Derek Chauvin Trial: Officer Defends Actions in Body-Camera Footage

In new body-camera footage played Wednesday at Derek Chauvin’s murder trial, the former Minneapolis police officer defends his actions to a bystander after holding George Floyd to the ground with his knee for about nine minutes. Photo: Pool via Court TV

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Day three of Chauvin’s trial was a ‘day of distress’

Day three of the trial of Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd was an “emotionally devastating day” as footage from police body camera was paired with bystanders’ footage of the attack according to US politics expert Michael Ware. “The world has seen the video footage that bystanders filmed, today we saw police bodycam footage threaded together with the public footage,” he told Sky News. Mr Ware said the footage made it feel as if “you were right there on top of George Floyd” and the trial has brought the trauma of George Floyd’s death to the forefront as a witness on the stand broke down recounting what had happened. “Rewatching the video and hearing the audio he became so distressed he started sobbing uncontrollably and court had to be adjourned.” Mr Ware said the witnesses who had been called all “knew what they were watching was wrong” and had an extremely different reaction to Derek Chauvin. “Take those reactions and compare them to Derek Chauvin the police officer himself, we heard from him for perhaps the first and only time in this trial on his own bodycam as Floyd’s body was put into the ambulance and as Chauvin was getting back into his car he’s cool, he’s calm, he’s emotional.”

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Biden $2 trillion infrastructure plan to be financed by US taxpayers

President Joe Biden has unveiled what he describes as a once in a generation plan to rebuild the United States infrastructure financed by corporate taxpayers. The $2 trillion proposal includes spending on roads, bridges, shipping ports and airports as well as green energy projects. Touting the new proposal President Joe Biden said if enacted the scheme would ease congestion, cut pollution and slash commute times. The proposal also includes building or retrofitting two million homes or units, replacing every lead pipe in the country and ensuring every American has access to reliable and high-speed internet. The president said he wanted to raise corporate taxes and eliminate tax breaks for fossil fuel companies to pay for the new spending.

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Brisbane lockdown ‘overkill’ triggered by premiers lacking trust in tracing systems

Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says a tendency to impose snap lockdowns by state premiers is motivated by a lack of confidence in their state’s contact tracing mechanisms. Greater Brisbane will emerge from its snap three-day lockdown at midday today after the state recorded just one new community acquired case which health authorities have linked to one of the known clusters. Mr Clennell said "privately in the federal government there was a view there shouldn’t have been this lockdown”. “Certainly, the view of the federal government is the only one who can be relied upon in relation to this is NSW." He also pointed to Western Australia which locked down Perth after just one case of community transmission was reported. However Mr Clennell pointed out the federal government was demonstrating very little resistance to "overkill" lockdowns by state governments due to electoral concerns. “We’re facing a tight federal election. The public want caution around the virus above all else even as people get vaccinated.”

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Calls for government to set up ‘temporary business interruption fund’ for live events

Live Performance Australia CEO Evelyn Richardson says the “significant challenge” facing promoters and producers of live entertainment is they are unable to get insurance against COVID shutdowns. This comes after the Byron Bay Bluesfest music festival was cancelled less than 24 hours before opening due to a COVID case reported in the region. “Clearly this is an enormous blow for the promoter, but also for the region, all of the flow on accommodation and tourist costs and so on,” Ms Richardson said. “It’s significant that the risk is being taken by the promoter … last year for example Bluesfest was able to get insured but this year with COVID nobody can get insurance. “That’s the significant challenge, not just for Bluesfest but for any promoter or producer that’s looking to … get a show on stage right now. “And that’s not just an issue in Australia, that’s a global issue. Promoters and producers can still insure for other things that might impact on their events but any kind of communicable disease such as COVID there is no insurance." Ms Richardson said her organisation wants the federal and state governments to look at a proposal to establish a “temporary business interruption fund” to support promoters and producers of events which may be “shut down at a moment’s notice."

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Local Tina Scott captures house fire in Moss Vale

Local Tina Scott captures house fire in Moss Vale.

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Qld hospitals with ‘extraordinarily high-risk patients’ is concerning: Jeannette Young

Queensland’s chief health officer has conceded she is “concerned” about the more than 80 “extraordinarily high-risk patients” currently in hospitals. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today announced there were 82 people currently in hospital with active cases of COVID-19. Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said she is concerned about the “amount of virus each person has”. “We know the risk is extraordinarily high and we are getting more and more of these extraordinarily high-risk patients in our hospitals,” she said. “It is so easy for one tiny, tiny error to lead to contamination of a healthcare worker. It is a concern that we’ve got so many infectious people in our hospital system."

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How to score the Morrison government’s 800,000 half price flight deal

Aussies who are keen to go on a cheap holiday this year should check out Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia websites to score the Morrison government's first round of the 800,000 half price flights which dropped at midnight.

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French President Announces COVID-19 Lockdown for Schools Across the Country

French President Emmanuel Macron announced a nationwide closure of school for at least three weeks, in a bid to fight rising COVID-19 cases. In a live address on March 31, President Macron said schools across the country would transition to remote learning from April 5. According to local news reports the number of COVID-19 cases in France doubled since February “with the number of patients in intensive care units surpassing 5,000 on Tuesday.” Macron also said that classes would remain open for the children of key workers. Students would be set to return to school by May 3. Credit: Emmanuel Macron via Storyful

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Qld reveals fate of COVID lockdown

The Greater Brisbane lockdown will be lifted in the coming hours after Queensland reported one locally acquired case.

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New Queensland COVID case poses ‘no risk’ to the community

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young says the new locally acquired case reported in the state is the “perfect case” because the person has been in quarantine during their infectious period. “We only had one community-acquired case overnight in Queensland and that was the perfect case, if I could describe it as that,” she said. Dr Young said the positive case, who attended the party in Byron Bay, went into quarantine upon returning to Queensland and tested negative on Monday night. “Then they were tested again Wednesday morning when they were positive,” she said. “So they have been in quarantine during their infectious period, so no risk at all”. Dr Young said some restrictions such as wearing masks indoors will remain in place for 14 days, but she does not believe the lockdown - which will be lifted from midday - is required any longer to manage the spread.

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Dr Young ‘genuinely believes’ state-wide restrictions are not a ‘big ask’

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young says she does not believe it is too great an ask to impose state-wide restrictions as a precautionary measure after recording one new infection overnight. Greater Brisbane will leave its snap three-day lockdown at midday, however, restrictions on gatherings and a mask mandate will remain in place for the next two weeks. “I genuinely believe that wearing masks, sitting down when you’re eating and drinking, protecting our most vulnerable and limiting people to 30 in their home is actually not a big requirement for the safety if gives us,” Dr Young said. “That’s why I think those restrictions need to be in the entire state, otherwise we would have to not allow people from Greater Brisbane to leave for 14 days and I don’t think that is reasonable.”

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Queensland Christians given greenlight to hold Easter services

Easter church services across Queensland have been given the greenlight by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk after the state recorded just one new locally acquired infection on Thursday. “This is really important for many people across Queensland and, of course, those services and the Easter Mass can go ahead,” she said. Greater Brisbane will emerge from its snap three-day lockdown at midday today, however, some restrictions will remain in place until April 15. People attending religious services must abide by the one person per two square metre rule and are being asked to wear masks in crowded settings.

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India devotees celebrate Holi festival

People celebrated the Hindu festival of colours, Holi, in northern Mathura city, believed to be the birthplace of Lord Krishna.

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‘Barely cogent’ Joe Biden starring in ‘Weekend at Bidens’: Bernardi

The US political administration is starting to become the “Weekend at Bidens”, starring the “barely cogent” Joe Biden, according to Sky News host Cory Bernardi. “You may recall that film (Weekend at Bernie’s) involved a couple of losers pretending their dead boss was actually still alive so they could enjoy his beach house and his extravagant lifestyle for a weekend,” Mr Bernardi said. “Now we have ‘Weekend at Bidens’, it’s the reality show where the Democrats put up a barely cogent candidate for President just so they could enjoy the spoils of office for four years”. “It features an all-star cast of the politically semi-lucid, headlined by Joe Biden himself.” Mr Bernardi said the plot is “pretty simple”: a “trio of near octogenarians” seize control of the most powerful nation in the world while “not having any idea what they are doing”. “The star of the show – Joe Biden – walks and talks, but the walking is a bit worrying while the talking is often total gibberish,” he said. “This main star even has to ask his carer/wife where he is when he wakes up most mornings”. “His side kick, crazy Nancy uses her substantial wealth to hoard ice cream in her $24,000 dollar freezer. Unfortunately, Nancy's ice-cream prepping fetish induces a form of weekend post-binge brain freeze from which she seems unable to escape”. “The third character is Chuck Schumer.” Behind this “lacklustre trio” is “cackling Kamala”, who is the most "lucid character in the entire script" and "plots to seize power for herself", according to Mr Bernardi. “We are only a few episodes into this four-year premier season of ‘Weekend at Bidens’, but already the audience seems to be losing interest,” he said. “Unfortunately for all of us watching, it’s easy to see how this is all going to end.”

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‘Appalling’: Boys made to apologise to female classmates on behalf of gender

Respect is something "shown by the parents" in the home to their sons and daughters, according to social commentator Prue MacSween. Her comments come amid news boys at a Victorian school were asked to stand up during assembly and apologise to female classmates for offensive behaviour on behalf of the male gender. “Not every man is like the vile blokes that we’ve been seeing over the last period of time,” Ms MacSween told Sky News host Peta Credlin. “I would say that really most Australian men respect women. “Generally it’s up to the women and the home to make sure you instill that respect in both their daughters and the sons.” “Respect is shown by how the parents interact and how you treat your children – I think it is really appalling that these boys were singled out and made to feel so bad.”

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China’s Xiaomi to make Electric Vehicles: sources

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi plans to make electric vehicles using Great Wall Motor's factory, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Flora Bradley-Watson reports.

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Biden’s first press conference was ‘another embarrassment’

The idea that Joe Biden is in control or will remain in control is “pure fantasy” as the US President is “clearly” purely a front man, according to Sky News host Rowan Dean. Speaking about President Biden’s recent first press conference, Mr Dean said it was just “another embarrassment” and the “sneering of Trump was pathetic". “Biden is clearly purely a front man,” he told Sky News host Peta Credlin.

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Travel agents impacted by border closures: ‘it’s a mess’

Traveltoo owner Neil Wood says travel agents have been left in “a mess” after being hit hard by border closures. “My revenue is 95 per cent down on the same time last year,” Mr Wood told Sky News host Peta Credlin. “It’s not just me, it’s a lot of travel agents in the same situation as I am”. “Not only have agents had no revenue for the last 12 months, they’re still refunding commission for sales that they made in 2019”. “What a lot of people don’t understand is when you buy a ticket from a travel agent and you cancel the ticket you get a refund – that’s fine – but then the airline sends the agent a bill for the commission, so not only are you not making any money, you’re paying back money you’ve earned the year before”. “It’s a mess.”

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Floodwater should be ‘transported to food production areas’

Broadcaster Luke grant says a good solution to the flooding in NSW would be to find a way of transporting the “big patch of dirty freshwater” to food production areas which are hurt by drought. “We need to be best prepared as we can be”, Mr Grant said. “If poor decisions like allowing people to build where there is a 1 in 50 flood risk or there is not the hazard reduction burning or the like going on – I think we’ve got to attack that first and I’m not for another level of bureaucracy I have to tell you. “You see the satellite image of Australia and the oceans and seas around our country – there is this big patch of dirty fresh water that could have been stored and used for – here’s a crazy idea- find a way to get it to where we grow stuff, so that we can always grow stuff – you know food, pretty important.”

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Technology leading emissions reduction across the economy: Angus Taylor

Energy Minister Angus Taylor says "there are already instances of people refusing to accept flatulence from cattle" in the agriculture industry despite technology leading to reduced emissions across the economy. "We want to see continued investment in our all-important export industries... the irony of what you're seeing is these industries are reducing emissions in our customer countries," he said. "It's important we continue to see that our coal is cleaner than competitor countries and we continue to see investment in these all-important industries. "The nature of our exports will change over time; it always has, it always will, but we want to see that continued investment and - we as a government - will do all we can to attract it."

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Canberra needs a ‘female champion’ amid the panic at Parliament: Peta Credlin

The claims over the last six weeks have combined in the public mind to create the strong impression of a “government that’s lost control”, and what’s needed is a “female champion,” according to Sky News host Peta Credlin. “If a week is a long time in politics, six weeks is an eternity; that’s how long the government has been reeling from a succession of sexual assault, and in recent days seedy revelations,” Ms Credlin said. “Brittany Higgins, Christian Porter, and now the debauched gang of four and their utter contempt for the women MPs they’re supposed to work for. Each case is different and separate”. “They’ve coalesced in the public mind to create the strong impression of a government that’s lost control, a government not focused on people, and a parliament that’s frankly an embarrassment.” Penny Wong, Tanya Plibersek, and Kristina Keneally are “making the case for the prosecution”, while Scott Morrison is essentially “making the case for the defence," Ms Credlin said. “Maybe Coalition women are making the case too, but they’re all but invisible and inaudible, in fact, the only Coalition woman who’s made any impact over the last few weeks has been Nicolle Flint, and she’s leaving the Parliament. “How can you refute the claim that the Liberal Party has an issue with women when the case is being made by Labor women of political consequence, and it's not being countered by Liberal women, of equal political substance?"

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Gender quotas are ‘not a fix-all’ for problems women face at work

Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson says gender quotas are "not a fix-all" for the problems faced in the workplace for women as the Liberal Party considers adopting quotas in parliament. "I came into the parliament after running against five men in pre-selection and winning that pre-selection," she said told Sky News host Chris Kenny. "We've also had some great leaps forward in the last federal election when we had almost equal numbers of men and women coming into the parliament. "I certainly want to see more Liberal women but I think the big problem for us is we've only got 15 per cent of women in safe seats."

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Spring Snow Shower Hits Parts of Central Colorado

Residents of Black Forest, Colorado, were treated to an unexpected spring snow shower on Tuesday, March 30, that blanketed the area in at least an inch of snowfall. Footage uploaded by Twitter user @LittleVodkaOwl shows their backyard covered in thick snow, as a flurry dumps more on their home. The National Weather Service issued a Hazardous Weather Warning for the region, cautioning residents of scattered flurries across south-central and southeast Colorado. Credit: @LittleVodkaOwl via Storyful

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Hazzard ‘extremely angry’ over ‘misleading’ vaccine comments

New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard says he is "extremely angry" over the federal government’s “misleading” coronavirus vaccine comments, as he demands an apology. Earlier on Wednesday the federal government said it was the states who are to blame for the rollout speed of the vaccine. “Let me make it very clear, I am as angry as I have ever been in this 15 months of war against this virus,” Mr Hazzard said. “All governments in Australia should be working together. Can I point out also that just in New South Wales alone last week, we are in week six, last week was the fifth week, we were under the impression from the advice we received from the Federal Government that we would receive just over 13,000 vaccines. “What they actually gave us, with no forward announcement, was 45,000 and a few days later there is a press report saying we haven’t distributed them all. “Well, you get 45,000 items dumped on your front door at night and told ‘now you should have it out by the next morning’ no-one would be able to do that.”

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Four NSW shires plunged into new restrictions over fresh case

One new coronavirus case has plunged Byron Bay and three surrounding shires into fresh restrictions in a pre-emptive bid to prevent a health crisis. All venues in the Byron, Ballina, Lismore and Tweed shires have reverted to the four-square metre rule with all patrons asked to remain seated at all times. The number of people allowed to visit a household has been capped at 30 visitors. Premier Gladys Berejiklian asked that residents in the four local government areas wear face masks – and they are being made mandatory in retail settings, hospitality venues for workers, in ride shares and on public transport. She flagged while it was not mandatory it was the state government’s “very strong preference” that residents in the affected shires do not travel outside their local areas. NSW residents planning on travelling to the Byron region over the Easter holiday were also asked to reconsider their plans. “We won't be policing that but it is very strong advice," Ms Berejiklian said.

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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk promises to reveal lockdown outcome at 5pm Wednesday

QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk promised to reveal Brisbane's lockdown outcome at 5pm Wednesday.

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Tennessee Police Rescue Family and Dog From Floodwaters

Officers from the Lebanon Police Department rescued a family and their dog from floodwaters on Sunday, March 28. According to the National Weather Service, upwards of 7 to 9 inches fell in some parts of Tennessee during a 24-hour period over the weekend, leading to widespread flooding and at least four fatalities. This footage, taken in the early hours of March 28, shows officers helping a family and their dog, Emma, move from their flooded home to safety. Water submerged part of a large vehicle used by officers, which the Lebanon Police Department identified as an “MRAP rescue vehicle.” “If any of you have seen that vehicle in person, you’d know that it’s a beast, and that water is very high,” the department wrote in a Facebook post. Credit: Lebanon Police Department via Storyful

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Police Carry Out Coffin of Officer Killed in Boulder Mass Shooting

Slain police officer Eric Talley was remembered at a funeral service in Lafayette, Colorado, on March 30, a week after the mass shooting in Boulder. Officer Talley was one of 10 people killed in the mass shooting at a King Soopers supermarket on March 22. This video shows colleagues carrying his coffin out of the service at Flatirons Community Church through a tunnel of saluting officers and the sound of bagpipes. Credit: Boulder Police Department via Storyful

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Man Arrested After Arson Attacks at Masonic Lodges in Vancouver

Police arrested a 42-year-old man in Vancouver, Canada, on Tuesday, March 30, in connection with “a series of arsons” at Masonic lodges in Vancouver, local police said in a statement. Police launched investigations after fires were reported in quick succession at three lodges on Tuesday morning, including two in North Vancouver and one in Vancouver. North Vancouver RMCP said they received reports of fires at Lynn Valley Lodge at 6.45 am and at the Duke of Connaught Lodge No. 64 (North Vancouver Masonic Centre) shortly before 7 am. The third fire was reported just before 7.30 am at the Masonic Temple near Vancouver’s Rupert Street and East 29th Avenue, the Vancouver Police Department said. Footage provided by Renu Bakshi, shows smoke billowing from the Masonic lodge in North Vancouver. According to local authorities, the suspect was arrested near North Fraser Way and Marine Way in Burnaby, saying in a statement that arson charges will be recommended to Crown counsel. Credit: Renu Bakshi via Storyful

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Derek Chauvin Trial: Teen Who Filmed George Floyd’s Arrest, Testifies

Darnella Frazier, a then-17-year-old high-school student who recorded the viral video of the encounter between George Floyd and Derek Chauvin, testified on the second day of the former police officer's murder trial. Photo: Jim Mone/AP

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Bluesfest music festival in Byron Bay to be attended by thousands

Byron Bay Mayor Simon Richardson says the region’s Bluesfest music festival has a “fantastic” COVIDSafe plan but there are concerns about ensuring south east Queensland ticket holders do not attend due to the latest outbreak. Any decisions about cancelling the event would depend on COVID test results in the community, after Queensland reported five new cases on Tuesday in people who had attend a party in Byron Bay. “I think so far we haven’t had a positive result, but we’ll learn more about that mid-morning and obviously we’ll respond then," he told Sky News. “So clearly if there’s a lot of cases and south east Queensland just over our border explodes a bit, I would expect the government to re-look at it". Mr Richardson said the organisers want to support the music industry and the jobs it created for Byron Bay despite probably taking a financial hit to do so. “Their COVID safety plan on site is fantastic, the only concern of course we’ve got is the maybe 5,000 south east Queensland ticket holders and whether they will not come," he said. “I think just asking them not to come or just requesting certain people do certain things perhaps isn’t enough for our local community, we’d like clear directions and orders rather than requests”.

