With that in mind, Cbus Property went back to the drawing board last year to rejig its plans for the 48-storey at 435 Bourke Street, on the corner with Queen Street in Melbourne.
While the developer already had an approval in hand for an office development across the four sites it had amalgamated, the “flight to quality” theme emerging out of the pandemic prompted a rethink.
The 60,000-square-meter tower will include landscaped open-air or mixed-mode terraces.
“Given people are still trying to get their minds around coming back to the office, of course it’s a challenging market. But if you’ve got the best product out in the market, it should attract the right caliber of tenants,” Mr Pozzo said.
Freshly approved by the state government, the Bates Smart-designed tower will comprise 60,000 square meters, enough room for about 5,500 city workers.
A key improvement to the design is a “solar skin” wrapping around the façade, that will generate about 20 per cent of the base building electricity requirements. The balance of the building, which is designed to achieve net-zero carbon in operation, will be powered by off-site renewable electricity.
Adding to the post-pandemic appeal of 435 Bourke will be a sky garden, along with several landscaped open-air and mixed-mode terraces as well as an atrium.
Such areas are a recognition that many staff are now more accustomed to working in informal settings, according to Mr Pozzo and Colliers’ Andrew Beasley, who is managing the leasing for the new tower.
“We took the time to interview major occupiers over the COVID-19 lockdown period to learn what these organizations would like to see in a new development in a post-COVID world,” Mr Beasley said.
All going to plan, demolition will finish by early next year, allowing construction to begin on the tower which could be completed by late 2026.
Uniden has released a new outdoor security camera – the App Cam Solo Pro 2K – a wirefree spotlight and security camera in one that’s designed for Australian homes and weather conditions.
The weatherproof camera has 2K resolution with a 120-degree wide angle field of view to view and record even more in greater detail. And at this resolution it’s possible to zoom in to view objects even closer.
Uniden’s App Cam Solo Pro 2K works effectively day and night.
The spotlight has a passive infrared sensor so it has even better vision to spot anyone approaching your property.
And when combined with the built-in spotlight, users can view color night vision footage of objects or people up to 10m away.
Onboard is AI intelligent alerts so the user can be notified via the Solo app whether there is a person or vehicle on their property.
This intelligence means you only get alerted when you need to.
The Uniden camera also has Thermo Sense technology which detected both body heat and movement to reduce the number of false notifications which could be triggered on a regular security camera like moving trees or passing cars and other benign activity. Customers can also purchase the optional Uniden Solar Panel which can be installed beside the camera and positioned to receive good sunlight exposure to keep the camera charged and operating non-stop during daylight hours.
Once installed, the Uniden App Cam Solo Pro 2K camera can be monitored through the companion smartphone app which makes it possible to view live footage anywhere in the world and even enable clear two-way audio so you can talk to whoever’s in front of the camera like a courier delivering a parcel at your front door.
The Uniden App Cam Solo Pro 2K can store your footage on an SD card inside the camera or through the Uniden Cloud Service which offers seven days of free cloud backup for the life of the product.
There are also plans for those who require longer storage.
Key features:
2K super HD resolution
Completely 100% wire-free over Wi-Fi
Spotlight & Camera in One
AI intelligent alerts and notifications
Color Night Vision
two way talk
Free 7 Days of Rolling Cloud Backup + Micro SD Card Backup
privacy-masking
ThermoSense Technology
Compatible with Google Assistant and Alexa
Dual Band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz/5.8GHz)
rechargeable battery
Optional Solar Panel for non-stop power with up to 180 days of operating
siren alert
Motion detection record
Weatherproof(IP65)
Two-year Australian warranty
The Uniden Guardian App Cam Solo PRO 2K is priced at $279.95. The Uniden App Cam Solo+ Solar Panel is available for $99.95.
Football Australia will now lean heavily upon that wisdom to set the country’s football direction.
