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US

4 found dead in homes blocks apart in a small Nebraska community, officials say

4 found dead in homes blocks apart in a small Nebraska community, officials say

Authorities in a small Nebraska town are investigating a possible link between nearby crime scenes after four people were found dead at two homes Thursday morning.

First-responders in Laurel, Neb., discovered one body about 3 am after an explosion was reported at a residence, said Nebraska State Patrol Col. John Bolduc.

While at that home, a second house fire was reported about three blocks away. Three others were found dead there, Bolduc said.

“Foul play is suspected in these deaths,” he said, adding that fire investigators have determined that accelerants may have been used at both homes.

Investigators who examined the crime scenes think that gunfire played a part in both incidents, Nebraska State Patrol said in a news release.

Authorities have confirmed four people have died in the community of Laurel, Nebraska.
Authorities have confirmed four people have died in the community of Laurel, Nebraska.KTIV

The identities of the deceased were not released, and it was not clear what, if any, the relationship among them is.

Officials did not have anyone in custody and had not named any suspects by Thursday afternoon.

Autopsies will be conducted to determine how the four people died, Bolduc said.

“It is possible that our suspect or suspects received burn injuries during these incidents,” he said.

Officials did not have anyone in custody and had not named any suspects by Thursday afternoon.

Bolduc said he couldn’t say definitively that the crime scenes were connected, but said that it would be “a stretch to say there is no connection.”

Laurel, a city of about 1,000 residents, is about 130 miles northwest of Omaha.

Antony Planas

Antonio Planas is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

Lindsey Piper contributed.

Categories
Business

Real wages to keep falling as inflation, rates hit households

Real wages to keep falling as inflation, rates hit households

“The cost-of-living crisis, and now the rapid and brutal hike in interest rates, is forcing many workers to deplete their savings. They simply cannot withstand their wages continuing to go backwards in real terms.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Friday’s RBA statement reinforced the “significant challenges” Australian households were facing, including higher interest rates, rising costs of living and falling real wages.

“Our economic plan is a direct and deliberate response to the challenges facing our economy,” he said. “That’s why we are working hard on responsible cost-of-living relief, easing capacity constraints and increasing productivity in the long run.”

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said the RBA’s statement showed Chalmers was “already at odds” with the bank, just a week after delivering his own economic statement to parliament.

“Not only did the treasurer fail to deliver a plan, his forecasts were out of date within a week,” he said.

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The latest RBA forecasts are a significant downgrade from its previous monetary policy statement in May, when the RBA was expecting household income to grow by 0.9 per cent in the final three months of this year. Now it believes it will shrink by 0.9 per cent.

The bank said people would soon start to feel the impact on their home budgets, admitting those dependent on welfare payments could struggle as a larger proportion of their income went to necessities that are rising in price including food and fuel.

“While household balance sheets are generally strong and many households should be able to absorb these price increases, others have limited savings buffers and may have to reduce spending elsewhere,” the report said.

“For some of these more vulnerable households, the impact of price rises will be mitigated to some extent by the indexation of social assistance payments twice per year, though price rises will reduce recipients’ real incomes in the near term.”

The RBA downgraded all its forecasts for economic growth over the next two years. By December this year, it expects GDP to be expanding at an annual rate of 3.2 per cent, compared to its 4.2 per cent forecast made three months ago.

By the middle of 2024, economic growth is tipped to be down to 1.8 per cent.

Wages growth, while picking up, is not expected to accelerate much above what the bank had been forecasting. It expects the wage price index to be climbing by 3.4 per cent in mid-2023 and 3.8 per cent in mid-2024.

Consumer prices, despite the RBA’s lift in interest rates, are also tipped to grow strongly.

Inflation is expected to peak at 7.8 per cent in the December quarter, edge down to 6.2 per cent by the middle of next year and still be at 3.5 per cent in the June quarter of 2024.

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Unemployment, however, is expected to defy the tightening in monetary policy. It is forecast to be at 3.4 per cent by the middle of next year and inch up to 3.7 per cent 12 months later.

Commonwealth Bank’s head of Australian economics, Gareth Aird, said the forecasts were not good news for Australian households.

“We believe that high inflation coupled with aggressive rate hikes and falling home prices will be the more dominant force on household consumption from here,” he said.

In response to inflationary pressure, the RBA has lifted interest rates by 1.75 percentage points over four consecutive months this year, its most aggressive increase in rates in nearly 30 years.

The RBA said the “competing forces” of a tight labor market, which leads to stronger wage growth, and increasing cost-of-living pressures made predicting household spending “unusually uncertain”.

“Employment growth could be stronger than expected, and strong household balance sheet positions could support household consumption by more than anticipated,” the report said.

“Alternatively, a decline in real incomes for the average household could weigh on spending more than expected, particularly if household wealth is also declining.”

All major economies are facing increasing headwinds caused by the sharp lift in global inflation, supply chain disruptions and strong domestic demand.

Categories
Technology

‘Marvel’s Spider-Man’ PC port is Steam Deck verified

'Marvel's Spider-Man' PC port is Steam Deck verified

Developer Insomniac Games has confirmed that Marvel’s Spider-Man is now Steam Deck verified, ahead of the game’s PC release.

The studio made the announcement yesterday, when it tweeted: “Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is Steam Deck Verified!” Meaning it joins the likes of god of war as a Sony PC port on the Valve handheld.

The changes to the PC port for the Steam Deck haven’t been identified, but players can likely expect some edits to the user interface, so it can accommodate the much smaller screen.

This means there’s going to be a portable version of Marvel’s Spider-Man with a number of PC-focused improvements, which were outlined by Sony itself:

  • Ray-traced reflections on supported hardware
  • Nvidia DLSS to increase graphics performance (only available on GeForce RTX GPUs)
  • Choice of output resolutions
  • Customizable rendering systems

Marvel's Spider-Man. Credit: Insomniac Games.
Marvel’s Spider-Man. Credit: Insomniac Games.

Marvel’s Spider-Man coming to PC and Steam Deck marks the ongoing strategy of Sony, where it’s bringing its flagship games to PC a few years after they release, in an effort to expand the reach of its premium content.

According to Valve, being verified means the game will have full controller support on the handheld, use appropriate icons, play seamlessly from the Steam Deck launcher, support to default resolution of 1280×800/720 and be supported by the Proton system.

The PC port of Marvel’s Spider-Man is set to release on August 12, with a Spider-Man: Miles Morales port set for a later date.

“On behalf of everyone at Insomniac and our close partners at Nixxes, we’re eager for you all to get your hands, mice, keyboards, and GPUs on Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered when it releases on PC on August 12!” wrote Insomniac.

In other news, the Halo 2 challenge with a reward of £16,000, that requires the game to be beaten on the hardest difficulty with all skull modifiers – has been bested.

Categories
Sports

MotoGP Silverstone: Dovizioso: It’s the right moment, Misano will be a farewell party | MotoGP

MotoGP Silverstone: Dovizioso: It's the right moment, Misano will be a farewell party | MotoGP

It was at that same event last season that the Italian made his return to MotoGP, initially on a year-old Petronas Yamaha before switching to the latest factory-spec M1 for the revamped RNF team.

Dovizioso had fond memories of the Yamaha from a brilliant 2012 campaign at Tech3, while the current M1 leads the standings with reigning champion Fabio Quartararo.

But from his first laps, Dovizioso felt the current Yamaha possessed an unusually narrow window of grip, which only a Quartararo-type riding style could master.

The end result is that, while Quartararo leads the standings with three race wins and 172 points, the next best Yamaha of team-mate Franco Morbidelli is just 19th on 25 points.

Dovizioso has just ten points, putting him equal with rookie Darryn Binder on the A-spec bike. Dovizioso’s friend, former team-mate and Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow will take over Dovi’s seat for the final six rounds, following Misano.

“First of all, I would like to thank Yamaha and the team and WithU because they give me a big support and they understood me,” Dovizioso said. “That has been very important to me.

“At the end, after 20 years, it’s always tough to make this kind of decision. But it’s OK, I’m relaxed and it’s the right moment to make this decision.

“As a rider, when you are not able to be where you want, your mind starts thinking about these things [stopping].

“And with that I started thinking that Misano would be the right final race. To do my last home race and finish there with a party and a big smile from my friends and all the fans.”

Dovizioso: ‘Straight away I was a bit surprised about the grip’

“From the beginning when I jumped on the bike, and felt the base of the bike, straight away I was a bit surprised about the grip. I always said that and that I think was the biggest characteristic I really fought.

“My way to ride the Yamaha has not been the best way to use the potential of the bike, because Fabio has shown every race there is a possibility to be competitive and win the title with this bike.

“I worked a lot with the team. I worked a lot with Ramon [Forcada], with Yamaha and tried a lot of things, maybe even too much. But when we changed also big things it didn’t affect a lot.

“So that was just a confirmation that the match between my riding style, my way to approach the track and the characteristic of Yamaha didn’t match in the best way.”

On paper, Dovizioso’s results suffered after the introduction of a revised Michelin rear tire construction in 2020.

“The [tyre] change when I was in Ducati affected me in a negative way for sure. But at the end I was fighting that year and I finished fourth, as the first Ducati. So also without a good feeling at the end of the result was acceptable,” Dovizioso said.

“It’s difficult to know exactly how much that [tyre construction] affected me, but I think it’s a mix of a lot of things.

“MotoGP is changing, but it’s normal when we are speaking about the best class about motorcycle and the development is big. The effort from the manufacturer is big, the effort from the rider is big.

“So it’s normal the development is really fast and a lot of things changed. Now in the way you have to race and ride the bike is quite different compared to five years ago for example.

“I don’t speak about this in a negative way, just it’s different.

“Now you win the race by [pure] speed,” Dovizioso added. “It’s difficult to see a lot of overtaking because now everybody is fast and you play more about the lap time than the strategy for the consumption of the tyre.

“If you are fast in practice and you already found the speed, more or less you can also keep this speed in the race. But this is just a consequence of developing the tyre. The tires change. You can push a bit more than the past so you can be consistent and keep a similar pace until the end.

“That’s why now in MotoGP there are less battles, there is also a lot of aerodynamics and that doesn’t help for the overtaking. So this is the change of the MotoGP, but I don’t want to speak in a negative way, it’s just change and it’s not the best for the battle. But it’s the way to race in MotoGP now.”

The future? ‘I don’t have anything on the table’

After two decades in the world championship, 103 podiums and 24 race wins, what comes next for Dovizioso?

“Now I don’t have anything big on the table, because I didn’t try to find anything,” he said. “I think it’s normal after 20 years in one place that you need a bit of time to do some other things and live in a different way.

“I’m not anymore that young, but I still feel young enough to live and use my body at this moment. To race, for example, motocross and enjoy the last I don’t know – some years! – in a good shape and enjoy that situation.

“I also have in my mind for a long time, more than 10 years, a dream to create something at home and still it’s not done, but I’m close and I’m really happy,” he revealed.

“But I’m not done about that so I don’t want to speak about it yet, because it’s a bit too early, but I’m really focused on one project and I think that it would be really nice if I would be able to work on that and race with Motocross.

“I will keep for sure the door open about everything because I think I have a lot of experience in this [MotoGP] world. I already had some requests in the past already to do something here, but in this moment I feel I need a bit of time to do what I want at home and let’s see.”

Dovizioso also didn’t exclude taking on some kind of rider representation role in MotoGP.

