Category Archives: headline

headline

Man hides in wheelie bin outside Gold Coast home before robbing resident

Police want help to identify a man who hid in a wheelie bin outside a Gold Coast home before robbing and wounding a resident.

The man allegedly jumped the fence into the yard of a home on Thompson Street in Biggera Waters and climbed into a wheelie bin.

Over an hour later, a man who lives in the home found the man in the bin, who then allegedly threatened him and demanded his phone and keys.

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The resident suffered a wound to his left hand in the struggle before the offender fled on foot.

Police have released images and CCTV of the man they are hoping to speak to.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

You can find out more details about how to book your vaccine through the Federal Government health site here.

headline

New coronaviruses found in bats

Chinese researchers have said they had found a batch of new coronaviruses in bats including one that may be the second-closest yet, genetically, to the COVID-19 virus.

According to the researchers, their discoveries in a single, small region of Yunnan province in southwestern China show just how many coronaviruses there are in bats and how many have the potential to spread to people.

Weifeng Shi of the University of Shandong and colleagues collected samples from small, forest-dwelling bats between May 2019 and May 2020. They tested urine and faeces as well as taking swabs from the bats' mouths.

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Bats

"In total, we assembled 24 novel coronavirus genomes from different bat species, including four SARS-CoV-2 like coronaviruses," the researchers wrote in a report published in the journal Cell.

One was very similar, genetically to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that's causing the current pandemic, they said – a viral sample called RpYN06 taken from a horseshoe bat species called rhinolophus pusillus.

It would be the closest strain to SARS-CoV-2 except for genetic differences on the spike protein, the knob-like structure that the virus uses when attaching to cells, they said.

"Together with the SARS-CoV-2 related virus collected from Thailand in June 2020, these results clearly demonstrate that viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2 continue to circulate in bat populations, and in some regions might occur at a relatively high frequency," they wrote.

Researchers are trying to find where SARS-CoV-2 came from. Although a bat is a likely source, it's possible the virus infected an intermediary animal. The SARS virus that caused an outbreak in 2002-2004 was tracked to an animal called a civet cat.

"Bats are well known reservoir hosts for a variety of viruses that cause severe diseases in humans and have been associated with the spillovers of hendra virus, Marburg virus, ebola virus and, most notably, coronaviruses. Aside from bats and humans, coronaviruses can infect a wide range of domestic and wild animals, including pigs, cattle, mice, cats, dogs, chickens, deer and hedgehogs," they wrote.

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Most of the samples came from species of horseshoe bats. In 2017, researchers sampling a cave in Yunnan found viruses very close genetically to the SARS virus in horseshoe bats.

Three of the samples described in this report were also close to SARS genetically.

"Our study highlights the remarkable diversity of bat coronaviruses at the local scale, including close relatives of both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV," researchers wrote. The bat species they sampled are common across Southeast Asia, including southwest China, Vietnam, Laos and elsewhere.

Although there's some controversy about the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, a World Health Organization report said the most likely source is an animal – probably a bat.

People hunt and eat bats, and bats can infect other animals that are also hunted and eaten by people. Viruses can infect people when they handle or slaughter the animals.

You can find out more details about how to book your vaccine through the Federal Government health site here.

headline

Woman bound, dumped in forest in alleged domestic violence attack

A woman has allegedly had her hands zip tied behind her back and feet bound before being abandoned in a Queensland forest in just one of a series of horrific domestic violence incidents.

Police have charged a 25-year-old Gympie man with 14 domestic violence offences over the spate of cruelty he allegedly inflicted on the woman over several weeks.

Police say the man drove the woman to the Toolara Forest and restrained her before driving off, then returning a short time later and cutting the woman free.

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He then allegedly made her walk for a significant distance on a dirt tract. She was allowed to get back in the car only when another car approached.

On another occasion, police said he drove her back to the forest, and placed her in a headlock, choking her as she sat in the car.

He then allegedly made her get out of the car and sit on the dirt before allowing her back in the car where he punched and assaulted her.

Police said the man also contravened domestic violence orders by contacting the woman, visiting her address, verbally assaulting her in public as well as other physical assaults.

The man has been charged with six counts of contravening a domestic violence order, three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, two counts of strangulation/choking and one count each of deprivation of liberty, stealing, assault police and obstruct police.

He has been denied police bail and was remanded in custody to appear in Gympie Magistrates Court today.

National Domestic Violence Service: 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). If you are in immediate danger call triple zero (000).

You can find out more details about how to book your vaccine through the Federal Government health site here.