China has announced it is winding down military exercises off Taiwan after its ambassador to Australia pledged China “ready to use all necessary means” to reunify Taiwan with the mainland.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) said it was ending almost a week of live-fire drills off Taiwan that were triggered by the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
In a major escalation of tensions, Beijing sent military ships and warplanes across the median line separating Taiwan and China.
In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a missile is launched from an unspecified location in China during long-range live fire drills off Taiwan. (AP)
The PLA said the naval and air operations were successful and had achieved their targets of sending a warning to those favoring Taiwan’s formal independence and their foreign backers.
The actions disrupted flights and shipping in a region crucial to global supply chains, prompting strong condemnation from Australia, US, Japan and others.
Yesterday China’s ambassador to Australia said China is “ready to use all necessary means” to reunify Taiwan with “the motherland”, while addressing Australia’s “difficult” relationship with the superpower.
During an address at the National Press Club, ambassador Xiao Qian said the US was to blame for rising tensions around the self-governing island, which Beijing claims is part of the mainland.
China was “absolutely determined” to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said, insisting that Beijing “will never allow Taiwan to be separated from China.”
Chinese ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian refused to rule out Beijing using force to reunify Taiwan with the mainland. (Nine)
He said China has been very patient waiting for a “peaceful unification”.
“But … we can never rule out the option to use other means, so when necessary, when compelled, we are ready to use all necessary means,” he said.
Asked to clarify how “all necessary means” should be interpreted, Xiao said: “You can use your imagination.”
Taiwan split with the mainland amid civil war in 1949, and its 23 million people overwhelmingly oppose political unification with China while preferring to maintain close economic links and de facto independence.
The PLA said it will continue to carry out military training in the Taiwan Strait and is organizing “normalized combat readiness security patrols”.
At least three dive teams have joined the search for missing California 16-year-old Kiely Rodni at the Prosser Creek Reservoir near Lake Tahoe.
They arrived at a cordoned-off boat ramp early Wednesday, as the search for Rodni entered its fifth day and following fruitless efforts involving K-9s, land vehicles, aircraft and boats.
The divers were staging in the boat ramp parking lot before planned searches in areas of the reservoir, which is 60 feet deep at its nadir. Crews told Fox News Digital they planned to search underwater near the shore.
A spokesperson for the Placer County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning that there had been no developments in the search overnight.
MISSING KIELY RODNI: CALIFORNIA SEARCH TEAMS URGE PARTYGOERS TO SHARE ANY TIPS AFTER TEEN’S POSSIBLE ABDUCTION
In a joint statement, the Placer County and Nevada County sheriffs said they’d assigned 265 personnel to the case. The number of tips received has climbed to more than 300, tripling Tuesday’s total. However, authorities are still trying to find someone who witnessed Rodni leaving the party before she disappeared.
Rodni was last seen around 12:30 am Saturday at a party at the Prosser Family Campground within Tahoe National Forest in Truckee, California. Ella’s phone last pinged around 12:33 am — minutes after she’d last spoken with a friend and one of the lead search organizers, Sami Smith, 18.
MISSING KIELY RODNI: MASSIVE SEARCH AS FRIENDS REVEAL TEEN’S LAST KNOWN FOOTSTEPS IN POSSIBLE ABDUCTION CASE
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office shared a surveillance image that showed Rodni’s outfit on the night she went missing. (Findkiely.com, Placer County Sheriff)
Authorities say Rodni and her friend were among more than 100 teens and young adults attending a high school graduation party involving multiple area schools. Police said they suspect there were drugs and alcohol present at the gathering, but are pleading with attendees to come forward with any information about possible Rodni sightings, promising not to punish anyone for partying.
“We are not investigating you,” Angela Musallam, spokesperson for the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, told teen attendees Tuesday. “We are partnering with you to obtain any information regarding Kiely.”
CALIFORNIA 16-YEAR-OLD VANISHES IN POSSIBLE ABDUCTION AFTER PARTY; MOTHER PLEADS FOR HER RETURN
Rodni went missing near Campsite 4 of the Prosser Family Campground in Tahoe National Forest in Truckee, California, after attending a party. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office shared a surveillance image that showed Rodni’s outfit on the night she went missing.
Authorities are now saying she was last seen wearing a “black spaghetti strap bodysuit” under green Dickies pants, as opposed to a black tank top initially reported. She was also wearing a black grommet belt and black Vans sneakers.
Authorities said late Tuesday that as the fourth day of searching came to a close, they had “not recovered anything they believe belongs to Kiely.”
Rodni shown in two undated photos (findkiely.com)
Rodni’s mother, Lindsey Rodni-Nieman, told Fox News Digital earlier this week that she received a text from her daughter around 12:15 am Saturday saying she was headed home. The family lives about 10 miles away at a lodge south of Truckee.
Smith said she herself left the party at around 12:25 am, believing Rodni intended to spend the night camping there.
Rodni was last seen after midnight on Aug. 6 at a high school party involving dozens of young people at the Prosser Family Campgrounds at Tahoe National Forest. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
“At the point when I left, I thought she was going to stay there,” Smith said. “Everybody was camping. It was late enough that ella she should have stayed. Ella She’s not the type to go and drunk drive or anything.”
Smith said that although they met several new people in two to three hours at the party, she did not think any of them were suspicious and did not notice any older attendees.
Rodni’s SUV is also missing — a silver 2013 Honda CRV with California license plate 8YUR127. It has a small ram-head sticker on the back window, under the rear wiper blade. (findkiely.com)
Days of aerial searches involving planes and helicopters have uncovered no signs of a crash, Musallam said. Investigators are looking into the disappearance as a possible abduction, but they have stopped short of issuing an Amber Alert, which requires “confirmation” that a juvenile has been taken.
Rodni is described as 5-foot-7 and about 118 pounds. She has blonde hair and hazel eyes. She has a tattoo on her ribs of the number “17.” She has a nose ring and several other piercings.
Rodni was last seen at a rural campground near the border of California and Nevada around 12:30 am Saturday, according to local authorities. (Placer County Sheriff)
Her SUV is also missing — a silver 2013 Honda CRV with California license plate 8YUR127. It has a small ram-head sticker on the back window, under the rear wiper blade.
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Anyone with information is asked to call the Placer County Sheriff’s Office’s dedicated tip line at 530-581-6320. Callers can remain anonymous.
The family is offering a $50,000 reward for Kiely’s return.
Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @mikerreports
Larger turbines generate energy more cheaply too, says Andy Evans, who was the co-founder and chief executive of Star of the South and who is now leading another offshore wind farm company, OceanEx.
A single 14-megawatt wind turbine of the sort now being built needs just a single connection to a substation and less maintenance than two 7-megawatt turbines that were typical just a few years ago. Maintenance at sea with crews ferried by boat or helicopter is expensive.
Evans confirmed that the project OceanEx is championing for 20 kilometers off the coast in the Hunter region will be visible from shore on clear days, while the turbines proposed for the Illawarra could be slightly closer.
Despite this, the industry has broadly maintained community support. Friends of the Earth spokesperson Cam Walker said given the NSW proposals were fairly new, it was difficult to gauge opinion.
“We think there is wide support for the jobs that would come with the development of an offshore industry near cities like Newcastle and Wollongong, which have traditionally relied heavily on fossil fuels for employment and economic activity,” he said. “In Gippsland, we feel that there is solid support for the Star of the South project, which is the only one that has so far advanced in the planning process.”
Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the community welcomed energy sources that weren’t driven by fossil fuels and the proposed projects would bring significant economic benefits to the community. He added there had been some opposition within the community about the visual pollution, impact on shipping lanes and whale migrations. These will be addressed as the projects develop.
“At the same time, I think in light of [the] climate change we are experiencing – and its impact on the Illawarra and NSW coastline – I think everyone is on the same page that anything that mitigates carbon emissions [is good],” he said.
For its part, a NSW Department of Planning and Energy spokesperson said the offshore wind industry had the potential to play a significant role in achieving net-zero by 2050.
The Newcastle council has issued a mayoral minute backing the Hunter proposal.
Why not just build them on land?
