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  • Top Australian soldier to remain in jail over alleged war crimes

    Top Australian soldier to remain in jail over alleged war crimes

    One of Australia’s most decorated living military veterans, Ben Roberts-Smith, is now being held in police custody after his arrest earlier this week on war crime charges, after his legal team opted not to pursue bail ahead of upcoming court proceedings.

    The 47-year-old former soldier was taken into custody by law enforcement officers at Sydney Airport on Tuesday, and was immediately slapped with five counts of murder under Australian war crime law. He was then transferred to a holding cell to await his first court appearance, held the following day.

    On Wednesday, when the matter was brought before a Sydney local court, legal representatives for Roberts-Smith — who received the Victoria Cross, Australia’s highest award for battlefield bravery, in 2011 for his service in Afghanistan — did not submit an application for release on bail. Through his legal team, Roberts-Smith has repeatedly denied all allegations against him, describing the charges as egregious, malicious acts driven by spite.

    Tuesday’s arrest and subsequent criminal charges cap years of scrutiny of Roberts-Smith’s conduct during his deployments to Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, when he served as a corporal in Australia’s elite Special Air Service Regiment (SAS). The proceedings come after a landmark 2023 civil defamation ruling, which followed years of legal battles. The defamation case was initiated by Roberts-Smith himself after major Australian newspapers published reports detailing his alleged war crimes, marking the first time any Australian court had formally considered allegations of unlawful killings by Australian military personnel deployed overseas.

    In that civil trial, the judge ruled that on the balance of probabilities — the lower standard of proof required in civil legal proceedings — most of the war crime allegations against Roberts-Smith were substantially true, finding he had unlawfully killed multiple unarmed Afghan civilians during his tour. Throughout the defamation case, Roberts-Smith’s legal team argued that any killings attributed to their client were lawful acts of combat, or that the deaths never occurred at all.

    In the new criminal case, Roberts-Smith faces a mix of charges: one count of war crime murder, one count of participating in a joint murder, and three counts of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring murder. If convicted on any of the charges, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

    Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett confirmed that the charges are the result of a years-long, complex and exhaustive investigation into the allegations. “It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the ADF [Australian Defence Force] in the presence of, and acting on the orders of, the accused,” Barrett told reporters Tuesday.

    Barrett also emphasized that the alleged misconduct is limited to a very small group of Australian military personnel, noting that the vast majority of Australian Defence Force members serve with honor and bring credit to the nation.

    Following Wednesday’s initial court hearing, the presiding judge scheduled the next hearing in the case for June 4, and ordered that Roberts-Smith appear at the proceeding via video link. Roberts-Smith’s legal team has already stated they intend to file a request to move the next hearing to an earlier date.

  • AFL 2026: Collingwood will be bolstered by two major returns and a debutant for Gather Round

    AFL 2026: Collingwood will be bolstered by two major returns and a debutant for Gather Round

    As the undefeated Collingwood Magpies prepare to take the field for this year’s highly anticipated Gather Round, the AFL powerhouse has received a massive boost to its lineup with the confirmed return of two fan-favorite superstars and the long-awaited debut of a promising young talent ahead of Friday’s clash against the Fremantle Dockers.

    Nick Daicos and Scott Pendlebury, two of Collingwood’s most impactful players, have been cleared to suit up for the crucial round, head coach Craig McRae confirmed in a media briefing on Wednesday morning. Both stars had been sidelined with minor soft tissue injuries heading into last week’s match against the Brisbane Lions, where Collingwood suffered its first defeat of the season.

    Daicos, who was originally listed as a late game-day withdrawal against Brisbane due to a tight calf injury, completed a full training session at Melbourne’s Olympic Park this week to prove his fitness. While McRae noted the young star is not quite at 100% match sharpness, the coaching staff has no plans to limit his game time against the Dockers, and will not shift him into a forward role ahead of the contest, preferring to adjust his positioning based on how the match unfolds. “Nick will play and so will Pendles, they did what they needed to do this week to get through,” McRae told reporters. “I don’t think anyone will declare 100 per cent right to play, he’s probably close to it, but I don’t think we’ll manage Nick’s minutes. We might with some others, we’ve been doing that in the early part of the season, depending on injuries and the bench. We’re probably going into the game thinking not (playing him forward) to see what the game gives us.”

    Pendlebury, the club’s veteran leader, has also overcome the achilles soreness that forced him out of the Lions clash after he picked up the issue in the prior week’s match against GWS, rounding out the much-welcomed lineup additions for the Magpies.

    Alongside the return of the two established stars, Collingwood will also hand a first senior AFL debut to young midfielder Angus Anderson, a 2023 draft selection recruited from South Australian National Football League (SANFL) powerhouse Sturt. Anderson turned in a dominant performance in the Victorian Football League (VFL) last week against Coburg, notching 30 disposals, 12 clearances and one goal – a form line that McRae said made him impossible to leave out of the matchday squad.

    The clash will carry extra personal meaning for Anderson, who won a SANFL premiership with Sturt at Adelaide Oval last year, making the Gather Round fixture a de facto homecoming for the young talent. “His last at Adelaide Oval he won a premiership with Sturt so he’s got some great memories there and plenty of friends I am sure so it’ll be a good homecoming for him,” McRae said. “Tough, he’s tough. The fans will love his tackling intensity and every time we show some highlights of him at VFL, he’s really smashing in and hurting the opposition. His contest and clearance work is his strength, and we’re playing against an opposition that is number one in the competition in those parts of the game.”

    Heading into the Gather Round, Collingwood holds an undefeated record in the annual event, and the strengthened lineup has positioned the club to extend that streak as it looks to bounce back from last week’s upset loss to Brisbane.

  • Crude prices plunge, stocks surge as US and Iran agree ceasefire

    Crude prices plunge, stocks surge as US and Iran agree ceasefire

    Just 48 minutes ago, a breakthrough diplomatic agreement between the United States and Iran for a two-week ceasefire sent shockwaves across global financial markets Wednesday, bringing sharp drops in crude oil prices and sweeping gains to equity indexes worldwide. The deal, mediated by Pakistan, includes Iran’s commitment to temporarily reopen the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz — the chokepoint through which roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil and gas supplies pass — ending weeks of escalating conflict that had disrupted global energy markets and stoked widespread fears of a broader regional war.

    The agreement came hours after a dramatic standoff: U.S. President Donald Trump had issued an extreme ultimatum Tuesday, threatening that if the Strait remained closed, “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” That threat followed pledges to target Iranian civilian infrastructure including bridges and power plants, while Iran responded with its own warning that it would cut off U.S. and allied access to regional energy supplies for years if Washington crossed its red lines. As the global community counted down to the deadline, Trump announced the truce via social media, noting he had received a “workable” 10-point proposal from Tehran.

    “Subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump wrote, adding that the truce is “double sided” and that U.S. military goals have already been met. He also confirmed ongoing negotiations for a long-term peace deal covering both Iran and broader Middle East stability. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country played a core mediation role, confirmed the ceasefire went into effect immediately, and added that the truce also covers Lebanon — implying Israel has agreed to halt its invasion of the northern neighbor.

    Market reaction was swift and largely positive, as investors released pent-up anxiety built up over five weeks of war that had squeezed global energy supplies. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude fell as much as 20% in early trading, settling 14% lower at $97.12 per barrel by 0230 GMT, while Brent North Sea crude dropped 13.2% to $94.86 per barrel, down from peaks that had stoked inflation fears globally.

    Equity markets across Asia jumped on the news: Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 5.3% to close at 56,270.90, Taiwan’s benchmark added nearly 4%, and markets in Sydney, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Wellington all posted sharp gains. Safe-haven assets retreated in line with de-escalation hopes: the U.S. dollar, which had strengthened amid conflict uncertainty, fell against the yen, euro and pound, while gold rallied roughly 5% after earlier declines driven by interest rate fears, and Bitcoin also posted gains. Notably, major Western indexes that closed before the announcement posted slight losses, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.2% and London’s FTSE 100 falling 0.8% on Tuesday.

    Market analysts note the upbeat response reflects widespread relief after weeks of geopolitical uncertainty. “Unsurprisingly, the initial market reaction has been a positive one, albeit perhaps not as sizeable as one might’ve expected, largely owing to the grind higher in risk assets seen since the tail end of Tuesday’s cash session,” said Michael Brown, senior analyst at Pepperstone. “Participants have been desperate for anything resembling good news for some weeks now, and even more desperate to see concrete steps being taken towards de-escalation. Now that we seem able to put a tick in both of those boxes, participants are unsurprisingly willing to significantly take up risk levels once more.”

    For Asian economies, which have borne the brunt of imported energy inflation in recent weeks, the truce carries outsize importance, according to Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management. “Lower oil prices remove the chokehold that has weighed on regional risk sentiment, especially in markets that feel imported energy shocks first and hardest,” he explained. “With crude backing off, the pressure on inflation expectations and front-end yields eases at the margin, and that is enough to let capital rotate back toward risk, at least for now.” Iranians have already publicly welcomed the ceasefire news, joining global markets in celebrating a rare step away from open conflict.

  • Wave of nostalgia as 2000s TV makes a comeback

    Wave of nostalgia as 2000s TV makes a comeback

    Twenty-five years after “Malcolm in the Middle” first introduced audiences to a sharp, overstretched teenager navigating his chaotic, dysfunctional household, the beloved 2000s sitcom is returning to Disney+ with nearly its entire original cast, including Emmy Award-winner Bryan Cranston. This reboot is far from an isolated project: it sits at the heart of a fast-growing entertainment trend that is bringing 2000s-era television back to screens across the globe, all fueled by audiences’ intense hunger for warm, familiar nostalgia.

    For media companies and streaming platforms, this revival strategy is as financially savvy as it is popular. Reviving established, beloved intellectual property carries far lower financial risk than launching an entirely new untested series, while already drawing guaranteed, built-in fan interest that guarantees strong viewership numbers. Media experts note that recycling and reimagining popular fictional characters and universes is not a new trend – it has been a core part of storytelling from ancient myths to modern comic book franchises – but the revival movement has exploded in the streaming era.

    “Going back to properties that are already established is one way of avoiding a lot of potential risks,” explained Robert Thompson, professor of media and pop culture at Syracuse University, in an interview with AFP. “All of the millions of dollars that were spent marketing, promoting, establishing the brand of those things way back when they were on in the first place – those bills have already been paid.”

    The roster of upcoming and recent revivals spans nearly every genre of 2000s television. Beyond the new “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair,” hit medical sitcom “Scrubs” – which originally aired from 2001 to 2010 – made its return to ABC and Hulu earlier this year, bringing back lead stars Zach Braff and Donald Faison alongside most of the original cast. In July, Amazon Prime Video will launch “Elle,” a prequel series that explores the high school years of Elle Woods, the iconic pink-loving heroine first brought to life by Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 “Legally Blonde” film franchise.

    Not every planned revival makes it to screen, however: Hulu recently scrapped a heavily anticipated reboot of the early 2000s supernatural hit “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” even after completing a pilot episode. Still, other legacy projects are moving forward: Fox is currently preparing a relaunch of “Baywatch,” the sun-soaked 1989-2001 lifeguard drama that turned Pamela Anderson into a global household name. Some 2000s series never even left the air: long-running hits such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “NCIS” and “Law and Order: SVU” continue to produce new episodes for linear networks, while their older catalog seasons consistently rank among the most-watched content on streaming platforms year after year.

    So why are modern audiences, who have thousands of brand-new shows at their fingertips, flocking back to content produced a quarter-century ago? Experts say the answer boils down to the psychological comfort of nostalgia, a well-documented coping mechanism for people navigating uncertain times.

    “I think this is a pretty common coping mechanism for a lot of people to return to shows they enjoyed in their youth,” said Sohni Kaur, a practicing psychologist who researched nostalgia and media during her studies in psychology and media at Scripps College. Kaur herself turned to rewatches of 2000s “Twilight” franchise and 1990s Bollywood films during the COVID-19 pandemic, and explained that revisiting familiar content eases anxiety and distracts from the constant upheaval of modern life. “It does really provide a lot of comfort to me. Looking back and revisiting something that we already know about kind of relieves that anxiety, or it kind of just distracts us from all of the current changes that are happening,” she said.

    Certain genres of shows naturally spark stronger nostalgic connection, Kaur added. Series centered on family or tight-knit friend groups – such as early 2000s hits “Friends” and “Gilmore Girls” – tend to hold particularly enduring emotional pull for audiences. Even horror franchises from the era continue to draw massive crowds: the latest installment of the 1996-launched “Scream” series, “Scream 7,” has grossed over $200 million worldwide so far in 2024, per data from Box Office Mojo.

    Thompson notes that nostalgic revivals tend to follow a roughly 20-year cycle, a timeline that lines up perfectly with the current wave of 2000s reboots. In that time frame, children and teenagers who loved the original broadcasts grow into working adults with disposable income for streaming subscriptions and movie tickets, and often seek out content that defined their youth, while sharing those favorite stories with their own children.

    Kaur added that the 2000s also represent a unique cultural turning point: it was the final moment before rapid exponential technological change transformed the media landscape, making the era feel like a simpler, more stable time for many viewers. “I think going back to that, again, feels safe,” she said. In the late 1990s and 2000s, appointment viewing of weekly television episodes created shared pop culture watershed moments that nearly all audiences experienced at the exact same time, a collective experience that has become far rarer in the fragmented streaming era.

    Rebooting these iconic series also taps into the unique cultural centrality that mainstream television held in that era, Thompson explained. In fact, the throwback trend extends even to how new content is released: streamers are increasingly returning to the old model of dropping one new episode per week, in a deliberate attempt to recreate the shared excitement of appointment television. HBO Max’s upcoming medical drama “The Pitt,” starring former “ER” lead Noah Wyle, will follow this weekly release model, intentionally nodding to the 1990s heyday of the hit NBC drama that launched Wyle and co-star George Clooney to stardom.

  • Neo-Nazi Joel Davis calls for freedom of alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith while speaking outside court

    Neo-Nazi Joel Davis calls for freedom of alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith while speaking outside court

    On a Wednesday outside Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court, a former senior figure in Australia’s most prominent neo-Nazi extremist organisation made an unprompted public intervention, using his court appearance to demand the release of decorated veteran Ben Roberts-Smith, who is currently facing five murder charges linked to alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.

    Joel Davis, the ex-leading member of the National Socialist Network (NSN), appeared before the court this week for a routine procedural hearing in his own ongoing criminal case. Davis faces 10 separate charges of using a digital communications service to menace, harass, or cause offense against two high-profile Australian political figures: federal independent Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender, and New South Wales Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane. He has not yet entered formal pleas to any of the charges against him.

    Court documents and prior testimony outline the allegations against Davis. Last year, after Spender publicly condemned an NSN rally held outside the New South Wales state parliament, Davis sent a viral inflammatory message on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram that read, “Patriots, I bid thee to rhetorically rape Allegra Spender.” Separately, he is accused of posting a threatening comment about Sloane on social media, writing, “stupid b**** needs to be beaten fr (for real)” in response to a news article about the NSW Liberal leader.

    Davis was only released from custody last week, after the New South Wales Supreme Court granted him bail. The court confirmed during that bail hearing that Davis had cut ties with the NSN: the extremist group had expelled him six months prior after his violent viral comments brought widespread public condemnation and reputational damage to the organisation, with NSN state leader Jack Eltis ruling that Davis had “brought the organisation into public disrepute.” Davis had previously claimed in a failed January bail application that he had left the group, just days after NSN announced it was disbanding. His defense lawyer told the court that Davis has shifted away from his prior extreme political views, and now aims to focus on raising his newborn child—whose birth he missed while he was in remand custody.

    As part of his strict bail conditions, Davis is barred from coming within 100 meters of Spender, Sloane, or their electoral offices, is forbidden from contacting either woman directly, and has been banned from accessing any social media platforms.

    Outside the Downing Centre on Wednesday, Davis ignored questions about his own legal case and instead turned attention to Roberts-Smith, who was formally charged with five counts of murder by the Australian Federal Police just one day earlier. Roberts-Smith, a former Victoria Cross recipient once lauded as Australia’s most decorated modern soldier, is accused of murdering unarmed Afghan civilians during his deployments to Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. He has repeatedly denied all allegations against him.

    Davis framed the prosecution of Roberts-Smith as a symbol of national failure in comments to waiting reporters. “I don’t want to talk about my case but I want to say something about Ben Roberts-Smith’s situation, which I think is emblematic … of everything wrong with this country,” Davis told reporters. “What kind of a country prosecutes its war heroes … Free Ben Roberts-Smith.”

    Wednesday’s procedural hearing saw Davis’ case adjourned, with the next court date scheduled for June this year.

  • ‘Show respect’: Energy Minister Chris Bowen fires up over clean energy, Iran war

    ‘Show respect’: Energy Minister Chris Bowen fires up over clean energy, Iran war

    A heated public confrontation has put Australia’s ongoing clean energy transition at the center of national debate, after Energy Minister Chris Bowen clashed sharply with a senior reporter during a Wednesday press briefing originally called to address an ongoing national fuel shortage.

    The briefing was convened to update the public on the state of the diesel crisis, with Bowen confirming that three percent of Australia’s retail service stations still remain without stock of the fuel. But what was intended as a routine update quickly devolved into tension when questions turned to the government’s signature climate and energy policy.

    Liam Bartlett, a reporter with 7News Spotlight, who had interjected earlier in the press conference, challenged Bowen directly, linking the ongoing Iran conflict to Australia’s renewable energy push. “If this war in Iran has showed nothing else, hasn’t it proved, once and for all, that your obsession with renewables will only lead us down the track to another energy crisis?” Bartlett asked.

    Bowen immediately pushed back on the framing of the question, dismissing it as a loaded partisan comment rather than a legitimate inquiry. What followed was a back-and-forth that escalated rapidly, with Bowen accusing the reporter of breaking press conference convention and cutting off other journalists waiting for their turn to ask questions.

    In a forceful defense of the government’s renewable energy strategy, Bowen pushed back against claims that renewables create energy insecurity. “Renewable energy is secure,” he said. “The Australian sun cannot be interrupted by a war or anything else. Solar energy has to travel 150,000,000km from the sun. It doesn’t have to travel the 150km of the Strait of Hormuz.”

    Responding to accusations that the government was falling behind schedule on its transition targets, and that Bowen had avoided engagement with Bartlett’s media outlet, the minister pushed back on those claims too. He noted that he had held daily press briefings to update the public on energy issues, and that this was the first time Bartlett had attended to ask a question.

    Calling on the reporter to show respect to fellow journalists who had attended all consecutive briefings, Bowen said, “I think you need to show a bit more respect to your colleagues. This is a room full of journalists. Everyone here gets a question. You’ve come to a press conference. Congratulations. Other journalists have been at every press conference.” The confrontation quickly became the lead focus of coverage of the press briefing, reigniting public debate over the pace and security of Australia’s shift away from fossil fuels.

  • Oil plunges after US-Iran ceasefire deal to reopen Strait of Hormuz

    Oil plunges after US-Iran ceasefire deal to reopen Strait of Hormuz

    A breakthrough conditional two-week ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran has sent shockwaves through global energy and financial markets, with the key Strait of Hormuz waterway set to reopen to unimpeded commercial passage. The diplomatic breakthrough, announced this week, has driven a dramatic single-day decline in benchmark global oil prices and sparked widespread gains across international stock exchanges.

    Following the confirmation of the deal, international benchmark Brent crude plummeted nearly 16% to settle at $92.30 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. traded oil benchmark, fell 16.5% to $93.80 per barrel. Even with this sharp correction, prices remain well above pre-conflict levels: in late February, before escalating tensions between the two nations disrupted Gulf energy supplies, Brent traded at roughly $70 per barrel.

    The disruption to energy flows began after Iran threatened to block all commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil supplies pass, in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iranian targets. The threat sent oil and gas prices soaring across global markets, as supply fears gripped investors and energy importers.

    Market reaction to the ceasefire announcement was overwhelmingly positive in early Asian trading on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index surged 4.5%, while South Korea’s Kospi Index jumped 5.5% in morning session trading. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 2.8%, and Australia’s ASX 200 added 2.5% to close out the trading day. U.S. stock futures also pointed to a strong opening rally for Wall Street, with futures contracts indicating broad upward momentum ahead of the official market open.

    The deal emerged after U.S. President Donald Trump outlined terms via a social media post Tuesday evening, confirming he had agreed to a 14-day suspension of all U.S. bombing and offensive operations against Iran, contingent on Iran’s commitment to fully, immediately and safely reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump had issued a hard deadline of 20:00 EDT Tuesday, warning that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” if no agreement was reached. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi quickly confirmed Tehran’s acceptance of the terms, stating Iran would uphold the ceasefire so long as attacks on Iranian territory halted, and that safe passage for commercial vessels through the strait would be guaranteed during the truce.

    Market analysts note that political considerations likely pushed both sides toward a temporary truce. Xavier Smith, senior market analyst at research firm AlphaSense, observed that President Trump had strong incentives to avoid further escalation that would send energy prices skyrocketing. A sharp sustained rise in energy costs would amount to a “self-inflicted economic wound” that would damage Trump’s approval ratings ahead of key political deadlines, Smith explained, making escalation a risk few leaders would be willing to take.

    Saul Kavonic, energy analyst at investment firm MST Marquee, noted that the ceasefire will allow dozens of stranded oil tankers waiting near the strait to begin transiting the waterway in the coming weeks, which will deliver much needed relief to tight global energy markets. Even during the height of tensions, a small number of commercial vessels continued to pass through the strait, with a number of Asian nations including India, Malaysia, the Philippines and China securing individual safe passage agreements for their flagged ships in recent weeks.

    Despite the near-term market relief, Kavonic warned that a full return to pre-conflict energy production levels is unlikely until a permanent lasting peace agreement is reached. Additionally, damage to energy infrastructure across the region sustained during the conflict could take months to repair, delaying a full rebound in production and export volumes.

    Asian economies have borne the brunt of the conflict’s economic fallout, as most major Asian economies are heavily dependent on Gulf oil imports. Governments and private sector firms across the region have rolled out emergency measures in recent weeks to address skyrocketing energy prices and widespread fuel shortages. The Philippines, which imports 98% of its total oil supply from the Middle East, became the first nation to declare a national energy emergency in late March after retail petrol prices more than doubled. Multiple regional airlines have already implemented fare increases and cut route capacity to offset surging jet fuel prices.

    Ichiro Kutani, a senior researcher at Japan’s Institute of Energy Economics, explained that developing Asian economies have faced disproportionate harm from the conflict, as many lack domestic refining capacity and sufficient strategic oil reserves to buffer supply shocks. “The ceasefire is good news for Asian countries. If it holds, oil prices will return to normal states, though this will take time,” Kutani noted.

  • ‘He’s the reason I’m here’: Apa Twidle shares emotional journey to the NRL and heartbreaking loss that inspired him

    ‘He’s the reason I’m here’: Apa Twidle shares emotional journey to the NRL and heartbreaking loss that inspired him

    Rugby league fans across Australia and New Zealand are still buzzing after Apa Twidle’s sensational NRL debut for the Parramatta Eels on Easter Monday, a performance that delivered two tries in his first two touches and cemented his name as one of the most exciting new prospects in the competition. But beyond the on-field highlights, the 20-something winger’s journey to the top of the sport is a story of sacrifice, loss, and unwavering family support that has captured the hearts of rugby league supporters everywhere.

    Before the blockbuster clash against the Wests Tigers, few casual fans knew Twidle’s name. Just one week prior, he had turned heads in the lower-tier NSW Cup with a four-try haul against premiers Penrith Panthers, but he was still expected to ease into first-grade football off the Eels’ bench. That changed when starting winger Bailey Simonsson dislocated his ankle early in the match, forcing the rookie into the game far earlier than planned.

    What followed was debut magic Twidle and NRL fans will not soon forget: he scored a brilliant, boundary-hugging try with his very first touch of top-level football, then crossed the try line again just two minutes later. By the end of the match, clips of his debut were circulating widely on social media, and he was even named the NRL’s fan-voted Tasman Try of the Week for Round 5 just days later.

    But for Twidle, the moment was far more than a career breakout – it was the culmination of a years-long journey that began when he left his home in New Zealand at just 16 years old to pursue his dream of professional rugby league in Australia. Moving alone to Brisbane to play school football at Marsden State High School, the young teen struggled profoundly with loneliness and homesickness, even calling his mother begging to book a return flight home after his first weekend away.

    “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get homesick. I got homesick every day,” Twidle recalled after Monday’s match. “I was young and dumb, it was one of the hardest times in my life. But my mum, dad, and brothers kept pushing me to stay the course. My brothers are my idols – they taught me you don’t get anywhere without hard work, and that’s what stuck with me.”

    After finishing high school, Twidle signed with the Parramatta Eels’ underage program and moved to Sydney at 18 to live with his aunt, continuing to work his way up through the club’s ranks. Through his early years in Brisbane, he was fostered and trained by Paul Brown, a local coach who took him in without asking for anything in return, pushing him to train harder than he ever had before. Brown, who kept his terminal cancer diagnosis private from even Twidle, passed away last year – just one week after Twidle’s daughter was born.

    “I wouldn’t be standing right here right now if it wasn’t for that guy,” Twidle said. “He was the reason I stayed in the game, he got me where I am. I wrote his initials on my strapping for the debut – he’s with me everywhere. I never even got a photo of him with my daughter. That’s something that hurts me still. When I found out he’d passed the morning after my daughter was born, I was bawling my eyes out all day.”

    Monday’s debut was full of other emotional surprises for Twidle too. His mother Pura, who still lives in Hamilton, New Zealand, had originally been told not to bother coming by Twidle, who did not expect to get much game time in his first match. But after his aunt pressured her to make the cross-Tasman trip, she booked a last-minute flight on Sunday morning and flew into Sydney just hours before kickoff, bringing Twidle’s seven-month daughter – who Brown never got to meet – with her to CommBank Stadium.

    “When we met after the game, we didn’t even say anything, we just started crying,” Twidle said. “Tears of joy, obviously. That emotion just came pouring out – this is what all the hard years were for.”

    As with any remarkable debut, Twidle’s big day came with a bitter twist: he suffered a Grade 3 AC joint tear, a complete ligament rupture to his shoulder, during one of his tackles, and left the field with his arm in a sling. The injury rules him out of selection for the Eels’ next round clash, but the young rookie says he is already looking ahead to what comes next after a rollercoaster debut he will never forget.

  • US lawmakers call to remove Trump after ‘civilization will die’ threat against Iran

    US lawmakers call to remove Trump after ‘civilization will die’ threat against Iran

    A growing coalition of Democratic U.S. lawmakers is demanding President Donald Trump be stripped of executive authority through the 25th Amendment, a little-used constitutional mechanism that allows the vice president and cabinet to remove a sitting president deemed unfit to fulfill their official duties. The unprecedented call comes amid an escalating war in the Middle East that has now entered its seventh week, driven by Trump’s increasingly extreme rhetoric targeting Iran that critics have labeled a threat of genocide and war crimes.

    In a social media post Tuesday, Trump issued an ultimatum to Iran’s leadership: by 8 p.m. Washington local time, Tehran must agree to Washington’s demands to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, halt all nuclear enrichment activities, and end its domestic missile production program. If his conditions are not met, Trump vowed to “obliterate” Iran’s critical civilian infrastructure—including energy grids, communications networks, and public water systems that millions of Iranian civilians depend on for survival. In his most alarming remark, he warned that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if the Islamic Republic refuses to comply.

    Iranian leaders have flatly rejected Trump’s non-negotiable preconditions, countering with demands for a complete end to all U.S. and Israeli military hostilities across the region and full financial compensation for damage already inflicted by ongoing conflict.

    As of Tuesday afternoon in Washington, D.C., at least 30 sitting members of Congress have publicly and explicitly called for Trump’s immediate removal through the 25th Amendment process. California Congressman Ro Khanna laid out the urgency of the demand in a video posted to X Tuesday, arguing that Trump’s public statements cross fundamental moral and legal lines.

    “If the United States Congress has any life left in it, every member of the House and Senate must be calling for Trump’s removal today, based on the 25th amendment,” Khanna said. “He is threatening the entire destruction of a civilisation. He is calling Iranians ‘animals’. He is showing a total disregard for the humanity of people in Iran, in Gaza, in Cuba. This is a moral crime. It is a war crime. We need to be demanding that Congress convene today, and we need to be invoking the 25th amendment.”

    When questioned by reporters Monday about whether targeting Iran’s civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime given its direct impact on civilian survival, Trump dismissed all concerns out of hand.

    Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette added that if Trump’s cabinet refuses to act to remove the president, Congress should immediately launch new impeachment proceedings. “Donald Trump is openly threatening war crimes against the entirety of Iranian civilization. 25th Amendment proceedings must begin immediately, but if the Cabinet is too cowardly, the House should begin the impeachment process,” she wrote on X.

    Illinois Congresswoman Delia Ramirez echoed DeGette’s position, accusing Trump of deliberately escalating the conflict to advance his own political and financial interests. “He is a warmonger, escalating the conflict for his own profit and consolidation of power,” Ramirez added.

    Congress has already seen one impeachment effort against Trump launched earlier this year, on December 10 by Texas Congressman Al Green. The measure currently has only two co-sponsors and has failed to gain momentum, largely because both chambers of Congress are held by Republican majorities—any impeachment trial in the Senate would almost certainly result in acquittal. If November’s midterm elections flip congressional control to Democrats, however, a third impeachment (following 2018 and 2021 efforts) becomes a distinct possibility.

    Arizona Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, who is of Iranian descent, went a step further Monday, announcing she will introduce articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, one of the most prominent public advocates for expanding the war into Iran. “Trump is escalating a devastating, illegal war, threatening massive war crimes and targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran…the rhetoric has crossed every line. Pete Hegseth is complicit,” Ansari wrote. “It’s clear he’s unfit to be president.”

    Michigan Congressman Shri Thanedar called out Republican lawmakers for their silence, writing on X: “If Vance, Rubio & the others continue to be spineless cowards, Congress must do everything possible to stop Trump & this war.” Fellow Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib called Trump a “maniac” who “should be removed from office,” adding: “After bombing a school and massacring young girls, the war criminal in the White House is threatening genocide. It’s time to invoke the 25th Amendment.”

    Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who has been repeatedly targeted by Trump’s anti-Somali rhetoric, called Trump an “unhinged lunatic” and issued a two-word demand: “Impeach. Remove.” Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan warned that Trump poses an immediate existential risk: “He is too unhinged, dangerous, and deranged to have the nuclear codes!” California Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove labeled Trump’s rhetoric “pure evil,” urging Republicans to break with the president. “Republicans, if there were ever a time to stand up, it’s now,” she wrote. “I’m sick to my stomach. Trump’s genocidal language and indiscriminate warfare cannot be normalized or accepted.”

    Multiple other Democratic lawmakers have echoed these condemnations, with Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton arguing that the threat cannot be dismissed as typical Trump behavior. “This is not just ‘Trump being Trump’. This is an insane man who is unfit for office,” Moulton said. Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride noted that Trump’s threat crosses an unprecedented red line even for a presidency defined by controversial rhetoric. “In a political career defined by grotesque statements, this president’s horrifying, illegal, and genocidal threat this morning is among the most dangerous and appalling,” she wrote Tuesday. “You can’t shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theater and a president cannot be allowed to threaten genocide with the United States military.”

    Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey went even further, urging active-duty U.S. troops to refuse to carry out any orders that qualify as war crimes, noting that the current conflict was never authorized by Congress. “To the members of our military: remember, you do not have to follow illegal orders,” Markey wrote.

    No sitting Republican lawmakers have publicly expressed support for removing Trump, but one high-profile former Republican member of Congress, Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia, broke with party lines to back the 25th Amendment push. “25TH AMENDMENT!!! Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness,” she wrote on X.

    The 25th Amendment, ratified in 1967, outlines the formal constitutional process for transferring executive power in the event a sitting president is deemed unable to carry out their duties. The mechanism has never before been used to permanently remove a sitting president; past uses have only involved temporary transfers of power while presidents underwent medical procedures requiring general anesthesia.

    To initiate the process to remove Trump, Vice President JD Vance and a majority of Trump’s cabinet (or an alternate congressional body created for this purpose) must first formally agree that the president is unfit to serve due to mental or physical incapacity. That declaration must be submitted in writing to the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore, the second-highest ranking Senate leader who presides over votes when the vice president is absent. Immediately upon submission, Vance would assume the powers of the acting presidency.

    Trump would then have the right to submit his own declaration to Congress asserting he is capable of resuming his duties, which would allow him to retake power immediately. Vance and the cabinet would then have four days to submit an appeal to Congress, at which point lawmakers would convene to vote on the question of removal. A two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate is required to formalize the president’s removal, after which the vice president would serve as acting president until the next scheduled presidential election. Without that two-thirds majority, Trump would remain in office.

  • New twist in case of man who stabbed brother

    New twist in case of man who stabbed brother

    A violent family altercation in suburban Adelaide that once carried an attempted murder accusation has taken an unexpected turn in court, with the accused accepting a reduced charge to resolve the case. The incident dates back to April 1 last year, when 36-year-old Kane Swift became engaged in a physical confrontation with his brother, Raymond Drechsler, in the neighborhood of Elizabeth Park. After stabbing Drechsler in the abdomen during the clash, Swift attempted to make a rapid escape from the scene. He stole a red Ford SUV, reversed the vehicle at high speed, but lost control and crashed straight into a tree along Billing Street before he could get away. Drechsler was left with critical, life-threatening injuries after the attack, which Swift has never denied committing. When the case first moved through the judicial system, Swift was hit with a slate of serious charges, top among them attempted murder. Additional charges included assaulting his mother, who intervened to stop the fight, driving without the owner’s consent, and reckless dangerous driving, all of which Swift had already pleaded guilty to in earlier court proceedings. On Tuesday, during a hearing at South Australia’s Supreme Court, a key development unfolded: the prosecution agreed to drop the original attempted murder charge, and Swift was instead arraigned on the lesser count of aggravated infliction of serious harm with intent to cause harm. Swift formally entered a guilty plea to this reduced charge, bringing the main accusation in the case to a close. Noah Redmond, Swift’s legal representative, confirmed to the court during the brief session that the entire matter had been resolved through this plea deal, noting that the arrangement had been approved by the director of public prosecutions. Judge Sandi McDonald has since adjourned the case to June, when the next stage of the legal process will get underway. At that upcoming hearing, which is scheduled to run for one hour, prosecution and defense teams will present their sentencing submissions, and formal victim impact statements from those affected by the attack will also be delivered to the court.