A good Samaritan is facing the prospect of losing his leg, after helping a driver in a crash in Perths northeast.
Volunteer firefighter Chris Unstead was crushed under a ute in Ellenbrook when he was helping to try and overturn it after it rolled. Mr Unstead became pinned under the vehicle for 30 seconds, breaking his leg and ankle, as some of the teens he was helping made a run for it. Mr Unstead described the pain as like hed never felt before. It's one of the worst breaks they've seen. It's broken in multiple places and there nothing left of the ankle, he said. People ask would you help again and yeah, I would," he said. People only ask for help if they can't help themselves." Surgeons are working to pin his ankle together, but it will be weeks before he finds out whether he can keep his leg, or his dreams of becoming a career firefighter. Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019
0 Comments
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE
The mother of a man who drowned alongside his 23-month-old daughter while trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas says she finds a heartbreaking photograph of their bodies hard to look at but takes some comfort in knowing they died in each others arms. scar Alberto Martnez Ramrez and his daughter Valeria were swept away by the current near Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas, this week. The grim photo shows the girl tucked inside her fathers shirt for protection with her arm draped over his neck an image that underscores the dangers migrants and asylum-seekers face trying to make it to the United States and the desperate measures they resort to in the face of policies designed to deter them. Its tough, its kind of shocking, that image, the 25-year-old mans mother, Rosa Ramrez, told The Associated Press. But at the same time, it fills me with tenderness. I feel so many things, because at no time did he let go of her. You can see how he protected her, she said. They died in each others arms. US President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for the deaths of the pair. Related Articles Trump said he was disturbed by the photos. But he said the deaths could have been prevented and castigated Democrats for failing to pass legislation he claimed would stop people from trying to make the dangerous trek. "If we had the right laws, that the Democrats are not letting us have, those people, they wouldn't be coming up. They wouldn't be trying," Trump said. "They can change it very easily so people don't come up and people won't get killed." Ramrez had shared a sea-green brick home with barred windows in San Martin on the outskirts of the capital, San Salvador, with her son, his 21-year-old wife Tania Vanessa valos and their daughter until the young family decided to make the journey north. In their working-class neighbourhood of about 40,000, Martnez worked in a pizzeria and valos as a cashier in a fast-food restaurant, Ramrez said. The area has had problems with gang violence but these days its calm, she said, adding that he never had any problems with gangs they left for economic reasons. Ramrez said that she had given them the big room in the two-bedroom house, but they dreamed of saving money for a place of their own and that drove the family to head for the United States in early April. I told him, Son, dont go. But if you do go, leave me the girl, Ramrez said. No, mam, she said he replied. How can you think that I would leave her? Now she feels a hole that nobody can fill, but God gives me strength, she said. Marta Argueta de Andrade, their 50-year-old neighbour, said she met the family about five years ago. She described them as good people, and Martnez as an easygoing young man. I would see him walking with the girl. I called her little curly one, Argueta said. She was very pretty. ![]() Officials have said the bodies were expected to be returned to El Salvador on Thursday. Ramrez said she wasnt sure when they would arrive, but that the government was covering the cost. I would say to those who are thinking of migrating, they should think it over because not everyone can live that American dream you hear about, Ramrez said. We can put up a fight here, she added. How much I would like to have my son and my granddaughter here. One way or another, we get by in our country. The U.S.-Mexico border region has long been perilous for those trying to cross illegally into the United States between ports of entry, from the fast-moving Rio Grande to the scalding Sonoran Desert. A total of 283 people died while trying to cross last year; figures for 2019 have not yet been released. On Sunday, Martnez decided to make that journey, swimming with Valeria from Matamoros to the Texas side of the Rio Grande, where he left her on the riverbank and started back to get his wife. Seeing him leave, the girl threw herself into the water. Martnez returned to get her, but both were swept away. valos was not harmed. The photos have sparked worldwide expressions of anguish, empathy and outrage.Pope Francis saw the photos and was deeply saddened, a Vatican spokesman said. With immense sadness, the Holy Father has seen the images of the father and his baby daughter who drowned in the Rio Grande River while trying to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, said the Vaticans interim spokesman, Alessandro Gisotti. ![]() The pope is profoundly saddened by their death, and is praying for them and for all migrants who have lost their lives while seeking to flee war and misery, Gisottis statement added. Congress top Democrats said they hoped the photos would challenge the Trump administrations conscience while pressuring the president to ease his efforts to make it harder for people to enter the U.S. A top Republican said the photos should stir Congress to address the crisis on the border. This isnt who we are as a country. We have obligations to humanity that are being completely ignored, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. This is a manifestation of behaviour that is outside the circle of civilised human behaviour. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested that Martinez and his daughter might not have died had Trump agreed to Democratic efforts to help migrants fleeing Central American countries to enter the U.S. as refugees. How could President Trump look at this picture and not understand that these are human beings fleeing violence and persecution, willing to risk a perilous, sometimes failed journey in search of a better life, Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019 In Bengkala village in Balis north, being deaf isnt unusual, nor is communicating using a unique set of hand signals.
