Latest news with #JeremyPiper
Perth Now
6 hours ago
- Perth Now
Man takes Woolies truck on wild chase: cops
Police have tasered and arrested a young man following a wild and dangerous pursuit through western Sydney. The chaos kicked off about 6am at Bankstown, NSW Police allege, when a 29-year-old man allegedly assaulted a 23-year-old Woolworths truck driver with a stun device on Olympic Parade. The man then stole the Woolies truck and drove off, police allege. Police then say they spotted the truck about 9am travelling along the Princes Highway at Rockdale. 'When the driver allegedly failed to stop when directed, a pursuit was initiated,' police said. The theft of the Woolworths truck happened about 6am in Bankstown, police allege. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia 'The pursuit continued at Wolli Creek, where the truck allegedly hit four parked cars but did not stop.' The chase was paused out of safety concerns, with the man seen continuing onto the M8. A police chopper tracked the truck as it travelled westbound onto the M4. 'The truck continued to travel on the M4 for some time before police successfully deployed road spikes at the Great Western Highway at Glenbrook,' police said. The cracked windscreen of the truck. Ppolice allege the man crashed into four parked cars during the pursuit. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia 'The truck came to a stop a short time later at Blaxland and the driver was arrested following the deployment of a Taser, with the assistance of the dog unit and the public order and riot squad.' Police took the man to Springwood Police Station and later to Nepean Hospital, where he was checked for minor injuries sustained during the arrest. Paramedics took the grocery truck driver to Bankstown Hospital for treatment. Inquiries into the incident were ongoing, police said.
Perth Now
a day ago
- Business
- Perth Now
ASX hits near-record as miners offset banks
A slump in the big four banks offset strong gains in the mining sector as the Australian market was unable to follow strong gains out of Wall Street. The ASX 200 index gained 9 points or 0.10 per cent to 8,677.20 at the end of Tuesday's trading, for its second highest close of all time, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 15.30 points or 0.17 per cent to 8,941.50. Australia's dollar slipped 0.17 per cent and is now buying 65.14 US cents. It was a mixed day for the ASX 200. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia On a mixed day of trading, six sectors finished in the green while a further five fell. Materials and Healthcare led the way up 2.37 and 2.08 per cent respectively. BHP gained 2.60 per cent to $41.51, Rio Tinto soared 3.37 per cent to $118.32 and Fortescue jumped 3.25 per cent to $17.81 on higher iron ore prices. Commonwealth Bank mining and energy commodities director Vivek Dhar said the iron ore price was back to its highest point since April 2 on the back of the latest move out of China. 'Over the weekend, the launch of the RMB 1.2 trillion hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsanpo river in Tibet also boosted demand expectations,' he wrote in an economic note. 'However, given policymakers are yet to announce any substantial property stimulus package, and China's economy has proven resilient so far this year, demand alone is unlikely to be the reason that iron ore prices have tracked back above $US100/t.' Offsetting the strong gains in the mining sector was another poor day for the big four banks. CBA slumped a further 3.06 per cent to $172.42, NAB dragged 2.69 per cent to $37.22, Westpac fell 1.27 per cent to $32.65 and ANZ slipped 0.77 per cent to $29.82. The substantial selling in the big banks this week has led to the ASX200 Financial sector falling 5.3 per cent below the record high of 9,676 reached in late June putting it on track for its lowest daily close in seven weeks. Six of the 11 sectors gained while 5 fell. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia The fall on the local market comes despite shares in the US reaching another record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 18.66 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 44,323.53, while the broader S & P 500 gained 8.89 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 6,305.68 and the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 78.52 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 20,974.18. This was another record high for both the S & P 500 and Nasdaq. senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda said Wall Street kicked off the week at a record high despite heightened trade tensions and looming tech earnings. 'Investors all but shrugged off reports that the European Union is preparing a suite of retaliatory tariffs on the United States should negotiations break down and tariffs get lifted to the levels that the US has threatened the EU with,' he wrote in an economic note. In company news, Insignia Financial has entered into a scheme implementation deed which will see CC Capital acquire all the businesses shares. Insignia shares will be sold at $4.80 per share, offering a 56.9 per cent premium on its $3.06 price on December 11 2024 when the process of taking over the business began. Bedmakers Technology group told the market it achieved record profitability and positive cash flow. In its latest statement, the company said revenue increased $22.6m and gross margins expanded by 71.5 per cent for an adjusted EBITDA of $3.2m.
