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Business

Expert names dividend ASX share to buy now at price dip

Expert names dividend ASX share to buy now at price dip

A man in a business suit scratches his head looking at a graph that started high then dips, then starts to go up again like a rollercoaster.

Image source: Getty Images

In this high-tech age that we live in, those ASX shares perceived to represent “boring” businesses can be unfairly overlooked.

According to Switzer Financial Group director Paul Rickard, Aurizon Holdings Limited (ASX: AZJ) is a prime example of a company with this perception in the market.

“Boring is, I guess, any business involved in rail, haulage, logistics and coal,” he told Switzer TV Investing.

“But for many investors, they’ve gone to Aurizon for the income — because it’s been a high yielder.”

Share price heavily discounted after dividend announcement

On Monday, the market savaged Aurizon shares after the company revealed its full-year financials.

Investors were disturbed that a stock well-known for its yield was cutting its dividend by 24%. The Aurizon share price plummeted 6% that morning before recovering somewhat in the afternoon.

Rickard feels like that was an overreaction.

“It did cut its dividend, but that was, by and large, expected,” he said.

“It was actually a little bit better than analyst forecasts — but it was still a dividend cut.”

The sell-off, he added, has created “some value” for those dividend hunters willing to buy in for about a 5.6% yield next year.

“The market probably misunderstood what was coming.”

Taking advantage of the market’s misjudgment

Aurizon has two main businesses. One is owning and maintaining a network of train tracks in Queensland, the other is a haulage business that has many interests outside of that state.

While much of its business relies on transporting coal, Rickard reckons Aurizon is shifting away from that to boost the stock’s ESG attractiveness.

“It’s actually diving a part of what’s called East Coast Rail, which is its Hunter Valley thermal coal haulage business.”

The track business, which brings in about 55% of its revenue, can be considered an infrastructure play.

The Aurizon share price closed Wednesday at $3.89.

Aurizon isn’t a stock Rickard would actively chase, but Monday’s dip makes it appealing right at the moment.

“It’s an attractive yield… Markets have probably misjudged what they’re being told to create [buying] opportunities.”

It usually trades within a tight range, and is at the lower side of that spectrum.

“I think at $3.80 to $3.90 it’s reasonable for a dividend payer,” said Rickard.

“I wouldn’t go too much above $4, and I’m not expecting a huge [capital] gain. But I think you can quantify the risks.”

Categories
Technology

Intel shares 48 benchmarks to show its Arc A750 can compete with an RTX 3060

Intel shares 48 benchmarks to show its Arc A750 can compete with an RTX 3060

Intel has released 48 benchmarks that show its upcoming Arc A750 GPU should be able to trade blows with Nvidia’s RTX 3060 running modern games. While Intel set its expectations low for its Arc GPUs last month, the company has now tested its A750 directly against the RTX 3060 across 42 DirectX 12 titles and six Vulkan games.

The results look promising for what will likely be Intel’s mainstream GPUs later this year. Intel has tested the A750 against popular games like Fortnite, Controland Call of Duty: Warzoneinstead of the cherry picked handful of benchmarks the company released last month.

“These are all titles that we picked because they’re popular,” explains Intel fellow Tom Petersen, in Intel’s benchmark video. “Either reviewers are using them or they’re high on the Steam survey, or new and exciting. These are not cherry picked titles.”

Intel’s Arc A750 vs. Nvidia’s RTX 3060 at 1080p.
Image: Intel

We’ll have to wait for independent benchmarks, but based on Intel’s testing, the A750 looks like it will compete comfortably with Nvidia’s RTX 3060. “You’ll see we’re kinda trading blows with the RTX 3060,” says Petersen. “Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.” Intel’s performance is, on average, 3 to 5 percent better than Nvidia’s when it wins on titles running at 1080p.

Over on the 1440p side, it looks like Intel wins on more of the benchmarks. On average it’s a win of about 5 percent across the 42 games. Intel has also tested six Vulkan titles, where it seems to be trading blows with the RTX 3060 once again.

“We’re mostly winning at 1080p, and mostly winning at 1440p with Vulkan,” Petersen claims. “On average I’d say this is more like a 3 to 5 percent, maybe a little bit more towards the 5 percent win on Vulkan.”