In the small community, genetics have led to a deafness rate well above the average, but whats special is that for almost two centuries both the hearing and unhearing have perfected a distinctive sign language so everyone feels included. For a long time, villagers thought they were under the spell of an evil curse, but researchers instead found a gene passed down through eight generations has resulted in about one in 70 locals being born deaf, compared to the Australian average of one in 1000. In Bengkala yes its special because theres no discrimination here, said community leader Ketut Kanta. In her village, 12-year-old Asih was facing a childhood with no education, until her mother learned of Bengkalas inclusive primary school, where all teaching is spoken and signed. Many friends in here, in the school, understand with the sign and its very easy when I communicate, signed Asih. While visiting the village - about a three-hour drive from Denpasar airport - 9News was treated to a performance by the local dance troupe. All of its members are deaf and yet do a remarkable job of keeping in sync, by watching the beat of the drum and each other. But there are still plenty of challenges for the deaf of Bengkala village. Most families are poor and unable to send their children away for high school, meaning young adults end up in low-skilled, low-paying jobs. Nyoman Pindu, who is deaf - along with her husband, three children and three grandchildren - said her family is lucky to make five dollars Australian a day farming pigs. But with the help of government funding, theres a chance the inclusive primary school will expand to include higher grades later this year. Ms Kanta also says tourists can help by visiting the village and providing a small donation to watch the dancers, meet students and learn more about a community which might just be the most inclusive in the world. When the tourists come here I am happy because they learn about my sign language, also interaction with them is possible and makes me very proud, he said. Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019 https://www.9news.com.au/world/bali-deaf-village-bengkala-where-everyone-uses-sign-language/bd831865-7022-4618-b1b2-6b562d0f5495 A fight at a golf course has left four people dead in California.
Two men were shot dead after an argument between a man and two golfers near Casa Grande Senior Mobile Estates in Santa Maria. The man reportedly went to get a gun and returned to shoot the men at the golf clubhouse. As police rushed to the golf course at 11.37am local time, an explosion rocked the area. A mobile home had erupted, with two bodies later found inside. It is believed one body was that of the shooter. Santa Maria Police Chief Phil Hansen said the rapidly moving fire then engulfed three to four nearby structures. All throughout the firefighting challenge, ammunition was cooking off inside, Hansen said. Rounds just cooking off on a pretty regular basis. "A tragic event, a major event." Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019 https://www.9news.com.au/world/santa-maria-golf-course-shooting-multiple-dead-explosion-mobile-home/0ab21dde-74f2-48a4-937f-22eb783528c0 Olympian Nathan Baggaley has faced a Brisbane court accused of playing a key role in an alleged bid to import almost 600kg of cocaine into Australia.
The three-time world champion kayaker and Olympic silver medallist was arrested and extradited from Byron Bay yesterday to face Brisbane Magistrates Court today. He used crutches to hobble into the dock. He was represented by the duty lawyer and made no application for bail. He had his matters adjourned to July 12. After his arrest, Australian Border Force said it would be alleged Baggaley played a key role, arranging the importation and paying for a boat used to collect the cocaine with money from a criminal syndicate. His brother Dru Baggaley, 36, and Anthony Trevor Draper, 54, are already before Queensland courts over the same alleged botched cocaine plot. Dru Baggaley was arrested after his inflatable boat was allegedly detected by air surveillance off Brunswich Heads in August 2018. While being chased by authorities, Dru Baggaley and Draper allegedly threw overboard about $210 million of cocaine they had picked up from a larger vessel. https://www.9news.com.au/national/olympian-nathan-baggaley-cocaine-import-court-brisbane-news/291a2c2e-4ec6-4b30-8cf0-f3d3b643ab70 A Hungarian man who was tackled by a police detective after harassing a woman half his age on the Sunshine Coast has been fined $300.