Perth Now
7 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Popular shopping giant makes huge change to loyalty scheme
Many loyal shoppers at Myer will be outraged at a huge change that will limit the amount of points Aussies are able to claim on their loyalty cards. The shopping giant has just announced that their longstanding Myer one program has scrapped the ability for customers to have multiple people sharing one loyalty card. 'Myer one will move to single member accounts. This means Myer one will no longer have Additional Cardholders, and existing Additional Cardholder details will be deleted from the Primary Cardholder account,' a statement on their website reads. Shoppers are also being warned that they may have to set up a new account if they are currently sharing a loyalty card. Olivia Wirth, CEO of Myer. Credit: Supplied/Jeremy Piper / Jeremy Piper The change will likely affect family shoppers the hardest, who will no longer be able to rack up shared points. Currently, shoppers who are signed up to the Myer one loyalty program get 2 credits for every $1 spent at Myer (in-store or online) and every 1,000 credits become a $10 reward voucher sent quarterly via app or email. The change comes after Myer executive chairman Olivia Wirth declared it was 'day zero' in her monumental task to integrate the portfolio of apparel brands she has bought from billionaire Solomon Lew in 2024. 'We are very much looking forward to focusing on the running of the business and working out how we can integrate,' Ms Wirth told The Australian in January 2025. Additional cardholders will be deleted from joint accounts on August 5 2025.
Perth Now
05-07-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
‘Historic' update on Sydney rail strike
Rail unions have voted to accept the NSW government's pay offer, ending the bitter dispute and giving Sydneysiders a break following months-long widespread chaos on the train network. On Saturday at 4pm, 11,735 union members participated in the vote, with 92 per cent voting in favour of the government's proposed 12 per cent pay rise over the next three years. The unions initially sought a 32 per cent pay rise over three years and a 35-hour working week, which was met by a proposed 9.5 per cent rise over the same time frame. The Electrical Trade Unions (ETU) was the only union to not back the proposed Enterprise Agreement, with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) endorsing the proposed pay increase. Rail unions have voted to accept the NSW government's pay offer. NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia The agreements signals an end to the industrial action that triggered pandemonium for Sydney commuters for several months, with hundreds of services cancelled or delayed since September, leaving them stranded or crammed inside crowded carriages for hours on end. The Fair Work Commission ordered the unions halt their industrial action in February, with the order lifted from July 1. NSW Minister for Transport said the agreement would offer a sigh of relief to commuters. 'We want to acknowledge the period of protected industrial action was drawn-out and took its toll on rail passengers,' he said. 'Resolution of the matter will now allow Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink to focus solely on improving reliability and services for those more than a million passengers who use the network each day. 'We will continue to invest record amounts into improved maintenance and work to our plan to lift reliability.' The bitter dispute between the unions and NSW government is coming to an end NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia Despite not reaching the initially proposed figure, the RTBU said the agreement was 'historic' and an 'epic effort' from the 'bargaining team: 'This result is a powerful demonstration of the strength, unity, and determination of RTBU members in the face of a very difficult and, at times, exhausting campaign, you stood together, and it made all the difference,' the statement read. 'Congratulations to every member who participated in actions, attended meetings, had conversations with their colleagues, stood strong, and demanded better. 'We will now move to the next steps of formal approval,' the union added.
Perth Now
05-07-2025
- Health
- Perth Now
‘100%': Shock truth about rare bat disease
A northern NSW man has died after being bitten by a bat, in the first confirmed case of Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) in NSW. The man, in his 50s, was bitten by a bat several months ago and had been in a critical condition in hospital, but on Thursday NSW Health confirmed he had died. 'We express our sincere condolences to the man's family and friends for their tragic loss,' NSW Health said in a statement. The case marks the fourth ever documented of ABLV, all have been fatal. What is Lyssavirus? 'ABLV is a virus that circulates naturally in Australian bats that is very closely related to rabies,' said veterinarian and wildlife disease expert Dr Alison Peel. 'To infect a human, the virus needs to pass from the bat's saliva into a wound in the skin. For example, that can happen if an infected bat scratches or bites you, or if their saliva comes into contact with an existing break in your skin. 'You cannot contract the virus just by being near flying foxes.' Once infected the victim will experience a latency period where they are asymptomatic and appear healthy, this period may stretch from weeks to possibly years until symptoms begin to appear. ABLV is present in flying fox populations as well as in microbat populations. Photo Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia 'Once symptomatic, ABLV infection has a 100 per cent fatality rate with no effective treatment available,' said molecular virologist professor Vinod Balasubramaniam. '(ABLV) infects peripheral nerves and progresses rapidly to the central nervous system, causing fatal acute encephalomyelitis (inflammation of the brain and spinal cord).' ABLV was first identified by the CSIRO in 1996, after a black flying fox exhibiting neurological symptoms was discovered near Ballina in northern New South Wales. Later that same year, a woman in Queensland who had recently begun working as a bat handler developed numbness and weakness in her arm, before falling into a coma and passing away. Two more fatalities occurred in 1998 and 2013, when a woman and an eight-year-old child died after being bitten or scratched by bats. Although the virus is found in Australian bats it exists in an extremely low percentage of the population. A transmission electron micrograph showing colorised bullet shaped Australian Bat lyssavirus particles. Supplied Credit: Supplied Exact numbers are difficult to determine due to its scarcity however Trish Paterson, who ran the Australian Bat Clinic and Wildlife Trauma Centre in Queensland, told the ABC less than 0.1 per cent of the Australian bat population was infected with the virus. 'The virus is present in the saliva of some Australian bats, but at very low prevalence,' said Dr Peel. 'The proportion of bats infected by the virus is normally very low – studies have looked for the virus in thousands of healthy bats and failed to find it. 'Like humans and other animals, infected bats may become sick and die, however, some bats may appear unaffected. So, you can't always tell just by looking at a bat whether it's infected or not.' What can you do to protect yourself? Experts stressed the best defence against ABLV was avoiding bats and particularly avoiding provoking them. 'This recent NSW case, the first in the state, highlights significant lessons for public health: individuals must avoid direct contact with bats,' said professor Balasubramaniam. 'Unvaccinated people should avoid handling bats in the wild, and if they encounter an injured bat they should contact their local wildlife rescue group, rather than trying to handle the animal themselves,' said director of equine infectious diseases at Melbourne University professor James Gilkerson. Experts are warning the public not to interact with bats. Dean Martin Credit: News Corp Australia 'Veterinarians and wildlife carers are two groups at higher risk, and it is recommended that those people are vaccinated against rabies to protect them against ABLV infection.' Professor Balasubramaniam advised those bitten or scratched to 'seek immediate medical intervention, including thorough wound cleaning and prompt administration of rabies immunoglobulin and vaccines following any potential exposure'. 'Public health authorities must adopt a robust approach such as intensifying targeted education for high-risk groups like veterinarians and wildlife handlers, enhancing surveillance of bat populations, and investing in research for advanced vaccines and antiviral therapies. 'The (recent) incident highlights the critical need to respect ecological boundaries, promote community awareness, and ensure swift, evidence-based medical and public health responses.' Professor Balasubramaniam also noted that all four Australian cases have been fatal despite receiving standard rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