Intel’s Arc A750 vs. Nvidia’s RTX 3060 at 1440p.
Image: Intel

Intel has only focused on modern APIs here, and not older DirectX 11 games. Early testing of Intel’s Arc A770 GPU — a step above the A750 in the Arc lineup — showed a big performance gap between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games. Intel is still working on its Arc GPU drivers, and it could be some time before the company is able to improve DirectX 11 performance.

Intel performed these latest benchmarks on identical systems running its Core i9 12900K CPU and 32GB of DDR5 memory. Intel used its own engineering driver and Nvidia’s 516.59 driver for the comparisons. Arc GPUs will require 10th Gen or newer Intel processors, or AMD Ryzen 3000 and above CPUs, all with motherboards that support Resizable BAR (or, as AMD brands it, Smart Access Memory). Resizable BAR is a key requirement for performance on Arc GPUs.

We’re still waiting for Intel to release its Arc A750 GPU later this year, but these latest benchmarks do show it could be ready to compete for the all-important mainstream. Intel hasn’t announced official specifications or pricing for its Arc A750 yet, but leaked slides put it in between $299 and $399.

Intel will need to reach a price point that can compete with Nvidia’s $329 pricing for the RTX 3060, particularly now that GPU stock has greatly improved and there is the option of AMD’s Radeon RX 6600 XT at $379.

All eyes will now be on Nvidia’s plans for its RTX 40-series of GPUs. Nvidia recently slashed the prices of its high-end RTX 30 series GPUs, and the discounts could indicate an RTX 40-series launch is due in the coming months. Rumors had suggested the RTX 4090 could launch last month, but July came and went without any new GPUs.

If Nvidia’s latest preliminary earnings are anything to go by (a $1 billion-plus drop in gaming revenue), it’s unlikely that the RTX 40-series will be priced low when they eventually launch. Nvidia still likely has plenty of RTX 30-series cards after a drop in crypto demand, so Intel could be well placed to compete later this year if it can get its drivers and pricing in check.

Categories
Entertainment

Family accept state memorial service

The service however will be more of a “concert” rather than a traditional ceremony, celebrating her music and life, Andrews said.

“The family was quite touched at the prospect of Victorians being able to come together and celebrate Olivia’s life.”

Olivia Newton-John died at her Southern California ranch after a long battle with breast cancer. (Getty)
The Melbourne-raised performer died at her ranch in Southern California surrounded by family and friends on Tuesday, aged 73.

After surviving cancer in 1992 and again in 2013, it returned in 2017 and on August 9, 2022, the Grammy-award winning singer lost her battle with spinal cancer on Monday.

Newton-John’s husband John Easterling paid tribute to the beloved actress overnight.

“Our love for each other transcends our understanding,” he said in a post on Instagram post.

Olivia Newton-John and John Easterling.
Olivia Newton-John and John Easterling. (instagram)

“Every day we expressed our gratitude for this love that could be so deep, so real, so natural. We never had to ‘work’ on it.

“We were in awe of this great mystery and accepted the experience of our love as past, present and forever.

“At Olivia’s deepest essence she was a healer using her mediums of song, of words, of touch.”

Olivia Newton-John: A life in pictures

Categories
Sports

Group 1-winning jockey Noel Callow hit with seven betting related charges by Victorian stewards

Group 1-winning jockey Noel Callow hit with seven betting related charges by Victorian stewards

Flamboyant Group 1-winning jockey Noel Callow has been hit with a string of betting charges.

As first revealed by Racenet on Thursday afternoon, Callow has been served with seven charges by Racing Victoria stewards after a historical investigation into betting.

In the charge sheet, it will be alleged Callow placed 24 bets adding up to almost $4000 in total when he was riding in Victoria in 2013.

Bets were allegedly placed on races at Moonee Valley, Traralgon, Flemington, Randwick and Cranbourne.

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There is no suggestion that Callow placed bets on horses he was riding, or in races he was riding in.

One charge has been laid under Australian Racing Rule 229 which the stewards’ charge sheet says allegedly refers to “corruption, dishonesty and misleading behaviour.”

The particulars of that charge are that stewards allege Callow made false or misleading statements regarding an unspecified number of alleged “transactions” through his TAB account between November 2018 and March 2019.

Jockey Noel Callow. Picture: Greg Irvine-Magic Millions

There are other steward charges dating back to 2017 in regards to allegedly making false or misleading statements to steward.

In total there are seven charges that five-time Australian Group 1 winner Callow, who has ridden at the elite level all around the world and is currently riding in Queensland, faces from Racing Victoria stewards.