Despite the extra cost of building and maintenance, there are key advantages to harvesting wind at sea – even in countries like Australia that, unlike wind-power hotspots off the coasts of Europe, have land to spare.
Giant wind turbines could be installed offshore from popular coastal spots in NSW and Victoria.Credit:Getty Images
Wind over water is more consistent than that found on land, explains Associate Professor at ANU’s Crawford School of Public Policy Llewelyn Hughes, who specializes in energy transition.
Further, wind is stronger over water at night and over land during the day. As a result, offshore wind farms perfectly complement the spread of land-based solar and wind in Australia’s energy mix.
But there are historical, political, geographical and even geological factors that make some sites preferable to others.
Wind is stronger and more consistent in Australia’s south-east and, in this part of the country, rich coal seams are found along the coast. As a result when the nation industrialized, coal and power industries coalesced where these seams and deepwater ports could be found together – places like Gippsland, Newcastle and Port Kembla.
Where once the steep undersea drop-off would have precluded building large wind farms at a reasonable distance from shore, new technology allows for turbines to be floated and moored to the sea floor.
The east coast’s power system was built to suck electricity from power stations near these ports and distribute it. These regions evolved into centers of steel making and manufacturing.
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Today, as the transition from coal gathers pace, these same regions are starved of new industry and jobs, which offshore wind farms provide; and they offer ports and skilled workforces that the wind industry desperately needs.
The Climate Council expects the industry to need 8,000 workers a year from 2030.
Their power stations are already connected to the grid, saving hundreds of millions that would otherwise have to be spent on new transmission infrastructure.
Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley said the drawcard of offshore wind is that it adds greater geographical and technological diversity to the energy market. He said Australia had been slower than other countries to take up offshore wind, but its renewable energy sector had come leaps and bounds in the past ten years.
Buckley added there were a few key reasons why offshore wind projects had been delayed in Australia, including the huge capital investment needed to get the projects up – often two or three times the cost of building an onshore wind farm and ensuring supply chains are prepared.
I have added another major setback had been the former Liberal government’s attitude towards renewables. “We’ve had chaotic energy policy, there has been total inconsistency between state and federal [governments],” he said, “We now have a situation where there is a level of ambition. I would expect a significant unlocking of private investment capital – much of which has been scared off by the lack of consistent policy until now.”
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While the offshore wind farms provide greater energy diversity and security, he added they would make up a portion of the renewable energy push that would be needed if Australia had any hope of reducing its emissions.
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“That’s all it came down to. He won the first set and I feel like I had opportunities there as well so hopefully I can keep this rolling.”
Kyrgios, who faces Australian No.1 Alex de Minaur next for a quarter-final spot, isn’t getting carried away despite firming as one of the US Open favorites following his rousing victory over last year’s Flushing Meadows champion.
“Look, a grand slam is much, much different from any other tournament,” he said.
“If I was in this position of a grand slam, you’ve still got to win another set and that’s not easy at all. He’s a machine.
“He’s the best player in the world for a reason and at a grand slam he’s a totally different beast.”
Nevertheless, Kyrgios continues to make a mockery of the rankings and the 27-year-old’s latest triumph all but secured the Canberran an all-important seeding for the New York major starting on August 29.
“I feel confident in my body and my mentality going in to the US Open but at the same time there’s so much time between then and now,” Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios next faces countryman Alex de Minaur for the first time.Credit:The Canadian Press
“I’ve got to focus on this event and then Cincinnati. There’s so many things I’ve got to look forward to. I’m not even going to think about the US Open right now.
“I need to take care of my body.”
De Minaur set up a first-time meeting with Kyrgios with a 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 second-round win over Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the 15th seed.
In the women’s draw, world No.1 Iga Swiatek sailed past Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 6-2 while American Coco Gauff outlasted Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-7 (10-8) 7-6 (7-3 ) in a marathon second-round clash.
Ajla Tomljanovic proved no match for the world No.1 in Toronto.Credit:Getty
Tomljanovic showed a glimmer of life as the two traded breaks in the second set but the two-time French Open winner found her footing in the fifth game before wrapping up her 19th straight win on hard courts.