“I already hear something about that and I want to keep the door open… So let’s see. Can be 50-50.”

.

Categories
Australia

Penny Wong walks out on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s address

Penny Wong walks out on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's address

Public Service Commissioner Kathrina Lo has attacked the recruitment process that appointed John Barilaro to a US trade post in blistering evidence in which she says the minister and Investment NSW staff hid information from interviewers.

The senior public servant who signed off on a candidate report for Barilaro, which had been tweaked and had some scores upgraded, says she would never have signed the report had she been fully informed by Investment NSW at the time.

“I have recently become aware, including through evidence given at hearings of this inquiry and through media reports, of various matters relating to this recruitment process,” Lo said in her appearance before an upper house inquiry probing Barilaro’s appointment as a senior trade and investment commissioner to the Americas.

“This includes the degree of ministerial involvement, including input into shortlisting and provision of info and informal reference.

“Had I known on June 15 what I know now, I would not have endorsed the report.

“I should never be used as cover.”

The senior public servant was one of four panellists brought in to interview candidates for the coveted US trade position, which went to Barilaro in May. Barilaro withdrew from the role amid criticism in late June.

Lo said she was not aware of many aspects of the interview process, including the actions of government and Investment NSW staff regarding the hire, including the fact Stuart Ayres, then trade minister, met with candidate Kimberley Cole and that Investment NSW staff had sought informal referees for other candidates.

She said she had serious misgivings about the way a third candidate, Mike Fitzpatrick, had been treated throughout the selection process.

The senior public servant also put on the record that a fourth member of the panel, Warwick Smith, had also raised misgivings about the recruitment process and his sense that he would not have endorsed Barilaro’s candidate report had he been fully informed of all the government and Investment NSW’s actions at the time.

“I was not aware that informal references were sought for any candidate, nor was I aware that the minister met with Ms Kimberly Cole,” Lo said.

“The other independent panel member, the Honorable Warwick Smith, who has not been called as a witness before this inquiry, would like me to put on the record that he had known then what he knows now, he also would not have endorsed the report. .

“In particular, he did not know the minister met with Miss Cole, and he’s concerned about the treatment of the third-ranked candidate.”

More to eat.

Categories
US

Situation with bloody woman calling for help from inside truck was a misunderstanding

Situation with bloody woman calling for help from inside truck was a misunderstanding

Aug 05, 2022, 2:56amUpdated 6h ago

By: News 12 Staff

A situation involving a bloody woman yelling for help from inside of a tractor-trailer turned out to all be a big misunderstanding, according to police.

South Brunswick police say a witness reported that he saw a woman in her 20s who appeared to be bloody calling for help from inside of a white tractor-trailer cab. It happened Wednesday afternoon on Route 130 in South Brunswick near the Dayton Toyota dealership.

The report sparked a massive effort to find the woman, the male driver, and the truck.

But police now say that the woman and the driver are married. They say that the investigation revealed that the woman was standing inside the truck and fell and hit her head while taking a tight turn onto Route 130 South.

That Volvo tractor-trailer was towed to the South Brunswick Police Department Thursday evening after it was identified.

“At about 5:10 this evening we made contact with all the individuals involved,” says Det. Sgt. Tim Hoover.

The man and woman were found at their home in the Iselin section of Woodbridge. Police say that after questioning them, detectives learned that the truck was pulled over before the woman was hurt and in a panic. They say that the witness misunderstood what he was seeing.

Police say the husband pulled his wife in and sped off to get her help. They actually went to a Rite Aid for bandages, a fact that police confirmed.

The couple had just driven away from Gabrielli Trucking across the street where they’d been buying a battery. That company’s surveillance video helped police track down the truck and the two inside.

“We have to give a lot of credit to Gabrielli Trucking Sales,” says Deputy Chief Jim Ryan. “They pieced together video. That video is from 15 minutes prior to the video we gave out yesterday that puts the male and female at that location.”

