Nick Kyrgios has continued his preparation for the last grand slam of the year with a strong win over Tommy Paul at the Washington Open on Thursday (AEST).
The Australian was challenged in just his second singles match since Wimbledon and had to play his best tennis to defeat Paul 6-3 6-4.
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Kyrgios was locked in, firing off 15 aces including one rocket at 218km/h.
He was superb in the clutch moments — saving all four break points he faced and converting three out of four of his own break point opportunities.
Kyrgios was up to his usual antics when he got stuck into the umpire after he was given a code violation for ball abuse.
But the Washington crowd was in his corner and he showed his soft side in the first set, when an elderly fan was hit in the face by a ball that took a wayward bounce into the stands.
Kyrgios went over and handed the spectator one of his towels.
He is chasing his second title in Washington and will next face fourth seed Reilly Opelka in the round of 16 on Friday.
After pulling out of the singles draw at the Atlanta Open last week with a knee injury, Kyrgios has shown impressive form in his two matches in Washington against Marcos Giron and Paul.
He needed just 59 minutes to beat Giron in straight sets and was his usual entertaining self, engaging with the crowd.
He won the doubles title in Atlanta playing alongside fellow Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis and is a favorite to win the title in Washington ahead of the US Open, which begins later this month.
It wasn’t such good news elsewhere among the Australian contingent in Washington, with Alexei Popyrin and Alex de Minaur losing to Taylor Fritz and Yoshihito Nishioka, respectively.
A woman has been left shaken after she claims to have uncovered a “terrifying” discovery inside her tampon.
TikTok user Celia took to the app with a video of her opening up the strange looking tampon in the hopes to find some answers.
She opened up the Tampax brand applicator tampon and allegedly discovered a small metal item hiding inside.
Tampax applicator tampons are originally from the USA, and are also available in Australia.
“So I was just going to the bathroom like normal, and I was putting in a tampon” she started the video.
“I grabbed one from my Tampax bag because there is a shortage, so I’ve been using Tampax, not my organic, and look at this.
“You can clearly see that the color of the actual tampon, they’re all purple, every single Tampax is purple, these are supers.
“Then I found this. I thought, maybe it’s a new colour, so then I took it out and um, what?
“So I just opened it up, what is that?” she asked, as she took out the strange metal object.
The now-viral video has since racked up 8.4 million views and nearly 9,000 comments from concerned followers.
“My brain instantly said tracker” someone said.
“Imagine some younger girl not knowing that isn’t unusual and using it” another commented.
“I know accidents happen, but women already have enough to worry about.”
“I’m scared” said another commenter.
“Stay safe ladies.”
In a follow up video, Celia explained that she did not actually buy the box of tampons from a store, but claims her friend who works at the Tampax factory gave her some directly.
“Tampax send me a prepaid mailing bag to send them the tampon and the contents” she said in another video.
“Then they included a letter from Tampax saying that they were going to send me compensation, I was not expecting that, I don’t know what that entails.
“I only posted this video, because if someone who was inexperienced got this in their hands, and didn’t realize there was something wrong with it, and they started to use it, I feel like that’s really scary.
“This should not be happening, no matter if you were given it or if you bought it, it shouldn’t have left the factory. It doesn’t matter how I got it in my hands.
“I think that’s the main issue here.”
Many people speculated that the metal inside the tampon was part of the testers and possibly slipped through accidentally.
“It looks like it could be a defect detection tester?” someone commented.
“So they put it in on the line to see if their quality control system picks up that it is defective.”
“Quality control tester” another person said.
“The ‘SS’ is for stainless steel. It’s non-magnetic and harder to detect.”
News.com.au have reached out to Procter & Gamble, the owner of Tampax, for comment.
Cult hero Rohan Browning has finished sixth in the final of the 100m at the Commonwealth Games.
Just an hour after he became the first Australian to reach a Commonwealth Games 100m final since 2010, Browning endured a disappointing final run that left him just 0.06 seconds short of the bronze medal at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
It was the closest Australia has got to winning a medal in the men’s blue ribbon event since Matt Shirvington’s lightning time of 10.03 still wasn’t enough for him to get a medal at the 1998 Games.
