Australia

Button and Diane Powellpark the school bus after three decades

After 30 years Button and Diane Powell have turned off the ignition to their school buses one last time. Two of Nyngan's long serving school bus drivers have hung up the keys to their school runs, after almost 1.5 million kilometers of driving. Mr Powell has driven the school bus to Mullengudery for nearly 30 years, with wife Mrs Powell driving her bus on the Coffils Lane-Pangee Road run for the same time. The pair bought the bus in 1989 becoming Powell's Bus Service, and quickly they became second parents to the school children they have driven too and from school each day. READ ALSO: Mrs Powell finished up her school run on March 16, exactly 30 years on the day she started. "It was an emotional day, the kids said 'when we get to Miandetta can we have a speech?', so I slowed down and as I started to talk I had to pull up because I couldn't see through the tears," Mrs Powell said. "I couldn't talk but all I said is 'you've all been wonderful and there's not much I can say'. "I bubbled all the way home and the only thing I could say to my husband is 'thank you for buying that bus, because I've had a good life'. "I don't cry normally, I'm a hard old bird, but I just said 'thank you'." Looking back over the years, Mrs Powell couldn't pick her fondest memory, saying all the kids she had ride on her school bus were as delightful as each other. "I've been lucky with superb kids, I've never had to go crook on anybody," she said. "They all had their own seats and got on and sat down, it's just been wonderful. "I just don't know what my fondest memory is because they're all good. "You look after them all like your own and I have just thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience." In her thirty years of driving almost 320 kilometers a day, Mrs Powell said she has only had one sick day in her life. "I was only saying the other day I broke my shoulder about nine years ago … and in 30 years that's the only time I've had off," the bus driver said. "I have never, ever had a sick day, it was only that I broke this jolly shoulder and I had to have about six weeks off." She however said she was pleased she could give the children on her run their last Easter eggs. "I have always all these years bought the kids Easter eggs and chocolates at Christmas, and I said to Button 'guess what? I get to give them their last Easter eggs'," Mrs Powell said. "It's just something you do and they get excited." While Langleys have bought the bus and taken it on, Mrs Powell said she and her husband have no plans of leaving town. "I'm not an overseas person, I'm a homing pigeon," she said. "My husband's a clay target shooter and we've got our caravan, I've always gone places with him clay target shooting … I'm just happy to jump in the caravan and go wherever he wants to go. "But we've got our family here … life's pretty simple."

After 30 years Button and Diane Powell have turned off the ignition to their school buses one last time.

Two of Nyngan's long serving school bus drivers have hung up the keys to their school runs, after almost 1.5 million kilometers of driving.

Mr Powell has driven the school bus to Mullengudery for nearly 30 years, with wife Mrs Powell driving her bus on the Coffils Lane-Pangee Road run for the same time.

The pair bought the bus in 1989 becoming Powell's Bus Service, and quickly they became second parents to the school children they have driven too and from school each day.

Nyngan Observer

Australia

New Species Discovered Online By Botanists

In Australia, researchers discover several unknown carnivorous plants – not in the open air, but on the Internet. Research in front of the screen is now part of everyday life for botanists. Many creatures would otherwise remain undiscovered before they became extinct, they explain.

Social media has become a treasure trove for species researchers: a German-Australian team of scientists did not discover four out of six new carnivorous plants during field research in Western Australia, but identified them on Facebook, Instagram & Co. They were posted there by nature photographers, according to a statement on the study.

Such data, often published accidentally, sometimes intentionally, by hobby photographers and citizen scientists have become a valuable source for biodiversity researchers. And thus of great importance for the protection of many animal and plant species, emphasized Andreas Fleischmann from the Munich State Botanical Collection and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. “In particular, it would not have been possible for us to determine the distribution areas of very rare species without this additional wealth of data.”

“Race Against Time”

He and his team had described six previously unknown carnivorous sundew species found in Western Australia and published the results of the investigations in the journal Biology. So far, only three species from the so-called Drosera microphylla species complex were known. Although many species are becoming extinct worldwide in the 21st century, new animal and plant species are still being discovered. “A race against time,” emphasized the scientists. Without the intensive work of species researchers, “many creatures would become extinct without ever having been known before”.

In the meantime, there is far more observation data from lay scientists in social media and even in scientific biodiversity databases than data from research collections, especially for the visually conspicuous carnivorous plants, according to a statement from the state collection on the study. For example, a sundew species from South Africa was known from three historical herbarium specimens and seven photos on a Citizen Science website in 2018.

Today there are already 307 observations from 131 amateur researchers interested in nature on the internet platform. “Meanwhile, the number of known herbarium specimens of sundew from South Africa in the scientific collections has remained the same.”

