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West Australian
19-05-2025
- General
- West Australian
Marine Rescue Port Walcott unsung heroes share story ahead of National Volunteer Week
When an alert comes in at Marine Rescue Port Walcott there's no warning, no warm-up, just a sudden rush to the boat and often, a journey straight into the unknown. For commander Tom Knight, one particular rescue mission sticks out to him since joining in 2017. 'We had just got back from search rescue training last year and then a couple days later, we had a call-out to a vessel that had capsized behind Delambre Island, with four people on board,' he said. 'We had very minimal information, because the alert was sent out through a message on an Apple watch, the skipper didn't actually have his phone on him. 'The seas were rough because of a cyclone and it was a couple hundred kilometres off the coast. 'Within 10 minutes of being on-scene, we came across the vessel with four people sitting on top of the upturned boat. 'We got them on board and one passenger was treated for a suspected concussion and the three others were then taken by a nearby friend's boat back to Dampier.' At just 24, Mr Knight is the youngest person in Western Australia to be appointed commander of a volunteer marine rescue service. Since joining, he has risen through the ranks and earned the WAFES youth achievement award in 2020. By 21, he was already a certified skipper and has led multiple search and rescue missions. Most recently, he was deployed to help remote Pilbara communities recover from tropical cyclone Zelia. 'I recently joined up with the Roebourne District SES after the Tom Price storms late last year, we were helping to clean up and assist communities and stations in the Pilbara that needed help,' he said. Marine Rescue Port Walcott training co-ordinator Rebecca Thomas started volunteering with the service a year ago, delivering first-aid instruction to marine and bushfire volunteers, and is also training to become a skipper. 'A highlight for me are the training exercises out at the islands that I organise, we get volunteer groups from around the Pilbara joining in too,' she said. 'We have mock injuries that we have to address and train for different scenarios. 'My favourite part of volunteering here is the camaraderie and being part of something that gives back to the community.' Ahead of National Volunteer Week from May 19-25, Mr Knight highlighted the importance of volunteering in the community. 'We're a small town, a lot of people work for the same company . . . a lot of people have boats and without volunteers like us, people wouldn't be saved,' he said. 'You might not think you'll ever need it, but I've been rescued myself after my boat had taken in water. 'If you are thinking about volunteering, get in and sign up.' For those hesitant about their capabilities, Ms Thomas said there was a role for everyone. 'We're always on the lookout for volunteers; you don't even have to be a rescue member, you can be a land-based member, helping out in the background — there is always something to do,' she said.
The Guardian
18-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Travels in the Pilbara, the land of ‘Aunty Gina'
Standing looking at the ramshackle old buildings and stockyards on the vast and isolated Mulga Downs station where Gina Rinehart grew up felt a little surreal as the same day she was on the other side of the world in the US celebrating Donald Trump's inauguration Living on the east coast, mining isn't something you notice in your neighbourhood. In the Pilbara evidence of mining is in your face everywhere. From the side of the highway to Marble Bar you can see dust rising from the massive dump trucks working at the Roy Hill iron ore mine, and the incongruous pink-painted infrastructure that's a feature of the mine The sun rises over the hills behind Tom Price, the town that supports Rio Tinto's Mount Tom Price mine. This is the mine Lang Hancock's estate has been getting royalties from since 1962. In an incredible deal Rio still gives 2.5% from every dollar it earns exporting iron ore from the mine to Hancock Prospecting We were told that when she was a child, Rinehart was once saved from drowning in this rain-swollen and muddy creek on Mulga Downs station by an Aboriginal boy named Greg Tucker The road is now closed to the former asbestos mining town of Wittenoom. Being a massive Midnight Oil fan I can sing all the lyrics to Blue Sky Mine but my first real exposure to what happened there was as a young press photographer, meeting a terminally ill former mine worker who needed to wear an oxygen mask to help him breathe. He was taking out a compensation claim for his illnesses against CSR, which bought the mine from Hancock and his business partner in the 1940s Sunrise on another warm Pilbara morning at the Auski Roadhouse. The business is a hub for truckies and traffic management crews, open early until late and offering surprisingly good, fresh food for somewhere that feels like it's in the middle of nowhere. We chatted to the friendly crew of a traffic management convoy, one of whom laughed when we said why we were in WA and made, for me, the most memorable quote of the trip: 'Auntie Gina, she looks after me' The varied yellow and green colours of the spinifex contrasting with the red rocks is surprisingly beautiful A truck sends up a dust cloud as the sun sets behind Mount Whaleback mine in Newman. Opened in 1968, it's the world's largest single-cut iron ore mine. It used to be a mountain 350 metres above the surrounding plain – now it's 400 metres below the level of that same plain Banjima traditional owner Juliet Tucker at Wirrilimarra, known as 'the block' – part of Mulga Downs station that has been given to traditional owners. She liked that the Wittenoom Ranges were behind her as she posed for the portrait because that's where her family is from The sun was setting and, with the temperature close to 40C, the drone wasn't happy but it still managed to get high enough to peek into the edge of the open-cut Roy Hill mine. The size is overwhelming but this is actually just one small part of the vast project The Pilbara landscape always offers a beautiful colour palette but, after rain, the spinifex and hills along the Great Northern Highway were greener than usual. Our flight plans had to be changed due to a cyclone off Port Hedland and the locals told us it was wetter than they'd seen it in years January is the off-season in Karijini national park so when we were there only one gorge was open. Even the visitor centre was closed and we felt as though we were the only people in the park as we walked under the ghost gums and the red rocks of Nhamarrunha (Kalamina Gorge) Slim Williams, another Martu man, sits for a portrait at the Aboriginal Males Healing Centre in Parnpajinya. We sat with a group of men in the shade of the healing centre and talked. Their emotions were raw as each spoke from the heart. Looking back at the portraits I can see their sadness The ancient Wanna Munna petroglyphs are down an unmarked rough track about 75km from Newman. The screeching of wild budgies was the only sound as we explored down the gorge. Everywhere you look more carvings are visible – people, animals and symbols. It's magical As the sun started to go down at the end of a long hot day, the shadows cast from the Roy Hill mine bridge over Marble Bar Road looked like a dinosaur's shadow and was strangely spectacular Driving through the Pilbara and having read Tim Winton's latest novel, I grappled with the idea of how much wealth comes from unrecognised colonial exploitation. The former chief executive of Oxfam Australia Lyn Morgain said at the end of episode three: 'Whatever your views might be as to who owns those resources, what is unquestionable is that they belong with Australians, our community and in many cases with the traditional owners' The sweaty podcast team – Joe Koning, me and Sarah Martin – as the sun starts to set on our last day in the Pilbara
Fox News
15-05-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Biden's pandemic playbook failed. Trump just offered a smarter path forward
Print Close By Dr. Tom Price Published May 15, 2025 On May 5, President Donald Trump signed an executive order outlawing future federal funds going to gain-of-function research. This move comes as the nation begins to reckon with the broader failures of its pandemic response – failures that extended far beyond the lab and into every aspect of public health policy. As the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic fades into the rearview mirror, the United States finds itself engaged in postmortems: on lockdowns, vaccines, school closures and public trust. But there's one glaring lesson the U.S. has yet to fully absorb – its health strategy during crises can't rely on just one type of tool. A narrow, binary response to COVID-19 cost lives. The country must do better next time. During the pandemic, the public was often presented with a simple directive: get vaccinated or take your chances. While most Americans indeed should have gotten vaccinated, policymakers should have provided more room for nuance and variation. They ignored a core truth of medicine – no single solution fits every individual. The virus evolved. Patient responses varied. But the official toolkit did not adapt. What the U.S. needed (and still needs) is a robust, flexible public health approach that supports a range of modalities: vaccines, yes, but also antivirals, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and emerging biologics. TRUMP'S HEALTHCARE ORDER WILL HELP FIX HEALTHCARE FOR EVERYONE A resilient system is one that can pivot quickly, match patients with the right intervention and adapt as science advances. Monoclonal antibodies offer a clear example of what went wrong. These therapies, proven to reduce hospitalizations and deaths among high-risk patients, were widely distributed early in the pandemic and used successfully by top federal officials, including the president. But in late 2021 and early 2022, federal authorities stopped distributing them, citing reduced efficacy against new variants. This was a mistake. mAbs are a platform technology. They can be tailored to variants and deployed quickly. They are especially important for those who don't respond well to vaccines. But nearly five years after the start of the pandemic, no mAb has received full FDA approval for respiratory virus prevention despite meeting the same safety and efficacy benchmarks used to fast-track other medical countermeasures. Meanwhile, the public was encouraged to rely on booster shots which, while still additive, lost efficacy as the pandemic continued. CDC data show that the bivalent booster provided only 37% protection against hospitalization for adults over 65 after several months. For the immunocompromised, protection was even lower. Yet, therapies that could have closed that gap were taken off the table. TRUMP IS RIGHT TO BLOCK 'DANGEROUS' GAIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH The U.S. should have maintained an all-of-the-above approach to treatment so its health professionals could make patient recommendations on a case-by-case basis, ensuring the most vulnerable Americans receive adequate protection. More broadly, five years later, the U.S. still lacks a proactive framework for deploying flexible, evidence-driven therapeutics in a public health emergency. The U.S. needs a system that doesn't just rely on whatever is first to market; it needs one that actively supports a diversified portfolio of tools. That means empowering agencies like the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and the National Institutes of Health to invest in adaptable countermeasures – antibody platforms, broad-spectrum antivirals, rapid diagnostics and therapeutic RNA technologies. It also means modernizing the FDA's approval pathways to reflect the pace of innovation. When real-world evidence shows that a therapy is saving lives, regulators should have the flexibility to act. Congress can help by authorizing funding streams that reward versatility, creating incentives for companies to maintain and adapt an all-of-the-above treatment approach, and ensuring public-private partnerships are built for speed and scale. Legislation could also establish a standing procurement mechanism for variant-specific updates, not just vaccines. CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION All of this will help to mitigate the damage of one of the greatest casualties of the pandemic – the decline of public trust in America's health institutions. This erosion stemmed from the sense that key decisions lacked transparency or failed to account for patients' diverse needs. According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, only 29% of U.S. adults said they had a great deal of confidence in medical scientists, down from 40% at the beginning of the pandemic. Trust in public health officials followed a similar decline. A more transparent, inclusive approach, where policymakers communicate the rationale behind treatment shifts and openly assess real-world outcomes, can help rebuild that trust. A better system would emphasize data-sharing, clear communication, and respect for physician judgment in tailoring care to patient needs. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP COVID-19 exposed the limits of the U.S.' current playbook. A more effective future demands flexibility, pluralism and the humility to admit health policymakers don't always know right away what will work best, or for whom. But if regulators build the right system – one that encourages innovation, evaluates outcomes in real time, and keeps every safe and effective tool on the table – they won't have to learn this lesson again the hard way. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DR. TOM PRICE Print Close URL
Business Recorder
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Base metals firm on easing US-China trade tensions and weaker dollar
Copper prices rose on Wednesday as a 90-day pause on most of the tit-for-tat tariffs agreed by Beijing and Washington raised investors' confidence a global recession can be averted and demand will continue for growth-dependent metals. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.2% at $9,618 a metric ton by 0955 GMT after hitting $9,642, for its highest since April 3. 'Investors have rotated away from safe-havens like gold back into the industrial space,' Panmure Liberum analyst Tom Price said. 'However, they are not re-engaging the market in a vigorous way at this early stage but stay very cautious at the moment. They are wondering what (U.S. President Donald) Trump is going to do next,' he added. Providing further support, the U.S. dollar extended losses following its biggest decline in more than three weeks overnight after weaker-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data bolstered the case for Federal Reserve easing. The weaker U.S. currency makes dollar-priced metals more affordable for other currency holders, while prospects of lower interest rates support the demand outlook for industrial metals. Copper steady ahead of US-China trade talks, focus on tighter nearby supply The market focus remains on a probe into potential new tariffs on copper imports that the U.S. has been conducting since February. As a result, the premium of COMEX copper futures over the LME benchmark is elevated and deliveries have been made to the COMEX copper stocks. The premium reached a peak of 18% in late March, and has fallen to about 10% with copper inventories at the COMEX-owned warehouses rising 77% since end-February to 165,112 tons. 'This reflects front-loading as well as tariff timing uncertainty,' Morgan Stanley said in a note. It estimates the U.S. has imported an extra 180,000 tons of copper over the last seven weeks, of which only 65,000 haveshown up in the COMEX inventory so far, 'with more to come, leaving a tariff-free buffer of metal'. Among other metals, aluminium rose 1.3% to $2,521.5 a ton, zinc added 1.9% to $2,754, lead gained 0.2% to $1,992.5, tin climbed 0.4% to $32,805 and nickel was up 0.9% to $15,860.
Business Recorder
06-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Copper buoyed by softer dollar, focus on tariff tensions
LONDON: Copper prices rose on Tuesday as the dollar eased but weighing on sentiment was the prospect of slowing global growth and demand due to U.S. import tariffs and a trade war between China and the United States. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.7% at $9,436 a metric ton at 1053 GMT. 'We are neutral now and bearish second half of the year on seasonality and policy shifts,' said Panmure Liberum analyst Tom Price. 'This year is ultimately going to be hurt by tariffs once they start to have full impact on trade flows.' Focus is on whether trade tensions will ease after China said last week it was evaluating an offer to hold talks over U.S. President Donald Trump's 145% tariffs. China's Commerce Ministry said that Beijing's door was open for discussions, signalling a potential de-escalation in the trade war. China is a top consumer of industrial metals such as copper used in the power and construction industries. One positive, traders said, was copper stocks in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), which at around 89,000 tons have dropped nearly 70% since late February and are at their lowest since mid-January. Copper extends gains on hopes for truce in trade war However, expectations of copper market surpluses are worrying the market, traders said. A Reuters survey published last week shows a small copper market surplus of more than 60,000 tons this year, followed by a small deficit in 2026. 'We suspect these estimates will be reduced in due course, especially if supply-side issues persist,' said Marex consultant Edward Meir, referring to shortages of concentrate used to make copper metal. On the technical front, strong support for copper is around $9,310-$9,315 where the 100- and 200-day moving averages are converging. Upside resistance is around $9,475, the 50-day moving average. Overall, industrial metals were supported by the lower U.S. currency, which makes dollar-priced metals cheaper for holders of other currencies, which would boost demand. Aluminium fell 0.5% to $2,419 a ton, zinc added 0.7% to $2,626, lead gained 0.3% to $1,939, tin was up 3.5% to $31,775 and nickel climbed 0.8% to $15,610 a ton.
