Source: South Australia Police
Emergency services are at the scene of a serious crash at Hope Valley.
The collision occurred on Grand Junction Road, near Valley Road, Hope Valley at 1.30pm on Sunday 6 October.
The road is closed in both directions between Awoonga Road and Valley Road and is expected to remain closed for several hours. Diversions are in place.
Motorists are advised to avoid the area if possible.
Source: Republic Of China Taiwan 2
Happy 113th National Day to the ROC (Taiwan)!
The 113th National Day Reception of the Republic of China (Taiwan), hosted by TECO Sydney, was held at the historic landmark, the Fullerton Hotel, on the evening of October 3rd. Director General David Cheng-Wei Wu and Mrs. Vicki Wu were delighted to celebrate this special occasion with over 350 dignitaries from the Federal and NSW State Parliament, Taiwanese communities, business sector, cultural and arts industries, and the media. The incredible turnout reflected the strong support for democratic Taiwan!
In his speech, DG Wu outlined the new government’s roadmap for development, Taiwan’s key priorities in the current international security environment, and our vision for the future.
Facing serious global threats to democracy, our top priority is maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait through our Four Pillars of Peace action plan: strengthening national defense, building economic resilience, deepening partnerships with fellow democracies, and upholding stable and principled cross-strait leadership.
Federal MP, the Hon. Paul Fletcher, shared his experiences co-leading the federal bipartisan delegation to Taiwan. During the trip, they met with former President Tsai Ing-Wen and President Lai Ching-Te, who was then Vice President. He was deeply impressed by the dedication of Taiwanese politicians to serving the public good
Federal Senator David Shoebridge spoke of Taiwan’s ethnic harmony and the calm, resolute response of the Taiwanese people in the face of military coercion from the PRC, during his family’s visit to Taiwan. He emphasized that Australia shares the same values with Taiwan and should work together to maintain security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
Deputy President of the NSW Legislative Council, the Hon. Rod Roberts, appreciated the opportunity to visit Taiwan and witness the passionate election campaigns. He highly praised Taiwan’s mature constitutional governance, which highlights its strong and healthy democratic resilience.
All 7 guest speakers reiterated that Taiwan has proven to be an indispensable partner in global supply chains and looked forward to further strengthening the bonds between Taiwan and Australia for mutual prosperity.
A big thanks to our friends from city councils, officials from the Sydney Diplomatic Corps, experts and scholars from think tanks, and senior officials from the NSW Police and Sydney City Your continued support means so much to us, and your participation made this event a huge success!
Source: New Zealand Police (National News)
One person has died following a crash on the Waikato Expressway at Huntly this afternoon.
Emergency services responded to a report of a crash in which a motorcycle had collided with a median barrier, at around 3pm today.
Sadly, the motorcyclist died at the scene of the crash.
The road was closed while emergency services attended and Serious Crash Unit conducted a scene examination. The road has now re-opened.
Enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are under way.
If you were traveling in the area at the time of the crash and have dashcam footage that could assist with the investigation, please contact Police via 105, referencing event number P060198944.
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: United States Department of Justice (Human Trafficking)
Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that PORFIRIA MARIBEL RAMOS SANCHEZ, 47, a citizen of Mexico last residing in Vernon, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to a charge stemming from her involvement in a scheme to smuggle aliens into the U.S., harbor them at Hartford area residences, force them to work, and threaten to harm them in various ways if they failed to pay exorbitant fees, interest, and other living expenses.
According to court documents and statements made in court, beginning in September 2022, the FBI and Hartford Police interviewed several Mexican nationals who disclosed that they were smuggled from Mexico into the U.S. and transported to Hartford. The investigation revealed that victims typically arranged with Ramos, her co-conspirators in Connecticut, and associates in Mexico to cross the border into the U.S. in exchange for a fee of between $15,000 and $20,000 that each would need to pay once they were in the U.S. In most cases, the victims were required to turn over a property deed as collateral before leaving Mexico. They were then smuggled across the border and transported to Hartford area residences, often at a substantial risk of bodily injury or death.
After the victims arrived in Connecticut, they were told that they would have to pay $30,000, with interest, and that they would have to pay Ramos and her co-coconspirators for rent, food, gas and utilities. The co-conspirators created false documents for the victims, including Permanent Residence cards and Social Security cards, and helped the victims find employment in the Hartford area. In addition to their own jobs, some victims were required to perform housework and yardwork without compensation and without having their debt reduced.
Victims were rarely provided with an accounting of their debt. If victims failed to make regular payments, or in amounts that the co-conspirators expected, they were sometimes threatened, including with threats to harm family members in Mexico, to take property in Mexico that had been secured as collateral, to reveal victims’ immigration status to U.S. authorities, and to raise their interest payments.
To date, investigators have identified 18 victims of this scheme.
Ramos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to encourage and induce, bring in, transport, and harbor aliens, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years. Judge Dooley scheduled sentencing for January 6, 2025.
As part of her plea agreement, Ramos has agreed to a restitution order of $494,608. In partial satisfaction or her restitution obligation, Ramos and her husband have agreed to sell a property they own at 74 Burnside Avenue in East Hartford, which was used to facilitate this criminal offense.
Ramos has been detained since her arrest on October 5, 2023.
U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that a criminal complaint is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hartford Police Department, U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angel Krull and Shan Patel.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Maha Nassar, Associate Professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Arizona
Over the summer as Israel continued to bombard Gaza, representatives from 14 Palestinian factions, including the two main parties – Hamas and Fatah – met in China. Following the most inclusive talks in years, all the parties agreed to a future unity government and to hold national elections.
Such talk of “day after” governance may seem fanciful as the current war marks its first anniversary. The idea of holding Palestinian elections seems a long way off given the current destruction and humanitarian crisis, especially in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, any democratic process including Hamas – whose leadership Israeli forces have spent a year trying to eliminate following the the group’s attack of Oct. 7, 2023 – would be vehemently opposed by Israel. As such, it should come as little surprise that 72% of Palestinians recently polled said they saw no hope of the provisions agreed to in China being implemented any time soon.
But the alternative “day after” plan for Gaza reconstruction being pushed by the United States – “revitilzing” the Palestinian Authority, the Fatah-led body that semi-governs parts of the West Bank – also seems like a non-starter. Critics of that plan warn that a simple reshuffling of existing figures would further delegitimize the deeply unpopular authority.
As a scholar of Palestinian history and politics, I see talk of reforming existing bodies or propping up a unity government made up of the same players as missing a larger point: Palestinians are increasingly frustrated by their political representation; they want the opportunity to choose their own leaders.
Even before the attack of Oct. 7, surveys showed that Palestinians were dissatisfied with governance they viewed as corrupt and dysfunctional. And as the war drags into a second year, the latest polls indicate that support for Hamas has dropped moderately; yet support for its main rival, Fatah, has risen only slightly. More than a third of those polled do not support either party.
Despite talk of a unity government, Palestinian leadership is as bitterly divided as it has been for decades.
Following a brief conflict in 2007, the Palestinian Authority split into two. The secular Fatah party, led by Mahmoud Abbas, controlled the authority in the West Bank, while its Islamist rival, Hamas, governed in Gaza.
Since then, Palestinian representatives have held over a dozen reconciliation talks to try to bridge the divide, the last taking place in Beijing in July 2024. While several of these meetings have yielded joint agreements, such as the recent “Beijing Declaration,” none have led to the different factions working more closely together.
The current Palestinian Authority president, 88-year-old Abbas, is especially unpopular. First elected in 2005 to a four-year term, he unilaterally extended his term in 2009, declaring he would remain in office until the next election. But he has not allowed elections to be held since then. Summing up the views of many, analyst Khaled Elgindy described Abbas today as “an erratic and small-minded authoritarian with a virtually unbroken record of failure.”
That helps explain why, according to a September 2024 poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 84% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip want Abbas to resign.
When asked about a hypothetical presidential election between the leaders of both Hamas and Fatah, 45% of Palestinians reported they would rather just sit out the election. The question had to be hypothetical – elections are not even on the horizon. In fact, Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza have not voted in presidential or legislative elections since 2006. And three-quarters of Palestinians see no prospect of elections taking place any time soon.
That pessimism among Palestinians over having a democratic say in how they are governed has grown in recent years. It has no doubt been knocked further by a year of relentless Israeli bombardment and internal political dysfunction.
A glimmer of hope for greater democratic representation had appeared in January 2021, when Abbas announced that legislative elections would be held later that year.
Many on the candidate lists then were third-party figures and independents. Young Palestinians were especially excited – half of all eligible voters would have been aged 18 to 33, and it would have been their first opportunity to chose leaders who could claim to speak for them.
But with less than one month before election day, Abbas postponed the vote indefinitely. While he blamed Israel for the postponement, other Palestinians also pointed to interference from Egypt and Jordan.
With no elections in sight, Palestinians have undertaken several grassroots initiatives to try to enact democratic reforms from the ground up.
For example, in November 2022, a Palestinian Popular Conference was held in several cities. It called for reforming Palestinian institutions to be more democratically representative of the 14 million Palestinians living around the world. Meetings were held in Gaza and Haifa, and Palestinians from around the world joined in person and virtually.
But Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank violently cracked down on the gathering in Ramallah and detained several conference leaders. The harsh repression signaled to many that Abbas and the Palestinian Authority were scared of an alternative, democratically elected Palestinian leadership emerging.
Many Palestinians see Abbas and his government as a “puppet authority,” propped up by Israel and the United States.
Despite its name, the body does not have the “authority” that governments typically have. It cannot collect its own taxes, control its own border or protect its own citizens. Rather, Israel collects taxes in the West Bank and decides when – and whether – to hand them over to the Palestinian Authority. Israel has to authorize what enters and exits the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
And, as has been evident throughout the current war, the Israeli military has pretty much free rein to invade “Area A”, the parts of the West Bank that are supposed to be under full Palestinian Authority security control.
Yet Palestinians in the West Bank are not even able to express their opposition to these measures. In recent years, the Palestinian Authority has grown increasingly repressive, arresting a growing number of Palestinians on political grounds.
Moreover, in the year since the Oct. 7 attacks, the Palestinian Authority has allowed Israel to arrest and detain over 7,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. Many are held for months without charge or trial and subjected to widespread torture and sexual abuse, according to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
As such, the Palestinian Authority is viewed by many Palestinians as little more than a “subcontractor” of the Israeli occupation.
So what does the the “day after” the conflict look like for Palestinians, and their hopes for democratic political representation?
The International Court of Justice’s recent ruling that Israel’s occupation is illegal and that settlers must withdraw from the West Bank has given added legitimacy to Palestinians’ demand to end the occupation once and for all.
But a future Palestinian government will only be credible if it represents the will of the people.
To be sure, holding Palestinian elections to achieve this aim would be difficult given the ongoing Israeli occupation and the widespread destruction in Gaza. But it is clear that elections are what Palestinians want. When elections were last touted in 2021, 93.3% of eligible voters registered – only to have their hopes later dashed.
At the reconciliation talks held in Beijing, all 14 Palestinian parties agreed to “prepare for the holding of general elections under the supervision of the Palestinian Central Elections Committee as soon as possible.”
While Israel, the U.S. and regional actors worry that elections could legitimize Hamas’ rule over the Gaza Strip, that would not necessarily be the case. The latest polls show that only 36% of respondents in Gaza said they would prefer that outcome.
For now, many Palestinians believe the first step should be the formation of a national reconciliation government that can negotiate reconstruction.
But to have any chance of succeeding, such a body would need to be Palestinian-led. A government consisting of the same old actors forced upon Palestinians by the U.S. or Israel would suffer from crippling legitimacy problems.
One thing is certain: The death and destruction of the past year have shown that the old approaches to Palestinian politics have not worked. Perhaps it is time for a new approach, one that centers Palestinian representation.
Maha Nassar was a 2022 Palestinian non-resident fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace and currently serves on its board of directors.
– ref. Palestinians want to choose their own leaders – a year of war has distanced them further from this democratic goal – https://theconversation.com/palestinians-want-to-choose-their-own-leaders-a-year-of-war-has-distanced-them-further-from-this-democratic-goal-239463
MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –
Source: The Holy See in Italian
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Vatican Media
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “I am pleased to announce that on December 8th I will hold a Consistory for the nomination of new Cardinals”. Surprisingly, as has often happened in these years of pontificate, Pope Francis, at the Angelus, announces the imposition of the red hat. In total, 21 monsignors will receive the purple: 10 are European, of which 4 are Italian; 6 are from the American continent, of which 5 are South American, 4 Asian, two African. Of these, only one, having reached the age limit, will not be an elector in a future conclave. Among them also Bishop Baldassarre Reina who from today, as specified by the Pontiff, will hold the role of new Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, thus succeeding Cardinal De Donatis, appointed Major Penitentiary last April. Here are the names of the new Cardinals: H.E. Monsignor Angelo Acerbi, Apostolic Nuncio; H.E. Monsignor Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio, Archbishop of Lima, Peru; H.E. Monsignor Vicente Bokalic Iglic, C.M., Archbishop of Santiago del Estero, Primate of Argentina; H.E. Mons. Cabrera Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, O.F.M., Archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador; H.E. Monsignor Natalio Chomalí Garib, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, Chile; H.E. Mons. Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, S.V.D, Archbishop of Tokyo, Japan; H.E. Monsignor Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, Bishop of Kalookan, Philippines; H.E. Monsignor Ladislav Nemet, S.V.D., Archbishop of Beograd -Smederevo, Serbia;H.E. Mons. Jaime Spengler, O.F.M, Archbishop of Porto Alegre; H.E. Monsignor Ignace Bessi Dogbo, Archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast; H.E. Monsignor Jean-Paul Vesco, O.P., Archbishop of Alger, Algeria; H.E. Mons. Paskalis Bruno Syukur, O.F.M, Bishop of Bogor, Indonesia; H.E. Mons. Joseph Mathieu, O.F.M. Conv., Archbishop of Tehran Ispahan, Iran; H.E. Monsignor Roberto Repole, Archbishop of Turin, Italy; H.E. Monsignor Baldassare Reina, from today Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome; H.E. Mons. Francis Leo, Archbishop of Toronto, Canada; H.E. Mons. Rolandas Makrickas, Coadjutor Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore; H.E. Mons. Mykola Bychok, C.Ss.R., Eparch of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians; Rev. Father Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, O.P, theologian; Rev. Father Fabio Baggio, C.S., Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development; Mons. George Jacob Koovakad, Official Secretary of State, responsible for Papal Trips. In total, in these almost twelve years of pontificate, Pope Francis has created 142 cardinals of which 113 electors. From Sunday 8 December 2024, the College of Cardinals will be enriched with new members and will therefore be composed of 256 members, of which 141 electors and 115 non-electors. The biographies of the new cardinalsS. E. Monsignor Tarcisio Isao KIKUCHI, S.V.D., Archbishop of Tokyo (Japan). He was born on 1 November 1958 in the prefecture of Iwate, diocese of Sendai. He studied in Japan. He made his perpetual profession in the Congregation of the Missionaries Verbiti in March 1985 and was ordained a priest in March 1986. He completed his studies at the “Spiritual Institute of Sacred Heart” in Melbourne (Australia). He was: 1986-1992: Missionary in the dioceses of Accra and Koforidua, in Ghana; 1993-1994: Trainer and vice-prefect of Verbiti postulants in Japan, and director for vocations of the Institute; 1994-1999: Provincial Councilor of the Verbiti. Since 1994: Teacher at Nanzan University, member of the “International Aid Committee” of the Episcopal Conference of Japan. Since 1996 he has been Coordinator of the “Justice and Peace” Office in the Asia and Pacific area of the Verbiti. Since 1998: Member of Caritas Japan and representative of the Japanese Bishops for various international conferences and meetings. Since 1999: Provincial Superior of the Verbites in Japan (second mandate since 2002). Executive Director of Caritas Japan. Member of the committee for the ongoing formation of the clergy of the diocese of Nagoya. Prior to his installation as archbishop of Tokyo in 2017, he had served as bishop of Niigata since 2004, when he was first appointed as bishop.H.E. Monsignor Pablo Virgilio SIONGCO DAVID, Bishop of Kalookan (Filipinas) He was born in Betis, Guagua, Pampanga, in the archdiocese of San Fernando, on 2 March 1959. He was ordained a priest on 12 March 1983 for the archdiocese of San Fernando. After a year as assistant parish priest, he was Director of the Mother of God Counsel Seminary until 1986. From 1986 to 1991 he studied abroad, obtaining a licentiate and then a doctorate in Holy Theology at the Catholic University of Louvain, and attending courses at the Ecole Biblique de Jerusalem where he graduated. Upon returning to his homeland he held various management and teaching roles in the educational team of the archdiocesan seminary. In 2002 he became director of the seminary’s Theology Department, continuing to teach Sacred Scripture. In the same year he was elected Vice-President of the Association of Catholic Biblical Scholars of the Philippines and Vice-President of the Archidiocesan Media Apostolate Networks. He is the author, at both an academic and popular level, of several publications on Sacred Scripture. On 27 May 2006 he was appointed titular bishop of Guardialfiera and auxiliary of San Fernando by Benedict XVI, and was consecrated the following 10 July. On 14 October 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Kalookan (Philippines).H.E. Monsignor Paskalis Bruno SYUKUR, O.F.M., Bishop of Bogor (Indonesia) He was born on 17 May 1962 in Ranggu, in the diocese of Ruteng, on the Island of Flores (Indonesia). After primary school, he attended the Pius X minor seminary in Kisol. He completed his philosophical studies at the Faculty of Driyakara Philosophy in Jakarta, then continued his theological studies at the Faculty of Theology in Yogyakarta. He made his solemn profession with the Franciscans Minor on 22 January 1989. He was ordained a priest on 2 February 1991. He then held the following roles: 1991-1993: Ministry in the parish of Moanemani, diocese of Jayapura (West Papua); 1993-1996: Studies for the Licentiate in Spirituality at the Antonianum, in Rome; 1996-2001: Master of Novices at Depok; 1998-2001: Guardian of the O.F.M. Community in Depok and Member of the Provincial Council; 2001-2009: Provincial Minister in Indonesia; since 2009: General Definitor of the O.F.M. for Asia and Oceania in Rome. On 21 November 2013, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of the diocese of Bogor (Indonesia).S. E. Mons. Dominique Joseph MATHIEU, O.F.M. Conv., Archbishop of Tehran Ispahan (Iran) He was born on 13 June 1963 in Arlon, Belgium. After his high school studies, he entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. He made his solemn profession in 1987 and was ordained a priest on 24 September 1989. Since 2013 he has been incardinated in the Provincial Custody of the East and of the Holy Land. Within his Order, he held various positions: Vocational Promoter, Secretary, Vicar and Provincial Minister of the Belgian Province of the Conventual Friars Minor, becoming General Delegate after unification with the Province of France; Rector of the National Sanctuary of Saint Anthony of Padua in Brussels and Director of the related Confraternity. He was also President of two different non-profit associations linked to the presence of the Conventual Friars Minor in Belgium, with roles of responsibility in the Catholic School of Landen. He was President of the Central European Federation of Conventual Friars Minor and a member of the International Commission for the Economy of his Order. Having moved to Lebanon in 2013, he was Custodial Secretary, Formator, Master of Novices and Rector of Postulants and Candidates in the Provincial Custody of the East and the Holy Land. Since 2019 he has been General Definitor and General Assistant for the Central European Federation of Conventual Friars Minor. On 8 January 2021, he was appointed Archbishop of Tehran Ispahan (Iran).H.E. Mons. Jean-Paul VESCO, O.P., Archbishop of Alger (Algeria) He was born in Lyon (France) on 10 March 1962. He obtained a degree in Law and practiced law in a lawyer’s office in Lyon, until the choice to enter the Order of Preacher Fathers. In 1995 he began his novitiate year and made his first religious profession on 14 September 1996. He was ordained a priest on 24 June 2001 in Lyon. He arrived in the diocese of Oran (Algeria) on 6 October 2002 at the convent of Tlemcen. In 2004 he was chosen as a delegate of the diocese for the preparation of the Interdiocesan Assembly of Algeria (AIDA). Since 2005 he has been Vicar General of the same diocese and since 2007 he has also assumed the office of diocesan bursar. On 16 October 2007 he was elected Superior of the Dominican Community of Tlemcen, a position he held until January 2011, when he was elected Provincial Superior of France. On 1 December 2012, he was appointed Bishop of Oran (Algeria), until 27 December 2022, when the Holy Father appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop Alger (Algeria).H.E. Mons. Ignace BESSI DOGBO, Archbishop of Abidjan (Ivory Coast) He was born on 17 August 1961 in Niangon-Adjamé, Diocese of Yopougon. He was ordained a priest on 2 August 1987. He has held the following positions: parish ministry (1987-1989); License in Exegesis from the Pontifical Biblical Institute of Rome; diocesan director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (1993-1995); Vicar General of Yopougon (1995-2004); parish priest of Yopougon Cathedral (1997-2004); Professor of Biblical Languages in the Saint Paul Major Seminary of Abadjin Kouté; Diocesan Spiritual Assistant of the J.E.C. He was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Katiola on 19 March 2004 and received episcopal consecration on the following 4 July; President of the Episcopal Conference (2017-2023); since 2017, Apostolic Administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Korhogo; from 2021 to 2024, Metropolitan Archbishop of Korhogo. On 20 May 2024, he was appointed Archbishop of Abidjan (Ivory Coast).H.E. Mons. Carlos Gustavo CASTILLO MATTASOGLIO Archbishop of Lima (Peru) He was born in Lima on 28 February 1950. Having entered the Santo Toribio major seminary of Mogrovejo of the archdiocese of Lima, he was sent to Rome for his ecclesiastical studies where, in 1979, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and, in 1983, in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a priest, incardinating in the archdiocese of Lima on 15 July 1984. He obtained the licentiate in 1985 and, in 1987, the doctorate in dogmatic theology, again from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He has held the following positions: Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (from 1987 to the present); Councilor of the National Union of Catholic Students (1987-1998); Parochial vicar in the parish of San Francisco de Asís (1987-1990); Parochial vicar of the parish of La Encarnación (1990-1991); Archdiocesan head of the University Pastoral of Lima and collaborator at the parish of San Juan Apóstol (1991-1999); Vicar for youth ministry of Lima, organizer of the vicar for youth and responsible for vocational ministry (1996-1999); National Councilor of the Episcopal Commission for Youth of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference (1990-2001); parochial vicar of the parish of San Juan Apóstol (1999-2001); National councilor for youth ministry (2000); parish priest of the parish of Virgen Medianera (2002-2009); Director of relations with the Church and member of the University Council of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (2003-2006); Parish priest of the parish of San Lázaro (2010-2015). On 25 January 2019 Pope Francis appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of the archdiocese of Lima (Peru).H.E. Monsignor Vicente BOKALIC IGLIC C.M., Archbishop of Santiago del Estero (Primado de la Argentina). He was born on 11 June 1952 in Lanús (Buenos Aires). In 1970 he entered the Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists). He studied philosophy at the Jesuit Maximo College in San Miguel, and theological studies at the Seminary of Buenos Aires. He took his perpetual vows on 5 June 1976. Ordained a priest on 1 April 1978, he was in charge of the vocational and youth ministry of Buenos Aires and, since 1981, he has also exercised the office of Parish Vicar of Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa. From 1983 to 1986 he was a formator and bursar, and from 1987 to 1990 superior in the Seminary of the Congregation of the Mission. From 1991 to 1993 he worked again in the Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa Parish, from 1994 to 1997 he was a missionary in the Prelature of Deán Funes and, from 1997 to 2000, Superior of the Seminary of his Congregation in San Miguel. Missionary and parish priest in the diocese of Goya from 2000 to 2003, from December 2003 to December 2009 he exercised the office of Provincial Superior of the Congregation of the Mission. Then he was sent again to the Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa Parish in Buenos Aires. On 15 March 2010 he was appointed titular bishop of Summa and auxiliary of Buenos Aires (Argentina). He received episcopal consecration on May 29 of the same year. On 23 December 2013, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Santiago del Estero (Argentina). On 22 July 2024, the Holy Father elevated the Diocese of Santiago del Estero (Argentina) to the rank of Primatial Archdiocese of Argentina, and appointed him the first Archbishop of Santiago del Estero (Argentina).H.E. Mons. Luis Gerardo CABRERA HERRERA, O.F.M., Archbishop of Guayaquil (Ecuador). He was born in Azogues on 11 October 1955. He attended the Franciscan minor seminary in Azogues and Quito, studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador and he obtained a Doctorate in philosophy from the Antonianum in Rome. He was ordained a priest on 3 September 1983. He held the following roles: assistant to the Master of Novices O.F.M. and then novitiate master of Riobamba; member of the Provincial Council of the Order, responsible for vocational pastoral care and the formation of aspirants of the Franciscan province; Director of the philosophical-theological institute “Card. B. Echeverría” of Quito; Secretary of the ecumenism sector of the Episcopal Commission of Magisterium and Doctrine of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference. In August 2000 he was elected Provincial Minister of the Franciscans of the Province of Ecuador and Vice President of the Conference of Religious. From 2003 until 2009 he was Definitor of the Franciscan Order and Delegate of the Minister General for the Franciscan Provinces of Latin America and the Caribbean. On 20 April 2009 he was appointed Archbishop of Cuenca, receiving episcopal consecration the following 4 July. In the period 2001-2014 he was Vice-President of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference. Since 24 September 2015 he has been Archbishop of Guayaquil (Ecuador).H.E. Monsignor Fernando Natalio CHOMALÍ GARIB Archbishop of Santiago de Chile (Chile) He was born on 10 March 1957 in Santiago de Chile. After graduating in Civil Engineering from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, he completed his philosophical and theological studies at the Pontifical Major Seminary of Santiago. He received priestly ordination on 6 April 1991 for the Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile. He held the following positions and carried out further studies: Licentiate in Moral Theology at the Pontifical Alphonsian Academy in Rome; Doctorate in Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome; Master in Bioethics at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome; Parish vicar; Episcopal Delegate for University Pastoral; Professor of Moral Theology and Bioethics in the Faculties of Theology and Medicine of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and in the Major Seminary; Parish Priest of Santa María de la Misericordia; Moderator of the Curia and President Delegate of the Economic Council of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile; Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life (since 2001). On 6 April 2006 he was appointed titular bishop of Noba and auxiliary of Santiago de Chile, receiving episcopal consecration the following 3 June. On 20 April 2011 he was appointed Archbishop of Concepción and, on 25 October 2023, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile. He is currently Vice President of CECH.S.E. Mons. Jaime SPENGLER, O.F.M., Archbishop of Porto Alegre (Brasil) He was born on 6 September 1960, in Blumenau, in the State of Santa Catarina, in the diocese of the same name. He did his Franciscan postulancy in Guaratinguetá (1981) and his novitiate in Rodeio (1982); he made his perpetual profession in 1985 and was ordained a priest on 17 November 1990. He completed his studies in philosophy at the São Boaventura Philosophical Institute in Campo Largo and those in theology, first at the Franciscan Theological Institute in Petrópolis (1986- 1987) and then at the Theological Institute of Jerusalem (1987-1990), where he obtained a license in Sacred Scripture. Subsequently he obtained a degree in Philosophy in Rome, at the Pontifical Athenaeum Antonianum (1995-1998). He has held the following positions: Professor in the Franciscan Novitiate in Rodeio, Master of Postulants (1990); Professor in the Postulancy and Parish Vicar in Guaratinguetá (1991-1994); Professor and Vice-Rector of the São Boaventura Institute of Philosophy in Campo Largo (2000-2003); Religious Assistant of the Federação Brasileira das Irmãs Concepcionistas (2001-2002); local superior and parish vicar of the Senhor Bom Jesus Parish, in the archdiocese of Curitiba (2004-2006), Professor of Philosophy at the São Boaventura Faculty in Curitiba (2000-2003); Vice-president of the Franciscan Association of Ensino Senhor Bom Jesus in Campo Largo and Guardian of the Local Convent. On 10 November 2010 he was appointed titular bishop of Patara and auxiliary of Porto Alegre. He received episcopal ordination on 5 February 2011. On 18 September 2013, he was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Porto Alegre (Brazil).H.E. Mons. Francis LEO, Archbishop of Toronto (Canada) He was born on 30 June 1971 in Montreal (Canada). In 1990 he entered the Seminary obtaining the Baccalaureate in Philosophy (1992), the Licentiate and then the Doctorate in Theology (2005), with specialization in Marian Studies, obtained at the International Marian Research Institute (IMRI), University of Dayton (Ohio ). He was ordained a priest on December 14, 1996 for the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Montreal. After his priestly ordination, he was Deputy Parish Priest of Notre-Dame-de-la-Consolata (1996-2001); Administrator of the Parish Saint-Joseph-de-Rivière-des-Prairies (2003-2005); Chaplain of the Roscelli School and religious teacher of the Collège Reine-Marie (2003-2005); Parish priest of Saint-Raymond-de-Peñafort (2005-2006). From 2006 to 2008 he was sent to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. Having entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See, he worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Australia (2008-2011) and then at the Study Mission of the Holy See in Hong Kong (2011-2012). Returning to Montreal in 2012, he was appointed Director and Professor of Dogmatics of the Major Seminary, Director of the Department of Canon Law of the IFTM and Vice President of the Diocesan Work for Vocations. From 2013 to 2015 he was a member of the Presbyteral Council. From 2015 to 2021 he was General Secretary of the Canadian Episcopal Conference. In 2021 he received the role of Vicar General and Moderator of the Archdiocesan Curia of Montreal. On 16 July 2022 he was appointed titular bishop of Tameda and auxiliary of Montreal, and was consecrated the following 12 September. On 11 February 2023 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Montreal.S.E. Monsignor Mykola BYCHOK, C.Ss.R., Bishop of the Eparchy Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians. He was born on 13 February 1980 in Ternopil in Ukraine. He entered the Redemptorist Order in July 1997, and trained in Ukraine and Poland, obtaining a license in Pastoral Theology. On 17 August 2003 he took his final vows, and on 3 May 2005 he was ordained a priest in Lviv. He has held the following positions: missionary in the Mother Church of Perpetual Help in Prokopyevsk in Russia, Superior of the Monastery of St. Joseph and Parish Priest of the Mother Parish of Perpetual Help in Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine, Bursar of the Redemptorist Province of Lviv and since 2015 Vicar of the Parish of St. John the Baptist in Newark, NJ, Archeparchy of Philadelphia of the Ukrainians. On 15 January 2020 he was appointed Bishop of the Eparchy Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians. On 7 June 2020 he was consecrated bishop by His Beatitude Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk in St. George’s Cathedral, Lviv. On 12 July 2021, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in the Julian Calendar, he was enthroned as the third bishop of the Eparchy of Melbourne by His Grace Peter Comensoli, Archbishop of Melbourne, in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Melbourne.S. E. Monsignor Ladislav NEMET, S.V.D., Archbishop of Beograd – Smederevo, (Serbia) He was born on 7 September 1956 in Odžaci, in the Diocese of Subotica (Serbia). In 1977 he entered the Society of the Divine Word and was ordained a priest on 1 May 1983. He obtained a Doctorate in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He held the following positions: Missionary in the Philippines; Teacher in Poland, Austria and Croatia; Collaborator of the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the UN in Vienna; Provincial of the Hungarian Province of the Society of the Divine Word; General Secretary of the Hungarian Episcopal Conference. He was appointed Bishop of Zrenjanin on 23 April 2008. In 2021, he was re-elected for a second term as President of the International Episcopal Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius; furthermore, he is Vice President of the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE).H.E. Mons. Rolandas MAKRICKAS, Coadjutor Archpriest Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore He was born in Biržai, Lithuania, on 31 January 1972. Ordained a priest on 20 July 1996 for the Diocese of Panevėžys, from 1996 to 2001 he was under-secretary of the Lithuanian Episcopal Conference and head of the National Committee of the Great Jubilee of 2000. He obtained a Doctorate in Ecclesiastical History from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2004. Having entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 July 2006, he worked at the Pontifical Representations in Georgia, Sweden, the United States of America and Gabon, and at the General Affairs Section of the Secretariat of State. From 15 December 2021 to 19 March 2024 he was extraordinary commissioner for the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. On 11 February 2023 he was appointed titular Archbishop of Tolentino and on the following 15 April he received episcopal ordination, in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness. On 19 March 2024 he was appointed by the Holy Father Coadjutor Archpriest with right of succession of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.H.E. Mons. Baldassare REINA, auxiliary bishop of Rome, former vice-gerent and, from today, Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome. He was born on 26 November 1970 in San Giovanni Gemini, in the province and Archdiocese of Agrigento. He entered the Archbishop’s Seminary in 1981. In 1995 he obtained a Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology and in 1998 a Licentiate in Biblical Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome. He was ordained a priest on 8 September 1995. From 1998 to 2001 he was Diocesan Assistant of Catholic Action and Vice-Rector of the Archbishop’s Seminary of Agrigento. From 2001 to 2003 he was parish priest of the Blessed Mary Virgin of Itria in Favara. From 2003 to 2009 he was Prefect of studies of the San Gregorio Agrigentino Theological Study and from 2009 to 2013 Parish Priest of S. Leonead Agrigento. From 2013 to 2022 he was Rector of the Major Seminary of Agrigento. He also held the following roles in the Diocese: Teacher of Sacred Scripture at the Institute of Religious Sciences; Permanent teacher at the San Gregorio Agrigentino Theological Studio; Director of the Culture Office; Canon of the Cathedral Chapter; Member of the Presbyteral Council and of the College of Consultors. On 27 May 2022, he was appointed titular bishop of Acque di Mauritania and auxiliary of Rome. On 6 January 2023, the Holy Father appointed him Vicegerent of the Diocese of Rome.H.E. Mons. Roberto REPOLE, Archbishop of Turin (Italy) He was born in Turin on 29 January 1967. Having entered the Seminary at the age of eleven, he completed his high school studies at the Minor Seminary, obtaining his classical high school diploma at the Valsalice Salesian High School in Turin in 1986. He studied philosophy and theology at the archiepiscopal seminary of Turin and received presbyteral ordination on 13 June 1992. From 1992 to 1996 he was parochial vicar at the parish of Gesù Redentore and collaborator of the parish of Ss. Nome di Maria in Turin. He continued his studies in systematic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, obtaining his licentiate in 1998 and his doctorate in 2001 with a thesis on the thought of Henri de Lubac in dialogue with Gabriel Marcel. Since 2001 he has taught systematic theology at the parallel Turin branch of the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy and the Higher Institute of Religious Sciences of the same city. Canon of the Royal Church of San Lorenzo in Turin since 2010, he was president of the Italian Theological Association from 2011 to 2019; dean of the Turin section of the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy and collaborator of the Santa Maria della Stella parish in Druento. On 19 February 2022, Pope Francis appointed him the 95th Metropolitan Archbishop of Turin and Bishop of Susa, thus uniting the two sees in person as bishops. On 7 May 2022 he received episcopal ordination. In September 2022, the Permanent Episcopal Council of the CEI appointed him as a member of the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education, School and University. In October 2022 in Aosta the bishops of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta elected him vice president of the Episcopal Conference of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta (CEP).R.P. Timothy Peter Joseph RADCLIFFE, OP, theologian Born in London in 1945, he joined the Dominican order in 1965. After completing his studies in Oxford and Paris, he began teaching sacred Scripture at the University of Oxford. Ordained a priest in 1971, actively involved in the peace movement, he also carried out pastoral ministry among AIDS sufferers. From 1982 to 1988 he was prior of the convent of Oxford, then provincial of England from 1988 to 1992, and finally master general of the order founded by Saint Dominic from 1992 to 2001. Orator, lecturer, preacher and writer of international fame, he is member of CAFOD (agency of the Catholic Church of England and Wales, involved in charitable support and development in overseas countries) and of the theological commission of international Caritas. He has received honorary degrees from Oxford University and other academic institutions in France, Italy and the United States. In 2007 he was awarded the Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writings.R. Fr Fabio BAGGIO, C.S., under secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He was born in Bassano del Grappa in 1965 and, in 1976, entered the Scalabrini-Tirondola Seminary of the Missionaries of San Carlo, making his perpetual profession in 1991. The following year he was ordained a Priest. In 1998 he obtained a doctorate in Church History from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. From 1995 to 1997, in Santiago de Chile, in addition to exercising the pastoral ministry, he held the position of Advisor to the Episcopal Commission for Migration of Chile (INCAMI). Subsequently, until 2002, he was Director of the Department for Migration of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, also covering, in 1999, the role of National Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Pontifical Mission Societies Argentina. On 14 December 2016 he was appointed Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. On 23 April 2022, the Holy Father confirmed him as Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development also with responsibility for the Migrants and Refugees Section and Special Projects Mons. George Jacob KOOVAKAD, Official of the Secretary of State, responsible for Papal Trips. He was born in Chethipuzha (India) on 11 August 1973. He was ordained a Priest on 24 July 2004, incardinated in Changanacherry. Graduated in Canon Law. Having entered the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See on 1 July 2006, he was assigned to the Apostolic Nunciature in Algeria, as Attache. On March 2, 2009, he was transferred to the Apostolic Nunciature in Korea until February 2012, when he was transferred to the Apostolic Nunciature in Iran. On February 16, 2015, he was transferred to the Apostolic Nunciature in Costa Rica. Since July 10, 2020, he has worked in the Secretariat of State, General Affairs section. on 10 July 2020. From 2021, Pope Francis has entrusted him with the organization of papal trips.H.E. Mons. Angelo Acerbi, Apostolic Nuncio He was born on 23 September 1925 in Sesta Godano (Italy) and was ordained a priest on 27 March 1948 for the then Diocese of Pontremoli. Having entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1956, he served in the Papal Representations in Colombia, Brazil, France, Japan and Portugal, as well as in the Council for Public Affairs of the Church of the Secretariat of State. St. Paul VI, on June 22, 1974, appointed him an apostolic pro-nuncio in New Zealand and apostolic delegate in the Pacific Ocean, assigning him the headquarters of Zella and the personal title of Archbishop; The same Holy Pontiff, on the following 30 June, conferred him the episcopal ordination in the papal basilica of San Pietro in the Vatican. St. John Paul II, then, sent him as Nunzio to Colombia – where, together with other diplomats, he was hostage for six weeks by the guerrillas of the Movimiento 19 de Abril – and, subsequently, in Hungary and Moldova and in the Netherlands. From 2001 to 2015 he held the office of prelate of the Sovereign Military Hospital Order of San Giovanni di Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police
Detectives investigating the murder of a man in Ilford have made a fourth arrest.
Police were called at 01.06hrs on Friday, 4 October to reports of a stabbing in Chapel Road, Ilford.
Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found a 50-year-old man, identified as Billy Keegan, suffering from a stab injury in the corridor of a block of flats.
Despite the best efforts of the emergency services, Billy was pronounced dead at 01:30hrs.
His next-of-kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.
The investigation is being led by detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command.
Officers carried out fast-paced enquiries and three men, aged 40, 36 and 28, were arrested shortly after on suspicion of murder. They were taken to an east London police station where they remain in custody.
A fourth man, aged 30, was arrested on Saturday, 5 October on suspicion of murder. He has been taken into custody.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the police on 101 quoting CAD 298/04OCT. Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.
Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police
Detectives are appealing for the public’s help to identify a number of people in relation to potential protest offences.
Officers made 17 arrests at yesterday’s demonstration in central London.
A number of further potential offences have come to light on social media and we’re now releasing images and appealing for the public’s help to identify those involved.
The crowds at Saturday’s event were significant in size and density. In those circumstances, what is easy to spot when walking among the crowd with a mobile phone is not always easy for officers to see from their positions along the route.
While we will always investigate event after an event, we would urge those who see these incidents and take photos of them to also alert officers – if they are nearby – so we can intervene immediately.
Anyone who can identify those pictured is asked to call 101, message @MetCC on X or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
They should give the reference 3919/06OCT and the specific reference on the image.
For that reason, media are requested to publish the image without cropping the reference.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Chuck Edwards (NC-11)
Dear Friend,
Happy Sunday. If you’ll give me a point of privilege, I’d like to skip the business talk today and share a bit of positivity. Regardless of your beliefs, Sundays are an opportunity to reflect and be grateful for the blessings in our lives.
Today, I’m grateful that I get to represent such strong, resilient, salt-of-the-earth people who continue to show up for each other. I’m grateful for the thousands of people from across the country who have come to serve and help our mountains, and I’m grateful for the local leaders who are working day and night to help us recover and achieve a new normal.
I’m curious, what are you grateful for today?
Today’s update includes the longest list of food and water distribution sites yet. It also includes more information on county trash pickup/debris removal, plans to rebuild and reopen I-40 into Tennessee, and where to find free internet.
Today is update number nine, with more information to follow in the coming days. Please make sure to read everything and share it with your friends and family.
Federal Nutrition Programs
North Carolina received a Major Disaster Declaration for the following counties: Buncombe, Clay, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania and Yancey counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
People with damage to their homes or personal property who live in one of the above-listed counties should apply for Individual Assistance through FEMA, which may include upfront funds to help with essential items like food, water, baby formula and other emergency supplies.
Individual Assistance provides financial aid and services to eligible individuals and households that have been affected by a disaster to assist with the recovery process. Individuals can officially begin applying for Individual Assistance online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, or by calling the application phone number at 1-800-621-3362 (TTY: 800-462-7585) between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. EST.
For information on the status of utilities, debris sites, etc., we want to share the following resources. As communications are restored and more information becomes available, these sites will continue to be updated.
With my warmest regards,
Chuck Edwards
Member of Congress
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lyndall Bryant, Lecturer in Property Economics, Queensland University of Technology
While there’s little relief in sight for Australia’s housing crisis, with new projects years away from completion, there appear to be as many as 13 million unused spare bedrooms across the country.
In a new briefing paper for the QUT Centre for Justice I suggest that, at least in the interim, these spare rooms ought to be part of the solution.
Here’s where you find them. The census says about 3.2 million Australian homes have one spare bedroom, another 3 million have two spare rooms and 1.2 million have three spare bedrooms or more.
They are more common in the homes of older than younger Australians.
A survey by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute found that more than three-quarters of homeowners aged 74 and older had spare rooms compared to less than two-thirds of homeowners aged 55 and younger.
These older owners are often “asset rich and income poor”. Most rely at least in part on the age pension and could do with the income that would come from renting out a room, so long as it didn’t cut into their pension or present them with a capital gains tax bill when their home is eventually sold.
My work suggests these fears are largely unfounded, even though it’s hard to convince many older Australians of that.
The Tax Office has long provided for “domestic arrangements” and other arrangements where board and lodging provided at non-commercial rates is not considered assessable income for taxation purposes.
The downside is that expenses are not tax deductible.
These arrangements are said to occur when all residents including the owner bear an appropriate proportion of the costs actually incurred on food, electricity, heating and other costs of running the home.
“Homestay” for international students is an example. Homestay hosts can receive about $350 per week for providing a fully furnished room, main meals and utilities in an arrangement the Tax Office has ruled need not be taxable.
All pensioners are currently eligible for the work bonus scheme that allows additional earnings of up to $504 a fortnight for singles and $660 per fortnight for couples without loss of any pension.
It ought to be easy enough to apply the scheme to rent as well as income from work, as it arguably already does given that renting out spare bedrooms is a form of self-employment and hence “work”.
As important would be making pensioners aware of any changes or clarifications to the rules in a way that normalised “taking in boarders”.
Anecdotal evidence suggests homeowners fear that renting out a spare bedroom will make their home liable for the capital gains tax that applies to rented properties when they are eventually sold.
While this may be true in some situations, it is somewhat of an urban myth, and the amounts of tax involved can be small.
capital gains tax only applies to properties bought after September 20 1985
any gain is taxed only at the marginal rate in the year the property is sold
only half of each gain is taxed
gains can be offset against capital losses
only the net gain is taxed after costs.
And capital gains tax only applies for the portion of the home that is rented out, and for the portion of time it is rented out.
In my paper I explain how an apparent capital gain of $100,000 is taxed less where a room is only let for one year in five and is one of three bedrooms in the home, cutting the taxable capital gain to just $3,333.
If the very concept of the calculation remains a barrier, it might be possible to offer homeowners who let out rooms a short-term “capital gains tax holiday” for the next three to five years while new housing stock is being built.
Another barrier is concern about safety, both personal and financial for older homeowners. Surprisingly, there are few rules governing boarding, with tenancy legislation saying little, forcing homeowners and tenants to rely on common law.
Australians letting out rooms need legislated protections from elder abuse and spurious claims of cohabitation and other rights.
Tenant matching and management systems could make the process simpler.
Imagine being able to walk into your local real estate agency and list your spare room to rent. If the agency offered boarder management services you could outline your preferences and ask it to put forward a list of candidates to interview.
Good matches would provide benefits for both older Australians and younger companions. Boarder management could become a new business model for real estate agents as well as non-profits.
Please note: This article does not provide tax or financial advice. It is general in nature and should not be relied on for taxation or financial purposes.
Lyndall Bryant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. Australia has an extraordinary 13 million spare bedrooms. Here’s how to use at least some of them to ease the housing crisis – https://theconversation.com/australia-has-an-extraordinary-13-million-spare-bedrooms-heres-how-to-use-at-least-some-of-them-to-ease-the-housing-crisis-239490
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Lowe, Director, Environment Institute, University of Adelaide
This week, Australia hosts the inaugural Global Nature Positive Summit in Sydney. It comes at a crucial time: biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse is one of the biggest risks the world faces in the next decade.
The event, which begins tomorrow, brings together leaders from government, business, academia, environment groups and Indigenous Peoples. Together, they will seek ways to drive investment in nature and improve its protection and repair.
More than half the world’s economy directly depends on nature. Biodiversity loss threatens global financial stability, putting at least US$44 trillion (A$64 trillion) of economic value at risk.
Industries such as agriculture, fishing, forestry, tourism, water and resources rely heavily on nature. But ultimately, all of humanity depends on the natural world – for clean air, water, food, and a liveable climate.
In Australia significant investment is needed to reverse the decline in our natural environment. It will require action from governments, landholders and the private sector.
That’s why this week’s summit is so important. Nature conservation and restoration is expensive and often difficult. The task is beyond the capacity of governments alone.
According to the World Economic Forum, “nature positive” is an economic worldview that goes beyond limiting environmental damage and aims to actually improve ecosystems.
Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, to which almost 200 countries have signed up, at least 30% of land and waters must be protected or restored by 2030. The summit is exploring ways to realise this global commitment, which is also known as the 30×30 target.
The federal and New South Wales governments are co-hosting the event.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek will address the summit on day one, outlining her government’s Nature Positive Plan. It commits to the 30×30 target as well as “zero new extinctions”. Achieving these commitments involves environmental law reform, setting up a Nature Repair Market and establishing a national Environment Protection Agency.
Delegates are expected to demonstrate their commitment and progress towards the 30×30 goal. They will then turn to the main point of the summit: building consensus on the economic settings needed to increase private investment in nature.
Finance models and corporate partnerships are on the agenda, along with how to make this work, including how to measure, monitor and report on progress and manage risk.
Sessions will focus on specific sectors of the environment such as agriculture and farming, cities, oceans and forests. On Thursday, delegates will visit nature sites around Sydney.
Substantial co-investment from the private sector, including landholders, will be required to repair and protect nature at the scale required.
Market-based approaches can drive private investment in natural resources. But most existing environmental markets focus on water and carbon. A more holistic approach, including nature repair, is needed.
Australia’s Nature Positive Plan includes building a nature repair market. This world-first measure is a legislated, national, voluntary biodiversity market in which individuals and organisations undertake nature repair projects to generate a tradeable certificate. The certificate can be sold to generate income. Demand for certificates is expected to grow over time.
But the role the government will take remains unclear. For example, will the government both regulate market prices and decide what, in a scientific sense, amounts to repairing nature?
On day two, the summit explores how nature markets can unlock new sources of finance. We can expect this discussion to include ways carbon and biodiversity markets can work together: so-called “carbon-plus” outcomes.
For example, when landholders conserve vegetation, the plants can both draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide habitat for animals, preventing biodiversity loss. Markets could be designed so landholders are rewarded for achieving these dual results.
Under optimistic estimates, the global nature-positive transition will unlock business opportunities worth an estimated US$10 trillion (almost A$15 trillion) a year and create 395 million jobs by 2030.
The potential benefits for Australia are also substantial. They include benefits to nature such as restoring habitat for wildlife, while storing carbon. It can also provide returns for agriculture, by improving land value, yield and quality.
A strong nature-positive stance from Australia will also help safeguard our access to global markets. For example, the European Union has already established trade barriers to imports that damage forests. This could have serious consequences for the Australian beef industry.
So the potential benefits have to be weighed against the risks of not doing anything. The summit is a chance to get a wide range of people on board, working towards a shared vision of a more positive future.
The Albanese Labor government came to power promising to overhaul Australia’s national environment laws, following a scathing independent review.
When the summit was conceived, the government may have envisaged having cause for celebration by now. But some proposed reforms stalled in the Senate.
Nonetheless, the Nature Repair Market, a significant government win, is taking shape.
This week’s summit offers Australia an opportunity to show the world we have embraced the nature-positive mindset. There really is no time to waste.
Australia, the sixth most biodiverse country in the world, has listed 2,224 species and ecological communities as threatened with extinction. These losses are predicted to escalate if we continue business as usual and allow continued decline of ecosystems.
Despite having pledged to end deforestation by 2030, Australia is the only deforestation hotspot among developed nations. Land clearing continues apace in northern Australia, often without being assessed under national environmental laws.
We desperately need to reverse the decline in nature, once and for all.
Andrew Lowe receives funding from a range of national and international funding sources including the Australian Research Council, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, The International Tropical Timber Organization.
This article was crafted following conversations with the Advisory Committee of the Nature Positive Economy CRC bid, including Daisy Mallett – Lawyer / International Abitrator; Ian Overton – Principal, Natural Economy Consulting; Professor Hugh Possingham – University of Queensland; Nicki Hutley – Climate Council; Cheryl Hayman – Beston Global Food Company; Robert Waterworth – FLINTPro; Kate Andrews – NRM Regions Australia; Tim King – Melior Investment Management; Peter Boyd – Rozetta Institute; David Shelmerdine – ClimateWorks; Wendy Mackay – Pollination Group; Tim Jarvis – Fauna & Flora International; Jody Gunn – Australian Land Conservation Alliance; Joshua Bishop – University of Sydney; Phil Duncan – University of Canberra; Dr Paul Dalby – Rozetta Project Director.
– ref. Australia is hosting the world’s first ‘nature positive’ summit. What is it, and why does it matter? – https://theconversation.com/australia-is-hosting-the-worlds-first-nature-positive-summit-what-is-it-and-why-does-it-matter-236236
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
A 46-year-old man has been arrested and charged by Police, after allegedly attempting to meet a young teenage girl for sex.
The man was arrested on Friday 4 October following an investigation by Hawke’s Bay Police and the OCEANZ (Online Child Exploitation Across NZ) unit.
He is facing three charges of indecent communication with a young person under 16, and one charge of travelling to meet a young person-sex grooming.
Detective Sergeant Alex MacDonald says OCEANZ had received information that the man was allegedly attempting to contact young girls for the purposes of sexual abuse.
“This kind of offending in our communities is incredibly alarming and serves as an excellent reminder of the need to be vigilant around online safety for children and young people,” says Detective Sergeant MacDonald.
“The school holidays would be a great time to sit down with your kids and have a conversation about how to stay safe online. You can find information on the Police website to help with those conversations.”
The man charged with this offending is scheduled to appear in Hastings District Court today (Monday 7 October).
Detective Senior Sergeant John McCarthy from Hawke’s Bay Police’s Child Protection Team says the investigation into this matter is ongoing and is not ruling out identifying further victims.
“We will continue to work with OCEANZ to ensure that offenders targeting young people in our community in this way are held to account for their actions,” says Detective Senior Sergeant McCarthy.
“We urge anyone with concerns about potential criminal behaviour targeting children or young people to get in touch with Police so that we can investigate.”
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre.
Source: New Zealand Labour Party
Fresh questions have been raised about the conduct of the Firearms Minister after revelations she misled New Zealanders about her role in stopping gun reforms prior to the mosque shootings.
Despite previously claiming on TVNZ Q+A that she urged the Government to close the loopholes around high capacity magazines – it’s now been revealed that did not happen.
In fact, it was her suggestion to the then Minister Paula Bennett that she reject select committee recommendations around semi-automatic firearms, which would’ve closed the loopholes later exploited by the March 15 terrorist.
“It’s the latest in a list of concerns about conflicts of interest for the Minister, who is still closely linked to the gun lobby while trying to roll back legal safeguards put in place after the terror attacks,” Labour’s Police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said.
“This reporting is even more concerning as the next phase in the coronial inquiry into the terror attack gets underway this coming week. It will explicitly address the history of firearms reforms and make recommendations to stop such an attack happening again.
“The Firearms Minister also has authority over Coronial matters in her role as Courts Minister. The conflicts and questions are now too great for the public to have any confidence that she is the right person to be in charge of gun laws.
“The Prime Minister must strip her of the firearms portfolio. The Coalition Agreement never required her to hold that position and it would be a display of leadership if he took action,” Ginny Andersen said.
Stay in the loop by signing up to our mailing list and following us on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
Source: US State of Pennsylvania
October 07, 2024 – York, PA
In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) will visit the York County Victim/Witness Unit to highlight the support and services offered to survivors of domestic violence and importance of the $5 million investment in the Victims Compensation Assistance Program (VCAP) in the Shapiro-Davis 2024-25 state budget.
WHO:
Kathy Buckley, Director of Victims’ Services, PCCD
Faith I. Uhler-Myers, Deputy Administrator, York County DA’s Office Victim/Witness Unit
Paula Copeland, Chief Services Officer, YWCA York
Sarah Harvey, Director, YWCA Hanover Safe Home
WHEN:
October 7, 2024 at 1:30 PM.
WHERE:
York County Administrative Center
28 E Market Street
Commissioners’ Meeting Room, 2nd floor
York, PA 17401
RSVP: Please email algantz@pa.gov to share the reporter’s name and media outlet who wishes to attend.
Photos and video will be available on
Full Advisory
Source: New Zealand Police (National News)
Police can confirm one person died following a serious single-vehicle crash on SH6 near Canvastown on Friday.
Emergency services had been called to the scene about 3.20pm.
Sadly the sole occupant died at the scene.
Enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
A group of alleged burglars who climbed onto the roof of Māngere Town Centre in an attempt to evade Police, will now face court.
At about 11pm, Police were alerted by security of three males breaking into the Māngere Town Centre.
Counties Manukau West Acting Area Prevention Manager, Acting Inspector Clint McCarthy, says the trio allegedly broke into five businesses, taking a number of items including clothing and cash registers.
“Upon Police arrival, we witnessed a group of people climbing onto the roof inside the centre.
“Units cordoned off the area and voice appealed for the offenders to come down, however one has jumped from the roof and attempted to flee on foot,” Acting Inspector McCarthy says.
“The Police Dog Unit, Delta has tracked the alleged offender where he was swiftly taken into custody.”
He says the other two suspects quickly surrendered to Police
“Police will continue to deploy a range of resources to respond to this sort of offending so that we can hold these people to account.
“This is a great outcome, and we acknowledge the centre’s security team for reporting offending as it was occurring, which allowed us to respond in a timely manner.”
He says the stolen property was left on the roof and recovered by staff shortly after.
Three males, aged 23, 19 and 18, will appear in Manukau District Court today charged with five counts of burglary.
ENDS.
Holly McKay/NZ Police
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
Emergency services are responding to a serious crash on State Highway 2 near Waipawa in Central Hawke’s Bay.
The single vehicle crash occurred near Argyll Road and was reported to Police at 10.15am.
Initial information from the scene indicates at least one person is seriously injured.
The road is closed and motorists are asked to take alternative routes.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre.
Source: New Zealand Transport Agency
9 pm:
State Highway 6 has reopened.
Drivers may experience delays until queued traffic clears and should take extra care while driving through the crash site.
6:55 pm:
State Highway 6 remains closed to traffic near Havelock this evening following a serious crash this afternoon.
A crash scene investigation is continuing, and the vehicle involved is still to be recovered and removed.
The highway is not expected to reopen until later tonight.
Drivers travelling between Nelson and Blenheim should continue to detour via State Highway 63 Wairau Valley and Kawatiri Junction.
Updates on the highway’s status can be found in the NZTA/Waka Kotahi website:
4:20 pm:
People driving between Blenheim and Nelson can expect delays this afternoon as emergency services attend a serious crash on State Highway 6 east of Canvastown.
The crash was reported around 3.20 pm. Emergency services are at the scene, and road contractors are also attending.
State Highway 6 is closed in both directions and there are no suitable local road detours available.
Drivers are asked to avoid the area or delay their travel.
The only suitable detour route for people travelling between Nelson and Blenheim is via State Highway 63 Wairau Valley and Kawatiri Junction. This will add 30 minutes or more to travel times between Blenheim and Nelson.
The highway is expected to remain closed until the Police Serious Crash Unit complete an investigation. This is likely to take several hours.
Further updates will be provided when the highway’s status changes. Details can also be checked on the NZTA/Waka Kotahi website:
Source: New Zealand Transport Agency
3:25 pm:
State Highway 1 is now open in both directions under a 30 km/h temporary speed limit at the crash site. Drivers may experience delays while travelling through the area
NZTA/Waka Kotahi thanks drivers for their patience and cooperation today while emergency services and contractors attended this incident.
1:50 pm:
State Highway 1 is currently under stop/stop traffic controls while the crashed vehicle is recovered. This affects both north and southbound traffic
Traffic delays can be expected for approximately an hour between Picton and Springfield while this work is completed.
Drivers should delay their travel and avoid the area.
Updates on the highway’s status can be found on the NZTA/Waka Kotahi website:
12:02 pm:
State Highway 1 is now open in both directions following a serious crash at the intersection of Bush Road earlier today
A car crashed off the road into the Tuamarina River shortly before two am this morning.
The highway was restricted to one lane under stop/go traffic controls while the Police Serious Crash Unit carried out a scene investigation
While the highway is now open to traffic, it is expected to be closed briefly later today for recovery operations.
Updates on the highway’s status can be found on the NZTA/Waka Kotahi website. NZ Police are also issuing media releases:
6:55 am:
State Highway 1 is under stop/go traffic management near Tuamarina following a serious crash early this morning.
The crash, which occurred on Bush Road at the intersection with State Highway 1, was reported around two am this morning.
State Highway 1 is currently closed to northbound traffic near the intersection of Bush Road and under stop/go traffic control while Police and emergency services attend the incident.
Drivers can expect delays when travelling through the area. Please take extra care when travelling past the crash site and follow all instructions from emergency services.
A full closure of State Highway 1 is possible later this morning to support ongoing crash scene investigations.
People travelling between Picton and Blenheim, particularly those with ferry connections, should allow extra time for their journeys.
Updates on the highway’s status can be found on the NZTA/Waka Kotahi website:
Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police
EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01AM MONDAY 7 OCTOBER
Met improves interview process for victims of crime with new technology
The Metropolitan Police Service is rolling out its new ‘Digital Interview Recording (DIR) kits’, in its commitment to put victims at the heart of investigations, as part of its New Met for London plan. The equipment eliminates the need to use DVDs and CDs and enables recordings to be made in police stations as well as in locations more convenient to victims of crime.
It’s a significant advance in the Met’s drive to equip officers with innovative technology to improve the efficiency of evidence obtained during interviews with victims, particularly women and girls affected by violence.
By facilitating swift access to professional-quality video and audio recordings, the portable DIR kits aim to enhance investigative outcomes, provide better support to victims, and deliver justice for Londoners.
The lightweight kits, easily carried underarm, can be employed to record interviews with suspects, victims or witnesses.
The footage is quickly and confidentially uploaded to a cloud-based system, ensuring immediate accessibility for stakeholders, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and senior Met leaders.
This streamlined process eliminates previous delays in accessing vital evidence, enabling faster investigations and helping the Met get offenders off the streets.
The kits, which have recently been distributed to specialist teams in the Met, including the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences and the Child Abuse Investigation Teams, reduce the need for victim-survivors to travel to a Met building to recount what happened.
Victims can provide their account in a more comfortable environment giving police the best chance of capturing better quality evidence to progress an investigation to catch a perpetrator.
Additionally, the DIR portable kits facilitate remote identification parades, allowing victims and witnesses unable to attend in-person to identify suspects.
Commander Stephen Clayman, lead for the roll-out of the Digital Interview Recording kits, said:
“The wider rollout of the fixed Digital Interview Recording equipment has so far proved very successful, eliminating the use of DVDs, providing additional functionality and ultimately saving officers and staff valuable time, with their interviews being available instantly.
“This represents one of the largest rollouts of this equipment nationally given the scale of the MPS. It has also provided additional opportunities, especially with the provision of portable Digital Interview Recording kits.
“It has helped us to listen and respond to victims’ experiences and use of the equipment has allowed us to capture evidence in an environment which puts the victims first, giving us the relevant and vital evidence we need to catch a perpetrator.
“This hopefully alleviates some pressure during what is already an incredibly hard process for them.”
The kits were launched by the Met’s Digital Data and Technology team in July last year and has been successfully piloted, paving the way for the Met to safeguard victims in way they’ve not been able to before.
Digital Interview Recording is used in the UK and further afield in Belgium, Poland, Luxembourg and America, and there are now approximately 160 deployments of portable kits across the world.
The kit was tested last summer, with several successful outcomes, including a female victim-survivor who had returned home to Poland following an aggravated burglary and sexual assault. The woman conducted an ID parade with Met officers at the British Embassy in Poland, which resulted in the suspect being located back in the UK, charged and remanded.
Detective Inspector Richard Lewsley, from the Met’s Rape and Serious Sexual unit in north west London, said:
“Our team were fortunate enough to be involved in the piloting of this crucial piece of kit which allows front line officers to offer a service which puts victims first.
“The device demonstrates we are committed to supporting victims’ needs and enabling them to provide evidence whilst giving our officers the right tools to do their jobs effectively.
“DIR gives officers the ability to operate efficiently, receive a high-quality product and relay it back to an investigation team within minutes of an interview finishing.
“It’s shown it can alleviate stress on my officers by giving them the capability to conduct interviews and better manage their time in ways they wouldn’t have been able to do before.
“The time saved in capturing evidence, as well as the choice offered to victims to decide where and when they provide evidence, makes this device invaluable.
“DIR is not limited to one crime type and I’m sure, in time, many will benefit.”
James Higgins, Project Manager with the Met’s Digital Data and Technology team, said:
“We have collaborated with front-line officers and the supplier to develop an advanced, secure and comprehensive Portable Interview Kit which represents a transformative approach to interviewing, offering substantial benefits to the Metropolitan Police and enhancing the conduct of victim and witness interviews.
“The kits empower Met interviewing officers to confidently gather high-quality evidence and allows secure transmission from anywhere in the world back to the investigative team for prompt analysis and fast-time action.
“DIR utilises the same interview software and input screens as the Met’s new Fixed Interview Room system, which is being implemented across the Met, adding to significant changes in business processes and saving the Met money.”
The equipment has also been used in a variety of locations including prisons, mental health secure units, hospitals, hotels, schools, care homes and overseas in government or law enforcement buildings.
As part of our A New Met for London plan, the Met is determined to fix its foundations to ensure officers and staff can succeed to better serve Londoners, equipped with the best tools to cut crime. These kits offer the best technology available so officers can use their powers precisely while maintaining trust and upholding high standards.
Notes to Editors
The Met is determined in its mission to ensure women and girls feel safe wherever they are. We committed as part of our Violence Against Women and Girls action plan to improve how we communicate with the public about what we are doing, which included sharing progress on our plans and being clear on what success means. Improved trust, safer places and taking a victim-centred approach to crime is at the heart of that plan: Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) action plan | Metropolitan Police
If you’ve been a victim of rape or sexual assault, charities and support agencies can offer help and guidance:
Rape Crisis: 08085002222
National Rape and Sexual Abuse Helpline: 0808 802 9999
Source: US State of Florida
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Today, Governor Ron DeSantis was joined by Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie at the State Emergency Operations Center to provide updates on preparedness efforts for Tropical Storm Milton.
As of 8 a.m., Tropical Storm Milton is located about 860 miles west-southwest of Tampa, Florida, with maximum sustained wind gusts near 60 mph. Milton is forecast to move across the Gulf of Mexico and approach the west coast of Florida by midweek.
Governor DeSantis issued Executive Order 24-215, amending EO 24-214 and declaring a state of emergency for 51 counties.
