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☆ At Least 5 Killed in Stabbing at Mall in Australia
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Victoria Kim | Damien Cave | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

PinnedFive people were killed and several others injured in a stabbing rampage Saturday afternoon at a crowded major mall in Sydney, Australia, prompting the police to declare a critical incident and evacuate the area. The attacker was shot and killed by a lone police officer who was directed into the mall by people fleeing the scene, police said. The officer then opened fire, saving lives, Anthony Cooke, police assistant commissioner for the New South Wales Police, said at a news briefing. The assailant stabbed about nine people as he moved through the mall Saturday afternoon, Assistant Commissioner Cooke said. “There’s nothing we’re aware at the scene that would indicate any motive or ideology,” Assistant Commissioner Cooke said in the briefing, noting the investigation was in its early stages.

Persons: Anthony Cooke, Cooke, “, Yan Zhuang, Isabella Kwai Organizations: New South Wales Police, ”, Westfield, Southern Hemisphere Locations: Sydney, Australia, Westfield, Bondi, Sydney’s Eastern

☆ Bondi Junction, Site of Stabbing Attack, Is a Popular and Busy Hub
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bondi Junction, the area of Sydney, Australia, where Saturday’s stabbings took place, is a bustling hub that regularly draws crowds on weekends. The shopping area’s early development in the 1970s made it one of Australia’s largest development projects. And during a major renovation in 2005, it was known as one of the largest shopping centers in the Southern Hemisphere. An array of small businesses, including cafes and yoga studios, have sprung up in the area, making it an attractive meeting ground. That includes the famous Bondi Beach, which means that on any given weekend, tourists and backpackers are in the mix along with residents of the area.

Persons: Saturday’s stabbings, Chanel, Gucci Organizations: Southern Hemisphere Locations: Sydney, Australia, Westfield, Bondi

☆ Witnesses to Sydney Mall Stabbing Describe Harrowing Scenes
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( John Yoon | Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Witnesses to the stabbings at a mall in a Sydney, Australia, on Saturday described a scene of terror as shoppers fled from the knife-wielding man or huddled in stores as panic spread through the shopping center. Others ran out, screaming as they passed by bodies on the floor. When Gavin Lockhart, 37, saw people running as he sat inside a coffee shop at the mall, there was a moment of confusion. Then, Mr. Dunkley recounted, he saw a police officer attempt to stop the assailant. When the officer told the man to put his knife down, he lunged toward her with his weapon, the cafe owner said.

Persons: blared, Gavin Lockhart, ”, “ He’s, Michael Dunkley, Dunkley, “, Mr Locations: Sydney, Australia

Europe’s top human rights court said in a landmark ruling on Tuesday that the Swiss government had violated its citizens’ human rights by not doing enough to stop climate change. But the court rejected climate-related cases brought by the former mayor of a coastal town in France and a group of young people in Portugal as inadmissible. The cases, the first of their kind to be heard at the court, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, are part of a broader movement of climate-related lawsuits that aim to use human rights law to push governments to act against global warming. The rulings focused on three cases, filed by members of the public in France, Portugal and Switzerland who argued that their governments, by not doing enough to mitigate climate change, were violating the citizens’ rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Organizations: Swiss, of Human Rights, European, Human Rights Locations: France, Portugal, Strasbourg, Switzerland

☆ How an Editors’ Note Fueled Another Kate Conspiracy Theory
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When Catherine, Princess of Wales, announced last month that she had been diagnosed with cancer, it seemed to quell the rumors that had swirled over her stepping back from public life. With disinformation spreading fast online, at times amplified by hostile states, some social media users were primed for skepticism. A note from Getty Images beside the video announcement, released on March 22, said it “may not adhere” to its editorial policy and fanned more conspiracy theories over the video’s authenticity. There is no evidence, according to researchers, that the video is a deepfake, and agencies routinely attach such notes to content given to them by third parties. With images easy to manipulate, researchers say that news agencies are being transparent about the source of their content.

Persons: Catherine, Princess of Wales Organizations: Getty

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☆ As Graffiti Moves From Eyesore to Amenity, Landlords Try to Cash In
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Julian Phethean’s first canvas in London was a shed in his backyard where he covered the walls with bold lettering in spray paint. When he moved his art to the city’s streets in the 1980s, it was largely unwelcome — and he was even arrested a few times. “It was just seen as vandalism.”These days, the canvases come to Mr. Phethean, better known as the muralist Mr Cenz. Landlords wanting to attract young professionals once scrubbed off the rebellious scrawls. That was before graffiti moved from countercultural to mainstream.

Persons: Julian Phethean’s, “, ”, Phethean, Mr Cenz, Biggie Smalls, Pepsi Max, I’d Organizations: Pepsi Locations: London, countercultural, Berlin, Miami, hipper

☆ An ‘Irish Heiress’ Conned Him. He Started a Podcast to Track Her Down.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

She posed as a down-on-her-luck heiress who was battling with her Irish family over an exorbitant inheritance. But Marianne Smyth, who was born in Maine, was not an Irish heiress, and there was no fortune. Now Ms. Smyth, 54, is facing more accusations, this time from the authorities in the United Kingdom, who are seeking her extradition from the United States. The charges, for fraud and theft, date from March 2008 to October 2010, when Ms. Smyth was living in Northern Ireland, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Maine. The arrest was “a miracle,” said Johnathan Walton, a Los Angeles-based reality television producer who has made it his personal mission to expose Ms. Smyth, after she was convicted of stealing more than $63,000 from him.

Persons: Marianne Smyth, Smyth, ”, Johnathan Walton Organizations: U.S . Marshals Service Locations: Maine, Irish, United Kingdom, United States, Northern Ireland, Los Angeles

☆ What We Know About Catherine, Princess of Wales’s Cancer Diagnosis
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed on Friday evening that she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy, it brought to a head months of speculation about her well-being. Her prolonged absence from public life in recent months had driven a wave of theories and wild rumors about her health, her whereabouts and even the state of her marriage to Prince William. Here’s what we know about her diagnosis and treatment. The cancer was discovered after abdominal surgery. The princess has not disclosed the type of cancer she has, but she underwent abdominal surgery in mid-January.

Persons: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Here’s Locations: Kensington Palace

☆ 3 People Fatally Shot in Two Pennsylvania Township Homes, Police Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-16 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Three people were fatally shot on Saturday morning at two separate residences in Falls Township in Pennsylvania, according to the authorities, who said they have confined the gunman to a home in Trenton, N.J. The gunman, identified by the authorities as Andre Gordon, 26, drove a stolen vehicle and killed his 52-year-old stepmother, Karen Gordon, and 13-year-old sister, Kera Gordon, in Levittown, Pa., according to Jennifer Schorn, the Bucks County, Pa., district attorney. There were three other people, including a 14-year-old, in the home who hid as Mr. Gordon searched for them, Ms. Schorn said. Mr. Gordon then drove to a second nearby residence where he killed Taylor Daniel, a 25-year-old woman with whom he had two children, Ms. Schorn said.

Persons: Andre Gordon, Karen Gordon, Kera Gordon, Jennifer Schorn, Gordon, Schorn, Taylor Daniel Locations: Falls Township, Pennsylvania, Trenton , N.J, Levittown, Pa, Bucks County

☆ This Treasure Hunter’s Latest Find? A 1,000-Year-Old Viking Sword.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The long, thin piece of metal looked like a scaffolding pole when Trevor Penny saw it on the banks of an English river last November. That would not have surprised Mr. Penny, who, while practicing his magnet fishing hobby, has unearthed household items, tools and other metal debris from the waterways near his Oxfordshire home. (Magnet fishing is pretty much what it sounds like: A strong magnet is attached to a rope, which is then tossed into a body of water.) But his find that day was much more dramatic: a rusty Viking sword that had been there for more than 1,000 years. The sword, found in the River Cherwell and identified by an archaeological group that tracks public finds, most likely dates to a period between 850 A.D. and 975 A.D. Mr. Penny said he handed it over to the Oxfordshire Museums Service this week, where it is expected to be put on display after restoration.

