If you’re having an off day, spare a thought for one Mackay man who’s probably feeling worse.
Everyone is wondering about the identity of “Steve”, whose newly former partner Jenny took out a full-page ad in the Mackay And Whitsunday Life newspaper to denounce him as a “filthy cheater”.
“Dear Steve, I hope you’re happy with her. Now the whole town will know what a filthy cheater you are. From Jenny. . I bought this ad using your credit card,” it read.
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The ad created so much interest the editor posted a response saying: “We have been inundated with dozens of messages this morning about the Advert on Page 4 of Mackay Life – as there’s too many to reply to, we would like to address it here.
“1. We do NOT know who Steve is, but apparently he’s been very, very bad.
“two. We won’t be revealing any details about Jenny.”
Jenny paid for the ad on her ex’s credit card – but the paper confirmed it had not charged him.
“Jenny sounds like someone I want to be friends with,” one person commented. “Never trust Steve.”
“Not all heroines wear capes. Jenny is my new favorite person,” said another.
One Jenny even clarified: “So all my friends are aware. I am not the legend ‘Jenny’ and my ‘Steve’ has not been bad.”
But not everyone was convinced. Some claimed Jenny and Steve didn’t exist at all and the ad was a very clever marketing tactic by the team at Mackay And Whitsunday Life newspaper.
“This has PR stunt written all over it,” one user wrote, and another: “Good way of getting more likes and readers to your page.”
Woman confirms the man her dad set her up with is now her boyfriend.
Woman confirms the man her dad set her up with is now her boyfriend.
Actor Anne Heche is brain dead, her spokesperson said Friday, a week after she crashed her car into a home in Los Angeles.
“While Anne is legally dead according to California law, her heart is still beating, and she has not been taken off life support so that One Legacy can see if she is a match for organ donation,” Heche’s spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News.
“We have lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul, a loving mother, and a loyal friend,” a statement on behalf of Heche’s family and friends said Friday.
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“Anne will be deeply missed but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy. Her bravery of her for always standing in her truth of her, spreading her message of love and acceptance, will continue to have a lasting impact.
On Monday, Heche, 53, was in a coma and in “extreme” condition after suffering an anoxic brain injury, her representative said.
Anne Heche has been declared legally dead after the crash. Credit: AP
Anoxic injuries occur when the brain is cut off from oxygen, causing cell death. Heche was in the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital.
He careened into a home in the Mar Vista community of Los Angeles last Friday. The home sustained damage from the “heavy fire” sparked by the collision, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Footage of smoke rising from the house after Anne Heche’s car crashed into it. Credit: NBC Los Angeles
She had drugs in her system, and she was being investigated for possibly driving under the influence, police said Thursday.
“In preliminary testing, the blood draw revealed the presence of drugs,” Los Angeles police said in a statement.
Police could not “comment right now on the presence of cocaine, fentanyl or alcohol at this time,” they said Thursday. “That will be determined by the second test.”
“The case is being investigated as a felony DUI traffic collision,” the statement said.
Anne Heche’s car after the ‘horrific’ crash. Credit: NBC Los Angeles
She landed her first notable role on the soap opera “Another World,” portraying Vicky Hudson and Marley Love into the early 1990s.
Later that decade, films such as Donnie Brasco, Volcano and I Know What You Did Last Summer helped propel her fame inside Hollywood and beyond.
Her television credits included Chicago PD and Men in Trees.
She met talk show host Ellen DeGeneres in 1997, when Vince Vaughn, her co-star in Return to Paradise, introduced them at a Los Angeles-area restaurant.
Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche in 1997. Credit: Brian K Diggs/AP
Heche and DeGeneres became romantically involved in a relationship that Heche said was groundbreaking for the time because of the global attention they received as Hollywood stars in a same-sex romance.
“My story is a story that created change in the world, moved the needle for equal rights forward, when I fell in love with Ellen DeGeneres,” she said in a taped segment that year for the show Dancing With the Stars.
Actress Anne Heche is legally dead after a traffic accident in Los Angeles. Credit: AP
When their three-year relationship ended in 2000, Heche was hospitalized after she was found wandering in a rural area of Fresno County, California, acting disoriented and confused, authorities said.
He described her struggles with her mental health in her 2001 memoir, Call Me Crazy.
“I wanted to beat everybody else to the punch,” she said about the book in an interview that year with Larry King. “I certainly know what’s been written about me in the press. I, although I was never diagnosed as being crazy, I went crazy.”
Heche also wrote about her relationship with DeGeneres. She said it was groundbreaking as a high-profile, same-sex romance but that it cost her career dearly.
Heche said she could not get hired for a role by a major studio for nearly a decade.
Later, she married Coley Laffoon, and the couple had a son before they divorced. She had another son in 2009 with actor James Tupper, her co-star in Men in Trees; they separated.
In a family statement earlier in the week, Heche was described as having a “huge heart” and as someone who “touched everyone she met with her generous spirit.”
“More than her extraordinary talent, she saw spreading kindness and joy as her life’s work — especially moving the needle for acceptance of who you love,” the statement said. “She will be remembered for her courageous honesty from her and dearly missed for her light from her.”
– With Tim Stelloh and Dennis Romero NBC
Watch: Vanessa Amorosi learns about the death of Olivia Newton-John
Watch: Vanessa Amorosi learns about the death of Olivia Newton-John
Brazilian daughter ‘cons her mother out of £48million painting by using a fake psychic to convince her that it was “cursed”‘
Sabine Coll Boghici allegedly swindled mother, 82, out of art worth £116million
Celebrated painting Sol Poente (1949) by Tarsila do Amaral is worth nearly £50m
Two-year scam saw psychic tell Genevieve Boghici that her daughter would die
Psychics used personal information provided by daughter to spook mother: cops
By Adam Solomons For Mailonline
Published: | Updated:
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of swindling a painting worth nearly £50million from her 82-year-old mother by hiring a psychic to claim it was ‘cursed’.
Sabine Coll Boghici, 48, allegedly tricked Genevieve Boghici, whose late husband was an art collector, into handing over Sol Poente (1949) by Tarsila do Amaral.
The celebrated artwork worth £48million was previously exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
It is part of a haul of cash, art and jewelery worth 724million reais (£116.3 million) allegedly defrauded by Sabine.
Her arrest has exposed a disturbing web of fraud that police say lasted years.
It even involved alleged psychics to swindle artwork by some of Brazil’s most emblematic painters, cops claim.
Police officers pose with Sol Poente by Tarsila do Amaral, which is worth £48million alone. Its owner, Genevieve Boghici, 82, was ‘swindled out of the painting’ by her daughter de ella and psychics
Four people were arrested when officers in Brazil raided the home of a psychic. They were allegedly hired by the owner’s daughter to say the paintings were ‘cursed’
Four other people were also arrested and two others, Diana Rosa Aparecida Stanesco Vuletic and Slavko Vuletic, are on the run.
The scam began in 2020 when Genevieve was approached by a supposed psychic with prophecies of her daughter’s imminent death.
The victim was then taken to several more psychics, who police say used personal information provided by her daughter to scam her distraught mother into transferring money to pay for ‘spiritual treatment.’
In the months that followed, police allege the suspects physically threatened Genevieve and that she was kept at home for months by her daughter.
Sabine Coll Boghici was filmed being led out of her home during her arrest earlier this week
The iconic Brazilian artwork was exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2018
Sabine and an accomplice posing as a psychic ‘began to take the artwork from the (mother’s) house, claiming that the painting was cursed with something negative, with negative energy that needed to be prayed over,’ said Rio de Janeiro police officer Gilberto Ribeiro .
After almost a year of being mistreated by Sabine and her accomplices, the victim decided to go to the police.
Police say 16 paintings were stolen, including works by renowned Brazilian artists like Cicero Dias, Rubens Gerchman and Alberto Guignard.
Three pieces from iconic modernist painter Tarsila do Amaral – O Sono, Sol Poente and Pont Neuf – were also stolen, which together police appraised at a value of 700 million reais (£111.4million).
Amaral’s Sol Poente was among 11 paintings recovered Wednesday in a Rio de Janeiro police raid on one of the psychic’s homes.
Authorities have also recovered three paintings in São Paulo. Two were sold to a museum in Buenos Aires but have not yet been recovered.
Police say seven people are suspected of involvement in the years-long crime, facing charges of embezzlement, robbery, extortion, false imprisonment and criminal association.
Richie Mo’unga will start at fly-half for the All Blacks as they face South Africa in the Rugby Championship at Ellis Park on Saturday.
He replaces Barrett in the primary playmaking position in one of four changes for New Zealand as they attempt to gain revenge for their 26-10 defeat last weekend.
The two-time World Rugby Player of the Year took a nasty-looking knock in the opening encounter of the tournament when he landed awkwardly following a poor aerial challenge by Kurt-Lee Arendse, but he is fit enough to take his place on the bench .
Boost in the backline
Elsewhere along the backline, both Jordie Barrett and Will Jordan have recovered from their minor ailments to be named in the XV.
Up front, there are three alterations with Tyrel Lomax, Shannon Frizell and Ethan de Groot replacing Angus Ta’avao, Akira Ioane and George Bower respectively – the latter two dropping to the bench.
Among the replacements, Codie Taylor comes in for Dane Coles and Fletcher Newell takes the place of Ta’avao in the 23, but that is the only other alteration to the squad, with Tupou Vaa’i, Finlay Christie and Quinn Tupaea all remaining.
It is a huge game for the All Blacks with another defeat almost certainly signaling the end of Ian Foster’s tenure as head coach.
“Belief and confidence remain high in our group, which is working incredibly hard this week,” Foster said ahead of their Rugby Championship encounter against South Africa.
“Playing at Ellis Park is always a special occasion for any All Black team, and this weekend will be no different.
“Adding to that, the Freedom Cup is on the line which makes this a challenge that everyone is looking forward to.”
The team
New Zealand: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 David Havili, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane (c), 6 Shannon Frizell, 5 Scott Barrett, 4 Sam Whitelock, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1 Ethan de Groot Replacements: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 George Bower, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Tupou Vaa’i, 20 Akira Ioane, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Quinn Tupaea
Date: Saturday, August 13 Venue: Ellis Park, Johannesburg Kick-off: 17:05 local (16:05 BST, 15:05 GMT) Referee: Luke Pearce (England) Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Christophe Ridley (England) OMT: Brett Cronan (Australia)
READMORE: All Blacks ‘won’t disappoint’ in Johannesburg says Springbok center Damian de Allende
Aston Villa fans could turn on manager Steven Gerrard if he fails to lead them to a positive result against Everton on Saturday, according to Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Villa fell to a disappointing opening day defeat, conceding two goals against newly-promoted Bournemouth at the Vitality stadium without reply.
READ MORE: Villa cracks are starting to show and that’s bad news for Steven Gerrard
The result means Villa won just two of their last 12 Premier League games, with seven defeats in that time, as pressure continues to grow on Gerrard, who joined the club in November last year.
Villa have spent close to £80m under Gerrard’s watch, with Lucas Digne arriving from Everton in January along with Philippe Coutinho, who’s now signed permanently, joined by Diego Carlos, Boubacar Kamara and Robin Olsen this summer.
Because of that significant investment and the options he has available, Agbonlahor believes a top ten finish is the minimum requirement for Gerrard, who needs a result against the Toffees, who also lost on the opening day to Chelsea, to keep the fans off his back .
“He’s got a squad of players where he’s got a bit of a headache,” Agbonlahor told talkSPORT.
“You know when you’ve got options as a manager, he could play Emi Buendia or Philippe Coutinho, Ollie Watkins or Danny Ings and Leon Bailey’s been in good form in pre-season.
“He’ll know that Aston Villa need to be finishing in the top 10 this season. It’ll be a great game on Saturday against Everton at home to get a result, but that Villa crowd, if we go 1-0 down they’ll be ready to turn after the Bournemouth game.
“Aston Villa should be finishing in the top 10 with that squad of players. He’s been given the money. He’s got [Philippe] Coutinho, another centre-half and another centre-midfielder in [Boubacar] Kamara.
“He’s been given money to spend and that squad of players should be competing and finishing in the top 10. He’ll know that he’ll be under pressure if he doesn’t deliver that.
“The board have pumped a lot of money into Aston Villa Football Club, they’re bettering the stadium and the academy has had money pumped into it, so Steven Gerrard knows that Aston Villa need to finish in the top 10 and, in two seasons , to be looking at getting into those European places.”
Two people died in a horror three-vehicle crash in regional Queensland on Friday.
Queensland Police say a man and woman were traveling north on the Bruce Highway in Wunjunga, about 22km south of Home Hill, when a truck traveling in the opposite direction collided with their vehicle about 11.30am.
Watch more in the video above
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The incident subsequently caused a third vehicle to crash.
The driver of the initial vehicle, a 67-year-old Hervey Bay man, died from his injuries at the scene.
His 62-year-old passenger was airlifted to Townsville University Hospital in a critical condition, but later died from his injuries.
The 67-year-old driver of the car died from his injuries at this scene and his 62-year-old female passenger later died in hospital. Credit: 7NEWSPolice at the scene of the Wunjunga fatal crash. Credit: 7NEWS
The truck driver, a 61-year-old Deeragun woman, and the 36-year-old male driver of the third vehicle managed to escape the ordeal uninjured.
“It’s a very horrific scene,” Queensland Police senior sergeant Craig Shepherd told 7NEWS.
Forensic police are investigating the circumstances of the crash.
Anyone with information or dashcam vision of the area at the time of the crash is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online at www.crimestoppersqld.com.au.
The fast food workers’ union has hit McDonald’s with a $250 million-plus wage theft claim in the Federal Court over the alleged denial of paid rest breaks.
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association is seeking compensation for more than 250,000 current and former workers across the country.
The union this month launched a new “mega” legal action involving 323 McDonald’s operators and the fast good giant itself, and spanning almost 1000 current and former McDonald’s sites.
The new claim is in conjunction with the SDA’s 15 existing Federal Court actions lodged against McDonald’s Australia and 14 franchisees — two of which are located in WA — since December 2020. The total compensation figure being sought is $250m plus penalties.
The SDA is alleging that not only were McDonald’s workers not informed of their rest break entitlements, they were also told breaks could be exchanged for a free soft drink or going to the toilet.
A McDonald’s Australia spokeswoman on Friday denied the company had ever engaged in “any practice amounting to wage theft” and said the current claims were “both surprising and disappointing”.
As one of the largest employers of young people in Australia, McDonald’s shouldn’t have to be dragged through the Federal Court for workers to receive their most basic entitlements
“McDonald’s restaurants have always complied with applicable instruments, provided rest breaks to employees and were consistent with historic working arrangements,” she said.
“Accordingly, McDonald’s Australia intends to fully defend the claim.”
It comes after The West Australian last year reported the SDA had filed a Federal Court action against Kanku Pty Ltd and franchisee Rodney Sinclair to obtain financial compensation for workers who allegedly did not get breaks they were legally entitled to at Rockingham and Secret Harbor restaurants.
SDA WA secretary Peter O’Keeffe at the time said a worker was allegedly given a break on just one occasion — because she was crying.
The other WA franchisee involved is Westmead Pty Ltd. which covers the Wanneroo, Banksia Grove and Warwick Entertainment Center restaurants.
Under the Fast Food Award, all McDonald’s workers are entitled to an uninterrupted 10-minute break when working four hours or more.
“Nearly 24,000 current and former McDonald’s workers across WA have allegedly been denied their breaks and are owed thousands in compensation by McDonald’s,” Mr O’Keeffe said.
“It’s clear this issue is systemic and widespread across the fast food chain.
“As one of the largest employers of young people in Australia, McDonald’s shouldn’t have to be dragged through the Federal Court for workers to receive their most basic entitlements.”
Mr O’Keefe said the court action was about sending a clear message that the “systematic exploitation of young workers in the West will not be tolerated”.
“We won’t stop calling out these exploitative behaviors until McDonald’s cleans up their act and compensates workers,” he added. “Anyone who has worked at McDonald’s in the past six years and didn’t receive their rest breaks is eligible to be part of our claims and we encourage them to contact the SDA immediately.”
The McGowan Government’s much-vaunted purchase of more than 110 million rapid antigen tests at a cost of almost $600 million is being probed by WA’s Auditor General Caroline Spencer.
The probe comes amid calls for some of the more than 62 million RATs still in the State stockpile to be donated overseas or sold to other States before they reach their expiration date.
Nationals MP Martin Aldridge said WA households had reached a RATs “saturation point”, with constituents refusing to take anymore because they were running out space to store the self-test kits.
He said the 110 million tests ordered over the summer by the departments of Finance and Health ahead of WA’s border opening was “excessive” and equaled to 40 RATs for every man, woman and child.
“The Government should rethink its strategy about what to do with its remaining supplies as they do have a limited life,” Mr Aldridge said.
“We do not know how individual tests will respond to future variants of concern. We will see in time whether they remain effective or whether we end up dumping them into landfill.
“There may well be other jurisdictions or neighboring countries that we could play a role in supporting their COVID-19 response using some of the significant stockpile that we have hoarded in WA, which we are unlikely to use.”
Ms Spencer confirmed her team was examining RATs procurement as part of its annual financial audit of State entities, a standard approach with high-value transactions.
The McGowan Government’s much-vaunted purchase of more than 110 million rapid antigen tests at a cost of almost $600 million is being probed by WA’s Auditor General Caroline Spencer. Credit: chandlervid85 – stock.adobe.com
Given the large amount of money spent, it was highly likely any notable findings would be publicly reported in detail in the Auditor General’s annual results report, she said.
A Government spokeswoman said it had distributed more than 48 million RATs since February and this week it was announced another 21.4 million would be given away.
She said the Federal Government had covered half of the cost and Mark McGowan had previously offered at the National Cabinet to provide some of WA’s stockpile to other States.
“Early testing and isolation remains an important step in protecting vulnerable people from COVID-19 and using a RAT after exposure has been shown to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 by 53 per cent,” she said.
“When the challenges of the Omicron outbreak became apparent last year, we acted quickly to ensure WA had an adequate supply of RATs amid global supply shortages, while other states and territories saw their PCR testing clinics overwhelmed by demand.”
Children transferred to an isolated unit at a maximum-security adult prison in Perth have made multiple suicide and self-harm attempts within weeks of the move.
A group of 17 boys, aged as young as 14 and mostly Indigenous, were shifted last month from Banksia Hill detention center to a new unit at nearby Casuarina prison.
Between their arrival on July 20 and August 8, there were three attempted suicides and 13 minor self-harm attempts at the facility known as Unit 18.
The figures were provided by Western Australia’s government in parliament on Thursday in response to a question from Greens upper house MP Brad Pettitt.
There have been three attempted suicides and 13 self-harm attempts at the facility in recent months. Credit: AAP
Government MP Matthew Swinbourn, representing the corrective services minister in the Legislative Council, confirmed four children had been involved in a self-harm attempt last week which resulted in one boy being hospitalized.
The boy returned from hospital the same day with no further medical intervention required and was provided with mental health support, he said.
Officials have said they were left with no choice but to transfer the boys to Unit 18 because they had been destroying property, escaping from their cells, assaulting staff and harming themselves.
They have promised the detainees will be kept away from adult prisoners in safe and secure units while repair works are completed at Banksia Hill.
The number of self-harm and attempted suicide incidents at Banksia Hill has spiked over the past three years.
Megan Krakouer, from the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project, said there was an “ongoing crisis” in youth detention.
“The self-harms will continue this year, next year and the year after unless we radically reform the system,” she said on Friday.
Some of the facilities inside Casuarina Prison, being used by teenagers who have been moved there from Banksia Hill. Credit: Supplied/Supplied
Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston this week said the remaining details at Banksia Hill were now in a “much better” environment.
“It was not functioning to have these young offenders causing violence at Banksia Hill, so that the other kids … were not getting the services they need because the facility was constantly going into lockdown,” he told reporters.
He said the boys at Unit 18 had access to education, cultural, medical and psychological services and secure recreation facilities.
They were being regularly assessed and would be returned to Banksia Hill once it was deemed safe for them to do so, he said.
An independent inspector this year found some boys at Banksia Hill were spending as little as one hour a day outside their cells, in violation of their human rights.
About 600 past and present details have signed up for a planned class action against the state government.
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)
A Melbourne grandmother has won $20 million in Powerball after her husband said “don’t bother” buying a ticket.
The woman, from Truganina in the city’s west, held the only division one winning entry in the country on Thursday’s draw and checked her ticket just before bedtime.
After finding out she was now a multi-millionaire, she said she could only sleep for about 40 minutes over the whole night.
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“I was sitting in the lounge room, and I checked the winning numbers before going to bed, and I didn’t believe it,” the winner told The Lott on Friday morning.
“I couldn’t get out of the chair. I couldn’t go to the toilet. I couldn’t move. It was so surreal.”
The woman, from Truganina in the city’s west, held the only division one winning entry in the country on Thursday’s draw and checked her ticket just before bedtime. Credit: The Lott
The winning numbers in draw 1369 were 30, 23, 9, 22, 5, 28 and 18. The Powerball number was 3.
When the grandmother went to purchase her ticket at Wyndham Village Lotto & News in Tarneit she said her husband told her not to bother as there was no chance they would win.
“I guess I’ve proved him wrong,” she said.
“I decided to mix things up, and instead of putting my usual three to four games on, I decided to get a Powerhit consisting of special numbers that mean the most to me.
A Melbourne grandmother has won $20 million in Powerball after her husband said ‘don’t bother’ buying a ticket. File image. Credit: File image/ The Lott
“I’ve never expected to win anything big. I usually land three numbers, but never anything more.”
The woman said she wants to use some of her win to travel around Australia via train.
She is also keen to help all her children and grandchildren buy houses.
The owner of the shop where the ticket was purchased said he had not slept either after learning of the win.
“It’s truly a special day for us, and we’re absolutely over the moon,” Mahesh Thakur said.
“We’ve sold division one winning entries in all other lottery games, except for Powerball. It’s been a long time coming, and now we have a full set of division one wins.”
The Lott’s division one winning tally has now reached 272 so far this year.
