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US

Al Qaeda leader Al-Zawahiri dead after drone strike on home in Kabul

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed at the home of an FBI-wanted Taliban lackey who was once given a platform by the New York Times.

The jihadist, one of the planners of the Sept. 11 attacks, was taken out by a CIA-issued drone strike Sunday morning at a Kabul home belonging to senior Taliban official Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to initial reporting by Gray Lady herself.

The publication infamously published an op-ed penned by Haqqani — the leader of the insurgent Haqqani Network in Afghanistan linked to brutal and deadly attacks — to ask for a peace agreement between US and Afghan leaders in 2020.

The paper was slammed by critics and even its own reporters for giving the global terrorist a microphone to thousands of readers to spew what many saw as thinly-veiled propaganda. The Times defended its decision to publish the piece at the time.

The home that Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed at belonged to senior Taliban official Sirajuddin Haqqani.
The home that Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed at belonged to senior Taliban official Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Bilal Sarwary/Twitter

Now the Times is being accused of “stealth-editing” their reporting on the killing of al-Zawahri to remove details of the initial report specifically naming Haqqani.

“According to one American analyst, the house that was struck was owned by a top aide to Sirajuddin Haqqani, a senior official in the Taliban government whom American officials say is close to senior Qaeda figures,” the Times wrote in his initial reporting.

However, that paper axed that paragraph without an editor’s note and later replaced it with language that failed to name Haqqani specifically, as first pointed out by Pluribus editor Jeryl Bier.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed at the home of an FBI-wanted Taliban lackey who was once given a platform by the New York Times.
The New York Times published an op-ed written by Sirajuddin Haqqani regarding a peace agreement between Afghan and the US.
Universal Images Group via Getty

“After the strike, members of the Haqqani network, a terrorist group that is part of the Taliban government, tried to conceal that Mr. Zawahri had been at the house and restrict access to the site, according to a senior administration official. But the official said the United States had multiple intelligence threads confirming that Mr. Zawahri was killed in the strike,” the Times wrote in the updated story.

Critics of the newspaper suggested the publication removed the initial paragraph linking Haqqani’s role in protecting al-Zawahri due to the backlash it received for publishing the Taliban leader’s op-ed.

Critics of the New York Times suggested the newspaper remove Haqqani's initial paragraph linking his role in protecting al-Zawahri.
Critics of the New York Times suggested the newspaper remove Haqqani’s initial paragraph linking his role in protecting al-Zawahri.
FBI

However, a Times spokesperson denied such a narrative in a statement to Fox News.

“We regularly edit web stories—especially breaking news stories—to refine the story, add new information, additional context or analysis,” the spokesperson told Fox.

In this case, we updated a complex piece of breaking international news with additional detail from open press briefings. There is absolutely no connection between the editing of this news item and any previous publication by Times Opinion.”

Ayman al-Zawahiri was one of the planners of the Sept.  11 attacks.
Ayman al-Zawahiri was one of the planners of the Sept. 11 attacks.
FBI

Haqqani, deputy leader of the Taliban, is on the FBI’s most wanted list for his alleged involvement in a January 2008 attack on a Kabul hotel that killed six people, including an American citizen. He is also believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan, according to the agency.

The FBI is offering up to a whopping $10 million for information leading directly to his arrest.

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Categories
Business

Queensland family criticized after requesting two rubbish bins

A large family that produces too much rubbish for one general waste bin every week has been shut down by locals after claiming they “deserved” an additional bin.

The household in Townsville, Queensland, was quick to receive push-back after a member took to a local community group arguing “the council should give every home two red bins”.

“Because let’s face it, how many people every week struggle to fit their rubbish in the bin?” the man wrote in his post about him.

“Especially a bigger family! And why not? We are all taxpayers so I think we deserve it.”

Townsville City Council issues households a 240 liter waste and 240 liter recycling bin, with households given the option to pay for additional bins.

While it was unclear just how many family members occupied the home that claimed to need another bin, there were few people that supported their cause.

Of more than 300 people to respond, most encouraged the family to consider how they could reduce the volume of waste they produced before applying for another bin.

“I think if you’re filling more than one bin in a span of a week you definitely should be trying a lot harder to be more eco friendly and reduce you’re consumption of plastics,” one person wrote in a comment.

“You need to try and recycle more and buy less plastic and other wasteful items. More than happy to drop some print outs of what goes in each bin and tips on recycling and reducing your waste in your mailbox if you’d like,” someone else said.

Others offered up information on measures the family could adopt to reduce the amount of waste they needed to put in their general waste bin.

“As a household with three adults, we have found that knowing how to recycle, compost and collect soft plastics has eliminated almost all our household waste,” one wrote.

They added their red bin only went out for collection once a month with “a handful of items in it”.

“While I appreciate that different age groups may have different waste needs, there are strategies to cut down/out waste for these too,” they said.

Someone else pointed to how expensive and harmful landfill was, arguing “we all need to create less landfill and recover our waste better”.

“You can compost or worm farm your kitchen scraps and garden waste at home, and with a lot of packaging waste going into the yellow recycling bin there should be very little rubbish going into the red bin,” they wrote.

Massive cost of landfill

About 1500 Townsville households are currently partaking in a trial of the Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) bin program, which prevents organic matter from going into landfill.

The trial will continue until October 2022, after which it may be rolled out on a permanent basis, as is the case for 43 NSW councils and four suburbs in the ACT.

According to a Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts report, the cost of disposing of waste to putrescible landfill is estimated at between $42 and $102 per tonne of waste in urban areas and between $41 and $101 per tonne in rural areas.

A Canberra mum shared with news.com.au last year how she avoided putting her general waste bin out for collection for 40 weeks.

She revealed the subtle changes her family made that saved up to 5600 liters of waste from leaving their house and getting dumped in landfill.

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Categories
Entertainment

Manu Feildel opens up about ‘missing’ MKR co-star Pete Evans

Manu Feildel has opened up about his friendship with former My Kitchen Rules co-star Pete Evans, and revealed his feelings about working alongside a new celebrity chef in the upcoming season.

The pair appeared together as judges on the Channel 7 cooking show for 10 years before it was announced in 2020 that the show was being “rested” amid dismal ratings for its eleventh season.

It was also announced at around the same time that Channel 7 and Pete Evans had “parted ways”, after a series of controversial comments and social media posts by the TV personality.

This Sunday, My Kitchen Rules will finally return with Feildel, 48, back in the judges’ seat – but this time, he’s joined by popular British chef Nigella Lawson.

Speaking on news.com.au’s podcast I’ve Got News For YouFeildel was asked if he missed Evans while shooting the new season.

“Of course, Pete and I have known each other for a long time, we’re still good friends today, so yeah – missing that,” he told host Andrew Bucklow.

“At the same token, you know, it was nice to work with someone new and someone different. The show has been on the shelf for a couple of years, so it was exciting to be working with someone else.”

Evans has been embroiled in controversies in recent years, including being slapped with $25,000 in fines in 2020 by the Therapeutic Goods Administration over magical coronavirus eradication properties he claimed about a “BioCharger” device in a Facebook livestream promotion.

Evans, a prominent paleo diet advocate, has also attracted condemnation for a number of other dubious health claims over the years.

In 2021, the outspoken anti-vaxxer was even kicked off Instagram after sharing misinformation and dangerous claims about Covid-19, just months after being banned from Facebook for the same reason.

Meanwhile, during MKR‘s rest period, Feildel appeared in short-lived Seven cooking series Plate of Originbefore it was announced his original show would be returning in 2022.

Ahead of this week’s premiere, the French TV star also revealed on IGNFY a surprising fact about his famous new co-star.

“(Nigella) can’t use chopsticks,” Feildel said.

“I remember sitting at the table. We had just had chopsticks placed next to the plate and she turned around to me and she whispered in my ear, ‘I don’t know how to use chopsticks’. And I thought it was hilarious!”

My Kitchen Rules returns to Seven on Sunday at 7pm.

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Categories
Business

Horror rise in Queensland men threatening to burn their partners alive revealed

Domestic and family violence perpetrators in Queensland are increasingly threatening to set their current and former partners alight, a new study has found, with cases spiking after the horrific 2020 murders of Hannah Clarke and her children.

The report, co-authored by UQ TC Beirne School of Law senior lecturer Joseph Lelliott and associate lecturer Rebecca Wallis, details testimonies from seven non-government domestic and family violence service providers in the state’s southeast.

Direct and implicit threats of dousing are a form of coercive control that has not been formally studied before.

But they are on the rise: one participant told the survey of 17 workers last year that abusers sent the stories of Clarke – whose three children were burned alive in their car in February 2020 by her estranged husband – and Kelly Wilkinson – who was set alight in her Gold Coast backyard last April – to their partners as a means of telling them, “That’s what I’ll do to you”.

“Anecdotally, there have been cases where perpetrators have directly referenced the cases of Hannah Clarke or Kelly Wilkinson when they make threats, saying, ‘You’re going to end up just like her’, or saying something along the lines of, ‘That’s what you’ll get’ if news about them comes on,” Dr Lelliott told news.com.au.

“It appears that media reports about these cases, and ones like them, may lead to ‘copycat’-like behaviour, but may also be used as a tool of abuse themselves.

“Some interview respondents noted that perpetrators may also, for example, leave print outs of news stories concerning Hannah Clarke and the children around the house, or send them to ex-partners.”

The majority of participants in the study reported that cases of dousing threats within their services had become more prevalent over the past two or so years. And while no empirical measures exist yet, reasons may include an increased awareness among workers, and an increased fear among victims that such threats could be part of a pattern of escalating violence leading to murder.

“People are far more aware of it and that’s why there are so many more women, I think, talking about it,” one worker noted.

“Because now they’re really fearful and they’ve seen the consequences of that kind of threat being carried out.”

Another stated that they “see a really high prevalence of these kinds of threats, absolutely”.

“Different kinds of levels, different kinds of threats, but we do,” they added.

“So what we see most commonly are threats to burn the house down, threats to burn family and friend’s houses down, that sort of thing.”

“I actually have supported a woman whose respondent actually doused himself in petrol and threatened to burn himself at their family home where their children slept. Basically, yeah, well, it scared the hell out of her anyway,” one worker said.

“So, he did not actually burn himself because she managed to call triple-zero straight away. [But] the impact on her was really profound, because the smell of the petrol lingered for months.

“The location where he didused himself was actually close to the gas tank. So, he could have just killed everyone.”

What makes these threats – both implied and explicit – particularly “insidious”, Dr Lelliott and Dr Wallis noted in their findings, is that these “behaviours could be perceived as innocuous without an understanding of the broader context of the relationship”, but “almost always” occur in the context of an escalating pattern of “serious” domestic and family violence.

“I’m finding that it’s one of many elements. It’s not ever a stand-alone,” one worker said.

“Like they don’t just threaten to burn the house down or burn somebody – most of the time it’s because there is a domestic violence order (DVO), the client has left the relationship so there’s an escalation in the violence, and therefore it does escalate to the threats of burning either the house down, themselves or the client and the children.

“But usually there’s a lot that’s happened before it actually escalates to that point.”

Another, echoing the sentiment, noted the threats are “almost always just after separation”.

“So it’s about that not accepting that the relationship is over, and going into revenge and retaliation mode,” they added.

Their severity is also amplified by the accessibility of accelerants like petrol which, unlike the purchase of a firearm, are seen as “normal” household items.

Dr Lelliott told news.com.au that the prevalence of the study’s findings indicate “that there does need to be greater awareness of dousing threats – and indeed the use of fire generally – as a form of domestic and family violence and as a pattern of coercive control”.

“Some of our findings indicate that the severity of these threats is not always recognised, particularly by police,” he said.

“This work is, of course, preliminary at this point. We will release further papers in the future.”

Read related topics:Brisbane

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Categories
Sports

Bombshell claims made about cricketing great

A lawyer for two brothers accused of being hired “muscle” in the alleged kidnapping of Stuart MacGill has told a court that the cricketing great was a regular cocaine user and “actively” involved in a drug deal central to the case.

Richard and Frederick Schaaf are awaiting trial over the alleged abduction of Mr MacGill from outside his home on Sydney’s lower north shore last year.

The pair on Monday appeared before the Supreme Court in an effort to be danced while they fight the charges.

Their barrister attacked Mr MacGill’s credibility, arguing that he went willingly with a group of men to an abandoned house in southwestern Sydney and said there was no physical evidence that he had been brutally assaulted.

Stuart MacGill has alleged he was abducted from outside his Cremorne home. Picture: Adam Yip/Daily TelegraphSource: News Corp Australia

The pair have pleaded not guilty to charges of take/detain in company with attempt to obtain advantage, with the matter expected to go to trial mid next year.

They were arrested along with four other men, including Mr MacGill’s de facto brother-in-law Marino Sotiropoulos, after the former Test spinner alleged that he was taken to a Bringelly property.

He has claimed that he was threatened with a gun, assaulted and demands were made for money over a drug deal gone wrong.

The court was told on Monday that Mr MacGill allegedly introduced Mr Sotiropoulos – the brother of his partner Maria O’Meagher – to a cocaine dealer.

Mr Sotiropoulos has since been charged with a supply of a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and will stand trial alongside the Schaaf brothers.

Mr MacGill alleges that a group of men forced him into a car outside his home and confronted him after the drug deal ended in a “rip off”.

The two men watched from Bathurst Correctional Center on Monday as their barrister Avni Djemal argued they should be released on bail ahead of a trial next year.

Mr Djemal said there was evidence that Mr MacGill had willingly participated in a meeting at the Bringelly house and agreed to look at photos in a bid to identify the drug dealer.

Mr Djemal said Mr MacGill was released at Belmore and allowed to get into a cab.

Richard Schaaf has appeared before the Supreme Court in a bid to be released on bail. Pictures: Facebook.Source: Supplied
Frederick Schaaf has pleaded not guilty to allegedly kidnapping Stuart MacGill. Picture: SuppliedSource: Supplied

“The evidence implies Mr MacGill to a high level. I’m surprised he’s not charged with the actual drug transaction that he says, in his evidence, ‘I had nothing more to do with it, I just introduced the brother-in-law, Mr Sotiropoulos, to a person who I knew used to sell drugs’,” Mr Djemal said.

“The gentleman, now a registered source, he says that this gentleman, MacGill, was an avid user of cocaine and said to be on it all the time or drunk or desperate for money.”

Mr Djemal further told the court that Mr MacGill had an “active” role in negotiating the weight of the drugs involved in the deal to the point that the dealer had offered him a gift because he “put this deal together”.

The Bringelly property where Mr MacGill was allegedly held captive. Source: 7 NEWSSource: Supplied

He further said there was no evidence to support Mr MacGill’s assertions that he had been punched to the front and back of his head, knocked to the ground and suffered a concussion.

Mr Djemal said the only evidence of any injuries was Ms O’Meagher saying she felt a lump on Mr MacGill’s head.

“He doesn’t have one physical injury after those events,” Mr Djemal said.

“If the hits to the front of your face have produced no lumps and you say the onslaught was to the front, the side, knocked you to the ground, how could that be?

“How could his word be that there was a kidnapping? What if he went, saw photos and got brought back?”

Mr Djemal argued that Frederick Schaaf should be released so he could undergo dental treatment because he was at risk of losing his teeth.

The hearing before Justice Richard Button continues.

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Categories
Sports

Trans cheerleader kicked out of cheerleading camp over alleged altercation

A transgender cheerleader in the United States was kicked out of a cheerleading camp after she allegedly attacked a teammate who made a transphobic remark.

Last week Averie Chanel Medlock, 25, was expelled from Ranger College cheerleading camp in Texas after she was alleged to have choked a 17-year-old female teammate, identified only as Karleigh.

The girl and other cheerleaders reportedly locked themselves inside a room to hide from an angry Ms Medlock.

Police were called to the scene and Ms Medlock was booted from the camp.

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Ms Medlock took to Facebook to explain the incident and said she “stood up” for herself.

“Well guys I’m officially retired as a cheerleader as of last night at 5:30am. A girl on the team was being very disrespectful and told me I am a MAN with a PENIS and that [guys] should not be on the team,” she wrote.

“I stood up for myself and she called her mom and dad because she was scared because I [stood] up for myself.

“Her father said, ‘She still has testosterone and a penis and I will kill anyone who comes after my daughter.’”

Karleigh’s father Mike Jones was also called to the scene by his daughter, and denied attacking Ms Medlock’s gender or race.

“I ask you what you would have done when receiving a phone call at 1am in the morning from your daughter stating they had locked themselves in the room with other girls,” he wrote on Facebook.

“At no time did I ever say anything about your race or your gender.”

He has begun pushing for police to release body camera and CCTV footage of the incident.

Ranger College said in a statement that the school will investigate the incident.

“Ranger College takes all allegations of this nature seriously and is committed to providing a learning environment free from discrimination,” the school said.

The incident comes as debate continues to rage about transgender participation in female athletics, most recently in the case of University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas.

Ms Thomas competed for the school’s male swim team between 2017 and 2020, but transitioned to compete with females for the 2021 season.

She became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division 1 national championship in 2022, and has since been at the center of debate around transgender participation in sports.

The controversy has led to 18 US states passing legislation that bans or limits transgender participation to the athlete’s birth sex.

– with The New York Post

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Categories
Sports

Stuart MacGill: Bombshell claims made about cricketing great

A lawyer for two brothers accused of being hired “muscle” in the alleged kidnapping of Stuart MacGill has told a court that the cricketing great was a regular cocaine user and “actively” involved in a drug deal central to the case.

Richard and Frederick Schaaf are awaiting trial over the alleged abduction of Mr MacGill from outside his home on Sydney’s lower north shore last year.

The pair on Monday appeared before the Supreme Court in an effort to be danced while they fight the charges.

Their barrister attacked Mr MacGill’s credibility, arguing that he went willingly with a group of men to an abandoned house in southwestern Sydney and said there was no physical evidence that he had been brutally assaulted.