Persons: Trevor Penny, Penny Organizations: Oxfordshire Museums Service Locations: Oxfordshire, Cherwell

☆ Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Speaks Out About ‘Hateful’ Online Bullying
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The glare of public attention has often left Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, on the receiving end of strong opinions. And Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pushed back at that directly on Friday, criticizing a culture of bullying on social media. “We have forgotten about our humanity, and that has got to change,” she said, while appearing on a keynote panel at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, focusing on the representation of women in entertainment and the media. Meghan and Harry have voiced repeated concerns about how negative media attention has affected them, both while they were active members of Britain’s royal family and since they stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and moved to the United States. Meghan said on Friday that she had received the bulk of online abuse while she was pregnant with her children, Archie and Lilibet, and in the months after their births.

Persons: Prince Harry, Meghan, Duchess of, Harry, Archie, Lilibet Organizations: Southwest Locations: Duchess of Sussex, Austin , Texas, United States

☆ Ewen MacIntosh, Comedian on British Sitcom ‘The Office,’ Dies at 50
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ewen MacIntosh, a British actor and comedian known for his dry portrayal of Keith Bishop, a lackluster accountant in the acclaimed British sitcom, “The Office,” has died. He died on Monday, his management company, Just Right Management, said, but it did not give a cause of death. The company said in a social media post that Mr. MacIntosh received support from a care home before he died. Mr. MacIntosh had parts in several comedic series, including the British sitcom “Miranda” and the sketch series “Little Britain.” But it was “The Office” that would be his most famous role, as a socially inept accountant working at a boring branch of a paper company. It included two series and a Christmas special, and its comedic approach was praised by critics and audiences alike.

Persons: Ewen MacIntosh, Keith Bishop, ”, MacIntosh, “ Miranda ”, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant Locations: British, Britain

☆ Powerball Posted the Wrong Numbers. Now He’s Suing for $340 Million.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The string of numbers on the lottery ticket that John Cheeks bought matched those posted on a Powerball website. Had he beat unfathomable odds to win the $340 million grand prize? Not according to Powerball administrators, who said the numbers Mr. Cheeks saw on the site were part of a test that had been “mistakenly posted,” rather than the winning numbers for the drawing in January 2023. Mr. Cheeks has asked for the $340 million in compensation, as well as damages and interest on the winnings. “This is not merely about numbers on a website,” Richard Evans, a lawyer for Mr. Cheeks, said in a statement.

Persons: John Cheeks, Cheeks, “, ” Richard Evans Organizations: Mr, Washington , D.C Locations: Washington ,

☆ A Rebrand for London’s ‘Spaghetti of Orange’ Overground Train System
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Claire Moses | Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

London’s public transportation system may soon become a bit easier to navigate. The train lines on London’s Overground, a rail system that largely serves people in neighborhoods outside of central London beyond the reach of the city’s Underground system, will be renamed. The lines on the map will also receive new colors, replacing a system that is currently marked entirely with orange lines on maps. While the Overground is technically a different system than the Underground, popularly known as the tube, the same payment method applies to both, and multiple stations connect the two systems. The new names are: Lioness, named after the English women’s soccer team; Mildmay, honoring a small East London hospital with a pivotal role caring for patients during the AIDS crisis; Windrush, after the ship that brought some of the first migrants from the Caribbean to Britain; Weaver, which travels through an area once known for its textile trade; Suffragette, after the movement that fought for women’s right to vote; and Liberty, which references the historical independence of the people of the Havering borough.

Persons: Mildmay, Weaver Locations: London, East London, Caribbean, Britain, Havering

☆ Britain Confronts Fears of a (Gasp!) Tea Shortage
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Isabella Kwai | Jenny Gross | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

For a country of morning-and-night tea drinkers, even the suggestion of a shortage of the household staple can elicit a nervous gulp. So there might have been more than a few people spooked when signs in some Sainsbury’s grocery stores this week warned customers that supply issues had affected the “nationwide” availability of black tea, as Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea caused shipping delays. Yorkshire Tea and Tetley Tea, two of the most popular tea companies in Britain, said in statements that they were monitoring the situation to ensure they could maintain supplies of black tea, but that orders were being fulfilled. “This is a critical period which requires our constant attention,” Tetley said in a statement. It said that it had implemented measures in recent months to mitigate any disruption to supplies because of shipping issues.

