Global Pulse

分类： society

  • St Kilda star Nicky Winmar faces prospect of jail after violent attack on woman

    St Kilda star Nicky Winmar faces prospect of jail after violent attack on woman

    One of Australian Rules Football’s most celebrated former players, ex-St Kilda great Nicky Winmar, is awaiting sentencing after being convicted on three assault charges, with prosecutors warning the 60-year-old could spend time behind bars for the violent 2023 attack on a woman.

    Last month, a court found Winmar guilty of the assault that took place at a northern Victorian motel last May. He was cleared of a more severe charge of intentionally causing injury, but the details of the assault presented to court remain graphic. Prosecutors alleged the former athlete twisted the victim’s arm, dragged her across the room by her hair, and slammed her head against the motel door four separate times. Winmar has continuously maintained his innocence throughout the legal proceedings.

    During a recent sentencing hearing at Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, the victim shared the profound long-term trauma the attack has inflicted on her daily life. In an emotional victim impact statement delivered while Winmar sat hunched in the courtroom, tapping his foot on the floor, the woman described how the violence has fundamentally changed who she is. “I’m not the same person I once was due to the trauma I have experienced,” she told the court. “I find myself wondering what’s wrong with me? Why have I changed so much?”

    The victim detailed persistent psychological harm, including waking in the middle of the night with uncontrollable crying spells, regular panic attacks, and relentless intrusive thoughts of the attack. “The incident would play in my mind over and over and over again, it was relentless,” she said. “The nightmares and flashbacks … visions of being overpowered.”

    Lead prosecutor Annina Tropea has urged the court to impose an immediate custodial sentence, framing Winmar’s offenses as protracted, violent, and persistent. She emphasized that the harm inflicted on the victim has already been profound and will continue to impact her life long into the future.

    Winmar’s defense barrister, Dermot Dann KC, has pushed for a non-custodial sentence, acknowledging the gravity of the convictions while arguing that Winmar has made significant progress toward rehabilitation. Dann noted that while his client maintains his innocence, he recognizes the seriousness of the charges and accepts he has made serious mistakes in his life. “This is a man who’s had plenty of highlights but also plenty of low lights,” Dann told the court. “This proceeding is one of the real low lights.”

    The defense outlined multiple mitigating factors, including lasting damage from Winmar’s 13-year professional football career. Dann explained that years of repeated head impacts have left Winmar’s body and brain ravaged, with ongoing medical investigations underway to confirm a diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated concussions. “As a legacy of those concussions he suffers confusion, poor memory, poor concentration – his mental health picture has not been good,” Dann said.

    Dann added that Winmar had struggled with long-term alcohol addiction, and was in a deeply fragile state at the time of the attack. However, he told the court that Winmar has completed a year of sobriety, complied fully with all bail support program requirements, and is committed to continuing his recovery. He urged the magistrate to allow Winmar to pursue his rehabilitation outside of a prison cell.

    Magistrate Trieu Huynh has delayed the sentencing to August 28 to allow time for careful consideration of the case. He has ordered a pre-sentence assessment for a potential community corrections order, but explicitly warned that he has not yet ruled out combining a community order with a prison term, or imposing a full custodial sentence.

    Once one of the most respected figures in Australian football, Winmar’s legacy has already been dramatically reshaped following his conviction. The former player, who notched 251 AFL games across stints with St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs during a 13-season career, became an iconic symbol of anti-racism activism in 1993 when he lifted his jersey to point at his skin in a stand against racial abuse. A bronze statue honoring that moment was erected outside Perth’s Optus Stadium, but was removed shortly after his conviction. He has also been removed from the AFL Hall of Fame, stripping him of one of the sport’s highest honors.

    When approached by media outside court Thursday, Winmar gave only a brief response, saying “yeah good” when asked how he was coping ahead of the sentencing ruling.

  • Watch: Small plane makes emergency landing on Florida highway

    Watch: Small plane makes emergency landing on Florida highway

    A heart-stopping incident unfolded recently in Florida, when a small general aviation aircraft was forced to make an unplanned emergency landing on a busy public highway, with the entire dramatic sequence captured on a passing motorist’s dashcam.

    The recorded footage reveals the aircraft navigating low through the highway corridor, successfully clearing an overhead highway gantry by mere feet before touching down on the paved roadway. Prior to the landing, the flight instructor on board maintained steady composure, quickly contacting regional air traffic control to alert officials of the in-flight emergency and outline their intention to divert to the highway for an immediate landing.

