NEW DELHI — Unlike tech-savvy musicians of today, Barkat Khan Manganiyar and his accompanists from the western Indian state of Rajasthan couldn’t take it to the internet to eke out a living during the pandemic. The Manganiyars might have taken their folk music across the world, but YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook aren’t a part of their dictionary yet. So, the group spent the entire last year performing at weddings and private events in the neighborhood of their village Chattangarh near the city of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. “All of last year, we’ve not been able to perform [publicly],” the artist, who is…
Author: zenger.news
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Hatching of four offspring of an ‘endangered’ tortoise species at the age of 50 is beating the odds and calls for a celebration at the Auckland Zoo, New Zealand. Zookeepers are delighted that two of their oldest lodgers, a pair of Galapagos tortoises, have produced four young reptiles, helping to grow the endangered species population. “We have this very exciting upward turn that we hope reflects the sweet spot we’ve hit after years of incrementally refining our husbandry for this species,” said Don McFarlane, team leader of Ectotherms, Auckland Zoo. “However, we are reminding ourselves that everything about these…
BRISBANE CITY, Australia — The state court coroner of Queensland, Australia, has reopened the inquest into the 1986 disappearance of Sharron Phillips. The son of the prime suspect, Ian Seeley, accounts to the police that his taxi driver’s father, Raymond Peter Mulvihill, was Australia’s “gingerbread man” who would never be caught. He exposed his father as a “mass murderer” who made a deathbed confession begging him to “give the girls back” days before he died in 2002. “For him, for my father, it was quick, easy, and simple,” Seeley told the court on Wednesday (March 24). “It was one of the…
SYDNEY — The New South Wales Police Force has launched a new operation in response to a petition around consent education that urges victims of sexual assault to come forward and report their abuse (even if they don’t want to press charges or get identified). Operation Vest is a response from the police in the southeastern Australian state of New South Wales to the thousands of stories shared by young women about the assault and abuse they suffered during their school years. “We will support survivors who wish to share their stories, whether that means through legal action or a more…
CANBERRA, Australia — More than AUD 17 million ($13 million) has been paid to 95 Australian thalidomide survivors, with a national apology from the federal government. The morning sickness drug, sold under the brand names Contergan and Thalomid among others, caused congenital disabilities (birth defects) in thousands of babies worldwide. It is used to treat a number of cancers (including multiple myeloma), graft-versus-host disease, and a number of skin conditions including complications of leprosy. “The government was working with survivor groups to decide on a date for a national apology amid the pandemic,” said Tania Rishniw, senior official, health department. “They are…
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s Scott Morrison government has ruled out an amnesty for undocumented migrants despite calls from within the Nationals and a coalition-initiated farm workforce strategy. Earlier in the month, a significant report into Australia’s agricultural labor crisis called for an amnesty, among other sweeping changes. Nationals backbenchers have backed the idea and are set to push for it to become official party policy at its federal convention on Sunday (March 28). “The government would not be budging on changing the status of illegal migrant workers,” said Michaelia Cash, a cabinet minister. “This would undermine the integrity of this government’s strong visa system, and we…
SYDNEY — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has launched an extraordinary attack against the media after being questioned about the treatment of women. The prime minister called a press conference on Tuesday (March 23) to express his disgust at the “rubbish and crap” women in politics have to put up with. “I was horrified by stories that had emerged over the past month and declared attitudes towards women must change,” said Morrison. He choked back tears while talking about the women in his life, promising that he will not let women down. But the prime minister’s empathy turned to unbridled rage when Andrew…
BRISBANE, Australia — A man from New South Wales in Australia thought he and a world champion kayaker’s younger brother were going to be robbed by pirates after an alleged rendezvous off the country’s east coast to pick up cocaine worth up to $200 million, a court has heard. Instead, the vessel behind the rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) driven by Anthony Draper was a navy patrol vessel. Draper was testifying in the Brisbane Supreme Court trial of Olympic silver medalist Nathan Jon Baggaley, 45, and 39-year-old Dru Anthony Baggaley. Olympian canoeist Nathan Baggaley leaves Central Local Court in Sydney after pleading guilty…
CANBERRA, Australia — Casino giant Crown has admitted it could have underpaid more than 200 workers around AUD 2 million ($1.5 million) as part of an ongoing wage theft investigation. On Wednesday, March 24, the Australian government’s Fair Work Ombudsman confirmed at Senate estimates it started investigating the company about one year ago in 2020 after Crown self-reported. The ombudsman’s enforcement director Stephen Ronson said the company believed the amount was about $2 million including superannuation. But he declined to nominate a figure the watchdog had determined was underpaid with inquiries still “in play”. A royal commission into Crown started in…
CANBERRA, Australia — A doctor used to determine Australian federal workers’ compensation claims has been sacked after a litany of bullying complaints emerged. The Commonwealth’s compensation authority Comcare on Wednesday, March 24, confirmed that the doctor was no longer on the payroll following reports of 66 complaints against them since 2000. Comcare is a statutory authority of the Australian Federal Government established under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 and covered by the Public Governance, Performance, and Accountability Act 2013. This is an act about the governance, performance, and accountability of, and the use and management of public resources by,…