The Senate made history on Thursday when it confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, handing President Biden a significant win. Jackson’s ascension to the country’s highest court breaks multiple barriers: She will be the court’s first Black female justice and its first former public defender. Senators voted 53-47 on Jackson’s confirmation. GOP […]
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By Laura J. Nelson, Thomas Curwen, Emily Baumgaertner L.A.Times Living with aphasia has been compared to living in a country where you don’t speak the language. It is said to affect 2 million Americans. Gestures, sign language or other forms of communication may not be much help. And the people who want to help you struggle to […]
The post Bruce Willis’ Aphasia Battle: Living in a Country Where You Don’t Speak the Language appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
US: Fauci Predicts Surge in Autumn (CNN)Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Wednesday that he thinks there will be an uptick in cases of Covid-19 over the next few weeks and that it is likely that there could be a surge in the fall. “I think […]
The post US: Autumn Surge Predicted, UK: Hospitals Filling-Up, US House Speaker Tests Pos, World Covid Stats appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
A Sydney-based cosmetic surgeon who raped a woman at a Melbourne karaoke bar had zero remorse for what he did to her, a court has heard.
Ahnsup Kim, 52, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years' jail before the County Court of Victoria this morning, having previously been found guilty of committing rape and indecent acts by a jury at trial.
The court heard Kim was visiting Melbourne and had been at dinner with another doctor before he assaulted a hostess in the private room of a karaoke bar in a the CBD in 2017 while intoxicated, with his actions caught on CCTV footage.
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Judge Michael Tinney said it was "clear as day" from the "devastating" footage that the woman was scarcely conscious during the attack.
"You touched her without any semblance of consent from her," Judge Tinney said.
The woman then had to be carried home from the venue some time after Kim left.
The court heard his actions left the victim deeply distressed and feeling like a different person.
"Everything feels filthy to her," Judge Tinney said.
"This sexual conduct in relation to a vulnerable young woman was despicable.
"You should be ashamed of yourself," he told Kim.
However, the court heard Judge Tinney was convinced the married father of three had no remorse for his actions.
The court heard Kim had been in Korea but was now an Australian citizen.
He had no criminal history before the crime and had not committed any crimes since the rape, having been a "highly contributing member of society".
Kim's registration as a doctor was suspended in 2018, which Judge Tinney said "represented a massive fall from grace".
The judge took into account Kim's loss of career and very good prospects of rehabilitation in sentencing, handing him a non-parole period of five years.
NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (April 07, 2022) — In keeping with its mandate to ensure job security and employment stability, the Nevis Island Administration’s (NIA) Department of Labour will shortly reintroduce two of its information and awareness initiatives. Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis, spoke of the department’s plan to reinstate the initiatives at his monthly press conference on March 31, 2022. “The Nevis […]
The post Nevis Labour Dept. to Reintroduce Awareness Initiatives appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Queues snaking through Sydney Airport continued into the evening with some travellers being forced to wait outside in the wet weather.
The delays come as Qantas CEO Alan Joyce blamed customer habits and staff shortages for the extensive delays earlier today.
READ MORE: Nervous wait for residents as Sydney's river breaks 34-year flood record
Mr Joyce advised travellers to arrive at least two hours early to accommodate for the delays.
He also claimed customers are not "match fit" for flying after the COVID-19 pandemic caused many people not to travel.
"I went through the airport on Wednesday and people forget they need to take out their laptops and they need to take out their aerosols," he said.
"So that is taking longer to get through the queue."
Mr Joyce said "absenteeism" due to COVID-19 cases and close contacts is also causing the delays.
"Some days we come in and we have nearly 50 per cent absenteeism," he said.
Mr Joyce flagged that aviation workers would be deemed essential workers and be exempt from close contact restrictions soon.
This would mean workers would only need to get a negative rapid antigen test and not have symptoms before returning to work.
Mr Joyce added this would "alleviate the pressure" and delays in the lead up to Easter.
Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert also apologised to customers, blaming the delays on a "perfect storm" of increased air traffic, "inexperienced" travellers thanks to the pandemic, and staffing issues caused by COVID-19 close contact rules.
He urged flyers to get to the airport early and be patient "as the industry gets back on its feet".
Videos and photos posted online showed overflowing airport terminals filled with queueing passengers.
Some Twitter users said they waited as long as an hour and a half to get to security, in a situation variously described as "chaos" and "absolutely insane".
"Security line starts inside and snakes back and forth, then it goes outside and snakes back and forth, then you can go back inside and snakes back and forth," Vow Food chief scientific officer James Ryall said on Twitter.
"Flights are delayed because they can't get humans through fast enough!"
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https://twitter.com/PippaMiller_/status/1511979367328776200
60 Minutes reporter Tom Steinfort simply said: "Sydney Airport WTF".
https://twitter.com/tomsteinfort/status/1511977926492708871
University of New South Wales journalism lecturer Sue Stephenson described a "nightmare queue".
"Thousands spilling over into carpark next to terminal," she said.
https://twitter.com/susanstevo/status/1511986126042836994
"Only one officer controlling the crowd.
"How many flights are going to be missed??"
Two Thai sex workers have been jailed for fleecing three elderly men of more than $250,000.Nualpan Coxon, 67, and Pornthip Phonkoed, 63, both of Auckland appeared slightly shocked as Judge Stephen Clark sentenced them to different…
United Australia Party leader Craig Kelly has been egged in Melbourne this afternoon, with police now investigating.
In a video posted to social media by an activist group, the MP is struck on the head with the egg before a heated verbal discussion ensues.
It's understood Mr Kelly was at Fawkner Park in South Yarra for a meet-and-greet with UAP supporters.
FULL COVERAGE: Federal Election 2022
The woman who egged Mr Kelly and the person filming hurled insults at Mr Kelly, who remained seated throughout the incident.
"You're a disgrace to democracy," Mr Kelly told the woman after he was struck with the egg.
"Go away."
Victoria Police has confirmed it is investigating, with a witness on a bicycle also injured in the aftermath.
"Police are investigating reports a 58-year-old man was assaulted in South Yarra on Friday, 8 April," a police statement read.
"It (is) understood two women were involved in an incident where eggs were smashed onto the man's head at Fawkner Park about 1.25pm, before running to a vehicle which was believed to be waiting nearby.
"The man, from NSW, was not injured. A witness on a pushbike followed the women, parking his bike in front of the car.
"It is alleged the male driver ran over the cyclist's foot. He sustained minor injuries.
"The cyclist then followed the vehicle, which stopped nearby on Toorak Road.
"The driver gave his details to the cyclist.
"The driver and two women then left the scene in the vehicle.
"Investigations into the identity of those involved remain ongoing."
Witnesses are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The incident echoes the egging of far-right former senator Fraser Anning during a press conference in 2019 by a Melbourne teenager.
Will Connolly – who later became widely known as "Egg Boy" – cracked an egg over Mr Anning's head while filming with a mobile phone.
Mr Anning responded by punching the teen, who was tackled to the ground by some of the then-senator's supporters.
“It was a thud. I really felt it.”The driver of a newspaper delivery van who hit and killed a horse on a state highway has described the moment of impact as being “very scary”.”I tried to swerve but hit it. It was a thud. I really…
Flooding is continuing to escalate in Sydney's north-west with some key transport routes being completely engulfed by the rising tide.
The flood disaster in Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley is not yet over, with the North Richmond Bridge completely submerged in floodwaters and the Windsor Bridge set to close due to the rising water levels.
The Hawkesbury River has been sitting at around 9.9 metres at North Richmond and 8.2 metres at Windsor.
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More evacuation orders have been issued as rivers continue to rise in the Sydney region after a man's body was found in floodwaters.
Evacuation orders have been issued for parts of Pitt Town Bottoms, Leets Vale, Sackville North and Ebenezer.
A multitude of evacuation warnings remain in place for suburbs in the Hawkesbury Nepean.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said rain in the south-east of the state has eased but major flooding at Menangle, Wallacia, North Richmond and Camden will continue today.
"A severe weather warning has been cancelled and rain is expected to ease further over the next few days," the BoM said in a statement.
A man was found dead in floodwaters at Cobitty, south-west of Sydney, this morning.
Thousands of people have been warned to evacuate or prepare to leave their homes, with warnings stretching to parts of Camden, Chipping Norton, Richmond and Pitt Town.
Some residents are now able to return home to the Sutherland Shire suburbs of Woronora and Bonnet Bay, two towns of concern yesterday.
Camden has been inundated with floodwaters for the third time this year.
Camden resident Larry Burke experienced the 1988 floods and said he has never seen three rounds of flooding in the town in such a short period of time.
"This is the first time I have seen it come up three times so close together," he said.
"I have not seen that before," he said.
As the floodwaters begin to recede in Camden, the extent of the damage is becoming clear and clean-up efforts will soon begin.
Children in the area are feeling the stress of the weather event and now the recovery.
"I actually feel really, really bad because as I am watching TV and seeing them clean up, I feel like I need to help them," one child said.
"But I can't. It is too much work."
A complement of 1200 SES volunteers were out during the wild weather yesterday, with more than 1200 calls for assistance and 35 flood rescues needed.
SES Assistant Commissioner Nicole Hogan has warned there could be more rain in forthcoming weeks, even as falls ease on Friday.
"We're still monitoring areas along the Hawkesbury River system, really downstream, particularly around the Windsor area and low-lying areas in that particular part of the river system," she told Today.
"Overnight, we have had around seven flood rescues over the last 12 hours, but in the 24 hours there's been about 38 flood rescues, with over 1200 requests for assistance for NSW SES volunteers to attend to in the community."
Assistant Commissioner Hogan said while rain would continue to ease through the weekend, river levels were set to keep rising – and that residents could face more weather events in coming weeks.
"We do know that April will continue to be wet, so we are expecting to still continue to see quite a bit of rainfall for the remainder of this particular month," she said.
"I know that our communities are flood-fatigued. We've had months now of one rain event after another," Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said.
"It will stop raining, it will get better."
She also issued a warning as the rain system moved inland off the coast.
"While the rain today may be easing, the risks are not," she said.
Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said the worst rain had passed for the Central and South Coasts after heavy falls overnight.
Falls of between 50-100mm rained down between Port Macquarie and Nowra, with more than 100mm north of Sydney.
Almost 200mm fell around Belmont, in the Lake Macquarie region.
"We will continue to see showers across the coastal parts of NSW today, but the rainfall totals we're looking at for the remainder of today will really ease off," Ms Bradbury said.
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EXPLAINED: When is it going to stop raining?
The rain system will instead move west to inland NSW, trending away from steady heavy falls to showers and isolated thunderstorms across central and eastern NSW.
Meanwhile, after multiple evacuation orders yesterday and warnings still in place throughout the Sydney region, Ms Bradbury said the rivers still bore watching.
"The Nepean and Menangle reached a peak under seven metres yesterday afternoon," she said.
"It's dropping. That's comparable to the April 1988 flood level there."
But she said the impact of the heavy rainfall could continue for days, especially combined with spillage from the Warragamba Dam.
"It's quite likely we'll see further river rises, particularly downstream today, and some changing flood conditions there," Ms Bradbury said.
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Stay up to date with the latest evacuation orders at the SES website, and all weather updates and warnings at the Bureau of Meteorology website.