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States ‘can’t keep shutting borders’ over a few cases

New South Wales Treasurer Dominic Perrottet says the state has always sought to act in the national interest by keeping borders open. This comes as a number of states closed off borders to Queensland after several cases emerged in Brisbane. “We’ve invested a lot in our contact tracing teams and ultimately through this period of time we have always wanted to act in the national interest and keep borders open,” Mr Perrottet told Sky News. “We can’t just be shutting down borders on every couple of cases that come through.”

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‘Embarrassing’: Albo lashes scare campaign

Anthony Albanese has unveiled Labor’s first electric vehicles policy since Scott Morrison accused them of wanting to “end the weekend”, which the Opposition Leader has lashed as “embarrassing”.

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Qld Health Minister tested for COVID-19

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D‘Ath is in isolation after being tested for COVID-19 amid a concerning outbreak in Brisbane.

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Queensland three-day lockdown to be reviewed on Thursday

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has delayed reviewing Queensland’s current three-day lockdown until Thursday after previously flagging a Wednesday update. Queensland recorded two new locally acquired cases on Wednesday, down from eight the previous day in what the premier hailed as “very encouraging”. “The signs are very encouraging, and I want to thank everybody involved in this,” she said. The Sunshine State is currently in day two of its three day lockdown announced on Monday where the premier also said health authorities will review the lockdown on Wednesday. Ms Palaszczuk has walked those comments back telling the media her government will be providing an update on Thursday. “Fingers crossed, all will be looking good for Easter,” she said. “It won't be made on Wednesday night. It is made on Thursday morning when we get the most up to date information. “We'll be making those decisions tomorrow (Thursday), but if it's encouraging news tomorrow, we will be lifting the hotspot for Greater Brisbane. “The only time that we can update people with the most accurate information is 9am in the morning.”

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Two new cases linked to Princess Alexandria hospital cluster

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young says contact tracers have already linked the two new locally acquired cases identified overnight in Queensland to the Princess Alexandria hospital cluster. One of the cases was a second nurse who worked in Brisbane at the Prince Alexandria hospital and the other case lives in the same household as the nurse. Ms Young said, “it's household transmission, and we know that household transmission is our highest risk at the start of any outbreak”. The first nurse identified in the cluster previously attended a party in Byron Bay with a group of friends, triggering a super-spreader event.

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‘The signs are very encouraging’: Queensland reports just two new local cases

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has reported two new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the state which are linked to the Princess Alexandra hospital nurse. “So today we only have three new cases, now one is hotel quarantine and two are community acquired but they are linked to the PA nurse," she said. "So it is another nurse at that PA COVID ward, my understanding is that she was vaccinated". The premier said the two new cases came from a total of 33,408 tests conducted over the past 24 hours. “That is a massive, massive number," she said. “I think that's probably our highest and I do want to thank Queenslanders for coming out and doing that. “So if we see the same number of test results tomorrow, this is very, very encouraging news”. Ms Palaszczuk urged residents to come forward for testing if they experience any symptoms because it is “critical” to rule out any unlinked community transmission. “The signs are very encouraging, and I want to thank everybody involved in this."

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‘Heads should roll’ over Queensland hospital outbreak

Ipswich restaurant owner Ross Williams says Greater Brisbane’s three-day is an “absolute joke” and he cannot understand how a nurse and doctor were both working while unvaccinated. He told Sky News many businesses were only just recovering from the first three-day lockdown imposed on Greater Brisbane in early January. “The loss of turnover can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars … places just shut because they can’t cope,” Mr Williams said. “This lockdown could be devastating I think because really it’s just come out of the blue.” He told Sky News he believed the Palaszczuk government when they said earlier there would be no further lockdowns. “[Dr Jeanette] Young’s told us, twice I’ve heard her say that they won’t be putting us back into lockdown and I’m thinking ‘that’s good, they’ve obviously got it under control’ and then you hear that a doctor and a nurse hasn’t been vaccinated and they didn’t make it mandatory,” Mr Williams said. “Heads should roll, is her job going to go? “Someone has to be sacked … it’s just ridiculous.”

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Domestic violence risk increases 35% when women earn more than male partners

A groundbreaking decade-long Australian study has found women earning more than their male partners are more likely to fall victim to physical and sexual violence at home.

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Northeastern Winds Blow Across Volcanic Eruption in Iceland

An Iceland resident faced strong winds to witness lava flowing from the Fagradalsfjall volcano on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, footage posted on Tuesday, March 30, shows. This video taken by Jónas Unnarsson shows the eruption in Geldingadalur Valley, which has been ongoing for 10 days as of Tuesday. On Tuesday, a northeasterly wind was forecast to blow pollution that could potentially accumulate near the eruption, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. Credit: Jónas Unnarsson via Storyful

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Watch live: QLD Premier COVID-19 update

There have been more COVID-19 cases in Queensland overnight. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has the latest now.

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Berejiklian demonstrated outbreaks can be managed with ‘bullet proof’ contact tracing

States are capable of managing COVID hotspots if they have “bullet proof” contact tracing systems which Premier Gladys Berejiklian has highlighted over the course of the pandemic, according to Resources Minister Keith Pitt. Greater Brisbane residents have spent their second of three nights in lockdown after the Palaszczuk government announced a snap 72-hour lockdown on Monday after the state recorded new cases of community transmission. “Hopefully Annastacia Palaszczuk - the premier - can get this under control and their contact tracing is at the point it should be after we’ve had this around for nearly a year,” Mr Pitt told Sky News. He said the vaccine rollout was also instrumental in preventing potentially damaging virus outbreaks. “[Rollouts] are through the state health systems, at a Commonwealth level we’re doing everything we can to make sure that the vaccine is supplied,” he said. “There are a couple of pieces to all of this, the Commonwealth has its part in terms of the vaccine rollout, the states have theirs, but certainly in terms of public health systems in the states they are in charge of those components. “No one wants to see us in a brawl over this, we’ve just got to get through it and we need to manage it as well and effectively as we possibly can. “You can manage hotspots. Gladys Berejiklian has demonstrated that that can be done, we just need to make sure that our contact tracing is bullet proof and we manage those localised outbreaks.”

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Greater Brisbane lockdown a ‘catastrophic kick in the guts’ for Qld businesses

Cairns Adventure Group Director Roderic Rees says Greater Brisbane’s snap lockdown is a “catastrophic kick in the guts” for tourism operators and other businesses in Queensland. “This is a huge kick in the teeth for our region,” he said. “Just days after JobKeeper ending, we were seeing some green shoots, our forward bookings were looking good, and we’ve just had the phones ringing off the hook for all the wrong reasons, just cancellation after cancellation. “Confidence at an operator level is at an all-time low up here”. Mr Rees said Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk cannot blame the federal government for the economic crisis which will be created by the lockdown and tourism operators desperately need support from the state government. “If this goes through Easter, and it’s looking likely, it’s going to be diabolical for us up here,” he said. “It’s time she puts her hand in her pocket and understands that this region is on its knees. “We’ve been holding on since Christmas until now, we’ve seen some green shoots, we’ve got our businesses ready to go and then you get this catastrophic kick in the guts and we’ve got other premiers saying don’t travel to Queensland. “We need some sort of recognition that this is kick after kick after kick economically and we’re going to need some sort of assistance from the state government".

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Firefighters Battle Raging Fire at Paper Recycling Plant in Chicago

Firefighters battled a growing blaze at a paper recycling plant in an industrial area of Chicago, Illinois, on Tuesday, March 30. The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) said the fire started in an adjacent prairie and spread to a pile of paper being stored outside at a paper recycling factory before igniting the building itself. CFD said a hazmat unit was also called in for propane and “containers of acid” on the property. CFD reported that rail service to Midway Airport had been suspended. There were no injuries as of approximately 5 pm local time. Credit: Chicago Fire Media via Storyful

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Crass sex assault joke ‘a bit of humour’

Federal Liberal Party vice-president Teena McQueen has opened up about a shocking sexual harassment joke, saying she was trying to “inject a little bit of humour” into a meeting about the NSW branch.

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Protestors gather outside Derek Chauvin murder trial

Protestors have gathered outside the court complex in downtown Minneapolis where Derek Chauvin is facing three different murder charges for the death of African American George Floyd who died in May last year. Members of the community are joining to make their voices heard by chanting and holding banners outside the heavily fortified court house. The opening arguments in the former police officer’s trial focused on Floyd’s cause of death, with Mr Chauvin’s defence arguing drugs in his system coupled with underlying health conditions contributed to his death. Prosecution lawyers dismissed the claim, urging the jury to consider the length of time the then-police officer spent with his knee on Floyd’s neck. The court also heard from the 911 dispatcher on duty on the day of the incident who took the original call, saying she watched it unfold through CCTV footage on the street. She also said believed the footage had frozen because Mr Chauvin took so long to move. Authorities expect the trial will last between two and four weeks. Concerns were raised, however, about escalating levels of violence in the community if the jury handed down a not-guilty verdict.

