Tag Archives: oceania

Coordinated nationwide pro-Palestine protests to target cities’ ‘choke points’

Protests are planned in multiple major Australian cities and around the world on Monday, with pro-Palestine activists aiming to disrupt the economy.

Groups behind the international group "A15 Action" have called for people to join the day's planned protests on their website.

"Join participating cities in blocking the arteries of capitalism and jamming the wheels of production," the site reads.

READ MORE: OJ Simpson dies after cancer battle, his family says

"The proposal states that in each city, we will identify and blockade major choke points in the economy, focusing on points of production and circulation with the aim of causing the most economic impact, as did the port shutdowns in recent months in Oakland, California and Melbourne, Australia, as just a few examples."

In a list of global participating cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, "Adelaine" (sic), Hobart, Darwin, and Canberra were all listed, alongside other centres such as Geelong, Alice Springs, and Castlemaine.

Nine newspapers reported law enforcement and activist sources said protest locations could include ports, train stations, major roads and business offices.

READ MORE: Home invasion victim undergoes multiple surgeries for severed arm

Al-Shifa Hospital, in northern Gaza

In Victoria, The Age reported, police will activate the State Police Operations Centre, last in use during the anti-lockdown protests in 2021.

Officers, including mounted police and the public order response team, will be out in force on the day, while police in suburban stations will be re-deployed to central Melbourne.

Protests, including those targeting Israel-linked shipping, have periodically erupted in Australia since Israel's invasion of Gaza following the October 7 attacks last year.

READ MORE: Young man killed on Adelaide street remembered as 'generous soul'

Hamas militants killed about 1200 people and kidnapped hundreds of hostages during the bloody surprise attacks.

Israel's reprisal, with the stated goal of eliminating Hamas, has so far killed over 33,000 Palestinians, according to to Gaza's health authorities, with unrelenting missile attacks as well as ground deployment.

The UN and the international community have repeatedly urged Israel to avoid civilian casualties, and warned that Gaza stands on the edge of famine.

"We've rallied, there's been petitions, social-media campaigns, we've written letters – but it's been six months and the situation is worse than ever," one Australia-based activist, Nathalie, told The Age.

"Because the government is not listening, they need to get the message where it hurts, which is in their pockets. There needs to be disruption to the economy."

But Anti Defamation Commission chair Dr Dvir Abramovich condemned the protesters, who he claimed would turn cities into "battlefields".

"The monster of antisemitism and anti-Israel has been unleashed, and this is the terrifying new world of hatred and targeting of Jews that we now live in," he said.

"We are now facing a tsunami of harassment, physical violence and targeting that is a real threat to our life as Jews here."

He called for any offenders to be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

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‘Good riddance’: Explosive reaction to OJ’s death

There have been a myriad of reactions to the news of OJ Simpson's death, which was announced overnight.

Simpson lost his battle with cancer on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, his family announced on social media. He was 76.

The decorated US football superstar and Hollywood actor was acquitted of charges he murdered his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman but later found liable in a separate civil trial.

READ MORE: OJ Simpson, fallen football hero acquitted of murder in 'trial of the century', dies at 76

FILE - O.J. Simpson and his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, arrive for the opening of the Harley-Davidson Cafe in New York on Oct. 19, 1993.

Goldman's dad, Fred Goldman, told NBC News the NFL star's death was "no great loss to the world".

"The only thing I have to say is it's just further reminder of Ron being gone all these years," he said.

"It's no great loss to the world. It's a further reminder of Ron's being gone."

OJ Simpson murder trial

A criminal court jury found Simpson not guilty of the murders in 1995, but a separate civil trial jury found him liable in 1997 for the deaths and ordered him to pay $US33.5 million to family members of Brown and Goldman.

David Cook, a San Francisco attorney for the Goldman family who has been seeking to collect the civil judgment since 2008, said Simpson "died without penance".

"We don't know what he has, where it is or who is in control. We will pick up where we are and keep going with it," he said in a statement.

OJ Simpson murder trial

Caitlyn Jenner echoed a similar sentiment on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, simply writing: "Good Riddance #OJSimpson".

Jenner was previously married to Kris Jenner, who in turn had been married to Robert Kardashian who was part of Simpson's defence team.

Attorney Alan Dershowitz, an adviser on Simpson's legal "dream team" told NBC News Simpson had been "very sick".

"I knew he was very sick, so I'm upset that he died," he said.

https://twitter.com/Caitlyn_Jenner/status/1778448234119082427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

"I got to know him fairly well during the trial. It was one of the most divisive trials in American history along racial lines. He'll always be remembered for the Bronco chase, for the glove, and for the moment of acquittal."

Basketball star Magic Johnson shared a post on social media offering his condolences to Simpson's family.

"Cookie and I are praying for O.J. Simpson's children … and his grandchildren following his passing. I know this is a difficult time," he wrote on X.

https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/status/1778471634929922166?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfwhttps://www.instagram.com/p/C5oNo5dpOG_/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp

While Simpson's Naked Gun director David Zucker got cheeky in his social media tribute.

"R.I.P. Nordberg. 'His acting was a lot like his murdering: He got away with it, but no one believed him'," he captioned a photo on Instagram.

Simpson earned fame, fortune and adulation through football and show business, but his legacy was forever changed by the June 1994 knife slayings of Brown and Goldman in Los Angeles.

Doctor fights ‘corrupt’ suspension of licence after waiting hours to help dying wife

A doctor who waited more than three hours to call an ambulance for his dying wife has claimed he could not have contacted emergency services while resuscitating her.

Respiratory and sleep physician Peter Spencer is appealing the Medical Board of Australia's suspension of his medical registration after a coroner recommended him for negligent homicide charges over his wife's death.

He represented himself at a virtual Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing today, where he appeared visibly irritated and had to be muted due to his constant interruptions.

READ MORE: Second man charged over gangland shooting in Melbourne

Mayumi Spencer.

Mayumi Spencer, 29, died in their Melbourne apartment from cocaine toxicity after a night out with Dr Spencer in January 2015, a coroner found.

Dr Spencer tried to resuscitate her about 4am after she started vomiting and had a fit, and then attempted to perform a cricothyroidotomy using a kitchen knife and pen.

A cricothyroidotomy involves making an incision to unblock a person's airways, but the procedure was unsuccessful.

In June 2023, Victorian coroner John Cain found Dr Spencer had waited three-and-a-half hours to call for an ambulance, despite his wife's inability to breathe.

Paramedics arrived to find Spencer lying on the floor of their lounge room, as Dr Spencer performed CPR using "pretty gentle" compressions, the coroner was told.

Judge Cain referred Dr Spencer to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a charge of negligent manslaughter, due to his delay in seeking medical assistance and his duty of care to her.

He has not yet been charged, but VCAT was told Victoria Police were communicating with prosecutors about the charge in late 2023.

The Medical Board suspended Dr Spencer's practitioner registration in light of the finding, as they said it was in the public interest to do so.

"The applicant poses a serious risk to persons and it is necessary to take immediate action to protect public health or safety," the board's barrister Sarah Keating said today.

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Dr Peter Spencer.

"The correct and preferable decision is to confirm the immediate action decision to protect the public confidence in the reputation of the medical profession and the system of regulation."

She detailed the coroner's findings about a history of family violence between Dr Spencer and his wife, and allegations he concealed information from police and was using cocaine.

Keating said, on the evidence before the coroner, there were two-and-a-half hours where Dr Spencer was not performing CPR on his wife and could have called an ambulance.

But Dr Spencer claimed he could not have called an ambulance as it would have resulted in "prolonged downtime without CPR".

"If I had stopped doing resus and went to find the phones, and called an ambulance, and they took 11 minutes to get there, we're looking at 30 minutes at the earliest point," he said.

"That is not consistent with survival … there is no case to answer for here."

He denied any allegations of drug use or family violence, claiming his wife had apologised to him by reading out a birthday card from her.

Dr Spencer said the DPP had already reviewed his case before the coroner's findings last year and decided not to charge him.

He labelled the coronial findings and board's decision to suspend him as "corrupt" and accused police of lying.

"I doubt very much the police will want to take this to trial because they will endanger themselves to imprisonment on charges of perjury," he told the tribunal.

VCAT board members reserved their decision to a later date.

Second man charged over gangland shooting in Melbourne

Detectives have charged a second man over the fatal shooting of underworld figure Gavin "Capable" Preston in Melbourne last year.

A 24-year-old Yagoona man will be extradited to Melbourne tomorrow after appearing before Bathurst Local Court this afternoon.

He was initially arrested for unrelated matters in Sydney's CBD on October 10.

READ MORE: Footage shows IGA worker being threatened with axe during Melbourne armed robbery

The 24-year-old was charged with one count of murder this morning.

Preston was at a cafe in Keilor with Abbas "AJ" Maghnie, the son of late crime boss Nabil Maghnie, when two men dressed in black fired multiple shots at the pair about 10.20am on September 9.

Preston died at the scene while Maghnie was hit in the stomach and taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Nobody else was wounded, though other patrons were in the area at the time.

READ MORE: Neighbour protects child after trio storm Melbourne home claiming to be police

Gavin Preston

A 23-year-old Bradbury man has also been charged with one count of murder, following his arrest in NSW on October 25.

