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Dixon holds off McLaughlin to win chaotic Nashville IndyCar race

Dixon holds off McLaughlin to win chaotic Nashville IndyCar race

Scott Dixon

Scott Dixon has beaten Scott McLaughlin to victory by a tenth of a second in a chaotic Nashville IndyCar race.

Dixon had qualified 14th and his #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was involved in a shunt on Lap 26 when the pack checked up upon the second restart.

He dropped to 20th when he took service as a result of that collision, but filtered back to the front when Josef Newgarden had to pit from the lead under the sixth Caution period.

McLaughlin led initially from pole before being hurt by the timing of the first full course yellow flag period, but the speed of the #3 Team Penske Chevrolet still gave him a fighting chance of victory.

He was left just a lap-and-a-bit to try and pass his fellow New Zealander after an eighth Caution was upgraded to a red flag period, but came up 0.1067s shy in the end.

Alex Palou finished third in a wounded #10 Ganassi Honda while Newgarden was sixth in the #2 Penske entry, Will Power 11th in the #12 Penske car after battling electronics problems, and Marcus Ericsson not running at the finish in the #8 Ganassi machine due to a technical issue of his own.

In the series points, Power has clung on to the lead but it is now Dixon up to a second at just six points behind.

The initial green flag came more than 90 minutes late due to a thunderstorm, with the track declared dry despite significant damp patches.

McLaughlin got out to a one-second lead after just two laps, from Romain Grosjean (Andretti Autosport), Palou, Christian Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing), Pato O’Ward (McLaren SP), and David Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing w / HMD Motorsports), all of whom started on alternates, with Newgarden best of those on primaries in seventh after briefly holding sixth.

McLaughlin was 1.5s to the good when a Caution was called on Lap 8 after Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport), who had not long pitted, locked the rears and had his #27 Honda stall at Turn 10.

None of the front-runners opted to pit by the time the race resumed on Lap 11, in the new restart zone, at which point O’Ward went under Lundgaard and Malukas was freight-trained back to ninth by Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing, green tires), and Power (blacks).

Lundgaard reclaimed fourth from O’Ward on Lap 13 and Newgarden also passed the #5 Chevrolet on Lap 18, before they closed up on Palou.

The Spaniard was clearly struggling for pace when he pitted on Lap 21 to swap to Blacks, and the timing proved fortuitous.

A Caution came on Lap 22 when Helio Castroneves (MSR) spun on his own at Turn 3, not only wiping out McLaughlin’s 2.5s lead but also scrambling the order when anyone who had not already pitted opted to peel off.

Palou assumed the lead from an off-sequence Jimmie Johnson (Ganassi), Pagenaud, Kyle Kirkwood (AJ Foyt Racing), Malukas, McLaughlin, and Grosjean on blacks, then Power in eighth on greens.

Restart 2 came on Lap 25 but there was carnage next time around, when the pack concertinaed at Turn 7.

Graham Rahal (RLLR) shunted O’Ward at the back end of the top 10, and several more cars hit nose-to-tail when they checked up back at Turn 6, including Dixon.

Palou led from Pagenaud, Malukas, and McLaughlin, the latter three of whom had quickly cleared Car #48.

Power, who got hit by O’Ward in the concertina, retained eighth but was in emergency mode with limited electronic functionality, while Ericsson (blacks) sat 13th and Newgarden (greens) 14th.

Dixon got back to the pits and resumed in 20th after the #9 crew eventually got a bent left-rear wheel and its flat tire off the car.

Restart 3 occurred on Lap 33 and Caution 4 began on Lap 34.

The cause of that disruption was Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti) and Takuma Sato (DCR w/ Rick Ware Racing) ending up in the wall together at Turn 10.

By then, Kirkwood and Grosjean had cleared Johnson and hence were fifth and sixth, while Newgarden used the yellow flag to pit for barely scuffed backs and rejoined in 17th, ahead of the Lap 41 restart.

McLaughlin wasted little time in putting a forceful move on Malukas at Turn 11, then divebombed Pagenaud for a second spot on Lap 42, at which point Palou was about two seconds up.

Pagenaud continued to cede positions, reportedly due to a differential issue, while Power was on the slide out of the top 10.

