August 2022 – Page 846 – Michmutters

Month: August 2022

Categories
Australia

Queensland floods disaster home buy-back scheme valuations begin

More than 400 Brisbane homeowners devastated by the February floods disaster have expressed interest in having their homes bought back with valuations to begin in the next few weeks.

A further 1,300 homeowners are prepared to have their homes raised, and 1,500 want their homes rebuilt to be flood-proof.

Queensland Reconstruction Authority Chair Brendan Moon today said there remained 2000 uninhabitable properties across South East Queensland, and hundreds of people still at a loss as to how to move forward after the disaster.

The Queensland government has announced a new $750 million buy-back scheme to help those affected by flooding rebuild, sell, or flood-proof their homes.
Hundreds of Queensland homeowners want to have their flood-affected homes bought back by the government. (9News)

“There is still 600 people who are unsure of their next steps,” Moon said.

“Our approach now is very much supporting them, getting them to the right decision, one to get them back into their home as soon as possible, but also to support their decision to reduce flood-risk into the future.”

He said the QRA had identified the most damaged and highest flood risk properties but the buy-back process was voluntary and relied on the homeowner agreeing to an independent valuation of their property.

“This is a big decision for people so we are not going to rush this,” he said.

The government has set a two-year deadline for the work to be done but it’s unclear at this stage what impact the rising cost and falling supply of building materials might have.

On Saturday, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner released the Council’s Rebuild & Recover: Flood Recovery Action Plan with 51 tasks designed to ensure the city is stronger in the face of future severe weather events.

The plan lays out how and when Council will deliver on the 37 recommendations from the 2022 Flood Review report of the disaster by Paul de Jersey AC, including that riverine and waterway infrastructure be better designed, land-use in flood-prone commercial and industrial areas be reassessed, and communities be better informed.

The extraordinary rain event, which hit South East Queensland, the Northern Rivers and other parts of NSW in February and March 2022, was the second costliest in Australia’s history – worse than Cyclone Tracy in 1974 and falling only behind Sydney’s 1999 hailstorm.

Losses from the disaster totaled a record-breaking $5.134 billion, according to data released Friday by the Insurance Council of Australia.

Flood emergency unfolding across south-east Queensland and northern NSW. Looper

Watch: Scale of flood crisis demonstrated by remarkable video

A recent CSIRO megatrends report has warned the cost of natural disasters will triple over the next 30 years as a result of climate change.

“The scale and impact of the increasing likelihood of further events, as detailed in the CSIRO report, make it imperative that the rebuild and reconstruction from this flood significantly improves the resilience of these communities to future extreme weather events,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said .

Categories
US

Alarm as Arizona Republicans set to nominate election deniers for top posts | Arizona

Arizona Republicans are on the verge of nominating two of America’s most prominent election deniers for governor and secretary of state, the latest in a series of primary contests with serious consequences for America’s democracy.

Kari Lake, a former news anchor, and Mark Finchem, a state lawmaker, are running for governor and secretary of state, respectively. Both have built their campaigns around the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Both are frontrunners in their races and if elected, they would take over roles with considerable power over how elections are run and certified in a key battleground state.

The Arizona primary on Tuesday is the latest in a series of contests where candidates who have questioned the election results stand a strong chance of winning the GOP nomination for statewide office. It’s a trend that is deeply alarming, experts say, and could pave the way for Republicans to reject the result of a future election.

“It’s a dangerous time for elections because you have a couple of people who are relying on people to vote for them but then will turn around and say the election system is rigged despite the lack of any evidence as such. There’s no talk of policy or anything. It’s all looking backward to 2020,” said Barrett Marson, a Republican consultant in the state. “This issue has staying power, much to my chagrin and a lot of other people.”

Even in an era when denying election results has become Republican orthodoxy, Lake and Finchem stand out.

Lake has said she would not have certified the 2020 presidential race in Arizona, falsely claimed Joe Biden lost the state (he carried it by more than 10,000 votes), and called the election “corrupt” and “rotten”. During a rally earlier this year, she claimed nearly a dozen times in the span of an hour that the election was stolen. She has called for the imprisonment of Arizona’s top election official for her handling of the 2020 race and jailing journalists. Lake wants to end mail-in voting, widely used in Arizona, and she and Finchem have both joined a lawsuit, supported by MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell to end the use of electronic voting equipment in Arizona.

Both Mike Pence and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey have endorsed Karrin Taylor Robson, a wealthy real-estate developer, who is Lake’s most significant challenger in the polls for the nomination. In recent days, Lake has begun suggesting there is fraud underfoot to steal the election from her, but has offered no evidence to support her claim.

“We’re already detecting some fraud. I know none of you are shocked,” she said, according to the Washington Post. “We’re already detecting fraud, and believe me, we’ve got cyber folks working with us, we’ve got lots of attorneys. And I’m hoping that we have the sheriffs that will do something about it. We’ll keep you posted.” She has, however, recently encouraged her supporters to cast their votes by mail.

Taylor Robson has said the 2020 election wasn’t fair, but has stopped short of saying it was stolen. Lorna Romero, a Republican operative in the state who has worked for former Governor Jan Brewer and for John McCain, predicted that the winning candidate in the primary would be whoever could spread their message the most. About a third of voters in Arizona are not affiliated with a party and can choose to vote in either the Democratic or Republican nominating contests.

“This is populism. This is just pure populism for populism’s sake, and her desire to be popular,” said Chuck Coughlin, a Republican consultant in the state. “You have a referendum, if you will, in the governor’s race, on which part of the party are you supporting. The pragmatic, want-to-govern conservative – or Trump. You have a significant war going on there.”

Finchem is the frontrunner for the secretary of state nomination, a position from which he would oversee elections in Arizona.

Finchem was a close ally of Trump in the former president’s bid to overturn the 2020 race. Ali Alexander, a leader of the Stop the Steal movement, has credited Finchem with bringing the push to Arizona. “Arizona started with one man: State Representative Mark Finchem,” Alexander said last year.

Mark Finchem in October last year.
Mark Finchem in October last year. Photograph: Rachel Mummey/Reuters

Earlier this year, Finchem introduced a resolution to decertify the election, which is not legally possible. I have signed a joint resolution of the Arizona legislature asking Congress to accept a fake slate of electors from Arizona (a plan currently under investigation by the Justice Department). He hosted Rudy Giuliani at a Phoenix hotel after the election for an event at which the president’s lawyer lied and said Biden won the election because he received votes from undocumented people.

Finchem is also a member of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group, and was at the capitol on January 6. He has been subpoenaed by the committee investigating the capitol attack. He is a member of a network of candidates who don’t believe the results of the 2020 election seeking to be the chief election official in their state.

“Am I’m surprised that somebody who questions the 2020 election would want to run for secretary of state? No, not really,” Romero said. “His whole standpoint from him is he wants to eliminate the fraud from the system, and it’s a good talking point for him for those who believe the 2020 election was stolen.”

Secretary of state primaries are usually “sleeper” contests that few people pay attention to, Romero said. That means Trump’s endorsement is likely to be a major boost for Finchem in the race. Still, Romero said she was “disappointed” by the emphasis on a stolen election, because Republicans have a significant opportunity to appeal to voters on issues like the economy this year.

The secretary of state in Arizona is responsible for canvassing official statewide election results. Coughlin said he had little doubt Finchem would hold up certification of a race.

“He would not fall in line. He would follow the Donald Trump script of doing everything possible to be a disrupter if the election outcome is anything but what he wanted. I don’t see any go-along-to-get-along in Mark Finchem,” he said.

Until 2020, Finchem did not have much of an interest in Arizona’s election laws, and was known mostly for representing the issues of his rural district in southern Arizona. “His reputation of him was n’t great. People didn’t much like working with him,” Marson said. “He was a back-bencher is probably the best way to describe it.”

The political potency of election denialism was on display earlier this month at a rally in Arizona’s rural Prescott Valley, where Donald Trump came to stump for Lake.

Shawn Callaway, 34, a Republican party committee worker in Surprise, a small city near Phoenix, is supporting both Lake and Finchem. He supports Lake, he said, because of her efforts to halt the use of electronic voting equipment.

“It means a lot to me that she’s willing to fight against election fraud, because if our elections aren’t safe we ​​don’t have anything,” said Callaway, who bagged front row seats with his wife and parents to see Trump.

Callaway, who plans to cast his vote in person, also said he was unfazed by Finchem’s connection to the extremist Oath Keepers. “The Founding Fathers wanted us to have militia groups – it’s what keeps us free. As long as they are law-abiding, I’m fine with that,” he said.

Kelly Ciccone, 58, who moved to Maricopa county from Florida a decade ago, also said she plans to support Finchem and Lake. “It’s a plus that he’s an Oath Keeper – self-defense is everything. Guns aren’t bad: crazy people with guns are the problem,” said Ciccone, who also attended the Trump rally. “Kari Lake is pure fire. She’s a dragon, just like Trump.”

The race underscores how Arizona continues to be a hotbed of conspiracy theories about the 2020 race.

Last year, the state legislature authorized an unprecedented partisan review of the 2020 race, championed by Finchem, of the 2020 race in Maricopa county, the largest county in the state. Even though the audit affirmed Biden’s win, Lake, Finchem, and other conspiracy theorists continue to insist that something was amiss. The state Republican party recently censured Rusty Bowers, the Republican House speaker Rusty Bowers after he testified to the January 6 committee about Trump’s efforts to pressure him to overturn the election.

The Guardian also observed a focus group with five Arizona Republicans who voted for Trump in 2020, conducted as part of a series by the prominent anti-Trump Republican strategist, Sarah Longwell. The hour-long session offered a glimpse into how views of the candidates varied widely.

One woman who considers herself a moderate said she was inclined to support Lake because she grew up watching her deliver the news on TV. But for the other self-identified moderate in the group, Lake’s public persona gave her pause. Noting that Trump was also a media figure before turning to politics, she said: “I’m not certain I want to see Arizona go down that road.”

All were aware that Trump had endorsed Lake, but that wasn’t enough for some.

“I love Trump’s policies but not his rhetoric, and think Kari Lake would also be divisive when we need to come together,” said 81-year-old Arlene Bright, who attended the Trump rally in the Prescott Valley.

“We need to move on from the last election.”

Categories
Business

Five V’s big miss! Marketing tech business Metigy hits the skids

Five V's big miss! Marketing tech business Metigy hits the skids

Metigy was founded in 2015 by David Fairfull and Johnson Lin, and was named by combining the name of the Greek goddess of wisdom and thought Metis with the word strategy.

It was set up to provide small business clients with an artificial intelligence-fueled platform that could provide insights on their potential customers for marketing purposes.

A recent presentation from one of its investors said Metigy had grown revenue at more than 300 per cent in both the 2020 and 2021 financial years, and had more than 25,000 clients across 92 countries.

Investors used Metigy to show the strength of their pre-IPO investment portfolios.

Metigy has more than 30 shareholders, according to documents lodged with the corporate regulator, with the biggest investors including its founders and their associates.

However, the company picked up capital from a raft of institutional investment firms in recent years including Adrian MacKenzie and Srdjan Dangubic’s Five V Capital and Thorney Group.

$1b valuation

Five V, for example, invested $2.5 million in 2020 and another $5.3 million last year. The manager talked up Metigy’s prospects as an Australian technology sector unicorn with a valuation at $1 billion, according to a presentation given to its investors in May.

Such a valuation implied a 10-times money gain for Five V and a 508 per cent return on an IRR basis (all unrealised). That’s all looking uncertain, given Metigy’s administration. Other investors were much more cautious, carrying Metigy on their books at $500 million or less at June 30.

Investors including Five V and Thorney landed on Metigy’s share register as its backers spoke openly about targeting a float on the ASX, saying it could happen from 2022.

It is not known what prompted last week’s call to the administrators on Friday night, however investors were scrambling for answers come Monday. Staff were also dumbfounded.

The situation comes amid a stark change in fundraising conditions for private and public technology companies, both in Australia and offshore.

An inability to raise capital has sent others to the wall, including fintech Volt Bank which returned more than $100 million deposits to customers in late June and is now seeking a buyer for its assets.

Categories
Entertainment

Woman reveals on TikTok she hasn’t kissed her boyfriend of two years

Woman reveals on TikTok she hasn't kissed her boyfriend of two years

A young woman has revealed that despite being with her partner for two years, the pair have never kissed.

Kaytlin O’Neall says that she and her boyfriend Drew have not kissed once during their relationship, adding that people can be very judgmental about it.

Posting to TikTok under @kaytlin.oneall, she says people often question her about it and tell her that kissing isn’t really that big a deal and she should just do it, The Sun reported.

She’s also received lots of comments from people suggesting that her boyfriend is gay, or that they’re actually just friends, or “friends without benefits” as one commenter referred to them.

Explaining her decision, Kaytlin says she decided a year before she started dating her current boyfriend that she wanted to wait until marriage to kiss a partner.

Prior to this she had already decided to wait until marriage to have sex, due to religious reasons, but she was unsure on other aspects of romantic relationships.

After praying on it, she says she decided: “I ultimately landed on I don’t want to kiss because I wanted to save that for my future husband.

“I looked at kissing, and I have always viewed it as a very intimate thing, and for me personally I felt it wasn’t something I have to save (for marriage) – but I wanted to.”

Before the couple decided to start dating they had a conversation about their beliefs and convictions about romantic relationships. They both said they wanted to wait until marriage to kiss.

