Darren Lockyer doesn’t buy the argument that, following Ricky Stuart’s “weak-gutted dog person” outburst, post-game press conferences should be scrapped.
Paul Gallen presented that argument in his latest column for Wide World of Sports, on the back of Stuart’s astonishing spray directed at Panthers playmaker Jaeman Salmon.
“Doing a media conference moments after a game is just stupid,” Gallen wrote.
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Darren Lockyer doesn’t agree with an argument presented by Paul Gallen following Ricky Stuart’s press outburst. (Jono Searle/Getty Images)
“It’s stupid and 99 per cent of the time it’s boring.
“The coaches go in there, and whenever they get asked a question about a contentious play they have the same answer.”
But Lockyer sees value in the coach and captain facing the press shortly after the game.
“Sometimes they televise it. I look at it in the AFL. Sometimes it’s quite enlightening watching them,” Lockyer said on Wide World of Sports’ QLDER.
“The passion, whether you’ve won or lost, is actually good to see.
“This is a slip-up from Ricky, it’s the wrong part.
“Changing the system based on what happened there — I think that would be wrong.
“I think it’s just a mistake by an individual that not many others would make.”
Stream the NRL premiership 2022 live and free on9Now.
The NRL hit Stuart with a one-match ban and $25,000 fine, ruling the Raiders coach out of his side’s clash with St George Illawarra in Canberra on Sunday.
Raiders coach banned for ‘unacceptable’ spray
The suspension means as of Tuesday afternoon until next Wednesday Stuart is not allowed to enter Raiders headquarters, attend any training session or provide any coaching.
Those duties have been left to his three assistants.
Lockyer thought Stuart, an intense figure in rugby league, had “mellowed out”.
“We know Ricky’s a passionate person and at times he can boil over,” Lockyer said.
“We’ve seen it in the past.
“He’d been quite good the last sort of 18 months.
“I hadn’t seen a chair kicked on the sideline for a while.”
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The backstories and controversies that have ignited feuds involving athletes
COVID-19 threatens to thwart many Queenslanders’ Christmas plans for a third consecutive year, but the New Year brings the hope of next generation vaccines that may better dampen virus transmission.
Key points:
Experts are warning waves of COVID to continue indefinitely
More than 65 per cent of Queenslanders aged 65 and older have received four doses of a COVID vaccine
Experts say “variant-specific boosters” and nasal vaccines will be rolled out to the public in 2023
With experts predicting COVID waves to roll on indefinitely, Queenslanders are being urged to prepare for a “new normal”, with mandatory mask wearing expected to continue in “vulnerable” settings, such as hospitals and aged care.
Chief Health Officer John Gerrard this week tentatively forecast the next COVID wave to begin in December, although he said it was impossible to predict its severity.
While the third Omicron wave has peaked, Princess Alexandra Hospital Director of Infectious Diseases Geoffrey Playford called on the public to remain vigilant by continuing to wear masks when unable to socially distance and to stay up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines to protect themselves and “keep our healthcare system going as best as it can”.
“We’re all aware in other societies, particularly in South-East Asia, and North Asia, that mask wearing has been a part of normal business, normal society for quite some time – well before COVID-19,” Dr Playford said.
“It may well be that’s where the rest of us go as well.
Masks will be the norm for the foreseeable future. (ABC News: Elizabeth Pickering)
“Humans are incredibly adaptable, and I suspect we will just get to a new normal that we’ll accept as the normal moving forward and we will adapt to that.
“I doubt it will get back to the old normal.”
Hospital balancing act an ‘enormous challenge’
As the fourth year of the pandemic looms in 2023, Dr Playford said the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic had left healthcare workers concerned about the management of other diseases, unrelated to COVID, moving forward.
The Princess Alexandra Hospital’s Dr Geoffrey Playford says hospitals have grappled with enormous challenges.(ABC NewsEmma Pollard)
“People’s cancer screenings, people’s cancer management, all the other non-COVID-related health conditions need to be managed as best as we can side by side with the COVID response,” he said.
“Patients who have COVID need to be managed in specific areas of the hospital and that’s over and above all the other pressures upon our healthcare system and our hospital beds.
“That’s been an enormous challenge trying to balance both.
“Although COVID is circulating within the community and will always circulate within the community … we shouldn’t just be accepting transmission without trying to reduce it as much as possible.
“That takes the pressure off the healthcare system and allows all the non-COVID-related conditions to get the appropriate management that they deserve.”
