Category Archives: headline

Australia fast-tracks 500,000 Pfizer doses

Australia will participate in a COVID-19 vaccine "dose swap" with Singapore which will see an additional 500,000 doses arrive in the country next month.

Announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the deal will see half a million Pfizer doses that were originally allotted to Singapore now diverted to Australia.

In response, Australia will provide Singapore with 500,000 doses in December.

LIVE UPDATES: The shock new coronavirus variant found in seven countries

A vial of the Pfizer vaccine is prepared for use.

"It's a dose swap deal which simply means we're taking the 500,000 they have now, so we can put that into our distribution this month coming in September and we will provide them with 500,000 in December," Mr Morrison said.

"That means there are 500,000 doses extra that will happen in September that otherwise would have had to wait for several months from now accelerating our vaccination program at this critical time as we walk towards those 70 per cent and 80 per cent targets."

The vaccines would be provided to all states and territories for distribution by primary care and state and territory vaccination sites on an equal population basis, following batch testing by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

"This deal gives us the further supplies we need as we bring new groups into the programme for Pfizer, including 12 to 15 year olds from September 13, and the 16 to 39 year old age group that has already commenced," the Prime Minister said.

"I said we would leave no stone unturned in bolstering our vaccination programme. This deal comes on top of the Polish agreement that has already boosted our national vaccination rates to exceed those achieved in the United States and United Kingdom at the peak of their programmes.

READ MORE: COVID-19 presents greater blood clot risk than vaccines, study finds

Mr Morrison said the additional doses will help improve vaccination rates across the 16 to 29 and 12 to 15-year-old age groups, who have been approved to receive the vaccine by safety advisory group ATAGI.

The 500,000 Pfizer doses will add to the 4.5 million doses already planned for September, Mr Morrison said.

The prime minister confirmed one million Moderna doses and "many other millions" of AstraZeneca doses would see Australia push on towards targets of 70 per cent and 80 per cent double jabbed.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said officials had spent "countless hours" negotiating the deal with Singapore.

"Australians have been magnificent, and I want to thank them and encourage them to continue to do so wherever they are in Australia," Mr Hunt said.

"Every dose matters, and every dose protects an individual as well as helping to protect everyone else."

Man charged with murder over disappearance of WA father

Homicide detectives have charged a man with murder in relation to the disappearance of Western Australian father Tony Ditri.

The alleged offender, 64, is in police custody and will face Bunbury court later today.

Mr Ditri, from Pemberton in WA's south-west, was last seen at the local rubbish tip at about 3pm on Friday afternoon.

READ MORE: Concern for missing non-verbal Melbourne woman

His family became concerned when the 40-year-old father-of-three failed to appear at a dinner that night.

Following news of his disappearance, Mr Ditri's truck was found abandoned just off Pemberton-Northcliffe Road that evening.

https://twitter.com/StampyMichael/status/1432493782264516610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

A huge search effort was launched with SES, police and community members all involved.

Police are treating Mr Ditri's disappearance as suspicious.

Lockdown forces Kikki.K into administration again

Stationery company kikki.K has gone into voluntary administration for the second time in 17 months.

Kikki.K co-founders Kristina Karlsson and Paul Lacy have written to staff to tell them the difficult news, The Australian Financial Review reports.

"Today is a sad day. Writing this note together is a sad task and we still can't quite believe it's happening – again," Ms Karlsson and Mr Lacy wrote to employees.

LIVE NEWS: Five men with COVID-19 fined for breaching health orders

A kikki.K store in Westfield Chermside.

"It's yet another tough moment in our amazing journey together and we understand and deeply regret that there will profound impacts for many of our amazing team members and our partners, suppliers and shareholders," they said.

The Swedish-inspired company, which was founded 20 years ago, first went into voluntary administration in March 2020.

It was then saved from collapse after a US-based lifestyle products company, Erin Condren Designs, took control last August.

Kristina Karlsson, from the kikki.K office supplies retail chain.

Ms Karlsson and Mr Lacy said the company's collapse was a direct result of the current lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

Administrators will now have the difficult task of finding a new buyer.

Kikki.K has 36 stores in Australia and New Zealand, about half are closed under stay-at-home orders and many of its 300 staff members have been stood down, the Australian Financial Review reports. kikki.K will continue to trade while administrators assess options for the business.

Man gets life sentence in 2018 killing of Mollie Tibbetts

A man was sentenced to life in prison without parole today in the abduction and killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, three years after she disappeared while out for an evening run.

Judge Joel Yates' sentence for Cristhian Bahena Rivera was mandatory for a first-degree murder conviction in Iowa, which does not have the death penalty.

The 27-year-old former farmhand, who testified that he came to the US illegally from Mexico as a teenager, has been jailed since his arrest in August 2018.

Mollie Tibbetts poses for a picture during 2016 homecoming festivities at BGM High School in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.

READ MORE: Defence paints Mollie Tibbets murder suspect as hard-working immigrant

Judge Yates pointedly rejected defence claims that others were responsible for the crime.

“Mr. Bahena Rivera, you and you alone forever changed the lives of those who loved Mollie Tibbetts,” he said.

The sentence caps a case that inflamed anger over illegal immigration, fueled fears about violence against solo female runners, and took several noteworthy twists during and after Bahena Rivera's trial in May.

Ms Tibbetts’ mother, Laura Calderwood, addressed Bahena Rivera in a victim impact statement read to the court.

“Mollie was a young woman who simply wanted to go for a quiet run on the evening of July 18 and you chose to violently and sadistically end that life,” she wrote.

Ms Calderwood recalled being told by tearful investigators that her 20-year-old daughter’s body had been found, and racing to inform relatives before they learned the news from the media.

The hardest conversation was with Mollie’s grandmother, who was in disbelief that someone “could harm such a beautiful, vibrant young woman so full of promise,” she said.

She said the killing caused Hispanic workers to flee the area in fear, prevented Mollie’s boyfriend from being able to give her the engagement ring he had purchased, and meant her father would never walk his only daughter down the aisle.

“Because of your actions Mr Rivera, I will never get to see my daughter become a mother,” Ms Calderwood said.

READ MORE: Four men charged with rape and murder of 9-year-old girl in India

Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a farmhand, was convicted of first-degree murder after a two-week trial despite claiming that two masked men had coerced him into assisting them with Mollie Tibbetts' murder.

The video that helped catch a killer

Ms Tibbetts vanished on a rural road outside her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa, population 1700, while out for a run on July 18, 2018.

Family members and co-workers feared something was wrong when Ms Tibbetts did not show up for her summer job at a daycare the next morning.

Hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officers searched for weeks but came up empty.

Investigators began focusing on Bahena Rivera, who worked under an alias at a nearby dairy farm, after finding a homeowner's surveillance video that appeared to show his Chevy Malibu repeatedly driving past Ms Tibbetts while she ran.

After a lengthy interrogation, Bahena Rivera led authorities to a cornfield where he had buried Ms Tibbetts' body under leaves and stalks.

Only her bright running shoes were visible.

An autopsy found she had been stabbed several times.

READ MORE: Toxic algae bloom considered in death of California family

Cristhian Bahena Rivera watches as the jury enters the courtroom before announcing the verdict in his trial

DNA breakthrough

Bahena Rivera told investigators that he approached Ms Tibbetts because he found her attractive, and that he fought her after she threatened to call the police.

He said he then blacked out and came to as he was driving with her body in his trunk.

Prosecutors suggested Bahena Rivera had a sexual motive, noting Ms Tibbetts was wearing only socks and a sports bra and that her legs were spread when her body was found.

They built their case around the surveillance video, his partial confession and DNA evidence of Ms Tibbetts' blood in his trunk.

“Based upon the facts and circumstances of this case, it is very well deserved,” prosecutor Scott Brown said of the life sentence.

Bahena Rivera's lawyers argued that his confession was false and coerced, and their client gave surprise testimony at trial sharing a different account.

Bahena Rivera testified that two masked men kidnapped him from his trailer at gunpoint, made him drive while they attacked Ms Tibbetts, instructed him on where to dispose of her body, and told him to stay quiet or that his young daughter and ex-girlfriend would be killed.

READ MORE: Far North Queensland hitchhiker mystery lingers on

Cristhian Bahena Rivera gestures towards a monitor as he testifies during his trial

Work of fiction

The defence sought to cast suspicion on several others, including Ms Tibbetts' boyfriend and a local deputy who lives next to where Ms Tibbetts' body was found.

Prosecutors called Bahena Rivera's testimony a work of fiction and a unanimous 12-member jury found him guilty.

But two people immediately came forward to tell police that a 21-year-old man with a history of violence had confessed to them that he had killed Ms Tibbetts.

Separately, a woman had told police she was kidnapped after meeting an alleged sex trafficker at a Brooklyn gas station weeks before Ms Tibbetts' disappearance.

Judge Yates delayed a July sentencing so the defence had time to investigate.

Earlier this month, he denied Bahena Rivera's motion for a new trial, saying the new information was unreliable and he saw no reason to overturn the verdict.

The defence plans to appeal.

Bahena Rivera and his defence lawyers, Chad and Jennifer Frese, declined to speak at sentencing.

With Associated Press