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大洋洲

  • Pope Leo kicks off African tour under shadow of Trump’s ire

    Pope Leo kicks off African tour under shadow of Trump’s ire

    Pope Leo XIV departed Rome’s Fiumicino Airport on Monday, kicking off a landmark 11-day tour across four African nations that stands as one of his most high-profile international outings since his election to the papacy in May 2025. But the historic journey faces an early shadow, cast by harsh public criticism from former U.S. President Donald Trump launched just hours before the pontiff’s departure.

    The first stop of the 18,000-kilometer voyage is Algeria, a majority-Muslim nation that has never before welcomed a sitting pope. According to Algiers Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco, the core goal of the Algerian leg of the trip is to foster interfaith connection: to help “build bridges between the Christian and Muslim worlds.”

    Roughly seven hours before Pope Leo departed Rome, Trump launched an unexpected public attack against the pontiff, centered on Leo’s repeated calls for an end to ongoing violent conflict in the Iran war. Speaking to reporters, Trump stated plainly, “I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo,” and accused the pontiff of “toying with a country (Iran) that wants a nuclear weapon.”

    Trump went further, suggesting that college of cardinals only elected Leo to the papacy earlier this year because of his American citizenship, framing the selection as an attempt to curry favor with Washington. The attack concluded with Trump sharing an AI-generated image that bizarrely depicted him in the likeness of Jesus Christ.

    This public rebuke is not out of the blue. Pope Leo had already publicly decried Trump’s threats against Iranian civilians as “unacceptable” — a critique that did not name Trump but left little ambiguity about its target. The pontiff has also previously condemned the Trump administration’s “inhuman” approach to migrant policy.

    In a surprising show of solidarity even from a political ally of Trump, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a far-right leader with well-documented close ties to Trump, released a public statement Monday morning wishing the pope a successful trip across Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. “May the Holy Father’s ministry foster the resolution of conflicts and the return of peace, both internally and between nations, following the path traced by his predecessors, and provide support and comfort to the Christian communities he will encounter during his journey,” Meloni wrote.

    Beyond its global diplomatic and interfaith goals, the tour carries deep personal meaning for Pope Leo. Algeria is the birthplace of Saint Augustine, the 4th and 5th-century Christian theologian whose spiritual thinking has shaped the entire course of Leo’s ministry. Augustine founded the theological tradition that underpins the Augustinian Order, the monastic community Pope Leo has belonged to for decades; he even served as head of the order before his election to the papacy, and has visited Algeria twice previously in that role. In his inaugural address as pope, Leo introduced himself as a “son” of Augustine, and regularly cites the theologian’s writings in his public messages.

    Ahead of the pope’s arrival in Algiers, the capital has been abuzz with festive preparation: city walls have been repainted, road surfaces refreshed, and public green spaces decorated with fresh plants and flower arrangements to welcome the historic visit. After meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, addressing the diplomatic corps, and paying respects to those killed in Algeria’s 1954-1962 war of independence against France, Pope Leo will travel Tuesday to Annaba, the modern city built atop the ancient Roman town of Hippo Regius where Saint Augustine lived and worked for much of his career. There, he will celebrate mass at the Saint Augustine Basilica.

    Father Fred Wekesa, rector of the Annaba basilica, noted that the visit will be a powerful moment of encouragement for Algeria’s small Christian community, bringing “a message of encouragement and solidarity.”

    Monday’s itinerary in Algiers also includes stops at the iconic Great Mosque of Algiers, home to the world’s tallest minaret, and the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa, which overlooks the city’s bay. The pontiff will also hold a private prayer service in a chapel honoring 19 priests and nuns who were killed during Algeria’s brutal 1992-2002 civil war, an internal conflict that claimed an estimated 200,000 lives. Notably, he will not visit the Tibhirine monastery, where seven monks were kidnapped and murdered in 1996, a killing whose full context remains unresolved decades later.

    Wekesa pointed out that while many global observers still see Algeria through the lens of its “dark years” of civil conflict, Pope Leo’s visit will give the world a chance to see the nation differently. “We are capable of living together in peace,” he said, noting the visit will highlight “the hospitality and generosity of the Algerian people.”

    Even so, human rights organizations have raised ongoing concerns about religious freedom in Algeria. While the country’s constitution enshrines formal guarantees of freedom of worship, multiple groups say repression of religious minority communities remains a persistent issue. Last week, three major human rights organizations publicly called on Pope Leo to raise these concerns during his meetings with Algerian leadership.

  • Wife of alleged murder victim tells jury how she ended ‘love triangle’

    Wife of alleged murder victim tells jury how she ended ‘love triangle’

    More than two decades after Jason Palmer’s body was pulled from a New South Wales river, his accused killer’s long-awaited Supreme Court trial has begun, with the victim’s wife taking the witness stand to describe the fateful love triangle that preceded her husband’s 2004 death.

    Fifty-four-year-old Gofal Baziad has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder. Prosecutors allege Baziad stabbed Palmer to death inside Palmer’s Lakemba unit in early February 2004, then wrapped the victim’s remains in a sleeping bag, weighted the body with heavy rocks, and dumped it in the Nepean River. The core of the Crown’s case centers on the romantic entanglement that linked all three people involved: Baziad had previously been in a relationship with Renny Palmer, Jason Palmer’s wife.

    Court documents outline that Jason and Renny Palmer’s marriage had been turbulent for years, with repeated separations that led to a permanent split in 2002. Not long after the separation, Renny began dating Baziad, a relationship that continued until late 2003, when Jason Palmer reached out to repair their marriage. In an unusual confrontation that would set the stage for the alleged murder, Jason Palmer organized a three-way meeting with his wife and Baziad, and demanded Renny make a final choice between the two men.

    Speaking to the jury from the witness stand on Monday through a court-appointed interpreter, Renny Palmer confirmed that she ultimately chose to rebuild her marriage with her husband over continuing her relationship with Baziad. “Jason arranged a meeting with the three of us together. Jason asked me to choose between the two of them. I did. I chose Jason,” she told the court.

    A key detail that has emerged in pre-trial and opening testimony adds further complexity to the case: court records show that after Jason Palmer’s disappearance and death, Renny Palmer reconnected with Baziad, and the pair maintained a romantic relationship that lasted 14 years, only ending in 2018.

    Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC laid out the prosecution’s version of events in his opening address, telling the court that Baziad attacked Palmer by first striking him in the head with a glass object, before stabbing him multiple times in the back, hip and chest. The attack is alleged to have happened either late on February 6, 2004 or in the early hours of the following morning at Palmer’s Barremma Road residence.

    Three weeks after Palmer was reported missing, kayakers on the Nepean River near Menangle made the grim discovery. His body was found wrapped in a blue-green sleeping bag, secured with yellow rope, and held underwater by two large rocks matched the prosecution’s account of how Baziad disposed of the remains.

    Baziad’s trial is ongoing, and the court is expected to hear weeks of further witness testimony and evidence before the case goes to the jury for deliberation.

  • Giovani Laulu, Younes Ali Younes: AFP to seek public interest immunity claim over information about Adass Israel fire

    Giovani Laulu, Younes Ali Younes: AFP to seek public interest immunity claim over information about Adass Israel fire

    A pre-trial hearing for two men charged over a devastating late 2024 arson attack on a Melbourne Jewish synagogue has progressed this week, with Australian federal law enforcement confirming it will fight to keep key case documents sealed from the defense under public interest immunity rules.

    Giovani Laulu, 21, and Younes Ali Younes, 20, were slapped with charges including arson and reckless conduct endangering life months after the December 6, 2024 blaze gutted the Adass Israel Synagogue in the inner Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea. As is standard in Australian early court proceedings, neither defendant has been required to enter a plea to the allegations against them.

    The pair appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon, with magistrate James Henderson receiving a procedural update on the progress of the case. Laulu, who was granted bail in December to reside at his mother’s home, drew public attention after being photographed carrying an apparent Louis Vuitton Pochette Voyage MM men’s clutch, a luxury retail item valued at roughly AU$1,600. By contrast, Younes appeared via videolink from a Victorian remand centre, dressed in a standard green prison uniform.

    Court proceedings brought to light a key point of contention in the case: the Australian Federal Police (AFP)’s plan to withhold a selection of documents from the defense. A legal representative for the AFP told the court that the agency is on track to fulfill its mandatory disclosure obligation — the requirement to turn over all relevant evidence and case information to the defendants’ legal teams — by the end of May. To date, 2,500 pages of material have already been handed over, with a further 1,100 pages still undergoing internal agency review.

    However, the AFP intends to file multiple public interest immunity claims for a subset of the unreleased documents. If the court upholds these claims, the information would be barred from disclosure to the defense, on the grounds that releasing it would cause harm to broader national or public interests. Legal teams for the two accused have indicated they may challenge the immunity claims, meaning a separate window of court time will need to be scheduled to hear arguments on the issue before the scheduled August committal hearing, which will determine if the case proceeds to a full trial.

    Per police allegations, Laulu, Younes, and a third, still-unidentified suspect broke into the synagogue around 4:10 a.m. on the day of the fire. CCTV footage released by Victoria Police months after the attack shows three hooded individuals force entry into the building, carry multiple red jerry cans of accelerant inside, and ignite the blaze. The attack caused an estimated AU$20 million in structural damage to the synagogue and destroyed irreplaceable sacred Jewish texts. Two worshippers who were inside the building at the time of the attack managed to escape, though one suffered minor burns to his hands, per police accounts.

    The case has already taken on major national security implications, after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess revealed last August that Australian intelligence links this synagogue blaze, as well as an October 2024 arson attack on Sydney’s Lewis Continental Kitchen, to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran. Burgess told the public at the time that the IRGC allegedly used an elaborate network of proxies to cover up its involvement in the attacks targeting Australian Jewish communities.

    Following Monday’s hearing, the next procedural appearance for Laulu is scheduled for August 12, while Younes is set to next appear in court on June 16.

  • Man charged with intent to maim after teen, 17, allegedly stabbed in Gold Coast suburb of Molendinar

    Man charged with intent to maim after teen, 17, allegedly stabbed in Gold Coast suburb of Molendinar

    Five months after a 17-year-old was left critically injured in a reported stabbing on Queensland’s Gold Coast, law enforcement have taken a 33-year-old suspect into custody, with newly released police bodycam footage documenting the full arrest process.

    The violent incident unfolded just after 7:30 p.m. on November 6 last year, when emergency dispatch received multiple calls about a stabbing on Batchworth Road in Molendinar, a residential suburb of the Gold Coast. Responding officers found the wounded teenager at the scene with severe, life-threatening injuries, and immediately rushed him to Gold Coast University Hospital in critical condition.

    In an official statement following the recent arrest, Queensland Police outlined that investigators believe two attackers fled the stabbing site in a white Mercedes-Benz utility vehicle before officers arrived at the property. The suspect vehicle was first spotted roughly an hour after the attack at 8:50 p.m. traveling along Cotlew Street in the nearby Gold Coast suburb of Ashmore. By 9:15 p.m., authorities located the utility abandoned at a commercial property on Marine Parade in Labrador, but the two suspects had already fled the area.

    After five months of ongoing investigative work, Queensland Police executed an arrest operation on Monday, taking the 33-year-old male suspect into custody. He has since been charged with one count of acts intended to maim, disfigure or disable, a serious offense under Queensland criminal law.

    Released police bodycam footage, which has blurred the suspect’s face for privacy reasons, shows officers restraining the man on an outdoor veranda, bringing him to the ground before securing his wrists with handcuffs. The footage continues as officers escort the suspect away from the property and load him into the back of a marked police transport van.

    The accused made a brief first appearance at Southport Magistrates Court on the same day as his arrest. Authorities confirmed that investigations into the November 6 stabbing remain active, with a second suspect still at large. Police have not yet released additional details about the motive for the attack or any updates on the 17-year-old victim’s current condition following his initial hospitalization.

  • Aussie customers caught up in Booking.com data breach as personal information compromised

    Aussie customers caught up in Booking.com data breach as personal information compromised

    Global online travel behemoth Booking.com, one of the world’s largest travel platforms with operations spanning 160 countries and over 28 million property listings, has issued an urgent warning to its Australian customers after confirming a large-scale data breach that allowed unauthorised third parties to access sensitive personal user data.

    In notifications sent to affected users overnight, the Dutch-headquartered company confirmed that it had detected suspicious activity linked to a subset of customer reservations. After identifying the anomaly, security teams moved quickly to seal off the breach and prevent further unauthorised access, launching a full internal investigation to map the scope of the incident.

    The probe confirmed that bad actors gained access to a range of personal user information, including customers’ full names, registered email addresses, contact phone numbers, and additional details that users had shared with accommodation providers via the platform. To mitigate ongoing risk, the company has issued new reservation confirmation numbers and PIN codes to impacted users, urging them to remain vigilant for unsolicited communications from scammers impersonating Booking.com staff or accommodation representatives.

    “Your personal data security is our highest priority,” the company stated in its customer notification. “We will continue to upgrade and expand the comprehensive security protocols we have in place to protect all user bookings made through our platform.”

    As of the latest update, Booking.com has not confirmed how many total users have been impacted by the breach, nor has it verified whether sensitive financial information such as credit card details or bank account credentials were accessed by the unauthorised parties. Outlets have reached out to company representatives for additional comment on the incident.

    This breach is not an isolated event for the travel giant: industry outlet Techzine has documented multiple prior cyberattacks and data breaches targeting Booking.com, including a 2024 phishing scam that stole employee login credentials from hotel workers in the United Arab Emirates. The report also notes that phishing attacks targeting global travelers have spiked 900% since the start of 2024, a trend that has put millions of booking platform users at increased risk.

    Australian fraud monitoring agency ScamWatch adds broader context to this risk: last year alone, more than 65,600 Australian residents lost a combined total of AU$31 million to phishing scams, making this one of the fastest growing cyber threat categories for domestic consumers.

  • Gold miners and tech stocks drag Aussie sharemarket down, but oil soars amid further Middle East tensions

    Gold miners and tech stocks drag Aussie sharemarket down, but oil soars amid further Middle East tensions

    Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East sent ripples through Australia’s domestic share market on Monday, as a surprise order from former U.S. President Donald Trump to block the Strait of Hormuz upended commodity prices and dragged the benchmark ASX 200 into negative territory. The move came on the heels of collapsed peace negotiations between the United States and Iran, triggering immediate volatility in global energy markets.

    Brent crude prices skyrocketed 7.05% in the wake of the announcement, settling at $US101.91 per barrel by market close. The energy price surge translated directly to gains for Australia’s domestic energy sector, the largest winner on a otherwise downbeat trading day. Woodside Energy climbed 2.61%, while fellow major Santos notched a 1.65% increase. Coal producers also benefited from the broader energy market upswing, with Whitehaven Coal rising 2.59% by closing bell.

    Despite the energy sector’s gains, the ASX 200 ultimately closed lower, dragged down by steep losses in gold mining and technology stocks. The benchmark index fell 34.6 points, or 0.40%, to end the session at 8926, while the broader All Ordinaries index dropped 0.5% (42.3 points) to 9113.5. Eight of the 11 tracked market sectors finished in negative territory, with only energy, communication services and utilities posting marginal gains. Among Australia’s big four retail banks, results were mixed: Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) dipped 0.1%, Westpac fell 0.42%, National Australia Bank dropped 0.9%, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group held steady to close flat.

    Technology stocks were among the hardest hit, led by a sharp 8.06% plunge in Life360 shares. The decline marked a continued sell-off following the company’s announcement last Friday that it would cut headcount to streamline operations around artificial intelligence integration. Other major tech names also posted losses: WiseTech Global fell 1.25%, while cloud accounting firm Xero dipped 1.46%.

    Gold mining stocks also underperformed, as spot gold prices fell 0.46% to $US4729.95 per ounce, pressured by mounting inflation concerns tied to rising energy costs. Top Australian gold producers recorded significant losses: Northern Star Resources slipped 1.96%, Evolution Mining fell 2.44%, and Pantoro Gold dropped 3.88%.

    Alongside market volatility, new wage data from CBA released Monday offered a steady picture of Australian wage growth amid rising inflation pressures. The bank’s quarterly Wage Insights series, drawn from de-identified data of 400,000 customer accounts, recorded a 0.8% rise in wages over the three months to March. Annual wage growth held steady at 3.1%, defying expectations of upward pressure from a persistently tight labour market.

    Belinda Allen, CBA’s head of Australian economics, noted that wage growth has stabilized at a new baseline even as conflict-driven inflation risks rise in the wake of Middle East tensions. “The labour market remains on the tight side with the unemployment rate at 4.3 per cent according to ABS data,” Allen said. “However, according to CBA data, wages growth is finding a new base at around 3.1 per cent per year, having hovered between 3.1 per cent and 3.2 per cent since mid-2025. Our data is not yet showing any response to the tightening in labour market conditions through late 2025 and into early 2026. We are expecting some loosening in the labour market as economic growth slows in 2026.”

    In corporate news, a handful of major individual stocks posted extreme moves on the back of company announcements. The a2 Milk Company plummeted 12.99% after downgrading its 2025-26 profit outlook, citing ongoing supply chain disruptions in its key Chinese market. The company cut its expected EBITDA margins and warned that net profit would be flat to lower compared to the previous financial year. Payments firm EML Payments saw an even steeper drop, falling 35.65% after downgrading its 2026 fiscal year underlying EBITDA guidance to a range of $47 million to $50 million, blaming weaker-than-forecast trading and delayed program launches. On the positive side, fertility service provider Monash IVF jumped 15.79% after confirming it had received a $351 million takeover offer at 90 cents per share from a private consortium. Supply chain firm Brambles declined 1.93% after the Federal Court partly upheld shareholder claims alleging the company made misleading public guidance disclosures.

    The Australian dollar closed trading at 0.70 U.S. cents, following the day’s market shifts.

  • Major track closures spark hours-long delays, massive queues across Brisbane

    Major track closures spark hours-long delays, massive queues across Brisbane

    Brisbane’s northern commuter corridors descended into transport chaos on Monday, when scheduled rail track upgrades combined with an extended shutdown from industrial action over the Easter holiday created widespread disruption that left thousands of passengers waiting for up to 45 minutes in snaking queues hundreds of meters long for overcrowded replacement buses.

    Photographs captured at Brisbane’s Northgate Station on Monday morning show commuter lines stretching roughly 300 meters along the station’s exterior, as travelers waited for shuttle buses to carry them into Brisbane’s central business district. Multiple passengers reported wait times close to 45 minutes before a replacement bus even arrived, with many describing a total breakdown in trip timing that upended regular work and personal travel schedules.

    Joanne McCarthy, one local commuter caught up in the chaos, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that her typical one-hour daily commute swelled to more than two hours on Monday. She added that there was little to no on-site information for passengers about service adjustments, and even alternative ride-hailing options were impossible to access due to the massive backlog of people at the station. “There were no buses there waiting for us,” McCarthy said. “We had no communication whatsoever about what was happening. I was thinking about jumping in an Uber, but you couldn’t even get to the front of the line to get down the stairs to get an Uber.”

    The disruptions are the result of a month-long program of infrastructure upgrades to southeast Queensland’s aging rail network, which TransLink, Queensland’s public transport authority, announced would require major track closures across Brisbane throughout April. The agency initially scheduled bus replacement services for four key stations – Northgate, Bowen Hills, Varsity Lakes and Boggo Road – through Wednesday, but industrial action over the Easter weekend forced Queensland Rail to extend full network track closures through April 30.

    To meet the surge in demand for replacement services, Queensland’s transport department contracted private operator Thomson Coachlines to add extra capacity. The firm pulled in additional buses and drivers from as far as Melbourne, as well as regional Queensland centers including Goondiwindi, Gympie and the nearby Sunshine Coast to reinforce existing shuttle routes.

    In a public statement addressing the extended shutdown, Queensland Rail Chief Executive Kat Stapleton confirmed that rail replacement buses would continue operating at the highest possible frequency alongside regular local bus services to keep passengers moving through the end of the month. “Due to the extension of the closure, rail replacement buses will need to be allocated across multiple closure areas, so some services may run at a reduced frequency,” Stapleton explained. A TransLink spokesperson had earlier advised passengers to reevaluate their travel plans, book trips in advance where possible, and budget for significantly longer travel times throughout the upgrade period.

    The extended disruptions have underscored the strain that critical infrastructure upgrades place on urban commuters in Queensland’s capital, with officials continuing to urge flexibility as work progresses to modernize the region’s rail network for long-term improved service.

  • ‘Most beautiful secret’: Tennis star Bernard Tomic and girlfriend Keely Hannah reveal birth of first child

    ‘Most beautiful secret’: Tennis star Bernard Tomic and girlfriend Keely Hannah reveal birth of first child

    Australian professional tennis player Bernard Tomic, long known for his turbulent on and off-court reputation, has sent shockwaves through his fanbase with a sudden, unexpected announcement: he and long-term partner Keely Hannah have welcomed their first child together, a baby girl named Astara Aurelia Tomic.

    The newborn arrived on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026, but the couple managed to keep the entire pregnancy and birth completely hidden from the public eye, maintaining a complete radio silence across their social media channels in the months leading up to the reveal. Hannah, Tomic’s partner since 2022, broke the quiet on Sunday, sharing a carousel of tender photos of baby Astara to her Instagram account alongside the caption: “The most beautiful secret we’ve ever kept.”

    A closer look at Hannah’s social media history confirms how successfully the couple concealed their exciting news: she has not shared any public posts to her account since July of the previous year, letting followers remain completely unaware of her pregnancy.

    The surprise arrival marks a new chapter for Tomic, a player who has long been no stranger to off-court controversy alongside his on-court pursuits. The former world No. 17 has weathered public scrutiny of his relationship with Hannah before: during a 2024 ATP Challenger tournament, Tomic made headlines when he retired mid-match after a heated public argument with Hannah that was caught on live tournament broadcast.

    Today, Tomic continues his comeback push on the ATP Challenger Tour, currently holding the world No. 191 ranking as he fights to climb back into the men’s top 100 and earn a return to the upper echelons of professional tennis.

  • ‘You should be a coach’: Jake Trbojevic set to play for Manly after gruesome eye injury, with his future role starting to take shape

    ‘You should be a coach’: Jake Trbojevic set to play for Manly after gruesome eye injury, with his future role starting to take shape

    The Manly Sea Eagles are heading into Thursday’s away clash against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville with renewed momentum, as the club’s stunning recent form has drawn comparisons to their memorable 2021 comeback season. At the center of pre-match speculation is veteran forward Jake Trbojevic, who is on track to be named in the matchday squad despite sustaining a grueling eye injury during last weekend’s victory over the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

    Trbojevic was forced to exit the Dragons win early after a hard tackle left him with a deep cut below his right eye, which swelled so severely that the eye closed completely completely. While initial medical checks ruled out any concussion — a key concern given Trbojevic’s history of head impacts — he was unable to rejoin the game due to impaired vision. Posts from rugby league medical observers on social media shortly after the incident raised questions about a possible eye socket fracture, leaving Sea Eagles fans waiting anxiously for updates on his condition.

    The star forward skipped all contact drills at Monday’s training session at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence in Sydney’s Olympic Park, but his presence on the training ground remained critical. Trbojevic stayed on the field to lead warm-ups, walk through tactical drills, and direct younger teammates, signaling his preparation to suit up for the Townsville match. When asked about his availability, Trbojevic confirmed to teammates he intends to play, a commitment his front row partner Taniela Paseka says he fully trusts.

    “He’s told me he’s in, so I’m going to go off that because whatever he says usually happens,” Paseka told NewsWire. “It’s going to be very important to have him in our team this week against a big, physical forward pack like the Cowboys.”

    Beyond his on-field contributions, Paseka says Trbojevic’s natural leadership and tactical eye suggest a successful second career as a coach once he retires from playing. “I reckon he’ll definitely be a coach, and I keep telling him that. I think he’s very good at explaining the game, so I told him ‘Mate, you should be a coach.’ Maybe not a head coach straight away because it’s too big of a job, but he would be an excellent forwards coach focusing on one area of the game. He’s actually thinking about it, and he’s admitted the idea appeals to him.”

    Trbojevic’s expected return is just the latest bright spot for a Sea Eagles side that has undergone a dramatic transformation since a disastrous 0-3 start to the 2026 season. That poor opening stretch cost head coach Anthony Seibold his job, with former Manly playmaker Kieran Foran stepping into the interim head coach role. The shift has already delivered staggering results: Manly has put up 80 points across Foran’s first two games in charge, a far cry from the lackluster performance that saw them booed off their home ground by angry fans in round four.

    Paseka attributes the sudden turnaround to growing on-field cohesion after the squad’s major mid-season shakeup. “It took a while for us to get it right with the chemistry and the combinations,” he explained. “Now that we’ve played a few games together, we’ve figured out what’s working for us and what isn’t. We doubled down on the strategies that fit this group, and that’s paid off over the last two weeks. We’re just building on that week after week.”

    Even with two straight wins under their belt, Paseka says the squad is remaining grounded, taking each match as it comes rather than getting ahead of themselves. “I think the sky’s the limit for this group. As more key players come back from injury, we’ll only get stronger. We’re just trying every week to be present, take it week by week and not look too far ahead. We’re winning at the moment, but we’re still very grounded, if that makes sense, because you don’t want to get ahead of yourself.”

    For long-time Sea Eagles supporters, the current run of form is already bringing back echoes of 2021, a season that saw Manly start with four straight losses before storming through the back half of the year to reach the NRL preliminary final. That turnaround was fueled by superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic – Jake’s brother – who missed the opening of that season before producing one of the most dominant attacking individual campaigns in modern NRL history. Today, Tom “Turbo” Trbojevic is back in top form heading into Thursday’s trip to north Queensland, a parallel Paseka doesn’t deny.

    “I do see similarities to 2021. But like I said, I don’t want to look too far ahead because you’ve got to be present,” Paseka said. “But for sure, that was a great year for us and for Turbo as well. Right now, Turbo’s playing great footy, and that’s a huge boost for all of us.”

  • Mass resignations in Victorian government, as three Ministers quit

    Mass resignations in Victorian government, as three Ministers quit

    Seven months out from Victoria’s November 2026 state election, the state’s ruling Labor government has been hit by a wave of high-profile departures, with three senior cabinet ministers handing in immediate resignations on Monday. The sudden exits come on the heels of former Government Services Minister Natalie Hutchins’ resignation from the frontbench in December, opening up four vacant cabinet positions that the Labor caucus will vote to fill during a scheduled meeting on Tuesday. Premier Jacinta Allan is expected to formalize a full cabinet reshuffle as soon as this week. The departing ministers are Finance Minister Danny Pearson, Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas, and Skills and TAFE Minister Gayle Tierney. All three will complete their current parliamentary terms as backbenchers before the election goes to poll in November. The mass resignation echoes a similar shakeup ahead of the 2022 Victorian state election, when four senior ministers, including the deputy premier, stepped down from Daniel Andrews’ government just five months before voting day. Each departing minister offered personal reasons for their exit, while reflecting on decades of combined public service. Ms Thomas, a lower house Labor leader and close political ally of Premier Allan, who stepped into the health portfolio mid-way through the global COVID-19 pandemic, cited a desire to step back from seven-day workweeks to spend more time with family, including her 91-year-old mother, and attend St Kilda AFL matches. First elected to parliament alongside Mr Pearson in 2014, Ms Thomas said it had been the greatest honor of her life to serve in both the Andrews and Allan Labor governments. She highlighted landmark women’s health reforms as a signature achievement, noting that abortion rights would always remain protected under Labor governments, adding that “women’s rights are under attack from conservative political forces around the world.” Mr Pearson, who has represented the seat of Essendon since 2014 and entered cabinet in 2020, told reporters he entered parliament in 2014 knowing he would not spend his entire working life in politics, and said he had not yet settled on his next career move. An emotional Pearson teared up during Monday’s press conference, saying he was proud of his work delivering major WorkCover reforms, overhauling the state’s digital public services, and implementing Victoria’s groundbreaking ban on engineered stone, a policy expected to prevent hundreds of future cases of life-threatening silicosis. He lightened the mood with characteristic wit, joking that he and Ms Thomas would occupy the “Nosebleed Section” of the backbench, in a nod to Australian hip-hop group Hilltop Hoods, and quipped “We might be volunteers. I can tell you now our families are conscripts.” Reflecting on his tenure, he added, “I feel an enormous sense of gratitude to have played a bar of music in the great Labor concerto of government.” For Ms Tierney, the departure marks the end of 36 years in elected public office, and nearly two decades in the Victorian state parliament. “For me it is simply time to pass the baton,” she said. Premier Allan paid tribute to the three departing ministers, emphasizing their lasting legacy for Victorian communities. “All three have worked tirelessly, and I thank them for the service. These are friends and colleagues who have served the parliament and the Victorian community for a period of time, and it is now their time to say farewell to their life of public service,” Allan told reporters on Monday. In an official statement, she expanded on her praise, noting each minister had left an indelible mark on the state. She highlighted that Pearson’s engineered stone ban would save lives, that Thomas had steered the public health system through the most challenging public health crisis in a century while always supporting frontline health workers, and that Tierney had spent her decades in office fighting for working-class Victorians. Allan struck an optimistic tone about the upcoming reshuffle, expressing confidence that the vacant posts would be filled by new candidates with fresh ideas. She touted the Labor Party’s internal unity, contrasting it with what she framed as an extreme, divided opposition focused only on austerity cuts. “My Labor team has a unity of purpose that is guided by our values. We can renew and refresh because of this. Unlike our opponents who are extreme, divided and have one solution – to cut,” Allan said. The announcement also included word that Steve McGhie will step down from his role as cabinet secretary, a position he has held since 2022, and Allan thanked him for his service. The opposition has seized on the mass resignations to attack the Allan government, with Opposition Leader Jess Wilson dismissing the upcoming reshuffle as nothing more than rearranging deckchairs on a sinking ship. “What we see in terms of the Premier’s reshuffle in the coming days doesn’t change the fact this is a tired government,” Wilson said. “To shuffle the deckchairs is going to do nothing to actually change the direction of this state. These are the same people who have sat around the cabinet table, who have been part of the Labor Party for a decade. They have overseen the decline of Victoria. The only way to get a fresh start here in Victoria is to change the government this year.” According to preliminary reports from the *Herald Sun*, four sitting Labor MPs have been identified as top candidates for promotion to the vacant frontbench posts. Former Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Luba Grigorovitch, a member of the party’s Right faction, is widely expected to claim one spot. Three remaining spots reserved for members of Labor’s Left faction will be contested by MPs Paul Edbrooke, Tim Richardson, Michaela Settle, and Paul Hamer.