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Nation’s virus deaths suddenly skyrocket

A report published by Mexico’s health ministry showed that by mid-February there had been just over 294,000 deaths “associated with COVID-19”.

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England takes a significant step on its ‘irreversible’ road to freedom

England has taken a small but significant step out of lockdown, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged the nation to proceed with caution on its “irreversible roadmap to freedom." People have hit beaches, pools and golf courses across the United Kingdom today as the country’s stay at home order was revised to “stay local." Up to six people, or two households are allowed to gather outdoors, and outdoor sports have resumed. “I do hope we can take advantage of this moment and the beautiful weather to play sport, to take exercise, to have fun and to build our national resilience,” Mr Johnson said. “The way to continue on our cautious, but irreversible roadmap to freedom is to follow the rules and remember; hands, face, space and fresh air."

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‘Highly sexual’: Ninth accuser speaks out

A ninth woman has come out against Andrew Cuomo, saying the embattled New York Governor grabbed her face, “manhandled” her and forcibly kissed her in a “highly sexual manner” while touring her flood-damaged home in 2017.

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Container Ship Blocking Suez Canal Freed

The Suez Canal Authority announced on March 29 that the container ship blocking the canal had been refloated. The authority said navigation in the canal would “be resumed immediately upon the complete restoration of the vessel’s direction.” The ship, the Ever Given, was bound for the “Bitter Lakes waiting area for technical inspection,” the authority said. On March 23, the Ever Given became wedged across the crucial waterway, disrupting global shipping for days. Credit: Suez Canal Authority via Storyful

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Flooding Outside Bristol Motor Speedway as NASCAR Postpones Racing

Flooding was seen outside the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee on March 28, as NASCAR announced racing at the track would be postponed until the following day. Several days of sunny weather were forecast for the area on March 29, bringing to an end a spell of record rain and flooding. Credit: Tyler Hilton via Storyful

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Is Australia too ‘woke’ or was ‘Hey, Hey’ a joke?

Daryl Somers has claimed "cancel culture" has killed TV comedy, but is Hey Hey It's Saturday what we want to go back to?

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Byron Bay is ‘waiting on health updates’ from Brisbane clusters

Byron Bay Mayor Simon Richardson says the Bluesfest is still slated to go ahead as Byron Bay has recorded zero cases of COVID-19 so far. Mr Richardson said he hoped the Brisbane lockdown would be the “last reminder of COVID” and said there had been an “intense wait” to hear from health officials. “I guess we just keep waiting for updates, obviously those ticket holders from Brisbane currently aren’t allowed in for the Thursday and we sort of wait and see how the lockdown works for Brisbane and Greater Brisbane area,” he told Sky News.

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‘Disgusted’: Lewd text MP told to quit

WARNING: Explicit content

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Australia ‘has to look at’ reestablishing domestic manufacturing

Sky News contributor Stephen Conroy says Labor Leader Anthony Albanese’s plan to inject $15 billion in Australia’s manufacturing sector is something “Australia has to look at." “What we’ve seen is the supply chain issues that have been thrown up by COVID, you can’t just make the simple decision ‘let’s just manufacture it in China’,” he told Sky News. “What the COVID pandemic has shown is that Australia has got a very soft underbelly in its ability to look after itself in moments of crisis.” Mr Conroy said Australia’s trading partners can no longer be trusted to honour agreements and pointed to the European Union’s withholding of vaccines to Australia over supply issues and manufacturing needs to be re-established. “In this new environment we have to have manufacturing capabilities so we can support our defence industry particularly, we’ve got to have supply chains in vaccines and pharmaceuticals so that we’re not buying in other countries.”

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Queensland Health identifies two ‘distinct’ COVID clusters

Queensland health authorities have identified two distinct COVID-19 clusters as eight additional cases were recorded overnight Six of the new locally-acquired cases are linked, while the other two under investigation. Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young detailed the genomic sequencing of the new infections, confirming the two under investigation were potentially linked to an older case. She said genomic sequencing identified there were two separate clusters, one relating back to a doctor who contracted the virus treating a positive patient at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Five of the six locally acquired cases overnight, however, were linked to a second cluster stemming from a nurse – who authorities believed contracted the virus while working at the PA Hospital. Dr Young said the nurse’s sister also became infected, and all new cases linked to the cluster had all attended a party down in Byron Bay – taking the case total in the second cluster to seven. Authorities said testing indicated the sixth community case detected overnight was also linked to a known case. “So we don’t have community transmission out there that we’re not aware of, at the moment all of our cases are linked to either the first cluster with that doctor who worked at the PA or this second cluster which is a brand new cluster, unrelated to that first cluster linked to the nurse who’s worked at PA,” Dr Young said.

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Derek Chauvin Trial: Key Takeaways From Opening Arguments

The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd, began Monday with opening arguments from the prosecution and the defense. WSJ’s Joe Barrett reports. Photo: CHRISTOPHER MONTERROSA/BLOOMBERG NEWS

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Jean Pierre Adams: Football star still in coma 39 years after operation gone wrong

What should have been a routine knee surgery turned into an almost four-decade comatose state for famed French footballer Jean Pierre Adams.

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‘Ever Given’ inspected for damage after being freed from the Suez Canal

The 400-metre-long cargo ship the ‘Even Given’ has finally been freed by tugboats after nearly a week blocking one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and is being inspected for damage. The Suez Canal is open again and the backlog is starting to clear but it will be some days before shipping on the vital waterway returns to normal.

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Lockdown ‘absolutely right call’ as Queensland records six new locally-acquired cases

Queensland has recorded eight locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 with 78 active cases of the virus currently in the state’s hospitals. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said six of the new cases were linked, while two are currently under investigation, and two cases overseas-acquired arriving in Queensland from Papua New Guinea. The premier also announced the existence of a further COVID cluster, with one now linked to the Princess Alexandra Hospital doctor and the new cluster linked to the hospital nurse. “The good news is that these cases are linked,” Premier Palaszczuk said. Queensland’s hospitals now have 78 active coronavirus cases in hospital up from five in the past month. The growing cases on Tuesday comes after the Queensland government plunged the entire state into a three-day lockdown on Monday night in an effort to stem the spread of the virus. The premier pointed to the case increase on Tuesday as evidence the lockdown was the right decision to make in the midst of the growing clusters. “The steps that we took to take, to go into this lockdown, as you can see by those numbers of community transmission today, was absolutely the right call,” she said.

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Qld cluster grows overnight by eight

Queensland’s COVID-19 outbreak has grown by eight cases overnight, as millions of residents wake to their first day of lockdown.

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‘Sold out’: Free vouchers gone within minutes

The final allocation of $200 vouchers for travel in regional Victoria has been exhausted just minutes after being released to the public.

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Snap lockdowns have not uncovered cases which could not be found by contact tracers

Infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon told Sky News snap lockdowns have so far not proven to uncover additional COVID cases which cannot be discovered through good contact tracing. “How extensive and you make these directions and for how long is always a bit arguable, even the value of a short lockdown,” he told Sky News. “As far as I can see, in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane when they tried it before, and … two episodes in Auckland, in none of those episodes has the short lockdown, I think, turned up any other cases that weren’t found by good contact tracing. “The real problem is we’ve got this problem for another year or even two years so if we lock down every time we have a case, for a few days or a week, I’m not sure that’s going to be sustainable. “The benefits from finding more cases which so far we haven’t, does that really outweigh the additional costs that are there?”

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Health orders issued to Greater Brisbane residents in NSW

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant is urging state residents to remain vigilant for flu-like symptoms as health authorities are on alert due to the coronavirus cluster in Queensland. She asked that people from Greater Brisbane do not visit aged care facilities, hospitals or disability care homes as a precautionary measure but flagged essential end of life care and essential visits were permitted. Dr Chant also reiterated Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s plea that anyone who travelled to NSW from Greater Brisbane since March 20 mirror the region’s lockdown restrictions.

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Fitzgibbon denies claim coal has ‘limited future’

Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon says he rejects the proposition pushed by the extreme left that coal has a limited future in Australia. “It’s just simply not true. 95 per cent of the Hunter’s coal goes to export markets mainly in Asia, and everywhere throughout Asia, they are building new highly efficient coal generators,” Mr Fitzgibbon told Sky News. “Our demand for both our metallurgical coal and our steaming coal will be strong for decades to come. We have the highest quality coal in the world and it’s currently attracting a high price. “We’ll continue to provide it while there is demand for it.”

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MP slams mask mandate: Cairns ‘further from Brisbane than Melbourne’

Queensland MP Warren Entsch has criticised restrictions implemented across the entire Sunshine State after four locally acquired cases were identified on Monday. Three of the four new cases travelled while still infectious, with two traveling to Byron Bay and another to Gladstone, prompting state-wide restrictions. Mr Entsch said the mask mandate was “insane” in regions which are further away from Brisbane than Sydney or Melbourne. “They should be wearing masks in Sydney and Melbourne because we are further away from Brisbane than Melbourne is," he said. Tourist destinations such as Cairns were hoping a bumper Easter influx of tourists would take the string out of the end of JobKeeper. However, in response to Brisbane’s snap three-day lockdown several states have imposed hard borders on Queensland.

