Tag Archives: oceania

The 34-year-old anti-Trump politician elected as New York mayor

2025-11-05 FreeNews

Zohran Mamdani has been elected mayor of New York, a meteoric rise for a self-described democratic socialist who was a virtual unknown a year ago.

The 34-year-old is the youngest mayor in the city for more than a century.

Mamdani rode to a comfortable victory on a wave of discontent in the city.

Zohran Mamdani is the youngest mayor of New York since Hugh Grant, who was first elected in 1889.

He ran his campaign on cost-of-living issues.

Among his proposed policies are a rent freeze, free buses, city-owned grocery stores and a $US30 minimum wage.

But his campaign was dogged by criticism of his positions on Israel, describing the actions of the Netanyahu government in Gaza as a "genocide".

Turnout in the Big Apple was the highest it has been since 1969, with a surprisingly high number of young voters casting a ballot.

Mamdani won the Democratic primary earlier this year with a substantial lead over former governor Andrew Cuomo.

Andrew Cuomo is a former New York governor and the son of another New York governor.

Cuomo is a heavyweight in the Democratic Party but was pressured into resigning his office after a series of sexual misconduct accusations.

"My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty," Mamdani said in his victory speech.

"I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life, but let tonight be the final time I utter his name."

Among a crowded field, Mamdani rose from obscurity to frontrunner thanks in large part to his upbeat and engaging TikTok content.

With so many politicians uncomfortable on social media, Mamdani was a natural.

And it resulted in a massive surge in support among young voters.

"Thank you to the next generation of New Yorkers, who refuse to accept that the promise of a better future was a relic of the past," Mamdani said.

After the primary loss, Cuomo announced an independent run for mayor.

Zohran Mamdani campaigned as a populist progressive.

But as polls closed, it was readily apparent Cuomo did not have enough support to win.

In his concession speech, Cuomo called for unity.

"We will all help any way we can because we need our New York City government to work," he said.

"We want it to work for all New Yorkers because our city is the greatest city in the world."

Republican Curtis Sliwa has not cracked double digits at the current count.

Incumbent mayor Eric Adams dropped his re-election bid after polling showed him in a distant fourth place.

Since 2021, Mamdani has served as a member of the New York State Assembly.

Zohran Mamdani successfully reached out to the normally reticent younger voter.

Mamdani was born in Uganda and moved to New York City as a seven-year-old.

His father Mahmood is a high-profile academic and his mother Mira Nair is a director, best known for the Denzel Washington-starring Mississippi Masala and Monsoon Wedding.

He retains his Ugandan citizenship and is a Shia Muslim.

He got married earlier this year after meeting his now-wife on the dating app Hinge.

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Why you could be seeing a lot more of these yellow stickers on shopfronts

2025-11-05 FreeNews

Two illicit tobacco stores in Sydney's North Shore have been shut down as the state government's crackdown on the costly industry begins.

Minister for Health Ryan Park announced this morning two stores in St Leonards were shut down after the government applied new powers that allow them to shut down stores suspected of selling illicit tobacco and vapes.

In an image sent to 9news.com.au, a paper notice on the front of one of the stores stated the closure would last until February 2, 2026.

A notice on the front of a St Leonards, Sydney tobacco store after its closure by the NSW government. It is suspected of being involved in the trade of illicit tobacco.

Inspectors seized nearly 4000 illicit cigarettes and 224 illegal vapes during searches on the two shops, with the government subsequently issuing a closure order.

These last for 90 days, with the local court being able to make a long-term closure of up to a year if investigators find a larger-scale breach has occurred.

Park hinted this was just the beginning of a longer and sustained program that the government hopes will tackle the illicit tobacco trade in Sydney.

"We have begun raiding and temporarily shutting down a number of shopfronts suspected of not complying with our tough new tobacco and vaping laws," he said.

"This will take some time as we ramp up our closure activities, but this is just the beginning. More will follow in the coming days, weeks and months."

As well as targeted raids on stores involved in the illicit tobacco trade, greater fines and penalties will now be given to people and companies who fall foul of the law.

A lot of cigarettes.

Fines have now increased to a maximum of $660,000 for individuals and $880,000 for a corporation if caught selling tobacco without a licence.

For those found to be in commercial possession of illicit tobacco, the fine could reach $1.54 million, or an individual could face up to seven years imprisonment.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant insists the measures are meant to protect the health and safety of people in New South Wales.

"Tobacco use remains one of the leading causes of preventable death and disease in our community," she said.

"The new closure powers are another key tool to ensure we act swiftly and gain stronger oversight of the illicit tobacco and illegal trade to help protect public health."

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New documents reveal how Erin Patterson will fight murder convictions

2025-11-05 FreeNews

Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson is challenging her conviction on seven grounds, taking issue with jury management during deliberations and "oppressive" prosecution questioning while she gave evidence in her trial.

The 51-year-old was convicted and jailed for life in September with a non-parole period of 33 years after being found guilty of murdering her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66.

A jury found she deliberately served beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms to her lunch guests in July 2023 at her Leongatha home in regional Victoria.

Erin Patterson

She was also convicted of the attempted murder of Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, 69, who fell seriously ill after eating the meal but survived.

Patterson's lawyers have lodged a formal application to appeal her convictions in the Supreme Court. The grounds for her appeal application were released by the court on Wednesday.

Patterson said there was a "fundamental irregularity" while the jury was sequestered during the trial.

After the jury were sent out for deliberations, it was revealed they had been placed in the same hotel as the police informant and two members of the prosecution team.

"That has fatally undermined the integrity of the verdicts and requires the quashing of the convictions and an order for a re-trial so that justice cannot only be done but be seen to be done," the documents said.

Justice Christopher Beale at the time said the jury had a floor to themselves and were separated from other guests of the hotel.

Erin Patterson's defence barrister Colin Mandy SC.

Patterson further claimed a "substantial miscarriage of justice occurred" because of the prosecution's "unfair and oppressive" cross-examination of her when she gave evidence over several days in the trial.

She said the prosecution's opening and closing arguments also caused a substantial miscarriage of justice because they introduced an implied motive at the end of the trial.

The mushroom cook has also taken issue with evidence that was aired in court.

She said evidence relating to cell towers, death cap mushroom sightings in Loch and Outtrim – posted to the iNaturalist website and from Facebook 'friends' and messages – should not have been permitted because they were not relevant and unfairly prejudiced her.

Accused killer Erin Patterson.

She also claimed Beale had "erred" when he ruled photos and videos related to mushrooms found on an SD card at her home was inadmissible during the prosecution case.

Patterson has always maintained her innocence and claimed it was a terrible accident.

Crown prosecutors lodged their own appeal in October over Patterson's "manifestly inadequate" sentence.

Beale noted in sentencing Patterson that her offending was the worst category of murder and represented a betrayal of trust towards people she considered family.

But he showed Patterson mercy with the chance of parole, noting she was essentially in solitary confinement for at least 22 hours a day.

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Diana Piekusis KC said the judge had erred by finding there was a "substantial chance" Patterson would be held in solitary confinement for years to come.

Beale accepted there was no proven motive, but he found Patterson concocted an elaborate story to cover up her offending, including lying about a food dehydrator and having cancer.

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Optus investigating whether NSW outage impacted emergency calls

2025-11-05 FreeNews

Optus has restored services for the majority of customers affected by an outage in the NSW Hunter region which potentially impacted triple zero calls.

The disruption, caused by vandalism at a mobile phone tower, affected mobile voice and data services for hours for just under 70,000 customers.

It is understood the damage occurred on Maitland Road at Hexham in Newcastle at 9.30am today.

The disruption was caused by vandalism at a mobile phone tower.

"We apologise to our customers for the disruption and thank them for their patience," an Optus spokesperson said at 5.45pm.

"We will continue to provide regular updates as work progresses."

The spokesperson said Optus alerted emergency services and agencies, Telstra's emergency call person and relevant government bodies.

It's understood Optus customers were notified just after 1.30pm today.

Telstra confirmed the damage knocked out five of its mobile sites and some landline services in different parts of NSW.

"Repairs are under way and services are progressively coming back online," a spokesperson said.

"Vandalism and copper theft is a significant international issue that affects all service companies, including Telstra.

"The impact of vandalism like this can be significant for businesses, individuals and critical community services.

"It also requires us to divert work crews to restore services, delaying us from resolving other customer issues.

"We encourage anyone seeing any suspicious activity near our facilities to contact police immediately."

A crime scene has been set up and police have appealed to the public for dashcam footage.

Welfare checks are under way in the NSW Hunter region to investigate if there were any failed attempts to connect with emergency services.

Optus has restored services for the majority customers affected by an outage in the NSW Hunter region.

"We're sorry services are still disrupted by an outage," Optus said in an email.

"Calls to emergency services are impacted by this outage.

"Optus customers will only be able to call emergency services if they are within coverage of another mobile network or are able to call via wi-fi."

The outage comes a day after chairman and chief executive Stephen Rue was questioned at a senate inquiry over a triple zero outage in September.

Three customers who were unable to call the emergency line died.

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Two charged in ‘mistaken identity’ murder of Sydney plumber

2025-11-05 FreeNews

Two men have been arrested and charged with the murder of a Sydney plumber earlier this year in what police believe may have been a case of mistaken identity in an attempted gangland hit.

John Versace, a 23-year-old man with no links to any criminal organisations, was shot in Condell Park on May 19.

This morning, police arrested 19-year-old Ahmed Naji at his Bankstown home and a 43-year-old man in Casula. Both were charged with murder and refused bail to appear at court today.

A 43-year-old man was arrested in Casula over his alleged role in the murder of John Versace.

"(The men were) involved in planning the murder, staged vehicles in preparation of the murder, drove the person responsible for the shooting," Detective Superintendent Jason Box alleged this afternoon.

"(They) assisted in the planning and preparation of murder through acquiring and staging vehicles."

Versace was found outside his family home on Dalton Street and had suffered gunshot wounds to his chest and stomach.

He was treated by paramedics, but died at the scene.

"There's nothing to suggest that Mr Versace was anything but a hard-working young man that was living at home with his family and trying to set himself up for the rest of his life," Box said.

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