Latest news with #Crusader
Otago Daily Times
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
‘War' first, a few laughs second
Crusaders halfback Noah Hotham prepares to kick during a Super Rugby Pacific game earlier this season. PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES Noah Hotham is looking forward to sharing a drink with lots of his Highlanders mates tomorrow night. But he hopes there will be more bubbles in his fizz than theirs. The former Highlanders under-20 captain returns to Forsyth Barr Stadium this weekend with the high-flying Crusaders for the Super Rugby southern derby. Everywhere the halfback looks, there will be a player — Cameron Millar, Fabian Holland, Oliver Haig and others — with whom he has gone into battle for either the Baby Landers or the New Zealand under-20 team. "I spent a good amount of time down in Dunedin and I've got a lot of friends on that team," Hotham told the Otago Daily Times. "But they're the enemy this week. "After the game, we'll share some laughs, but before that, it's war." Hotham, 21, is particularly relishing the match-up at No 9 with Highlanders sparkplug Folau Fakatava. "Folau is a good mate of mine, and I learnt a lot off him when I was down in Dunedin. "It's always good to play against him. He's a great fella and obviously a great player and an attacking threat. "I love going up against a halfback who is real competitive. It only makes me better and more hungry." It was not a lot of fun for Hotham a year ago when the Crusaders were beaten 32-29 in Dunedin thanks to a masterclass from Millar, who scored 27 points. Hotham captained the Highlanders under-20 team. That was part of a grim season for the Crusaders as the perennial champions plunged to ninth place. "It was probably quite foreign to lots of people here who are used to winning quite often," Hotham said. "But a lot of it just came down to small moments. "This year, we're just taking it one week at a time, because the competition's so tight that anyone can tip up anyone on their day. "Our focus is only on the Landers this week for what should be a good southern derby down in Dunedin." Cam Roigard and Cortez Ratima would appear to be the leading contenders to play halfback for the All Blacks this season. Hotham and Fakatava are in a wider group of talented No 9s, including Finlay Christie, Xavier Roe and possibly another Crusader in Kyle Preston, eager to impress coach Scott Robertson. Hotham earned his sole test cap last year when he made an early entrance off the bench against Fiji in San Diego. He became the third in his family to represent New Zealand, following older brother Legin in the Touch Blacks and sister Jazmin in the Black Ferns Sevens. "It was obviously something very special. "But I just need to keep my feet on the ground and keep other thoughts at the back of my mind. It's about the present and doing whatever I can to help the Crusaders." Hotham is loving life in Christchurch, where he has bought a house and recently re-signed with the Crusaders until 2027. "It's exciting times for me and I'm really grateful to be here and learning lots."
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
RFR Sells The Jaffa, Achieving Record Pricing in Israel
The Jaffa. Aby Rosen's Signature Luxury Hotel Sold for $1 Million Per Key NEW YORK, May 06, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RFR announced the sale of The Jaffa, the 120-room luxury hotel destination located in its namesake neighborhood of Tel Aviv, the Jaffa waterfront district. Located on a historic site that includes elements dating back 700 years, The Jaffa is a signature achievement that RFR's Aby Rosen envisioned and developed with a professional team including architect John Pawson and preservation architect Ramy Gill. The sale price was $123 million, approximately $1 million per key, representing a record price for a hotel in Israel. The Jaffa has been credited with contributing to the transformation of the Jaffa neighborhood into a sought-after tourist locale, and is recognized for offering unsurpassed luxury amenities. "The Jaffa has been a uniquely personal experience and accomplishment for me as the developer," Mr. Rosen said. "Through a lengthy, complex design and development process that brought together an outstanding professional team, we created a property that responds perfectly to its surroundings, respecting the long and fascinating history of Jaffa while providing visitors and residence owners with a unique luxury lifestyle experience." RFR, led by Mr. Rosen, acquired The Jaffa site in 2006 and collaborated with Pawson – the British legend known for minimalist design – and Gill – a prolific Israeli architect experienced in the preservation and adaption of ancient sites – to create a thoroughly modern hospitality destination. At The Jaffa, the minimalist concepts of Pawson served to blend the beauty of new classic architecture with the preserved historic elements existing on the site. The original building was completed in 1879 by the French businessman François Guinet as a hostel for religious pilgrims on route to Jerusalem, featuring Roman Renaissance aesthetics and imported French glass and iron work. Excavations by the Antiquities Authority in anticipation of a new hotel also revealed a remnant of the Jaffa city wall from the Crusader era, approximately 700 years ago. Now incorporated into The Jaffa, the section of the round wall with light stones appears to rise up into the warmth of the elegant lobby and snakes into the hotel's courtyard. Opposite the U-shaped 1879 Guinet building, the development team designed and constructed a new, elongated building that complements the historic structure. The two buildings collectively encompass 120 rooms and 33 private residences. Within The Jaffa are several dining and nightlife destinations, including Giardino, Golda's Deli, The Pool bar, and The Chapel bar, lounge, and event space. The spa features six treatment rooms and dry and wet saunas.
Business Wire
06-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
RFR Sells The Jaffa, Achieving Record Pricing in Israel
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RFR announced the sale of The Jaffa, the 120-room luxury hotel destination located in its namesake neighborhood of Tel Aviv, the Jaffa waterfront district. Located on a historic site that includes elements dating back 700 years, The Jaffa is a signature achievement that RFR's Aby Rosen envisioned and developed with a professional team including architect John Pawson and preservation architect Ramy Gill. The sale price was $123 million, approximately $1 million per key, representing a record price for a hotel in Israel. The Jaffa has been credited with contributing to the transformation of the Jaffa neighborhood into a sought-after tourist locale, and is recognized for offering unsurpassed luxury amenities. 'The Jaffa has been a uniquely personal experience and accomplishment for me as the developer,' Mr. Rosen said. 'Through a lengthy, complex design and development process that brought together an outstanding professional team, we created a property that responds perfectly to its surroundings, respecting the long and fascinating history of Jaffa while providing visitors and residence owners with a unique luxury lifestyle experience.' RFR, led by Mr. Rosen, acquired The Jaffa site in 2006 and collaborated with Pawson – the British legend known for minimalist design – and Gill – a prolific Israeli architect experienced in the preservation and adaption of ancient sites – to create a thoroughly modern hospitality destination. At The Jaffa, the minimalist concepts of Pawson served to blend the beauty of new classic architecture with the preserved historic elements existing on the site. The original building was completed in 1879 by the French businessman François Guinet as a hostel for religious pilgrims on route to Jerusalem, featuring Roman Renaissance aesthetics and imported French glass and iron work. Excavations by the Antiquities Authority in anticipation of a new hotel also revealed a remnant of the Jaffa city wall from the Crusader era, approximately 700 years ago. Now incorporated into The Jaffa, the section of the round wall with light stones appears to rise up into the warmth of the elegant lobby and snakes into the hotel's courtyard. Opposite the U-shaped 1879 Guinet building, the development team designed and constructed a new, elongated building that complements the historic structure. The two buildings collectively encompass 120 rooms and 33 private residences. Within The Jaffa are several dining and nightlife destinations, including Giardino, Golda's Deli, The Pool bar, and The Chapel bar, lounge, and event space. The spa features six treatment rooms and dry and wet saunas. About RFR RFR is a fully integrated real estate investment firm based in New York City with a core focus on select urban markets in the United States and Germany. Founded by Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs in the early 1990's, the firm has been an active force in the New York City and German real estate market for much of the past three decades. RFR's portfolio has grown to include more than 100 commercial, residential, hotel, and retail properties located in select domestic and international markets.
Daily Mail
29-04-2025
- Daily Mail
Revealed: Crossbow attacker's chilling 'manifesto' as he plotted Christchurch inspired 'massacre' of 'students and nightclub goers' in Leeds and showed off arsenal of weapons online
The Leeds crossbow attacker shared a chilling online 'manifesto' before his rampage and showed off an arsenal of weapons online. Owen Lawrence, 38, was named today by police, who revealed he had died from a 'self-inflicted injury' after the terrifying incident on Saturday afternoon in Headingley. He is believed to have planned a Christchurch inspired 'massacre' of students and clubbers along the route of The Otley Run, a popular pub crawl. Two women aged 19 and 31 were injured. One has already been discharged while the other underwent surgery and was described yesterday as being in a stable condition. Counter-terror police described Lawrence as the main suspect and said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. In images posted online, Lawrence appeared wearing a top with a Crusader cross on it - an influence on far-right killer Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in a gun and bomb attack in Norway. He also had a t-shirt with the words 'natural selection' which is a theory used to support far-right concepts of supposed white supremacy and male dominance. Another post referred to a 19-minute YouTube documentary by a user called Dire Trip who advertised films about 'weird, creepy, strange, or spooky things' and had also featured Nicholas Prosper who killed his mother, brother and sister in Luton in September last year, ahead of a planned attack on his former primary school. The deranged killer's hate-filled manifesto The video that Lawrence commented on was about school Hugo Jackson and a 16-year-old he had met online playing a game called Roblox, both of whom had launched knife attacks at schools in Sweden in 2021 and 2022. Both were influenced by Brenton Tarrant who killed 51 people in a gun attack on two mosques in Christchurch New Zealand in 2019, which he streamed on Facebook Live. Tarrant also published a 'manifesto' in which he claimed there was a conspiracy to create a 'white genocide'. Lawrence listed 'reactionary, with some 'small l' libertarian sympathies' under his 'political views' in a Facebook post, before the attack. Reactionary politics is a far-right theory that seeks to roll back social advancements. 'I have also explored far-right ideas, by reading through Brenton Tarrent's [sic] 74 page manifesto titled The Great Replacement,' he added. Lawrence declared his intention to launch the 'Otley Run Massacre' and said his targets were 'students, night club goers, pub crawler's [sic], Otley Run participants, society, humanity, human race.' He also mentioned 'neurotypicals' - which is a term of abuse used by extremists who are proud to be 'neurodivergent', especially if they have autism spectrum disorder which can make extremists socially isolated and particularly obsessive. He added as a target, 'police, if I need to.' His 'attack type' was listed as 'spree killing, mass murder, terrorism, revenge,' and 'misogynyic rage' [sic], along with 'homicide/suicide.' Lawrence stated the location for his attack was to be 'Otley Road, Leeds England, Headingley, [sic] LS6' and he gave his name as 'Owen 'Oz' Lawrence' adding: 'ethnicity/nationality: white British; religious views: agnostic.' The weapons he listed were a crossbow and a break barrel air gun, along with a Sig Sauer Rattler CO2 Gun and a Powerline Daiay 415 steel 'BB' ball bearing gun, and a 'blank firer' with modified ammunition. He was going to wear combat gloves and take with him an 'unbreakable baseball bat' called the Brooklyn Basher and two homemade 'shanks' [knives]. Facebook 's parent company Meta said on Sunday that it had removed an account apparently associated with Lawrence. Two weapons were recovered from the scene - a crossbow and a firearm, police said. Officers were on Sunday guarding a modern block of flats less than a five-minute walk away where the suspect is understood to live. A neighbour who knows the man said: 'The police have been there all night. Those poor girls are never going to be the same.' Damage was visible to cafe windows as locals spoke of their horror at the carnage. Residents and traders said that they believed many of the students did not realise what was happening because they were having such a good time. Cries of 'What's happened?' were heard as students piled into local cafes at the end of the Otley Run route when they came under fire on Saturday. One of the cafes, The Gelateria, had its front door shattered, while police vehicles were parked outside, although it was unclear if the damage was connected to the incident. Just minutes before it happened, the road was packed with students in fancy dress - some as the Pope - queuing to get into packed-out pubs. Gregory Dritschel, 25, said yesterday: 'I have done the Otley Run myself but not for a year or two. 'But when I saw the police my first thought was it something to do with the Otley Run. It is a crowded run and an obvious target. 'There were quite a few people dressed as the Pope.' Residents said the first thing they knew something was wrong was when they spotted revellers fleeing inside pubs along the route. 'There were quite a lot of people we saw piling into there,' one eye witness said. Another horrified local said: 'It could have been a lot worse. I am glad they caught a suspect. The Run has been going on for years and it is so big now. It is just shocking.' Robert Crapsey, originally from Ohio, has lived in Leeds in 17 years. 'My daughter and I were coming up Otley Road as they started blocking everything off,' he said. 'There was a lot of police stopping the traffic. Some of the pub runners stopped but the rest carried on. 'I don't think they knew anything had happened. I just thought someone had been hit by a car.' Mr Crapsey said some of the revellers may have initially mistaken the attacker for a student in fancy dress. 'You see swords and scythes. People may have seen him and just thought he had a really bad costume.' Local resident April Place agreed, saying: 'They all dress up with axes and things so no one would have taken any notice.' Visiting the scene, local councillor Julie Hesselwood said: 'We just want to say thank you to the police and ambulance service really quickly.' Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: 'Officers will continue to conduct enquiries and we ask that if anyone has information that may assist, to pass this to police. 'We understand there are concerns around the incident, and questions about how and why this has happened. Our teams are committed to carrying out an in-depth investigation to provide answers to those affected. 'We continue to work closely with West Yorkshire Police to support the local community and thank residents for their support and understanding over the weekend.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Yahoo
Damaged mummified bodies prevent Dublin crypt from opening
An Anglican church in Dublin has been unable to reopen an historic crypt to the public since the remains of mummified bodies were damaged in an arson attack. One of the damaged mummified bodies in St Michan's Church of Ireland is that of a man, known as the Crusader, who died about 800 hundred years ago. A 39-year-old man, Cristian Topiter, who had an address at Grand Canal House, Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin 6, was jailed for six years last month. He had pleaded guilty to the 2024 arson attack which the church described as "an act of desecration and sacrilege". More than nine months after the attack last June, the crypt remains out of bounds to visitors and tourists. The main entrance gates to the grounds of St Michan's Church are closed and locked. Inside the grounds, a heavy steel lid and a steel gate leading the crypt are also locked. The church facilitated a visit to the site by BBC News NI. "As a parish, as the vicar of the parish and as parishioners, we're custodians of the whole church," said Archdeacon David Pierpoint. "Not just above the church, but what's below the church, and it's a rather heavy burden to bear." Speaking about the damage to the estimated 800-year-old remains of the Crusader. He explained: "All his body has been charred, spine, his hands, one of his legs is completely missing, and there's a huge amount of damage done to him." The vicar of St Michan's said the damage caused to the remains of the Crusader and the remains of another man, who is believed to have been buried alive about 400 years ago, is "irreparable". The closure of the church for most of the past year has caused a significant drop in parish income because the church has had no option but to stop tour groups from visiting until the remains have been removed. Thousands of people usually visit the church each year. Archdeacon Pierpoint is hopeful the groups can return soon once permission is granted by the diocesan authorities and Dublin City Council for reinternment. The vicar of St Michan's says it's important to reopen the crypts as soon as possible to ensure the church has sufficient funds to maintain the centuries old church. But, he said, it's also important to allow visitors from home and abroad "to see the phenomenon of what this actually is". Most of the present St Michan's building dates from the 17th Century, except for the 12th Century tower. The arson attack last summer was one of several incidents in recent years during which the church and crypt were targeted. In 2019, vandals broke in and decapitated the Crusader. The skull was later recovered and reattached with the help of the nearby National Museum of Ireland, according to Archdeacon Pierpoint. The crypt was also damaged during another break in, also in 2019, and the church said at the time that several mummified remains - including the 400-year-old remains of a nun - were desecrated. The Church of Ireland crypts are also the resting place of Barristers Henry and John Sheares, two brothers who were leaders of the United Irishmen during the 1798 Rebellion. The site includes a copy of their execution order issued by the English authorities in Ireland at the time. All the mummified remains in the various crypts, apart from the Crusader are of people who died between 400 and 450 years ago, according to the Church. Despite the current restricted access to the church grounds, St Michan's remains open for worship every Sunday. The first church on the site is believed to have been established in 1095, but the current church dates back to the 1680s with further renovations taking place between 1723 and 1725, in 1767 and in 1825. It was restored in 1998. The remains of many of Dublin's most influential 17th, 18th and 19th Century families are also entombed in St Michan's. The limestone walls of the crypts and atmosphere within them is believed to have helped preserve the remains. The church's organ is housed within the case of an organ case constructed by John Baptiste Cuvillie around 1725. Mummified remains destroyed in Dublin crypt fire Police find stolen 800-year-old skull