Born in Scotland where he played semi-professionally, Merrick moved to Melbourne in 1975 and swiftly rose through the football ranks as a coach – first at local level, then the old National Soccer League, the Victorian Institute of Sport (where he had a hand in the development of players like Vince Grella, Mark Bresciano and Simon Colosimo), and then in the A-League, where he managed three different clubs. He also had a short stint as coach of the Hong Kong national team.
Ernie Merrick, left, has been helping Brett Ratten at St Kilda.Credit:Getty Images
When he coached Victory through an iconic era for the club between 2005 and 2011, the football they played was always easy on the eye, and in his last job at Newcastle Jets, he took them to a surprise grand final appearance in 2019 on one of the league’s most meager budgets.
Sacked by the Jets in January 2020, Merrick has not worked with a team since, and it seemed as if his days of working at the top level were reluctantly at an end. This year, he has been working as a mentor for Brett Ratten, coach of AFL club St Kilda. Merrick has now accepted what he says is the most important job of his career to date.
“I’ve never been one for retirement. I’ve always been a worker, and I’m really, really looking forward to having an influence – a positive influence, I hope – on football in this country,” Merrick said.
His top priority is a review of Australia’s development pathways and improving the national coaching curriculum in line with best practice in football abroad.
Asked where Australia was getting things wrong, Merrick said: “Well, I can’t say that until I can conduct a full review, but I think we’re doing a lot of things right.
“We have qualified for the fifth time for the [men’s] World Cup. The Matildas have been in the top 10 nations in the FIFA rankings until recently. We’ve got our youngsters playing in an under-20 women’s World Cup over in Costa Rica in August. There’s a lot of things going well, but it’s all about continuing to grow, develop, innovate and drive positive change. And that’s what I’ll be aiming to do.”
Merrick will have a very broad range of responsibilities as chief football officer, from advising Football Australia on football matters and global trends, helping to define and set a ‘national style’ of play.
He will also oversee coach education programs, help optimize player development systems and assist Johnson in pushing through proposed reforms like the domestic transfer system and national second division, which he said was a “crucial” missing piece of the puzzle in Australia.
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“The person I portray on match day, with my dour face, people think I’ll be a good disrupter, but I’m not really very good at that. I think I’m better at convincing people of the way forward and collaborating and cooperation,” Merrick said.
“If we’re going to be successful, innovate, change and grow to a stronger level of football… we’ve all got to work together. And I think that’s where my strength is.”
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Two crucifixes were found in a Canterbury apartment where Saudi sisters Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found dead in June, a worker with access to the apartment has told the ABC.
The discovery was made after the women’s bodies were removed.
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The worker told the ABC that the crucifixes were found on the floor of one of the bedrooms.
The ABC could not independently corroborate this claim.
It’s unclear whether the discovery of the crosses was a sign that the sisters had renounced Islam and converted to Christianity or whether they were using them as a disguise.
No signs of forced entry
In June, the bodies of the women were found naked and in separate beds.
This prompted the apartment’s building manager Michael Baird to dismiss suicide as a potential cause of death.
“Two young women do not commit suicide together unless they’re doing it together. They don’t get naked, they don’t go to separate rooms, they don’t die separately,” he said.
Police say they have not yet ruled out homicide or suicide as their investigations continue.
A worker, who accessed the apartment after the police had made the grim discovery, said the sisters’ bodies were found in a state of decomposition.
Last month, tradespeople entered the apartment to replace the flooring.
One told the ABC that the apartment still “has the smell of dead bodies.”
The sisters are thought to have been dead for over a month before a sheriff was called at the behest of their landlord, as the girls were behind on rent payments. This sheriff made the discovery and called the police.
After locating the bodies, police said there were no obvious signs of injury or forced entry although they have called the deaths “unusual.”
They are waiting on the results of postmortem examinations and toxicology tests.
In a press conference last week, the NSW Police released images of the two women and published their names, as they launched a community appeal for any information about the women’s movements.
Burwood Police Station has now established Strike Force Woolbird to investigate the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
The apartment block in Canterbury in Sydney’s western suburbs where two Saudi women were found dead in June 2022. (ABC RN: Brendan Esposito)
living in fear
The ABC has confirmed that the sisters had applied for a protection visa with the Department of Home Affairs, and they had been in contact with a settlement service for refugees.
