PERTH, Australia — A proposed Liquefied Natural Gas development in Western Australia risks destroying Aboriginal rock art tantamount to “repeating Juukan Gorge in slow motion”, environmentalists warn. A report by the Conservation Council of Western Australia and The Australia Institute says Woodside’s Scarborough project would produce an additional 1.6 billion tonnes of emissions, “equivalent to building 15 new coal power stations”. It says the project is the highest-polluting fossil fuel development currently proposed in Australia, exceeding the Adani coal mine, and would increase Western Australia’s total emissions by almost five percent, or 4.4 million tonnes per year. Woodside is proposing to…
Author: zenger.news
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s senior public servants have been accused of outsourcing decisions on welfare policy to a private company. Labor Party latched onto an AU$1.76 million ($1.36 million) contract with Boston Consulting Group during a Senate estimates hearing on June 3. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was established in 1963. It is a global management consulting firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) helps enterprises and other organizations innovate and achieve sustainable competitive advantage. The firm was hired to conduct research on Disability Employment Services (DES) and people with a partial capacity to work. Disability Employment Services (DES) assist disabled…
SYDNEY — Australia’s New South Wales faces a nervous wait to see if Victoria’s coronavirus outbreak has spread, with the state’s south coast on high alert for cases as almost 250 people isolate. A series of public health alerts were issued on the night of June 1 after a man from Melbourne was diagnosed with the virus after a family holiday near Jervis Bay last month. The man had some symptoms on May 25 after driving back to Melbourne on May 24. He tested positive on May 31, nearly a week later. New South Wales recorded no new cases of community…
DELHI, India — “I wake up at 6 o’clock and start cooking,” Shalini Magdel Das, a Kolkata-based travel writer, told Zenger News. “This has been my schedule every day since I decided to do my bit for friends and strangers during the second wave of Covid.” The second wave of Covid-19 devastated India but also brought its people closer. As the country sees the Covid positivity rate going down, stories of determination and empathy have emerged. One of those is of heroes who worked relentlessly to feed people hit by the deadly virus. The common motto was to make sure that the…
A bear that had spent most of her life in a cage and was forced to perform for a circus woke up from her first hibernation in her new home, an Alpine paradise. Twelve-year-old Jambolina was rescued by animal-rights organization Four Paws, whose staff collected her from the Ukraine and transported her 1,500 miles to the Arosa Bear Sanctuary in Switzerland. After years of performing for crowds, Jambolina was nervous and scared when she arrived at the sanctuary. “On May 29, Jambolina explored her large outdoor area for the first time,” according to the organization. “Over the past few weeks, Jambolina…
PANNA, India — 27-year-old Kabir Shrivas decided to try his luck in diamond mining in 2020. So, he traveled 400 kilometers (249 miles) from Bhopal to Panna, the largest diamond-producing region in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh. A year and lots of uncovered losses later, he is yet to get lucky. “I had heard of diamond mining in Panna and decided to lease a mine to find diamonds,” Shrivas told Zenger News. “I invested hundreds of thousands of rupees in this task — from paying laborers to buying water for cleaning pebbles. I am still waiting for the day when…
Fire crews rescued a fawn stuck in a trench near Western University late Tuesday night. (London Fire Department/Twitter) Video shows a fire brigade rescuing a fawn that had fallen into a trench. It was later was reunited with its mother. The fawn fell into the narrow hole on the campus of Western University in London, Ontario, on June 1. The London Fire Department posted the video on Twitter shortly after the rescue. In the 45-second clip, two firemen are seen descending a ladder to rescue the baby deer, whose loud, frequent bleating can be heard. One rescuer manages to take the…
A collection of clothing and lingerie that belonged to Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Queen of Hungary, nicknamed Sisi, has been sold at auction for about $88,000. A three-piece lingerie set from the royal’s summer collection fetched $4,638. Several other pieces of Sisi’s wardrobe, including an 1880 cream-colored summer dress with floral designs, sold for $36,615. A Hungarian cream-colored and woolen pelisse-styled cape sold for $28,071, while a wooden screen consisting of 90 photos of the royal family from 1870 to 1890 fetched $18,363. Lingerie that belonged to Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Queen of Hungary sold for $4,638. (Hermann…
Video shows a German nursery school worker throwing playing cards through small slits. Michael Wlotzka said that he started doing trick shots in March last year, just as Germany was entering COVID-19 lockdown. The tricks have garnered 1.6 million TikTok followers and 30 million likes. The videos show some of the challenges he completed and posted on social networks. One collection of his top 10 trick shots shows him throwing playing cards or other objects and landing them into small spaces as a stopwatch counts down the seconds. Another video shows him landing a card in a clothespin after tossing…
BRISBANE, Australia — Australian farmers are forecast to get within one percent of a record crop planting on the back of healthy rainfall and high prices. Rabobank on June 2 released its 2021-2022 Winter Crop Outlook, which forecasts 22.93 million hectares will be planted across the nation. That is a two percent increase last year when crops planted soared as drought eased in many regions. The forecast represents an area eight percent above the five-year average. Rabobank grains and oilseeds analyst Dennis Voznesenski said substantial rainfall and good soil moisture profiles positioned Australia for another strong winter grain crop. “With the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting…