from the company reads,

“We’re testing a new feature with select accounts for a limited time that will allow people to mix up to four media assets into a single tweet, regardless of format. We’re seeing people have more visual conversations on Twitter and are using images , GIFS and videos to make these conversations more exciting. With this test we’re hoping to learn how people combine these different media formats to express themselves more creatively on Twitter beyond 280 characters.”

Paluzzi showed that users will be able to add images, videos, and GIFs to a single tweet the same way as they are able to add multiple files of a single media format. It means these will appear as a carousel and users will be able to tag people in photos and videos. They will also be able to rearrange the order in which the files are displayed in the tweet.

As for followers and other users on the platform, they will see these different media file formats in the form of a carousel. They can swipe through the carousel to see other medial files uploaded by the user. Here is a tweet that shows what the new functionality would look like but as of now, you can see all the different media files only on a smartphone app. We can expect the support to arrive on the web soon enough.