To learn more about navigating hurricane season, residents can visit FloridaDisaster.org/Guide. For updates on county resources available visit FloridaDisaster.org/Counties for a list of all 67 county emergency management contacts.
State Preparedness Efforts
Health and Human Services
Infrastructure, Roads and State Closures
Resources for Employees, Businesses and Consumers
###
Source: US State of Vermont
Deputy Attorney General (Deputy AG) Lisa Monaco traveled to Mirabella Eclano, Italy, on Oct. 3-4 for the G7 Interior Ministers Meeting, where she highlighted the importance of international partnerships in supporting the rule of law and protecting against persistent global threats.
The Deputy AG described the current threat environment to her G7 colleagues as a time where the threats have never been more diverse — from more aggressive actors — and all fueled by international conflicts and emerging, disruptive technologies — especially cyber and AI. She urged the ministers to stay united against threats posed by autocratic nations like Russia, Iran, and China looking to project power at home and abroad through transnational repression, malicious cyber activity, the abuse of emerging technologies, such as AI and cryptocurrencies, and malign foreign influence — especially in a global election year.
The Deputy AG joined her colleagues in committing to deepening international collaboration against these threats, as well as against terrorism, malign cyber actors, and synthetic drugs such as fentanyl. She shared how the Justice Department is targeting the broader ecosystem that allows cyber criminals and malign nation state actors to flourish — by prioritizing disruptions and placing victims first — and also highlighted how the Department is tackling all aspects of the deadly fentanyl supply chain, in every part of the globe, to protect innocent lives.
Ahead of the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s brutal October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, the Deputy AG and Ministers unequivocally condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all forms, both online and offline. They pledged to continue the information sharing and law enforcement partnerships that are integral to thwarting acts of terror around the world.
The Deputy AG and ministers also met virtually with Ukrainian Interior Minister, Ihor Klymenko, and reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine and their resolve to hold Russia accountable for the war crimes and atrocities it is perpetrating in its war of aggression. She reiterated the need for sustained coordination in these efforts and underscored the Justice Department’s continued efforts to deprive the Russian war machine of funding and supplies. She joined the other ministers in announcing new efforts to help Ukraine build the rule of law and fight corruption, including through a new G7 Anti-Corruption Task Force.
As part of their efforts to build cooperation and coordination among the G7 to promote the rule of law around the world, the Deputy AG and Ministers discussed common frameworks to harness the promise of AI while also protecting against the perils of its abuse. The Deputy AG cautioned that AI is changing how crimes are committed, from intensifying cyberattacks, to making fraud scams more believable, to creating child exploitative material, to supercharging malign foreign influence in elections.
On the margins of the G7 Ministerial, the Deputy AG held several bilateral meetings, including with United Kingdom Home Secretary Yvette Cooper; Canadian Minister of Public Safety Dominic Leblanc; German Minister of Interior Nancy Faeser; and European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson. The Deputy AG also met with the G7 host, Italian Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi, to thank him for his leadership of the G7 and his hospitality. In all these discussions, the Deputy AG reinforced the steadfast commitment of the Justice Department to partnerships that uphold the rule of law and strengthen democracies around the world.
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
A woman has been charged with murder in relation to a man who was found deceased in Tauranga on Sunday morning.
Police were called to an area in Gate Pa near St George Street at around 8.45am yesterday (6 October), where a 63-year-old man was found deceased.
A 50-year-old woman has been charged with murder and appeared in Tauranga District Court today. She has been remanded in custody to reappear in Tauranga High Court on 30 October.
Both the victim and the woman charged have been granted name suppression at this stage.
Police would still like to hear from anyone who was in the area where the man was found between the evening of Thursday 3 October and Sunday morning, who may have witnessed something of note.
You can update us online now or call 105. Please use the reference number 241006/6224.
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers(link is external) on 0800 555 111.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre.
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
A Police dog was quickly on the scent following an aggravated burglary in Māngere during the early hours of this morning.
At about 2.55am, Police received a report of four people inside a Ford Courier Ute, which has driven into the roller door of a supermarket on Westney Road.
Counties Manukau West Area Commander, Inspector Ross Ellwood, says the group has entered the store and taken a number of products, including cash, before unsuccessfully trying to access the cigarette cabinet.
“The group has then fled in a stolen Toyota Mark X, which was quickly located by officers parked on Naylors Drive.
“Delta has tracked to a house of the street, where four youths were taken into custody without incident.”
Inspector Ellwood says Police will continue to respond to reports of businesses being targeted.
“We know this sort of offending can be incredibly invasive for our community.
“We take this type of offending very seriously, and I hope our quick response reassures the community that we have absolutely no tolerance for incidents like these.”
Four teenagers, and 14 and 15, will appear in Manukau Youth Court today charged with unlawfully taking a motor vehicle and burglary.
ENDS.
Holly McKay/NZ Police
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
A downed tree is blocking Manukau Road in Royal Oak, between the intersections with Symonds Street and Lombardy Green.
The incident was reported to Police at around 11.26am, and no injuries have been reported.
The section of Manukau Road is expected to be blocked for some time, and motorists are advised to avoid the area if possible and to take another route.
ENDS.
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
One person has died following a crash on State Highway 2 near Waipawa in Central Hawke’s Bay this morning.
The single vehicle crash was reported to Police at 10.15am.
Two other people suffered moderate injuries and were transported to Hawke’s Bay Hospital.
The Serious Crash Unit is in attendance and State Highway 2 is expected to remain closed for some time.
Southbound traffic is being diverted at Higginson Road, and northbound traffic at Racecourse Road.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre.
Source: Tasmania Police
Provisional Driver caught driving 80km/hr over the speed limit
Monday, 7 October 2024 – 11:03 am.
A 17-year-old male p-plater from Cygnet has been charged with reckless driving and aggravated evade after he was observed travelling south on the Southern Outlet, Kingston, about 9.30pm on 18 September at high speed.
Police attempted to intercept the vehicle; however, it continued at speed and weaved between other motorists to avoid police.
The youth was observed travelling at approximately 160km/hr in an 80km/hr zone.
He was later intercepted and arrested.
Police are continuing to investigate the incident and are calling for motorists who witnessed a Black Ford Fiesta or who have dashcam footage of the dangerous driving at the time to come forward.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Tasmania Police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers Tasmania on 1800 333 000 or crimestopperstas.com.au. Information can be provided anonymously. Please quote OR754261.
Source: New Zealand Police (National News)
Please attribute to Detective Inspector Andrew Saunders:
Waikato Police are continuing to make enquiries after a sighting of Tom Phillips and his children was reported on Thursday evening.
Investigators received information about 7pm on Thursday that Tom had been seen in bush area west of Coutts Road in Marokopa with Jayda, Maverick and Ember.
Our enquiries have established that this was a credible sighting, and Police believe it was indeed Tom and his children.
Police dispatched staff to the Marokopa area on Thursday night and a three-day search was commenced.
Part of the search phase included air support from the Police Eagle helicopter and a Royal New Zealand Air Force NH90 helicopter.
While nothing further of significance was located, investigators will now assess information gathered to determine any next steps.
This is the first time all three of the children have been sighted, which is positive information, and we know it will be reassuring for the children’s wider family.
Police continue to urge those in the Marokopa community to remain alert and report any suspicious activity, no matter how minor, to us.
If you have any information that could help our enquiries, please update us online now or call 105.
Please use reference number 211218/5611.
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: New Zealand Police (National News)
A man has been charged in relation to an assault on Courtenay Place in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Emergency services were called to Courtenay Place outside the old Reading Cinema about 3.20am after a 21-year-old man was injured.
He was transported to hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
A 29-year-old man has now been arrested in relation to this incident. He has been charged with wounding with reckless disregard, and is due to appear in Wellington District Court today.
Police would like to hear from anyone who witnessed this assault, or who has any knowledge of it or of those involved. In particular, we want to speak to two women who were sitting close by when the incident occurred, and who would have witnessed what happened.
If you have any information that could help our enquiries, please update us online now or call 105 and use the reference number 241006/5414.
Police have also opened an online portal where anyone who has any relevant video footage or images can upload their material.
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
Three people were arrested this morning following a traffic stop in the Dinsdale area.
At around 3.45am, a Police unit sighted a vehicle of interest relating to a burglary in Te Kowhai on Sunday.
Senior Sergeant Leo Belay says a traffic stop was carried out and the vehicle was stopped without issue.
“A search of the vehicle located a number of items relating to multiple burglaries across the Waikato District, along with the seizure of drug utensils.
“Police followed positive lines of enquiry after reviewing CCTV footage of the Te Kowhai burglary, these arrests highlight the value that CCTV provides Police when investigating such offenses.”
Some items recovered include car keys, passports, power tools, watches, and jewellery.
All three occupants of the vehicle were arrested at the scene without incident.
“This is another good example of our staff remaining vigilant in the community, and a great example of proactive Police work by frontline officers,” says Senior Sergeant Belay.
“Waikato Police are committed to ensuring our community is safe and we hope these arrests provide reassurance to the community.
“Due to the amount of evidence located in the vehicle, investigators will be continuing to make enquiries, to ensure the stolen property safely returns to their rightful owners over the coming days. Identification of further victims through these enquiries will likely result in further charges being laid.”
A 43-year-old man is due to appear in Hamilton District Court today facing six charges of burglary, while a 47-year-old man is due to appear facing one charge of burglary.
A 33-year-old man was charged for possessing a drug utensil and was remanded on bail to reappear at a later date.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre