Categories
Business

Victorian government introduces reforms for Crown Melbourne amid calls for pre-commitment rules to apply statewide

The Crown casino logo is emblazoned on a colourful sign.

Punters at Melbourne’s Crown Casino will be forced to pre-commit to losses and time spent on poker machines as part of reforms introduced in the wake of damning royal commission findings.

The 12 measures are the latest from 33 recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence, which found an “alarming catalog of wrongdoing” at Victoria’s only casino.

The Melbourne casino — Victoria’s largest single-site employer — has been able to hold onto its license as long as it meets a number of conditions, including implementing the reforms.

US firm Blackstone recently completed an $8.9 billion takeover of Crown’s operations in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Under the legislation being introduced in Victoria today, all Australian residents at the casino must set a maximum limit on how much they are prepared to lose before they begin using pokies.

A blond woman sits with a drink at a pokie.
Victorians lose more than $1.5 billion at the pokies each year.(abcnews)

“This is a world-first in a suite of reforms,” ​​Gaming Minister Melissa Horne said.

Technology to enforce the limit and track the time and money spent does not yet exist.

The government will give the Crown until the end of 2023 to have the mandatory pre-commitments in place, with the minister saying “it needs to be fully rolled out by no later than the end of 2025”.

The limit will be entirely up to the pattern.

Calls for pre-commitments to apply statewide

Chief Advocate at the Alliance for Gambling Reform Tim Costello welcomed the news.

“This is a really a historic day for the state government and therefore the people of Victoria — winning back power over the Crown, that has completely dominated the landscape and dominated the terms of engagement,” he said.

An older man sits smiling at the camera.
Gambling Advocate Tim Costello says the move gives gambling patrons better tools to avoid harm.(ABC News: Jeremy Story Carter)

He said he believed the pre-commitment system should apply to all pokie venues in the state.

“You can link the same system for pre-commitment to all pokies through clubs and hotels in Victoria so simply … the greedy pubs and clubs with pokies have fought this for more than a decade,” he said.

Crown Melbourne has about 2,600 pokie machines, about 10 per cent of the 26,321 spread across the state. Government statistics show more than $1.5 billion is lost on the pokies across the state each year.

When asked whether the limits were likely to be enforced at other gaming venues, Ms Horne said the government was focused on implementing the recommendations of the royal commission.

The minister said there was not a dollar figure or modeling attached to the mandatory pre-commitments to show how much better off patrons would be under the measure.

Other measures to tackle ‘money-laundering activities’

Repeated breaches of money-laundering rules and links to organized crime were identified at the royal commission.

Under the new measures, the use of cash will be limited to $1,000 per 24 hours in a bid to crack down on money laundering.

Crown Casino seen across Yarra River.
Crown Casino employs thousands of Victorians.(ABC News: Darryl Torpy )

The legislation will make it mandatory for patrons to use casino-issued cards and identification to gamble or receive winnings of more than $1,000.

“Again, this is a first for Crown Casino. And it is aimed directly at tackling money-laundering activities,” Ms Horne said.

It builds on measures introduced earlier which direct Crown to only hold a single bank account for patrons to deposit funds.

Other new rules include making Crown pay for the cost of regulating the casino, which the minister said was “only reasonable that for the additional level of scrutiny that Crown requires, they should also be able to pay for that”.

Any person or business wanting to own more than 5 per cent of the casino operator or its holding company will require the approval of the state’s new gambling watchdog.

Crown has been contacted for comment.

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Categories
Technology

MIT boffins make AI chips a million times faster than brains • The Register

MIT boffins make AI chips a million times faster than brains • The Register

inbrief In the early days of AI research it was hoped that once electronics had equaled the ability of human synapses many problems would be solved. We’ve now gone way beyond that.

A team at MIT reports that it has built AI chips that mimic synapses, but are a million times faster, and are additionally massively more energy efficient than current designs. The inorganic material is also easy to fit into current chip-building kit.

“Once you have an analog processor, you will no longer be training networks everyone else is working on. You will be training networks with unprecedented complexities that no one else can afford to, and therefore vastly outperform them all. In other words, this is not a faster car, this is a spacecraft,” said lead author and MIT postdoc Murat Onen.

“The speed certainly was surprising. Normally, we would not apply such extreme fields across devices, in order to not turn them into ash. But instead, protons ended up shuttling at immense speeds across the device stack, specifically a million times faster compared to what we had before. And this movement doesn’t damage anything, thanks to the small size and low mass of protons. It is almost like teleporting.”

Now that’s some intelligent design.

Why results from machine learning models are difficult to reproduce

Princeton computer scientists Sayash Kapoor and Arvind Narayanan blame data leakage and inadequate testing methods for making machine-learning research difficult to reproduce by other scientists and say they are part of the reason results seem better than they are.

Data leakage occurs when the data used to train an algorithm can leak into its testing; when its performance is assessed the model seems better than it actually is because it has already, in effect, seen the answers to the questions. Sometimes machine learning methods seem more effective than they are because they aren’t tested in more robust settings.

An AI algorithm trained to detect pneumonia in chest X-rays trained on data taken from older patients might be less accurate when it’s run on images taken from younger patients, for example, Nature reported. Kapoor and Narayanan believe practitioners need to clearly describe how the training and testing datasets do not overlap.

Models aren’t sufficient by themselves, however, the code needs to be readily available too, they argued in a paper [PDF] released on arXiv.

AI contract between Palantir and US Army Research Lab extended

The US Army Research Lab has extended its contract with Palantir to continue developing AI technologies for its combatant commands, worth $99.9 million over two years.

Both parties began working together in 2018. Palantir’s software is used to build and manage data pipelines for platforms used by the Armed Services, combatant commands, and special operators. These resources, in turn, power machine learning systems deployed by various military units for combat.

“We’re looking forward to fielding our newest ML, Edge, and Space technologies alongside our US military partners,” Shannon Clark, senior veep of Innovation, said in a statement.

“These technologies will enable operators in the field to leverage AI insights to make decisions across many fused domains. From outer space to the sea floor, and everything in-between.” ®

Categories
Entertainment

Shocking Neighbors plot saw Chinese family accused of eating the dog

Footage has resurfaced of a problematic Neighbors storyline in which a Chinese family on Ramsay Street was accused of eating a dog. (Pictured: Jenny Lim, played by Diane Bakar-Coleclough)

The Neighbors storyline they desperately want you to forget: Shocking early ’90s plot saw Chinese family on Ramsay Street accused of eating the Robinsons’ DOG

By Mary Mrad For Daily Mail Australia

Published: | Updated:

Footage has resurfaced of a problematic Neighbors storyline in which a Chinese family on Ramsay Street was accused of eating a dog.

In the extraordinary clip, which has gained attention on YouTube after the series finale last week, Jim Robinson’s daughter Julie Martin (played by Julie Mullins) accuses the Lim family of eating her missing dog.

‘That sort of thing might be acceptable in your country, Mrs Lim, but in Australia we consider it barbaric,’ Julie says.

Footage has resurfaced of a problematic Neighbors storyline in which a Chinese family on Ramsay Street was accused of eating a dog. (Pictured: Jenny Lim, played by Diane Bakar-Coleclough)

Footage has resurfaced of a problematic Neighbors storyline in which a Chinese family on Ramsay Street was accused of eating a dog. (Pictured: Jenny Lim, played by Diane Bakar-Coleclough)

A shocked Jenny Lim responds: ‘You think we ate her? This is what you think of us. How dare you suggest such a thing. I’ve never been so insulted.’

The short-lived storyline, which reflected suburban prejudices about Asian Australians in the early ’90s, re-emerged after the Neighbors finale on Thursday night.

The last-ever episode of the long-running series, which first began in 1985, aired Down Under on Thursday and in the UK on Friday.

In the extraordinary clip, which has gained attention on YouTube after the series finale last week, Julie Martin (played by Julie Mullins) accuses the Lim family of eating her missing dog

In the extraordinary clip, which has gained attention on YouTube after the series finale last week, Julie Martin (played by Julie Mullins) accuses the Lim family of eating her missing dog

Now it has been confirmed that the fictional suburb of Erinsborough situated on Ramsay Street in Melbourne, Victoria, will be demolished.

Terry Smit of Go West, the team behind the official Neighbors tour, told the Daily Star: ‘We are advised by Fremantle Media that the sets will be dismantled and that the space will be used for their next project, whatever that may be.’

Mr Smit added: ‘As the sets are being dismantled, there is nothing left for us to tour, so the tour will be discontinued.’