Queensland’s third Omicron wave is in decline.(ABC NewsAlice Pavlovic)
In Queensland on Tuesday, 710 people were taking up hospital beds with COVID – down about 36 per cent from the third wave peak of 1,123 on July 26.
The state also recorded 24 COVID deaths in the previous 24 hours, taking the total since the pandemic began to 1,677.
‘Variant-specific boosters’ and nasal vaccines set to roll out
Federal Health Department data shows 65.81 per cent of Queenslanders aged 65 and older have received four doses of a COVID vaccine – just above the national average of 64.87 per cent.
While the first generation of vaccines have not generated herd immunity – creating immunity within the population to effectively quell the spread of COVID – they have been highly successful in reducing hospitalization and death.
Infectious diseases specialist Paul Griffin says more than 100 COVID vaccines are undergoing clinical trials.(Supplied)
Infectious disease physician Paul Griffin said 2023 should see the availability of second-generation COVID jabs, including a “variant-specific booster”, that may be better at hosing down infections.
“We’re going to get improved tools to combat this virus,” he said.
“If we get a vaccine next year that’s a little bit better at blocking infection, that will go a very long way, if the uptake is good, of course, of reducing the burden of the virus.
“The Omicron-specific vaccines will do that, hopefully, to a better degree.”
Dr Griffin also foreshadowed the possibility of a nasal vaccine being available next year that looks “very promising” in reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
“I think we’ll get some additional vaccine options next year, which will hopefully be of greater help in terms of reducing the overall burden of the virus that’s around,” he said.
“There’s well over 100 vaccines still in clinical trials.”
Outbreaks in aged care homes in decline
Until the emergence of better vaccines, Dr Griffin joined Dr Playford in urging Queenslanders to keep wearing masks in high-risk venues, to stay up to date with their booster doses of first-generation COVID shots and when they are infected with SARS-CoV- 2, to access anti-viral medication, if eligible.
“We’re not back to normal,” he said.
“Being back to normal is probably some time away but if we get the basics right, we’ll be able to enjoy a quality of life that will be very close to what we had pre-pandemic.”
For the first time in weeks, Australia’s weekly COVID-19 aged care report shows the number of active outbreaks in nursing homes to be trending down.
More than four in five Australian aged care residents have received a fourth dose of vaccine.(Pexels: Matthias Zomer )
Queensland reported active outbreaks in 201 aged care facilities – down from 231 the previous week.
While Paul Sadler, the interim CEO of Aged and Community Services Australia, described the signs as “positive”, he said that they still represented about 40 per cent of aged care facilities in Queensland with active COVID outbreaks.
“It’s far from over and the expectation is we will continue to see elevated levels of outbreaks and infections through August and probably into September,” Mr Sadler said.
More than four in five Australian aged care residents have received a fourth dose of vaccine.
Mr Sadler said some facilities had needed to cancel booster clinics because of outbreaks.
“In many cases, those services have been rebooked for some time in August. We are confident … that the vaccination rate will continue to improve,” he said.
Mr Sadler said 99 per cent of Australia’s 2,700 aged care facilities had reported COVID cases in residents or staff during the pandemic, compared with 63 per cent of Canadian nursing homes.
“It’s very striking,” he said.
“That statistic about this disease getting into all bar one per cent of aged care homes nationally just shows that we’re fighting something that’s a considerable threat to aged care services and particularly, to older people who live in them.”
When President Biden tapped Merrick Garland to lead the Justice Department last year, he selected a cautious appeals court judge known as a political moderate who could build consensus.
Garland, a former federal prosecutor, would attempt to rebuild trust in the sprawling and powerful law enforcement agency after the tumultuous Trump presidency, his supporters said. He would try to convince the public and lawmakers that he was an apolitical attorney general, even as he tackled some of the nation’s most contentious political issues.
But the FBI’s highly unusual court-approved search Monday of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club put Garland square in the middle of a huge political firestorm. The search, part of a long-running probe into the possible mishandling of presidential documents, drew praise from Democrats who have been hoping the Justice Department would seriously investigate Trump and the ire of conservatives who decried the search as an abuse of power.
Trump called the court-authorized search for “prosecutorial misconduct” and the “weaponization of the Justice System.” Some of his supporters of him say the FBI’s action could galvanize Trump’s base if he runs for president in 2024.
Republican allies on Capitol Hill denounced Garland and pledged to turn the tables and investigate the Justice Department. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said the attorney general should resign or be impeached.