This article is originally published on n-tv.de/wissen

Australia

Australian Open Ban On Russian, Belarusian Flags Sparks Debate

The Australian Open tennis organization today banned the display of Russian and Belarusian flags at the tournament venue, after a man hung the Russian flag in the stands during Sunday’s opening match between Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia and Ukraine. Kateryna Kozlova.

“The flags of Russia and Belarus are prohibited within the Australian Open,” the Australian Tennis Federation said in a statement.

“Our initial policy was that fans could bring them, but they couldn’t use them to disturb. Yesterday we had an incident where a Russian flag was placed next to the track,” the entity said.

“The ban is effective immediately. We will continue to work with the players and fans to ensure the best possible environment to enjoy tennis,” the text added, quoted by the AFP news agency.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, dozens of Russian athletes, teams and federations have been removed from major competitions or forced to participate without a flag.

This new sanction comes in response to a complaint from the Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, Vasil Miroshnichenko, who last night called on Tennis Australia to take action against the display of these flags.

“We strongly condemn the public display of the Russian flag during Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Kozlova’s match at the Australian Open,” he tweeted.

“I call on Tennis Australia to immediately implement its ‘neutral flag’ policy,” he added.

Ukrainian Won The Match

The Ukrainian won the match 7-5, 6-7 (8/10), 6-1 and will face American Caty McNally in the second round.

Ambassador Miroshnichenko had requested last week that the tournament completely ban players from Russia and Belarus from participating.

Wimbledon opted for this measure last year and banned players from these two countries in the tournament, which as a result did not count for the rankings by decision of the ATP and WTA.

The Russian embassy in Australia criticized “another example of the unacceptable politicization of the sport” and regretted that, in addition to carrying a neutral flag, its players “cannot be visibly supported by the fans.”

For her part, the Belarusian and world number five Aryna Sabalenka said that she was not opposed to the ban on flags “if everyone felt better like this”, but pointed out that sport “has nothing to do with politics”. .

“It’s not fair. People are dying there,” said Ukrainian tennis player Oleksii Krutykh, who assured that his country’s players were “shocked” by the appearance of Russian flags in the stands.

A Russian banner also appeared on Melbourne’s center court, Rod Laver Arena, during Russian Daniil Medvedev’s match against American Marcos Giron.

“It’s not fair what they’re doing,” said the 22-year-old Krutykh after his first-round loss to Argentine Diego Schwartzman.

“I think the guys who did it (display flags during the Koslova match) were Russians who live here, so they don’t care about what happens in my country,” said the young man, who was out of town when the war broke out. country and settled in Berlin.

“It may be ugly to say it, but if I want to go back to Ukraine, I can go back, but then I can’t leave because I’m 22 years old,” Krutykh explained, referring to the fact that he is of fighting age.

On the other hand, yesterday it became known that Russia and Belarus are off the list of countries that will broadcast the Olympic Games during the period between 2026 and 2032.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it awarded all audiovisual rights in Europe until 2032 to the European Broadcasting Union and Warner Bros Discovery, which will broadcast in 49 countries and exclude Russia and Belarus, the Sputnik news agency reported.

This article is originally published on ambito.com

Australia

Saudi women in Sydney: Sisters’ bodies lay undiscovered for a month

Australian police are baffled after the bodies of two Saudi women, believed to have lain undiscovered for a month, were found in a Sydney apartment.

Sisters Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found dead on 7 June in separate beds at home in the suburb of Canterbury.

Police, who were called to the property for a welfare check, said the women are believed to have died in early May.

But despite “extensive inquiries”, they still do not know how or why.

The sisters moved to Australia from Saudi Arabia in 2017 and may have sought asylum, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Police refused to confirm this, saying they do not comment on residential status.

A human rights organisation said it should be established whether the women fled Saudi Arabia because of domestic violence or harsh laws governing women. However, there is no evidence this is the case.

Police said they had been in contact with the women’s family, which is assisting them with inquiries.

Lina al-Hathloul, head of monitoring and communications at Saudi human rights organisation ALQST, said it “would not be the first case” of Saudi women who were killed abroad after fleeing domestic violence.

“There are no protections for women who are victims of domestic violence in Saudi Arabia, so they flee abroad,” she told the BBC.

She added: “I’m not saying that is the case here, just that we need a thorough investigation. It is frustrating not to have any information.”

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, there had been signs that something was wrong.

Last year, the women told their building manager they thought someone was tampering with their food deliveries, the paper reported.

A plumber who visited the apartment also said he believed there was “something mysterious” going on, and that police had been called in the past over concerns for the women.

New South Wales Police issued a renewed plea to the public on Wednesday, saying “any piece of information” could be the key to solving this case.

The local community is close-knit, police said in a statement, asking anyone who may have known or seen the women to come forward.

A report from Australian current affairs programme Four Corners in 2019 found 80 Saudi women had tried to seek asylum in Australia in recent years. Many of them were fleeing male guardianship laws.

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62331116