Police say that when they found this couple, they were unaware they were wanted.

Police say the story checks out. They say that after falling, the wife even sent a photo of the injury to her daughter de ella to tell her what happened.

Categories
Business

Why soaring rates are not scaring off property investors

Why soaring rates are not scaring off property investors

Harvey says he has recently increased rentals on a portfolio of properties in Sydney and Brisbane by about 10 per cent.

“Many investors are sitting and waiting [to get into the market]but smart ones realize the time to move is at the bottom of the consumer sentiment curve to benefit from rising yields throughout the correction phase,” he says.

Rental increases

According to CoreLogic, which monitors property market prices, rents have increased more than 30 per cent across inner Melbourne over the past 12 months, despite little demand pressure from immigration.

Research director Tim Lawless says rents are set to continue increasing as demand outpaces supply.

According to analysis by SQM Research, which monitors property markets, total residential vacancy rates are at a record low of about 1 per cent, or less than half of vacancy levels during the past 15 years.

But SQM’s managing director, Louis Christopher, says there are signs of a peak in the rental market in regional Australia, with a larger number of regions recording rising rental vacancy rates and some falls in rent.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley says house prices fell at their fastest rate in nearly 40 years during July as rate rises increased pressure on credit availability and borrowers’ capacity to service loans.

Prices are about 2.6 per cent below peak levels, with falls led by Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The bank predicts cash rates, which have increased over each of the past four successive months, will continue to rise from 1.85 per cent to 3.1 per cent by the end of the year.

“We expect a national decline in house prices of 10 per cent possibly by the end of the year if the current rate of decline holds, with next year also likely to provide only limited relief,” the bank said.

National house price falls, which accelerated during July, are expected to total about 15 per cent, it predicts.

Planned auctions for this weekend are more than 20 per cent down on last week and 5 per cent lower than the same time last year, according to CoreLogic.

Buying on the dip

Chris Foster-Ramsay, principal of Foster Ramsay Finance, a mortgage broker, says many property investors have been sitting on cash waiting for a market downturn because they are confident the market will rebound.

“They are buying on the dip,” Foster-Ramsay says. “The market came back in the past and investors are confident it will happen in the future, particularly as immigration begins to increase.”

In Perth, Karen Firth, director of Art of Real Estate, says: “Investors are back and looking for properties within a 10-kilometre radius of Perth.”

Melbourne buyer’s agent Cate Bakos says there has been a rapid switch in buyers from owner-occupiers to investors attracted by low vacancy rates and the prospect of consistent rental returns, a cash flow boost and diversifying investment portfolios. They are typically looking at inner-urban areas or within a two-hour drive of the central business district, she says.

About 30 lenders are attempting to attract new investors with cashback offers, an upfront incentive to cover switching costs, according to analysis by RateCity, which monitors fees and costs.

The highest cashback is $10,000 for loans of more than $2 million from Reduce Loans, which charges higher rates for cashback deals, says RateCity.

The highest for $1 million is $6000 from Citi, available only through mortgage brokers.

The accompanying tables show the most competitive investor mortgage rates for interest-only and principal-and-interest loans. Investors considering cashback offers should use these as a guide to negotiating lower rates and bigger discounts.

Many investors are attracted by rising gross yields as property prices fall and rents rise.

Gross yield is calculated by dividing the annual income from the property by its sale price.

National gross unit yields rose six basis points to about 3.9 per cent in June – and 26 basis points year-on-year – as rental growth outpaced capital gains. Yields in Perth are about 5.5 per cent, Melbourne 3.7 per cent and Sydney 3.3 per cent, according to CoreLogic.

But gross yields do not reflect continuing costs associated with property investments, such as strata levies, rates, repairs, maintenance and myriad taxes, including state-based land tax.