However, he had a stroke of luck when a VeeKay off prompted him to pit on Lap 50 in case of a Caution.

It did not come then, but one did just two laps later when Rahal, who had been sent back out, understeered into the wall at Turn 4.

VeeKay, coincidentally enough, shunted the #15 Honda but Power just missed both of them.

The big winner was Newgarden, who vaulted to the front when the pits opened thanks to his stop under the previous Caution.

Dixon was second having pitted a lap before Lundgaard and Power, who assumed third and fourth, followed by Jack Harvey (RLLR), then Palou, Malukas, and Herta, who was fighting back after needing a new front wing due to a collision with Dalton Kellett (AJ Foyt) on just Lap 3.

Grosjean was ninth, Kirkwood 10th, Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren SP) 11th but first on greens, Ericsson 12th, and McLaughlin all the way back in 15th after a slow stop.

On the Lap 56 restart, Kirkwood lunged past Herta and Harvey at Turn 11, causing the field to bunch up, and McLaughlin managed to thread his way through to 10th.

Again, Power was seriously struggling for pace.

Within four laps of the restart, Newgarden was more than a second up from Dixon, Lundgaard, Palou, and Herta, who had just passed Malukas on the run to Turn 9.

McLaughlin soon also passed Power, with any idea of ​​protecting his title-contending team-mate by playing rear gunner presumably futile, and was sixth when he got by Malukas on Lap 63.

A lap later, Malukas was in the tire wall at Turn 9, with the #14 Chevrolet lodged underneath his #18 Honda, after Kirkwood had gone for a move.

That represented the sixth Caution but Penske decided that Newgarden was not going to get home on fuel and called Car #2 in when the pits opened, costing him the live series lead.

Remarkably, Dixon thus led, from Lundgaard, and Palou, whose front wing was looking second-hand after he had touched Power in making the earlier pass.

Herta was fourth, then McLaughlin, Grosjean, Ericsson, Rossi, Power, and Rosenqvist, with Newgarden last on the lead lap in 14th on more scuffed backs.

Upon the Lap 70 restart, McLaughlin was straight down the inside of Herta at Turn 9, then got through on Palou for a third spot at Turn 11.

Newgarden was already back up to ninth on Lap 71 when he went down the inside of Power at Turn 4.

Johnson triggered a seventh Caution on Lap 73 when he had a fast lose at Turn 4 and smashed into the wall.

Behind Dixon, Lundgaard, and McLaughlin was Palou, from Grosjean, Herta, Rossi, Newgarden, Harvey on greens, Pagenaud, and Power in 11th, while Ericsson had slipped to 13th after an apparent technical glitch.

Restart 7 came on Lap 76 and McLaughlin lunged past Lundgaard to nick second spot at Turn 9.

That was tame, however, compared to Newgarden trying to pass Rossi, Herta, and Grosjean in one move just behind, and the #2 Penske car hip-checked the latter’s #28 Andretti entry into the concrete wall.

Caution 8 quickly became a red flag period, and most cars returned to pit lane but Ericsson’s had stopped on-track.

After a 10-minute stoppage, Dixon led McLaughlin, Lundgaard, Palou, Rossi, Herta, Newgarden, Pagenaud, Rosenqvist (greens), Harvey (greens), and Power back out onto the circuit.

It was that Race Control advised ‘no further action’ regarding the Newgarden-Grosjean incident.

McLaughlin pressured Dixon when the green came on Lap 79 but just missed out on victory in the lap-and-a-bit which remained.

Palou, however, got Lundgaard straight away at Turn 9, which caused Car #30 to also be passed by Rossi and Herta, who would complete the top five.

Newgarden got up to km in the end, ahead of Rosenqvist, Lundgaard, Harvey, Pagenaud, and Power in 11th.

Simona De Silvestro (Paretta Autosport) was classified last in the 26-car field after she was caught up in the early concertina.

Next up is the final oval event of the season, at Gateway Motorsports Park, on August 19-20 (local time).

Every IndyCar race is streamed live and ad-free on Stan Sport.

Results: Race, Nashville

pos number drivers C/E/T Racetime/Split pit stops Status grid position
1 9 Scott Dixon D/H/F 2:06:24.2439 6 Running 14
two 3 Scott McLaughlin D/C/F +0.1067 two Running 1
3 10 alex palou D/H/F +0.6100 two Running 4
4 27 alexander rossi D/H/F +0.9412 4 Running 17
5 26 Colton Hertha D/H/F +1.3942 3 Running 23
6 two Joseph Newgarden D/C/F +2.1828 3 Running 6
7 7 Felix Rosenqvist D/C/F +2.8426 3 Running fifteen
8 30 Christian Lundgaard D/H/F +3.2724 two Running 3
9 60 Simon Pagenaud D/H/F +4.4000 two Running 13
10 Four. Five Jack Harvey D/H/F +5.1560 4 Running eleven
eleven 12 Will Power D/C/F +6.7843 two Running 8
12 twenty-one Rinus VeeKay D/C/F +1 lap 4 Running 10
13 06 Helio Castroneves D/H/F +1 lap 8 Running 26
14 8 Marcus Ericson D/H/F +4 laps 3 mechanical 18
fifteen 77 callum ilott D/C/F +4 laps 6 Running 19
16 28 Romain Grosjean D/H/F +5 laps two Contact two
17 twenty conor daly D/C/F +6 laps 3 Running 22
18 48 Jimmie Johnson D/H/F +8 laps 3 Contact 25
19 14 Kyle Kirkwood D/C/F +17 laps two Contact 16
twenty 18 David Malukas D/H/F +17 laps two Contact 7
twenty-one 51 takuma sato D/H/F +48 laps 1 Contact twenty
22 29 Devlin DeFrancesco D/H/F +48 laps two Contact 24
23 fifteen Graham Rahl D/H/F +51 laps 1 Contact 9
24 5 Duck O’Ward D/C/F +55 laps 1 Contact 5
25 4 Dalton Kellett D/C/F +55 laps 1 Contact 12
26 16 Simona Silvestro D/C/F +55 laps 1 Contact twenty-one

Race winner: 80 laps

series points

pos drivers pts
1 Will Power 450
two Scott Dixon 444
3 Marcus Ericson 438
4 Joseph Newgarden 428
5 alex palou 417
6 Scott McLaughlin 392
7 Duck O’Ward 391
8 alexander rossi 330
9 Felix Rosenqvist 325
10 Colton Hertha 315
eleven Rinus VeeKay 300
12 Simon Pagenaud 284
13 Graham Rahl 281
14 Romain Grosjean 273
fifteen Christian Lundgaard 272
16 conor daly 249
17 David Malukas 231
18 Helio Castroneves 224
19 takuma sato 208
twenty callum ilott 181
twenty-one Jimmie Johnson 178
22 Jack Harvey 178
23 Devlin DeFrancesco 159
24 Kyle Kirkwood 144
25 Dalton Kellett 108
26 Tony Canaan 78
27 Santino Ferucci 71
28 Ed Carpenter 67
29 Tatiana Calderón 58
30 JR Hildebrand 53
31 John Paul Montoya 44
32 Simona Silvestro 26
33 Marco Andretti 17
3. 4 sage karam 14
35 Stefan Wilson 10
Categories
Australia

Sorrento crash: Two men seriously injured after motorbike crashes in Toyota Kluger on Hepburn Avenue

Sorrento crash: Two men seriously injured after motorbike crashes in Toyota Kluger on Hepburn Avenue

A man is fighting for life after he and two others were injured in a fiery crash in Perth’s north after a motorbike collided with a Toyota Kluger, causing the vehicle to roll and burst into flames.

Two males, one a teenager, who were understood to have been on the motorbike were taken under priority conditions to Royal Perth Hospital. The man is in a critical condition and the male teenager has serious injuries.

Two males on the motorbike - one a teenager - have been rushed to Royal Perth Hospital with serious injuries.
Camera IconTwo males on the motorbike – one a teenager – have been rushed to Royal Perth Hospital with serious injuries. Credit: 7NEWS/7NEWS
Your local paper, whenever you want it.

The female driver of the Kluger, believed to be in her 40s, was taken to Joondalup Health Campus but is not understood to have life-threatening injuries.

*** ONLINE USE WATERMARKED VERSIONS UNTIL 7NEWS HAS BROADCAST AT 6PM *** Three people have been injured in a fiery crash in Perth's north after a motorbike collided with a Toyota Kluger, causing the vehicle to roll and burst into flames. Two men, who were understood to have been on the motorbike, were taken under priority conditions to Royal Perth Hospital, while the woman driving the Kluger was transferred to Joondalup Health Campus.
Camera IconThe female driver of the Toyota Kluger which burst into flames after the crash has been taken to Joondalup Hospital. Credit: 7NEWS/7NEWS

Hepburn Avenue westbound between Howland Road and West Coast Drive was closed soon after the crash about 4.40am with emergency services still working to clear the scene.

Police were called out initially to what they believed was the rollover of the Toyota Kluger. But they soon established that what appeared to be a type of off-road motorcycle was also involved.

*** ONLINE USE WATERMARKED VERSIONS UNTIL 7NEWS HAS BROADCAST AT 6PM *** Three people have been injured in a fiery crash in Perth's north after a motorbike collided with a Toyota Kluger, causing the vehicle to roll and burst into flames. Two men, who were understood to have been on the motorbike, were taken under priority conditions to Royal Perth Hospital, while the woman driving the Kluger was transferred to Joondalup Health Campus.
Camera IconThe female driver of the Toyota Kluger which burst into flames after the crash has been taken to Joondalup Hospital. Credit: 7NEWS/7NEWS

Officers from the major crash unit are on the scene to investigate the incident.

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Categories
US

NYC sees second wave of migrants arrive from Texas border

NYC sees second wave of migrants arrive from Texas border

A second group of migrants sent from the Texas border arrived early Sunday in New York City, where they were greeted by Mayor Adams.

Hizzoner promised support for the new arrivals after GOP governors began shipping migrants to the East Coast in a chaotic policy aimed at pressing the White House on immigration.

Speaking to reporters at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown, where a bus dropped off 14 migrants, Adams slammed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to Republican.

“It is unimaginable what the governor of Texas has done,” the Democratic mayor fumed.

Mayor Adams greets asylum seekers arriving in New York City from Texas on Sunday morning, Aug. 7, 2022. (Diane Bondareff/Mayoral Photo Office)

“When you think about this country — a country that has always been open to those who are fleeing persecution and other intolerable conditions — we’ve always welcomed that,” he continued. “This governor is not doing that in Texas, but we are going to send the right message, the right tone, of being here for these families.”

Taxis took the 14 migrants to their next destinations free of charge, CBS New York reported.

Under New York State law, the city must provide housing for any adult who arrives by 10 pm with children at a homeless shelter the day of their arrival.

New York City saw its first bus of migrants sent by Abbott on Friday morning. A charter bus brought about 50 people to the Port Authority Bus Terminal after a roughly two-day journey from the Lone Star State.

Major Eric Adams and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

Major Eric Adams and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (AP)

“The journey by bus, it was tough,” one of the new arrivals, 40-year-old Alfonso Ruiz, told the Daily News on Friday. “Stopping and shouting and stopping almost every day.”

In the spring, Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who’s also Republican, announced plans to send buses of migrants to Washington, DC They were protesting President Biden’s move to lift restrictions on seeking asylum that were imposed near the start of the COVID pandemic. The rule remains in effect, under a court order.

Adams has been calling for federal funding to help handle the new migrants. On Sunday, he said Texas should coordinate its plans with New York.

Mayor Adams greets asylum seekers arriving in New York City from Texas. (Diane Bondareff/Mayoral Photo Office)

“In addition to Washington, DC, New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city,” Abbott stated Friday. “I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief.”

Last week, the mayor turned down an invitation from Abbott to see the state’s southern border first-hand.

“Instead of a photo-op at the border, we hope Gov. Abbott will focus his energy and resources on providing support and resources to asylum seekers in Texas as we have been hard at work doing in New York City,” Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said at the time.

Washington, DC has received more than 6,100 migrants from Texas, according to Abbott’s office.

But the Pentagon on Friday rejected a request from DC Mayor Muriel Bowser for the National Guard to provide assistance for what she called a “growing humanitarian crisis.”

With News Wire Services

Categories
Technology

Rollback Netcode Announcements Made For Multiple Fighting Games At EVO 2022

Rollback Netcode Announcements Made For Multiple Fighting Games At EVO 2022

EVO, the year’s biggest fighting games event, went down over the weekend, and in terms of news perhaps the biggest announcement was that not one but two games will be getting Rollback Netcode improvements over the next 12 months. Don’t know what that means, or why it’s important? I got you!

So in online multiplayer games, a large part of allowing everyone to play together is the way the game registers everyone’s actions at the same time. When a person in Canada is playing someone in Germany they’ll both be pressing buttons in their own homes, and the game needs to pick up those inputs, apply them to the game and have them play out in a way that makes the whole thing look as seamless as though they were playing with (or against) each other in the same room.

Different games (and different genres) handle this differently, depending on how important speed and accuracy is to the player’s experience, but one type of input recognition that’s especially important to anyone playing a fighting game — where every frame and millisecond can mean the difference between victory and defeat — is called Rollback Netcode.

Rollback Netcode doesn’t rely on waiting for everyone’s input before registering actions; Instead it lets both players press their buttons and see the action play out instantly without lag or delay, as though they were playing offline, and in the downtime between that and the opponent’s action arriving the game basically guesses what was going to happen next. If it guessed right the game continues with nobody noticing, and if it was wrong, it checks down to play out the action that the other player actually made, which sometimes involves a little “teleporting”.

The very helpful video below, by Code Mystics, explains how Rollback Netcode works, and how in fighting games it’s speed and accuracy make it so superior to the more traditional Input Delay:

OKAY! So now that we’re all up to speed on Rollback Netcode, you can understand why such a seemingly minor announcement is actually a huge deal for fighting game fans, and why these two announcements made at EVO went down so well with fans.

First up, producer Tomoko Hiroki took to the stage to announce that the upcoming versions of dragon ball fighter z on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S will be getting Rollback Netcode, as will the PC version, though on the latter players will get the option whether to use Rollback Netcode (which will carry a slightly steeper system requirement) or stick with Input Delay.

It doesn’t look like the upgrade will be coming to the PS4, Xbox One or Switch versions of the game, though the last-gen PlayStation and Xbox versions will have upgrade paths made available for anyone who upgrades to newer systems.

As for when this is actually coming, it doesn’t sound like it will be soon, with the announcement saying “It will take some time until the system is implemented, but we sincerely hope you will enjoy it as soon as possible. More information will be released at a later date. Please wait for further details.”

The 2019 reboot of samurai showdown got the same announcement, with SNK teaming up with Code Mystics — creators of the vid above — to implement the upgrade. It’ll be coming to the PC, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game (again leaving the Switch behind), and is “planned” for Spring 2023.

Categories
Entertainment

Little Mix star Jade Thirlwall rattled by woman’s foot act on plane

Little Mix star Jade Thirlwall rattled by woman's foot act on plane

Passengers have to put up with a lot of things on flights, but if there is one thing that no one should have to deal with, it’s bare feet in your face.

Whether it’s near you or in your peripheral vision it’s an act that happens unfortunately all too often.

The latest traveler to be confronted by another flyer’s feet was Little Mix star Jade Thirlwall – and she was so shocked by what she had witnessed on a flight, she recorded a TikTok and shared it with her 1.9 million TikTok followers to also feel her pain.

“Breathtaking views at 38,000 – feet,” she British singer captioned the video.

Jade filmed herself looking stunned before flipping the phone to show a woman a few rows in front with her leg stretched so high, her foot was touching the overhead locker.

In the two days since she posted it, it has already clocked almost five million views and over 13,000 comments with many grossed out by the act.

“I’d be screaming if I’d seen this,” one person wrote.

“I want to cry,” said another, while a third yelled: “WHY DID SHE START POINTING THEM?”

One user described it as “absolutely foul”.

“People are so wrong on a plane – morals, manners and politeness go out the window.”

Others were more concerned for Jade.

“I hope you are OK after experiencing this Jade,” one person joked, to which the star responded: “A little rattled but I’m OK hun.”

“Imagine you did this in a plane and ended up on Jade Thirlwall’s TikTok,” another said.

A cabin crew member also chimed in saying it is her “greatest fear”.