Laszlo Fekete spoke to 9News outside court, saying the behaviour that landed him in the watch house two nights in a row was normal in Europe. If someone were to hurt my daughter, I would react in same way but the man just overreacted, I just said to the girl youre a very pretty girl, would you like to have a coffee with me? and thats how it started, Mr Fekete told reporters. She didnt look that young, she was wearing a mini-skirt so she wants attention. The sexist remark was countered by a reporter who said, but in Australia thats unacceptable behaviour towards women. I know, I know, I apologise, Mr Fekete said. Related Articles If they feel Im guilty, then of course I apologise. But in my case, in Europe, its happening every day. I (would) just tell them not to go to Europe because shes a pretty girl so she will experience (it) every day. ![]() Mr Fekete had just been released from the Maroochydore Watch House yesterday when he approached 19-year-old Charlotte Scells near the neighbouring police station. He said the previous night he had been arrested for talking to people. When asked if he had been talking to women he said, I dont know theres too many women in my life. The divorced father-of-two from Hungary is in Australia on a student visa. I would love to stay in this country so I dont want to mess up my reputation, Mr Fekete said. Beautiful country, everything fine except the police. Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019 https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-news-man-tackled-police-detective-laszlo-fekete/09ea6214-8805-4fc4-8e62-4e1185e0ec95 A woman has faced court charged with murder following the death of her ex-partner who fell from an inner-Sydney balcony.
Zixi Wang, 29, was silent other than to say her name. Her defence lawyer Kevin Zhu told Wollongong Court his client was in a bad way. She was in a very bad condition - both physically and mentally. Shes terrified and distressed and hasnt slept in three days," he told the court. No application for bail was made and the matter has been adjourned to Central Local Court where Wang is due to appear on August 28. Police yesterday arrested Wang, 29, after Shuyu Zhou died following the domestic-related incident at Zetland. Ms Zhou, 23, fell from the fifth floor of the apartment building at Rose Valley Way about 8.45pm on Monday. Related Articles She was found on a footpath at the rear of an 11-storey apartment building with significant injuries. Ms Zhou died at the scene despite police attempts to revive her. Police yesterday located a white Mercedes and Wang, 29, who was wanted in relation to the incident, on Sea Cliff Bridge, north of Wollongong. Wang was first taken to hospital from the Sea Cliff Bridge for assessment, before being held in custody at Wollongong Police Station. The Mercedes was seized for forensic examination. Wang was today charged with the outstanding warrant for murder and take and drive conveyance without consent of owner. Police had issued a warrant for the arrest of Wang, also known as Jessie, yesterday. Residents of the apartment block earlier told 9News they heard a woman screaming before the body was found. "Just screaming. It sounded like someone young, a female," one resident said. Another said her friend who was visiting heard the commotion. "She literally said it sounded like someone is dying in there, just screaming. It sounded like someone young or a female, she said. Police were initially called after concerned residents heard all the noise. Police have urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. If you or someone you know is in need of support contactLifelineon 13 11 14 orBeyond Blueon 1300 22 46 36 Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019 https://www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-news-womans-body-found-on-footpath-in-zetland/7aad0092-c312-426d-9c44-d01ee9925a56 Jesse Morton, a former Al Qaeda recruiter and propagandist from the US who turned FBI informant, can vividly remember his final communications with Robert 'Musa' Cerantonio, the jailed Melbourne ringleader of the so-called tinnie terrorist plot.