Michael Baird, a director of Sydney’s Transparent FM Building Management which manages the Canterbury apartment block, said he was aware that the young women were concerned about their safety.
In a January 2022 email sent to the site manager, younger sister Amaal asked if building management could check the security cameras as she feared someone had tampered with a recent food delivery order.
“I think the girls were very, very scared. Very afraid of something. And we’re not sure whether it was something or someone, they didn’t tell us,” Mr Baird said.
Mr Baird said his first interaction with the women had taken place earlier this yearwhen their car had been “keyed”.
“We believed that it was not a personal attack on them because they’d parked their car in an unusual position. And somebody’s obviously taken offense to it,” Mr Baird said, about the incident.
His second interaction with the women was when he organized for a plumber to visit their apartment.
“When [the plumber] came out of that unit, he said that he was concerned that there was something untoward happening in the apartment. He got a very bad vibe,” Mr Baird said.
“He was pretty shaken up. He said, ‘I’m never coming back to that apartment again’.”
Mr Baird asked the local site manager to contact the police at the time and he understood that the women had subsequently told police they were fine.
Mr Baird has not been contacted by the police for a statement.
Another building worker told the ABC that he knew that the women had noticed a man watching their apartment from across the street.
The worker, who is familiar with the building’s residents, said he’d also seen an unknown Middle Eastern man inside the building on two occasions in the months leading up to the sisters’ death.
The building worker said when he asked the man which apartment he was from, the man gave the women’s address.
‘really good people’
The sisters arrived in Australia from Saudi Arabia in 2017.
They lived in Sydney’s western suburbs for about eighteen months with their friend Rita, while they attended the local TAFE.
“[Amaal and Asra] we were just really good people. They did nothing harmful,” Rita said.
“They moved to this house because it was like closer to their TAFE. And they usually stayed up all night and only slept in the morning.”
She said the women worked in construction. They had applied for an ABN in 2018, and were registered as sole traders.
Rita said the sisters’ mother had visited Australia on one occasion.
“Their mum came here once. She didn’t like it. Then she went back to her country,” Rita said.
The young women led a discreet life. They didn’t have many visitors, apart from a man Rita believed to be Asra’s boyfriend, an “Iraqi man with a beard”.
Early in 2020, after they’d lived with Rita for about 18 months, the sisters decided to move out.
They moved into the Canterbury apartment in November 2021.
At the time of publication, Rita said the police had not interviewed her or her family.
A Home Affairs departmental spokesperson told the ABC: “The Department does not comment on individual cases.”
Since 2017, 86 women from Saudi Arabia applied for permanent protection in Australia and 75 were granted a permanent protection visa.
This story has been updated from an earlier version to clarify who found the women’s bodies.
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A bipartisan group of senators has unveiled compromise legislation to guarantee federal access to abortion, an effort to codify abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where it is unlikely to gain enough Republican support.
The legislation, co-authored by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), is an attempt to create a middle ground on an issue that is largely pitting anti-abortion Republicans against pro-abortion rights Democrats.
Since the Supreme Court ruling on Dobbsv. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June, 17 states have either outlawed or mostly banned abortion. A handful of other states are in the process of prohibiting abortion, and on Tuesday, Kansas will be the first state where voters are set to go the polls to determine whether the state will reverse the constitutional right to an abortion.
The compromise legislation unveiled Monday ensures federal abortion rights up to viability, and allows post-viability abortion when the health of the mother is in jeopardy. The statute does not specify what week is viability or what constitutes when a mother’s health is in danger. Both issues are to be defined by the pregnant person’s medical practitioner.
“It clearly uses viability as a key distinction,” Kaine said. “Pre-viability women should have significant freedom — a state can regulate but can’t put an undue burden. Post-viability, the state can regulate a lot more, but can never stop a woman from accessing an abortion for her life and her health.”
The measure comes after Senate Democrats attempted to pass partisan legislation that would codify Roe. The vote in May, after a draft version of the Supreme Court decision was leaked, failed, gaining the support of 49 Democrats. One Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin III (DW.Va.) and all Republicans, voted against it, including Collins and Murkowksi because, they said, it went far beyond codifying Roe.
Kaine admits, however, that the proposal being unveiled Monday does not have the support of 10 Republicans needed for it to pass the Senate. Still, he said it’s an important marker in the conversation.
The bipartisan bill, called the Reproductive Freedom for All Act, also ensures access to contraception, which abortion advocates fear will be outlawed in some conservative states or that Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court case that granted a personal right to contraception, would be overturned. The bill also includes a conscience clause, which allows a provider to opt out of abortion services if it violates a religious belief, an issue that was important to Collins.
“There’s a majority of the US Senate that wants to codify Roe v. Wadeand to leave the impression that there’s only a minority that wants to codify Roe v. WadeI think, is that’s a weak position to be in,” Kaine said in an interview Monday.
“For five decades, reproductive health-care decisions were centered with the individual — we cannot go back in time in limiting personal freedoms for women,” Murkowski said in a statement.
It’s not clear that Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) would bring up the bill for a vote ahead of the midterm elections in November. There has been disagreement in the Democratic caucus on whether a bipartisan bill that has no chance of passage should be brought forward, which would make it more difficult for Democratic candidates to contrast themselves with Republicans. And many Democrats, Kaine said, would prefer the Democratic version of the bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, which includes fewer limitations on abortion.
Kaine calls the bill the bare minimum.
“What the four of us were trying to do was put a statutory minimum in place that replicated what the law was a day before dobbs,” he said.
Recent polling by The Washington Post-Schar School found that a majority of respondents — 58 percent — supported access to abortion until viability, including 77 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of independents. Just 34 percent of Republicans, however, supported it.
Abortion rights groups are critical of the proposal, in part because it won’t pass the Senate because of the 60-vote threshold in that chamber.
“This bill is just another political stunt that would not actually address the abortion rights and access crisis that has pushed care out of reach for millions of people already,” NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said in a statement. “Unless these senators are willing to end the filibuster to pass this measure, there’s no reason to take it seriously.”
The fledgling Australian airline has moved towards welcoming its first paying passengers on board. The airline’s first plane, a gleaming Boeing 737 MAX 8, is touching down at Bonza’s Queensland HQ on Monday morning local time. The plane’s arrival marks a milestone for founder Tim Jordan who has always remained resolutely upbeat despite many skeptics suggesting this day would never come.
Bonza’s first MAX 8 hops across the Pacific
Some keen planespotters spied Bonza’s first plane around a month ago, jetting between airports in the western half of the United States, progressively having the final touches applied to its new livery. The 737 MAX 8 was built in later 2019 and initially destined for LOT Polish Airlines but never taken up. Since then, the jet has mostly sat idle. Bonza’s financial backers, the Miami-based 777 Partners, later took the plane up through their own aircraft leasing company. SP-LVO became VH-UJT and swapped a potential home in Warsaw for Queensland’s Maroochydore/Sunshine Coast Airport (MCY).
SIMPLEFLYING VIDEO OF THE DAY
VH-UJT is due to land mid-morning Monday into MCY as flight AB001 after a series of ferry flights from the US. The MAX 8 flew the final 1,671 miles (2,690 kilometers) from Nadi (NAN) on Monday morning. The final leg followed a flight from Boeing Field (BFI) outside Seattle to Honolulu (HNL) on Friday and a second leg from Honolulu to Nadi on Saturday. Monday’s arrival at MCY also marks the first time a MAX aircraft has landed at that airport.
“We are beyond excited to welcome our first aircraft to Sunshine Coast Airport,” says Bonza’s Tim Jordan. The CEO added that VH-UJT would primarily work as a spare plane, supporting Bonza’s remaining fleet and minimizing disruptions. Bonza is reticent about timelines for its next aircraft arrivals. “More aircraft will follow,” says a statement from the airline.
