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The delivery services promising groceries at your door in 15 minutes

They're the small start-ups with catchy names trying to cash in on the booming $7 billion online grocery market fuelled by Sydney's lockdown.

Promising delivery times of just 15 minutes, they usually have a specially curated shopping list and a team of drivers and riders ready to drop your groceries at your door.

In the past month or so, a handful of businesses have sprung up, looking to take advantage of the huge growth in online grocery shopping.

The full story on 9News at 6pm.

READ MORE: Woolworths and Uber Eats team up to deliver fresh groceries in an hour

Woman shopping for groceries at the supermarket

They won't have anywhere near the range of Coles and Woolworths, but you also won't have to wait days for a delivery window as the two leaders struggle to meet demand.

According to Ibisworld, Australia's online grocery market is expected to increase 46.2 per cent this year.

QUT Business School Professor Gary Mortimer says delivery times are crucial.

"Time has become the currency of e-commerce retailers today, it's all about speed of delivery not necessarily price," he told 9News.

"Right now Coles and Woolworths are really struggling to keep up with the online demand. It's certainly a beneficial time to have these services available."

The upside for consumers is the more players, the quicker they'll get their groceries. But the competition is unlikely to have an impact on price.

Voly has launched in the past fortnight, promising delivery in the inner city within 15 minutes with the aim of "teleporting the grocery store" to customers with a flat delivery fee of $2.99. They have around 1500 items to choose from. A full-service supermarket has between 20,000 and 25,000 lines.

Co-founders Thibault Henri and Mark Heath have supply chain, logistics and food experience between them.

"We deliver groceries in 15 minutes; we do the pick and pack in our store here in three minutes," Mr Henri said.

"We've got about 1500 products and that's increasing every day. You can get everything from your fruit and veg to your cleaning products all the way to your baby products," Mr Heath.

And while you're making pasta, if you forget the sauce, it can be at your door within minutes.

Geezy Go! has just launched in 60 Sydney suburbs promising prices equal to or better than the leading supermarkets with a flat delivery fee of $3.99 and groceries at your doorstep within 20 minutes.

"LGAS are in lockdown, people do not want to leave their homes. This is a great service for them," Geezy's Dhruv Kohli said.

Send is launching in metro Sydney and Melbourne with most of the items found in a usual supermarket but they also plan to source fresh produce from local vendors. It's promising delivery within 15 minutes. With speeds like that, delivery areas are limited.

The Hills Milk Run has seen smaller players come and go. They source fresh produce straight from farmers and local suppliers and this lockdown, has added fresh flowers to the shopping list. The husband and wife team deliver to 35 suburbs throughout The Hills district and around Parramatta twice a week. The minimum spend is $40 and the focus is on freshness and quality rather than speed.

Pretty Green, which started as a gift store in 2019 has just added an online supermarket app that comes with free sustainable delivery. Delivery is within two hours but the aim is to reduce that to minutes.

In coming times, it's unlikely a freely moving Sydney will be able to sustain all these new businesses. Professor Mortimer believes it's more likely a couple will survive if they team up with a smaller independent grocery chain like IGA.

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Storm Ida: New York Declares State of Emergency Over ‘Brutal Flooding’

A state of emergency has been declared in New York City after it was hit by record rainfall and flash flooding as a result of Tropical Storm Ida.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city was “enduring an historic weather event” with “brutal flooding” and “dangerous conditions” on the roads.

Footage on social media showed water pouring into subway stations and people’s homes, and flooded roads.

New Jersey also declared an emergency and reported at least one death.

A person drowned in Passaic, New Jersey, the local mayor said, A tornado also destroyed at least nine homes in Mullica Hill, in the same state.

The roof of a postal building collapsed in Kearny, New Jersey, with people inside at the time, police said. Rescue crews are on the scene, but it’s not clear how many injuries there might be.

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The National Weather Service said it had recorded 3.15 inches (8cm) of rain in New York’s Central Park in one hour.

New York police have urged people to stay off the roads and the fire department has said it is responding to calls from across the city.

The city’s subway has mostly closed, and many train services and flights out of New York and New Jersey are suspended.

Flooding in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York on 1 September 2021 Credit: Jaymee Sire via Reutersimage sourceReuters
image captionSocial media footage shows flooding in Williamsburg area of Brooklyn (Photo credit: Credit: Jaymee Sire)

The remnants of Hurricane Ida have been pushing north across the east of the country, having hit Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands of homes in Louisiana remain without power and New Orleans is under a night-time curfew.

Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.

The world has already warmed by about 1.2C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

The post Storm Ida: New York Declares State of Emergency Over ‘Brutal Flooding’ appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Up to 150,000 Vulnerable Afghans Remain Under Taliban Rule

By Laura Kelly and Rebecca Beitsch
The Hill

American and Afghan allies left behind in Afghanistan have entered a fraught and uncertain period of limbo following the definitive conclusion of U.S. military evacuations out of the country.

Advocates estimate roughly 150,000 vulnerable Afghans remain in the country after a U.S. evacuation effort ended early Tuesday, while those who assisted the U.S. military who may now wish to leave with their families could add another 100,000.

Many who remain have gone into hiding over fear of violent retribution by the Taliban, likely targeted for work alongside American and coalition forces who battled and killed members of the Islamic fundamentalist group over two decades of war.

Many of these people face overwhelming confusion and fear over how to leave the country, from practical matters of appropriate travel documents and questions over when airports will reopen and how they will function to the uncertainty of whether the Taliban will respond to international pressure to ensure safe passage.

“The last few months have been incredibly challenging and disappointing for our clients, whose risk has increased exponentially with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan,” Adam Bates, policy counsel with the International Refugee Assistance Project, told reporters, noting that “the majority of our clients were not able to leave Afghanistan on an evacuation flight.”

Out of more than 500 clients the group was trying to get out of the country, only about 130 were able to make it onto flights. Just a few dozen have made it onto U.S. soil.

“The immense joy that we felt for those few clients of ours who’ve managed to escape — primarily through sheer luck and their own perseverance and not the action of us — that joy has been overshadowed by the pain and frustration we feel for those hundreds of thousands who remain trapped,” he added.

Rabbi Will Berkovitz, CEO of the refugee resettlement organization Jewish Family Service, said that group has 127 people on the ground in Afghanistan — 23 families that qualify for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) to the U.S. that were left behind in the evacuations.

“Many of them have all of their visa paperwork in hand and ready,” he said in an interview with The Hill. “Others, frankly, the U.S. Embassy took their passports in order to issue them a visa, and then when Kabul fell, they closed the embassy, and they never were able to get their passports back, so they are in a particularly dire situation.”

The organization is gaming whether people can evacuate over land routes but is distraught over whether access to cash and communication may be cut off at any moment. They have advised the people to stay in hiding over the next few days as the situation unfolds.

“The reality on the ground is, it’s exceedingly fluid. What’s true now may be false in 20 minutes. There’s no guarantee,” he said. “They’re all people that served with coalition forces, so they’re both targeted — but also our country promised to evacuate them to safety, and we haven’t upheld our promise, and so to me, the blood is on our hands.”

The Biden administration is stressing that it has built international consensus to pressure the Taliban to ensure safe travel for Americans left behind — whose numbers range between 100 and 200 — and Afghans who want to leave the country.

“More than half the world’s countries have joined us in insisting that the Taliban let people travel outside Afghanistan freely,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a speech Monday.

The administration succeeded in evacuating more than 124,000 people from Afghanistan, but it’s unclear how many Afghans remain who qualify for Special Immigrant Visas to the U.S. or other priority refugee status and how the administration will help them leave the country.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) has asked the State and Defense departments to deliver within a week a breakdown of each vulnerable group the administration evacuated and those remaining in Afghanistan.

A number of groups have joined the chorus of criticism over their partners being left behind during what eventually became chaotic evacuation efforts out of Kabul.

The New York-based Women for Afghan Women was unable to secure evacuation for 500 of its most vulnerable staff. This group qualified for evacuation and refugee status for their association with a U.S. government-funded organization.

“Not a single person was evacuated,” Sunita Viswanath, co-founder of the group, wrote in an email to The Hill.

“We are incredibly demoralized and feel let down by America. How could the highest risk of the largest women’s organization — one funded by the U.S. State Department — not have been one of the most urgent groups to get out? Women just weren’t a priority,” she added.

Also left in Afghanistan are an estimated 150 journalists working for the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty media outlets funded by the American government. That group numbers 500 people including their families, according to a congressional aide.

“We are incredibly disappointed that our efforts over the past few weeks to get our colleagues safe passage out of Afghanistan have been unsuccessful,” acting VOA Director Yolanda López said in a statement.

“We have been working day and night, pursuing every available option, only to hit countless obstacles and roadblocks. These men and women are part of our VOA family and we will not be deterred by these setbacks. We remain committed to continuing to do everything we can to help all of our journalists and their families who wish to leave the country and get them to safety,” she added.

Experts say the pool of those wishing to leave trumps the earlier estimates from the administration.

Research from the Association of Wartime Allies conducted in conjunction with American University last week found a conservative estimate of those who worked in some capacity for the American government or nongovernmental organizations or who served in the Afghan National Army along with their families could number 145,000.

Meanwhile, the report estimated that those who assisted U.S. military efforts for at least three years and who may now wish to leave with their families add another 30,000 to an SIV pipeline already numbering past 80,000.

“This is looking at the total potential pool of people who are desperate to get out of the country to save their own lives — not just those that have already filed applications but those who were caught up in bureaucratic denials,” said Adam Malaty-Uhr, a board member with the association who served nine months in Afghanistan.

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which will help resettle Afghan evacuees, said America’s obligation doesn’t end with those who have already been evacuated.
“History will not just remember our nation by how many people evacuated in the eleventh hour but by how many people we leave behind,” she said.
Also unclear are the nuts and bolts of facilitating travel, from identity documents to finding safe areas of transit.
“This is an area of limbo that is extraordinary. If you chase any of the trails, it goes into an area you can’t even imagine,” a former senior State Department official told The Hill.
“The United Nations can offer a stateless person a passport, but they’re not geared up to do any of that right now,” the official continued. “Then what we have are people trying to leave by land borders, where there might be a few more options, including in all of these cases bribery. There are people making money off of this misery right and left.”

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. had assessed that Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport can support resuming commercial operations.

But up in the air is how the Taliban will go about assigning responsibility for security and technical operations, possibly with the assistance of Qatar and Turkey.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which had been handling travel documents for SIVs and other Afghans at risk, has moved its operations to Doha, Qatar, but it’s unclear how it will communicate with Afghans on the ground.

“The Doha office will perform as many functions as possible akin to what was done in our now-suspended Embassy Kabul,” Price said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.

The overriding question is how the Taliban will behave, with U.S. defense officials describing the group as “pragmatic and very businesslike” in helping facilitate evacuations for American citizens alongside the U.S. military, under threat of intense retaliation. Such promises are not guaranteed for Afghan citizens looking to flee without the presence of the U.S. military for the first time in 20 years.

The post Up to 150,000 Vulnerable Afghans Remain Under Taliban Rule appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Widespread rain and thunderstorms predicted for the coming days

Widespread rain and thunderstorms are predicted across Australia over the next four days.

The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted damaging winds over Victoria and South Australia today, with heavy rainfall and potential flash flooding developing over the southeast states tomorrow.

Flood warnings are current for several catchments in southern NSW, with the potential for further flood watches and warnings.

READ MORE: Sydney patient's self-inflicted bout of diarrhoea and vomiting from unproven drug

Widespread rain and thunderstorms are predicted for parts of Australia for the next four days.A woman wearing a pink coat and carrying a pink umbrella walks through the rain past St James Church in the Sydney CBD, NSW. 17th March, 2021. Photo: Kate Geraghty

A northwest cloud band, which developed over Western Australia and South Australia this morning, will deliver wet weather to central and southeastern parts of the country.

The cloud band will progress east in the coming days, which will cause widespread rain and thunderstorms in parts of South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.

Residents in the nation's southern states can also expect damaging winds and plummeting temperatures thanks to a cold front.

READ MORE: Australia Post to suspend parcel collections from eCommerce for three days

Gusts over 90km/h are expected over the northern suburbs of Melbourne and the Dandenong Ranges late Thursday and early Friday.

The rain will become heavier on Friday, as the cloud band moves from South Australia and spreads through to western NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the Red Centre.

https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1433234967761457155

Weatherzone predicts the heaviest rain will develop in Tasmania and Victoria.

Severe thunderstorm warnings may be issued by the Bureau of Meteorology.

READ MORE: Woolworths boss' letter after more than 3000 employees forced into iso

On Saturday the rain will continue, spreading over central and eastern Australia.

Flooding is possible in parts of eastern Victoria and south-eastern NSW.

On Sunday, showers will continue in eastern Victoria and south-eastern NSW as the rain band stretches from northern NSW, southern Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Cold temperatures are likely to continue into next week, as southerly winds move through the southern parts of the country.

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Nevis Getting Ready for New School Year Starting Sept. 6

NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS –The Department of Education is preparing for the start of the 2021/2022 school year on Nevis which will commence on September 06, 2021.

However, Ms. Zahnela Claxton, Principal Education Officer in the department told the Department of Information on August 31, 2021, that changes regarding the opening of school can be expected.

“September 6th is our start date and we will put information out to each school and their specific starting protocols. Some schools will have a rolling start and some schools will start in full on Monday but in relation to our early childhood centres, we will start in full on September 6th.

“Our primary schools, as I said, we will put that information out as to who is expected to come out on the 6th and the rolling dates after that, and for our secondary schools we will also put that information out and share with you and provide an update but we wanted to ensure that parents are aware that we are expecting, we are ready for our start of the new school year on September 6th 2021,” she said.

Meantime, the Principal Education Officer noted that the department is actively engaging in several activities ahead of schools reopening, including preparing parents to ensure a better parent/teacher relationship in the interest of the students’ educational development.

“This week most parents for our pre and primary schools have been called to be a part of the ‘Meet the Teacher’ activity.

“It is a thrust by the Department of Education to increase parental engagement to help parents to see where students are currently academically after some form or semblance of learning loss. We also know that it would give our teachers a metre stick, an idea of where our students are currently so that they can know where to start,” she said.

Ms. Claxton stated that the exercise is not expected to bring about perfection, and urged parents not to view it as an exam in which students would be graded.

“During the assessments we just want to see the areas for improvement, where we can help your child, and where we need to start. So this is a no-pressure activity. It is supposed to be fun, an opportunity for you the parents to also interact with your child’s teacher, and so we want to encourage you to come along. to bring your child, to be on time, to follow all the protocols to keep our children safe.

“It is by appointment only, so your school should have already contacted you. If they haven’t, reach out so that they can tell you when you are expected to be there, when is your appointed time. Please make it a date. Don’t be late. Ensure that you are there to be part of our “Meet the Teacher” activity 2021,” she said

For more news out of Nevis visit www.nia.gov.kn your window into Nevis.

The post Nevis Getting Ready for New School Year Starting Sept. 6 appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Man almost kills neighbour over fight about washing machine

A fight over a load of washing led to a Melbourne man almost stabbing his elderly neighbour to death at their Elwood public housing complex, a court has heard.

Brett Vaisey, 57, fronted the Supreme Court today, pleading guilty to attempted murder.

Vaisey repeatedly stabbed his elderly female neighbour, Annick Henenberg, with a 20cm kitchen knife as she headed to their communal laundry about 7.25pm on Australia Day – 26 January – last year.

READ MORE: Melbourne mum to spend at least 13 years behind bars for killing aunt

The court heard Vaisey was caught on CCTV rushing at Ms Henenberg with the knife moments before the attack, and three people witnessed the vicious assault.

Ms Henenberg had also started an audio recording on her phone right before the incident, which captured Vaisey berating her during the attack.

"Piece of sh*t, die," he was recorded saying.

"If I'm going to jail it's worth it, you know what I mean."

The court heard the woman immediately fell to the ground after Vaisey first stabbed her.

He then continued to stab her until the knife's blade came off the handle, before he kicked and punched her to the head.

A neighbour grabbed Vaisey to end the attack.

Police arrived and Ms Henenberg was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition.

Vaisey told police, "I didn't want to do it but she provoked me".

The court heard there was a history of disputes between Vaisey and Ms Henenberg.

On the day of the attack they had fought about the communal washing machine.

He had told her to stop using it, complaining it was making too much noise next to his unit.

About an hour before the incident, another neighbour had called police to the complex about Vaisey, reporting he had been standing outside the complex with a large knife.

Vaisey told police Ms Henenberg had been going back and forth to the laundry to provoke him.

Police left the scene less than half an hour before the attack unfolded.

Vaisey's lawyers told the court he had serious mental health issues that had a causal link to the offending.

Vaisey has since apologised and feels "guilt and shame" for the attack.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

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Baby strapped into stolen car on Gold Coast

A car containing a five-month-old baby has been stolen from a garage in Molendinar on the Gold Coast this afternoon.

The baby was strapped into the rear child seat of a white Mazda 3 with Queensland registration places 173 WTW, parked in the garage of an address on Stringybark Drive about 4.25pm.

Police urge anyone who sees this vehicle to not approach it and immediately contact police.

More to come.

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Giant triceratops skeleton named 'Big John' up for auction

The mammoth skeleton of a 66-million-year-old triceratops fossil is estimated to rake in between €1.2 million ($1.9 million) and €1.5 million ($2.4 million) at an auction on October 21 at an auction house in Paris.

The fossil, nicknamed "Big John", has a skull 2.62 metres long and two metres wide.

Its biggest horns are 1.1 metres long and over 30 centimetres wide, making it the biggest Triceratops specimen ever discovered, auctioneers from Drouot said.

READ MORE: Two new dinosaur species, as big as a blue whale, discovered

The skull of a triceratops exposed ahead of its auction sale in October.

The British Natural History Museum said the frill, which was used to protect the neck or attract a mate, spans almost one metre, while the skull is one of the biggest and "most striking" of any land animal.

The herbivorous species was able to reach up nine metres in length and up to 5500 kilograms in weight.

The triceratops wandered the Earth during the Late Cretaceous period around 66-68 million years ago.

Auctioneers Binoche et Giquello said Big John lived on the island continent of Laramidi that extended from present day Alaska to Mexico.

The island continent was destroyed in the ancient plain formation Hell Creek in South Dakota, where geologist Walter W. Stein Bill unearthed the fossil in May 2014.

Triceratops bones belonging to the world's biggest triceratops fossil on display in Paris.

READ MORE: 'Cooper', the titanosaur as big as a basketball court

A year later, the specimen was excavated and restored in Italy.

Big John's remains were preserved in mud and over 60 per cent of the skeleton is complete, with the skull 75 per cent whole.

The fossil didn't contain evidence that the dinosaur experienced a tough existence.

There was a laceration in his collar from a scuffle with a smaller triceratops that the auctioneers said was from courting a mate or territorial defence.

The auction of Big John will not be the first time a dinosaur skeleton has been up for sale.

The skeleton of 'Big John' has a skull of has a skull 2.62 metres long.

READ MORE: Dinosaur remains found in outback Queensland likely to be new species

In October last year, one the world's most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons broke the world record for any dinosaur skeleton or fossil ever sold when it bought for US$31.8 million ($43 million) at an auction in New York by Christie's auction house.

However, palaeontologists have expressed concerns about such auctions.

Last September, the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology, which represents over 2000 professionals and students, wrote a letter to Christie's auction house about regarding the sale of the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton.

"Fossil specimens that are sold into private hands are potentially lost to science," the group said.

"Even if made accessible to scientists, information contained within privately owned specimens and future access cannot be guaranteed, and therefore verification of scientific claims (the essence of scientific progress) cannot be performed."