The charges have come after a steward’s investigation alleging Callow “placed, facilitated and/or had an interest in bets on thoroughbred racing and failed to declare betting accounts.”

Contacted by Racenet, Callow point-blank refused to comment.

The Victorian Racing Tribunal has been advised of the matter and will notify Callow of a hearing date.

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News Corp can reveal specifics of the charges as follows:

* Charge 1: AR 83(c) The Stewards charge you with breaching AR 83(c) which reads as follows. AR 83, Every jockey or apprentice may be penalized– (c) If he bet or have any interest in a bet or facilitates a bet on any race, or if he be present in the betting ring during any race meeting. The particulars of the charge You were, at all relevant times, a jockey licensed by Racing Victoria. 2. On 30 April 2013, you opened an account with Sportsbet (the Account). 3. On 6 December 2013, you made and/or facilitated the making of eleven (11) bets on Australian thoroughbred horse races through the Account. 4. Your conduct, as set out in particular 3, constitutes a breach of AR 83(c).

Jockey Noel Callow winning on the Gold Coast.

* Charge 2: Charge 2: AR 83(c) The Stewards charge you with breaching AR 83(c) which reads as follows: AR 83 Every jockey or apprentice may be penalized (c) If he bet or have any interest in a bet or facilitates a bet on any race, or if he be present in the betting ring during any race meeting. The particulars of the charge: You were, at all relevant times, a jockey licensed by Racing Victoria. On 30 April 2013, you opened an account with Sportsbet (the Account). On 8 December 2013, you made and/or facilitated the making of one (1) bet on Australian thoroughbred horse races through the Account. Your conduct, as set out in particular 3, constitutes a breach of AR 83(c)

* Charge 3: AR 83(c) The Stewards charge you with breaching AR 83(c) which reads as follows: AR 83 Every jockey or apprentice may be penalized (c) If he bet or have any interest in a bet or facilitates a bet on any race, or if he be present in the betting ring during a race meeting. The particulars of the charge You were, at all relevant times, a jockey licensed by Racing Victoria. On 30 April 2013, you opened an account with Sportsbet. On 14 December 2013, you made and/or facilitated the making or twelve (12) bets or Australian thoroughbred horse races through the Account. Your conduct as set out in particular 3 constitutes a breach of AR 83(6)

Jockey Noel Callow in action.

* Charge 4: AR 175(gg) The Stewards charge you with breaching AR 175(gg) which reads as follows: AR 175 A person must not: The Principal Racing Authority (or the Stewards exercising powers delegated to them) may penalize. (gg) Any person who makes any false or misleading statement or declaration in respect of any matter in connection with the administration or control or racing. The particulars of the charge you were, at all relevant times, a jockey licensed by Racing Victoria On 18 May 2017, you opened a betting account with Bookmaker (the Account). On 18 July 2017, you submitted a Jockey Betting Account Declaration form (the Form) and failed to declare the Account on the Form Your conduct as set out in particular 3 constituted a breach of AR 175(ag)

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* Charge 5. AR 175(k) (Alternative to Charge Four) The Stewards charge you with breaching AR 175(k) which reads as follows: AR 175 The Principal Racing Authority (or the Stewards exercising powers delegated to them ) may penalize: (k) Any person who has committed any breach of the Rules, or whose conduct or negligence has led or could have led to a breach of the Rules. The particulars or the charge You were, at all relevant times, a jockey licensed by Racing Victoria. On 18 May 2017, you opened a betting account with Bookmaker (the Account), On 18 July 2017, you submitted a Jockey Betting Account Declaration form (the Form) and failed to declare the Account on the Form. Your conduct, as set out in particular 3, constituted a breach of AR 175(k).

Noel Callow is a popular jockey with punters.

* Charge 6: AR 175(gg) The Stewards charge you with breaching AR 175(gg) which reads as follows: AR 175 A person must not: The Principal Racing Authority (or the Stewards exercising powers delegated to them) may penalize. (gg) Any person who makes any false or misleading statement or declaration in respect of any matter in connection with the administration or control or racing. The Particulars of the charge: You were, at all relevant times, a jockey licensed by Racing Victoria. On 28 May 2018, you submitted a Jockey Betting Account Declaration form (the Form). On the Form you failed to declare your betting accounts, being Bookmaker and Ladbrokes. Your conduct, as set out in particular 3, constituted a breach of AR 175(gg).