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Popular mayor snubbed as Tasmanian Labor unveils election team

Tasmanian Labor leader Rebecca White has unveiled the team she will lead to the state’s May 1 election, but questions have been raised after popular Kingborough mayor Dean Winter missed out on preselection. Many within the party have been angered by the decision and Mr Winter’s supporters, including former premier David Bartlett are blaming health union leaders for the pre-election snub. “I understand that there were more nominations than positions, and that’s an endorsement of how excited people are to run for the Labor Party,” Ms White said.

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Tough new vaccine rules after outbreak

The Queensland Premier has revealed a new mandate to vaccinate frontline health workers after two outbreaks in the Sunshine State were linked to an unvaccinated nurse and a doctor.

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‘Business as usual’ as North Korea tests missiles

Former Pentagon advisor Jason Israel says “it’s that time of year” when North Korea conducts missile launches. The rogue nation launched two missiles last week into the sea, the first of its kind in a year. “We’ve talked about the cycle of them realising that it’s been a year since they have been in the front pages of the paper, and it’s time for them to do a test launch,” Mr Israel told Sky News. “We also saw that Japan and South Korea held high level meetings with the US and one of these launches went into the sea between North Korea and Japan. So it is provocative in that sense. “Right now it’s business as usual.”

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New step to contain ‘worrying’ cluster

Brisbane residents will have access to urgent COVID-19 testing even when asymptomatic as fears grow over a cluster in the city.

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Biden to ‘confront’ China’s economic prowess with multi-trillion infrastructure boost

Sky News contributor Michael Ware says President Joe Biden “certainly is not stepping back” on a number of the foreign policy achievements introduced by Donald Trump. Tariffs and restrictions remain in place against China and a key focus of the Biden administration's first months in office has been on strengthening military alliances. Mr Ware said Mr Biden wants to continue to “confront China on the economic front and is looking to do so through an “economic renewal” in America achieved via a multi-trillion infrastructure spending plan. "At the core of President Biden’s foreign policy is strengthening America’s middle class and that’s what he sees will be an engine that will enable America to drive forward into this new age of great power politics”. The US currently ranks 13th in the world on infrastructure spending and only allocates a third of the amount allocated by China.

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Sickening act at young man’s funeral

The sickening violence that has rocked the South-East Asian nation of Myanmar hit a new low overnight when security forces opened fire on a crowd gathered for the funeral of a young student.

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‘This is not a zoo’: Biden administration blocks Ted Cruz from filming migrant facility

Senator Ted Cruz has released a video he says shows a Biden administration staffer clashing with him at a border facility and trying to prevent him from filming – telling the Republican “this is not a zoo, sir”. Senator Cruz said the facility he filmed in Donna, Texas, was a “giant tent city”. He and eighteen of his colleagues visited the border to see for themselves the unfolding humanitarian crisis. “We went and toured the Biden cages, you know for four years we heard Democrats and the media talking about kids in cages under president Trump, Joe Biden has built more cages, the cages are bigger and they’re more full,” he said. In the video Senator Cruz shared, the staffer quickly jumped in the frame after he began filming. “Please give dignity to the people,” the staffer said. “So you work for the commissioner, you’re a senior adviser, you were hired two weeks ago and you’re instructed to ask us to not have any pictures taken here because the political leadership at DHS does not want the American people to know it,” Senator Cruz said. “Please respect the rules,” the staffer said. “You keep standing in front of the picture, so you don’t want the pictures taken, the rules are arbitrary, and they’re designed to keep the American people in the dark,” Senator Cruz said. Senator Cruz told Fox News the children in the Donna facility were testing positive for COVID-19 at “roughly” a 10 per cent rate. “They’re locking them in these cages where COVID in a pandemic is a real risk, it is inhumane, it is unconscionable, and it’s the direct result of the political decisions that Joe Biden has made,” he said. “It's massive, it's designed to hold a thousand people but under COVID restrictions, its capacity is 250. “It right now has over 4,000 people in it, it is at a 1,500 per cent capacity and that meant you saw in these cages children, little boys and little girls, side by side, they're not six-feet apart, they’re not even six inches apart.”

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Local pastor says activists guarding Floyd memorial are from out of town

Local Pastor Curtis Farrar says he believes the more confrontational protesters guarding the barricades at the crossroads where George Floyd died are not members of the local community. A memorial has been set up and an autonomous zone established by activists despite a local government push to reopen the space to traffic. The area has seen an increased number of shootings resulting in the death of one man, triggering a response from locals who said they don’t want police shut out from the area. Minnesota NAACP Vice President PJ Hill said minority businesses had lost 75 per cent of their revenue due to the reduced traffic caused by the barriers and fears over increased crime levels

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Biden is ‘weak’ and an ’embarrassment’ on China: Trump

Former president Donald Trump has accused the Biden administration of being "weak" on China, after Beijing officials castigated the US government during a recent high-level meeting. US and Chinese officials have clashed during their first face-to-face meeting since Joe Biden became president. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi shared with reporters their sharply different views of each other and the world at the beginning of the two-day talks in Alaska. Relations between the world's two largest economies were already tense before the two met thanks to trade disputes, the coronavirus pandemic, Beijing's assertiveness over the South China Sea, and human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Mr Blinken said China's actions "threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability", adding: "That's why they're not merely internal matters, and why we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today." However, Mr Yang was having none of it, speaking for more than 15 minutes and criticising American democracy, its treatment of minorities, and its foreign and trade policies. Speaking with Fox News, Mr Trump said Chinese officials would "never have spoken" to his administration in this manner. "We never had anything like that happen. … That was an absolute embarrassment to our country. I could not believe it," Mr Trump said. "We should have walked out. Nobody ever talked to my group that way, have nobody ever talked to me that way, I can tell you that. "If they did, I would have doubled up the tariffs -- which, frankly, were something we probably should have done, anyway. I took in billions and billions of dollars from China. We were bringing businesses back. It was really going well. And China respected us. They never spoke to us the way they spoke [to Biden's team]

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Government is only ‘picking winners’ in removing JobKeeper payment

The government is removing the JobKeeper wage subsidy too quickly as it leaves behind thousands of workers who are not yet back at pre-pandemic levels, according to Australian Council of Trade Unions President Michele O’Neil. “For some people there is a recovery but for many people – and its mainly low income workers and people in regional parts of Australia - there is not a recovery yet in place and we still haven’t got through this pandemic,” she told Sky News. “Really the government is saying they’re picking winners, they’re saying ‘well it’s ok for some’ and they’re abandoning many, many thousands of workers and the small businesses they work in. “We can’t pretend that everything is back to normal because that is just not the truth and it’s important that we have a recovery that’s a fair one. “We’ve got to make sure it’s fair, make sure it’s even and not just have recovery for some.”

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Clearance rate of 84 per cent nationwide

Australia’s property market returned a clearance rate of 84 per cent at the weekend, from 3,800 homes up for sale. Sky News contributor Peter Switzer says the results are quite extraordinary. “Sydney was 87 per cent, Canberra 86 and Melbourne 84. Nationally the number was huge.”

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Cows Wade Through Floodwater in Franklin, Tennessee

Animals waded through floodwater in Franklin, Tennessee, on Sunday, March 28, after heavy rains inundated parts of the state. The National Weather Service said on Sunday that Nashville had seen its second-largest two-day rainfall in history. The Metro Nashville Police Department said at least four people died after flooding swept the city. John Gaca filmed this footage on Sunday that shows a person on horseback leading two cows through floodwater in Franklin, a city about 20 miles south of Nashville. Credit: John Gaca via Storyful

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Dad stabbed by intruders in brutal attack

A Sydney father is lucky to be alive after he was stabbed multiple times in a confrontation with a group of alleged car thieves.

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Scandal-plagued ministers to be demoted

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will unveil a new frontbench on Monday after two of his ministers have spent weeks engulfed in scandal.

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Greater Brisbane snap lockdown is ‘overkill’

Ochre Restaurant Executive Chef and owner Craig Squire says the three-day Greater Brisbane lockdown triggered by four new cases identified overnight appears to be “overkill.” From 5pm tonight, Greater Brisbane will be plunged into a 72-hour lockdown, with masks also made mandatory across Queensland in a bid to prevent any further outbreaks. “It’s very disappointing news,” he told Sky News. “This is just ludicrous, it’s outrageous.” Probed about the end of JobKeeper as of midnight last night, Mr Squire said while Treasurer Josh Frydenberg “might go on about how good the economy is going in general” it was not the case where his restaurant was in Cairns. “We shouldn’t be left hung out to dry so to speak, we still need support ongoing,” he said.

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Marketers speak to Sky News about their view of the next 12 months

As the economy rebounds from the shock of the pandemic, marketers are pushing to build relationships and find new customers. “Many of our greatest opportunities are found in times of challenge and many in our business community are discovering that right now,” said Sky News host Ross Greenwood. Business Weekend this week spoke to some of Australia's top marketers to find out how they approaching the challenge of holding and building their customer base.

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Vertiv improves the ‘quality of life’ with global IT infrastructure

Vertiv is a global technology company which provides data centres as the resilient backbone of IT infrastructure around the globe. Product Manager for IT & Edge Infrastructure said the problems that Vertiv are solving to make smart places a reality is "ensuring business continuity". “For example apps on phones are always accessible and always on,” he said. “Our solutions better the lives of all Australians by improving the quality of life, mainly through the means of liveability sustainability, efficiency and safety.”

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ADF member tests positive to COVID in the NT

An Australian Defence Force member has tested positive to the coronavirus in the Northern Territory. The 28-year-old - who arrived on a flight from the Middle East - is presenting with mild symptoms and is under the care of the AUSMAT team and the NT Centre for National Resilience. The state has recorded 109 COVID-19 infections since the beginning of the pandemic, all of which have been linked to international or interstate travel with no cases of community transmission.

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Four new COVID cases in Qld

Queensland has recorded 10 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to Monday morning.

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Anthony Sampieri: Child rapist dies in prison

The man who raped and choked a seven-year-old girl inside a public toilet at a dance studio has died a year after being sentenced to life in jail.

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Queensland Police dashcam captures teen hoon doing donuts in the middle of Gold Coast party

A teenage driver has been caught on police dashcam doing burnouts in the middle of a crowded Gold Coast street before attempting to flee from cops.

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Federal government, BHP offer training for regional jobseekers

The federal government and mining giant BHP are offering jobseekers free training courses and advanced apprenticeships in a bid to provide more skilled workers in regional and remote parts of Australia. Up to 1,000 placements will be available through the new partnership across the nation in areas including the Pilbara, Bowen Basin and the Hunter region.

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States and territories urged to declare Greater Brisbane a COVID hotspot

Queensland authorities will declare Greater Brisbane a COVID-19 hotspot from 5pm this evening in conjunction with the three-day lockdown. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also recommended other states and territories declare the area a hot spot as well. “Once we declare it, we are asking other people around the country to do that same thing and declare it as well," she said. Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath confirmed she would be calling her New South Wales counterpart following the press conference particularly because two people had been in Byron Bay while being infectious. She urged anyone in Queensland or who had been travelling in Queensland since Saturday, March 20 and had been in Greater Brisbane to present for testing if they experience any symptoms.

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Biden criticised after Trump announces he will visit US southern border

Many conservatives have questioned why no one senior within the Biden administration has gone down to visit America's southern border as authorities grapple to house and process a surge of unaccompanied minors trying to enter the US. The comments come as former president Donald Trump told Fox News he is planning to visit the area within the next few weeks.

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Greater Brisbane to be plunged into 72-hour lockdown from tonight

Greater Brisbane will enter a three-day lockdown from 5pm this afternoon after recording four new locally acquired infections in the past 24 hours. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk this morning confirmed two of the new infections were known contacts of a previous case, with the other two under investigation. She also announced face masks will also be made mandatory and household gatherings limited to 30 people across Queensland after one of the infected people travelled to Gladstone. “I know this will mean some disruption to people’s lives but we’ve done this before and we’ve got through it over those three days in the past and if everyone does the right thing I’m sure that we will be able to get through it again,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “This is a protective measure but it’s absolutely the right thing to do based on the health advice.” Under the lockdown restrictions, residents of Greater Brisbane will only be allowed to leave their home for four essential reasons – including for food, exercise, essential work and for medical reasons. Schools will also be shut from tomorrow.

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Joe Biden’s ‘horrible’ regime is ‘way more racialised’ than before

President Joe Biden’s administration is keeping the “racial narrative” going because it is the “biggest smoke screen” to all its policies, according to US political commentator Benji Irby. Mr Irby told Sky News the country under Joe Biden at the moment is “absolutely horrible”. “The country is way more racialized than usual; everything’s about race,” he said. “Everybody’s concerned about all types of slights and microaggressions and the left are really taking over everything. “We’re in really bad straits here, it’s not very good”. Mr Irby said the left and the Biden administration are fuelling racial tensions and using it as a “smokescreen”. “No one’s ask asking about Hunter Biden and this new gun scandal, no one’s asking about Joe Biden being bought and sold by China. “No one’s talking about the fact that China now has a larger navy than the US, and that China is making moves towards Taiwan, and is taking over our country as far as busines is concerned. “We’re so busy enthralled in race, enthralled in fighting one another.”

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Grandfather’s ‘horrific’ hit-run crash

A grandfather-of-seven has been identified as the victim of a “horrific” hit-and-run crash in Melbourne’s southeast.

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MPs call for drug testing at Parliament House

Liberal MPs have called for regular drug testing in parliament in a bid to stamp out Canberra’s hard drinking culture and the “problematic” behaviour of colleagues and staffers.

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Prison guard held hostage on livestream

An Oklahoma City corrections officer was taken to a hospital Saturday after being held hostage on the 10th floor of the Oklahoma County Detention Center – with videos of the drama posted online.

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Image that sums up canal crisis

It’s been five days now since a mammoth container ship became lodged in Egypt’s Suez Canal, with one image showing the scale of the crisis.

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Horrific video show man’s last moments

Chilling footage captured by onlookers in Washington, DC shows the final moments before an UberEats driver was killed in a carjacking by two teenage girls.

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Medical journal boss being cancelled is ‘very sinister’

Sky News host James Morrow says the head of the Journal of the American Medical Association being cancelled is “very sinister”. Chief Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association Dr Howard Bauchner was put on leave after one of his sub-editors got in hot water for asserting structural racism is an “unfortunate term” in the medical profession. In a podcast for the journal, Dr Ed Livingston said, “taking racism out of the conversation will help,” and that people are “offended by the implication that we are somehow racist”. The journal then promoted the podcast with a tweet which read “No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in health care?”. Dr Bauchner said the comments were “inaccurate, offensive, and hurtful” but a petition signed by 7,000 people sought to remove him and make him ultimately responsible. This is “very sinister news,” according to Mr Morrow.

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Parents outraged after school forces boys to apologise to girls for gender

Parents at a Victorian school were left “furious” and “outraged” after their sons were forced to stand up during assembly and apologise to girls for being male. The Herald Sun’s Suzan Deblasic told Sky News parents from Brauer College in Warnambool contacted her “really furious” about what the school had done. The parents of the boys were not notified of the assembly before hand and were shocked and “disappointed” to learn the school had forced the boys to apologise. Ms Deblasic said the parents were confused as to why their sons should "all be labelled the same”. “That’s where the outrage was sparked from,” she said.

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Why Qld hasn’t gone into lockdown

Southeast Queenslanders who feared another lockdown breathed a collective sigh of relief on Sunday.

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Contact tracers identify ‘missing link’ connected to recent Queensland cluster

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young says the COVID-19 case reported this morning is believed to be the “missing link” responsible for passing on the virus to the two other cases in the current Queensland cluster. Mr Young said the person in question was the brother of the first case in the outbreak and was now fully recovered. Contact tracing efforts identified the man as a historic case who was no longer infectious with the virus which meant genome sequencing could not be conducted to further confirm the link.

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Lights go out across Europe to mark Earth Hour

Some of Europe's iconic landmarks were plunged into darkness on Saturday evening to mark this year's Earth Hour.

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Barcelona trials concert with rapid COVID-19 tests

Music fans in Barcelona had rapid COVID-19 tests ahead of attending a rock concert on Saturday in a trial that, if successful, could provide a route to recovery for the ravaged live music industry in Spain and beyond.

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Only a ‘fanatical anti-Semite’ would reject pro-Jewish caveat to Labor Palestinian motion

Sky News host Rowan Dean says a motion to add certain pro-Israel conditions to a Labor resolution to unilaterally recognise the state of Palestine will highlight any anti-Semitic sentiment within the party. At the Labor Party's national conference, a union delegate David Bliss will propose requirements to soften the proposed resolution by binding future Labor governments to certain conditions before officially recognising Palestine. The conditions include the requirement Palestinians hold free and fair elections and end the use of capital punishment, the systematic use of torture and arbitrary arrest and repression of political dissent. Mr Dean clarified he was “not accusing anyone in the Labor party of being anti-Semitic” but pointed out only someone with a “fanatical hatred of Israel” could possibly object to Mr Bliss’s motion. "In my opinion, only someone for whom a fanatical hatred of Israel and the Jews is embedded in their support for a Palestine state could possibly object to these conditions". “Watch this space carefully," he said.

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Responsible lending changes in doubt

The booming property market is again raising questions about the sense of young people taking on massive mortgages and making themselves vulnerable if rates rise in the future. It also raises questions about lenders and how vigilant they are in checking the ability for borrowers to repay in all conditions.

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Aussie miners back moon exploration

Within the next three years, NASA has an ambitious plan to send the first woman and the next man to the moon. But this is only the start of something much larger to create a base on the moon; to find water and to launch missions to Mars from space. Australia will be right there with NASA with major mining companies backing local space businesses in their quest to find water on the moon.

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‘Outrageous’: Colleagues turn on MP

Liberal MP Andrew Laming will quit politics at the next federal election and will not move to the crossbench.

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Cancel culture coupled with anti-Semitism ‘ingrained’ in British society

Sky News host Rowan Dean has highlighted escalating anti-Semitic tensions in Europe which remain under the radar but continue to have a significant impact on the lives of Jewish people. He spoke of how cancel culture coupled with anti-Semitic sentiment had impacted high-profile Jewish author Tuvia Tenebom who was unable to find an American publisher for his book on anti-Semitism. Mr Tenebom toured Britain and spoke to many Jews and non-Jews who agreed there was a growing anti-Semitic movement with one interviewee saying anti-Semitism was ingrained in British society. Mr Dean also spoke of Melanie Phillips, an author and blogger who says she feels safer in Jerusalem than London and promoted Mr Tenebom’s book.