Responding to the people saying they’re just friends, Kaytlin’s boyfriend Drew says: “We were best friends and then we fell in love.

“Everything that we do is to protect and to look forward to more in the future.”

The pair then clarify that this was a mutual decision, not one that one of them is imposing on the other.

Kaytlin says she shared her story to show other people that you can do things differently if you want, adding: “You do not need to have a relationship to the standards of what the world says your relationship has to look like, and it can still be happy and balanced and prosperous.”

This story originally appeared on The Sun and has been reproduced with permission.

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Categories
Sports

‘I wanted to dig a hole and jump in it’

'I wanted to dig a hole and jump in it'

“Are you going to have nightma…”

“Yup!”

The question wasn’t even fully formed and Meg Lanning had given her answer. No, she would not be sleeping well after dropping the catch that would have handed legspinner Alana King a hat-trick, just the second for her country in women’s T20Is.

In fairness, Lanning, the Australia captain, was as good-natured as anyone could possibly be about the situation, from burying her face in the Edgbaston turf right there at slip where if you gave her 99 similar chances she’d take them, to wincing in the background as reporters quizzed King a couple of meters away afterwards about the incident and then facing up to the same journalists, knowing full well what was coming.

“I’ll have nightmares,” Lanning said. “I wanted to dig a hole and jump in it as quick as I could. I tried my best and I dropped it.”

Softening the blow somewhat was the fact that Australia had one foot in the Commonwealth Games semi-finals with Barbados 53 for 8 at that point. Barbados managed just 64 before being bowled out. Then Australia, led by Lanning’s unbeaten 21-ball 36, overhauled the target with 71 balls to spare and sealed a place in the knockout stages with one group game to go.

Asked if her innings was a response to her faux pas in the field, Lanning said: “I wasn’t overly pleased, let’s put it that way. I was just disappointed for Kingy. She was bowling so well and to let her down like that was not ideal. But that’s cricket, I guess.

“I was just keen to contribute really. I was just pouncing on some loose balls when I got them and giving myself a chance and it felt like I was able to do that.”

Deandra Dottin conceded 25 runs off her first over, the last of the powerplay, all to Lanning and extras as Australia, via their captain, accelerated after a watchful start on a slow, hybrid pitch staging its sixth match in three days. From that point, Alyssa Healy joined the fray also, moving from four runs off 14 balls to 23 not out off 24 as Australia eased to victory.

For her part, King was understanding.

“That’s cricket, right? No one means to drop a ball or anything,” King said. “It’s just the way the game goes, but I’m just happy that I could contribute in any way I can.

“Every ball I bowl, I’m trying to get a wicket so that was no different but it caught the outside edge and yeah, that’s just cricket, I guess. But I’m just really happy with how I played today.

“I felt that there was definitely a bit more bite in the wicket today. It is the sixth game on it so it’s a bit tired, a bit slow, which works into our hands a little bit.”

King entered the attack in the eighth over after Lanning had won the toss and sent in Barbados, who lost captain Hayley Matthews early for what turned out to be their top score, on 18.

King struck with her second ball, brushing the outside of Dottin’s front pad in line with middle stump as she knelt down to tuck the ball to fine leg, having faced 22 balls for her eight runs.

After Tahlia McGrath claimed the first of her three wickets when she had Kycia Knight caught by Megan Schutt at deep backward square and Ashleigh Gardner bowled a tight spell, including a double-wicket maiden to remove Kyshona Knight and Trishnan Holder, King roared back into action .

At the end of her second over, King dismissed Aaliyah Alleyne playing across a ball that pegged back leg stump. Then, with the third ball of her third over, King pinned Shakera Selman lbw and then struck Shamilia Connell on the back leg next ball. What followed as Keila Elliott’s edge somehow popped out of Lanning’s hands at first slip was the stuff of bad dreams. Fortunately for Australia, it was all right on the night.

Valkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo

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Categories
Australia

Residents of flood effected Goodna say the buy-back scheme is taking too long, Reconstruction Authority says they will not be rushed

Johann Koorts, whose house in Goodna was flooded, standing in front of his home

The owner of flood-ravaged properties south-west of Brisbane says he remains in an “awkward position” as he waits to hear whether his houses will be bought back by the government.

Flood-affected home owners in eastern parts of Goodna are being given “initial priority” for voluntary home buy-backs, with 31 owners having confirmed their interest so far.

More than five months after the February flood disaster, authorities say 4,259 people across the state have registered their interest to have their homes raised, rebuilt or voluntarily bought back under the $741 million Resilient Homes Fund.

It includes 443 home owners for voluntary buy-back, with 70 per cent of them living in Ipswich and Brisbane.

Eighteen home owners have been identified in the first tranche of the Brisbane buy-back scheme.

The state government said Goodna east has been given “initial priority” because of the extent of the disaster impact and flood risk, with valuations in Ipswich to start in mid-August.

Rubbish stacked on either side of Enid Street.
Enid Street in Goodna was devastated by flooding in February and March.(Supplied)

Resident Johann Koorts applied to be part of the buy-back scheme for the two homes he and his wife own on Enid Street today.

“We are not fixing it. We have no money to fix it,” he said.

“We could have started a month after the floods if we [had] confirmation from the government on what they were going to do.

“I’m not sure if I should be doing anything [to the house]because it is not used — the other people in the neighborhood advise, ‘You’re wasting your time and your money if you fix it’.

“It is a very awkward position to be in now.”

‘We are not going to rush’

Brendan Moon, the chief executive officer of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, said the buy-back scheme was a voluntary process and would take time.

“It relies on an independent valuation of the property to take place and that home owner agreeing to valuation of that property before they sell their house,” he said.

“This is a big decision for people so we are not going to rush this.”

Of the more than 8,000 properties impacted in the southern Queensland flooding, approximately two-thirds have either been repaired or works were underway, Mr Moon said.

Another 2,000 properties are still uninhabitable at this point in time.

“This will be a long road,” Mr Moon said.

Flooded buildings in a street in Goodna.
Queen Street in Goodna flooded severely in February.(ABC NewsAlice Pavlovic)

A key driver for work to begin was the progress of the home surveys, which tells authorities “where floodwaters have been and where they may go into the future”, he said.

“Right now we have over 3,000 underway surveys.

“This tells us the best option for those particular home owners … and will drive the outcome for those home owners.”

He said home owners should not wait for funds to be available to conduct repairs.

There are still about 600 home owners who were unsure of their next steps and “our approach now is very much supporting them getting them to the right decision.”

Asked about wider construction challenges and material shortages, Mr Moon said “these are considerations we’ve taken into account in the design of this program”.

“I think when we start to get an understanding of what the scope of works and costs associated with those works look like, I think we’ll be in a better position to make a call on those,” he said.

‘Gap’ in creek system knowledge

It comes as State Recovery Coordinator Major General Jake Ellwood delivered his report into the south-east Queensland floods detailing the recovery plan going forward.

Major General Jake Ellwood speaking at a press conference.
Major General Jake Ellwood says there was a “gap” in knowledge about south-east Queensland’s creek systems.(ABC News: Scott Kyle)

He said from visiting different communities it was clear to him “there was a feeling that there could have been more warning”.

“In some areas they felt there were gauges required, in other areas they felt the gauges might be older,” he said.

“The thing is, we have an opportunity now with technology to actually improve what we have so that we get a better picture.

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Categories
US

Putin dubs US as Russia’s main naval threat in new doctrine

Putin dubs US as Russia's main naval threat in new doctrine

Russian President Vladimir Putin identified the US as his nation’s greatest naval threat in a new military doctrine issued Sunday.

Speaking on his country’s Navy Day in St. Petersburg, Putin said Russia wants to fortify its influence on the seas and to become a “great maritime power.”

Earlier, Putin signed a 55-page naval doctrine outlining Russia’s designs.

The document pinpoints America as Russia’s primary naval rival due “the strategic policy of the USA to dominate the world’s oceans.”

He also asserted that looming NATO expansion poses another threat on the high seas.

Putin stated that Russia would deploy military force if diplomacy and economic tactics don’t prove effective in containing America’s might.

US officials have asserted that Putin and Russia are attempting to militarize international waters as it seeks to bolster its military standing.

The doctrine stressed the importance of the Arctic Ocean and said Russia will seek to deepen its position in the Black and Azov seas.

Vladimir Putin signed a 55-page naval doctrine outlining Russia's designs.
Putin signed a 55-page naval doctrine outlining Russia’s designs.
© Mikhail Klimentyev/TASS via ZUMA Press

“Guided by this doctrine, the Russian Federation will firmly and resolutely defend its national interests in the world’s oceans, and having sufficient maritime power will guarantee their security and protection,” the document said.

Putin noted that Russia expects imminent delivery of new hypersonic missiles that travel at nine times the speed of sound.

He did not touch on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine in his comments.

With Post wires

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Categories
Business

Cadillac Lyriq: review, pricing, specifications

Cadillac Lyriq: review, pricing, specifications

This is the car that will spearhead a new assault on world markets for the famed Cadillac brand.

The Lyriq electric SUV will form the foundation for a Cadillac return to Europe and other markets – potentially including Australia.

A mid-sized SUV similar in size to BMW’s X3 and Audi’s Q5, the Lyriq’s a handsome looking thing in the metal. It has a long bonnet, muscular haunches and daring detail work on the headlamps, grill and tail lamps.

The door handles fold flush with the door panels – much like Tesla’s Model Y – and the cabin is dominated by a huge curved digital screen that houses a driver display and center touchscreen.

Bright chrome highlights lift the cabin and there’s an abundance of storage space, thanks to the fact that there’s no transmission tunnel running through the center of the vehicle.

Second-row passengers will find more leg and knee room than they would in a mid-size German luxury SUV, while the read load area is a decent size.

It’s on the road that the Lyriq impresses, though.

A 250kW rear-mounted electric motor moves things along swiftly and silently, although there’s not the brutal launch off the line that you’d feel in a Tesla Model Y.

Once you’re on the move, though, there’s an impressive surge at most speeds when you floor the throttle.

The venue for our brief test drive was GM’s huge Milford Proving Ground outside of Detroit and we put the Lyriq through its paces on a variety of surfaces designed to replicate public roads. That included large bumps and dips, a simulated rail crossing and some sweeping, high-speed corners.

The Cadillac impressed with its composure, setting well after larger bumps and sitting flat through corners, even when confronted with broken, corrugated bitumen.

Precise steering and reassuring grip add to the driving enjoyment, although you can feel its considerable weight shift when it is asked to change direction in a hurry.

Cadillac claims the Lyriq is good for a range of 500km, although that may come down once the more realistic WLTP standard for range is applied.

In the US, the Lyriq starts from $62,990 in rear-drive form. A dual-motor version will launch early next year with roughly 370kW of power for just $2000 extra.

GM won’t confirm whether the Lyriq will be available in right-hand-drive but it would appear likely, as it seems the most logical fit for a Cadillac rebirth in European and international markets.

The president of GM International, Shilpin Amin, says designing vehicles for either left or right-hand drive is “much more simple” on an electric vehicle platform.

“Because of how efficient it is to build it upfront with left and right-hand-drive markets in mind no longer do you need the volumes to justify it. You can actually do it pretty efficiently at all volumes for markets around the world,” he says.

That is encouraging news for Aussie Cadillac fans.

Christian Soemmer, managing director of GM strategic markets, alliances and distributors, says the brand has “ambitious goals” in overseas markets, including Australia.

“We want to grow our international scale. Australia and New Zealand is an absolute key pillar of that region. We are always looking into more opportunities,” he says.

Cadillac will lead GM’s transformation to a leading EV maker, taking the fight to Tesla.

It will not launch any new petrol vehicles after 2026 and will become EV-only by 2030.

Cadillac interior design manager Tristan Murphy said the shift in focus to electric cars gave the design department an opportunity to reimagine the once-storied brand.

“I think it was a good opportunity for us to take a step back and say OK as we move forward into the future what do we want Cadillac to be? It was a chance to reinvent it,” he says

The design team was also mindful of its duty to honor the heritage of the badge.

“I don’t want to say it’s retro by any means but there are some retro cues because there are some things in our history that we want to hold on to. There are these little winks and nods at our history because that is something that an EV Start-up company doesn’t have,” he says.

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Categories
Entertainment

interview with director Andrew Traucki about shark films

interview with director Andrew Traucki about shark films

But at the same time there is more awareness of the need to conserve species, there is a surprising surge in the number of killer shark films.

There are likely to be almost as many this year as there are shark fatalities around the world.

According to the Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack File, the global average is five “unprovoked” deaths a year – those not initiated by human actions – though it was up to nine last year.

Elevated genre shark film: The Reef: Stalked.

Elevated genre shark film: The Reef: Stalked.Credit:Thrills & Spills

Two new British films have been released in the past seven months: Shark Bait (shark hunts young revellers on a drifting jetski) and Beneath the Surface (traumatized woman grapples with the shark attack that killed her father and sister).

There are another three from the US: bullshark (shark kills swimmers in a Texas lake), The Requin (couple have to survive sharks when their holiday villa is swept into the sea) and Sharkula (tourist community is threatened by a vampire shark).

As those plot summaries suggest, they are from a schlocky subgenre of the “killer creature” film that is characterized by photogenic casts, ominous music, cheesy taglines like “terror has teeth” and jump scares.

Allegory about domestic violence in the guise of a shark film: The Reef: Stalked.