Cerantonio, who was already on the radar of Australian counter-terror intelligence agents, had turned into a "rabid dog", Morton says, speaking exclusively to Nine.com.au from his base in the US. What Cerantonio did not know, as he covertly interacted over the Internet with the one-time American extremist, was that Morton was now working as undercover informant for the FBI. Cerantonio, a Melbourne man who was raised in a Catholic home but converted to Islam at the age of 17, was part of that hidden extremist world. Last month Cerantonio was jailed for seven years for his role in a thwarted "foreign incursion" to sail from Queensland to the Philippines to try and overthrow the Robert Duterte-led government. Related Articles Morton describes Cerantonio as being "a key player" in the Australian extremist scene over many years. Morton and Cerantonio had kept in contact through encrypted messenger systems and online networks since first encountering each other a decade ago. Like Morton, Cerantonio enjoyed a level of notoriety in the scene. A 2014 study by King's College London established that Cerantonio had a significant online following, and at the time was ranked the third most 'liked' person by western jihadists in Syria. Cerantonio publicly preached support for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and advocated for sharia law. "The last time I spoke with Musa [Cerantonio] I was an informant," Morton says. "I got out of prison in 2015. And the intelligence I had while I was in prison was that Musa had become a really big jihadi - one of the most notorious preachers on behalf of Islamic State." Morton's intention, on behalf of the FBI, was to learn more about Cerantonio and try to figure out if the extremist Australian preacher had plans to travel into Syria and Iraq, where the building of the so-called caliphate was well underway. "The situation with Musa was he was way, way more radical than I had seen him before," Morton says. Cerantonio was "very passionate" about the rise of Islamic State and the idea of a self-declared caliphate. He had become a "rabid dog", according to Morton. Through his appearances on religious Egyptian TV shows, Cerantonio had developed a unique kind of cachet among violent jihadists and sympathisers. He was a white man who had studied Islam at formal institutions in the Middle East. ![]() "Musa holds very dangerous ideas, at least he did until his arrest," Morton says. "The ideas he holds are certainly conducive to retaliating against citizens and adhering to Islamic State instructions to carry out attacks in foreign lands. "Very few people can convey those ideas in the English language in the manner that Musa can. I think his intelligence is dangerous." In 2016, Cerantonio was arrested and charged with being the organiser of the 'tinnie terror' plot to sail a seven-metre fishing boat off the Queensland coast along with five other men. The group planned to join the jihadist group Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines. Had Cerantonio made it to the Philippines, Morton suspects the radicalised Australian had a formidable potential to guide would-be lone wolves over encrypted message platforms how to plot and carry out attacks against the West, including Australia. Morton says he was surprised by Cerantonio's seven-year prison term, and he issued a cautionary warning when he eventually walks free. "It looks like his sentence is minuscule," Morton says. "A lot of time in the jihadist world, going to prison for a short period of time earns your stripes. You learn more, you can study more and you can become more vocal. "He'll have to be on the radar after he is released." Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019 https://www.9news.com.au/national/islamic-state-tinnie-terror-plot-al-qaeda-robert-musa-cerantonio-isis-news/7ef4e7a9-bd8a-4940-94a9-1070a2797aea A man who paid more than $13,000 for a foot-wide strip of land is seeking to have the sale voided, saying he thought he was buying a villa.
US man Kerville Holness paid US$9100 ($13,228.67) for a strip of land that separates two villas in the south Florida town of Taramac, the local Sun Sentinel reported. But Mr Holness claimed he thought he was paying the money for a US$177,000 ($257,304) home. ![]() "If Im vindictive enough, I can cut right through the garage wall and the home to get to my air space, but what use would that be to me?" he said. He said the property appraiser's photos made it seem that he was bidding on the villa. But authorities reportedly said state law does not allowe for a refund in these circumstances. Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019 https://www.9news.com.au/world/news-us-man-buys-foot-wide-strip-of-land-at-auction/6a608f09-c57e-42be-ad2a-066e3964948c Updated June 14, 2019 08:25:31
![]() The AFL has adopted a new position on the origins of Australian football, now claiming it was influenced by Indigenous games. Key points:The AFL has recognised Indigenous game Marngrook as an "undoubted influence" on Australian Rules footballHistorians of the game have disputed the AFL's latest stance, suggesting there is no evidence to prove the linkThe AFL says the sharing of oral history by Aboriginal elders confirms the Indigenous connection to Australian Rules The change was spelt out in the AFL's recent apology to Indigenous footballer Adam Goodes. The statement, attributed to the AFL's general manager of social policy and inclusion Tanya Hosch, said: "Aboriginal history tells us that traditional forms of football were played by Australia's first peoples all over Australia, most notably in the form of Marngrook. It is Australia's only Indigenous football game a game born from the ancient traditions of our country." The ABC asked Ms Hosch for an interview to clarify whether the AFL believed there was an explicit link between the Indigenous football games, and the sport codified by Tom Wills and others in Melbourne in 1859. She declined the interview request, but in a statement said: "Marngrook, a high-marking game played in Victoria's western districts, pre-European settlement, undoubtedly influenced what we now understand as the modern