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Illegal migrants wearing ‘Joe Biden T-shirts’ line up at Mexican border

President Joe Biden’s “reckless rhetoric and policies” have brought the biggest surge in illegal migration in more than 20 years, according to Sky News host Rita Panahi. “There are illegal migrants on the Mexican border with Joe Biden T-shirts waiting to cross,” she said. The United States is currently on track to receive two million migrants on the southern border alone over the course of 2021 with some facilities already exceeding capacity by 900 per cent. However, Ms Panahi pointed out the celebrities and media have become “suddenly uninterested” in the plight of “kids in cages” despite treating migration problems under Trump as a major crisis. “Under Biden they are not cages but holding facilities. Under Trump the media called them concentration camps. “As the number of migrant children in detention has more than tripled, the very same people who saw kids in cages as the biggest crisis facing the US are suddenly silent. Ms Panahi said, “the issue is now far worse under Biden thanks to him abandoning policies that worked and all but inviting undocumented migrants to cross illegally”. In response to the issue Mr Biden said “well I guess I should be flattered. People are coming because I’m the nice guy … I’m a decent man or however it’s phrased”. The US government is currently paying more than $86 million on hotel rooms to house illegal migrants and have brought about a “humanitarian disaster” by repealing Trump’s asylum reforms.

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Shooter’s sick act during massacre

The accused gunman in Monday’s mass shooting in Boulder was “laughing” as he murdered 10 people and terrorised shoppers inside a King Soopers grocery store, police and a witness said.

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Half of Australia dies without this, it’ll cost you

It’s one of life’s two certainties but nobody wants to talk about it.

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Labor playing ‘cheap politics’ with flood crisis

Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud has accused Labor of playing “cheap politics” with the flood crisis. The opposition said the government has failed to mitigate floods despite a $4 billion emergency response fund which was set up in 2019. “To say the federal government hasn’t been out there and cut the cheque for these people is cheap politics,” Mr Littleproud told Sky News on Sunday. “This shouldn’t be about politics, it should be about the people”. Mr Littleproud said of the $200 million a year, $150 million goes towards repair from catastrophic events and those programs have to be exhausted before funds are set aside for mitigation. Speaking with Sky News host Kieran Gilbert, Mr Littleproud accused Labor of not reading the legislation. “We just say to the opposition you actually either didn’t read the legislation that you supported or you are just playing cheap politics, we should be above it," he said. Mr Littleproud also called on insurance companies to show humanity towards flood victims.

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Number of anti-vaxxers in the US refusing the vaccine ‘steadily declining’

Political Analyst Aidan Smith has touted the Biden administration’s handling of the vaccine rollout with reports indicating a record number of COVID-19 jabs are being administered each day. Mr Smith told Sky News COVID-19 vaccination refusal rates were "steadily declining" as confidence grows in the vaccine and more people come into contact with friends and family members who have received it.

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5-year-old killed in ‘day of shame’

Myanmar has been rocked by its deadliest day since the military seized power, with more than 100 people gunned down by the nation’s security forces and a five-year-old boy among the dead.

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Bringing Hamilton to Australia was ‘the one shining light’ through COVID-19

CEO of Michael Cassel Group Michael Cassel says the Australian production of smash hit musical Hamilton was “the one shining light” in 2020 after lengthy talks about bringing Hamilton to Australia. “It’s something we’ve obviously been working on for a long time, I think our first meeting about bringing Hamilton to Australia was September 2015,” he told Sky News. Mr Cassel said during the lockdowns there were almost daily Zoom calls with producers and trying to get fittings for the cast whilst they were in different states was a challenge but “the team managed to come together and overcome it”. Mr Cassel said the original Hamilton production team of creator and writer Lin-Manuel Miranda, producer Jeffrey Seller, and director Thomas Kail were involved with the casting and design of the Australian production. “To have them there and watching rehearsals and giving notes, it gives an absolute level of authenticity to the show and really fills our cast with that great confidence that they’ve been chosen by the original team.”

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New South Wales Volunteer Crews Clean Up Fallen Trees and Debris After Flooding

Volunteer crews continued cleanup efforts on the North Coast in New South Wales on March 27 after destructive floods swept through the region. Footage released by New South Wales Rural Fire Service shows workers trimming fallen trees and clearing debris along a pier. “No resting this weekend for crews working on the flood cleanup on the north coast,” the fire service wrote in a caption. “As waters continue to recede in most areas, the focus is on cleaning up homes and businesses, and getting infrastructure up and running again.” On Friday, the Bureau of Meteorology warned of ongoing threats despite clear weather, as flood warnings remained in effect across river regions. Credit: NSW Rural Fire Service via Storyful

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Emergency services have ‘shone through’ over past week: Morrison

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has thanked SES for their efforts during the floods, saying their skills have “shone through” over the past week. “This is what our agencies train for, so that in moments of great crisis they can act,” he said. “We have the most professional, well trained volunteers and professional people working in these organisations and their skills have just shone through over this past week. “Their leadership, their management, their organisation, just getting the job done here when people need it the most. “And it might be blue skies here today in Western Sydney, but the job is still going on on the ground as we move into the clean-up phase”. The prime minister also announced $5 million loans for businesses would be extended into flood affected areas to assist in the recovery. “I spoke to the treasurer yesterday and we were able to get it done overnight,” he said. “We’ll be extending those new loan products that we’ve already announced. These are these $5 million loans for businesses up to $250 million in turnover which has two years nothing to pay, 10-year loan terms. “They will be extending into the flood affected areas as well”.

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Film maker captured footage of flooded rural areas with a drone

Film maker Sascha Estens from Moree captured footage of flooded rural areas with a drone and told Sky News “having that bird’s eye view changed everything”. “Moree’s got a history of flooding, and nine years ago we had a big one, so the whole town was better prepared for this one,” she said. “Having that bird’s eye view changed everything for me as a filmmaker. “Nine years ago, for me to tell a story like this I was running all around the town interviewing people, trying to display what was happening. “But being able to put a drone up and over the town and show people who were trapped in their house at on farms or caught on the other side of town. “Our town was split in two and people were able to see sort of instantly from these photos that I was able to upload what was really happening”.

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Tornado Damages Residential Property in Newnan, Georgia

A preliminary assessment released by the National Weather Service on March 26 indicated a tornado with wind speeds of up to 170 mph hit Newnan, Georgia, the night before. The Georgia Department of Transportation reported hundreds of downed trees and power lines in the Newnan area. Large parts of northern Georgia were also placed under flash flood warnings. Video shared by Raj Nadimpalli, who said it was taken near his home in Newnan, shows downed trees that fell on residential properties. Work crews can be seen in the area attempting to remove the trees. Credit: Raj Nadimpalli via Storyful

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Hamilton opens at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre

Hamilton is a Tony, Grammy, and Pulizter Prize winning story endorsed by presidents and royalty and tells the story of America’s founding father Alexander Hamilton through a mix of hip hop, jazz, and soul music. The show was created by US actor Lin-Manuel Miranda after he grabbed a biography of Alexander Hamilton off the shelf and found it deeply moving and personal. Making its debut on Broadway and then moving to the West End, Hamilton is finally in Australia six years after its debut and is the only Hamilton production showing in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Close contact of Queensland COVID case tests positive

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced a second case of local transmission in a close contact of the 26-year-old who tested positive on Thursday. “I can report that we’ve had six new cases overnight, five of these are in hotel quarantine and one is a close contact of the man,” she said. “So we do have one as community transmission but he is a close contact of the man we mentioned yesterday. “Once again that's very good news and like I said, the next two days are still going to be critical for us”. Ms Palaszczuk specifically asked those who attended the Carindale shopping centre last Saturday between 12:00pm and 2:16pm to come forward for testing. “We just want to rule out every single possibility here so the sooner that everyone does this, the better we will be,” she said. “We have identified 18 close contacts of the man who has the original community transmission source and the contact tracers are doing an excellent job”.

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‘Pray for These People’: Heavy Tornado Damage Seen in Newnan, Georgia

Residents in Newnan, Georgia, awoke to heavy storm damage on Friday, March 26, following an overnight tornado that lashed the area with dangerous winds. A preliminary assessment conducted by the National Weather Service recorded damage consistent with an EF-4 rated tornado (the second highest on the EF scale) in Newnan. “Based on damage indicators in our ongoing survey, EF-4 damage indicative of wind speeds up to 170 mph were observed in the hardest hit areas,” the NWS wrote in a tweet. This footage, taken by Chase T Welch on Friday, shows the extent of damage in Newnan. “One of the eeriest things I’ve ever seen,” said Welch, who was in the area to assist with cleanup efforts. “This is horrible. Y’all pray for these people.” Credit: Chase T Welch via Storyful

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Food from last weekend’s postponed ‘Golden Slipper’ race day went to those in need

The late rescheduling of the Golden Slipper last week due to heavy rain meant the food which had been prepared for the race was given to those in need. ATC Head of Social Responsibility Amarjot Bagga said “like any other day we ensured that the food went to people facing food insecurity such as the homeless, people with special needs and single parent homes.” Rosehill Grades Executive Chef Gerry Maher told Sky News it was usually something that happens post-race day but once the race was postponed the focus shifted to saving and resourcing food to community partners. “We were ready and set to feed our 4,500 corporate clients that we had … but we just repositioned that back into the community and hopefully we fed a lot more homeless people with what we donated on Saturday,” he said. @Racingnswnews

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The 2021 Easter Yearling Sale will mark the end of an era at Arrowfield Stud

This year’s Easter Yearling Sale will feature the last of the Redoute's Choice yearlings, marking the end of an era for Arrowfield Stud. “Our farm was built on the back of Redoute's Choice,” Arrowfield Group Chairman John Messara said. “He made a huge difference to us, but he also made a difference to Australian racing industry because his blood now runs through some of the best stallions, some of the best broodmares. “He’s leaving a real legacy for all of us.” @arrowfieldstud

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China deals fatal blow in Aussie war

Australia’s wine war with China may be escalated to the World Trade Organisation after the country announced it would continue massive tariffs on some winemakers from Down Under.