“’Madam, please may you remove your toes from the ceiling?’” she joked.

Others complimented the woman on her manicured toes while some wished they were “that flexible”.

“I’d be p**sing myself trying not to laugh,” one user added.

Some couldn’t believe the man sitting next to her was completely unfazed.

“The fact the person next to them is talking to them like this is a normal occurrence,” they wrote.

However, as much as the passenger’s foot act was the center of attention, fans also couldn’t help but applaud the singer for sitting in economy, particularly given her popular and successful British band Little Mix has a net worth of £48 million ($ A83 million), according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2020.

“Humble queen not flying private,” one fan commented.

“Imagine being on the same plane as Jade Thirlwall,” another wrote.

It is unclear where Jade was flying to or from, but it comes after she had her phone stolen in Ibiza.

“Shoutout to whoever stole my phone. Not having one for a little while was truly bliss. Anyways, here’s me being a basic b**ch in Ibiza a cutla weeks ago,” she said in an Instagram post alongside a selfie on the party island.

It appears Jade is no stranger to flying on commercial flights.

“I was sat next to her in the airport and didn’t want to bother her for a pic. Regretted it ever since,” one fan wrote.

As for the bare feet, it’s also not the first time something like this has happened.

In May, a passenger was left horrified when another flyer shoved their bare feet onto their seat’s armrest during a flight.

The traveler was flying from Melbourne to Adelaide when the incident occurred

A video shows a person looking at the camera in horror before zooming in on the bare feet poking through from the seat behind and on the armrest.

The passenger then appears to notice they are being filmed and quickly whips their feet back.

Experts have also warned travelers to never be barefoot on a plane.

California-based podiatrist Ebonie Vincent, who is also behind the US TV series, My Feet Are Killing Mesaid that being barefoot leaves travelers exposed to bad bacteria.

Read related topics:TikTok

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Categories
Sports

Leandro Lo dead at 33: Jiu-jitsu legend shot, how did he die?

news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Legendary Jiu-jitsu fighter Leandro Lo was fatally shot at a concert in Sao Paulo, Brazil, according to reports.

A lawyer for the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu world champion confirmed that his client, 33, died after being declared brain-dead from the shooting, according to a report by MMA Fighting.

The killing allegedly took place during a confrontation between Lo and Police Officer Henrique Otávio Oliveira Velozo, the outlet reported.

Witnesses said Velozo grabbed a bottle from Lo’s table and that the fighter took the cop down and held him, according to the outlet, citing a police report.

MMA Fighting reports after the pair were separated, Velozo allegedly pulled out a gun, firing a round into Lo’s forehead.

Lo had dominated the sport since 2011, winning eight World Championship titles – which made him one of the most decorated Jiu-jitsu fighters of all time. Just earlier this year, he won another World Championship in California.

Tributes came flooding in after the shock news of his death.

“A very sad day for the BJJ community,” analyst and former UFC fighter Kenny Florian tweeted. “Leander was a legend.”

Combat sports analyst Luke Thomas tweeted: “Oh my god.”

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

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Categories
Australia

David Pocock calls for forestry carbon credits to be scrapped

David Pocock calls for forestry carbon credits to be scrapped

“A commitment from the government to back a disallowance motion on the 2022 Plantation Forestry method would be a strong signal they are committed to ensuring we walk the talk.

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“We simply can’t afford a low target and to be going forward with poor policy from the last parliament that puts questionable carbon credits into the system.”

Pocock has advice from Senate officials that a disallowance can be lodged before October 25 and the last date to move the disallowance motion would be November 30.

Pocock and Lambie are also concerned about a separate way of claiming ACCUs, known as the landfill gas generation method, because it could reward companies that change operations such as gas flaring.

The government gained a major victory in the House of Representatives last week by securing support from the Greens and most of the independent MPs on the crossbench to legislate the 43 per cent target in a law that says the government could increase but not decrease the target.

“I’m very, very confident it will pass the Senate. Very, very confident,” Bowen told the Nine Network on Sunday.

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“Australians would expect a government of grown-ups to get on with the job and talk to people of goodwill to make sure that we have a good, solid climate bill.”

Pocock has put his concerns on the agenda in his negotiations with the government to influence his vote on the climate change target after a meeting with Bowen last Wednesday failed to reach a settlement on the bill, which is likely to be decided in the upper house next month.

The ACCU regime is under intense scrutiny after the former head of the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee, Andrew Macintosh of the Australian National University, went public in March with concerns about fraud within the regime.

Writing in The Conversation Last month, Professor Macintosh and colleagues Megan Evans and Don Butler said their analysis showed there were credits in the system for emissions reductions that were not real.

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“Our analysis found credits have been issued for emissions reductions that were not real or additional, such as protecting forests that were never going to be cleared, growing trees that were already there, growing forests in places that will never sustain them permanently. [and] large landfills operating electricity generators that would have operated anyway,” they wrote.

Bowen has announced a review of the Emissions Reduction Fund by former chief scientist Ian Chubb but Pocock said the plantation rules needed to be stopped immediately to prevent the ACCUs from being issued in the first place.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

Categories
US

North Carolina sheriff stocking schools with AR-15 rifles

University instructor charged in shooting death of student

MARSHALL, N.C. — When schools in one North Carolina county reopen later this month, new security measures will include stocking AR-15 rifles for school resource officers to use in the event of an active shooter.

Spurred by the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead in May, school officials and Madison County Sheriff Buddy Harwood have placed one of the semiautomatic rifles in each of the county’s six schools. Each of the guns will be locked inside a safe, Harwood said.

The North Carolina school district and sheriff’s office are collaborating to enhance security after the Uvalde shooting revealed systemic failures and “egregiously poor decision-making,” resulting in more than an hour of chaos before the gunman was finally confronted and killed by law enforcement, according to to a report written by an investigative committee of the Texas House of Representatives.

“Those officers were in that building for so long, and that suspect was able to infiltrate that building and injure and kill so many kids,” Harwood told the Asheville Citizen Times. “I just want to make sure my deputies are prepared in the event that happens.”

The idea of ​​having AR-15s in schools does not sit well with Dorothy Espelage, a UNC Chapel Hill professor in the School of Education who has conducted decades of study and research on school safety and student well-being.

“What’s going to happen is we’re going to have accidents with these guns,” Espelage told WLOS-TV. Just the presence of an SRO increases violence in the schools. There’s more arrests of kids. Why is it that they have to have these AR-15s? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Madison County Schools Superintendent Will Hoffman said school administrators have been meeting regularly with local law enforcement officials, including Harwood, to discuss the updated safety measures.

Harwood said the county’s school resource officers have been training with instructors from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

Harwood said the safes where the AR-15s will be kept will also hold ammunition and breaching tools for barricaded doors.

“We’ll have those tools to be able to breach that door if needed. I do not want to have to run back out to the car to grab an AR, because that’s time wasted. Hopefully we’ll never need it, but I want my guys to be as prepared as prepared can be,” he said.

Schools are scheduled to reopen Aug. 22, according to the Madison County Schools website.

While the optics of school resource officers potentially handling AR-15s in schools may be discomforting to some, Harwood said he believes it is a necessary response.

“I hate that we’ve come to a place in our nation where I’ve got to put a safe in our schools, and lock that safe up for my deputies to be able to acquire an AR-15. But, we can shut it off and say it won’t happen in Madison County, but we never know,” Harwood said.

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Categories
Business

Australian mum’s travel hate booms into $20m business Luxico

Australian mum's travel hate booms into $20m business Luxico

When it comes to holidaying, deciding whether to go with the expected comforts of a hotel or the relaxed amenities of an Airbnb generally comes down to the guest and the mood of the trip.

For mum and businesswoman Alexandra Ormerod, travel has always been high on the priority list – and she had no plans for that to change when she and husband Tom decided to start a family.

But with a little one in tow, the pair soon realized that the simple pleasures they once took for granted in a hotel room were no longer applicable for a young family.

“We have a lot of family overseas… we are avid travelers and after our first daughter was born we quickly discovered in our travels that hotels were dead to us and that came as a bit of a shock,” Ms Ormerod told news.com. ouch

“We soon found it very challenging to be traveling with a small child and finding accommodation that was of a standard better than a serviced apartment.

“We realized quite early on that places like Europe and Asia have a more mature market than Australia, so there are a lot more villas to hire in different locations. Whereas when you came to Australia and you effectively had the option of a holiday home. That home would be hired through a real estate agent and generally you were restricted to a coastal location and picking the keys up from the local fish and chip shop because the office was closed.

Ms Ormerod said the “disconnected experience” and “transactional approach” to hiring holiday homes in Australia meant guests “never really knew what they were going to get” on arrival.

With a background in advertising, Ms Ormerod said her work in travel and tourism along with her husband’s involvement in property development and real estate meant they identified a gap in the market for couples, friends and family groups seeking options in the luxury end of the holiday homes market.

As a result, ‘Luxico’ – which essentially combines hotels and holidays homes into one – was born in 2013.

“Luxico was a bit of an obvious outcome,” she explained of the company, which is now worth almost $20 million.

“We found there was a real niche for designer accommodation which we identified as not really existing at the time Luxico was born.”

Having a house on the Mornington Peninsula, Ms Ormerod said a lot of neighbors and Melbourne residents had “big homes” in the area which sat empty for most of the year. So she and Tom started renting out properties in the area which signaled a huge area of ​​demand for beautiful, high-end homes temporarily.

“We found there was a lot of demand for that $1000-a-night or more price point that was not being serviced,” she said.

“So we then built on that to try and service that demand, and try to take the experience away from a transactional offering to a more hospitality or hotel offering [within a luxury home].”

Each Luxico stay comes with a concierge service – essentially a local who ‘checks you in’ to the home. Each concierge acts as a point of call for guests, with no request too big, small or bizarre. The homes range from $250 to $15,000 or more per night.

“It’s bringing the human element back into that holiday home stay, and all our concierges are from the local area,” she explained of the company which exclusively manages $700 million worth of property across Australia.

“The extra services you can have – from chefs, to butlers and specialist touring – are all part of the optional extras.

“But for the everyday traveller, the feedback has been that the concierge had given them insider tips to the area … maybe told them of an amazing hidden gem they wouldn’t have otherwise known about that made their holiday.”

While celebrity clients make up a large bulk of the brand’s clientele, Ms Ormerod said “mums and dads” still make up the majority of bookings.

“Luxico is an end-to-end service so we exclusively manage all of the properties that we offer,” she said, adding that if a family is looking to book two or three hotel rooms – a home works out to be better value.

“So we are managing the guest experience not just through the booking process, but the experience they have in home and even afterwards.

“So from the slippers, to the towels to prepared toiletries, the concierge is going in there and provisioning and preparing the home so if you are traveling with small children we will bring in a toy box so they have something to play with. So it’s all those little touches that make the experience a continuance of the booking process.

“It’s more a holistic experience, connecting you with local products, experiences and service providers that will build on that stay.”

Read related topics:airbnb

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Technology

Panasonic, Nikon Stop Producing Entry-Level Cameras – channelnews

Panasonic, Nikon Stop Producing Entry-Level Cameras – channelnews

The two largest Japanese camera manufacturers have pulled out of the eleven lucrative entry-level point-and-click camera market.

Nikon and Panasonic have both suspended development of cheaper model cameras, instead turning their attentions towards the professional market.

Compact digital cameras were big business in the 2000s, with global shipments peaking at 110 million cameras in 2008. The casual market has long turned to the smartphone; global shipments dropped to just 3.01 million cameras in 2011 – a 97 per cent fall from the peak.

“We’ve halted developing any new models that can be replaced by a smartphone,” a Panasonic spokesperson said. The company has been downgrading its Lumix digital camera since 2019, not selling any models under A$530.

Likewise, Nikon has discontinued lower-end models in its Coolpix range, with just two high-powered lens models available. The company is “closely monitoring market trends” in regards to this line. It has completely withdrawn from development of SLR cameras.

In June, Terushi Shimizu, CEO of Sony Semiconductor Solutions said that smartphone cameras will make DSLR cameras obsolete by 2024.

”We expect that still images from smartphones will exceed the image quality of single-lens reflex cameras within the next few years,” he said at a business briefing.

“Around 2019, it was said that the three elements of the battery, display, and camera will evolve in smartphones.

“While the other two are technically saturated, there are still expectations for the camera to evolve.”