Australia has never won a medal in the men’s event since the Commonwealth Games changed the distance to 100m in 1970. Now we have to wait at least four more years.
Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala won gold in 10.02 and reigning champion Akani Simbine won silver in 10.13. Sri Lanka’s Yupun Abeykoon took bronze with 10.14 with Browning crossing the line in 10.20.
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24-year-old Browning exploded out of the blocks and was right there in the mix with 40m to run. However, he slipped back slightly in the final run to the line and had to settle for a result that Aussie athletics great Tamsyn Manou said would have made him “bitterly disappointed”.
“He wasn’t far off,” she said in commentary on Channel 7.
“He looks bitterly disappointed, but I’m OK with that because that means he wanted more.”
In a cruel twist, Browning’s time of 10.10 seconds he set in the heats would have been enough for the silver medal.
Browning was philosophical when assessing his performance after the race. Browning said he “didn’t quite have the gas”.
“It’s nice to make a final and go through rounds of running. It’s a step in the right direction, I would’ve loved to be on the podium,” he added.
“I’m not satisfied by any means, but not too beat up. It’s been one of those seasons, and always learning.”
Browning is also just the fourth Aussie to make a Commonwealth Games 100m final in the past 30 years.
He joins Aaron Rouge-Serret (fifth in 2010) and Patrick Johnson (sixth in 2006) in the list of Aussies who have fallen agonizingly short.
Browning produced his best run of the year to send a message in the heats on Tuesday night (AEST).
He won his heat in a time of 10.10 in a spectacular turnaround from the World Championships in Oregon last month where he was unable to get out of the heats.
Browning, who famously ran 10.01 to win his heat at the Tokyo Olympics last year, looks like he is the real deal once again.
He said part of his bounce back from the world championships is the “humiliating” factor of failing to reach the semi-finals.
“I try not to take it to heart,” he said.
“There’s always that humiliation element when you get run out in the heats, but just trying to bounce back from it and not take it to heart and just trust that the form is there, it’s just in the execution. I think I’ve tapped into a good vein of form.”
Jake Doran, Australia’s second-fastest man, was unable to reach the final, finishing eighth in Heat 2 in a time of 10.40 seconds.
LIVE: It’s Day 6 of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and it’s set to be another cracker for the Aussies.
After 11 golds and 32 medals total on Day 5, Australia will be targeting more success – with a packed schedule in the Athletics, plus the final action in the pool.
Follow all the action in our live blog below and check back for regular updates!
Superstar Peter Bol opened his campaign in style, cruising into the end of the 800m after crossing the line in his heat in first place. While sprint star Rohan Browning is back in action in the 100m semis – and hopefully the final at 6.30am AEST.
In the pool, Ariarne Titmus hunts gold in the 400m, while Se-Bom Lee hits the water in the 200m individual medley.
There’s also plenty of other action on offer, with the Kookaburras back on the hockey field after the Hockeyroos’ comfortable victory early on day six, plus our Aussie women’s cricket who are on top against Pakistan.
That’s not to mention beach volleyball, table tennis, lawn bowls, or mountain biking and so on …
LIVE MEDAL TALLY: Keep up with the Aussie charge to the top!
EVERY AUSSIE MEDAL: Read the day-by-day recap of the Comm Games
Aussie heartbreak! Poms steal GOLD in OT | 00:25
DAY FIVE NEWS
WRAP: McKeon makes history after epic upset as Aussies surge with ELEVEN gold
‘Clunky’ Diamonds get job done as focus shifts to massive battle with Jamaica
English swimming star apologizes after backlash to ‘arrogant’ interview
Cody Simpson has blown us all away at the Commonwealth Games
Aussie cult hero goes bang at Commonwealth Games after ‘humiliation’
‘Blood in the water’: The ambush we should have seen coming as next Aussie superstar emerges
CHALMERS, AUSSIES FALL SHORT IN MASSIVE BOILOVER
Despite a sizzling anchor leg from Kyle Chalmers, Australia failed to win the men’s 4 x 100m medley relay as England caused a major upset to snare the gold.
England finished with a time of 3:31:80 while Australia touched the wall at 3:31:88.
Chalmers swam a split of 46.86 as it looked for all money that he would catch up to English swimmer Tom Dean, but it wasn’t enough.