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* Charge 7: 229(1)(h) AR 229 Corruption, dishonesty and misleading behavior (1) A person must not: (n) make a false or misleading statement or declaration in relation to a matter in connection with the administration or control or racing: Particulars of charge: You were, at all relevant times, a jockey licensed by Racing Victoria. Between 20 November 2018 and 24 March 2019, you made transactions through your TAB betting account (the Account). On 15 June 2019, you submitted a Jockey Betting Account Declaration form (the Form) and failed to declare the Account. Your conduct, as set out in particular 3, constituted a breach or AR 1/5(aa).

Categories
Australia

Love Machine killer Jacob Elliott says his dad, Nabil Maghnie, ordered shooting

Love Machine killer Jacob Elliott says his dad, Nabil Maghnie, ordered shooting

Condon argued Elliott felt under pressure and compelled to act, which reduced his criminality.

“We say… Maghnie is the person who has devised the retributive attack,” she said.

Jacob Elliott was found guilty of two counts of murder.

Jacob Elliott was found guilty of two counts of murder.

But Justice Andrew Tinney said the jury’s verdict showed it rejected Elliott’s evidence, and it was also plausible that he and Fares devised the plan when contacted by Ali Maghnie. The judge said Nabil Maghnie might have known he was under police surveillance at the time, so he might have wanted to avoid involvement.

Prosecutors have submitted it is open to Tinney to impose life sentences because of the seriousness of the crimes.

Condon said on Thursday that the Love Machine murders were “extremely serious”, but not in the worst category of offending for the crime of murder.

But Tinney said it was hard to see how they could not be classified among the worst, noting the crime was an act of premeditated retribution, the shots were fired from a moving car in a busy street, and the victims were defenseless and shot from close range.

Allan Fares after his arrest.

Allan Fares after his arrest.Credit:Nine

“These are dreadful crimes, aren’t they?” the judge asked the barrister. Condom maintained they were “very serious”.

Elliott’s maternal aunt, Karlene Jergens, said she became worried when she saw her nephew develop an attraction in his mid-teens to his father’s lifestyle of “cars, clothing and money”.

Moussa Hamka.

Moussa Hamka.Credit:Facebook

“He kind of took on his father’s persona…just very grown up already, too grown up,” Jergens said.

Another aunt, Fay Maghnie, said it was a shock for Elliott to have her brother in his life, as the younger man was raised mainly by soft, gentle women, whereas his father demanded respect and was quick to anger.

Fay Maghnie said she heard her brother had hit Elliott, and the pair didn’t speak for a year.

She said she and her family were sorry for the pain the Arow and Osmani families endured, and knew what it was like to lose someone.

“It was a day that changed so many people’s lives,” she said.

Lawyers for Fares and Moussa Hamka, 28, who was found guilty of assisting them by hiding Elliott’s gun after the shootings, will address the judge on Friday.

The three guilty men have spent more than three years in custody since their arrests.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.

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US

Beto O’Rourke lashes out at heckler laughing over Uvalde mass shooting

Beto O'Rourke lashes out at heckler laughing over Uvalde mass shooting

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Beto O’Rourke on Wednesday railed against Texans’ easy access to AR-style rifles like the one used in May to massacre 19 students and two of their teachers at a Uvalde, Tex., elementary school.

The 18-year-old gunman had legally purchased his rifle, which was “originally designed for use on the battlefields in Vietnam to penetrate an enemy soldier’s helmet at 500 feet and knock him down dead,” O’Rourke told supporters during a campaign rally , imitating a warfighter by dropping to one knee and extending his arm as if lining up a shot.

O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee running to oust Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in November, initially ignored the laughter. He kept stumping, saying that the Uvalde shooter had used the rifle not to fight enemy soldiers off in the distance but “against kids” five feet away.

But then he stopped and pointed at the heckler: “It may be funny to you,” O’Rourke thundered, interjecting a swear word, “but it’s not funny to me.”

One video of the exchange went viral, racking up more than 3 million views by early Thursday, just hours after O’Rourke wrapped up the campaign stop in Mineral Wells — a town some 40 miles west of the Dallas-Fort Worth area and 260 miles north of Uvalde. O’Rourke’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the exchange from The Washington Post late Wednesday.

Shortly after the event, O’Rourke tweeted that he considers nothing more serious “than getting justice for the families in Uvalde and stopping this from ever happening again.”

Beto O’Rourke confronts Abbott in Uvalde: ‘You are doing nothing’

The town hall was part of what’s shaping up to be the most expensive campaign in Texas history, dwarfing the $125 million O’Rourke and Sen. Ted Cruz spent in 2018 in the Democrat’s failed attempt to unseat the Republican incumbent, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday. O’Rourke and Abbott raised a combined $52.5 million between late February and June alone, with O’Rourke’s $27.6 million haul setting a state campaign fundraising record, the Texas Tribune reported last month.

Gun control has been a staple of O’Rourke’s platform to defeat Abbott, especially in the wake of the massacre in Uvalde. A day after the shooting, I interrupted Abbott during a news conference at Uvalde High School as the governor updated reporters, The Post reported at the time. As Abbott introduced Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), O’Rourke came up to the stage to declare that the governor and other high-level state officials had dithered for far too long, failing to take action after previous mass shootings in Texas, including those at Santa Fe High School in 2018 and an El Paso Walmart in 2019.

“The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing,” O’Rourke said. “You’re offering us nothing.”

Moments before O’Rourke interrupted him at the May 25 news conference, Abbott told reporters that tougher gun laws are “not a real solution” to preventing more mass shootings. Instead, a week later, he called on the state legislature to create special committees that would make recommendations about how to take “meaningful action” that might stop something like Uvalde from happening again. At the time, O’Rourke knocked the idea out, imploring the governor to “do your job” by calling a special legislative session to specifically tackle the issue.

Congress wants more red-flag laws. But GOP states, gun groups resist.

At Wednesday night’s town hall in Mineral Wells, O’Rourke promised supporters “common-sense” gun control if he’s elected governor. He mentioned raising the minimum age for buying an AR-style rifle from 18 to 21, implementing universal background checks in Texas and enacting a red-flag law, legislation that allows judges to order law enforcement to seize gun owners’ firearms if convinced that they pose a danger to themselves or others.

O’Rourke ended his pitch by saying that “Democrats and Republicans, gun owners and non-gun owners” — maybe even himself and the heckler — might still find common ground on gun restrictions.

“You either accept that we are inherently evil and violent and deadly and love to kill each other and slaughter kids where they sit,” O’Rourke said, “or that there is something that you and I can do together regardless of the differences between us.”

Categories
Business

Regional Victoria rental shortage at crisis point

Regional Victoria rental shortage at crisis point

He looked for a rental property, but the homes on offer drew anywhere from 50 to 150 applications.

“I went through about 30 properties before it sunk in, ‘well, this is not happening’,” he said.

Tim Ferrari has been living in a tent after facing tough competition for rental properties.

Tim Ferrari has been living in a tent after facing tough competition for rental properties.Credit:Justin McManus

Trudi Ray, deputy chief executive of Haven Home Safe, a homelessness organization that provides housing solutions in Geelong and Bendigo, said about 25 key workers were sleeping rough in a campground in Bendigo’s north due to lack of affordable housing.

“It’s a Bendigo outrage how these people don’t have anywhere to stay,” Ray said during his presentation at the conference run by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and Homelessness Australia.

Some are itinerant workers picking fruit, while others had full-time jobs in Bendigo. They did not consider themselves homeless because they either worked, or had job prospects, but were simply unable to find a house.

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“They’re not our clients because they think they’re OK,” she said. “They just can’t find a rental.”

The rental vacancy rate in central Bendigo is a wafer-thin 0.9 per cent, Domain data shows. Greater Bendigo rents rose 10.5 per cent over the past year to a median $420 per week.

Tenants who try looking further afield may have no more luck, as the vacancy rate is just 0.5 per cent in the nearby region of Heathcote-Castlemaine-Kyneton, and in Loddon-Elmore it is 0.2 per cent.

The issue is widespread in regional Victoria. Geelong rents are 5.9 per cent more expensive than a year ago and the vacancy rate in central Geelong is 0.7 per cent. Ballarat’s vacancy rate is also at 0.7 per cent and rent has increased 5.6 per cent in a year.

Kevin Woodroffe is an itinerant worker who has been traveling between NSW and Victoria during the past few months. He has been sleeping in a car he inherited after his father died, and has been unable to find an affordable place to live.

“I don’t work [at the moment] and I can’t find a house,” Woodroffe said.

