SYDNEY, Australia — A years-long contest over an ill and childless lawyer’s AUD 27 million ($21 million) estate was settled by the New South Wales Supreme Court, delivering former Australian union official Kathy Jackson a million-dollar payout. Sydney barrister and former local mayor David Rofe QC wrote seven wills and two amendments in the six years before his death in 2017, aged 87. Described by one barrister friend as “famously tight with money”, the man from the eastern suburb of Woollahra lived for the legal profession, had a mischievous sense of humor, and loved wining and dining “in the patrician…
Author: zenger.news
SYDNEY — Menulog, an Australian online food ordering app, announced the direct employment of gig economy workers for the first time on April 12 in Australia. Under a new business model to be trialed in the city of Sydney, the company announced it would provide its drivers and riders with a minimum wage, superannuation, and leave entitlements. Either food delivery service competitors voluntarily follow Menulog’s lead in declaring riders and drivers as employees, or they’ll soon be forced to, claims a labor law expert. Menulog will work with the Fair Work Commission and the Transport Workers’ Union to determine employment standards. “A series of deaths…
CANBERRA, Australia — New Zealand Opposition leader Judith Collins choked up during a parliamentary tribute to Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. On April 13, parliament abandoned its business instead of considering a motion on Prince Philip’s death. The possibility of a protest from the anti-monarchy Maori Party did not eventuate, with its co-leaders not coming to Wellington for the occasion. The Maori Party is a political party in New Zealand advocating indigenous rights and center-left policies. Tariana Turia founded the party in 2004 after resigning from the governing center-left Labour Party, in which she served as a minister, over the foreshore and…
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Wellington, New Zealand’s crowded, dysfunctional and earthquake-prone parliamentary precinct, is likely to see a multi-million-dollar renovation over the next five years. Trevor Mallard, the New Zealand parliament speaker, unveiled plans for three new buildings to pitch to Finance Minister Grant Robertson for next year’s budget. “The price tag isn’t cheap,” said Mallard. “It was likely to be north of $NZ200 million ($142 million) and ‘hopefully’ south of $NZ250 million ($179 million).” However, Mallard, the Labour veteran, claimed the renovations would pay for themselves within 30 years as they would replace expensive tenancy agreements with nearby buildings. “We’re paying a…
BRISBANE, Australia — Former reality TV star and Penthouse cover girl Suzi Taylor was urged to wear something tight and black with high heels for a late-night hook-up with a stranger at an inner-city Brisbane apartment. The night would allegedly end with a man tied up and held against his will, with the former Block contestant and co-accused Ali Ebrahimi charged with extortion, deprivation of liberty, and assault. The duo has pleaded not guilty before a jury trial in the Brisbane District Court set down for four days. The 50-year-old, whose real name is Suellen Jan Taylor, was posing as an escort…
WOLLONGONG, Australia — Australian National Rugby League player Jack de Belin and Callan Sinclair have been put under a four-week trial for charges of aggravated sexual assault. Belin allegedly ignored the teenager’s plea to “stop” before raping her and asking a male friend to join in, Wollongong District Court has heard. The woman says the footballer undressed her, split her legs apart, and forced himself on her in a bedroom in North Wollongong in December 2018. “I said stop,” she said. “No one was listening to me, so I had tears coming out of my eyes instead.” The St George Illawarra…
MORNINGTON, Australia — It is still unclear if the Premier of Australian state Victoria, Daniel Andrews, will return to work in 10 days, although his deputy insists he’s making steady progress after a serious back injury. The Labor Party Minister of Parliament suffered broken ribs and a fractured T7 vertebra after slipping on wet stairs at a holiday home on the Mornington Peninsula on March 9, 2021. The 48-year-old was released from the hospital on March 15, 2021, and has been recovering at home. At the time, he said he would require at least six weeks off to recover. His Twitter…
SYDNEY — Prime Minister Scott Morrison has blasted the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC News) for editing footage to make it look like dignitaries watched a dance troupe performing at the launch of a naval ship. The 101 Doll Squadron on April 11 performed at the official commissioning ceremony for the HMAS Supply, an Australian Warship, at Woolloomooloo in Sydney. The Australian Navy inaugurated the warship, and it is expected to begin operations soon. An Australian Broadcasting Corporation report showed the dancers twerking and performing other moves, cut with shots of Governor-General David Hurley and some senior Navy officers, but it…
NEW DELHI — India — the second worst-affected country by Covid-19 — is hosting the largest pilgrimage on earth, the Kumbh Mela, where millions of devotees and ash-smeared ascetics have congregated to take a dip in the river Ganga. The ritual is believed to wash away sins and free people from the cycle of birth and death. “Maha Kumbh happens once in 12 years, and there was no way I could miss it,” Mundarika Sharma, a resident from Muzaffarpur in India’s eastern state of Bihar, told Zenger News. The elderly woman, sitting at a temple compound in Haridwar, a city famous…
A female donkey found an attachment to a Turkish woman, following her and repeatedly mounting her back while she was visiting the northwestern city of Bursa. Zeynep Ozturk, who works as a designer, was visiting one of her friends at a hotel when she saw the donkey — named Spaghetti — and wanted to let her out of her enclosure to feed and play. Spaghetti jumped on Ozturk and followed her, refusing to leave her alone — even when Ozturk hid behind her friends, who captured the incident on video. It was posted on Instagram on April 12 and soon…