TITMUS BEATS TEEN SENSATION TO WIN FOURTH GOLD
Ariarne Titmus has set a new Commonwealth Games record after winning the women’s 400m freestyle.
Titmus – the world record holder, defending Commonwealth Games champion, and the Olympic champion – beat 15-year-old Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh who ultimately came second in the race while Aussie Kiah Melverton took home the bronze.
Titmus touched the wall at 3:58:06, a few seconds off her personal best, but it did the job as she won her fourth medal in Birmingham.
STARC BATTLES SERIOUS INJURY AMID MEDAL TILT
Brandon Starc doesn’t look comfortable, grimacing as he deals with a reported foot injury in the men’s high jump final.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games champion needed two attempts to clear 2.15m then missed his first two efforts at 2.19m.
“That was not displaying much purpose. He did not get up off the ground, the foot injury no doubt playing on his mind, ”Channel 7’s David Culbert said.
Starc is battling a foot injury. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
“With the troubles he has had you can see the body language is a bit of concern, does not look like the sort of athlete up and about feeling 100 per cent.”
Starc recovered with his third and final jump at 2.19m to stay alive, giving a little smile after nailing the height. Seven’s Matt Hill said: “Really good facial expression in contrast to what we saw a few moments ago.”
He then went on to clear 2.25m to throw down the gauntlet to the rest of the competition.
– via James Matthey, news.com.au
AUSSIE STAR SECURE GOLD IN EPIC BATTLE OF ENDURANCE
Sam Short has won the gold medal in the men’s 1500m freestyle in a physically grievous battle.
Short, who is just 18 years of age, touched the wall at 14:48:54, at a time that smashed his previous personal best by 10 seconds.
Speaking after the race, Short couldn’t hide his beaming smile as he can count himself among the elites of Australian swimming like Kieren Perkins and Grant Hackett.
“All those names are incredible to me,” Short said.
“Standing here today, I didn’t think I would be in the same sentence as them. Four years ago I watched this event and didn’t know I would be in the same position.”
Ariane Titmus won gold in the women’s 800 meter freestyle and backed it up with a strong swim in the 400m to qualify in third spot for the final. Picture: Michael KleinSource: News Corp Australia
Lani Pallister and Kiah Melverton made it a one-two-three for Australia in the heat.
FAVORITE BOWL FOR 800M FINAL
Peter Bol is once again turning heads, having flown into the men’s 800 final.
After a disappointing finish at the world championships, Bol returned to the form that made him a household name at the Tokyo Olympics and blitzed the field in the second heat, posting a time of 1:47:01.
“It’s great to be here,” Bol told Channel 7. “Unbelievable crowd as well. It’s an awesome feeling.
“Two championships in a row. It’s almost like it’s a second chance. I ran exactly how I wanted, and now four days off and back for the final.”
Australia’s Peter Bol (R) reacts after finishing in first place during the second heat of the men’s 800m at the Alexander Stadium, in Birmingham. Photo: AFPSource: AFP
The news wasn’t so good for fellow Australian Charlie Hunter, who missed out on the final after posting a time of 1:49:94.
Meanwhile, Steve Solomon has qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s 400m. The 29-year-old finished second in the opening heat of the event.
“I’m really happy with today’s run,” he said.
“I’ve had a challenging season to put it lightly. I’m really looking forward to coming back Friday night.
“I just wasn’t able to get the body right for (the world’s) and I’m proud of how I’ve refocused. It’s exciting times.”
STAR DUO SMOKE PAKISTAN
Australia remains unbeaten in cricket, after a clinical 44-run win over Pakistan.
Early on though and a big victory seemed a long way off.
The world champions slumped to 2-19 after the early exits of Alyssa Healy (4) and captain Meg Lanning (4), before opener Beth Mooney (70* off 49) and Tahlia McGrath (78* off 51) put Australia in the driver’s seat with their 141-run unbeaten third-wicket stand. In the end Australia finished 2-160 to set an imposing target.
Pakistan never really were in it, losing wickets regularly and finished 8-116.
McGrath took 3-13 and a run out to go along with her fabulous half-century, while Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown, Jessica Jonassen and Alan King each took a wicket.
Tahlia McGrath and Beth Mooney hit half-centuries during Australia’s big win over Pakistan. Photo: Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
FLYING HOCKEYROOS
The Hockeyroos’ perfect start continued, as Katrina Powell’s side had a comfortable 2-0 win over Scotland.
The victory sealed top spot in Pool B for the Hockeyroos and a place in the final four.
Grace Stewart celebrates with teammates after scoring their side’s first goal against Scotland on day six of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Photo: Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
While Powell’s side dominated much of the game, they had to wait until late in the second term to find the back of the goals as Grace Stewart finished nicely to put Australia in front.
Shanea Tonkin then doubled Australia’s lead to confirm a comfortable victory.
SELECTED SCHEDULE (MORE TO COME)
ATHLETICS
Men’s 100m – 6:30am (Thursday)
HOCKEY
Men’s Group Matches – Australia v South Africa (6am)
LAWN BOWLS
Tons of action from 5.30pm AEST, culminating in theFor Women’s Pairs B6-B8 Gold Medal match – Australia v Scotland (midnight)
Four NSW trade staffers earning a combined $961,000 are working in the New York trade office where John Barilaro was going to be employed.
Foreign agent registration papers lodged with the US government two weeks ago show the four staffers will be employed full-time on the 34th floor of an office building in the heart of mid-town Manhattan, directly opposite the landmark Chrysler Building.
It’s the same building that houses the Consulate General of Australia and the federal government’s Austrade office.
One of the four people who registered with the Justice Department is the state’s current Trade and Investment Commissioner Joe Kaesshaefer, who works out of a WeWork office in San Francisco in California.
He told the US government his “primary business address” would be the office in New York, but an Investment NSW spokesman said he would actually continue to work from San Francisco.
“Mr Kaesshaefer will remain in San Francisco and travel as required,” the spokesman said.
It’s understood Mr Kaesshaefer will work from home.
Mr Barilaro would have been the boss of the New York office and had planned to begin that work last month, but he was forced to give up the job after public outrage over his appointment.
Mr Kaesshaefer declared to the US government that his role would be managing the operations in the New York office on a full-time basis, earning about $264,000 a year.
Two other staffers will earn about $230,000 each per year, and the fourth about $237,000.
The three junior staffers will all have the title Trade and Investment Director and each said they’d be “responsible for building and maintaining bilateral relationships with US government officials and business leaders for the promotion of trade and investment opportunities in NSW”.
All four staffers are US citizens.
“Investment NSW’s international network of staff provide vital on the ground support to help NSW exporters to succeed internationally as well as facilitating new investment opportunities for companies looking to grow or establish their business in NSW,” the agency spokesman said.
“New York-based staff currently report to the San Francisco-based Trade and Investment Commissioner, who has been in the role for more than five years.”
The declarations, which the US government requires from anyone intending to do work in the country on behalf of a foreign government, also reveal the trade office had set aside $100,000 for “disseminating information”.
A job contract signed by Mr Barilaro for the role of Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas, which was released to parliament this week, showed he was meant to be seconded to a corporation the NSW government set up in the US once his visa had come through.
The company, NSW Government US Office, Inc, was registered as a non-profit, nonstock corporation the day before New Year’s Eve with Investment NSW chief executive Amy Brown as head of the company, US records show.
A senior deputy of hers, Kylie Bell, is listed as the company’s director.
The company was registered in the corporate haven of Delaware, a state with beneficial regulations for companies.
The NSW government hired the prominent registered agent Corporation Trust Company to incorporate the US operation, and the government trade office was formally registered at 1209 Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware, an address famous for housing thousands of companies.
Ms Brown has previously told a parliamentary committee looking into the hiring of Mr Barilaro that the lease for the 103.7 square meter New York office was signed on September 1 last year.
“It was taken as a shell, and it took six months minimum to do the fit-out to make it a usable office space,” Ms Brown said.
The fit-out of the office cost $905,000, she said.
Ms Brown gave evidence to the committee again on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, Premier Dominic Perrottet announced his Trade Minister, Stuart Ayres, would resign over the Barilaro appointment.
It was one of the biggest fan questions during Neighbours’ nostalgia-filled 90-minute finale special: why were celebrity guest stars Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan practically mute?
Fans were left baffled by the pair’s brief appearance and their lack of mingling with fellow co-stars in the final episode of the long-running soap last week.
They also had just a handful of lines, with Minogue – arguably Ramsay Street’s most successful export – uttering just five words: “Home, sweet home”, “Jane!” and “Harold!”
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Their brief return as beloved on-screen couple Charlene and Scott seemed even more flimsy when compared with Guy Pearce’s return to the soap, which became a major finale storyline.
neighbours’ executive producer Jason Herbison has finally responded to fans’ confusion, telling tv tonight that it all boiled down to timing – and that the pair’s top-secret filming was completed before the rest of the episode.
“Our discussions with Jason (Donovan) and Kylie were always about making a small appearance,” he told the website.
“They didn’t want to overshadow the current cast or make the finale about them. We also filmed their scenes before I’d written the episode, so whatever we filmed had to fit in with that. I hate to see Kylie coping with any criticism – she was nothing short of amazing on the day.”
Last week’s finale saw the original stars Minogue, Donovan and Pearce return alongside a host of other fan favourites, including Margot Robbie, Holly Valance and Natalie Imbruglia.
neighbors actress Christie Whelan revealed that while Robbie’s scenes had to be filmed in Los Angeles, she made a very sweet gesture to her fellow castmates to honor the occasion.
The actress sent 37 bottles of champagne to the Melbourne set so the entire cast and crew could toast the show when filming wrapped.
Almost 900,0000 Aussies tuned in to the tear-jerking final episode of Neighbors last week.
After 37 years on our screens, the soap came to a close as 873,000 watched on across the five metro capital cities, according to ratings published on tv tonight.
The mum of a man held in the shooting of a New York City McDonald’s worker over cold fries says that her son told her he did what he had to do.
Lisa Fulmore, 40, revealed her 20-year-old son’s chilling comments to the New York Post while describing exactly what led up to Monday night’s shooting that left a 23-year-old fast-food employee clinging to life.
“I talked to my son with the cops. My son is just saying that he gotta do what he gotta do and the [victim] came after him and whatever happened, happened,” she said.
The mother of three boys said the incident unfolded after she ordered McDonald’s on her mobile app and went to the Bedford-Stuyvesant eatery in Brooklyn around 7pm to pick up her food, which included fries.
“The fries were cold,” Fulmore said. “I asked the girl to change the French fries because the fries were cold. She went to the French fry machine for maybe 10 seconds and brought back fries, so I thought they were new fries, so I had left.
“So I taste the fries, and after I got to the third one, it was a cold fry still. So I went back to take the food back.
“I asked her, ‘Why would you give me the same fries and just put one or two on top to make me think that you gave me new fries?’ She started laughing, and all of them started laughing, acting like it’s funny,” Fulmore said.
“I was like, ‘What’s funny? I paid for food and I should get what I asked for.’ They laughed at me.
“One of them was like, ‘All of this over fries?’ So now I’m arguing with them back and forth.”
Referring to the worker who was later shot, Fulmore said: “The boy where they cook the food at was like, ‘You got all this food in your teeth.’
“So I said, ‘You wanna take it out? You’re saying I got all this food in my teeth, you wanna take it out?’”
Fulmore said she asked to speak to their boss and the workers said the manager had stepped out.
“Everybody started laughing again,” she said.
“This is when I was on the phone with my son. I was like, ‘They in this McDonald’s playing with me.’ I was like, I got kids their age, I’m not going to sit here and keep arguing with these little kids. He was like, ‘I’m coming down the block.’
“I was like, ‘Alright.’ … Then I told him, ‘No, don’t come to McDonald’s because I don’t want you to get in trouble.’”
But she said her son was already at the restaurant.
“He was like, ‘I’m coming in.’ So I came in. I heard them saying stuff to me, so he was like, ‘You all gotta back off my mother.’
Again referring to the worker later shot, Fulmore said: “My son said, ‘come outside’ to the boy in the back.”
The employee did not exit the restaurant at that point and Fulmore said she then told her son to just leave “because I didn’t want him to get in trouble”.
“So I’m thinking my son was gone,” she said. “I’m thinking it was over because my son left the store.”
According to Fulmore, 10 or 15 minutes later the male worker came over to her asking: “Where your son at?”
She said she told him her son left and to mind his own business.
“He went looking for my son,” she said. “The next thing you know, maybe like 10 minutes later, you hear a gunshot. So I ran to the door. I said, ‘Who’s shooting?’”
She said someone replied, “Your son.”
“I looked, and I saw a boy on the ground, and then I saw my son running the other way. I called 911 and then I sat there and waited.”
When asked if her son had a gun, Fulmore said she didn’t know, adding, “I don’t even know if my son did that,” referring to the shooting.
“The only thing I know is that my son was arguing with the boy and the boy did go out looking for my son.”
She said the victim changed his shirt at one point, “and he had something under the blue shirt, that’s why he put the big blue shirt on”.
Law-enforcement sources said the victim had no prior arrests and there was no indication he was carrying a weapon when he was killed.
But Fulmore, referring to the critically injured worker, said: “There was no reason for him to go outside looking for somebody. Whatever happened outside, you caused that to happen.”
Fulmore’s son is in police custody but has not been charged in the shooting.
He has been previously arrested several times, including for grand larceny in 2019 and assault and theft of service in 2018, police sources said. He also has numerous sealed arrest cases, they said.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Kate Sheehy
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
The family of US actress Edie McClurg has claimed that she’s a victim of elder abuse.
In court documents seen by The New York Postthe family of the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off star – who lives in Los Angeles and suffers from dementia – alleged that she was abused by a man claiming to be a “long time” friend who reportedly attempted to take her out of California to marry her.
The documents – filed in the Superior Court of California – name the alleged abuser as Michael L. Ramos, who reportedly has been living at the 76-year-old’s LA home since 2017.
According to the documents, Ramos is unemployed and does not pay rent or any expenses and was able to “finagle” his way into McClurg’s life, reportedly attempting to move her out of California in order to marry her despite her dementia diagnosis.
The documents also claim Ramos allegedly “sexually assaulted” McClurg’s current caregiver, with a report filed with the LA Police Department.
In addition, the caregiver was “worried” that Ramos “has or may be assaulting the Conservatee and that she may not even know that it is happening to her,” according to the court filings.
McClurg and Ramos “have never been involved. [in] a romantic relationship,” with the caretaker now concerned he had been sexually abusing the actress.
They reported that he wanted to marry her out of state despite knowing she “lacked capacity” and was living in her home for “companionship,” which the judge of the conservatorship had allowed.
McClurg is under conservatorship and got protection from a judge – as per the documents – who ordered Ramos that he “may not enter into a valid marriage” with McClurg.
The lawyer for the conservatorship – which has been in place since 2019 – is now reportedly asking for an order to remove Ramos from the legal arrangement altogether.
McClurg’s family reportedly went to court in 2019 to ask for the legal arrangement, with claims she had been living with a male companion who was verbally abusive and tried to influence the handling of her estate by reportedly getting her to sign documents.
A 2019 neuropsychological evaluation report obtained by the post said that McClurg “suffers from a progressive, unreversible neurodegenerative disorder”.
The report outlined prior instances in which McClurg was allegedly taken advantage of, including by a married contractor who did work on her home and later reportedly “proceeded to live” in her home, claiming to be “her boyfriend”.
The contractor’s wife allegedly “began calling the patient and even stalking the patient” before McClurg’s cousin, Angelique Cabral, intervened.
The evaluation also noted that McClurg allegedly was “befriended” by Ramos in 2012 or 2013.
Cabral was appointed her guardian and filed the emergency petition on July 14 to remove Ramos from McClurg’s home.
Ramos filed an objection to the emergency motion with his declaration, denying assaulting or sexually abusing either McClurg or her caretaker.
McClurg has more than 200 acting credits and has appeared in iconic films such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Plans, Trains and Automobiles and has done voiceover work in The Little Mermaid, A Bug’s Life, Cars and The Rugrats Movie.
This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission
A US online trading platform, which experienced a boom in customers during the pandemic, has slashed its staff by 23 per cent after being hit by the cryptocurrency market crash and record inflation.
It’s the second round of staff sackings for the company called Robinhood, which laid off 9 per cent of its 3,900 employees in April.
Yesterday’s announcement saw the company shed 23 per cent of remaining positions — about 815 jobs — meaning the company will have sacked more than 1000 employees in a matter of months between the two rounds of redundancies. Roles in operations, marketing and program management the most impacted by yesterday’s decision.
Robinhood was embroiled in the Gamestop controversy early last year when Reddit renegades and amateur investors blew up the share price of the brick-and-mortar video game retailers, but this momentum has failed to continue.
Robinhood’s chief executive Vlad Tenev said that letting go of 9 per cent the workforce in April to focus on “greater cost discipline” for the organization “did not go far enough” in a blog post on the company’s website.
“Since that time, we have seen additional deterioration of the macro environment, with inflation at 40-year highs accompanied by a broad crypto market crash. This has further reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody,” Mr Tenev said.
“Last year, we staffed many of our operations functions under the assumption that the heightened retail engagement we had been seeing with the stock and crypto markets in the Covid era would persist into 2022.
“In this new environment, we are operating with more staffing than appropriate. As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory – this is on me.”
Last year, Robinhood grew from 700 roles at the end of 2019 to nearly 3,900 by the first half of 2021, but its 2,022 cuts take its total workforce down to 2,600.
Mr Tenev said staff would receive an email and Slack message with their employment status after the company wide meeting announced the redundancies on Tuesday.
He added the cuts were a “painful decision” and meant the company would be “parting ways with many incredibly talented people”, although staff would be given the opportunity to remain with the company until October 1.
Robinhood also revealed its second quarter results which showed its monthly active years plunged to 14 million down by 34 per cent from a year earlier.
Revenue also plummeted by a whopping 44 per cent to $US318 million ($A461 million).
Robinhood became a trading phenomenon during the pandemic as it offered an easy to use, mobile first platform and in the second quarter of last year it boasted more than 21 million active users who were keen to trade crypto and meme stocks.
But with lockdowns in the past, revenue tied to customer’s trading dropped 55 per cent in the latest quarter to $US202 million ($A292 million).
The company has also been slugged with a $US30 million ($A43 million) fine from the New York State Department of Financial Service for alleged violations of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulation in its cryptocurrency trading unit.
A global tech bloodbath has seen a spate of companies laying off staff.
In Australia a crypto company called Immutable, which valued at $3.5 billion, is facing a fierce backlash after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.
Meanwhile, Australia healthcare start-up Eucalyptus, which provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.
Debt collection start-up Indebted sacked 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.
Then there was Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based on corporate and new product development.
Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its redundant workforce blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.
Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business
A newlywed couple was outraged to learn they were stuck with an AU$850 bill after being pressured to enjoy “a quick snack” while on their honeymoon.
Lindsay Breen and her husband Alex, both 30, were left in shock after being surprised by the outrageous bill at DK Oyster in Mykonos.
The couple, who hail from Toronto, Canada, was exploring the picturesque town when they decided to pop into one of the local restaurants.
“We went to the oyster bar for a bite to eat and a drink,” Lindsay explained.
“They immediately said ‘do you want oysters?’ They were very presumptuous. We said yes and he said ‘a dozen?’ so we said yes because a dozen is a typical order.
“My husband ordered a beer and I asked for a cocktail menu and he came back with the beer but I had to ask again for a cocktail menu and he started rhyming off different kinds of alcohol he had, vodka, gin but I asked for a menu.”
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The restaurant worker continued to give Lindsay a hard time about bringing out a menu.
“I didn’t know how it was so difficult to see what they had,” she said.
The server eventually brought the couple “what they consider their cocktail menu” which was simply “a laminated piece of paper with the types of alcohol listed but it didn’t have the brand or the drinks” listed.
Lindsay finally gave in and ordered an Aperol spritz “because they clearly didn’t have a menu that they wanted to give me”.
“He finally came back with comically large drinks so we were thinking it’s their funny thing that the bar does because we didn’t ask for an extra-large cocktail,” she remembered.
“He was very much lurking around the table the whole time. He was always around,” she said of the aggressive restaurant worker.
“When we’d finished the oysters, he was trying to get us to have crab legs and thank goodness we didn’t. He said ‘You know what would go really nice with these oysters? Crab legs. Shall I get some over for you guys?’ and we said no, we just wanted a quick snack and a drink.”
The new bride remembered that Alex claimed to see a menu on his way back from the bathroom listing oysters for US$29 but Lindsay couldn’t believe it.
“We had already eaten the oysters so we thought, ‘Oh God, what are we getting ourselves into with this bill?’” she said.
But worse was yet to come.
“The guy came back with a huge trolley of desserts and he says, ‘So, of course, we’re having cake today’ and starts putting different desserts on our table and we said we didn’t want them and he started getting offended that we didn’t want to take them so I can see how people would be pressured to take more.
“As we kept refusing what he was trying to give us he was getting more frustrated.”
After finishing their snack and “comically large drinks,” the couple was ready to pay and continue with their day.
“When we were ready to leave, I went to the washroom and they had my husband go into a back room to pay which is sketchy,” Lindsay remembered.
“They gave him the bill which was over 400 euros. He was shocked and asked for a breakdown. They had a computer screen that they turned to him and it was all in Greek but we don’t speak Greek.”
Although he was completely shocked by the large bill, Alex paid without any issues after he got a “sketchy vibe” and “didn’t want to get himself in a bad situation.”
“He definitely felt intimidated and he’s the friendliest guy so even if the bill was double he probably would have paid it to avoid any problems,” Lindsay admitted.
“It was pretty crazy. I’m glad in hindsight that we didn’t cause an argument or refuse to pay because it could have ended up worse for us. They know when you’re tourists they take advantage.”
The couple was in disbelief as they walked away from the overpriced beach club.
“It’s so crazy to pay that for a snack,” Lindsay insisted. “We were really shocked, especially because we’d had some really nice meals in Italy and we’re willing to spend when it’s justified but we didn’t get much.”
Despite the shock, the couple is just glad they were able to foot the bill and charge the rest of their large expenses on their credit card.
“I can imagine how someone would end up with no money. It’s not an ideal way to spend our money but we’re fortunate we could pay,” she said.
“On holidays, we like to stumble in wherever looks good. we don’t really research but we’ll probably start. They have a similar atmosphere to the other restaurants to blend in and make people think it’ll be at a similar price.
Lindsay did concede that it was “less busy than the other restaurants”.
“They all had their menus posted outside which is typical for that type of area. They were all similar price points, obviously a little bit expensive but fair for what you were getting.”
She and Alex quickly glanced at the menu outside DK Oyster in Mykonos and believe the oysters were listed at nine euros but later learned that the restaurant priced their menu based on items per 100g.
“So it says calamari is 29 dollars but in fine print, it will say that’s for 100g of calamari so your bill comes up to 300 euros,” she said. “I’m so happy we didn’t go there hungry and order a proper lunch.”
The Breens aren’t the first couple to be scammed by this oceanfront restaurant in Greece.
“Next door, a store owner said he was so sorry to hear that we went,” Lindsay said.
“He said he warns everyone that goes into the store to stay away from there and it doesn’t represent who the Greek people are.”
DK Oyster’s TripAdvisor rating is a measly 2.5 stars accumulated from their 1455 ratings. The page is flooded with 1-star accounts of experiences similar to the Breens’.
“DO NOT GO HERE! Absolutely disgusting behavior from manager and staff. Cocktails are awful and charged €125 plus service for 2! Waiters made us feel very uncomfortable,” one review reads.
“Wish we looked at the reviews before! This place is a joke! 350 euros for 4 drinks! I would definitely NOT recommend going here. Please save your euros!” another reads.
But the staff at the tourist trap do not seem to be very apologetic and often mock their guests who leave bad reviews.
“Thank you for taking the time to post your review, but could you please clarify the exact reason for your disappointment? The prices you mention sound correct, so I would like to understand what the problem was,” a reply reads.
“The drinks were not what you expected, the setting or the service? Your opinion is important to us. So, we would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to clarify.”
They also mocked customers who claimed to be intimidated into paying the exorbitant prices: “Let me see if I got it right: You were abducted from the beach and shoved by force into a luxury restaurant.”
After all the commotion the restaurant has cooked up, they were recently fined more than $30,000 for scamming two American tourists, the Greek City Times reported.
This serves as a lesson to those who look at the menu and think ‘It’s all Greek to me’ – double check the prices before you sit down!
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and has been republished with permission
