Categories
Sports

IPL franchises looking to contract players to 12-month deals, David Warner, Big Bash, The Hundred

IPL franchises looking to contract players to 12-month deals, David Warner, Big Bash, The Hundred

Just weeks after Mike Atherton delivered the ICC an ominous warning of the very real threat of franchise cricket taking credence over the international game, an IPL boss has confirmed the desire to contract players across the world to 12-month deals.

“In an ideal world, sure – because that gives us the opportunity to make our vision and our strategy even stronger,” Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore told The Telegraph.

“If we were able to have X number of contracted players, and were able to use them all in different leagues, I think that would be nirvana. Hopefully, someday it will happen. I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.”

The report comes as former Australian captain Adam Gilchrist said it would be “commercial suicide” for Cricket Australia to allow David Warner to skip the Big Bash and play in a rival T20 league elsewhere in the world.

Australia's David Warner is considering his future in short-form cricket. Photo: AFP
Australia’s David Warner is considering his future in short-form cricket. Photo: AFPSource: AFP

It also comes just weeks after the Proteas withdrew from their ODI series in Australia next January, with South Africa forfeiting their World Cup qualification points so they can have their international players at home for the launch of their new T20 competition.

While Gilchrist could understand Warner, who is in the twilight of his “great career”, wanting to play overseas to top up his bank balance, he said it would set a dangerous precedent for emerging players.

“This is the big kicker, isn’t it, of possibly being the step towards being contracted to the club before or over country for the predominant amount of cricket you play,” Gilchrist told SEN last week.

“I think it would almost be commercial suicide for them (CA) to allow a player like him (Warner) to go head-to-head up against their own competition.

“It’s the new younger player coming in that starts to make those noises where it’ll be really challenging.

“Perhaps it’s the first example where David Warner doesn’t sign a contract with Cricket Australia at all, he just plays for a match fee.

“He goes and plays wherever he wants but says, ‘I’m available for every Test match, for every one-day international and every T20 international’ by way of example, I’ll be there for you in national colours.

“But other than that, I’m going to play my club, my franchise cricket, wherever I want to, knowing that none of those big tournaments will be clashing with international cricket.”

Kolkata Knight Riders’ cricketer Andre Russell is one of a number of players who have become T20 specialists. Photo: AFPSource: AFP

Gilchrist’s comments came a fortnight after Atherton honed in on South Africa’s decision to walk away from their ODI series against Australia and, ultimately, predicted franchise cricket would increasingly fill players’ pockets and see them contracted by cashed-up owners instead of their countries.

“A franchise-dominated landscape, with yearly ICC tournaments and not much bilateral international cricket or Tests, is coming, though,” Atherton, the former England captain, wrote in The Times.

“All this is good news for the players’ bank accounts, mainly, but it will be a very different landscape, with players eventually contracted to private companies who will acquire franchises across the globe.

“I found myself chatting to a player’s agent this week in Birmingham along these lines. England, he said, will be the last man standing where Test cricket is concerned. June and July stand out as the only months without T20 competition when Test cricket can flourish.”

The Telegraph’s report confirms what many respected figures within the game have feared, with the privatization of the game, particularly at franchise level, now starting to take full effect.

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Twelve-month deals would likely have a seismic impact on the international game, enabling franchises to sign players on lucrative year-round deals and, as a result, throw into jeopardy a player’s international availability.

It could also have a destabilizing impact at a domestic level, with the next tier of players unable to improve and test their skills against international players, should they be overseas.

AceThe Telegraph highlighted, The Knight Riders now have four teams under their umbrella – their flagship IPL franchise, the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League, plus sides in the International League T20 (UAE) and Major League Cricket (US), which both launch next year.

Other IPL teams are buying teams in other leagues – all six franchises in South Africa’s new T20 league, which launches in January – as international cricket faces heightened pressure to compete.

One obstacle currently standing in the way of the IPL’s desire to globalize the game is the varied recruitment rules used across different T20 leagues.

Currently, for instance, India’s stars aren’t allowed to play in overseas T20 leagues while only four international players are allowed in an XI in the IPL.

Proteas star takes a catch for the ages! | 00:38

Mysore is hopeful those barriers will be broken down eventually and says England’s The Hundred and Australia’s Big Bash competitions are the next hunting grounds for IPL owners.

“If it happened that way, at some point in the future, that’d be great,” Mysore told The Telegraph.

“What we want to create is a common platform and a system and a culture that allows us to participate around the year – enhancing our brand, building our fan base, and providing opportunities to cricketers around the world. And in the process, you hopefully build a successful business around it.”

He added: “Our immediate reaction to any such proposal is to say, yeah, we are absolutely interested because this is part of our strategy. Whether it is the Big Bash or the Hundred, although we understand the challenges these leagues face in inviting private investments.

“Wherever we have gone, we’ve made it successful for the mutual benefit of the league as well as the Knight Riders. When a proposal comes to us it’s because they understand the value that the Knight Riders brand brings with it and the entire package that comes with it – we know how to build those brands.”

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Categories
Australia

The price of fuel is set to rise next month, and calls are growing for the government to step in

A sign shows petrol prices are over 200c a litre for unleaded and diesel.

Coalition and crossbench MPs are calling on the federal government to extend fuel price relief beyond the end of September, in an effort to counter the rising cost of living.

The halving of the fuel excise — at 44 cents a liter tax on fuel — is due to expire on September 28.

It means prices will rise by 22 cents a liter after September 29.

For months the federal government has insisted the measure cannot continue beyond that date due to the significant cost to the budget.

The end date was set by the Morrison government, as the measure was included in the March budget.

But Nationals MP David Gillespie argues when that date was decided, there was genuine hope prices might have fallen further by now.

David Gillespie with Barnaby Joyce behind him.
David Gillespie (left) says an extension to the excise is justified. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)

“When those announcements were made, the thought was that things might turn back to normal pretty quickly,” he said.

“We were hoping that Ukraine and Russia might come to terms, and there would be a flow of liquid and gas as per normal, but that is definitely not happening anytime soon.”

Mr Gillespie said an extension to the price relief can now be justified.

“It is a reasonable response to an extraordinary situation, a shortage of liquid fuel around the world,” he said.

Mr Gillespie’s colleague, Nationals MP Darren Chester, also agreed that while prices remained high, the interim measure had to remain in place for longer.

“I would like it extended given the disproportionate impact it has on regional motorists who often don’t have access to public transport,” he said.

“At a time when regional tourism is recovering, we also want to see city people choosing a domestic holiday and supporting local jobs.”

Their calls are echoed by Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer, who represents the northern Tasmanian seat of Bass.

A woman with blonde hair sits in a room with fairy lights.
Bridget Archer says high cost of fuel would have a significant impact on almost everyone. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)

Ms Archer said fuel prices are taking a heavy toll, and the government needs to either continue providing some relief — or come up with other assistance.

“The cost of living is rising daily and the high cost of fuel is having a significant impact on almost everyone who lives in my community which has a knock-on effect,” she said.

“I would like to see an extension of the fuel excise relief and if the government chooses not to, they must demonstrate what they will do to support individuals and families who are struggling.”

‘Take a staggered approach’

The new independent member for the western Sydney seat of Fowler, Dai Le, said her community will struggle to absorb the price rise.

“Families out in western and south-western Sydney, in electorates like mine, are really struggling with all of these higher prices for everything,” she said.

“So that’s why I have been asking the government to really consider extending the fuel excise when it ends in September.”

Meet Dai Le – the independent who won in Labor's heartland
Dai Le says the government should at least consider a staggered approach to ending the excise. (7.30 Report)

Ms Le wants to see the relief extended for a further six months, taking it into 2023.

But she said if the government won’t agree to that, it should stagger the increases in the excise, rather than returning it all at once.

“At least take a staggered approach, to incrementally (increase) the fuel excise over the next few months,” she said.

“But from my understanding the government will not budge.”

Ms Le called on Labor MP’s in western Sydney to join her call for the measure to be extended, arguing their communities are in a similar position.

Some Labor MP’s in the area have told the ABC it is a complex problem, and acknowledge their constituents will feel the impact heavily.

Government remains reluctant

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been repeatedly asked to rule out extending the fuel excise in recent weeks.

On each occasion he has warned Australians not to expect an extension, and pointed to the enormous cost to the budget — estimated at $3 billion over six months.

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Categories
US

Man Who Posed as Federal Agent, Duping Secret Service, Pleads Guilty

Man Who Posed as Federal Agent, Duping Secret Service, Pleads Guilty

One of two men accused of masquerading as federal agents in a multiyear scheme has pleaded guilty to federal charges, admitting that he duped Secret Service agents and others in Washington to secure leases to apartments that he never paid for and promote his bogus security company, the Justice Department said on Monday.

The man, Arian Taherzadeh, 40, of Washington, pleaded guilty on July 20 in US District Court in the District of Columbia to one count of federal conspiracy, one count of unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammunition device and one count of voyeurism, the Justice Department said. The latter charge is related to his unauthorized recording of women having sex in his apartment, federal prosecutors said.

A sentencing date has not been set. The Justice Department said that Mr. Taherzadeh has agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge.

The guilty plea came nearly four months after Mr. Taherzadeh and another Washington man, Haider Ali, 35, were charged with impersonating United States officers in a case that appeared to expose shortcomings within the Secret Service, the agency charged with protecting the president and the president’s family. Four members of the agency, who did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Monday, have been placed on administrative leave while the case is investigated.

From December 2018 to April 2022, Mr. Taherzadeh “falsely assumed and pretended to be officers or employees” of several government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, federal prosecutors said.

He recruited people to his security company, United States Special Police, under the guise that it was a “covert federal law enforcement task force,” prosecutors said. He then defrauded three apartment complex owners in Washington by saying he needed their units for supposed operations, prosecutors said.

While the apartments lost more than $800,000 in unpaid rent combined, Mr. Taherzadeh ingratiated himself with at least three Secret Service officers — buying them gifts, such as a drone, a doomsday survival pack and, more luxuriously, several rent-free apartments including a penthouse for a year, prosecutors said. He had also offered to buy a $2,000 assault rifle for an agent assigned to Jill Biden’s protective detail, according to an affidavit.

Michelle Peterson, a federal public defender who is representing Mr. Taherzadeh, declined to comment on Monday. The Department of Homeland Security referred questions to the Secret Service. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

It is unclear exactly how the men financed their impersonation scheme. Court records state that Mr. Ali had helped fund the United States Special Police and other general expenses by paying large amounts of cash that he carried. But prosecutors did not specify how Mr. Ali had obtained his money from him.

Mr. Ali told witnesses that he had connections to the Inter-Services Intelligence in Pakistan — a claim that the Pakistani Embassy denied and described in April as “totally fallacious.” Mr. Ali also held several visas that had been issued by Pakistan and Iran, prosecutors said.

Mr. Ali had also made other eccentric claims about his background, prosecutors said: That he had participated in the capture of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug lord known as El Chapo; that his family of him was Middle-Eastern royalty; and that he was a Calvin Klein model.

Mr. Taherzadeh similarly made up his back story to agents, prosecutors said, telling them that he had been an Army Ranger, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security, a US air marshal and an undercover officer who had once killed someone in a shootout.

When apartment complex workers confronted Mr. Taherzadeh, Mr. Ali and an unidentified person about their failure to pay rent, the men would blame it on issues with a fictitious management at United States Special Police and a slow-moving federal bureaucracy, prosecutors said. In his unpaid apartment, Mr. Taherzadeh installed surveillance cameras to record women having sex and kept an unlicensed gun that was fully loaded with large-capacity ammunition, prosecutors said.

In one apartment named The Crossing, Mr. Taherzadeh and Mr. Ali used their personas as law enforcement officials to obtain parking spots for themselves and Secret Service members, prosecutors said.

One apartment, The Sonnet, eventually evicted Mr. Taherzadeh for not paying rent.

The recruitment efforts of Mr. Taherzadeh and Mr. Ali for the United States Special Police largely hinged on their portrayal as federal officers, prosecutors said. In one instance, Mr. Taherzadeh instructed a recruit to conduct weapons-handling drills. In another, he showed a separate recruit a fake Homeland Security investigative file labeled “confidential.”

And much of their impersonation scheme, prosecutors said, was rooted in attention to details: They had a machine to create and program “personal identification verification” cards; a black SUV with police lights in it; scores of guns; law enforcement tactical gear; clothing with police badges; a fingerprinting kit; and equipment used to breach doors. The authorities also found about 30 hard drives, hard drive copying equipment and other surveillance gear.

The investigation into Mr. Taherzadeh and Mr. Ali began after a letter carrier with the United States Postal Service was assaulted in March at an apartment complex where the men had been living. A US postal inspector went to the complex to interview witnesses, including the two men.

The men told the inspector that they were investigators with the US Special Police Investigation Unit, according to the affidavit. They said they were part of an undercover investigation into gang-related activity as well as an inquiry into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

The inspector reported the information to the Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General, which referred the case to the FBI

Categories
Business

Melbourne homeless man’s death mourned by locals on Reddit

Melbourne homeless man's death mourned by locals on Reddit

In Hawthorn, Melbourne, a whimsical chalk mural featuring a brightly-coloured snowman lounging happily under a tree is drawn on the footpath of Glenferrie Rd.

The scene, which looks like something straight out of Alice in Wonderland, is the last ever drawing of a person who, for years, was known simply as “The Drawing Man”.

Above his art, taped to a wall that separates Guzman and Gomez and Metro Woolies, is an A4 printout commemorating his death.

“RIP Rob. Fondly remembered as ‘the drawing man’, you’ll be missed by all who knew you,” the paper reads.

It is hard to keep track of those who fall victim to homelessness, with hundreds estimated to die every year.

The issue has been dubbed Australia’s “invisible problem”.

‘Kind, talented, gentle’: Rob’s life in Reddit posts

But Rob was far from invisible. Despite his transient living conditions, he became a beloved member of the Hawthorn community, charming locals with his abstract art and “gentle soul”.

“I moved to the area about five years ago and saw him damn near every time I was going for groceries or lunch,” one local recalled on Reddit.

“He was a fixture on that road, even as shops and people and even time changed.

“I remember first seeing his drawings, the simple houses or suns or vehicles he’d draw. That over time morphed into complex, colourful, abstract art.

“He was a dedicated man, taking the time he was given and putting himself towards creating something beautiful.”

For more than a decade, Rob would frequent the areas outside the Hawthorn Woolworths or Malvern Coles, waving and smiling back at people rushing to catch a tram or popping into a store for a bite.

Reddit users said that while he “never asked for anything”, locals ensured Rob was always looked after by offering to share meals or to sit and draw with him.

But when Covid forced Victoria into lockdown, the communal care began to wane.

“I bought him some art supplies at the start of Covid,” user @mhrauburn, the original poster, said.

“Pre-Covid I would see people getting him things from Woolies but not so much recently. I do hope he passed peacefully.”

For the man who became “part of Swinburne”, many commenters also expressed their sadness knowing they would never again be able to talk to him about his drawings.

‘Slipped through the cracks’

Rob wasn’t always ‘the drawing man’.

A former Swinburne University graduate recalled a chance encounter a decade ago where Rob claimed he had once been an aspiring artist employed at the popular Heide Museum of Modern Art.

“Someone once gave me $20 and told me ‘If you don’t need it posted, give it to someone who does’,” Reddit user @Random_Sime.

“I was studying at Swinburne and I saw Rob every day, so I gave it to him and had a little chat about 10 years ago.

“I asked him where he learned to draw and he told me that he was an artist who lived and worked at Heidi (sic)but never ‘made it’ as an artist or got excluded due to interpersonal politics.

“All he wanted to do was create art and have people appreciate it. He preferred to do reproductions of known works on the footpath rather than his own stuff because it got more attention from passers-by.

“Then I graduated and didn’t go to that area much after. RIP Rob.”

That user’s memory is the extent of what is known about Rob’s life story.

Tens of thousands of Australians facing homelessness

Rob’s was among the almost 28,000 Australians facing homelessness.

While Reddit user @Random_Sime was appreciative that so many others had come to know and love Rob’s story through his post, he reminded the community that there were many people like Rob living across Australia.

“Everyone has a story and they’re usually happy to tell it if you show a genuine interest and ask questions that lead on from what they tell you,” they said.

Rob’s final artwork has been pressure-washed from the pavement.

The only remaining markers of his life appear to be the paper printout, a lone Reddit thread and perhaps pieces of drawings collected by passing strangers.

“A kind soul has left some flowers by Rob’s spot,” the original Reddit poster said in an update.

“It’s touching to know so many people have such great memories of Rob. I truly hope he remains easy knowing his work and life of him were appreciated by so many. ”

Read related topics:melbourne

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Categories
Technology

Sabrent announces Rocket 4 Plus G PCIe Gen4 SSDs optimized for Microsoft DirectStorage

Sabrent announces Rocket 4 Plus G PCIe Gen4 SSDs optimized for Microsoft DirectStorage


Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus G

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The foundation of any operating system is its storage. The DirectStorage API is coming in hot and you need to be prepared to take advantage of it. Microsoft Windows 11 is primed to accelerate your application and game performance to deliver the smoothest user experience imaginable. Fortunately, the Rocket 4 Plus G is prepared to help make this happen.

The downright lethal 7 GB/s+ of bandwidth provided by this drive is enough to contend with any developer’s vision. Enjoy the future of open-world games without stuttering and with instant response. Enjoy high-definition multimedia or make your own, simultaneously and on just one drive. The Rocket 4 Plus G has you covered with up to 4TB of space and limitless potential.

Bring balance to your system. You have a fast CPU, a boundary-defying GPU, and soon swift software to match. Let the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus G be the last piece of the puzzle, the capstone for your build; don’t settle for anything but the best. Enrich your entire PC experience with O₂. Ignite your passion. After all, the next breakthrough is right around the corner.

Pricing:


« end of the press release »



Categories
Entertainment

Why director Scott Derrickson rejected Stranger Things-style nostalgia

Why director Scott Derrickson rejected Stranger Things-style nostalgia

“The movie’s really set in my childhood,” Derrickson says. “I grew up in North Denver, Colorado and I was Finney’s age in 1978. There was a lot of violence in the air. I got bullied a lot… and all the kids on my block got beat by their dads – some of them got a lot worse than others.

“I remember one kid running up to my garage one day sobbing. He had these bloody welts all across the back of his legs because his father whipped him with an extension cord. I remember just saying, ‘Oh, that’s terrible’… and then we went and played Nerf football.

“At that time, it really was the norm – at least in my experience,” Derrickson says. “The main emotion that I associated with my own childhood was fear.”

“The main emotion that I associated with my own childhood was fear,” says director Scott Derrickson.

“The main emotion that I associated with my own childhood was fear,” says director Scott Derrickson.Credit:Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

This was exacerbated by current events too, he says. A number of high-profile cases of missing children popularized the idea of ​​“stranger danger”, Ted Bundy had brutally killed many young women in the area, and the Manson murders were fresh in everyone’s minds.

“There was this fear of ‘the serial killer’,” Derrickson says. “Someone who can just snatch you in the night and snuff you out. The kids in my neighborhood were living with that fear all the time. We all talked about it.

“You would stare at [missing] kids’ faces on the milk cartons at breakfast every morning.”

Ethan Hawke as the Grabber in The Black Phone.

Ethan Hawke as the Grabber in The Black Phone.Credit:Universal Pictures

Derrickson feels that the nostalgia people feel for this period is sometimes drawn from popular culture more than anything else – specifically Steven Spielberg’s “suburban childhood portrayals” (which, in turn, is a major touchpoint for stranger things).

“We were really setting out to make a reverse Amblin movie,” Derrickson says, referring to Spielberg’s production company, Amblin Entertainment, which was synonymous with feel-good hits like ET and The Goonies.

Though the film has many of the aesthetic and thematic hallmarks of these movies – plucky pre-teens riding bikes, playing baseball and banding together to try and save the day – its depiction of the world and its varied dangers is much darker.

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And, with the movie collecting more than $200 million in global box office takings (off an approximate budget of $24 million), that approach is clearly resonating.

“I think that getting an original horror film to pop the way that this movie has is difficult,” Derrickson says. (The director has worked extensively in the genre, and is known best for Deliver Us From Evil, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister – as well as 2016’s Doctor Strange).

“The crowd reactions to this movie have superseded anything else that I’ve done,” Derrickson says. “There’s a lot of cheering and clapping [at various points] and a lot of laughter too.”

Much of that can be put down to the kids’ performances – particularly McGraw, who is phenomenal as the quick-witted and foul-mouthed Gwen – but Derrickson notes it’s a natural part of the horror experience too.

Though nostalgia may be comforting (especially during times when comfort is in short supply), he says there’s real use in honestly confronting the “terrible things” in our past as well.

“I don’t believe that horror films create fear – they release it. That’s why after a good scary movie, people are coming out of the theater laughing.

“I think it can be a very healthy and very cathartic experience.”

Categories
Sports

Erin Phillips’ heartwarming Port Adelaide captaincy reveal melts AFL

Erin Phillips' heartwarming Port Adelaide captaincy reveal melts AFL

WNBA-turned-footy superstar Erin Phillips has brought her footy legend father to tears after revealing she would be Port Adelaide’s inaugural AFLW captain.

Erin, who has been a three-time premiership player, two-time league best-and-fairest and two-time Grand Final best on ground winner with the Adelaide Crows, revealed she would be joining Port Adelaide after winning last season’s decider.

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Erin’s father Greg Phillips was an eight-time Port Adelaide SANFL premiership player and the captain between 1991 and his retirement in 1993 — before the club joined the AFL in 1997.

Greg, who was a 1980 All-Australian, played 343 games for the club and an addition 84 games for Collingwood in the VFL in over 18 years in top-flight footy.

He was also named in Port Adelaide’s greatest ever team, is a life member of the club and is an inaugural inductee into the South Australian Football Hall of Fame and a 2020 inductee into the AFL Hall of Fame.

So it’s safe to say the club means a fair bit to him and the family.

When joining the club, Erin said she would wear her father’s No. 22 when joining the club.

But after getting Greg down to the club for a photo shoot, he immediately realized the jig was up when the No. 1, which is reserved for the club captain, was on the back of the jersey.

“What’s this number? What’s this? Put another twenty one numbers on … plus twenty one?” Greg asked.

“Well you know how you said the best part of being at Port Adelaide was being captain?” Erin said.

“Are you already?” Greg replied.

He immediately wrapped her in a hug.

Clearly emotional, he said simply: “Well done”.

“I don’t get to wear the 22 but I get to wear the No. 1,” Erin added.

“Oh good girl,” Greg added. “Did they vote that in?”

Phillips was voted captain, while Ange Foley was named vice-captain and Hannah Dunn, Gemma Houghton and Justine Mules also made up the leadership group.

But he couldn’t hold the emotion back rubbing his eyes, saying: “This is a shock”.

He then joked: “Are they sure you’re not too old?”

“Pretty special, huh?” Erin said.

“Well done, well done,” Greg said. “Well, it doesn’t matter what number you wear, I’m proud of you.”

They were lovely scenes and Erin also spoke about letting her dad know in the press release from the club.

“My dad always said to me the only thing better than playing for this club is being captain of this club and, he was right,” Phillips said.

“Telling him the news that I had been named captain was a very special and emotional moment for both of us.

“I’m so excited to be following in his footsteps and can’t wait to lead the team onto the ground for the first time. It will be yet another special moment for this group and for Port Adelaide.”

The 37-year-old Erin has had an incredible athletic career, having started as a basketball star and winning the WNBA twice.

She also won a World Championship gold for Australia in 2006, playing in two Olympic Games, including winning silver in 2008, and won 2006 Commonwealth Games gold.

She instantly made an enormous impact in the AFLW after retiring from basketball in 2017.

But in joining Port Adelaide for its first season in rugby league, Erin told Howie Games podcast with commentator Mark Howard being able to play for the Power was like going full circle.

“It was pretty emotional,” she said. “I reckoned the whole build up to deciding whether to stay at the Crows or go to Port Adelaide was very emotional. It was emotional for him. As a father, he was more concerned about me and just wanting me to make a decision and feel comfortable with it and then get on with life.

“When I told him, he obviously was ecstatic because it was Port Adelaide. He would have been just as happy if it was the Crows to be honest. I think he was just so relieved because he knew how hard a decision it was for me and now that I had made a decision and could just focus forward. He was absolutely pumped.

“I think the Port Adelaide part will hit him a little closer to when we run out for the first game. Running out the exact same race as he ran out.

“I’d be hanging over the fence trying to get a high-five from him and his teammates. It’s unbelievable to think I play for Port Adelaide, a team I was pretty much born into. It still blows my mind.”

Read related topics:Adelaide

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Categories
Australia

The elephant in the room for the gas industry

The elephant in the room for the gas industry

And on price, the interventions by government – ​​including the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism itself – have not helped. As noted by the ACCC, expectation of a threat in triggering the mechanism was a factor in some industrial buyers declining to lock in prices below $10 a gigajoule that were on offer in 2021 as they held out for cheaper deals.

“Our review of supplier pricing strategies found that some suppliers appear to have been influenced in their domestic market pricing by a perceived threat of regulatory intervention at prices above $10/GJ,” the ACCC said.

Adding to the complacency was the lack of warning on a shortfall this year – by either the ACCC or the Australian Energy Market Operator. In reality, the wave of coal power outages in the National Electricity Market prompted an increase in demand for gas for power generation, which drove up prices sharply.

Meanwhile, the international market for gas has transformed since 12 months ago, propelled higher by shortages in Europe, exacerbated by efforts to switch away from Russian gas.

MST Marquee energy analyst Mark Samter says the question of what a “fair” price is for domestic gas has “changed profoundly” in the past six months, given developments in international gas markets.

He notes contracts struck in the east coast market late last year at about $15/GJ locked in a meaningful discount to contracted LNG prices, which are now about $US15 per unit, European gas prices of about $US50 and spot LNG at about $US40 per unit.

“Even $15/GJ would be extremely competitive on a global basis,” he says, noting that prices at LNG “netback” levels – which gas buyers for many years were calling for – are much higher.

LNG “netback” prices – the domestic gas equivalent price for LNG exported to the Asian spot market – stand at $48.91/GJ for August 2022, according to the ACCC’s latest price data.

Amid the latest crunch in southern gas supplies after the failure of NSW gas retailer Weston Energy, some manufacturers say they cannot get any offers of contracted gas, and are still paying default rates sometimes as high as $40/GJ or more after being switched to a retailer of last resort.

Credit Suisse energy analyst Saul Kavonic notes that east coast gas buyers are facing little criticism for repeatedly failing to lock in long-term cheap gas supply when the opportunity was available, instead shifting the blame to producers again.

“We would argue the responsibility for any manufacturing job losses lie primarily with the management of manufacturers being greedy in pursuit of a slightly cheaper gas deal only 18 months ago, rather than locking in gas supply they could afford,” Kavonic says.

He says price “remains the elephant in the room”, with the ACCC acknowledging that “internationally competitive” pricing linked to LNG is high, and unpalatable for some buyers, but some signs the government could pursue lower prices.

Categories
US

Arizona official refutes review that counted 282 dead voters

Arizona official refutes review that counted 282 dead voters

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Monday his investigators found just one dead voter after thoroughly reviewing findings from a partisan review of the 2020 election that alleged 282 ballots were cast in the name of someone who had died.

The finding by the Republican attorney general, who is running for the US Senate in Tuesday’s primary, further discredits the review conducted last year. The review was led by an inexperienced firm, Cyber ​​Ninjas, and conducted largely by supporters of Donald Trump who falsely believe the election was stolen from him.

“Our agents investigated all individuals that Cyber ​​Ninjas reported as dead, and many were very surprised to learn that they were allegedly deceased,” Brnovich wrote in a letter to state Senate President Karen Fann, who used her subpoena power to obtain ballots, tabulators and election data and hired Cyber ​​Ninjas for what she called a “forensic audit.”

For the one substantiated incident, “the facts of the case did not support prosecution,” said Ryan Anderson, a spokesman for Brnovich. He said the dead person’s ballot was not counted. None of the three criminal cases the attorney general has filed over dead voters was connected to the Cyber ​​Ninjas investigation, he said.

Brnovich did not say whether any charges had been filed in connection with the one substantiated incident, and his spokesman, Ryan Anderson, did not respond to a phone call and text message. All other people listed by Cyber ​​Ninjas as deceased “were found to be current voters,” Brnovich wrote.

Combined with other reports of dead voters, Brnovich’s Election Integrity Unit investigated a combined 409 names and produced “only a handful of potential cases.”

Brnovich vouched for the legitimacy of the election immediately after President Joe Biden’s victory but later publicized his investigation of the Cyber ​​Ninjas allegations as he sought Trump’s endorsement for his Senate campaign. Trump ultimately released a scathing statement saying Brnovich wasn’t doing enough to advance his claims of fraud and endorsed businessman Blake Masters.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.

The Cyber ​​Ninjas review looked at data, machines and ballots from Maricopa County, the state’s largest. It produced a report that experts described as riddled with errors, bias and flawed methodology. Still, even that partisan review came up with a vote tally that would not have altered the outcome, finding that Biden won by 360 more votes than the official results.

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Tough new laws set to restrict gambling at Melbourne’s Crown casino

Aussies will have to declare how much cash they are prepared to lose before being able to gamble at melbourne‘s Crown casino under tough new state laws.

A $1000 limit will also be introduced for cash transactions at the casino within 24 hours, while patrons will have to show ID to gamble or pocket winnings greater than $1000.

The state government is set to introduce the new laws in parliament today after to Royal Commission exposed serious money laundering occurring at the venue.
Laws are set to restrict gambling at Crown Casino in Melbourne. (TheAge)

The legislation will implement a further twelve recommendations from the Royal Commission, designed to stop money laundering and protect punters from gambling-related harm.

It will mean the Melbourne casino has the toughest restrictions of any in the country.

In an Australian first, punters will have to track the time and money they are spending via mandatory pre-commitment on all electronic gaming machines at the casino.

These pre-commitment requirements will be in place for the casino’s pokies by the end of 2023.

However, the casino will only have to complete the full reforms set out in the laws by December 2025, with the government saying this timeframe is to allow for the development of technologies that do not yet exist.

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To prevent inappropriate interference in the casino’s running identified by the Royal Commission, the casino’s board and senior management will be made independent and accountable to the casino operator instead of a parent or holding company.

A person or entity that wishes to own more than five per cent of the casino operator or its holding company will also require the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission’s approval.

Crown will also be made to pay for the cost of regulating the casino, with a supervision charge set to be reintroduced.

To prevent the illegal transfer of funds through and within the casino, the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission has already directed Crown Melbourne to hold only a single bank account for patrons to deposit funds.

New data reveals over $52 million was gambled and lost on pokie machines in Brisbane last month, over $71,500 an hour.
Pointers will have to set their maximum spend limit before they start gambling. (9News)

Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation Melissa Horne said the legislation was “to ensure the disgraceful conduct uncovered by the Royal Commission will never happen again in Melbourne”.

A government release has said that ‘Crown Melbourne has one chance only to reform its operations and return to suitability to hold the Melbourne casino licence’.

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“If the casino operator does not demonstrate that it is suitable to hold the license, its license will be automatically canceled in 2024,” the statement reads.