He was extradited to Victoria and remanded in custody.

Neighbour protects child after trio storm Melbourne home claiming to be police

A heroic neighbour has told how he protected a young boy after a family home in Melbourne's north-east was allegedly stormed by three people claiming to be police.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, said he had just arrived home from work when he heard screams for help inside his apartment complex on Red Hill Terrace in Doncaster East about 7.50pm.

"I heard a little kid crying and I (went outside) there was blood everywhere, it was on the carpet, on the walls, on my door," he said.

READ MORE: New search for body of missing mum Samantha Murphy

Police believe three men had falsely claimed to be police to gain access to the complex before the trio pushed their way into a property.

"Whilst inside the property the trio demanded that the occupants of the home sit down on a couch and not move," police said.

"The offenders then ransacked the home, searching through cupboards and drawers and stealing various items belonging to the victims.

"A scuffle broke out resulting in one victim being assaulted and one offender being injured."

READ MORE: $25k in fragrances stolen during burglary in Melbourne's north

The neighbour said he rushed outside the property to find a young boy attempting to call police, while his relatives fought off one of the offenders.

"I saw a woman and man in a scuffle with a big bloke, who had no top on and was bleeding from his arm and leg," he said.

"I had to protect (the child). I have a little kid myself and no kid should see that. It was very violent and graphic for a little kid.

"He was shaking.

"I grabbed him and gave him to (another) neighbour while I was on the phone to emergency services."

READ MORE: Driver and two horses killed after crash in Victoria's north-east

9News has seen images of the outside of the property, which show large amounts of blood covering white walls. 

Emergency services were called to the scene before police arrested the injured offender.

The 37-year-old Coolaroo man was taken to hospital and is currently under police guard.

One victim received minor injuries during the incident.

Police said the two remaining offenders fled the scene and investigations remain ongoing to identify them.

Anyone who may have witnessed the incident or has dashcam/CCTV footage is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Samantha Murphy’s husband ‘still searches for her every day’

A fresh search for the body of missing woman Samantha Murphy has concluded near Ballarat after efforts to find any trace of the 51-year-old proved unsuccessful.

As police scoured bushland, Mick Murphy told 9News he still searches for his wife every day after she failed to return to their Ballarat East home on February 4.

Fresh intelligence from various sources led authorities to search bushland in the Enfield State Park area today.

READ MORE: How the investigation into the disappearance of Samantha Murphy unfolded

A NSW cadaver dog has also been utilised in the search today.

"The search will focus on an area highlighted by intelligence derived from a number of sources," Victoria Police said in a statement.

Members of the public are asked to not join the search as it is focused on finding Murphy's body.

"Today's search in the Enfield State Park involves a significant number of detectives from the Missing Persons Squad and police from a number of specialist areas," Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said in a statement.

"Since Samantha's disappearance over two months ago, a range of searches and other enquiries have been undertaken in the Ballarat area as part of this investigation.

"This includes extensive large-scale searches such as we have planned this week, but also smaller targeted searches focused in very specific areas.

"I want to assure those in the Ballarat community that police remain focused on doing everything we can to return Samantha to her family."

Mick Murphy today thanked all police for their efforts in the search. 

He will attend tomorrow night's rally in Ballarat, where locals have been encouraged to march in honour of the three women whose lives were cut short.

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Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, was charged with Murphy's murder in March.

Police allege he killed Murphy while she was on a run through the Canadian State Forest, but they have not publicly identified any further details of their case.

9News understands Stephenson is not cooperating with the investigation.

Stephenson, the son of former AFL player Orren Stephenson, remains in custody and will return to court in August.

Police said Murphy's family had been told about the new search area.

Investigators carried out a similar search in the Buninyong area on March 20, about 11km from Ballarat.

It was called off after about eight hours with no trace of the body found.

Patrick Stephenson.

How the investigation unfolded

Murphy was last seen on CCTV leaving her house on Eureka Street at about 7am on Sunday, February 4, to go for a run in the Woowookarung Regional Park, or Canadian Forest.

She was last seen on CCTV footage wearing black leggings and a maroon or brown singlet.

She was reported missing after failing to return home for a brunch scheduled later that day.

Police initially said they did not suspect anything suspicious had happened, and that her phone had last been pinged near the Bunningyong Golf Club, about 11km south of her home.

Extensive searches were carried out in subsequent days through the park, with no trace of Murphy discovered.

It was not until February 23 that police said they now believed one or more people had been involved in Murphy's disappearance.

"Unfortunately, given the time and the fact we've found no trace of her, we have severe concerns, and we are very doubtful she is still alive," Hatt said at the time.

Stephenson, from Scotsburn near Ballarat, was arrested on March 6 and charged the next day.

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