The short-lived storyline, which reflected suburban prejudices about Asian Australians in the early '90s, re-emerged after the Neighbors finale on Thursday night. (Pictured: Jenny and Raymond Lim, played by Diane Bakar-Coleclough and TS Kong)

The short-lived storyline, which reflected suburban prejudices about Asian Australians in the early ’90s, re-emerged after the Neighbors finale on Thursday night. (Pictured: Jenny and Raymond Lim, played by Diane Bakar-Coleclough and TS Kong)

The finale of Neighbours, which first began in 1985, aired Down Under on Thursday and in the UK on Friday. (Pictured: Jane Harris and Mike Young, played by Annie Jones and Guy Pearce)

The finale of Neighbours, which first began in 1985, aired Down Under on Thursday and in the UK on Friday. (Pictured: Jane Harris and Mike Young, played by Annie Jones and Guy Pearce)

Although Erinsborough is fictional, the tour’s website notes: ‘Ramsay Street is a real street where ordinary people live!’

The long-running Australian soap came to an end after 37 years last week.

The likes Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce and Margot Robbie returned to bid farewell to the show that launched their journeys to stardom.

The finale focused on Toadie’s (Ryan Moloney) wedding to Melanie (Lucinda Cowden) as he finally got his happily ever after.

Now it has been confirmed that the fictional suburb of Erinsborough situated on Ramsay Street in Melbourne, Victoria, will be demolished

Now it has been confirmed that the fictional suburb of Erinsborough situated on Ramsay Street in Melbourne, Victoria, will be demolished

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Categories
Australia

Sky News hosts Andrew Bolt and Chris Kenny clash over Anthony Albanese’s Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Sky News hosts Andrew Bolt and Chris Kenny clash over Anthony Albanese's Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Sky News Australia hosts Andrew Bolt and Chris Kenny have clashed in a heated debate over the government’s Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Kenny – a member of the senior advisory group that guided the Indigenous Voice co-design process – appeared on The Bolt Report on Monday night and told his fellow primetime host that allowing First Nations people to have their say on how to combat Indigenous disadvantage would give them “a fair go”.

“We want to overcome indigenous disadvantage because we have no mechanism for those indigenous Australians to actually have their say,” Kenny said.

“To tell us what they think will help redress health outcomes or employment outcomes or domestic violence in remote communities”

“We ought to allow those people to have a say. It’s a fair go.”

Stream more on politics with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends October 31, 2022

But Bolt fired back and said it was “more than a fair go” pointing to the proportion of indigenous MPs in Parliament.

Of the 11 parliamentarians who identify as Indigenous there are three lower house MPs – Jana Stewart, Marion Scrymgour and Dr Gordon Reid – and seven Senators – Pat Dodson, Malarndirri McCarthy, Linda Burney, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Jacqui Lambie, Kerrynne Liddle, Dorinda Cox and Lydia Thorpe.

While Kenny said it was not “relevant”, Bolt replied by suggesting Voice would serve as a “separate parliament”.

“Nope. It’s not a separate parliament it’s an advisory body,” Kenny responded.

The Labor Government pushed the issue to the center of its agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared on election night that there would be a referendum in his first term.

The Voice to Parliament was a key element of the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart and called for an elected Indigenous advisory body to the Federal Parliament.

The proposed body would advise the government on issues affecting First Nations people.

Bolt said the Voice would set up a “false dichotomy” and establish race as the defining difference between Australians.

“It stresses its race as the primary difference between us which I think is false, wrong and dangerous,” he said.

Kenny responded by saying that Indigenous Australians are the most disadvantaged people in the country.

“Now there is all sorts of complex reason for that but it is a national shame that their life expectancy is shorter,” he said.

“They are much less likely to finish school, to get an education, to get a job and we all want that.

“And I believe that requires some special attention from government.”

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Categories
US

US kills al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri

US kills al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri

Comment

The United States has killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda and one of the world’s most-wanted terrorists, who oversaw the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, alongside the group’s founder, Osama bin Laden, announced President Biden.

Zawahiri was killed in a CIA drone strike in Kabul over the weekend, according to US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

When US forces withdrew from Afghanistan last August, Biden administration officials said they would retain capability for “over-the-horizon” attacks from elsewhere on terrorist forces inside Afghanistan. The attack against Zawahiri is the first known counterterrorism strike there since the withdrawal.

Speaking in a live television address from a balcony at the White House, Biden announced that days ago he had authorized a strike to kill Zawahiri. “Justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said.

The strike occurred at 9:48 pm Eastern time on Saturday, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the operation. A drone fired two hellfire missiles at Zawahiri as he stepped onto the balcony of a safe house in Kabul, where he had been living with members of his family, the official said.

A loud blast was heard in the Shirpur neighborhood in central Kabul. The district, long a derelict area owned by the Afghan Defense Ministry, was converted into an exclusive residential area of ​​large houses in recent years, with senior Afghan officials and wealthy individuals owning mansions there.

The intelligence community had tracked Zawahiri to the safe house and spent months confirming his identity and developing a “pattern of life,” tracking his movements and behavior, the official said. Intelligence personnel also constructed a model of the safe house, which was used to brief Biden on how a strike could be carried out in such a way that it lessened the chances of killing any other occupants or civilians, the official said, adding that intelligence agencies have concluded that Zawahiri was the only person killed in the strike.

“The United States continues to demonstrate its resolve and capacity to defend Americans from those who seek to do it harm,” Biden said, making it “clear again [that] no matter how long it takes, no matter how you hide… the United States will find you and seek you out.”

Senior administration national security officials were briefed in early April on the information that Zawahiri was believed to be living in the house, which he never left, the official said.

Biden received updates throughout May and June, and on July 1, he was briefed in the White House Situation Room by key Cabinet members and advisers, including CIA Director William J. Burns, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, the official said.

The president met again with his top advisers on July 25 and continued to press the intelligence agencies on how they planned to conduct a strike with minimal civilian casualties, the official said. All his advisers of him “strongly recommended” the strike, which Biden then authorized, the official said.

Senior members of the Haqqani Taliban were also aware that Zawahiri was living in the house and took steps after the strike to conceal his presence, the official said, calling the terrorist leader’s presence in Kabul a violation of the Doha Agreement signed between the United States and the Taliban in 2020.

The agreement leading to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan included a Taliban pledge not to allow terrorist groups with international aims to operate within their territory and to break all relations with those groups. While the Islamic State has been growing within Afghanistan and has claimed frequent attacks against the Taliban and civilian targets, al-Qaeda appears to retain a strong relationship with the Taliban government.

A Taliban spokesman, in confirming the strike, said it was the United States that violated their deal.

The Associated Press first reported that Zawahiri was killed.

As opportunity beckons in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda’s leader squabbles and writes ‘comically boring’ books

Zawahiri, whose face was familiar to millions of Americans from his videotaped diatribes against the United States, played an important role in turning al-Qaeda into a more lethal and ambitious terror organization, according to many of the investigators who hunted its leadership for decades. By merging his Egyptian-centric organization with bin Laden’s, the group became a far more dangerous and global terror group, analysts said. Zawahiri was indicted on a charge of the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, attacks that first highlighted the growing threat from al-Qaeda.

Both bin Laden and Zawahiri escaped US forces in Afghanistan in late 2001 after the 9/11 attacks, and Zawahiri’s whereabouts had long been a mystery. Bin Laden was killed in a raid by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.

After bin Laden’s death, Zawahiri became the figurehead leader of al-Qaeda, but he was a hunted man in charge of a decimated organization. Lacking bin Laden’s loyal following, Zawahiri tried to command far-flung terrorist groups that often ignored his decrees and rejected his advice. In particular, he was overshadowed by the rise of the Islamic State and its bloody dominion for several years over parts of Syria and Iraq.

But with much of the group’s original leadership captured or killed, Zawahiri was perhaps the most visible reminder of al-Qaeda’s grim legacy.

“I just got chills up and down my spine,” said Charles G. Wolf, whose wife was killed at the World Trade Center in the terrorist attacks, when he learned about the US strike. “It’s great to hear… I’m sure there will be someone else to step in his shoes from him, but I think it sends a signal that we are still going after terrorists regardless of politics.”

In a report issued last month, UN analysts said Zawahiri had been “confirmed to be alive and communicating freely,” with “regular video messages that provided almost current proof of life.” It noted that his “increased comfort and ability to communicate” coincided with last year’s Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

“Al-Qaeda is not viewed as posing an immediate international threat from its safe haven in Afghanistan because it lacks an external operational capability” from there, “and does not currently wish to cause the Taliban international difficulty or embarrassment,” the report said.

Both the United Nations and the US intelligence community have assessed that the operational threat from al-Qaeda is now centered in its African and Middle East affiliates. “Al-Qaeda probably will gauge its ability to operate in Afghanistan under Taliban restrictions and will focus on maintaining its safe haven before seeking to conduct or support external operations from Afghanistan,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed this year.

A former member of al-Qaeda who later joined the Islamic State downplayed the significance of Zawahiri’s death, noting that he was barely visible in recent years.

“I’m sure Biden will try to make it sound as if it’s something big, but actually it’s not significant for us at all,” said the member of the Islamic State who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the al-Qaeda leader . “Ayman al-Zawahiri became the emir after bin Laden, and now he is a shaheed [martyr]. And that’s it for us. The significant question will be: Who will become the new leader now?”

In the wake of the strike on Zawahiri, the senior official said the administration warned the Taliban not to take any steps that would harm Mark Frerichs, a 60-year-old American civil engineer and Navy veteran who was kidnapped in Afghanistan in January 2020. The only known remaining American hostage in Afghanistan, he is believed to have been captured by the Haqqani network, a Taliban faction that during the Afghanistan war was based in Khost province, near the Pakistan border, and in Pakistan itself. Its leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is now an interior minister in the Taliban government in Kabul.

The Taliban has denied any knowledge of Frerichs’s whereabouts. The director of a contracting company called International Logistical Support, he had traveled to Afghanistan numerous times during the US military presence there. In May 2020, the FBI offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his release or rescue from him.

In April, the New Yorker published information from what it said was a video from a source who could not be verified, showing Frerichs pleading for his release. In it, he states that it was being recorded on Nov. 28, 2021. The magazine said Frerichs’s sister had confirmed that it was her brother de ella.

Frerichs’s family has criticized both the Trump and Biden administrations, the former for signing a peace deal with the Taliban that did not mention him and the latter for implementing it.

Constable reported from Kabul. Ellen Nakashima, Devlin Barrett and Olivier Knox in Washington contributed to this report.

Categories
Business

‘Comically Bad’ Meal Leaves Business Class Passenger Questioning Life

'Comically Bad' Meal Leaves Business Class Passenger Questioning Life

A business class passenger on an Avianca flight has been left with a sour taste in his mouth. He recently took to the Internet to share his experience of an unclean toilet, packaged dessert and breakfast “served in an economy class container.”

Leviticus may not have said “no one has wrath like a business class passenger scorned” but he really should have. why? A pointy end passenger recently took to the Internet with yet another bashing of a London-Bogota Avianca 787 flight, where the experience failed to live up to its billing as a premium service.

The “comically bad” experience was skewered by avid traveler Matthew Klint, who writes for the aviation website Live & Let’s Fly. Klint recently flew on Avianca, a Colombian airline which has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it was initially registered under the name SCADTA.

Though Avianca isn’t renowned as one of the world’s leading luxury airlines (for the airlines which have the best business class offerings in the world right now, head on over here), when booking an international business class ticket, you still expect the basics – certain industry standards – to be upheld.

Left: the offending in-flight meal. Right: the bathroom. Image Credit: Matthew Klint/Live & Let’s Fly

Unfortunately for Klint, this, particularly when it comes to food, did not prove to be the case. He went as far as to call it “deplorable.” Speaking about his in-flight meal of him, Klint complained that they gave him a lukewarm crew meal “with a packaged sandwich and packaged dessert.”

“Hot on the sides, cold in the middle.”

matthew klint

He added: “Breakfast was served before landing – again, in an economy class container. At least this time the omelet was warm. Sadly, the coffee was just brown water without much flavor and the bread was cold and hard.” He then pointed out it was a relief to get onto his connection from him to Houston and “actually receive a properly plated meal.”

RELATED: Business Class Jerk’s ‘Infuriating’ Complaint Stinks Of Snobbery… But Also Sparks Crucial ‘New Normal’ Debate

On top of that, Klint was not impressed by the state of the bathroom (which he says is not the fault of the crew, but nevertheless an indictment on them), which did not appear to have been kept clean all throughout the flight.

The Avianca business class seat. Image Credit: The Blonde Abroad

Klint then said the reason the airline provided for the altered service (Avianca left a note on his seat that said, basically, sorry for the altered service, we’ve had 12 months off and are now still getting our sh*t together) was not good enough, writing: “blaming your poor catering on the long hiatus in London service is simply absurd.”

“Avianca had weeks to prepare for its return and could have easily worked with its caterer to supply proper business class meals, including salads and appetizers. Instead, we received a lukewarm crew meal.”

matthew klint

This isn’t the first time there has been a mismatch between airlines’ adaptations to the pandemic (and other disruptive factors) and passengers’ expectations – particularly when it comes to business class. One Singapore Airlines passenger got into a right stoush on Facebook after champagne was removed from Singapore Airlines’ menu in 2020, for instance. And who could forget Virgin Australia’s Noodlegate incident and Qantas’ paper plate gate scandal…

RELATED: Business Class ‘Slammertime’ Ritual Sparks Outrage At 40,000ft

Just another day in this post-pandemic world. And yet another thing to think about (beyond baggage handlers destroying your luggage, airlines losing your luggage and massive flight delays) before your next flight.

It’s also worth noting that in previous reviews of Avianca business class (back when they were using plates), the food has got a mixed reception. In 2018 to Forbes writer called the meal presentation lackluster (“rather than coursing it out, the flight attendants put both the starters and the cheese plate on the same tray, then came through later with the main course”) while The Blonde Abroad once wrote “Avianca’s food and drink menus for their business class passengers are exceptional.”

Maybe the next time you get the chance you ought to book a ticket and try it for yourself.

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Categories
Technology

Scissor-doored MG Cyberster EV showcases the future of sports cars

Chinese brand MG has previewed its new Cyberster roadster in a new video, with the new electric roadster set to arrive before 2024.

Posting the video on social media, MG showcased the future EV’s sleek body styling, electric canvas roof, yoke steering wheel and two-tone seats.

Elements of the car such as the rear lights have been designed using inspiration from the Union Jack flag, highlighting the brand’s British past.

The video also suggested the drop-top EV could have scissor doors.

MG’s two-seater electric sports car was first previewed in 2021 and was only considered for production after 5,000 potential buyers expressed an interest in the concept.

The Cyberster’s recently revealed design patents show that the roadster will effectively serve as an electric rival to the Mazda MX-5, while competing with other ICE-powered sports cars.

MG has offered no insight into the Cyberster’s powertrain, pricing or performance, but said its concept was based on a bespoke EV architecture, offering a claimed range of 497 miles and a 0-62mph time of less than 3.0 secs.

The Chinese firm recently unveiled the MG 4 hatchback which will arrive in the UK at the end of the year. The MG 4 will be the first of a number of EVs based on the new Modular Scalable Platform – from MG’s parent firm SAIC – which is likely to be used by the Cyberster.

This could mean that the future roadster could be offered with either a 120kW or 150kW single-motor, rear-wheel-drive powertrain, with a range topping 330kW, dual-motor set-up also an option.

The MG 4 is available with either a 51kWh or 64kWh battery which should offer a range of more than 200 miles.

Image courtesy of Coach

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Sports

Playoffs wins 2022 Darwin Cup in emotional victory

cup day

It’s been an emotional $200,000 Darwin Cup win for Playoffs in the Top End.

Trainer Gary Clarke made it a feature race double after his sprinter Syncline won the Palmerston Sprint on Saturday.

Clarke, wife Sharlene and his family had their son, Guy, looking down on them after he tragically lost his life late last year.

Playoffs is part-owned by Colin McKenna who has owned some great horses, including Caulfield Cup winner Jameka, as well as his former trainer and now industry superstar Ciaron Maher.

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cup day

Ella Clarke and Dad Gary after winning the Darwin Cup. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Verry Elleegant’s part-owner John O’Neill is also in the horse.

Darwin identities, crocodile farmer and pub owner Mick Burns and property developer Brooke David are also in the ownership group, alongside Atomic 212 head honchos Barry O’Brien and his son Damien.

Darwin Cup

Jarrod Todd rides Playoffs over the finish line to win the Darwin Cup 2022. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

Playoffs ($5.50), who settled on the speed throughout, was too good for roughies Kaonic ($41) and Vallabar ($41).

Noir De Rue ($26) ran fourth.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL DARWIN CUP RESULTS

Darwin Cup

Playoffs were dominant.

Hot favorite Living The Dream ($2.25) had a sweet run in transit but dropped right out in the straight.

Playoffs, who has now won his only two starts in Darwin earning in excess of $180,000 prizemoney, was ridden by Jarrod Todd.

For Clarke it was his fourth Darwin Cup, having won one as a jockey and three as a trainer.

“It was a big win. A race like that isn’t something you do with just one or two months of planning, it takes six months,” Clarke said.

“What you need to do in a race like this is staying out of trouble.

“I knew he had the ability to win it, the only unknown factor was if he had the speed coming out the gates.

“It’s been a very hard year, but we’ve had good people around us and good staff that sort of helped us through. We’ve had good help all the way through.”

Todd called the win a very special occasion for himself and the Clarke family, who he credited for the amount of work they put in.

“It’s pretty special, it’s pretty special for Gary and the family who lost their son… I couldn’t be happier with the result,” Todd said.

“I put in a fair work to get here but nothing like Gary and Sharlene who deal with everything they can and I’m just lucky enough to pilot the horses.

“Playoffs held a strong gallop. He could have gone another 200m and still won it so a really good run from the horse.”

cup day

The Clarke clan before the race. Picture: Glenn Campbell

A crowd of 16,000 was on track at Fannie Bay for the biggest race day in the Northern Territory.

The Clarke family was also hit hard when their No.1 stable rider and great friend Simone Montgomerie was killed in a race fall on Darwin Cup day in 2013.

Darwin Cup

Trainer Gary Clarke after the race. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

***

Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au

Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 or kidshelpline.com.au

Headspace: 1800 650 890 or headspace.org.au

— additional reporting by Nathaniel Chambers

Categories
Australia

Perth storm: Thousands left without power as gale force winds, heavy rain batters city

Perth storm: Thousands left without power as gale force winds, heavy rain batters city

Power lines are down, trees uprooted, fences destroyed and traffic lights out across Perth and the South West amid gale force winds and heavy rain overnight.

Emergency services have been stretched to the limit as they respond to multiple calls for help — including one person who was trapped in their car early Tuesday morning after they drove over failed power lines in Midland.

More than 32,000 homes are without power, with blackouts stretching from Two Rocks down to Pemberton.

DFES received more than 186 calls for help overnight, with a spokesperson confirming the main incidents were in the metro area.

A large tree has fallen onto Melville Parade in Como, blocking traffic.
Camera IconA large tree has fallen onto Melville Parade in Como, blocking traffic. Credit: Paul Entwistle/Twitter

Those without power can expect to wait several hours until it is restored with Western Power warning repairs will be “delayed” due to the challenging weather conditions.

Described by the Bureau of Meteorology WA as an eleven-in-a-year storm, a strong cold front smashed the south-western corner of the State on Monday and into the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Police responded to more than seven storm-related incidents on Tuesday morning, including the Midland incident which is still unfolding. Western Power and DFES are also responding.

In Gooseberry Hill, a tree fell on a house bringing it with it power lines that have covered parts of the road. There have also been multiple crashes.

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Categories
US

California declares a state of emergency over monkeypox outbreak, following New York and Illinois

California declares a state of emergency over monkeypox outbreak, following New York and Illinois

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) talks with reporters after a meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in the US Capitol, on Friday, July 15, 2022.

Tom-Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over the rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak on Monday, the third US state to do so in a matter of days.

Newsom said the emergency declaration would help support the state’s vaccination efforts. Demand for the vaccines has outstripped supply as infections rise. Staff at sexual health clinics and other sites have struggled to keep up with the influx of people seeking the shots.

California is mobilizing personnel from its Emergency Medical Services to help administer the monkeypox vaccines. Newsom said the state is working across all levels of government to slow the spread through testing, contract tracing and community outreach.

California’s declaration comes after Illinois declared a public health emergency earlier Monday. New York declared a state disaster emergency in response to the outbreak late Friday.

The US has reported nearly 6,000 cases of monkeypox across 48 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak has spread swiftly since health authorities in Boston confirmed the first US case in May.

California, Illinois and New York – home to the nation’s three largest cities – have reported 47% of all confirmed monkeypox infections in the US New York is the epicenter of the outbreak in the US, with nearly 1,400 confirmed cases as of Monday.

The Biden administration is weighing whether to declare a public health emergency in the US, according to senior federal health officials. This would help mobilize resources for state health officials that are battling the outbreak. The last time the US declared a public health emergency was in response to Covid-19 in January 2020.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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