Elsewhere, world No.4 Carlos Alcaraz’s game inexplicably unraveled as he blew a match point before being beaten 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 by American Tommy Paul.
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Alcaraz stood on the cusp of victory when he earned a match point during the second set tiebreak but once Paul saved it, the 19-year-old Spaniard’s challenge faded as he struggled to overcome the disappointment of not wrapping up the match in straight sets.
The American, who won his sole ATP title at the Stockholm Open last year, fired off 14 winners in the third set.
Although Alcaraz saved four match points in the decider, he could not deny Paul from completing one of the biggest wins in his career.
Paul clinched it at the net in the next game, offering up a subdued celebration.
AAP, Reuters
Watch all the action from the US Open ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport, with matches streaming in 4K UHD from August 30.
Eighty-two per cent of people sampled in a study conducted by Victoria University have reported experiencing at least one form of interpersonal violence when participating in community sport as a child.
Key points:
Three-quarters of respondents said they had experienced psychological violence or neglect in children’s sport
Seventy-three per cent experienced violence from their peers, and 66 per cent said they had from a coach
Women experienced higher rates of sexual and psychological violence, as well as neglect
The survey, which is the most comprehensive of its kind in Australia, asked 886 adults whether they had experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence, as well as neglect, from either coaches, peers or parents during childhood.
Seventy-six per cent said they had experienced psychological violence or neglect, 66 per cent reported physical violence and 38 per cent reported sexual violence.
One in three respondents, meanwhile, said they had experienced all four forms of violence.
The respondents had participated in a large variety of sports, with nearly 70 represented.
Seventy per cent of respondents experienced physical and psychological violence from a peer. (Designed by The Infologist for Victoria University)
While such large numbers may come as a surprise to some, study co-author Mary Woessner said she was not shocked.
“From the literature, and knowing what’s happening internationally, I would say that’s right about what we were expecting,” Dr Woessner told the ABC.
“One of the first things you need to create change, positive change, is generate understanding that there’s a problem.
“We just want people to know it exists, so we can make evidence-based decisions to change it.”
Dr Woessner’s co-author, Aurélie Pankowiak, explained that the survey asked participants about explicit examples of violence they may have experienced in a sporting context.
Aurélie Pankowiak co-authored the study with Mary Woessner.(ABC News: Andie Noonan)
For neglect, for example, participants were asked if they had experienced being refused time off for medical injuries.
For psychological, participants were asked whether they had been insulted, threatened or humiliated (for example by being bullied, given an unwanted nickname violence or otherwise ostracised).
“We had very concrete examples of different types of violence, so we did not leave it up to the person’s interpretation of whether or not what they experienced was violent,” Dr Pankowiak said.
One reason for this, the authors say, is that it can take victims a long time to recognize that what they experienced constituted violence.
“The average reporting time for sexual abuse can be 20 years or longer,” Dr Woessner said.
“At the moment we have a system that relies on children telling us what happened while knowing that the vast majority of literature says they won’t [come forward] for years to come.
“That’s why in this study, the easiest and safest way of collecting this data was to do it retrospectively. [by asking adults].”
Most children experience violence from peers
In a first, the study sought to break down children’s experiences of violence by who perpetrated it, including peers and parents as well as coaches.
This breakdown showed that 73 per cent of respondents experienced violence from their peers, followed by coaches (60 per cent) and parents (35 per cent).
Most respondents had experienced violence from a peer. A coach was the next most common.(Designed by The Infologist for Victoria University)
Dr Woessner said distinguishing who was perpetrating violence was important because most academic literature, as well as media coverage, has focused on violence perpetrated by coaches, usually at the elite level.
This includes high-profile cases like that of Larry Nassar, the former US Olympic gymnastics team doctor who is serving an effective life sentence for sexually abusing at least 40 girls and women.
Australian swimmer Maddie Groves also recently came forward with the allegation that she was sexually abused by a former coach who is still working in the sport.
“You can distance yourself from an Olympic athlete experiencing abuse and start to think that it only happens at the elite level,” Dr Woessner said.
“There’s a mentality, ‘well that’s not my child, it’s not happening in my sport, or at my club’ … but I think with this data we can show that it might be.”
Data collected by Dr Pankowiak and Dr Woessner also showed significant gendered differences in the types of violence being experienced by men, women and gender-diverse people in childhood.
Women were more likely to experience sexual violence compared to men, while they were also more likely to experience psychological violence and neglect.
Men, on the other hand, were more likely to experience physical violence from a peer.
“When you talk about a gendered experience, we sometimes focus only on women,” Dr Woessner said.
“But it’s not that men aren’t experiencing violence, they’re just experiencing different types.”
Women experienced higher rates of sexual and psychological violence, as well as neglect.
The authors also analyzed a third category, gender-diverse people, encompassing those who identified as non-binary, gender questioning or selected “don’t know” for their gender identity.
While the sample size was small, at 17 people total, the authors found gender-diverse people experienced higher rates of many types of violence compared to cisgender men and women.
“We know from the literature broadly that marginalized communities experience institutionalized violence,” Dr Pankowiak said.
What was less clear, Dr Pankowiak said, was how the experience of systemic marginalization translated into interpersonal violence in a sporting context.
“We need an understanding of what’s driving those rates,” Dr Woessner said.
“We are talking about gender diversity here, but we know that the LGBTQI+ community broadly, people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, they all have higher risks. We just don’t fully understand why and how that’s happening.”
A wake-up call with ‘no quick fix’
While this particular study did not look at the impacts of the childhood experience of violence, the authors said there was clear evidence that it could have lifelong detrimental effects.
“We do know that there are long-term impacts,” Dr Woessner said.
“Often they [victim survivors] leave sport. They might only leave the team they’re on, but there are some people who leave sport entirely.
Co-author Mary Woessner hopes the study will be a call to action for Australian sport.(ABC News: Andie Noonan)
“Beyond the individual, you see families torn apart, you see communities torn apart.
“Community sport is led by volunteers, and when something like this happens, it impacts not just the individual but their friends, their family, and by default the community.”
Moving forward, the authors argued it was essential to intervene early so that children and adults could continue to enjoy the many benefits sport provides.
“What we’re seeing in the data is that we have a cultural normalization of violence in sport,” Dr Woessner said.
“It’s systemic, there’s not one type of violence or only one type of perpetrator and it’s happening across all sports.”
Dr Woessner added that while there was no “quick fix”, there were clear steps sports could take to safeguard children.
“When we’re thinking about changing culture, we need to go a step further than just education and policies,” Dr Woessner said.
“We need to go from the ground up and work with clubs on initiatives that are long-lasting and can create behavioral change.
“I would hope that this data starts to change public perception on the prevalence of these experiences in community sport and that it calls sports to action.”
If you believe you have experienced violence during your childhood participation in sport, you can lodge a complaint through Sport Integrity Australia’s online portal.
Participants in an interfaith memorial ceremony entered the New Mexico Islamic Center mosque to commemorate four murdered Muslim men, hours after police said they had arrested a prime suspect in the killings, in Albuquerque, NM, on Tuesday.
Andrew Hay/Reuters
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Andrew Hay/Reuters
Participants in an interfaith memorial ceremony entered the New Mexico Islamic Center mosque to commemorate four murdered Muslim men, hours after police said they had arrested a prime suspect in the killings, in Albuquerque, NM, on Tuesday.
Andrew Hay/Reuters
The killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque had already shaken the city’s small Muslim community, prompting businesses to close and residents to temporarily move away amid fears of a deadly spate of Islamophobic hate crimes.
Then came Tuesday’s news: The suspect, police say, is a 51-year-old man named Muhammad Syed, who is Muslim himself and whose motive may have been related to “interpersonal conflict.”
“You would expect that learning that a suspect is found and has been detained, it would feel like a breath of relief,” said Leena Aggad, the 23-year-old vice president of the University of New Mexico’s Muslim Student Association.
Instead, she said, news of the arrest felt “like another chain was placed on my heart.”
The suspect is well-known in the Muslim community
Syed is well-known to the Muslim community in Albuquerque, multiple people told NPR. He regularly came to the same mosque that the victims had attended.
“For months, this guy was praying next to other members of the community as if everything was normal,” Aggad said. “It shocks you.”
Syed has been charged in two of the four deaths, and police say he is the primary suspect in the other two killings. He was arrested during a traffic stop more than 100 miles from Albuquerque, authorities said Tuesday.
In a conversation with officers, Syed denied connection to the shootings. According to the criminal complaint, a gun recovered from his home matched bullet casings found at the crime scenes.
Police are working to determine a motive for the killings
Some reports have suggested the possibility that Syed, a Sunni Muslim, had targeted his victims over anger that his daughter had married a Shia Muslim. Authorities said Tuesday they are still working to determine the motive. (“Detectives discovered evidence that shows the offender knew the victims to some extent and an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings,” a police statement said.)
The suspect had lived in New Mexico for several years after immigrating from Afghanistan.
The crimes date to last November, when Mohammad Zaher Ahmadi, the 62-year-old Afghan-born owner of a halal market, was found shot to death near his store.
Then, over the past several weeks, three more men were killed: Naeem Hussain, a 25-year-old truck driver and refugee services worker who had recently acquired his US citizenship; Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, a 27-year-old planning director for the nearby city of Española; and Aftab Hussein, a 41-year-old café employee — “all really wonderful young men who enjoyed a very good reputation within their inner circles,” said Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico, in an interview with NPR.
All three were South Asians, and all three attended the same mosque. Their community was so small that Naeem Hussain, the most recent victim, had attended the funerals of the other two.
Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain, whose brother Muhammad Afzaal was killed on Aug. 1, told NPR he did not believe the reports that the suspect had targeted the victims over anger about his daughter marrying a Shiite.
“My brother is single,” he said, and the siblings had been raised as Sunnis. They were born in Pakistan and had immigrated individually to New Mexico, where his brother of him came to study at the University of New Mexico, he said.
At school, his younger brother was elected president of the university’s Graduate and Professional Student Association, and he proudly told his older brother about the election: “‘I’m an immigrant. I’m Muslim. I’m dark-skinned. English isn’t my first language. And yet, look, people are appreciative. There’s no discrimination,'” Hussain recalled.
For some, the killings renew worries about how Muslims are perceived
The three recentkillings at such a rapid pace, with the latest death last Friday, had rattled the community of several thousand Muslims who live in the Albuquerque area.
Before the news of the arrest, Assed said, the fear had disrupted daily life. People stayed home from work and prayer services out of fear of becoming a target. Some had temporarily moved out of the state altogether, I added.
“It’s a very scary situation, because their tranquility and peace have been taken away. You’re always looking around, behind your shoulder, to see if someone is following you,” said Abdur’Rauf Campos-Marquetti, a local imam.
Aggad, who wears a hijab, said she was “very scared” to leave her house. “For me, walking outside with a scarf, I am a walking symbol of Islam. It’s very obvious that I’m a Muslim,” she said.
Now, residents say, the fear has dissipated, but tension remains. At a community vigil held Tuesday night, some residents expressed concern about the perceptions of Muslims in America — that when one Muslim commits a crime, non-Muslims may view the entire faith as violent or extreme.
“It took me back to September 11th, a time where I just wanted to hide under a rock,” said Samia Assed, who helped organize the Tuesday night event. “It was just so unexpected.”
Additional reporting by NPR’s Leila Fadel, KUNM’s Alice Fordham and KUNM’s Megan Kamerick.
Jerry Hall has reportedly asked judges to cancel the divorce petition she filed five weeks ago against Rupert Murdoch.
The notice was filed at the Los Angeles superior court by the former model’s California lawyer, Ronald Brot.
The document states the divorce should be dismissed without prejudice, meaning that it can be revived, according to the Daily Mail.
It is unclear why Hall, 66, filed the dismissal or whether the couple had agreed to settle out of court.
Murdoch, 91, is understood to have had 30 days to respond to the petition, a date which had passed by the time Hall filed her request for dismissal.
In June, it emerged that the couple were to separate after six years of marriage.
Last month, it was reported that Murdoch was served the divorce papers at RAF Brize Norton after he attended his granddaughter’s wedding nearby.
The couple had a civil ceremony before a celebration at St Bride’s church on Fleet Street, the historical center of the British newspaper industry.
In 2019, they spent £11.25m on a house near Henley-on-Thames. Last year, they celebrated Murdoch’s 90th birthday together in New York, at the Tavern on the Green.
The Australian-born Murdoch was married three times previously. Hall married Mick Jagger in 1990 but the union was annulled nine years later.
The moment was hilarious because it was so relatable.
Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Rodolfo Castro and third-base coach Mike Rabelo stood and stared, mortified, at a smartphone that had mistakenly made its way onto a Major League Baseball field.
Even third base umpire Adam Hamari had the perfect reaction, pointing at the phone that had come loose out of Castro’s back pocket during a slide, trying not to giggle at the absurdity of the situation.
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Those around the sport cringed along with them.
“That’s obviously not something that should happen,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Yet it did. Just like it does to pretty much all of us. Who hasn’t had their ringer go off at a wedding, a funeral, school or church? Or been at the apex of a cannonball into the pool, only to realize their phone was still in their back pocket?
C’mon, be honest.
Rodolfo Castro forgot his phone in his back pocket. (twitter)
This faux pas just happened to be at a televised big league game, creating a video clip seen by millions.
“I just remember getting dressed, putting my pants on, getting something to eat, using the restroom,” Castro said through a translator after the Pirates lost 6-4 to Arizona. “Never did it ever cross my mind that I still had my cellphone on me.”
It’s far from the first time a phone has made a cameo on a pro sports field. One of the most famous examples came nearly 20 years ago when New Orleans Saints receiver Joe Horn pulled out a flip phone — Remember those? — that he had hidden in the padding around the goalpost and then acted like he was taking a call after scoring a touchdown.
Of course, there are legitimate reasons MLB doesn’t want phones on the field.
MLB has cracked down on technology use by players since the Houston Astros used live TV feeds to steal opposing teams’ signs during their run to the 2017 World Series championship and part of the subsequent season.
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and then-manager AJ Hinch were suspended for the 2020 season. The Astros also were fined $7 million and forfeited their first- and second-round picks in 2020 and 2021.
Joe Horn #87 of The New Orleans Saints talks on his phone after scoring a touchdown against the New York Giants December 14, 2003, at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) (Getty)
That kind of discipline obviously isn’t warranted in this situation, but phones on the field are still a no-no. MLB hadn’t announced any sort of punishment for Castro as of Wednesday afternoon.
“I’m sure we’ll hear from the league, but I feel like everybody, including the umpires — which, again, they handled it great — it was a young kid who made a mistake and put his phone in his pocket,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “There was no attempt to use it or do anything with it.”
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The backstories and controversies that have ignited feuds involving athletes
Maneuvering a 10-tonne tractor over rough terrain and tipping sugar cane into a train carriage may require skill and concentration, but Jasmine Cartwright and Elsa Tickler have taken it like ducks to water.
It therefore came as a bit of a surprise when the pair discovered they were the first women to apply for the job on Matt Watson’s Mossman farm in far north Queensland.
“Definitely, women can do the job just as well as men,” 28-year-old Ms Cartwright said.
“I’ve never driven heavy vehicles before starting this job and, prior to this year, never really imagined that I would go down this path for work, but I’m really happy I did.
“It takes a bit of time to practice and get used to the trucks because they’re just unique in the way that they run, but women should absolutely give it a go.”
Ms Tickler, 27, is from south-east Queensland and previously worked as a cook on a prawn trawler.
“I think learning to drive heavy machinery is a great skill set … and it’s something that will be so valuable in my life and future,” she said.
“I think I’ll be back for the next season.”
Elsa Tickler was surprised to learn she was one of the first female Powerhaul drivers in Mossman.(Rural ABC: Tanya Murphy)
With no regrets
Labor shortages have been a growing challenge for the agriculture industry, with young women among those most likely to leave rural areas.
Ms Cartwright, who is also from the state’s south-east, says she has no regrets about moving to Mossman this year to work.
“The environment we’re working in, the scenery, it’s so beautiful driving around different farms in Mossman and the Daintree,” she said.
