The road is partially closed and police say the public should avoid the area.
Tag Archives: oceania
Gisborne Digest: A round-up of news from the district
From Olympics confirmation to lifestyle property sales spike.
Police arrest protesters outside Met Gala
With the eyes of the world turning to the Met Gala, anti-war protestors took the opportunity to march on the venue calling for an end to the Gaza conflict.
Wedding dress among items up for auction after being left at Sydney Airport
Hundreds of electronics, designer items, toys and accessories are up for sale this week.
Met Gala 2024: Celebrities stun in ‘wild’ red carpet
The high-fashion fundraiser is underway again with celebrities flaunting their best looks for the crowd.
Girlfriend and friends share tributes to slain Aussie brothers
The girlfriend of one of the Perth brothers suspected to have been murdered in Mexico has shared emotional tributes to him, saying her "heart is shattered into a million pieces".
Australians Callum and Jake Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad were found dead at the weekend after disappearing in the northern Mexico state of Baja California.
San Diego resident Emily Horwath, who was in a relationship with Callum, shared a series of emotional tributes to the 33-year-old on social media.
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"My heart is shattered into a million pieces," she said.
"I don't have the words right now.
"You are one of one. I will love you forever."
Her words, photos and videos of the pair together were part of a flood of tributes to Callum and his 30-year-old brother shared online.
Jena Aro said the world was "an evil place".
"But I won't let it stop me from spreading the kindness you brought into this world," she wrote, on Instagram.
Horwath described Aro as the couple's "permanent third wheel", saying she loved the way Callum treated her best friends as his own.
READ MORE: Messages reveal 'radicalised' Perth teen's 'jihad' plans
"Truly one of the most beautiful and loving souls," another friend of Callum's wrote.
"The world lost one of its kindest silliest and most genuine of souls this week," another message said.
Callum was living in San Diego, having played professional lacrosse in the US.
READ MORE: Bondi stabbing survivor says smiling doctor helped her recover
Jake was visiting his brother before taking up a new job at a hospital in Geelong.
The trio were alleged to have been killed after fighting back against people trying to steal the tyres on the ute they were travelling in.
The men's bodies, which were found 10 metres down a well south of the city of Ensenada, were officially identified after their parents, Martin and Debra Robinson flew to Mexico.
Authorities claimed they'd been shot through the head, execution-style.
Three abandoned tents were also discovered along with the remains of a campfire in the remote beachside area.
The ute was found on a farm, burned out.
Three Mexicans, Jesús Gerardo Garica Cota, alias El Kekas, his partner Ari Gisel García Cota, and his brother Christian Alejandro Garcia, have since been charged with forced kidnapping.
Sources tell 9News it is believed the trio will be charged with murder in the coming days.
READ MORE: Urgent search for two brothers after fatal stabbing in Melbourne
READ MORE: Chinese jet intercepts Australian Navy helicopter in 'unsafe' move
A photographer friend of Callum, Randy Dible, said he was almost going to join the trio on the trip, after recommending them where to go and drawing "a map on a napkin".
He said his "friend and neighbour" Callum bought a photo print, and asked him where in Mexico he should go with his brother.
"I told him about Santo Tomas Valley and go camp in the Oak Groves at the Ahusco where my grandparents brought me camping every year when I was a boy and I brought my friends and family there through the decades," he wrote on Instagram, referring to an area close to where they were found dead.
"Then told him to go to La Bocana at the end of the valley where there's great fishing and there's a wave to surf.
"I drew him a little map on a napkin. He asked me if I wanted to go.
"At first I said yeah, it sounds like fun but I turned him down when I found out I had to work."
Dible described his friend as "really great guy and champion Lacrosse player and surfer."
Callum previously studied at Stevenson University in Maryland, where the lacrosse team held a minute's silence for the man they called "Big Koala".
"Callum will be remembered for his infectious spirit and larger-than-life personality," the university said.
"With his beautiful long hair and charming smile, he truly embodied the nickname 'big koala'— warm, friendly, and always there to lend a helping hand.
"Though he may be gone, Callum's legacy will live on in our hearts forever."
A fundraiser has gathered more than $280,000 for the brothers' family.
Donations have been made by friends and family as well as patients of Jake.
"Such an unimaginable tragedy," one person wrote.
"Hearts, not just here in Western Australia, are truly broken," another said.
Baja California Attorney General Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez met with parents of the victims on Sunday and "reaffirmed the institution's total commitment to continue the investigation into these unfortunate events until those responsible are fully prosecuted by the law", she said.
The area has been plagued by drug cartel violence in recent years, though it rarely occurs in tourist areas like Ensenada.
The latest suspected murders sparked outrage in the surf community of Ensenda, where about 500 people marched on Sunday to call for justice and better security.
While parts of Mexico are established tourist destinations, violent crime including kidnapping and human trafficking plague parts of the country, particularly in border areas.
Mexico's homicide rate is among the highest in the world, and more than 100,000 people remain missing in the country.
– reported with CNN.
Messages reveal ‘radicalised’ Perth teen’s ‘jihad’ plans
A teenager shot dead by police at the weekend was a self-confessed jihadist who had previously used a battery to cause an explosion in the school toilet block.
The 16-year-old Rossmoyne High School student had also been placed in a special program to counter violent extremism two years ago.
Minutes before the "radicalised" boy stabbed a man in the back in Willeton, in Perth's south at the weekend, he messaged his associates.
READ MORE: Identities of slain Australian brothers and US friend confirmed in Mexico
"Peace be upon the Messenger of God. May his peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you," he wrote in Arabic.
"Brothers please forgive me for any time I have wronged you, I am going in the path of jihad tonight for the sake of Allah Azzawajal," he then continued in English.
"I am a soldier of the Mujahideen of Al-Qaeda and take responsibility for the actions …
"If you have any illegal or jihadi things online or in real life please make sure to hide them."
The message prompted members of the Muslim community to alert police, who quickly arrived outside Bunnings on High Road.
As the teenager approached them in the car park, officers discharged their Tasers twice before one fired the fatal shot.
Fellow high school students said they believed the 16-year-old suffered from mental health problems and needed help.
"People need to start focusing more on mental health and stop assuming that he was this bad person," one student said.
"He had a lot of friends and was well known and was a very kind and genuine person and I wouldn't think he would have done something like this.
She said he was "a bit set back" but still a "calm, kind person".
A parent said he was a "very kind-hearted and helpful child".
"Because of his online issues I think he has gone mad," she said.
However, concerns had been raised on multiple occasions about the boy's behaviour, and parents said he had blown up a lithium-ion battery in the school toilets.
Two years ago the Caucasian boy was placed in a special program to counter violent extremism, amid fears he was being radicalised.
Since the program started a decade ago, 14 Western Australians have participated. Currently there are nine receiving support, five of whom are juveniles.
"There were a number of red flags raised, this should have had great attention of every agency that could be involved, including security agencies," WA Liberal Party leader Libby Mettam said.
Western Australian Premier Roger Cook said: "These people come to the attention of police when their actions are unlikely or already tipping into unlawful behaviour".
"So from that point of view, it is absolutely appropriate that this person remains in the program," he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was also asked about the case and federal agencies' role.
"Our police will go through their processes and it is important that that be backed up," he said.
"My job is to back up our security agencies and the work that they do."
Bondi stabbing survivor says smiling doctor helped her recover
One of the survivors of the deadly Bondi Junction Westfield stabbing attack has told how seeing her doctor's smiling face helped her pull through.
Liya Barko was critically injured in the April 13 rampage that killed six people, and was only released from hospital one week ago.
The 35-year-old has been living on an emotional rollercoaster since that day. Alongside the horror of the attack, she also recalls the euphoria of waking up and realising she was alive.
READ MORE: Identities of slain Australian brothers and US friend confirmed in Mexico
"I just remember just so, so open smile and happy face," she said of her doctor.
"He was so happy, I have never seen someone really so happy."
On the morning of April 13, Barko took her first volleyball class and headed to the shops after to buy a volleyball so she could practice.
This is when she crossed paths with a killer.
"He just looked at me and he decided at that moment, and then I look at my hand, and it was bleeding," she said.
Barko had been stabbed in the ribs, and another shopper immediately rushed to her aid, helping her into a store and closing the door behind them.
"When you are on the floor, you're bleeding, you can see everyone's expression and some of them were crying, they were scared … for their lives also," she said.
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The rescuer, a man wearing a green shirt, helped stem the bleeding and likely saved the 35-year-old's life.
She was taken to intensive care where her life hung in the balance for a full 10 days, but eventually she pulled through, encouraged by the smiling doctor.
"I thought like okay, if I die right now, I'll just destroy his shift. So I can't die right now because he's just so happy" Barko said.
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As she recovered, and continues to do so, one question remains at the front of her mind.
"My question is how it happen, why a schizophrenic man was there outside with a knife making a normal Saturday afternoon, he just turn it into hell?"
The 35-year-old arrived in Sydney 18 months ago to study, after growing up in Ukraine and moving to Argentina.
But since the attack her studies, and her work as a cleaner, have both been put on hold.
Loved ones have started a crowdfunding page on GoFundMe to help support Barko's recovery.
Family of 12-year-old girl killed in crash allegedly caused by hoon feel ‘let down’
The family of a 12-year-old girl who was killed after an alleged hoon crashed into her family's car near Geelong say they feel let down by the justice system.
Mia Rossiter died moments after the horror crash on the Hamilton Highway in Stonehaven on January 3.
The accused driver was on parole and wearing an ankle monitor when police said the incident occurred.
Her parents Dani Rossiter, 36, and Paul Rossiter, 38, and sister seven-year-old Willow were all taken to hospital following the crash.
Paul, also known as PJ, spent more than three months receiving care for injuries sustained.
He described his little girl as someone with a "heart of gold, who (would) do anything for anyone".
"They were trying to put her into the recovery position. But she wasn't responding," Dani said.
"I knew something was wrong."
Police said the man who allegedly behind the crash was released from prison last year after serving five and a half years behind bars for driving offences.
Jordan Kenyon, 28, has been charged with dangerous driving causing death, dangerous driving causing serious injury and breaching parole.
While he hasn't faced a trial or been found guilty of the charges, the Rossiter family say they hold general concerns about the justice system.
They are calling on the state government to tighten bail and parole requirements.
"Anger, sadness, depression. Some days I don't want to get out of bed," Dani said.
Kenyon will appear in Geelong Magistrates Court tomorrow.
Chinese jet intercepts Australian Navy helicopter in ‘unsafe’ move
A Chinese jet fighter has dropped flares in front of an Australian Navy helicopter in international waters, in an incident Defence Minister Richard Marles has condemned as unprofessional and unacceptable.
9News can reveal the near-catastrophic incident occurred about 7.30pm (AEST time) on Saturday during a routine operation in the Yellow Sea off South Korea.
A Navy Seahawk operating off HMAS Hobart was intercepted by a Chinese J10 Air Force jet.
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"The PLA Air Force plane dropped flares about 300 metres in front of the Seahawk helicopter about 60 metres above it, requiring the helicopter to take evasive action in order to not be hit by those flares," Marles told 9News.
Defence sources have told 9News only the quick reflexes of the Australian pilot averted disaster – the Seahawk normally operates with a crew of four to six.
No one was hurt.
Marles condemned the incident and said Beijing had been formally notified of Australia's concerns.
HMAS Hobart was taking part in Operation Argos, a United Nations mission to prevent North Korea smuggle sanctioned goods across the high seas.
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"This was an incident which was both unsafe and unprofessional," Marles said.
"Now Australians are engaging in important work enforcing UN Security Council sanctions and in doing that work, we're operating on the high seas in accordance with international law in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
"And we expect that when we have interactions with other militaries, including with the Chinese military that those interactions are professional, and safe. This incident was completely unacceptable.
"We have expressed our concerns to the Chinese government formally in relation to this incident. HMAS Hobart continues in its work in enforcing those UN Security Council sanctions."