Global Pulse

标签： Oceania

大洋洲

  • AFL 2026: St Kilda livewire Jack Higgins on his road to 150 senior games

    AFL 2026: St Kilda livewire Jack Higgins on his road to 150 senior games

    For Australian Football League (AFL) forward Jack Higgins, the weeks ahead of his 150th senior career match look just like any other. Life, as he puts it, is “pretty normal” these days. But that very normalcy is a triumph few would have predicted back in 2019, when a devastating on-field injury nearly ended both his football career and his life.

    It began after a match for Higgins’ former club Richmond, when persistent concussion symptoms led doctors to a shocking diagnosis: a life-threatening brain bleed that required immediate, high-risk surgery. The procedure carried grave potential outcomes – permanent paralysis or even death – and left the then-rising star wondering if he would ever step onto an AFL field again. In a recent interview with reporters, Higgins recalled the dark uncertainty that followed the procedure. “I didn’t think I’d play another game, didn’t think I’d live a normal life after that,” he said.

    Recovery in the early days was grueling. Simple daily tasks that most people take for granted – reading, writing, even getting through a day without crippling headaches – were huge challenges. But with support from a team of elite medical professionals, Higgins slowly rebuilt his strength and his abilities. Today, the residual effects of his surgery are barely noticeable in his day-to-day life. “To play one AFL game and live normally after that, I am happy and proud of myself for it,” he said.

    In late 2020, Higgins made the switch from Richmond’s Punt Road ground to St Kilda’s Moorabbin headquarters – a move that held special personal meaning, as St Kilda was the club Higgins grew up supporting. Since the transfer, he has thrived, emerging as the Saints’ leading goal kicker and a core leader of the club’s forward line. Last season, he turned in a career-best performance, nailing 46 goals from 63 scoring shots to cement his place as one of the league’s most reliable attacking threats.

    Now, as he prepares to walk onto the field for his 150th career game, Higgins says the milestone feels extra special knowing it will come wearing the guernsey of his childhood team. “It’s a really great achievement, I am really happy I’m playing 150,” he said. “To do it at the club I barrack for was pretty special, I can’t wait to play 150 and hopefully a few more after that. 150 is a great achievement, so I’ll take it day by day.”

    Despite already outperforming every expectation set after his injury, Higgins shows no signs of slowing down, and says he still has ambitions to expand his role on the field. For years, he has pushed coaches for the chance to spend more time in the midfield, a role he briefly played as a first-year player at Richmond in 2018. “I would love to play midfield, I have been asking Ross (Lyon) and all my other coaches for the last nine years and they never play me there,” he joked. “I played a bit in my first year at Richmond and that was good fun, I did all right there, hopefully they can look at AFL tables from 2018.”

    The milestone match will take place in Adelaide – a city Higgins once joked he had no interest in exploring – but the 200-game veteran-to-be says he does not care where he plays, as long as he gets to keep lacing up his boots at the highest level. He even joked he would play “Martians on the moon” if it meant another AFL match. When asked what would make for the perfect milestone game, Higgins did not hesitate: a solid team performance ending in a win, with himself contributing a healthy haul of goals. “Hopefully I play well, the team plays well and we can celebrate in Adelaide on Sunday,” he said.

  • NSW man accused of tying up woman before kidnapping her and a child

    NSW man accused of tying up woman before kidnapping her and a child

    A violent early-morning break-in and abduction in Sydney’s southwest has left a woman and a young child traumatized, leading to the arrest of a 26-year-old local man who is scheduled to face court on multiple serious criminal charges related to domestic violence.

    The series of disturbing events began at approximately 4 a.m. on Tuesday, April 7, according to official statements from New South Wales Police. Investigators allege the accused, who is known to the female victim, forcibly entered her residential property and threatened her at knifepoint. After the initial threat, he is said to have bound the woman’s wrists with industrial cable zip ties and seized her mobile phone to prevent her from contacting emergency services, before fleeing the property initially.

    Remarkably, the victim was able to free herself enough to reach a neighboring residence, where she alerted neighbors to the attack. Those neighbors contacted police on her behalf to launch an urgent response. However, the situation escalated dramatically when the accused allegedly returned to the home a short time later. Police claim he forced both the woman and a young child who was with her into a waiting vehicle, drove away from the property, and continued to assault the woman during the journey.

    The ordeal came to a partial end when the accused traveled approximately three kilometers north to the nearby suburb of Chester Hill, where the victim managed to escape from the vehicle and raise further alarm. Following a multi-hour manhunt, the South West High Risk Domestic Violence Team of NSW Police located and took the 26-year-old suspect into custody at 11:15 p.m. that same night in Guildford, a suburb in Sydney’s western region.

    Authorities have laid a lengthy list of serious charges against the suspect, including aggravated break and enter with deprivation of liberty, stalking and intimidation intended to cause physical harm (classified as a domestic violence offence), assault that occasioned actual bodily harm (DV), property destruction (DV), violation of an existing Apprehended Violence Order (AVO), and possession of a weapon with intent to commit a serious indictable offence.

    The accused is scheduled to make his first court appearance at Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday, the day following his arrest. As of the latest update, investigators have not released further details about the child’s condition or the status of the victim following her escape.

  • 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.

  • ‘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.

  • 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.

  • Forest’s Igor Jesus eyes Europa League ‘dream’, Villa brace for Bologna in quarters

    Forest’s Igor Jesus eyes Europa League ‘dream’, Villa brace for Bologna in quarters

    As European football enters its spring knockout stretch, two English Premier League clubs carry the country’s hopes into the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals, with one unlikely goalscoring sensation chasing a personal and collective fairytale.

    Nottingham Forest finds itself in a tricky domestic bind this 2024-25 campaign: locked in a battle to avoid relegation from the top flight, sitting 16th in the table with just a three-point buffer over the drop zone. For manager Vitor Pereira, that fight for survival has naturally taken priority over the club’s first European campaign since the 1995-96 season, even leading him to rest key starters for the previous round against Midtjylland. Yet it is on the continental stage that Forest have turned in their most impressive performances of the year – and no player embodies that contrast more than 25-year-old striker Igor Jesus.

    Since joining Forest from Brazilian side Botafogo in the off-season, Igor Jesus has struggled for goals in the cutthroat Premier League, netting just three times in 30 league outings. But in Thursday night Europa League action, the 2024 Copa Libertadores winner has exploded into form, notching seven goals to draw level as the competition’s outright top scorer. For the Brazilian, lifting the trophy and ending the campaign as the tournament’s leading marksman would be the realisation of a lifelong goal.

    “Getting to the final and winning the Europa League would be a dream come true, especially as the top scorer,” Igor Jesus told UEFA’s official website on the eve of the first leg. His side travels to Porto’s iconic Estadio do Dragao for Thursday’s opening fixture, and the striker made clear he is under no illusions about the challenge ahead: Porto sits comfortably atop the Portuguese Primeira Liga and boasts a squad packed with top-tier talent, even if Forest can claim bragging rights from a 2-0 group-stage win over the Portuguese side earlier in the campaign, a result that makes Forest the only club to beat Porto in European competition this term.

    “Porto have got a great team. They’ve got a lot of quality. We’ve also got quality,” Igor Jesus said. “We know it won’t be an easy game — in fact, it’ll be really tough. However, we’re willing to fight. We will go into Thursday’s first leg really focused and looking for a positive result to take home and defend for next week’s second leg.” Forest are chasing a first European title in 46 years, a milestone that would make their underdog run all the more memorable.

    Across the quarter-final draw, another Premier League side, Aston Villa, also heads into Thursday’s first leg targeting silverware, with Unai Emery’s men facing a tough away trip to Italy to face Coppa Italia winners Bologna. Domestically, Villa has fallen out of the Premier League title race in recent weeks, leaving the Europa League as their only realistic shot at ending the 2024-25 season with a trophy. If any manager is built for success in this competition, it is Emery: the Basque coach has lifted the Europa League trophy four times throughout his career, and has now guided Villa to three consecutive quarter-final appearances across the Champions League and Europa League.

    After booking their quarter-final spot with a dominant 3-0 aggregate win over Lille, Villa captain John McGinn said his squad is hungry to go all the way this term. “They want more now,” the Scottish midfielder said. “We need to take it one game at a time and keep pushing on, all the way.”

    Bologna, however, are not just making up the numbers in the last eight. After pulling off a major upset to eliminate fancied Italian side Roma in the previous round, head coach Vincenzo Italiano is targeting another shock result against the Premier League side. Bologna have lost both of their previous meetings with Aston Villa over the last two seasons, and will enter the tie as underdogs once again – but that status has not stopped them before. “We will be the underdogs again but we will try to surprise again,” Italiano said after his side’s 5-4 aggregate win secured their quarter-final spot.

    Beyond the two all-Premier-League-involved ties, the rest of the European quarter-final fixture list kicks off across the week. In other Europa League first legs on Wednesday, La Liga side Real Betis will travel up the Iberian coast to face Portuguese club Braga, with Bundesliga outfit Freiburg hosting Celta Vigo of Spain on Thursday. Over in the UEFA Conference League, the pick of the quarter-final first legs, all scheduled for Thursday, sees Crystal Palace host Fiorentina at Selhurst Park. Other Conference League ties see Rayo Vallecano welcome AEK Athens, Shakhtar Donetsk (playing their home fixture in Krakow, Poland due to ongoing conflict in Ukraine) host AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands, and Strasbourg travel to face Mainz.