AFL football code." "It is a statement that acknowledges the Aboriginal history of our game. We believed it was important to recognise the Aboriginal origins of the game in this statement." ![]() The AFL's new position is in direct contrast to the previous statements of the sport's origins. In 2008 as part of Australian Rules football's 150th anniversary celebration the AFL commissioned the historian, Gillian Hibbins, to write an essay on Australian football's origins in which she said the idea that Australian Rules football originated from Aboriginal games was "a seductive myth". "I can't say when the position changed, however there was no push-back regarding the recognition of the link between the modern game of AFL and the Marngrook game in the process of developing the joint statement," Ms Hosch said in another statement. ![]() "We are aware of this part of the game's history being contested and at some stage I hope the AFL will formally resolve this but as it stands, we now have a statement that acknowledges and accepts the link between Marngrook and Australian Rules Football. "This gives us a good step forward in terms of acknowledgment in future historical records of the game. "It's worth noting that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's history, perspectives and beliefs have always been and will always be contested or undermined by some people. There is nothing new about that." Asked on what evidence the position changed, Ms Hosch said the sharing of oral history by Aboriginal elders had changed the understanding of Marngrook within the AFL industry. In another piece in the 2008 AFL 150 years publication, dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes wrote: "I know that when Aborigines play Australian Football with a clear mind and total focus, we are born to play it." Is the AFL changing history? The AFL's new position has baffled some of the game's historians. Roy Hay has just published a book entitled Aboriginal People and Australian Football in the Nineteenth Century, which examines the idea that Australian football was influenced by games played by Aborigines. Of the AFL's new position on the origins of the game, Mr Hay said, "That just simply is an attempt to rewrite history." ![]() Mr Hay and other historians of the game say there is no doubt that Aboriginal people played many different forms of football, but many argue there is no evidence that Australian Rules Football was influenced by those games. "The idea that [Indigenous football] was somehow a blueprint for the game that the white men developed in Melbourne around the late 1850s I have searched high and low, and many other historians have done [the same], to find out if there is substantial evidence that supports that, and really we can find none." Another football historian, Dr Greg de Moore, has been unable to find any link between the Aboriginal games and the one codified in the late 1850s, in more than 10 years of research. Dr de Moore co-authored a landmark history of the sport Australian Football, A National Game, and is the biographer of the sport's most important founding father, Tom Wills. "There is an evidence gap I've seen nothing in recent years to change my view," Dr de Moore said. The claim that Australian Rules has its origins in Aboriginal games is largely based on Wills' childhood in country Victoria, before he was sent to Rugby School in England for seven years. From the age of around four to 14, Wills lived in the Grampians and made friends with the local Djab Wurrung people. ![]() "He knew these people very well. He was befriended by them. They felt very warmly towards him," Dr de Moore said. But did Wills ever play football with them? And, if so, did that influence the sport he later helped create? "I've found nothing that documented that he saw the game. He never made reference to it, and no one ever else made reference to it," de Moore said. The British rules Supporters of the Marngrook origin story often point to the visual similarities the Indigenous game shared with Australian football particularly the high mark. But Mr Hay and Dr de Moore argue that Wills and his contemporaries borrowed exclusively from the English school games of the time when they wrote the first 10 laws of what was then known as the Rules of the Melbourne Football Club. "The things that he wanted to introduce into the game derived from his background at Rugby School in England and the sorts of games that people were playing in the public schools," Mr Hay said. ![]() Mr Hay said the football of the sport's early decades was a low, scrimmaging rugby-style game, that would be unrecognisable to modern observers. As to the possible Aboriginal origins of the game: "I wish it were true, I really wish it were true, but I can't find any evidence that supports that," he said. The central tenet of Hay's book is that Aboriginal people were playing Australian Rules Football, almost from its inception in the late 1850s. "What I found is that the Indigenous people who were left after the massacres and the invasion and the disease and the ethnic cleansing if you really want to go about it the survivors who were left in the missions and stations around the periphery of Victoria, saw the white men playing their game and forced their way into it, first of all as individuals, then forming teams and eventually becoming good enough to win local leagues," he said. Mr Hay added that the AFL's apology to Goodes was "the cleverest piece of image management I've come across in a long time from the archetypical and best of the image managers: the AFL". In response, Ms Hosch said "all 18 clubs signed the statement. This is one of the strongest statements ever made by a sporting code concerning racism in our game and the history of our nation more broadly". Topics:sport,australian-football-league,community-and-society,indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander,indigenous-culture,history,vic,wa,sa,nsw,australia First posted June 14, 2019 05:06:26 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-14/afl-latest-stance-proves-history-of-aussie-rules-is-in-debate/11202802 |
Archives
March 2023
Categories |