Merrick Garland’s goal is to restore the integrity of the Justice Department. His legacy will still be defined by Trump.
The partisan outcry was the opposite of what Garland has sought in his 17 months on the job, during which he has launched multiple high-profile civil rights investigations and efforts to fight gun trafficking and hate crimes, while also overseeing the sprawling investigation of the Jan 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol and the unprecedented efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Time and again, Garland has refused to discuss that probe or any other investigation in progress, whether or not it involves the former president. He has repeatedly pledged to follow the facts where they lead, and to hold anyone who breaks the law accountable, regardless of who that person may be.
At news conferences, I have dodges reporters’ queries about Trump, which inevitably comes up. Two of the four reporters permitted to ask questions at a news conference last week on charges filed against police officers in connection with the killing of Breonna Taylor chose to ask about investigations into Trump. Both times, Garland declined to answer.
For months, Trump’s critics — especially, but not limited to, the left — pummeled Garland for not moving quickly to investigate Trump on multiple fronts. In recent weeks and months, without fanfare, the Justice Department and US attorney’s office in Washington began obtaining communications from people in Trump’s inner circle and subpoenaing witnesses to appear before a grand jury, clearly indicating that Trump’s actions and conversations had become part of the scope. of the Jan. 6-related probe.
“You are undoubtedly going to have people saying that this is the ultimate political act,” said Donald B. Ayer, a deputy attorney general under President George HW Bush, said of the raid. “But that’s just nonsense. … He has a job to do.”
The Justice Department would not comment on whether Garland signed off on the FBI raid, and Garland has not discussed it. He made just one public comment on Monday, about the sentencing of three men convicted on federal charges in connection with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a young Black man killed while jogging in his Georgia neighborhood.
“The Justice Department’s prosecution of this case and the court’s sentences today make clear that hate crimes have no place in our country,” Garland said in a statement. “Protecting civil rights and combatting white supremacist violence was a founding purpose of the Justice Department, and one that we will continue to pursue with the urgency it demands.”
What might the Mar-a-Lago search mean for Trump legally?
Kristy Parker, a former federal prosecutor and counsel at the advocacy group Protect Democracy, said that while it’s inevitable the reaction to the search would be politicized, Garland’s silence before and after the search of Trump’s property was critical to him building trust in the process. She said it showed the attorney general wasn’t trying to appeal to any group during the investigation and has been letting the probe run its course.
“It is important to look at the manner of what is being done, and not just the substance of what is being done,” Parker said. “And it’s just as important to depoliticizing the department to ensure that no one is above the law as it is to try to avoid prosecuting the president or someone from the opposite political party.”
But some lawyers questioned why the Justice Department and FBI would execute such a high-profile search on a former president’s residence over missing documents, even if some of them are classified (sitting presidents have broad powers to declassify documents, further complicating the situation).
Stanley Brand, a former House counsel who represents some of the Jan. 6 defendants and witnesses, said that search warrants don’t always yield any blockbuster or useful information. He called the FBI search of Trump’s property a huge escalation in the investigation of documents improperly taken to Mar-a-Lago. If investigators don’t recover materials that showed that there were serious national consequences for the materials he potentially kept, Brand said, it could tarnish the Justice Department’s reputation.
“If they are trying to rebound from the perception that their decision-making was skewed from the Trump era, this is not going to help that,” Brand said. “Part of it depends on what happens hereafter.”
The Commonwealth Bank has notched up a $9.6 billion profit and will lift its dividend, after the banking giant’s bottom line benefited from solid loan growth and cuts to its bad debt charges.
As CBA delivered its full-year results on Wednesday, chief executive Matt Comyn said households were in a strong position in a challenging economy, but the bank expected a softening in consumer spending amid rising costs of living.
CBA will pay a final dividend of $2.10 a share.Credit:James Alcock
“Against many measures, Australian households and businesses are in a strong position given low unemployment, low underemployment, and strong non-mining investment. However inflation is high, and we have seen a rapid increase in the cash rate which is negatively impacting consumer confidence,” Comyn said.
“We expect consumer demand to moderate as cost of living pressures increase. It is a challenging time, but we remain optimistic that a path can be found to navigate through these economic conditions.”
In what Comyn said was a “strong” result for shareholders, CBA’s cash profits rose 11 per cent to $9.6 billion. The improvement in its bottom line was helped volume growth in its core businesses, lower costs, and a $357 million loan impairment benefit.
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CBA is increasing its final dividend by 10 per cent to $2.10 a share, and the payment will be fully-franked and paid on September 29.
The consensus forecast among analysts had been for cash earnings of $9.24 billion, according to Citi, and a final dividend of $2.09.
CBA’s result comes as investors are focused on how banks are being affected by rising interest rates, which have sparked fears of bad debts, and alongside a slowdown in the property market, which is a critical influence on banks’ loan growth.
WhatsApp announced several new privacy updates on Tuesday, including the ability for users to check their messages without other people knowing.
The platform will soon allow people to control who can see when they’re online, prevent others from taking screenshots of certain messages, and leave groups without notifying entire channels.
WhatsApp has more than two billion users globally, and is owned by Facebook parent Meta.
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Announcing the changes on Facebook and Instagram, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would “keep building new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations.”
WhatsApp has long touted its use of end-to-end encryption, which means only the sender and recipient of a message can see its contents.
And like other private messaging platforms, it already allows users to send messages that disappear after set periods of time.
However, last year WhatsApp was heavily scrutinized after an update to its terms of service.
WhatsApp announced several new privacy updates on Tuesday. Credit: SOPA Images/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett
At the time, many users expressed concerns about a section of WhatsApp’s privacy policy that detailed what is shared with parent company Facebook, which has a troubled reputation when it comes to protecting user data.
The update sent some people flocking to Signal, another popular encrypted messaging platform.
Facebook tried to dispel confusion over the policy, saying that its data-sharing practices were not new and did not “impact how people communicate privately with friends or family”.
Now, two of the new features being introduced on WhatsApp — which will let you choose who can see when you’re active, and to leave groups silently — will start rolling out to all WhatsApp users this month.
The screenshot blocking tool, which will be made available on messages intended to be viewed just once, is still being tested and will be made available later, according to WhatsApp.
The family of Australian icon Olivia Newton-John is still in talks with the Victorian government about how the state will honor the late singer.
Key points:
Newton-John died on Monday at her ranch in southern California
Messages posted to her official social media accounts said the 73-year-old “passed away peacefully” surrounded by friends and family
Her niece flagged on Tuesday that the family would accept a state funeral
Newton-John, best known for her role as Sandy in the 1978 classic Grease, died on Monday, local time, at her ranch in southern California.
She had been diagnosed with cancer.
When asked during a press conference on Tuesday whether he would consider offering the family a state funeral, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he wanted to speak with them, citing Newton-John’s “amazing” contributions.
“I was honored to meet Olivia Newton-John on many different occasions, particularly in connection with the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre,” Mr Andrews said.
“An absolutely supreme talent, a person of grace, a person of such energy and vitality.
“She took her cancer journey and used that to save lives and change lives.”
On Wednesday a spokesperson for the Premier said they were still talking to the family and no formal offer of a service had been made yet.
Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in an iconic scene from Grease.(Paramount Pictures)
Newton-John’s daughter Totti Goldsmith told Nine’s A Current Affair program on Tuesday the family would accept an offer of a state funeral.
“I think Australia needs it,” Goldsmith said.
Landmarks turn pink for Newton-John
Buildings at Melbourne’s arts center were bathed in a pink glow in memory of Olivia Newton-John.(ABC News: Simon Tucci)
Born in the UK, Newton-John moved to the Victorian capital as a child.
The performer was a tireless campaigner for breast cancer research during her lifetime, having been diagnosed with the disease herself.
The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Center continues to operate at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne’s east.
Last night, landmarks including Flinders Street Station and the Melbourne Cricket Ground turned pink in honor of Newton-John’s legacy.
The star moved to Melbourne as a child.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Visit ABC iview for our Remembering Olivia Newton-John collection.
The remarkable comeback story of basketball champ Lauren Jackson has continued, with the 41-year-old included in Australia’s 12-strong Opals team for this year’s FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup nine years after she retired.
An emotional Jackson, who retired in 2016 through a chronic injury after a Hall of Fame career in Australia and the US, said she “didn’t honestly know” if her body would hold up to the rigors of international basketball again.
But Opals coach Sandy Brondello said Jackson would add “another dimension” to the team that has gone through some tough recent times in the wake of Liz Cambage’s controversial exit.
“Making the final cut to 12 is always difficult with so many great athletes pushing for selection” Brondello said.
“The training camp in New York demonstrated how much each of these athletes wanted to compete on home soil. The competition for a spot on the team was fierce.”
“Of course, the inclusion of Lauren is the talking point, but from my perspective, she has put in the work and deserves to be here. She will add another dimension to our team dynamic.”
Jackson began her comeback for local team Albury but is hoping to help the Opals add to the team’s rich World Cup legacy having won silver in 2018, bronze in 2014 and gold in 2006.
“There were a lot of emotions when Sandy rang me, I had a bit of a cry to be honest,” Jackson said.
“I have been working my body hard, and I didn’t honestly know if it was going to hold up to my intense training regimen, but it has and I’m feeling good.
“The whole team have been so welcoming and made me feel at home. The age difference disappears as soon as I step onto the court.
“I believe in this team and what we can achieve. If I can play a part if getting us onto the podium, then the hard work is all worthwhile.”
Shyla Heal was a notable omission from the final 12, with Bec Allen and Cayla George to return for their third World Cup appearance. Marianna Tolo, Steph Talbot, Sami Whitcomb, Tess Madgen and Ezi Magbegor will return for their second appearance and Sara Blicavs, Darcee Garbin, Anneli Maley and Kristy Wallace will make their debut.
Jackson will make her fifth World Cup appearance after last playing in 2010.
The squad is filled with international experience, with Allen (New York Liberty), Magbegor (Seattle Storm), Whitcomb (New York Liberty), Wallace (Atlanta Dream) and Talbot (Seattle Storm) all playing in the WNBA.
The Opals are ranked No.3 in the world and have drawn Group C, with pool matches against France, Serbia, Japan, Mali and Canada tipping off on September 22 in Sydney.
Australian Opals 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup team: Bec Allen, Sara Blicavs, Darcee Garbin, Cayla George, Lauren Jackson, Ezi Magbegor, Tess Madgen, Anneli Maley, Steph Talbot, Marianna Tolo, Kristy Wallace, Sami Whitcomb.
Pressure is growing on the Northern Territory government to take action on stubbornly high fuel prices, with calls for a fresh inquiry to quiz retailers on the reasons behind the rates.
Key points:
Drivers in Darwin were paying $1.95 a liter on Tuesday, while the average price in NSW was $1.67
The opposition wants fuel companies and retailers to explain their prices in parliament
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says she’s written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Drivers in Darwin were paying around $1.95 a liter for petrol on Tuesday, despite the wholesale price sitting close to the average of interstate capitals of $1.59.
The average price per liter in New South Wales was $1.67, almost 30 cents a liter cheaper than the Northern Territory.
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro has called for a new parliamentary inquiry, which she said could potentially recommend a cap on profits or prices.
“Territories are paying [up to] 40 cents a liter more for their fuel compared to any other jurisdictions in the nation,” Ms Finocchiaro said.
“The power of an inquiry means that we can call fuel retailers and fuel companies to sit at the table and they have to explain to the public and the parliament why it is that territories are paying so much.”
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro (left) says retailers should explain their prices to parliament.(ABC News: Matt Garrick)
Petrol prices this year rose higher in the Northern Territory than in any other jurisdiction, according to the latest official data.
“Automotive fuel” was up by 6.2 per cent, well above the capital city average of 4.2 per cent.
The Northern Territory opposition is also proposing legislation that would force retailers to publish their profit margins.
In a statement, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the government “stood ready to take further action” if apparent profit margins remained high “without a reasonable explanation”.
Ms Fyles said she had written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and to fuel companies on the issue but did not say what she had told, or asked, them.
‘There would be higher’ at similar prices in Sydney or Melbourne
FuelTrac general manager Geoff Trotter said the Northern Territory was not without options that are already available, pointing to laws dating back to 1949 that can empower a Consumer Affairs Commissioner to set a maximum fuel price.
Such a step can be taken during a natural disaster or “to effectively ensure that consumers benefit from the operation of a competitive market within all or a part of the territory”.
Former chief minister Michael Gunner previously threatened to create a profit cap when petrol stations were making similar margins of around 35 cents a liter in 2020.
Mr Trotter said residents in the Northern Territory, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory were all suffering through high fuel prices because they attracted less attention than larger capital cities.
“The only thing that has worked in the years I’ve been in the game is when the chief ministers have threatened to invoke that emergency price-setting legislation,” he said.
“[Petrol companies] can do absolutely whatever they like.
“If they were charging the prices they are charging in Darwin … in Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane, there would be absolute uproar. It would be on the news, there would be politicians being asked all these embarrassing questions.”
High fuel and airfare costs in Alice Springs are making the region less attractive to live in, the town’s Mayor, Matt Paterson, says.(ABC News: Xavier Martin)
Costs driving tourists, residents of Alice Springs
Petrol prices are even more expensive in remote parts of the territory, with Alice Springs motorists still paying more than $2 a liter to fill up.
The town’s Mayor, Matt Paterson, said the cost was combining with other factors to drive people away from living in the region.
“Everything is so expensive that it’s sending people to breaking point,” Cr Paterson said.
“Air fares, petrol prices, house prices — it’s just horrendous at the moment.”
Cr Paterson said that “no one can justify” why fuel prices were so much higher in Alice Springs, but expected Territory Labor would not support the opposition’s call for an inquiry.
“I just want people to know we are getting the raw end of the stick, continuously,” he said.
Federal Labor’s Luke Gosling says the fuel excise cut won’t be renewed, arguing it would be fiscally irresponsible.(ABC News: Che Chorley)
Federal Labor MP Luke Gosling said the Commonwealth needed to ensure the ACCC “has got the teeth to enforce fairness and transparency.”
“But that may end up being also a role for the Northern Territory government, to ensure that there is that sort of transparency from fuel retailers,” Mr Gosling said.
“The fuel retailers should stop gouging territorians and people in other places in the country where they are clearly at the moment.”
Mr Gosling said the fuel excise tax was unlikely to be extended beyond September, citing the state of the federal budget.
WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed documents endorsing Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, the most significant expansion of the military alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden signed the US “instrument of ratification” welcoming the two countries, the final step for their endorsement by the United States.
“It was and is a watershed moment I believe in the alliance and for the greater security and stability not only of Europe and the United States but of the world,” he said of their entry into the post World War Two alliance.
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The US Senate backed the expansion by an overwhelming 95-1 last week, a rare display of bipartisan unity in a bitterly divided Washington. Both Democratic and Republican Senators strongly approved membership for the two Nordic countries, describing them as important allies whose modern militaries already worked closely with NATO. read more
The vote was a sharp contrast with some rhetoric in Washington during the administration of former Republican President Donald Trump, who pursued an “America First” foreign policy and criticized NATO allies who failed to reach defense spending targets.
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks and signs documents endorsing Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO, in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, US, August 9, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in response to Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly warned both countries against joining the alliance.
Putin is getting “exactly what he did not want,” with the two countries entering the alliance, Biden said.
NATO’s 30 allies signed the accession protocol for Sweden and Finland last month, allowing them to join the nuclear-armed alliance once all member states ratify the decision. read more
The accession must be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by Article Five, the defense clause stating that an attack on one ally is an attack on all.
Ratification could take up to a year, although the accession has already been approved by a few countries including Canada, Germany and Italy.
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Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Jeff Mason Editing by Mark Heinrich and Grant McCool
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
On Tuesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) had a volatile day but eventually closed it with a small gain. The benchmark index rose 0.1% to 7,029.8 points.
Will the market be able to build on this on Wednesday? Here are five things to watch:
ASX 200 expected to tumble
The Australian share market looks set to have a difficult day on Wednesday following a poor night of trade in the United States. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 40 points or 0.6% lower this morning. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones fell 0.2%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.4%, and the Nasdaq sank 1%.
Oil prices soften
Energy producers such as Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) could have a poor day after oil prices softened overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 0.2% to US$90.52 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price has fallen 0.35% to US$96.30 a barrel. This was driven by optimism that Iran may increase its crude exports.
CBA results
the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price will be one to watch this morning when the banking giant releases its full-year results. According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, following the bank’s update on one-offs earlier this week, its analysts are now forecasting cash earnings of $9,509 million for FY 2022. This will be a 9.9% increase on the prior corresponding period. The broker expects this to underpin a full year fully franked dividend of 380 cents per share.
Gold price rises
gold miners Evolution Mining Ltd. (ASX: EVN) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) could have a decent day after the gold price traded higher overnight. According to CNBC, the spot gold price is up 0.3% to US$1,810.90 an ounce. Traders were buying gold after the US dollar softened.
Computershare results and guidance
the Computershare Limited (ASX: CPU) share price could be on the move on Wednesday after the stock transfer company released its full year results following yesterday’s close. For the 12 months ended June 30, Computershare reported a 12.2% increase in management revenue to $2.6 billion and a 10.6% lift in management earnings per share (EPS) to 58.03 cents. Looking ahead, the company is guiding massive management EPS growth of 55% in FY 2023.