Bendigo City Council Mayor Andrea Metcalf said there had been high demand for rentals as new residents arrived from Melbourne, which was happening even before the pandemic, albeit at a slower rate.

I bless Major Andrea Metcalf.

I bless Major Andrea Metcalf.Credit:Bendigo Council

“It was starting to show the cracks, but I would think that the pandemic has exacerbated it more,” Metcalf said.

Melbourne lost 85,000 residents in 12 months during the depths of COVID-19 restrictions, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.

Council figures show that about 3000 people in Bendigo need housing and the area needs more affordable housing to attract skilled workers. The council introduced an Affordable Housing Action Plan in September last year, which will require developers to have inclusionary housing zones in every development.

Metcalf said adding more one- to two-bedroom homes to the mix would mean older people, single people and those moving out of home for the first time would have more choice, as would those who need affordable options.

“We can do things like the Affordable Housing Action Plan … but a lot of the fixes around affordable housing sit with the state and federal governments,” Metcalf said.

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The state government’s Big Housing Build has promised $85 million to Bendigo.“We’ll be really pleased to see those houses being rolled out and people moving into them,” Metcalf said.

Ray said the Big Housing Build would offer 12,000 new and existing properties over the next four years, and there were additional housing promises from the federal government, but there would still be a shortage even when they were all built.

Ray said one in 30 young people aged 15 to 19 had experienced first-time homelessness during the pandemic. The issue hit twice as many women and girls as men last year. About 5060 young people who presented to homelessness services in Victoria were unable to be housed due to a lack of supply, she said.

Meanwhile, homes across Victoria were being under-utilized, she said.

“We’re seeing a lot of homes that are full on the weekend – the ‘weekenders’ for city folk – but they are certainly vacant during the week,” Ray said.

Bendigo is not the only regional center with a rental crisis.

Bendigo is not the only regional center with a rental crisis.

In Yarriambiack Shire, which includes Warracknabeal, 680 homes are unoccupied.

Even someone looking for a temporary stay in a hotel may struggle. Booming tourism in the Bendigo area, while a boom for local businesses, had filled hotel rooms. The recent Elvis exhibition meant hotels were fully booked for four months, she said.

Companies in areas like the Wimmera had started providing housing for their workers, while others in areas like Castlemaine or Colac were providing transport to and from factories to overcome housing shortages.

Ballarat was also facing a rental squeeze, and the manager of homelessness services at church-based group Uniting Ballarat, Adam Liversage, said there were few rental homes available.

“We had a representative from a real estate agency [speak to us] who said they had 500 rentals in Ballarat and surrounds and only one property was available to rent,” Liversage said. “Warrnambool has a similar trend to Ballarat … where there’s only 151 properties available for rent.”

Ray said: “We also provide over 3500 food vouchers. What we know is one in four families, regardless of their socioeconomic status, coming to us now are accepting food relief.”

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Technology

All Bug Out! 2022 Field Research Tasks and rewards in Pokemon GO

Pokemon GO trainers bug hunting during the Bug Out! event (Image via Niantic)

Pokemon GO’s Bug Out! event has returned this year, and trainers can now catch both old and new Bug-type Pokemon. Trainers have access to various new sets of research tasks to complete, including Field Research.

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Field Research in Pokemon GO differs from the game’s Special Research, as it is obtained primarily from spinning Pokestops. The tasks that trainers receive are randomized from a pool, and each task has its own rewards linked to it.

Below, trainers can find a list of what is required for the event’s Field Research and what will be rewarded when the research is completed.

Every Pokemon GO Field Research Task and reward for Bug Out! 2022 listed

Mega Scizor makes its debut in Bug Out! 2022 (Image via Niantic)
Mega Scizor makes its debut in Bug Out! 2022 (Image via Niantic)

This year, the majority of Bug Out!’s Field Research Tasks require Pokemon GO trainers to catch Pokemon. Trainers will also want to practice their throwing mechanics, as some research tasks require certain throw qualities to be completed.

There are also a few miscellaneous tasks to consider. However, they’re fairly simple to complete in-game and won’t be as complex as searching for and catching Pokemon.

Overall, trainers will need to complete 11 different Field Research Tasks.

All Field Research Tasks and Rewards for Bug Out! 2022

  • catch 5 pokemon – Caterpie or Weedle encounter
  • Catch 10 Pokémon – Volbeat, Illumise, Dewpider, Wimpod, or Venipede encounter
  • Catch 15 Pokémon – Burmy encounter, including any of its variants
  • Catch Ten Bug-type Pokemon – Volbeat or Illumise encounter
  • Make Two Excellent Throws – Never encounter
  • Make Three Great Throws – Grubbin encounter
  • Make Three Great Throws In a Row – Paras or Dwebble encounter
  • Make Three Nice Throws – Venonat or Kricketot encounter
  • Make Three Nice Throws In a Row – Silcoon or Cascoon encounter
  • Take Three Different Snapshots of Different Bug Pokemon You’ve Caught – Ledyba, Spinarak, or Yanma encounter
  • trade pokemon – Karrablast or Shelmet encounter
  • Use Ten Berries to Catch Pokemon – Combee or Sewaddle encounter

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The good news for Pokemon GO trainers who are looking to complete this research is that they can use the rewards they obtain to complete other tasks. For example, if players obtain a Venipede from a task, they can capture it and take a picture of it for their snapshot task.

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Additionally, during the reward catch encounters, excellent/great/nice throws should also count towards Field Research requirements. The throw requirements may be the toughest out of all the event tasks, as hitting Bug-type Pokemon with accurate throws can be tricky due to their size.

Trading may also be tricky, but Niantic, fortunately, released the Campfire app recently that allows Pokemon GO players to coordinate better if they reside in a similar area. If trainers don’t have any friends nearby, it may not be a bad idea to check out Campfire and look for any trainers in the community that may be nearby.

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Categories
Sports

Ex-Roo, Brownlow Medalist react to shock Horne-Francis call

Ex-Roo, Brownlow Medalist react to shock Horne-Francis call

Jason Horne-Francis has been dropped by North Melbourne for Round 22.

The 19-year-old No.1 draft pick has collected 13, 21, 11 and 12 disposals in his last four games after returning from hamstring issues and suspension.

It is the first time he’s been omitted from the senior side.

The call to drop him ahead of the upcoming game against Adelaide comes as a shock to the footy community, with David King one who questioned the decision when the news dropped.

“Wow, gee, that’s interesting,” the dual-premiership Kangaroo said on SEN’s The Picks.

“Why would you drop Horne-Francis? He’s going back to Adelaide to play in front of family and friends, why wouldn’t you give him that opportunity? I don’t understand that.

“Just put him there in front of his friends and family because he’ll want to perform.”

Horne-Francis, a South Australian, will now miss out on all three games against SA sides after not playing the Crows and Port Adelaide earlier in the year.

1988 Brownlow Medalist Gerard Healy also weighed in on sports day.

“A big omission, Jason Horne-Francis – the number one pick – has been dropped, which really puts a bookend to a pretty disappointing season,” he said upon learning the news.

North Melbourne recalled Ben Cunnington following a battle with testicular cancer for the weekend’s game at Adelaide Oval, with Ben McKay and Jackson Archer also on the list of ins.

Flynn Perez, Hugh Greenwood and Josh Walker join Horne-Francis going out of the side, with the latter two also axings.

Horne-Francis has averaged 16.3 disposals, 3.6 clearances and 2.4 inside 50s a game in 16 games 2022.

North interim coach Leigh Adams confirmed earlier on Friday that while he was happy with the youngster’s development, the club hadn’t helped Horne-Francis by where he’s played in his debut season.





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‘No more car for me’: will a $23 toll finally rid Manhattan of gridlock? | New York

Could a moonshot policy finally rid the nation’s most congested city of its incessant, noisy, polluting traffic? Soon, over a million drivers a day could be forced to cough up as much as $23 to enter midtown and lower Manhattan – a toll that planners say will raise $15bn to fund New York public transit while cutting vehicles in the area by as much as one-fifth.

Among the cars that would be leaving the streets of Manhattan is a white Honda Accord that was parked on East Broadway in the Lower East Side on Wednesday.

“If they add even more fees, then that’s it,” said Felicita Mercado as she stepped into the vehicle. “No more car for me.”

Instead, the 77-year-old lifelong New Yorker said, she will start taking the bus.

The plan is called congestion pricing, and New York City is poised to become the first city in the United States to implement it. Similar policies have long been in place in cities including Singapore, which has had congestion pricing since 1975, and London, where a congestion charge has been in place since 2003. But in New York, a city synonymous with gridlock, the policy struggled to overcome opposition for decades before it was finally signed into law in 2019.

On Wednesday, transportation authorities released a much-awaited environmental assessment for the policy, a major milestone that explains how the plan will affect the city. “Bottom line: congestion pricing is good for the environment, good for public transit and good for New York and the region,” said the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s (MTA) chair and CEO, Janno Lieber, in a statement.

Public transportation advocates are calling it a long-awaited victory. “This is a massive deal for all New Yorkers,” said Danny Harris, the head of Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit that has fought for the policy. “There’s not a corner of the city that isn’t negatively impacted by our car-first policies. This is a big step for not being so car-centric that reduces the number of people who drive and increases the amount of people who take other sustainable modes to get around.”

people walk through station as train is at platform
New York’s Penn Station subway stop in April. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Manhattan is an island connected to its neighbors by a network of bridges, tunnels, train routes and ferries. An estimated 7.7 million people enter Manhattan’s central business district every weekday – twice the population of Los Angeles, according to the report. Of those people, just under a quarter – or 1.85 million – enter in a motor vehicle. All that traffic has slowed travel speeds to an agonizing crawl: from an average of 9.1 mph in 2010 to just 7.1 mph in 2019. That costs the average New York City driver 102 hours of lost time every year.

Meanwhile, the public trains and buses used by the majority of the city are in dire need of upgrades. Many of the MTA’s railroads and subway tracks are more than a century old and require billions of dollars in repairs. Studies have found that most of the city’s bus routes – which are especially important for the city’s lower-income residents – are excruciatingly slow and unreliable. And ridership numbers have worsened dramatically since the pandemic, amid fears of Covid and crime.

That dynamic has produced enthusiasm for congestion pricing among residents of lower Manhattan.

“There’s too many people driving in for no good reason,” said one Chinatown bike shop owner, who declined to be named. “They’re not coming in for work, they’re not coming in to do anything specific – they’re just driving because they’re lazy or they’re afraid of the subway. It just sucks that people are driving behaviors that are unnecessary and also destroying our infrastructure, which is causing cascades of other problems in the city.”

“I fully-throatedly support strong congestion pricing on private cars,” said Ben Eckersley, a 31-year-old lifelong Manhattan resident who lives on the Lower East Side. “We have a public transit system that is only designed to get in and out of Manhattan from every borough. The fact that people use lower Manhattan as a pass-through location to get to New Jersey is bogus. The local pollution problems it causes, the traffic problems it causes are outrageous. We just don’t have the infrastructure for it.”

The new study offers policymakers a number of tolling scenarios, with peak-hour tolls ranging from $9 to $23 per vehicle. In some scenarios, vehicles such as taxis and transit buses and would be exempt from the toll completely, while some other vehicles would be charged the toll a maximum of once per day. In another scenario, vehicles including taxis, rideshare vehicles, trucks, and buses could be hit with the congestion charge every time they enter or re-enter the zone in a given day.

Residents of the congestion area making under $60,000 a year will be eligible for a tax credit to make up for the cost of the tolls, and emergency vehicles and vehicles carrying people with disabilities will be exempt from the tolls, according to the 2019 law.

people walk on london street near double decker bus
A congestion charge sign is displayed in London in October, shortly before the city expanded its ultra-low-emission zone. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Getty Images

The reward to all residents of the area should be noticeably less traffic and cleaner air. The study projects that the number of vehicles in the area each day will decrease between 15.4 to 19.9 percent. Harmful airborne PM2.5 and PM10 particles, which have been shown to cause cancer, would be reduced by over 11 percent.

New York’s policy does not go as far as London’s, where drivers who enter a designated “ultra low emissions zone” must pay a fee if their car doesn’t meet fuel efficiency standards. As of last year, that zone covers most of the British capital.

Harris, the public transportation advocate, praised New York’s toll as a first step of recognizing driving’s true impact on society.

“The truth is, people have never had to pay the actual cost of driving because it’s been so incredibly subsidized,” he said, citing policies like the city’s millions of free street parking spots.

But the toll’s success also depends on whether the city can fast-track infrastructure for alternatives to driving, such as bikeshare docks, protected bike lanes and bus-only lanes, before the toll is formally implemented, he said. Congestion pricing shouldn’t be about “taking cars away from people”, he said, but about “providing options for you to get around”.

“If you live in a community where you’re forced into a car, forced into car payments, and forced into wasting much of your life in traffic, it means your city and the car industry have continued to fail you. This is about giving people freedom from that.”