Categories
Technology

Leaks show AMD’s Ryzen 7000 chips hitting 5.7 GHz • The Register

Leaks show AMD's Ryzen 7000 chips hitting 5.7 GHz • The Register

AMD’s Ryzen 7000 desktop processors will reportedly top 5.7 GHz in the case of the Zen giant’s top-of-the-line 7950X, when they launch later this quarter.

The industry watchers at Wccftech claim to have obtained detailed specs for AMD’s next-gen Zen 4 desktop CPUs, codenamed Raphael. If true, they offer some interesting insights into where AMD is going with its silicon designs.

It appears AMD is focusing more on IPC and clock gains in this generation and isn’t as interested in competing with Intel on core count. Here’s a breakdown of the SKUs per the leak:

  • Ryzen 9 7950X: 16 core / 32 threads, with base clock of 4.5GHz, a boost clock of 5.7GHz, a TDP of 170W, and 64MB of L3 / 16MB of L2 cache.
  • Ryzen 9 7900X: 12 core / 24 threads, with a base clock of 4.7GHz, a boost clock of 5.6GHz, a TDP of 170W, and 64MB of L3 / 12MB of L2 cache.
  • Ryzen 7 7700X: 8 core / 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.5GHz, a boost clock of 5.4GHz, a TDP of 105W, and 32MB of L3 / 8MB of L2 cache.
  • Ryzen 5 7600X: 6 core / 12 threads, with a base clock of 4.7GHz, a boost clock of 5.4GHz, a TDP of 105W, and 32MB of L3 / 6MB of L2 cache.

All four SKUs will be fabbed using TSMC’s 5nm process. AMD confirmed earlier it will launch 5nm Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 parts this quarter.

TDP lifts clocks

If the leak is correct, the four chips see a noticeable increase in stated TDP over the 5000-series counterparts they replace. On the high-end, AMD 7000-series Ryzen 9 processors will reportedly suck back an additional 65W compared to the 5950X and 5900X. Meanwhile, AMD’s Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 processors have seen their rated TDPs boosted by roughly 40W.

It should be noted that a chip’s actual power consumption will likely be higher as AMD’s stated TDPs don’t actually reflect real-world power consumption. For example, under stock settings, AMD’s Ryzen 5900X routinely pulls between 120-140W of power under load, as long as the chip has adequate thermal headroom. The 5900X can suck down as much as 200W when the chipmaker’s Precision Boost Overdrive — an automated overlocking profile found in the bios — is enabled.

Unless AMD has changed the way it reports TDP since the launch of its 5000-series parts, there’s a good chance the chip designer’s Ryzen 7900 and 7950 parts could near 300W in real-world power consumption, putting them in the same territory as Intel’s 12th -gene chips.

However, the higher TDP appears to have netted AMD a substantial clock improvement over its previous-gen offerings. In fact, in a like-for-like comparison, the entire lineup boasts base clocks at 1 GHz or more over the chips they replace. In many cases, the processors’ base clocks now exceed their 5000-series equivalent’s boost clocks.

cache clues

The leak also offers some insight into the chiplet architecture underpinning AMD’s Ryzen 7000 processors.

Starting off with the Ryzen 7600X, the package features 32MB of L3 cache — the same as the 5600X — but sees its L2 cache doubled to 6MB, or a full 1MB per core. By extension the 7700X features 8MB of L2.

Based on this, we can conclude that AMD is sticking with the dual chiplet architecture for its Ryzen 9 processors with either eight or six cores per core-complex die as we saw with previous generation Ryzen 5000 chips.

This isn’t terribly surprising as AMD hasn’t increased the core count with this generation of chips, at least not yet.

Will AMD nerf overclocking?

Finally, it’s unclear whether AMD will carry forward its longstanding tradition of unlocking every chip for the purposes of overclocking.

While this capability probably won’t go away entirely, Wccftech, citing unnamed sources, suggests that we could see limitations similar to those imposed on AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D. That chip broke with tradition and only supported undervolting as a means to increase performance.

On Ryzen chips, undervolting can shift the curve used by AMD’s boost algorithm enabling higher clocks at lower temperatures. However, plans for high-end overclocking motherboards in the form of the X670 Extreme chipset cast some doubt on these claims.

The Register reached out to AMD seeking comment on the leaked specs; we’ll let you know if we hear anything. ®

Categories
Sports

Cronulla Sharks, Will Kennedy injury, Tevita Tatola tackle that has left the Sharks seeing

Cronulla Sharks, Will Kennedy injury, Tevita Tatola tackle that has left the Sharks seeing

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon says the match review committee has become “difficult to understand” after he lost fullback Will Kennedy to a serious injury as a result of a hip-drop tackle that went uncharged.

Kennedy isn’t expected back until the final round of the regular season after he was forced to undergo ankle surgery following an ugly tackle by South Sydney’s Tevita Tatola in the 63rd minute of last week’s pulsating golden point battle.

Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

The incident has attracted very little interest during a week where Brisbane’s Patrick Carrigan was banned for four matches for fracturing Jackson Hastings’ fibula in a shocking tackle just hours after the Kennedy injury.

The Sharks sent an email to the NRL asking why Tatola hadn’t been charged, but the response they got left a lot to be desired just a week after Sharks lock Dale Finucane was suspended for two games for an accidental head clash.

“It’s getting difficult to understand,” Fitzgibbon said, confident that Kennedy may return ahead of schedule.

William Kennedy was the victim of an ugly tackle. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

“No one actually intends to do it. They are unfortunate and they are happening more than normal.

“But we lose a good player who’s an important part of our team for an extended period, and there was no charge.

“I didn’t understand the explanation, but it is what it is. The same goes for Dale with the head clash. We’ve got to move on.

“Kade (Dykes) gets an opportunity, which is really exciting. When things like that happen, you really don’t want to get stuck and dwell on what you can’t control. All I can control is the team that’s going to play this weekend.”

There is a silver lining to all of this, with Dykes set to make his NRL debut on Saturday in front of a packed house on Old Boys’ Day.

It’s a huge moment for the local junior who will become a third-generation Shark and will follow in the footsteps of dad, Adam, and grandfather, John.

Dykes has been in red-hot form in reserve grade, scoring eight tries and setting up another nine in his 13 games this season where he’s split time between fullback and in the halves.

Lachie Miller and his teammates celebrate a stunning try. Picture: NRL PhotosSource: Supplied

He’s been playing so well that he’s even pipped former sevens star Lachie Miller, who scored a slashing try on debut for Cronulla back in round 11.

“His form for Newtown has gotten to a point where (picking) him was undeniable,” Fitzgibbon said.

“We had a couple of weeks where we were rotating between him and Lachie Miller. Both really were pressing for selection. He’s got really good balance and speed and footwork so hopefully we can see some of his best attributes from him tomorrow.

“It was a hard decision based on Lachie’s debut.

“If you have a rewards system based on NSW Cup, training, performance etc, then Kade got to a point where it warranted an opportunity.

“I will say Lachie has been performing well and has been pressing for selection as well, so Lachie has some utility value and I do see Lachie playing again for us soon.

“It was difficult in that regard but also really exciting for Kade because he earned the opportunity.”

The hype around Dykes is already building, but his coach is confident the 20-year-old will handle it days after he signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2024.

“Young players who are exceptionally talented have a confidence about them so the hype doesn’t affect them too much,” Fitzgibbon said.

“Kade is a confident kid and really confident in his ability, so when you see the way that they mingle with the other players and the way that they train (you’re not worried).

“This is Kade’s first season against has men and he’s been one of the strongest performers in the competition.”

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Categories
Australia

Public Service Commissioner would not have endorsed Barilaro appointment had she known of ministerial interventions

a woman behind a desk and a microphone

The NSW Public Service Commissioner has told an inquiry she would never have signed off on former deputy premier John Barilaro’s appointment as New York trade commissioner had she known of the level of ministerial involvement.

Kathrina Lo was on the selection panel but said she was unaware that then-minister Stuart Ayres had played a role in deciding which candidates should be shortlisted and that he had provided an informal reference for his former colleague, Mr Barilaro.

Ms Lo said she had only learned of these interventions through evidence given to the inquiry and media reports.

She said she’d also been unaware that Mr Ayres had held a Zoom meeting with the other leading candidate, businesswoman Kimberley Cole.

“Had I known on 15th June what I know now, I would not have endorsed the report,” she said, referring to the final report of the selection panel.

The other independent member of the selection panel was former Liberal MP Warwick Smith.

He has not been called as a witness but Ms Lo said he would like it placed on the record that he would not have endorsed the report had he known the full picture.

The commissioner said no pressure had been placed on her personally to achieve a particular outcome but she expressed her displeasure at the way the process had been conducted.

“As Public Service Commissioner, I should not be viewed as cover for a recruitment process or a way for other panel members or the hiring agency to avoid accountability,” Ms Lo said.

Earlier today, Mr Barilaro’s former chief of staff Siobhan Hamblin told the inquiry that she had been given no reason to believe that he stood to benefit personally from any changes to the way the trade commissioners were appointed.

In the days before Mr Barilaro announced his plans to leave politics, emails show bureaucrats discussing changing the rules for the recruitment of new trade commissioners, then deciding the plum US role would be handled “as an internal matter”.

Ms Hamblin today said Mr Barilaro “never raised with me any personal interest in these roles”.

If he had, she said, she would have had no hesitation in flagging it as a concern.

Siobhan Hamblin wearing a pink jacket
Siobhan Hamblin today gave evidence to the inquiry.(AAP: James Gourley)

Ms Hamblin told the inquiry that in September last year, Mr Barilaro spoke to her about his intention to resign from politics.

She agreed that those conversations took place around the same time as he had asked his staff to prepare an urgent submission to cabinet seeking to change the trade jobs into ministerial appointments.

Ms Hamblin said the discussions were not unusual and were not confined to that period as he had been talking about leaving parliament since he took a month of mental health leave the previous year.

“Sometimes it was quite a flippant and at other times it was more serious,” Ms Hamblin told the hearing.

A close up picture of John Barilaro's face
Former deputy premier John Barilaro resigned from politics last year.(AAP: Joel Carrett)

Labor’s Daniel Mookhey pressed Ms Hamblin on the timing of Mr Barilaro’s request for his staff to prepare an urgent submission to cabinet to turn the New York-based role into a ministerial appointment.

“Was it the case that the reason why Mr Barilaro wanted this cabinet submission produced ASAP and considered urgently was because at that point of time he had already started contemplating a resignation?” Mr Mookhey asked.

“That is a question for him, Mr Mookhey,” Ms Hamblin replied.

Mr Barilaro is due to appear before the inquiry on Monday.

The acting managing director of Investment NSW Kylie Bell gave evidence that the position of New York trade commissioner has been placed on hold pending the conclusion of the hearings.

She told MPs that there were currently four people working in the NSW government’s New York trade office, earning a total of $900,000 in salaries.

In addition, there are two staff based in San Francisco and one other in Washington, who is employed through Austrade.

A woman with blonde hair and glasses smiles while sitting behind a microphone
Chief executive of Investment NSW Amy Brown gave evidence earlier this week for a second time. (AAP: Bianca de Marchi)

Labor has said it would scrap the international trade roles, saying revelations in recent weeks have raised questions about whether they are delivering value for money for taxpayers.

“With our hospitals overstretched and teachers under-resourced, the Government has failed dismally to demonstrate value for money of its senior trade commissioners,” NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns said.

Mr Barilaro’s appointment has been put under the microscope for several weeks and is the subject of two separate inquiries.

He has since withdrawn from the position.

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