GOLD COAST, Australia — A double murderer who raped and killed a Gold Coast woman snatched from a shopping center almost 40 years ago will be eligible for parole in 2022. Troy James O’Meara pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Queensland to murdering and raping Linda Reed, who was never seen alive again in Pacific Fair shopping center at Broadbeach on December 13, 1983. Ms. Reed was eating lunch in her car when O’Meara forced his way into the vehicle. He made her drive to isolated bushland where she was raped, dragged from the car and her face forced into…
Author: zenger.news
An international research group has created an innovative simulation model for predicting snakebites. About 1.8 million poisonous snakebites occur around the world annually, killing about 94,000 people. In tropical areas, especially in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, snakebites are considered a major cause of death, especially among farmers who encounter snakes in their fields. That’s why the World Health Organization has launched a strategic plan to reduce snakebites by 50 percent by 2030. An important basis for attaining this goal is expanding relevant scientific research. In a study led by Takuya Iwamura at Oregon State University, Eyal Goldstein at the…
MUMBAI, India — Amazon Prime India was supposed to release the second season of its popular espionage series “The Family Man” on Feb. 2, but now it will come out only this summer. “We know you have been eagerly waiting for the new season of ‘The Family Man’,” said director duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. on their Instagram page on Feb. 5. “We are truly grateful and humbled by all the love! We have an update for you,” they said. “’The Family Man’ Season 2 will premiere on Amazon Prime Video this summer!” Earlier this month, Indian media had reported that the…
PUNE, India — All e-commerce portals in India will have to give equal treatment to sellers and vendors and have a transparent blueprint on discounts, as per a new draft policy from the government. “E-commerce operators must not adopt algorithms which result in prioritizing select vendors/sellers,” the nine-page draft policy, reviewed by Zenger News, states. The draft policy also touches upon enhancing exports, handling data, and anti-piracy and counterfeit measures. The policy will apply to domestic companies like Reliance Industries’ online grocery site JioMart, and Amazon, and Walmart-owned Flipkart, which have considerable foreign investment. While Reliance plans to expand into the…
PUNE, India — E-commerce was one of the few bright spots in 2020, the pandemic year, and companies like Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon benefited from the shutting down of physical stores, especially in India which was under one of the longest lockdowns. Now, India’s e-commerce market is projected to increase by 84 percent to $111 billion by 2024, driven by mobile shopping, according to a February 2021 global payments report by Worldplay from financial services firm FIS. Mobile shopping is projected to grow 21 percent annually over the next four years. One of the verticals that got a fillip during the lockdown…
POSTOJNA, Slovenia — U.S. Army Paratroopers, on March 15, conducted a thrilling live-fire exercise where they practiced rapid deployment, assembly of forces, team cohesion with weapon systems tactics, and many other procedures. The entire exercise was conducted with all Covid-19 protocols in place. The U.S. Army Paratroopers from the 1st Division, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, and the Slovenian Armed Forces executed the Eagle Sokol exercise at the Pocek Range in the Slovenian town of Postojna. “The 173rd Airborne Brigade (Sky Soldiers) is the U.S. Army’s Contingency Response Force in Europe, providing rapid forces to the United States, European,…
LIÈGE, Belgium — Over $3.5 million worth of rare stuffed animals have been stolen from at Masaï Gallery in the Belgian city of Liege, in the French-speaking region of Wallonia. The taxidermy gallery specializes in purchasing carcasses of animals, often endangered ones, from zoos and stuffing them before selling them to museums in the U.K. and China. Its chief executive, Christian Polis, a Belgian entrepreneur and millionaire, confirmed the loss of hundreds of items from the collection that is his life’s work. It all started when Polis quizzed one of his employees about “missing items” from the gallery’s warehouse in October last…
THA YANG, Thailand — A slow loris, who was recently electrocuted when it climbed onto a power line, was released into the wilderness after completing its rehabilitation treatment at the Wildlife Friends Foundation in Thailand. The wildlife foundation shared a video of the slow loris being released into the wilderness on their Facebook page. “The best wildlife rescue is the wildlife rescue that ends up into a release back to the wild,” the post read. The slow loris in the video is back into its natural wild habitat, where a rescue center volunteer carries the small primate in a pink plastic basket and…
BLACON, England — The moment of the birth of a rare and highly-threatened Rothschild’s giraffe was recently caught on camera and soon became a talking point. The male giraffe calf was born to a 13-year-old mom named Orla at the Chester Zoo in Cheshire, the U.K., on March 3. The zoo’s surveillance camera footage shows mom Orla delivering her youngster in the 15th month of her pregnancy, from a height of 2 meters (6.6 feet) onto the soft straw-covered ground. “Giraffes give birth standing up, and so their young receive quite a welcome to the world, dropping around six feet to the ground,” said Sarah…
PUNE, India — India, which was under stringent lockdown for most parts of 2020 to stop the spread of Covid-19, saved itself from topping a list of the world’s most polluted country — the tag for which was claimed by neighboring Bangladesh. But India could not save New Delhi from being tagged the world’s most polluted capital city. What’s more, the report “World Air Quality Report, 2020,” states that India is home to 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities. Prepared by IQAir, a Switzerland-based organization, the report states though New Delhi’s air quality improved by 15 percent from 2019 to…