    As of the latest updates, no reports of serious injuries to either the aircraft’s occupants or motorists on the highway have been released, though the incident has prompted local transportation officials to temporarily close lanes to facilitate emergency response and aircraft recovery. Aviation safety investigators have launched a preliminary review to determine the root cause of the mechanical or operational issue that forced the unscheduled landing. The incident has renewed conversations around the protocols for small aircraft in-flight emergencies near densely populated highway corridors in the state.

  • Pensioner extradited from Australia to NI accused of gross indecency with a child

    Pensioner extradited from Australia to NI accused of gross indecency with a child

    After more than four decades since the alleged crimes were first reported to have taken place, a 75-year-old man has been returned to Northern Ireland from Australia to face 17 serious sexual offense charges. The accused is alleged to have committed the illegal acts between the end of the 1970s and the early 1980s across Northern Ireland. Breakdown of the charges includes 14 counts of indecent assault against an adult woman and three additional counts of gross indecency involving a child.

    First taken into custody by Australian law enforcement in the state of Victoria back in 2023, the suspect completed his cross-continental extradition process and arrived back in Northern Ireland on Wednesday. Law enforcement cooperation was central to the operation, with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) coordinating closely with both the UK Home Office and Australian federal and state authorities to track the man, secure his arrest, and arrange for his transfer back to Northern Ireland.

    The 75-year-old is scheduled to make his first official court appearance at Laganside Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning, where the legal process against him will formally open. Speaking on the conclusion of the extradition, Sergeant Davey of the PSNI’s International Policing Unit emphasized that the cross-border operation sends a clear message: police remain committed to pursuing individuals accused of severe offenses, no matter how much time has passed since the alleged crimes or how far across the globe they have relocated. Davey noted that the successful extradition demonstrates that jurisdiction does not bar law enforcement from holding accused offenders accountable.

  • France is banning unsolicited telemarketing calls starting next week

    France is banning unsolicited telemarketing calls starting next week

    PARIS – Starting next week, a landmark new consumer protection law will come into force across France, permanently banning unsolicited cold-call telemarketing. The legislation, championed by President Emmanuel Macron’s administration and set to take effect on August 11, targets intrusive unsolicited sales pitches and cracks down on fraudulent commercial tactics that disproportionately endanger vulnerable groups.

    For decades, French consumers have voiced growing frustration with uninvited marketing calls. Under the previous regulatory framework, people who wished to block such calls were required to register their phone numbers on a government-managed opt-out list. However, consumer advocacy groups have long documented that many call centers routinely disregard this registry, leaving millions of people vulnerable to daily intrusions.

    The new regulation flips this framework on its head. “Under the updated rules, businesses are strictly prohibited from reaching out to consumers for marketing purposes without their explicit prior consent,” explained Alice Vilcot, chief of staff at France’s Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Prevention of Fraud. “Importantly, consumers also retain the right to withdraw that consent at any point going forward.”

    Government data underscores the urgency of the reform: official estimates show that three out of every four French people receive at least one unsolicited sales call each week, with many facing a constant stream of such intrusions to both their landlines and mobile devices. In 2024, 11 leading national consumer organizations issued a joint public appeal for a full ban, denouncing what they called “relentless harassment” that has become an unwelcome regular disruption to daily life. The legislation was ultimately approved by French parliament last year.

    To enforce the new ban, regulators have put in place steep punitive measures. Individual violators face fines of up to €75,000 (approximately $87,000) for each illegal call, while corporate offenders can be fined as much as €375,000 ($435,000) per violation. A small set of targeted exceptions apply: consumers who voluntarily opt in to receive marketing communications, for example by checking a consent box during an online purchase, will still receive such calls, and companies may reach out to existing customers with new offers tied to an ongoing contractual relationship. Members of the public can report suspected violations directly through a dedicated government portal.

    Vilcot pointed to a high-profile enforcement case from last year that foreshadowed the country’s tougher stance: an Ireland-based telemarketing firm was hit with a €6 million ($6.9 million) fine for violating the old rules by repeatedly calling numbers listed on the previous opt-out registry.

    The new rule has not been without controversy, however. In Morocco, which hosts a large offshore call center industry that serves the French market, government officials have warned of significant employment risks. In March, Moroccan Employment Minister Younes Sekkouri stated that between 40,000 and 50,000 local call center jobs could be impacted, noting that the French market makes up more than 80% of total sector revenue for Moroccan call centers.

    France’s policy shift puts it among a small group of European nations that have adopted an opt-in model for telemarketing. Neighboring Germany implemented a similar ban on unsolicited cold calls back in 2009. Most other major economies, by contrast, still rely on opt-out systems: the U.S. maintains a national Do Not Call Registry, Canada operates its own national do-not-call list, and the United Kingdom runs the Telephone Preference Service, where users can register to block unwanted calls. In the U.K., violating opt-out requests can result in fines of up to £500,000 ($670,000) per violation.

    AP reporter Jill Lawless contributed reporting from London.

  • 4 people have been stabbed in London’s Covent Garden area and a woman arrested, police say

    4 people have been stabbed in London’s Covent Garden area and a woman arrested, police say

    A violent stabbing incident disrupted the busy tourist hub of Covent Garden in central London on Wednesday, leaving four men injured and prompting the swift arrest of a local woman, London’s Metropolitan Police have confirmed.

    Initially, authorities reported that three individuals had been wounded in the attack, which took place on Endell Street in the afternoon. But an updated statement from the force later corrected this count, confirming that four men, aged 34, 39, 42 and 52, were located with visible stab wounds following the disturbance.

    A 47-year-old woman has been taken into police custody in connection with the event. She faces suspicion on two charges: possession of an offensive weapon and assault, according to official police briefing. All four injured men were quickly transferred from the scene to a leading major trauma center for urgent medical care. As of Wednesday evening, law enforcement has not released any additional details on the severity or current status of the victims’ injuries.

    London Ambulance Service also confirmed its response to the emergency. A service spokesperson noted that paramedics administered on-site first aid to all four patients before transporting them via road ambulance to the trauma center. The incident, which unfolded in one of London’s most crowded and visitor-favorite districts, triggered an immediate emergency response, though no further details about a potential motive or the relationship between the suspect and victims have been made public.

  • Waste workers help find binned €1m lottery ticket in Italy

    Waste workers help find binned €1m lottery ticket in Italy

    In what waste management officials are calling a near-miracle, an anonymous Italian lottery player has reclaimed a €1 million ($1.09 million, £857,158) winning ticket that had been accidentally thrown in the trash — all thanks to the quick work and determined searching of local refuse workers.

    The unusual chain of events unfolded in the small southern Italian town of Bitonto, where the regular lottery player purchased his ticket and stopped to check his numbers at the same shop where he bought it. When the point-of-sale terminal displayed a “non-payable” message, the player assumed he had not won anything and tossed the slip into the shop’s trash bin without a second thought.

    It was not until the player returned home that the misunderstanding came to light: a relative noticed that the player’s go-to set of lucky numbers — 2, 4, 8, 10, and 51 — had been drawn in the latest draw. Stunned by the mistake, the player and his family rushed back to the shop, only to confirm that the discarded ticket had already been collected by a waste collection truck operated by SANB, the local municipal waste management firm.

    Roberto Nicola Toscano, head of SANB, shared details of the frantic recovery operation with local Italian media, explaining that the “non-payable” message that sparked the mistake is a standard terminal notification: it appears when a prize is too large to be paid out directly by a retail location, not when a ticket is worthless.

    Toscano said the player immediately reached out to his company to request help retrieving the ticket, and the team acted fast: they located the collection truck before its load of trash was compacted and sent to the regional landfill. As Toscano told Italian broadcaster TGCOM24, timing was critical to the successful recovery. “Luckily it was a Sunday, otherwise the load would have already ended up in landfill,” he said.

    The truck was diverted to a dedicated secured search site, where a team of SANB workers began the painstaking process of sifting through thousands of kilograms of mixed waste to find the small paper ticket. After two full days of methodical searching, a waste worker finally spotted the ticket tucked in a torn bag filled with other discarded non-winning tickets on Tuesday morning. Toscano told news agency Ansa that the winning ticket was one of the only intact slips in the bag, despite being buried under a mountain of refuse.

    Per a pre-search agreement, the winner will cover all costs associated with the recovery operation, after signing a formal declaration agreeing to cover related expenses before the search began. In a delightful side note, the good fortune even rubbed off on the recovery team: Toscano and his colleagues bought a scratch card as a lighthearted joke mid-search, and ended up winning €50 (£43) themselves. Toscano summed up the entire event simply: “This story is nothing short of miraculous.”

  • Hundreds of Qantas workers plan strike action over pay and safety

    Hundreds of Qantas workers plan strike action over pay and safety

    A long-simmering conflict between Qantas Airways’ ground services subsidiary and its workforce has escalated this week, as the Transport Workers Union (TWU) moves to authorize a potential industrial action that could see more than 600 Australian workers walk off the job. The dispute centers on long-running grievances tied to pay erosion, compromised safety standards, and deteriorating working conditions, issues the union traces back to Qantas’ 2022 decision to outsource 1,800 ground staff positions.