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France’s lockdown vice? Cheese

The amount of cheese purchased by French shoppers for at-home consumption increased by more than 8% in 2020, compared with just 2% the previous year, according to figures from farming agency FranceAgriMer and market data firm Kantar. Lisa Bernhard has more.

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Time for sports to bench carbon polluters: Study

Despite sports federations and clubs pledging action on mitigating climate change, a new report entitled Sweat Not Oil identifies 250 prominent sports partnerships with high-carbon firms. Emma Jehle has more.

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Crews Clear Debris After Destructive Tornado in Pelham, Alabama

Workers cleaned up tree limbs and other storm debris in Pelham, Alabama – about 20 miles south of Birmingham – on March 26, a day after a tornado damaged homes, trees, and power lines in the area. The National Weather Service said the cyclone that swept through Pelham was an EF2 tornado. This footage, shared by the City of Pelham on Friday, shows workers clearing debris left by storms the day before. Credit: City of Pelham via Storyful

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All that glitters: The Golden Slipper

The stage is set for the world's richest race for two-year old’s at Rosehill Gardens after a one-week delay due to heavy rain. The Golden Slipper began back in 1957 and has become a highlight of the Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival. @Racingnswnews

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‘A long, drawn out campaign’: Western NSW to experience flooding for ‘quite some time’

NSW SES Deputy Commissioner Daniel Austin says while the east coast of New South Wales is in the early stages of flood recovery, western parts of the state will see flooding for "quite some time”. “There’s still water to flow from Queensland into western parts of New South Wales," he said. "A number of the river catchments there really start well up into Queensland. “Our current predictions are at least another eight weeks on some of those catchments. Some of those catchments not in flood at this point in time but that will start to flow through. “Again, this is going to be a long, drawn out campaign. “It is very much in the swings of the early recovery phase across the east coast, but certainly parts of western NSW are going to be seeing floodwaters for quite some time”.

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Man dead after shooting in Geelong

A man is dead and two others have been rushed to hospital after a shooting in the Geelong suburb of Corio on Saturday.

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Buffalo Under Flood Warning as Strong Winds Cause Lake Seiche

A flood warning was issued for areas of Buffalo, New York, along the shore of Lake Erie on Friday, March 26, as strong winds caused a lake seiche and power outages in the region. Footage shared by Fort Erie resident Denis Kreze shows strong gusts splashing waves over a damaged wall along the lake’s shoreline. “River’s rising and Buffalo shoreline is getting hammered with huge waves,” he wrote in a tweet. Lake Erie’s water level rose about five feet near Buffalo at noon on Friday and was expected to lower as winds weakened. Credit: Denis Kreze via Storyful

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Farmers battling ‘one major disaster after another’

Frontier Services National Director Jannine Jackson says it’s been “one major disaster after another” for famers battling drought, fires, floods and a mouse plague. “We’ve probably had one of the biggest 12 months ever. We’re certainly slammed in terms of calls for help, for volunteers, and also for funds. “It’s been one major disaster after another. “In the last 12 months we’ve had the worst drought in Australian recorded history, the most devastating bushfire season, two major flood events and storms and we’ve even got a mouse plague. Ms Jackson said the “biggest heartbreak” for many farmers was they had a good season after the drought but a lot of their hard work was "now destroyed” by the floods. “It’s hard emotionally to keep coming back from one devastation after another,” she said. “Just to maybe highlight some of those issues, we’ve had one gorgeous farmer who we’ve been dealing with to help rebuild with fires. “He decided to move, he’s Royal Fire Service, so was helping save other people’s houses … and now is rescuing people from floodwater and his house has … been inundated by mice from the mouse plague. “So it’s not just one disaster … it’s emotionally hard to continue to try and rebuild from these things”.

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Frantic hunt for missing virus link

Queensland’s contact tracers are in a race against time to figure out where the state’s latest coronavirus case is linked to, with fears next week’s Easter celebrations could be completely cancelled.

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MP’s furious emails make shock claims

EXCLUSIVE

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Emergency services ferry people and supplies to areas still cut off by floodwater

Emergency services in Western Sydney are ferrying people and supplies by boat to areas still cut by floodwater and the full extent of the damage is being revealed as river levels recede. The SES is focused on taking critical supplies to people who are still isolated and helping residents return to their homes in Wilberforce and Freemans Reach by boat. SES Inspector Rob Cooper said, “anyone that can’t get to the stores to get supplies, to get the medial assistance they need, to get their medications and things like that, that’s some of the main concerns we have to get the stuff to those people across on the Wilberforce side.” “In the last couple of days, we’ve had a few urgent things some up with some women who were pregnant, getting them across to get the attention that they need”. The Windsor Bridge is now above water but while structural engineers have given the go ahead for the massive clean-up to begin it could still be days before it reopens to traffic.

from Breaking National News and Australian News | Daily Telegraph https://ift.tt/3lX5Od2

My Health Record COVID vaccine bungle

It costs taxpayers $2 billion but the My Health Record is proving useless when it comes to helping people prove they have a medical condition that prioritises them for a COVID-19 vaccine.

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Inside Australia’s most expensive schools

Australian parents are forking out more than $40,000 a year in some cases to send their children to the nation’s most private elite schools.

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Watch live: Sky News

For rolling coverage watch Sky News Australia on Foxtel or visit www.skynews.com.au.

from Breaking National News and Australian News | Daily Telegraph https://ift.tt/3aFILzQ

How you can work from an island

Remote work has evolved over the past 12 months to encompass more than the usual industries and extend well beyond “working from home”.

from Breaking National News and Australian News | Daily Telegraph https://ift.tt/3sox3Qv

Dark Funnel Cloud Looms as Tornado Warnings Issued for Central Alabama

Ominous funnel clouds loomed over parts of Alabama on Thursday, March 25, as tornado-warned storms hit the central parts of the state. Video filmed by Jonah Crumpton shows the dark clouds quickly moving in the distance, near the town of Wilton, Alabama. Most of central Alabama was placed under a tornado watch warning by the National Weather Service. The storm was one of many reported across Alabama on Thursday. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Department said the area “suffered significant tornado damage.” Credit: Jonah Crumpton via Storyful

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‘Vast majority’ of spiders fleeing floodwaters will not be funnel webs

Spider expert Dr Lizzie Lowe told Sky News there are all sorts of native spiders fleeing the floodwaters but the “vast majority” of them will not be funnel webs. “Funnel webs are actually very territorial spiders and they will not live close to other funnel webs so you’re never going to get lots of them coming out at the same time,” she said. “The important thing to realise is the vast majority of these spiders aren’t actually going to do you any harm at all”. Ms Lowe advised putting barriers under doors and closing windows to keep spiders outside but said they would “disperse completely on their own after a couple of days”. “They’ll definitely be wanting to go right back to where they came from,” she said. “They don’t want to be around us any more than we want to be around them, so you’ll go back to not noticing any spiders again in no time”.

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Strong Winds and Large Hail Sweep Across Nashville, Tennessee

A tornado watch and thunderstorm warning were issued in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 25 as severe weather swept across parts of the state. Footage shared by Nashville resident Sally Ann Cruikshank shows reduced visibility as strong winds blew hail across a parking lot. The National Weather Service warned of possible tornadoes, damaging winds, large hail, and localized flooding across central Tennessee into Thursday evening. Credit: Sally Ann Cruikshank via Storyful

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BIDEN BLAME GAME: Biden bizarrely claims Trump ‘wasn’t tough enough’ on China

In Joe Biden’s first ever press conference, the president has bizarrely claimed that Donald Trump was the only president in US history to not be tough on “what’s happening in China.” “No American president, at least one did, no American president ever backed down from speaking out on what’s happening the Uighurs, what’s happening with Hong Kong, what’s happening in country,” he said. “The moment a president walks away from that, as the last one did, is the moment we began to lose our legitimacy around the world. It’s who we are. So I see stiff competition with China. “China has an overall goal and I don’t criticise them for the goal. But they have the overall goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world and the most powerful country in the world. That’s not going to happen on my watch.” While Mr Trump did avoid directly punishing China’s unethical treatment of Uighurs for fear it could derail trade negotiations, he was one of the most outspoken presidents when it came to the rising threat of Beijing.

from Breaking National News and Australian News | Daily Telegraph https://ift.tt/3tUyXbJ

Queensland aged care, hospitals, and prisons sent into lockdown over new COVID case

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the state has recorded a new local case of COVID-19 in a 26-year-old man who was infectious in the community since last Friday. “He has been tested yesterday but he has been infectious in the community since last Friday,” Ms Palaszczuk said. The premier said the venues of concern include, “Carindale shopping centre, Bunnings at Stafford, fresh food market stalls at Newstead, there's a venue at Redcliffe and a couple of venues at Stafford”. In response to the new case aged care facilities, hospitals, prisons and disability services in the Brisbane City Council areas and Moreton will be closed to visitors from midday today. “What we are going to ask people of course in the Brisbane City Council areas and in Moreton, is that if you are in crowded areas, to wear a mask." "If you're going to a football match on the weekend, wear your mask going into the venue. If you are on a crowded train, put a mask on. "These are the sensible precautions and we will be updating you over the weekend if there are any more cases". Ms Palaszczuk urged people to practice social distancing and come forward for testing if they have any symptoms.

from Breaking National News and Australian News | Daily Telegraph https://ift.tt/3cnx8OJ