The pair have pleaded not guilty to charges of take/detain in company with attempt to obtain advantage, with the matter expected to go to trial mid next year.

They were arrested along with four other men, including Mr MacGill’s de facto brother-in-law Marino Sotiropoulos, after the former Test spinner alleged that he was taken to a Bringelly property.

He has claimed that he was threatened with a gun, assaulted and demands were made for money over a drug deal gone wrong.

The court was told on Monday that Mr MacGill allegedly introduced Mr Sotiropoulos – the brother of his partner Maria O’Meagher – to a cocaine dealer.

Mr Sotiropoulos has since been charged with a supply of a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and will stand trial alongside the Schaaf brothers.

Mr MacGill alleges that a group of men forced him into a car outside his home and confronted him after the drug deal ended in a “rip off”.

The two men watched from Bathurst Correctional Center on Monday as their barrister Avni Djemal argued they should be released on bail ahead of a trial next year.

Mr Djemal said there was evidence that Mr MacGill had willingly participated in a meeting at the Bringelly house and agreed to look at photos in a bid to identify the drug dealer.

Mr Djemal said Mr MacGill was released at Belmore and allowed to get into a cab.

“The evidence implies Mr MacGill to a high level. I’m surprised he’s not charged with the actual drug transaction that he says, in his evidence, ‘I had nothing more to do with it, I just introduced the brother-in-law, Mr Sotiropoulos, to a person who I knew used to sell drugs’,” Mr Djemal said.

“The gentleman, now a registered source, he says that this gentleman, MacGill, was an avid user of cocaine and said to be on it all the time or drunk or desperate for money.”

Mr Djemal further told the court that Mr MacGill had an “active” role in negotiating the weight of the drugs involved in the deal to the point that the dealer had offered him a gift because he “put this deal together”.

He further said there was no evidence to support Mr MacGill’s assertions that he had been punched to the front and back of his head, knocked to the ground and suffered a concussion.

Mr Djemal said the only evidence of any injuries was Ms O’Meagher saying she felt a lump on Mr MacGill’s head.

“He doesn’t have one physical injury after those events,” Mr Djemal said.

“If the hits to the front of your face have produced no lumps and you say the onslaught was to the front, the side, knocked you to the ground, how could that be?

“How could his word be that there was a kidnapping? What if he went, saw photos and got brought back?”

Mr Djemal argued that Frederick Schaaf should be released so he could undergo dental treatment because he was at risk of losing his teeth.

The hearing before Justice Richard Button continues.

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Categories
Business

Developer Cedar Woods shelves Brisbane townhouse project leaving homeowners ‘screwed’

A homeowner who bought into an off-the-plan development in Brisbane, which has now been shelved, has described the development company’s decision as an “absolute joke” claiming that it would leave his family financially “screwed”.

Chris* signed up to buy an $800,000 townhouse last year in the $180 million development called Greville, in the northern suburb of Wooloowin, and was scheduled to move into the new home with his partner and daughter in 2023.

The project was set to deliver around 250 homes, a recreation zone and pool, as well as a community park, and had originally been marketed as an urban village just 5km north of Brisbane’s CBD.

Now, the family has been left angry and upset after Perth-based developer Cedar Woods announced it was delaying the project, blaming rising costs, labor shortages, significant rainfall events in Queensland and extended construction timelines.

Buyers have been given the option to have their deposits refunded and will be offered the first choice when the project is remarketed, according to the developer, which it said hoped would be in the second half of next year.

But Chris claims they are “stuck in no man’s land” because the developer doesn’t have a clause in which they can cancel the contract, a claim Cedar Woods would not comment on.

In a letter to buyers, Cedar Woods proposed that both the developers and buyers agree to “a mutual termination of the contract” as the project would be “indefinitely delayed”.

But so far the family says it has refused to accept the return of their deposit, nor had any responses to other inquiries.

“There’s never been any consultation whatsoever. There was a post on Facebook in April about how they would start (construction), but then the post was deleted and we got phone calls saying everything was cancelled,” Chris told news.com.au.

“Financially, we have been really screwed by Cedar Woods’ decision because now the property prices are still up and we personally don’t think they are going to fail as much as speculators say. Add this to the pressures due to the cost of living going up and interest rates going up, greatly limit our choices.

“We have been looking at similar places and we are not going to get anything for under $1 million for the area.

“We tried to put an offer on a development of four townhouses and the real estate agent basically laughed at us as they are after the mid-$1 million mark for a place with the same square meterage and floor plan similar to what we had bought. ”

Cedar Woods did not respond to a news.com.au’s question on whether the townhouses and apartments would be sold at a higher price once the project was relaunched.

A post on its official Greville Facebook page back in April that said works were under way has now been deleted, but homeowners were left blindsided when the project was shelved just a month later.

“Construction is off to a great start in 2022,” the now deleted post read.

“Despite the weather in southeast Queensland, we are happy to share that civil works on the site are partially complete and construction will begin shortly. It is an exciting time for Greville and we are excited to show you what is to come.”

Chris, who works as a project manager, added that communication had been poor and the couple were “most peeved” that there was “no real consultation” by the company about the decision to shelve the project.

“This decision has majorly impacted people’s lives and they just don’t seem to care,” he said.

Cedar Woods managing director Nathan Blackburne said the firm’s decision was extremely difficult, but it was the right decision in an environment where builders were facing additional risks.

“We know purchasers are disappointed and (we) have apologized to them. We greatly appreciate the understanding of our purchasers who in the main are aware of the current conditions,” he said.

Extended construction time frames and increased costs had meant that the particular stages could not proceed as completion wasn’t possible by specified completion time frames, I added.

“Cedar Woods has continued to engage with the affected purchasers and provide opportunities for further discussion while prioritizing the return of their deposit,” he said.

“The company hopes to re-engage with them when conditions in the sector are expected to improve over financial year 2023.”

But for Chris and his partner, who are in their mid-30s, their “huge” excitement about owning the townhouse has turned into a nightmare.

“We are tossing up if we have to move further out of town away from family, friends, work and childcare, which would make life more inconvenient, but that’s one of the only options we have,” he said.

“Cedar Woods made a decision to protect shareholders and their bottom line as they are a business and I get that, but the impact that it will have on our family and other families out there is not insignificant.”

Meanwhile, work is still continuing on the project site, which has left buyers furious with many lashing out at the developer on Facebook.

“Cedar Woods is continuing to finalize all of the civil construction, remediation work of the historical laundry and the delivery of the community park in preparation for the project to come back to market,” Mr Blackburne said of the continued works.

Australia’s construction crisis

It’s not the first project to be suffered this month in Australia’s embattled construction industry.

Perth developer Sirona Urban killed off a $165 million luxury tower, where more than 50 per cent of apartments had been bought off the plan, blaming skyrocketing construction costs and shortages.

Owner Matthew McNeilly said construction costs had risen by 30 per cent in the past 10 months.

Then there was a Melbourne developer that abandoned plans to build a $500 million apartment tower on the Gold Coast, blaming the crisis in the building industry and surging construction costs for making the project unprofitable.

The development by Central Equity was set to kick off this year featuring 486 apartments in a 56-storey tower, known as Pacific One, and was due to be built on a beachfront block in Surfers Paradise.

Apartments had been sold with a starting price from $650,000 each.

Overall, the construction industry has been plagued with a spate of collapses caused by a perfect storm of supply chain disruptions, skilled labor shortages, skyrocketing costs of materials and logistics, and extreme weather events.

Earlier this year, two major Australian construction companies, Gold Coast-based Condev and industry giant Probuild, went into liquidation.

Then there have been smaller operators like Hotondo Homes Horsham – a franchisee of a national construction firm – which collapsed earlier this month affecting 11 homeowners with $1.2 million in outstanding debt.

It is the second Hotondo Homes franchisee to go under this year, with its Hobart branch collapsing in January owing $1.3 million to creditors, according to a report from liquidator Revive Financial.

Snowdon Developments was ordered into liquidation by the Supreme Court with 52 staff members, 550 homes and more than 250 creditors owed just under $18 million, although it was partially bought out less than 24 hours after going bust.

Others joined the list too including Inside Out Construction, Solido Builders, Waterford Homes, Affordable Modular Homes and Statement Builders.

*Name withheld for privacy reasons

Read related topics:BrisbaneCost Of Living

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Categories
Sports

Sad milestone in Princess Charlotte video

I’m going to make an argument that might make you scoff: To be born a prince or princess in

the British royal family would be a rotten fate.

Oh yes, I know about the castles, the family’s $645 million wealth and the just under $3 billion trusts which only some members hav access to, not to mention the indescribably vast collection of jewels including questionable Romanov pieces, rubies the size of quail’s eggs and that their Gan Gan owns the world’s largest private collection.

To live life, from your first squalling breath, as an HRH means nearly unthinkable privilege, far too much venison and always getting to board a RyanAir flight first.

But, it would still be a rubbish life.

Exhibit A) the video released by William and Kate, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Instagram and Twitter accounts on Sunday night ahead of England’s Lioness soccer team playing in the Euro 2022 final. There the duke sat in some bucolic garden somewhere in England of the sort that Beatrix Potter would have given her best bonnet to sketch. On his knee he sat Princess Charlotte, age seven-years-old, with what looked like a plastered-on, slightly forced smile.

You can see her eyes dart off to the side, possibly to her mother the duchess who, as we know, is a dab hand with a camera. William wishes the team luck before Charlotte gets to deliver her line from Ella at the end, saying “Good luck, I hope you win, bye,” and offering a cheery wave.

It’s short, sweet and should be nothing more than a source of a few million more likes.

Except that, watching the video, something occurred to me. Here we have the future king delivering his lines with genuine warmth and enthusiasm and a small child staring down the barrel of a totally new sort of royal childhood, one where she and brothers Prince George and Prince Louis won’t just be obliged to occasionally appear. in public but will be required to help churn out the social content needed to keep the monarchy afloat.

Sure, all royal kidlets, including a cherubic Queen in the 1920s, have been rolled out to charm and delight the masses, tiny curiosities, waving gamely, that the press could slap on their front pages with glee abandon.

However, what sets the youngest Cambridges totally apart is that they are now also required to help their parents keep the pipeline of photos and videos for social media purposes coming.

Not only are George, Charlotte and Louis already expected to take part in key ceremonial family moments but on top of that, their childhoods are going to be intruded upon in an unprecedented way in the royal annals all in the name of likes, retweets and views .

You can already, clearly, see this pattern emerging if you contrast William and Charlotte at seven.

The year the prince was that age, he took part in the carriage procession for Trooping the Color and the later Buckingham Palace balcony waving session, appeared at the Beating Retreat military parade, and was photographed attending two weddings (his uncle, now the Earl Spencer , and that of the Duke of Hussey’s daughter) and alongside his brother Prince Harry on the younger boy’s first day at school.

Contrast that with the 12-months to date for Charlotte. In August last year she appeared in a Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Instagram post about a conservation effort called the Big Butterfly Count; there was the family’s Christmas card image, snapped during a private holiday to Jordan, that was shared widely; she attended the memorial service for her de ella Great Grandfather Prince Philip in March and the royal easter service in April, before the usual birthday shots of her were released in May.

Come June, Charlotte and her siblings took part in their first Trooping the Colour, did the balcony waving thing, undertook her first official engagement with her parents and George in Cardiff where she participated in an official walkabout, before taking center stage with her family during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, along with filming a video baking cakes with Kate, George and Louis.

Also in June, the Cambridge Three appeared in a sweet family shot, taken in Jordan, that was posted to mark UK Father’s Day.

Sure, the young Cambridges may never know the hell of being chased by the paparazzi, but often in the coming months and years we are very likely only going to more regularly see their small faces popping up on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook feeds. (A gambling woman would put money on William and Kate making a foray onto TikTok soon too.)

For the duke and duchess, being on most of the major platforms means they have agreed to a post-industrialist Faustian bargain. They can plug their brand of royalty – an accessible, warm and relatable one – directly to Britons via the most powerful marketing platforms ever created. The cost? They have to energetically and regularly generate the sort of personal and intimate photos and videos that are expected in these environments, that is, they are going to have to serve up their children at times.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, about 160 years ago, had the canny idea of ​​remaking the monarchy’s image by marketing their own family unit (and all nine children). This they did by releasing photos of what had hitherto been entirely personal moments such as christenings and the family on holiday. (In the 1860s, tens of thousands of copies of souvenir photos called carte-de-visites of the family were sold in the UK.)

This is a very similar strategy to the one that William and Kate are pursuing now, with their Happy Normal Family routine one of the building blocks of Cambridge Inc.

Cast your mind back to April last year when the duo released a totally unexpected departure of a video of the family gambolling on a beach, playing in a pristine garden and roasting marshmallows, to mark the duke and duchess’ tenth wedding anniversary.

The whole thing looked and felt like a commercial for a luxury station wagon, complete with atmospheric guitar music.

That was not an accident because fundamentally, William and Kate’s job comes down to the same thing a German car brand does: selling. In their case, selling the UK on a hereditary monarchy again and again to ensure it survives well into the 21st and 22nd centuries.

And, while every generation of royal parents have made their children accessible to the world via whatever the new technology of the day is, before now there was at least some sort of line between their private and public selves.

What sets George, Charlotte and Louis apart is that that distinction, that line, has quietly blurred in the last couple of years. We have seen content shot during family holidays, while ensconced on their private estates and after school in the Kensington Palace garden, shared on social media by their parents.

Obviously William and Kate are deeply protective of their children but they also have a responsibility to the monarchy too and that means embracing whatever new marketing weapons they can add to their arsenal.

Social media is a beast that must be fed and in recent years William and Kate have seriously upped their game on this front, hiring David Wakins, who formerly ran the Sussex Royal social media accounts, and launching a YouTube channel with a charming sizzle reel of sorts.

We are now served up, via the various Cambridge accounts, made-for-social content to promote their good works or news, such as when Kate was named as the Patron of the Rugby Football League and Rugby Football Union in February, with Kensington Palace putting out a sweet 30 second video starring the duchess amongst others.

These days it is hours, at the very most, after they attend any sort of engagement or event that videos and/or multiple images taken by the Cambridge team are posted, chirpily informing the world of what they have been up to and increasingly offering behind -the-scenes access.

Take their recent, somewhat disastrous tour of the Caribbean where they paid for their own photographer Matt Porteous to record their trip and where the couple’s digital team put out daily videos and photo montages.

A video of them scuba diving, shot by Porteous, to view marine conservation work was an interesting first – an official engagement conducted while the credentialed press pack were nowhere in sight and which was exclusively shared with the world via social media.

Clearly, William and Kate are devoting time, energy and budgetary resources to building up their social media presence as they inch ever closer to the throne but that is a path that involves their kids, whether any of them like it or not. (I’d wager it’s the latter.)

To be seven-years-old and on school holidays, and yet to be expected to take a break from your childhood to record a video in service of an ancient, stultifying institution? I’m not sure there are enough emeralds in the world to make up for that.

Daniela Elser is a royal expert and a writer with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.

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Business

Aldi Special Buys: Aldi mums obsess over Crofton defrosting chopping board

Aldi shoppers are obsessing over the discount supermarket’s latest “magic” Special Buys kitchen item, with stock selling out in parts of the country.

Members of the Facebook group Aldi Mums, which has more than 235,000 followers, are flocking to Aldi stores in an attempt to get their hands on a Crofton defrosting chopping board which is on sale for $16.99.

The multipurpose board is not your traditional chopping board, as one side is specifically dedicated to defrosting meat and other frozen items in a matter of hours.

There’s also a garlic or ginger grinder on the top of the board as well as a built-in knife sharpener.

The product description says that the board’s aluminum plate “assists in quickly and evenly defrosting frozen foods” while its drip line “catches moisture and reduces mess as food thaws”.

From defrosting lamb cutlets to thawing a kilo of mince, Aldi mums are raving about the product online which could be why some Sydney and Brisbane stores have sold out of the Special Buys item.

One Aldi mum used the board to defrost an entire turkey while it was still in the fridge.

“I had a bit of a panic after the fresh whole turkey I ordered for Saturday’s Xmas (sic) in July was delivered frozen with the advice of allowing a minimum of two full days to defrost fully before cooking,” she wrote to the group.

“Cue minor panic and the defrost board – result – a whole 6kg turkey defrosted in one afternoon, approx. five hours – turned each hour – this is a game changer!!”

The multipurpose board isn’t just used to defrost meat, with some finding it thaws other frozen food in a matter of minutes.

“I got one the other day and used it last night to defrost a few slices of bread. It took at least five mins (sic),” one member of the group commented.

“Got one for myself and mum today after a post on here a few days ago… the FOMO (fear of missing out) was real!!!” said another.

“It’s magic,” a third wrote.

But not all are convinced, with some skeptical about the board’s ability to defrost meat without batteries or a power source.

“Can you tell me how that’s better (or how it works) than just putting it on an ordinary rack or on the bench. Genuine question,” one group member asked.

“Is there something in the board that makes defrosting meat somewhat quicker than leaving it on the kitchen sink to defrost for a few hours?” questioned another.

For those wanting to know the secret behind how the product works, aluminum is a great conductor of ambient heat which is what gives the board the ability to thaw meats safely and efficiently without power.

Aldi’s defrosting chopping board may be trending among Aldi fans, but defrosting boards have been around for some time.

There’s also a range of brands available online for those who may have missed the boat on the Special Buys product.

As for those trying to find alternative thrifty ways to defrost meat, these members from the Aldi Mums Facebook group had the following recommendations.

“I use a metal baking tray, without non-stick coating, and it defrosts meat quickly,” an Adelaide mum said.

“I use a high standing cake rack. Perfect!” another said.

“I’ve always defrosted my meat on the edge of my stainless steel sink. Works to treat every time! I learned it from my grandma!” said a third member.

The 25cm by 36cm defrosting chopping board is still available in some Aldi stores and will be out on shelves while stocks last.

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