Persons: Tetley, ” Tetley Organizations: Yorkshire Tea Locations: Britain

☆ Winter Storm New York and New England Brace for Powerful Nor’easter
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Mike Ives | Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

The wintry mess left both parties racing to rewrite last-minute campaign plans and sophisticated models to understand how the storm might affect turnout. But many Republican voters still prefer to vote on Election Day, and their party is accustomed to closing a gap. The party has won nearly every major election on Long Island since 2021, partly on the strength of its turnout operation. Peter T. King, a former Republican congressman, conceded that the snow could cost his party a couple of percentage points. Still, he predicted that the recently revived Nassau County Republican machine was up to the task.

Persons: Stephanie Keith, Dave Sanders, The New York Times Stephanie Keith, The New York Times Tom Suozzi, Mazi Pilip, George Santos, ” Steve Israel, ”, Biden, Santos, Tom Suozzi, Suozzi, Mazi, “, ” Jay Jacobs, Peter T, King, committeemen, Suozzi’s, haven’t, Mr, Jacobs, Delia DeRiggi, Bruce Blakeman, Blakeman, Ellen Yan Organizations: The New York Times, The New York Times Credit, Democrat, Republican, Queens and, Republicans, Democratic, Mr, Democratic Party, Nassau County Republican, Legislature Locations: Nassau, New York, Queens and Long, New York City, Long, Nassau County, North Shore, Whitton

☆ Hate Valentine’s Day? There’s a Market for You, Too.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-11 | by ( Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Lilly Calman is not in the mood this Valentine’s Day for the flowers, chocolates or a romantic dinner for two, especially after a recent breakup. “I’m very angry,” said Ms. Calman, 26, adding that it had been painful to see all the holiday paraphernalia in store aisles. “The visual image of him getting eaten by a Komodo dragon is pretty satisfying,” said Ms. Calman, who donated $25 for the rat option. She is hoping the zoo sends her a video so she can host a screening with a friend. I think it’s cool.”

Persons: Lilly Calman, “, ”, Calman Organizations: San Locations: San Antonio

☆ After a Taste of Freedom in the Scottish Highlands, Runaway Monkey Is Captured
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was the denouement to a whirlwind that had engulfed — or at least amused — the communities of Kingussie and Kincraig in the Scottish highlands, where about 1,500 humans live. Since the macaque went on the lam, his fate had drawn reporters who waited nearby for updates on the monkey’s location. “Everybody is rooting for this monkey,” said Carl Nagle, a Kincraig resident who spotted the monkey on Sunday in his backyard, apparently snacking on even more birdfeed. “He must be having a ball living his best life.”For his part, Mr. Nagle said he was “hugely relieved,” that the monkey was caught, saying that he needed to return to his troop. “This is ridiculous — and yet it is somehow perfect,” Mr. Nagle said.

Persons: ”, Keith Gilchrist, Carl Nagle, Nagle, “ It’s, Mr Organizations: Wildlife Locations: Honshu, Kingussie, Scottish

☆ A Monkey Is on the Run in the Scottish Highlands
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Was it a longing for freedom, for friends or for snacks that pushed the monkey to make his daring getaway? He has evaded the hands of animal keepers who have been chasing him since Sunday, when he escaped from an enclosure in the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie, Scotland, and fled into the Scottish highlands. Park officials have brought in thermal drones to help them search for the animal and have asked residents to report sightings. The monkey’s life on the lam has brought a whirlwind of media attention to the relatively remote communities of Kingussie and Kincraig (combined population: about 1,500 humans). Amused residents, who have given the animal the nickname “Kingussie Kong,” have found themselves invested in its fate, and journalists have followed animal keepers as they have swept the hills.

Persons: Kingussie Organizations: Wildlife Locations: Kingussie, Scotland, Scottish, Kingussie Kong

☆ A Famed Cemetery Is Nearly Full. Can It Reuse Old Graves to Add More Space?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In death, as in life, it is expensive to have famous people as your neighbors. There is hardly any space left at Highgate Cemetery, a Victorian graveyard in north London where Karl Marx, George Michael and George Eliot are buried, along with 170,000 other Londoners. The price of a grave to rest in esteemed peace? That cost gained attention in British media this week, after the historic site notified the public it had begun a process of adding new gravesites. “Cemeteries are quite expensive places to maintain,” said Ian Dungavell, the chief executive of the charity that manages Highgate Cemetery, adding that dwindling space on the property contributed in part to the high cost of being buried there.

Persons: Karl Marx, George Michael, George Eliot, ”, Ian Dungavell, “ Organizations: Highgate Locations: London, “, Highgate

☆ London’s Black Cabs Can Soon Join Uber. But Will They?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Uber said it needed several hundred drivers to sign up in order to launch the service. But many London cabdrivers had a scathing response. “We don’t need a partnership with Uber,” said the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, a union that represents a majority of the city’s nearly 18,000 cabdrivers, in the headline of a release on Wednesday. There was “no demand” for such a partnership from taxi drivers, the union’s general secretary, Steve McNamara, said in a statement, adding that their members were unlikely to even consider joining the platform. “If they were offering double the meter and no commission, I still wouldn’t sign up with them.”

Persons: sweetening, Uber, London cabdrivers, ”, Steve McNamara, Howard Taylor Organizations: Taxi Drivers Association Locations: London

☆ Riots in Dublin Bring ‘Shame’ on Ireland, Prime Minister Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A violent clash between rioters and police in central Dublin on Thursday injured several police officers, one seriously, and prompted the arrests of 34 people, according to the Garda Síochána, the Irish police force. Rioters set fire to police vehicles, destroyed public buses and looted or damaged more than a dozen shops, the Gardai said. A mob had gathered in the city center following a knife attack that had seriously injured a female schoolteacher and three young children. The escalating unrest appalled the authorities, who blamed a far-right faction for fueling tensions by spreading misinformation about the knife attack. Unconfirmed speculation about the nationality of the knife-wielding attacker spread online in the hours after the stabbings, with one protester telling the Agence France-Presse news service that “Irish people are being attacked by these scum.”

Organizations: Garda, Irish, Agence France, Presse Locations: Dublin

☆ ‘Absolute Chaos’: Residents Evacuated From Public Housing Tower in England
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“Our lives are all up in the air.”The evacuation has drawn fresh attention to the construction of Britain’s public housing high-rises. The Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people and left hundreds homeless, prompted a national reckoning over safety measures and construction of high-rise buildings. Critics have accused governments of prioritizing cost-cutting over safety, and housing advocates in London and elsewhere have since raised concerns about other buildings. While there was “no evidence of an immediate risk to life,” he said the decision was made to evacuate. Barton House was built in 1958 and is among the oldest of the city’s public housing projects, or council housing estates, as they are called in Britain.

Persons: Ali, “, ”, Grenfell, Barton, Mr, Rees Organizations: Barton House Locations: London, Bristol, Barton, Britain

☆ ‘Everybody Is a Bit on Edge’: Sailors Trade Tips on Steering Clear of Orcas
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first time orcas appeared near his catamaran, Florian Rutsch was surprised, but prepared. He scattered sand in the water, which some sailors thought could act as a deterrent (unsubstantiated). Then he slammed the engine into full throttle, moving away from the group (advice supported by the Spanish government). This time, to deter them, the crew also tried another idea that had been passed along: booming a curated playlist of heavy metal — titled “Metal for Orcas” — through an underwater speaker. The crew had to call for help, and eventually Spanish rescue authorities arrived and towed the vessel to port.

Persons: orcas, Florian Rutsch, Rutsch Locations: Gibraltar, Spanish

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