“Sometimes it’s like a wildlife documentary happening in front of you: we see snakes and wild pigs and so many bandicoots and dingoes and kangaroos—crocodiles even.
“It’s really challenging because the roads are obviously a bit off-road and you’re driving a really heavy vehicle, so it’s just a new challenge, but it’s really fun.”
Driving the locomotive
After the cane is successfully tipped into train carriages, another young woman has the job of delivering it safely to the Mossman sugar mill.
Sophie Wright, 22, gave up her job as a makeup artist in Adelaide and moved to Mossman four years ago after falling in love with the region.
Sophie Wright is completing her locomotive driver’s license.(Rural ABC: Tanya Murphy)
She has been working as a train driver’s assistant for Far Northern Milling and is currently training to be a locomotive driver.
Ms Wright said it had been a big career change but one she was glad she made.
“I think it’s something I love doing a whole lot more. You know, I feel like it’s meaningful,” she said.
“I honestly think the scenery is amazing. You see really nice parts of Mossman. We have to cross a few bridges on the way and there are stunning creeks.”
Ms Wright drives the cane train under supervision and helps with maintenance while logging the 200 hours required to get her ticket, which she hopes to achieve by next year.
“When we do have maintenance days, or when there’s days that the mill needs to stop for whatever reason, we help out John, who is our mechanic here, greasing the locos,” she said.
“We have to change the grease bombs. We have to make sure all the oils and the final drives and everything’s topped up and working well.
“We also have maintenance days where we have to adjust the brakes and put new ones in.”
A locomotive engine driver’s job is to collect filled carriages and take them to the mill.(Rural ABC: Melanie Groves)
On the right track
Ms Wright says another benefit to driving cane trains is that the job is seasonal, which means she has six or seven months off each year that allow her to travel.
Last year, she even worked on a snorkel tour boat on the Great Barrier Reef.
Ms Wright said it was no surprise that the job was attracting a growing number of women.
“When I started, I was one of the only females working on the trains,” she said.
“Now as the years have gone past, there are more and more women who are actually coming in and learning to drive, and learning to be driver assistants as well, which is really good to see.
“I’ve actually heard a few people say women are a little bit more careful with the trains. They pay attention and they’re very careful.”
Sophie Wright gave up her job as a makeup artist in Adelaide to work on cane trains in Mossman.(Rural ABC: Tanya Murphy)
Ms Wright said young women should not limit their imaginations when it came to career choices.
“You can train to be anything that you want to be, if you put your mind to it,” she said.
“[The cane industry] is a really open industry.
“I think if you want to do it, then just go for it. I’ve learned so much this year and anyone can do it really.”
President Biden on Wednesday demanded that the Syrian government release freelance journalist and Washington Post contributor Austin Tice, saying that the United States knows that he is being held by their government 10 years after he was abducted.
“We know with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime,” Biden said in a statement. “We have repeatedly asked the government of Syria to work with us so that we can bring Austin home.”
This week marks a decade since Tice, who served in the US Marine Corps and was also a journalist who had been working and covering the conflict in Syria, was abducted in Damascus on Aug. 14, 2012, days after his 31st birthday. He is one of the longest-held American hostages.
Transcript: American Hostage with Debra & Marc Tice, Parents of Austin Tice
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has not acknowledged that his government detained Tice, and other top Syrian officials have denied having custody or any information about him. But Biden made clear in his statement that the United States believes the Syrian government has Tice, and the ability to release him.
“I am calling on Syria to end this and help us bring him home,” Biden said. “There is no higher priority in my Administration than the recovery and return of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad. We must name them, keep them in our hearts and minds, and make their recovery and return a priority.”
Biden’s strongly worded statement came a month after a controversial trip to Saudi Arabia in which he met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is accused of being behind the killing of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
In his statement, Biden alluded to a meeting he held in early May with Tice’s parents, Marc and Debra, saying he pledged to them to try to secure their son’s release.
“The Tice family deserves answers, and more importantly, they deserve to be swiftly reunited with Austin,” Biden said. “We stand with Austin’s many loved ones, and we will not rest until we bring Austin home. Ten years is far, far too long. So is every additional day.”
