Latest news with #June2025
SBS Australia
11 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Pets no longer ‘property' in domestic abuse cases as family law changes come into effect
Family law reforms now acknowledge the importance of pets during cases of domestic abuse. Pets are now recognised as 'companion animals' not 'property'. Some victim-survivors say their abusers 'weaponised' pets making it harder to leave. This article contains references to domestic violence and animal abuse. From 10 June 2025, major amendments to Australia's family law came into effect. Under the Family Law Amendment Act 2024 , the legal definition of family violence now includes "invisible" abuse such as economic control — where a partner restricts finances, coerces debt or deliberately worsens someone's financial situation. Courts are now also required to consider a broader range of factors when deciding who keeps pets after separation. The reform effectively means pets are no longer treated as property, but as "companion animals". Judges must assess whether there has been violence between partners, mistreatment of the animal, and the emotional bond between the pet and adults or children in the household. These reforms aim to make it easier for victim-survivors to leave violent relationships without being forced to give up their animals. Why pets matter in domestic violence cases Monique Dam, CEO of Lucy's Project — which supports victim-survivors and their animals — called the legal change a "significant shift". "It reflects the understanding that people can have very close and significant relationships with their companion animals and that we do need to consider the safety of the people and the animals they love as well," she said. Suzanne Painter, CEO of family violence support service Safe Steps, said pets were often a barrier to leaving violent homes. '(Pets) can be 'weaponised' by a person using violence. People who call us for help have told us about cases where their intimate partner or family member has made threats to harm their animals," Painter said. "People may also not want to leave a violent situation for fear of what might happen to their pets if left behind." Animal abuse often linked to family violence The RSPCA says animal cruelty is significantly more likely in homes where domestic violence is present — and it can sometimes be a warning sign for more serious harm. In July alone, Second Chance Animal Rescue received more than 28 requests for help from people fleeing violence. CEO Marisa Debattista said: "I myself have taken at least eight calls today." "We generally offer an emergency, two-week stay for a pet so that owners can get out of an immediate crisis and have some breathing space. We can then talk about the next options available to them." For many, animals are not just pets — they are family, confidants and a reason to keep going. One woman, interviewed as part of a national study , recalled leaving her abusive partner only to return days later out of fear for her pet's safety. I left once without my pet, but I had to go back because I worried so much about her and missed her. Then I found a way to take my pet with me and I left for good. Animal Welfare Institute report 2014 Some survivors describe their animal as their only remaining bond — the one constant through ongoing abuse. "We found a way to (take our pet with us) and now we are healing together," one mother said, according to the Animal Welfare Institute report 2014. Domestic violence rates continue to rise Domestic violence affects people from all walks of life, regardless of age, background, location, income or social status. Since June 2024, 66 lives have been lost to domestic violence across Australia and in 2025 alone, that number includes 13 women and nine children, according to Safe Steps . Experts say reports of abuse have continued to rise year-on-year, a trend they attribute to better awareness and improved access to reporting. A Victorian government spokesperson told SBS: "When women are still dying at the hands of men, we must do more — that's why we are changing laws, changing culture and delivering additional support for victim-survivors of family violence … so (they) can access the support they need and perpetrators are held to account." Stigma and social attitudes make it difficult for many victim-survivors to seek help, so organisations like Lucy's Project are working to shift the conversation by drawing attention to the often-overlooked link between domestic violence and animal welfare. "We share research to inform evidence-based solutions, and we deliver education to workers as well. And essentially, one of our main goals is to build a deeper understanding across sectors that the safety and well-being of people and animals is interconnected," Dam said. Lucy's Project contributed to the draft bill to amend the Family Law Act and gave evidence at the Senate hearing. In the past year, Lucy's Project has trained nearly 700 professionals across domestic violence, homelessness, animal welfare and veterinary services. If you or someone you know is impacted by family and domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732, or visit . In an emergency, call 000.
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Police seek witnesses in fatal Sudbury crash
Police have reopened Lasalle Boulevard following a fatal collision on June 17, 2025, on the roadway's extension at the corner of Frood Road and Elm Street.
CTV News
5 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
CTV National News: What is fueling job creation in Canada amid economic uncertainty?
Watch Job creation in Canada was up in June, the first substantial bump the country has seen since the start of 2025. Kamil Karamali looks into the numbers.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike Officially Over as Members Ratify Agreement
SAG-AFTRA is putting its video game strike in the rearview mirror. Members of the performers' union have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a labor agreement with major interactive companies that was reached in early June. More than 95 percent of voting members supported the deal in a vote, while less than five percent voiced their opposition, SAG-AFTRA announced on Wednesday. More from The Hollywood Reporter RPG 'Kingdom Come: Deliverance II' and Its Cinematic Cut Take the Karlovy Vary Spotlight CD Projekt Red Reveals 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2' at Anime Expo The First James Bond of the Amazon Era Is Young, Reckless, and a Playable Character The news officially puts an end to the union's video game strike, which stretched on from July 2024 to June 2025, when negotiators reached a tentative deal and SAG-AFTRA subsequently suspended its work stoppage. Overall, the agreement — whose predecessor originally expired in November 2022 — took an unusually long time, three years, to hammer out. But spanning 11 months, the union's strike wasn't anything to sniff at, either. The union's national executive director, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, nodded to the lengthy action in a statement. 'All of us at SAG-AFTRA would like to extend our deepest appreciation to the video game performers and allies who endured a great deal of sacrifice throughout the 11-month strike,' he said. 'Now that the agreement is ratified, video game performers will be able to enjoy meaningful gains and important A.I. protections, which we will continue to build on as uses of this technology settle and evolve.' During the strike, performance capture and voice actors ceased working for major companies like Activision Productions, Electronic Arts Productions and Insomniac Games. Disney Character Voices, Formosa Interactive, WB Games, Take 2 Productions, Blindlight and Llama Production were also subject to the labor action. The union framed the step as a necessary bulwark against their performers being exploited and undercut by AI. The sides had reached an agreement on 24 out of 25 proposals when SAG-AFTRA decided to walk away from the table in July 2024, a representative for the employers said at the time, with AI providing the breaking point. In a statement on Wednesday, the same representative for the video game firms extolled the agreement's changes to wages and language on A.I. and health and safety. 'We look forward to building on our industry's decades-long partnership with the union and continuing to create groundbreaking entertainment experiences for billions of players worldwide,' spokesperson Audrey Cooling said. More to come. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Forbes
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘M3GAN 2.0' Star On Reuniting With Killer AI-Powered Doll
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 24: Jen Van Epps attends the "M3GAN 2.0" New York City Premiere at AMC ... More Lincoln Square 13 on June 24, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by) After the killer AI robotic doll tried to permanently delete her character, Tess, in M3GAN, in 2022, Jen Van Epps has decided to give the self-aware being another chance in M3GAN 2.0. Joking that her character should be called 'Teflon Tess' ahead of our recent Zoom conversation for eluding a grisly fate in the first M3GAN movie, Van Epps, along with fellow cast members Allison Williams (Gemma), Katie McGraw (Cady) and Brian Jordan Alvarez (Cole) are all back for M3GAN 2.0, which opened in theaters on June 27. Also back are Amie Donald and Jenna Davis, who embody and voice M3GAN, as is director Gerard Johnstone, who helmed the 2022 movie. In M3GAN 2.0, Gemma, along with her fellow roboticists Tess and Cole are tasked with doing the unthinkable — rebuilding M3GAN — after they discover a government defense contractor stole the plans to their AI creation and upgraded it to the military-grade robot/weapon named AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno). As AMELIA becomes self-aware and goes on a murderous rampage, Gemma, Tess and Cole have no choice but to reconstruct a new and improved version of M3GAN to defeat the doll's rapidly evolving counterpart before it becomes a threat to all of humanity. Like the AI characters in the film, Van Epps said the story of M3GAN 2.0 was something that evolved over time. Allison Williams and Jen Van Epps in "M3GAN 2 0." After all, the smashing success of the first M3GAN movie led to a quick green light for the sequel, but with a new chapter came a bit of uncertainty for Van Epps. Williams for sure would be back, as would Donald and Davis. But in an effort to make the plot decidedly different from the first film, the possibility existed that the story would move away from such vital supporting characters as Tess and Cole. Luckily for Van Epps and Alvarez, their presence in the story of M3GAN was too big to be denied and her character grew with each draft of the M3GAN 2.0 script. 'By the last draft, I was like, 'Yes! Yes! She's here!' Tess had growth and that's the best you can ask for,' Van Epps enthused. '[Gemma, Tess, Cole and Cady] are trauma-bonded together and rightfully so. 'With any person in real life, if you face death — and I can only assume because I've never been there — you have two trajectories: You can either fall off a cliff or you look at your life and say, 'What can I do now?' — and Tess had that attitude,' Van Epps added. "I'm so grateful that Tess was given more hutzpah.' Besides, building M3GAN was and again a three-pronged effort and Johnstone, along with his co-writers Akela Cooper and James Wan, wanted Cole and Tess to make that point to Gemma after she became the public face of their company's efforts. Allison Williams in "M3GAN 2 0." 'It's a team effort that includes Tess and Cole. I mean, he's a bit of the bumbling ding-dong brother that we love, but they are both geniuses and their own right and she's a roboticist, too,' Van Epps said. On top of that, you have to hand it to Tess for utilizing her sartorial sensibilities to give M3GAN her stylish clothes. 'Tess is in charge of the style of M3GAN,' Van Epps said with a smile. 'Gemma in the first movie is wearing flannels and sweatshirts, but Tess is like fun and kooky, a little bit out there and has a sense of style, so I'm taking ownership of that!' Jen Van Epps Says 'M3GAN' Inadvertently Became A Sign Of The Times In 2022 While the point of M3GAN and M3GAN 2.0 is first and foremost to entertain, there's no denying watching AI grow rapidly as it has since the first film in 2022 can be quite disconcerting to not only movie audiences but for the people who make them, Jen Van Epps included. 'It's wild. In the first M3GAN we hit on a moment when AI was starting to creep into our everyday lives,' Van Epps observed. 'I'm sure the tech companies already had it running around in our day-to-day lives but we just weren't aware of it yet. Now, it's ever-present. I love my dad, but the guy is planning trips on ChatGPT, you know? Everything that is possible is being done through AI.' On the contrary, Van Epps said she's never used ChatGPT and has no interest in learning about it anytime soon. 'We don't even have an Alexa in our house,' Van Epps said. "My husband is insanely private. No social media, even. But AI? It's scary.' Luckily for the actor, she can see the perils of AI through the prism of a movie script that is turned into a frightening — although oftentimes funny action-filled —vcautionary tale that is playing on the big screen called M3GAN 2.0. In fact, the level of humor is one of the things that Van Epps enjoyed the most about M3GAN 2.0, as well as Gerard Johnstone grounding the story in situations that while they might not exist now, could certainly become reality in the near future. Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps in "M3GAN 2 0." 'Gerard wanted to walk a razor-thin line from being really funny — slightly camp, as he calls it, 'Scooby-Doo Land' — but he was also very clear that he needed grounded performances so the film couldn't turn into sort of cartoon,' I mean, yes, it's about a robot doll, but again, but again he found a way to make that work and it was about grounding our performances in reality.' Of course, there were serious situations on film where Van Epps couldn't help but laugh, including the outrageously funny scene where Gemma and Tess streamed M3GAN's AI consciousness into something that could best be described as a turquoise-hued plastic encased member of the iconic TV characters the Teletubbies. It's a precautionary measure Gemma and Tess take as they need to trust M3GAN before reforming the robot into its former self. The idea certainly doesn't sit well with M3GAN, who certainly isn't impressed after getting its first look after being trapped in a computer for three years. In fact, the first words the robot utters after getting its new look is, 'What the f--- is this?' (In the trailer, the dialogue' is changed from the F-word to 'hell'). "Every iteration of Megan is hilarious, but to hear the voice out of this Teletubby-adjacent doll toy is insane,' Van Epps said, laughing. 'The funny thing it's actually a real toy called Moxie that comes from a company in California, and they would program voices in it and lines for us." However, Van Epps added, there was a slight problem with getting the GPT-powered toy to say the F-word that M3GAN uses in the film. That happened, of course, through an audio dub, but the rest of the dialogue coming out of the character was real, Van Epps said. A Moxie doll was used in "M3GAN 2.0." 'It was so funny, we could give it lines to say, but the company said, 'We cannot program cursing into our child's toy,'' Van Epps recalled, laughing. 'Still, it was fun that they let us sneak the word into the movie [with the audio dub]. I think Moxie actually says 'funk.'' Rated PG-13 — a rating that generally allows two of those funky words, so long as they don't have dirty connotations — M3GAN 2.0 is playing in theaters nationwide.