Allegory about domestic violence in the guise of a shark film: The Reef: Stalked.Credit:Thrills & Spills

Traucki says they reflect the lucrative worldwide market for B-grade shark films like 2013’s sharknado, which has inspired five sequels, two spin-offs, two documentaries, a mockumentary and a video game. Call it the “sharknado effect”.

“There’s definitely a group of people who’ll watch anything shark,” he says. “There’s another group who like shark terror-horror films.

“And there are people like me who like films that are very suspenseful and, whether they’ve got a shark or a serial killer is by the by. What they are is a great suspense film.”

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Traucki aimed higher with his new film.

In the same way that horror film get-out was about racism and The Babadook was about depression, he calls The Reef: Stalked an “elevated genre” film about domestic violence.

Two of the women kayaking are traumatized by their sister being killed by her partner.

“I didn’t really want to do another shark film that was just going to be a shark film,” Traucki says. “I wanted to expand my horizons.”

While traditional shark films tend to attract men aged 18 to 25, he hopes The Reef: Stalked finds a young female audience and becomes a conversation starter for people who would not normally watch a drama or documentary about domestic violence.

But it’s a fine line given the shark in his film is still a relentless killer.

So, even given his higher intentions, isn’t he still contributing to the fear of sharks?

“People have come to me with shark films forever since The Reef and I’ve said no to all of them because they’re all just ‘shark kills people, body count, blah, blah, blah’,” he says.

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“But with this one because I’m a surfer and I know that surfers call sharks ‘the man in the gray suit’ and I’d seen a great play called lethal indifference about domestic violence, I put those two together and that was enough to tempt me back into writing a script.

“One level it’s got this shark thriller engine but on another level it’s all about bonding and grief and domestic abuse.”

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.

Email the writer at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @gmaddox.

Categories
Sports

Commonwealth Games Day 4: Latest news, schedule, results from Birmingham

Gold Coast Bulletin

Australian cycling star Matthew Glaetzer was robbed of a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in a decision labeled a “travesty”.

Glaetzer, who was made to sweat for over an hour while officials reviewed footage, had his bronze medal taken off him in a decision widely condemned by the cycling community.

The lengthy review deemed Glaetzer impeded Scotland’s Jack Carlin during the bronze medal sprint, a ruling which was slammed by Aussie cycling royalty Kathy Bates.

Bates, commenting for Channel 7, called the officials’ decision “a poor interpretation”.

“I don’t agree,” Bates said. “If they are going to be that picky they need every camera angle and they sure need a super zoom.

“I’m having nothing of it. The any time limit contact is when Jack Carlin swung back up the track and even touched Matt Glaetzer. If anyone got impeded it was Matt Glaetzer. But the judges, you have to respect their decision. I’m not sure I respect this one to be honest.

“I want to because I think rules are rules but I think this is a pretty crappy decision. I’m devastated for Matt Glaetzer. I don’t see how the Australians will accept this and don’t feel robbed. This is an absolute travesty in my mind. I don’t even think Jack Carlin will be pleased at that turnaround. You want to win fair and square, and that is the most ridiculous relegation I have ever seen.

“I’m very devastated for Matt Glaetzer. And I think it is a poor interpretation.”

Footage showed a distraught Glaetzer when the verdict was announced, while teammate Matthew Richardson celebrated his gold medal.

“You can see it in his face. This decision has just broken him, it is not fair in my estimation,” Bates said.

“He doesn’t have a right of appeal. It is probably why the decision has been taken so long because they were deliberating it, and certainly Australians were arguing as hard as they could and fighting the case for Matt Glaetzer.

“This is just absolute heartbreak for him. The look on his face from him, guys, there have been a lot of tears tonight at the velodrome for happy reasons and now sad ones.

“I won’t give my opinion. But I think what everyone in Australia is thinking right now and I think the same as that man on our screens. We are absolutely devastated having the bronze medal taken from him after the superhuman efforts of the last couple of days. Totally devastated.”

6:03PM FIVE ATHS STARS TO WATCH

Athletics starts at the Commonwealth Games today. Here is who to keep an eye out for—including an Aussie star.

WOMEN Kelsey-Lee Barber (AUS) – Javelin
The 30-year-old seemed set fair to finally land a Commonwealth Games gold — having taken bronze and silver in the last two editions — after she retained her world title.

The Olympic bronze medalist, though, contracted Covid-19 shortly after her world triumph but the team insisted she would make it to Birmingham.

Barber can take heart that her compatriot Jessica Stenson finally won the marathon title on Saturday despite having Covid less than a month before the Games

Keely Hodgkinson (ENG) – 800m

The 20-year-old should be the hottest of favorites to be crowned Commonwealth Games champion. She took silver in last year’s Olympics behind Athing Mu and then lost out by the barst of margins (0.08sec) to the American in the world final.

That defeat left her bristling.

“I’m definitely a little bit annoyed,” she said. “I have a lot of respect for her but I’m obviously gutted. I came here to win the gold and it didn’t happen.” After her silver de ella in Tokyo, Hodgkinson, who has put studying for a criminology degree on hold, was rewarded by a sponsor with a spin in an Aston Martin.

She felt that her Eugene performance did not merit a repeat but gold in Birmingham should be good enough for a second outing.

MEN Ferdinand Omanyala (KEN) – 100m

The African 100 meter champion could gain compensation at the Games after his world title challenge was shattered by only obtaining a visa to enter the United States at the last minute.

The 26-year-old bowed out in the semi-finals but said he had no regrets and was looking forward to competing in Birmingham.

“The challenge of life is intended to make you better, not bitter,” he tweeted. “Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems. No matter how much falls on us, we keep moving.”

Jake Wightman (SCO) — 1500m One of the surprises of the world championships when he took gold in a race being commented on in the stadium by his father and coach Geoff.

The 28-year-old became Britain’s first 1500m world champion since Steve Cram in 1983 and is keen to use it as a springboard for Commonwealth gold and then the European 800m crown in Munich later this month.

“It’s crazy. The time frame between coming back from the worlds and then going into the Commonwealths,” he said.

“It’ll be tough to kind of get myself back up, which is why I need to let myself chill out for a few days to get ready for the tough rounds again and get back into that championship environment.”

Emmanuel Korir (KEN) – 400m

The 27-year-old is the undoubted king of the 800m having added world gold to his Olympic crown.

Eyebrows may be raised as to why he would not attempt to make it a triple of 800m titles in Birmingham.

However, he is extremely confident in his abilities at 400m. He said after the world final that he knew he would win as with a slow first lap he was the best 400m runner in the field.

A further aid to his hopes is he is pretty fresh having only started his season at the end of June.

MUM’S BOOZY 6AM CELEBRATION

On the Gold Coast, in the early hours of Monday morning, a bottle of champagne was popped and passed around – punctuated by some swear words – to signify the arrival of a new sporting superpower.

As sisters Maddison and Teagan Levi stepped forward to accept their Commonwealth Gold, mum Richelle was uncorking the bubbly and getting ready for a big day of celebrating.

Her daughters had helped Australia to an upset semi-final win over New Zealand, and then a trouncing of Fiji in the final to secure gold.

It was a revival of the team’s 2016 Olympic triumph and ushered in a new era of Sevens superstars.

But before all of that? There was a euphoric celebration in the southern hemisphere that may not only have woken up a decent chunk of Queensland’s east coast, but also would’ve made mother Mary blush.

“Mum had a bottle of champagne ready at 6 in the morning — she was ready to celebrate and I think she’ll be on it all day celebrating,” a jubilant Maddison Levi said after Australia’s historic maiden Sevens gold medal win over Fiji.

“I don’t know if I can say it on camera (what mum said) but they were definitely happy.

There were tears of joy. It was a pretty emotional rollercoaster…. they’ve been with us through the highs and lows and to have two kids standing on that podium is pretty awesome.

“They definitely had tears. But lots of swearing, I can confirm.”

Maddison might have undersold the party going back home.

Richelle told Channel 7 later in the morning she was already two bottles of champagne down before 9am.

“Two bottles of champagne already done,” she said.

She was joined by at least one supporter wearing pajamas for a live cross on Channel 7 as the party raged into the morning.

Maddison and sister Teagan are the new face of women’s rugby in Australia, following the path trodden by teammates Charlotte Caslick and Sharni Williams, and earlier Ellia Green and Emilee Cherry.

Powerful, pacey, skilful. There’s a reason they’re among the most in-demand female athletes in the country – with AFLW and NRLW clubs lining up to steal them from rugby union.

“We got to stand next to each other, so it was pretty sentimental. We’ve achieved a Commonwealth Games medal, not many people can do that in their lives let alone have their sister side-by-side,” Maddison said.

But judging by smiles that lit up Coventry Arena stadium on Sunday night, the Levi clan is comfortable in rugby union right now.

“When I first started I aspired to be like Charlotte Caslick and the likes of Ellia Green and now that I’m in this role I’d love to inspire the younger generation because I think it’s such a great sport,” Maddison explained.

“The opportunities you get you can’t get with most sports. And to have younger girls look up to me and hopefully one day be standing side-by-side with girls you call your sister and be celebrating this moment is pretty monumental.”

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