    On Wednesday evening, TWU officials lodged an official Protection Action Ballot, a procedural step that clears the way for affected Qantas Ground Services (QGS) employees to cast votes on whether to launch strike action. For months, workers have raised alarm that the outsourcing restructuring has shifted the bulk of remaining operational burdens onto the smaller rostered QGS workforce, without corresponding adjustments to compensation or safety protocols.

    The union’s calls for urgent reform gained renewed gravity in the wake of a fatal workplace accident at Sydney International Airport’s freight terminal nearly 12 months ago. A 40-year-old cargo worker was killed on the job after being struck by a towing vehicle, an incident TWU leaders frame as a direct consequence of underinvestment in workforce standards. Michael Kaine, national secretary of the TWU, argued that the relentless push for cost-cutting has systematically eroded working conditions across QGS, with safety put at severe risk.

    “When pay and conditions reach rock-bottom levels, safety suffers,” Kaine said in a statement Wednesday. “We saw this deadly recipe last year when a Qantas Freight worker was horrifically killed in Sydney. Workers at QGS, and elsewhere across aviation, are saying enough is enough; it is time for Qantas to invest in its workforce instead of continuing to trash jobs and safety.”

    Qantas officials have pushed back on the narrative that they are prioritizing profits over worker well-being, noting that the company remains committed to negotiating a mutually acceptable deal that addresses worker concerns while maintaining long-term business sustainability. A Qantas spokesperson emphasized that there is no immediate threat of strike action for the time being, and added that any potential industrial action would have minimal disruption for commercial passenger services, noting most of the affected QGS employees work in the airline’s freight division rather than passenger ground operations.

    The ballot comes as the aviation sector across Australia continues to grapple with post-pandemic labor unrest, as workers demand wage adjustments to match skyrocketing living costs and push for stronger safety protections after years of industry restructuring.

  • Gold Coast couple facing boot from Australia after paperwork mix-up

    Gold Coast couple facing boot from Australia after paperwork mix-up

    After more than a decade of building a life, putting down roots, and embracing every part of Australian community on the Gold Coast, a South African expat couple is confronting a devastating deportation order, all triggered by an administrative error that left one partner technically unlawfully in the country for just nine days.

    Rory and Michelle Hewitt, both 52, first made the life-altering decision to uproot their entire lives in their home country back in 2012, not 2015 as their initial relocation paperwork initially cited, bringing their two young sons Matthew and Caleb with them in pursuit of the iconic Australian dream. Over the 12 years that followed, the couple built stable, respected careers, watched their sons grow into adults, welcomed their first granddaughter 18 months ago, and fully integrated into the local way of life they now call home. What they never could have anticipated is that a long-undiscovered paperwork mix-up from three years ago would unravel all they have worked for.

    The administrative blunder only came to light during a recent visa renewal process this year. Despite the couple’s solicitor submitting all required documentation within the mandated legal timelines, processing delays left Michelle Hewitt without valid visa status for nine days in 2023 — a fact the couple remained completely unaware of until months later. This tiny technical error has derailed their entire application for permanent residency, and the couple has now been ordered to leave Australia by October 22. Cruelly, their two adult sons, who have already established their own lives in the country, are permitted to stay, meaning deportation would force the couple to leave behind their children and infant granddaughter indefinitely.

    “This has been devastating. We knew we would have to leave our extended family behind when we moved here, and we accepted that heavy sacrifice because we believed it would all be worth it in the end,” Rory Hewitt told reporters in an interview. “We never could have imagined this would be the outcome. The personal toll this has taken on our family is indescribable.”

    The Hewitts’ immigration journey has been fraught with unforeseen complications from the start. They first arrived in Australia on a sponsored work visa, but issues with Rory Hewitt’s initial employer led to the visa expiring unexpectedly. They subsequently applied for protection visas and were granted bridging visas that allowed them to work and study legally while their application was processed. Everything proceeded without issue until the 2023 processing gap derailed their latest bid for permanent status, even after they requested ministerial intervention to waive the technical error.

    “ We have exhausted every other available option, and we just beg that someone will review our case with compassion,” Michelle Hewitt, who worked as an office manager until the deportation order barred her from working, said. “Australia is our home now. This is where our family is.”

    As the couple fights to overturn the order, their community has rallied around them. A family friend launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover the couple’s mounting legal fees, as both are now barred from working while their appeal is pending. A public petition calling for government intervention has already garnered more than 1,200 signatures from supportive locals.

    Rory Hewitt said he has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the Australian public. “We love this country and its people, and we never doubted that Australians would stand with us if they heard our story,” he said. “The support we’ve received has been incredible, and it means more than we can say.”

    If a last-minute solution does not come through, the couple says they plan to make the most of their remaining time in the country they love, with a short trip into the Australian bush to soak in the landscape they have called home for 12 years.

    Australia’s Department of Home Affairs was contacted for comment on the Hewitts’ case. In a statement provided to media, a department spokesperson said it could not comment on individual immigration cases due to privacy requirements. “All applicants lodging a visa decision review are encouraged to do so at the earliest opportunity to maintain lawful status,” the statement read. “The department is unable to grant a Judicial Review Bridging Visa A until it receives confirmation from the Federal Court that a judicial review application has been made.”

  • Flights at German airport disrupted after suspect objects sighted

    Flights at German airport disrupted after suspect objects sighted

    BERLIN – Operations at Leipzig/Halle Airport, one of Germany’s most critical air cargo hubs, were thrown into disarray overnight following two separate security incidents: an unconfirmed sighting of an unidentified flying object in the area and the discovery of a suspicious object near one of the facility’s runways, local law enforcement confirmed Wednesday.

    The first report of an airborne object near the airport came in just minutes before midnight, prompting immediate safety protocols that forced multiple inbound and outbound flights to reroute. Among the diverted aircraft was at least one commercial passenger plane, according to initial law enforcement updates. Following the sighting, crews located a second, stationary unknown object in the vicinity of the airport’s southern runway, triggering an explosive ordnance response.

    Authorities dispatched a specialized bomb disposal robot to conduct a thorough inspection of the suspicious object near the runway. As of Wednesday’s public statement, police have not released additional details about the nature of either the sighted flying object or the discovered suspicious item.

    While operations using the airport’s remaining open runway resumed shortly before 2 a.m. after the initial security lockdown, the southern runway remained fully closed to all air traffic through Wednesday morning, leaving ongoing disruptions to cargo and passenger schedules at the major transport hub.

  • South Korea pro baseball league cancels games over heatwave

    South Korea pro baseball league cancels games over heatwave

    A relentless, record-shattering heatwave that has already claimed nearly 20 lives and sickened thousands across South Korea has forced the nation’s top professional baseball circuit to scrap all scheduled matches for Wednesday and Thursday, marking one of the most visible public disruptions caused by the extreme weather event.

    For more than two months, the country has baked under unrelenting high temperatures, with three new national all-time temperature records set over the past seven days alone. The peak of the heatwave so far came Sunday, when thermometers climbed to 42.5 degrees Celsius in parts of the country. As of Wednesday, the highest-level heat alerts remained in effect for both eastern and western districts of the capital Seoul, a warning triggered when heat index is projected to hit 38C or actual temperatures are forecast to reach 39C or higher.

    The cancellation decision from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) came just one day after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung directed government agencies to classify the ongoing heatwave as a national disaster, and ordered officials to deploy all necessary resources to implement emergency protective measures to save civilian lives.

    In an official statement announcing the match cancellations, the KBO noted that the decision to call off all August 5 and 6 games was driven by ongoing safety risks for both competing players and attending spectators, and that the cancellations will remain in place until comprehensive heat safety protocols can be put in place. Local media reports confirm that 10 scheduled games across the country were scrapped as a result of the order.

    The devastating public health toll of the heatwave is already substantial: data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency shows that between May 15 and August 3, more than 2,200 people have been treated for heat-related illnesses, with at least 19 confirmed deaths linked to extreme heat.

    The cancellations are not an unprecedented step for the league this week. On Tuesday, the KBO already called off two scheduled games: one at Seoul’s Jamsil Stadium and another in the southwestern city of Gwangju, after multiple spectators collapsed from heat exhaustion during pre-game and game activities. Even for matches that went ahead on Tuesday, heat-related medical incidents were widespread. An official with the SSG Landers franchise confirmed to AFP that a male attendee at the team’s Tuesday match against the LG Twins in Incheon collapsed from a suspected heat illness, forcing a nine-minute game stoppage before the fan was transported to a local hospital by ambulance. The team added that 25 additional spectators required on-site medical treatment for heat-related symptoms during the contest.

    Moving forward, the KBO announced it will convene an emergency executive committee meeting, with representatives from member clubs and the KBO Players’ Association in attendance, to negotiate and adopt additional long-term heat safety protocols for the remainder of the season.