Bonza is holding onto a late September launch date
Bonza’s first anticipated a mid-year launch date, but that’s been and gone. A few months ago, the airline said September was a more likely start date, so they’ll need to get their skates on aircraft-wise if that’s still to happen. But on Monday, there was a message out of the Bonza camp suggesting a September start date was looking less certain.
“The airline is working towards wheels-up, potentially as soon as late September but noting the regulatory process is one that is highly respected,” says Bonza’s statement. Bonza tells Simple Flying they hope to get their second plane in August and the application for the air operator’s certificate is “progressing well.”
Bonza’s first MAX 8 at Maroochydore/Sunshine Coast Airport on Monday morning. Photo: Heather Mollins/Bonza
Once VH-UJT lands in MCY, it will receive a cabin refit. “It seems only right that we bring home our first aircraft to have its final touches put on by Australians locally,” said Mr Jordan. LOT’s three-class 186-seat 737 MAX 8 configuration is likely too roomy for Bonza’s high seat density, low-cost fare operating model. Bonza will also probably inject a little of its brand color and flavor into the cabin .
Bonza hasn’t named its first plane yet. In a slightly risky strategy for an airline operating MAX 8s, it wants the public to provide naming suggestions on the airline’s social media pages. There have been quite a few examples of such promotions going wildly off-piste in Australia and elsewhere. Knowing Bonza, they’ll probably make a virtue out of the ridiculous, but the potential nicknames for a Boeing 737 MAX 8 at an airline called Bonza might even test the humor of the always smiling Mr Jordan.
Those dastardly loot boxes containing randomized goodies might be a thing of the past come Overwatch 2‘s launch later this year, but a recent survey suggests the hero shooter’s monetization may become more aggressive elsewhere.
apparently, Overwatch 2’s in-game store might charge you up to $US45 ($AU64) for an individual skin–or at least, Blizzard appears to be testing the idea. Recently, Twitter user porter gauge uploaded screenshots from a survey their friend received from Overwatch asking them how much money they’d be willing to pay for skins and other rewards in Overwatch 2. The survey asked players whether they were “very likely,” “somewhat likely,” “neither likely or unlikely,” “somewhat unlikely,” or “very unlikely” to be inclined to purchase new rewards in the game.
Image: Blizzard
The asking prices in the survey are as follows:
Mythic Skin–$US44.99 ($AU64)
Legendary Skin Bundle (including weapon charm, player icon, victory pose, voice line, name card, and spray)–$US29.99 ($AU42)
Legendary Skin–$US24.99 ($AU35)
Emote Highlight Intro Souvenir–$US19.99 ($AU28)
Weapon Char– $US9.99 ($AU14)
3 Spray Bundle–$US4.99 ($AU7)
Oof, friend of mine got an Overwatch survey for his account, some of these prices they’re gauging for OW2 are really expensive.
I hope this is just him getting one of the higher price surveys and not an indication that they’re leaning towards this much monetization. pic.twitter.com/RWr7LbwkLB
“This survey is entirely intended to better understand player preferences for different types of Overwatch 2 cosmetics,” an Overwatch spokesperson told Kotaku via email. “Prices displayed in the survey were randomized per user and are not indicative of final pricing. We plan to share details on our Shop and Battle Pass system closer to our Oct. 4 launch.”
Since the survey emails were sent out, its asking prices haven’t gone over well with players.
“Yo, I’d literally at any price would prefer buying Overwatch 2 instead of it being free to play with money grabs everywhere,” one Twitter user said.
“I know some people [are] going to defend the prices and say ‘Don’t buy etc it is[ a free to play] game,’” a Reddit user said. “People like you who choose to defend this crap is why the gaming industry [is] going into [an] abyss.”
ReadMore:Overwatch 2 Will Replace The Original, Making It Unplayable In October
Image: Blizzard
During the Overwatch 2 “reveal event” –which detailed the game’s seasonal roadmap and featured a cinematic trailer for its newest tank character, Junker Queen–the Overwatch team clarified that Overwatch 2 won’t have any loot boxes. The event teased that a battle pass and an in-game store is coming to the game.
Back in the old Overwatch days, players unlocked skins, emotes, voice lines, and sprays by leveling up and unlocking loot boxes. If players wanted to unlock a specific skin, like say the Totally ’80s Zarya skin (her only good one), they would either have to accumulate enough in-game coin from receiving duplicate items in loot boxes to unlock the skin from her character gallery or run the gamut of purchasing a bunch of loot boxes in hopes that the skin would be among their spoils. Overwatch also has a dedicated in-game store where players can purchase loot boxes with real currency. In comparison to Overwatch 2‘s asking price for one mythic skin, buying 50 loot boxes cost players $US39.99 ($56), exactly five dollars less.
Chances are the prices of Overwatch 2 skins in the survey won’t be the final price come the game’s release later this year and that it was the Overwatch team’s way to gauge how much players are willing to spend on cosmetic items. However, it’s not a good indication when a game is asking you to cough up the same amount of money for a full-game for a single skin.
If a person can somehow be widely adored while being simultaneously underappreciated, they must be truly great. The late NBA legend Bill Russell was a truly great person.
In the time since Russell’s death was announced by his family on Sunday, tributes have poured in from around the world. Among them was an eloquent eulogy from former US president Barack Obama in which he writes, “As tall as Bill Russell stood, his legacy rises far higher –both as a player and as a person.” Obama would know: he presented Russell with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. And yet, despite the outpouring of kind words in his memory of him, Russell may still be the most underappreciated icon in NBA history.
Before recognizing his wider impact, it’s worth laying out Russell’s basketball credentials. To begin with, Russell is the winningest player in NBA history and it’s not even really close. During his 13 seasons in the league, he has led the Boston Celtics to 11 NBA championships, including eight consecutive titles from 1959 to 1966. No other team has ever won more than three consecutively.
Russell, of course, would never claim that I have won those championships – the Celtics won them. He was the consummate team player who took pride in performing the glamorous but productive duties which ultimately won games. Russell once wrote, “The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.” Even opponents seemed to notice how nice it looked to play with Russell: he was named the regular-season MVP five times during the era in which the award was determined by players’ votes.
Russell’s strengths were his rebounding and (especially) his defense. He played in an era before Defensive Player of the Year awards –they didn’t even record blocks and steals when Russell played – but it’s safe to say he would’ve won several. Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy won six championships with Russell and said he played with “animal intensity.” Russell also understood that the mental component of basketball (and of defense, in particular) can be as important as the game’s physical aspects. “Remember that basketball is a game of habits,” I observed. “If you make the other guy deviate from his habits, you’ve got him.”
Bill Russell speaks during a DNC fundraiser attended by then-US president Barack Obama at the Boston Center for the Arts in 2011. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Russell also had a knack for playing at his best when it mattered most. During his first championship run in 1957, Russell blocked Jack Coleman in the final minute of regulation in the deciding Game 7 to keep the Celtics in the game and allow them to eventually win the title. In another Game 7 that also went to overtime, in 1962, Russell scored 30 points and grabbed 40 rebounds, leading his team in both categories. In fact, Russell seemed to keep a secret gear just for Game 7s: his teams were 10-0 in such games throughout his career, an NBA record. Russell never won an NBA finals MVP (the award was only introduced in his final season), but the fact that the NBA eventually named that trophy after him demonstrates how inextricably linked Russell’s play was with championship excellence.
However, while the on-court accolades establish Russell as one of the greatest players to ever touch hardwood, it was his activism off the court that made him a legend. Russell was the NBA’s first Black superstar at a time when legalized racial segregation still existed in much of the country. The Civil Rights Act would not be passed until Russell’s eighth year in the NBA.
Russell’s celebrity didn’t insulate him from the issues facing the rest of the country. He was subjected to racism throughout his career, even in Boston, the city he represented for 13 years: vandals once broke into his Massachusetts home and covered the walls with racist graffiti. Such bigotry and intimidation tactics, however, never prevented Russell from taking a stand against the injustices around him. In 1961, he boycotted a game in Kentucky after a white waitress refused to serve two of his Black teammates at a coffee shop. In 1967, Russell appeared alongside boxer Muhammad Ali to express his support for Ali’s refusal to serve in the Vietnam War. Russell’s record of civil rights advocacy is substantial.
And so, despite his countless athletic achievements, that is probably Russell’s most significant legacy: his commitment to using his platform as basketball star to amplify his political actions. The NBA outperforms other sports leagues when it comes to addressing social issues in a head-on way, and that is a consequence of Russell’s early example of him. Every time LeBron James fights election misinformation or Steve Kerr advocates for gun control, they’re following a trail blazed by Russell. Russell’s on-court accomplishments may never be touched, but his off-court legacy is in good hands.
He said only one person within his party had him to consider his role and that Premier Dominic Perrottet had not asked him to stand down. “He has been really supportive through this whole exercise,” Ayres said.
When 2GB host Ben Fordham asked Ayres if he acknowledged his job was on the line, the minister said: “I think yeah, you should absolutely see that.”
“I think there’s a lot of publicity around this issue. I’ve always acted in the best interests of the people of NSW, I think the [independent Graeme] Head review will show that,” he said.
“If the Head review shows that I’ve not done the right thing then I don’t think my position would be tenable. But I don’t believe that’s the case… I’ve done my role as a minister here and I think the Head review will show that.”
The premier has also said he was not prepared to discuss the matter until he received the independent review from former public service commissioner Graeme Head.
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A separate upper house parliamentary inquiry into Barilaro’s appointment will summarize on Wednesday with a return appearance of Investment NSW boss Amy Brown, who Ayres repeated on Tuesday was the ultimate decision-maker.
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A frame grab from a video aired in 2006 on Al-Jazeera television shows Al-Qaida second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
AFP/AFP via Getty Images
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AFP/AFP via Getty Images
A frame grab from a video aired in 2006 on Al-Jazeera television shows Al-Qaida second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
AFP/AFP via Getty Images
Top al-Qaida leader and key 9/11 plotter Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a drone strike carried out by the US on July 30, according to President Joe Biden.
“For decades he was the mastermind behind attacks against Americans,” Biden said on Aug. 1, also noting the 2000 USS Cole attack and the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Biden detailed al-Zawahiri’s role leading al-Qaida since Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in 2011, including calling on followers in recent weeks to attack the US and allies in videos.
“We make it clear again tonight that, that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out,” Biden said.
Biden said that no one else was hurt in the strike, including al-Zawahiri’s family, who were elsewhere in a safehouse, and there were no civilian casualties.
An administration official who briefed reporters ahead of Biden’s remarks said al-Zawahiri was an active threat to US national security and that his death is a “hugely significant blow” to al-Qaida.
“And to those around the world who continue to seek to harm the United States, hear me now: We will always remain vigilant and we will act and we will always do what is necessary to ensure the safety and security of Americans at home and around the globe,” Biden said.
The US has been aware of a network that protected al-Zawahiri for several years, the senior administration official said.
Biden was briefed on the proposed operation, and he agreed to a meeting on July 25 with key cabinet members and top officials for a final briefing on the intelligence assessment, the official said. There was unanimous support to strike the target and Biden authorized a “tailored” airstrike to minimize civilian casualties.
Osama bin Laden (left) sits with Ayman al-Zawahiri during a 2001 interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
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Osama bin Laden (left) sits with Ayman al-Zawahiri during a 2001 interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
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Zawahiri, an Egyptian eye doctor, had served as bin Laden’s deputy before taking over al-Qaida in 2011. But al-Qaida members had complained that he was comparatively uninspiring. The two men fought together in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan.
Zawahiri helped found Islamic Jihad, the group that assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. Al-Qaida was never able to regain its status as the pre-eminent terrorist organization after bin Laden’s death, and faced newer, more brutal, rivals, such as the Islamic State.
Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard
