“The tents are gone, the clothes are gone, our food is gone.” Displaced Palestinians in Gaza fled Israeli bombardment with what little they could carry. Those items are now waterlogged and destroyed by flooding, as one man in Deir el-Balah told Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili.
A Netflix star dubbed the ‘real life Crocodile Dundee’ has been jailed for 10 months for tampering with evidence after a helicopter crash in Australia that killed his co-star and left the pilot paraplegic.
Outback Wrangler and Wild Croc Territory host Matt Wright – whose shows have been shown on both Netflix and Amazon Prime – was found guilty of lying to the police about the amount of fuel in the helicopter when it plummeted to the ground in a remote part of Darwin in February 2022.
He was also convicted of trying to pressure a witness and asked pilot Sebastian Robinson, who survived but now has life-changing injuries, to falsify flying hours.
Prosecutors argued this was because Wright was worried investigators would find out that he regularly changed the official flying hours of a chopper to avoid costly maintenance.
The jury could not agree on a verdict for a third charge that alleged 46-year-old Wright asked someone to “torch” the helicopter’s maintenance record after the crash, which cost his fellow presenter Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson his life.
Multi-millionaire Wright was not in the helicopter at the time it crashed but was one of the first on the scene. The court case does not relate to the cause of the crash, the death of Mr Wilson or Mr Robinson’s injuries, only the tampering with evidence.
The maximum sentence for the charges he faced was up to 15 years behind bars. But Justice Alan Blow handed Wright a 10-month prison term, which will be suspended once he has served half of it. So effectively, he will only be in prison for five months.
Justice Blow said Wright had “shown no remorse” but was “very unlikely to reoffend in any significant way in the future.” He was also fined £2,500 by the Supreme Court in Darwin.
It is thought that Wright’s legal team may try to appeal the guilty verdicts and sentence. Deceased Mr Wilson was just 34 when he died and left behind wife Danielle and their two sons. His devastated wife said her boys would soon spend their fourth Father’s Day without their father, adding: “Once again there will be an empty seat at the table, a constant reminder of all that has been taken from us.”
Injured Mr Robinson’s brother Zac Chellingworth read out a statement on his behalf saying the verdicts had brought some closure for the family, adding: “But the scars of the defendant’s conduct are huge and permanent.”
He said the trauma for his family had been relentless as he learned to live in a wheelchair with his recovery made worse by the trial, the defendant’s cover-up and failure to tell the truth.
Mr Robinson shared: “I also faced a malicious and sustained campaign of lies aimed at destroying my reputation and that of my family. The jury saw the truth.”
Ms Wilson is now reported to be pursuing a civil case against Wright and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority over the crash that killed her husband.
READ MORE: Ted Baker necklace that’s an affordable alternative to Kate Middleton’s pearl jewellery is on sale
Earlier this week, in truly shocking scenes, famous comedian Andy Dick was spotted collapsed on a Hollywood pavement following an apparent drug overdose.
Jarring footage showed the star, 59, slumped over and seated on steps outside his building in broad daylight on December 9. Dick, wearing checked pyjama trousers and black Crocs, was seen with his glasses lying on the ground before him alongside a yellow can of drink.
Andy’s friends rushed to his aid in an attempt to rouse him, shouting “wake up!” One of his concerned friends then says he’s going to “call an ambulance.” While one witness said Andy was given Narcan on the scene, a nasal spray often used to counteract opioid overdoses.
The clip, shared on TMZ, was followed by another video showing Dick being interviewed the day after his ordeal, along with his two friends. In it, he explained how he met a “depressed” guy a similar age to him who was sat down on the pavement.
After sitting with the stranger, Dick said: “He whipped out some crack and I’m like, you know what, I might need a little bit of that. I wanted to see what he was doing, and also, I don’t mind doing a little bit of crack every now and then.”
One of his friends clarified that he had been livestreaming that day when the incident unfolded and wanted to keep on filming so it “was on record because that doesn’t usually happen”. Dick, dressed in black suit and tie, then refused the suggestion of going into rehab.
Dick has been candid about his battle with addiction. Despite his words this week, in 2016 he revealed he had sought rehab more than 20 times for his drug dependency. He told Vice: “I would always say that I didn’t have a problem with drugs and alcohol. But I would drink when I was happy, when I was sad, when I was anxious.
“Without drugs or alcohol, I was depressed, frustrated, angry. Honestly, it just stopped being fun when I was crawling around on the floor to find the phone, not able to dial because both my hands were shaking.
“When I would get ahold of one of the recovery centres, they would hang up when they found out it was me. No one wanted to help me because I was unhelpable. Why would they bring me in just to have me die in their bed?”
Back in 2019, he was required to sign the sex offenders register after inappropriately touching an Uber driver in the genitals. Dick entered a not guilty plea but was found guilty and spent 90 days banged up.
Along with registering as a sex offender, he was ordered to compensate the victim financially and attend mental health counselling, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Sexual Compulsives Anonymous. Then in 2021, he was arrested for felony assault with a deadly weapon and walked free from jail the following day after posting bail.
He was arrested on two occasions in 2022, first for felony sexual battery and then for felony burglary. Last April, he raised alarm bells in Los Angeles after a witness claimed the actor “was sitting and talking to himself” and “seemed incoherent.”
While January 2023, he was nicked in Lake Elsinore, California after allegedly causing a scene at a local bar. He was booked into the county jail for alleged public intoxication and failing to register as a sex offender, which he was required to do due to his earlier groping conviction.
The comedian also has a long-running feud with fellow comic and actor Jon Lovitz. Once castmates on the hit sitcom ‘NewsRadio’, their friendship soured after the death of performer Phil Hartman in 1998.
Lovitz was close to Phil and has long been frustrated with Dick’s role in events leading up to the tragedy. According to long-established reports, Lovitz believed Dick gave Phil’s wife cocaine at a Christmas party in 1997, leading to a relapse after she had been sober for years.
In 1998, she fatally shot her husband while he slept following an argument between the pair. Soon after she shot and killed herself, leaving their two young children without any parents.
Tensions between Dick and Jon first exploded publicly years later when, in early 2007, the former allegedly confronted Lovitz at a Los Angeles restaurant, saying he had put a “Phil Hartman hex” on him and that he would be the “next to die.”
Lovitz was left stunned by the remark. The simmering resentment finally boiled over on July 10, 2007, at Hollywood’s Laugh Factory comedy club when he demanded an apology for the hex comment.
Cheats are winning the battle against anti-doping authorities in elite sport, according to a top official.
David Howman, who chairs the Athletics Integrity Unit and served as director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) for 13 years, says the anti-doping system has “stalled”, allowing those who take banned substances to prosper.
“Let’s be honest and pragmatic – the system has stalled,” Howman said.
“Intentional dopers at elite level are evading detection. We are not effective enough nowadays in catching cheats.
“Our ineffectiveness in dealing with those who are beating the rules is hurting the anti-doping movement’s credibility.”
Former world 100m silver medallist Marvin Bracy-Williams was banned for more than three and half years last month after admitting doping offences, while fellow American Erriyon Knighton was banned for four years in September after testing positive for steroids.
Women’s marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich was banned for three years in October after her sample showed a banned diuretic commonly used as a masking agent.
The unity of world anti-doping effort has been compromised in recent years.
Wada and the US anti-doping agency have clashed over the handling of a doping scandal involving 23 Chinese swimmers, funding and the staging of next year’s Enhanced Games, an event which encourages the use of banned substances, in Las Vegas.
The anti-doping authorities in Kenya, whose athletes have been involved in a spate of positive tests, are on a Wada watchlist, while Russia, whose officials were found to be involved in the systematic cheating and swapping of samples at the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi, are still judged as “non-compliant” by Wada.
Howman suggested better sharing of information among anti-doping bodies and a “bounty-hunting” style incentivisation to encourage them to proactively chase cheats.
Cheats are winning the battle against anti-doping authorities in elite sport, according to a top official.
David Howman, who chairs the Athletics Integrity Unit and served as director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) for 13 years, says the anti-doping system has “stalled”, allowing those who take banned substances to prosper.
“Let’s be honest and pragmatic – the system has stalled,” Howman said.
“Intentional dopers at elite level are evading detection. We are not effective enough nowadays in catching cheats.
“Our ineffectiveness in dealing with those who are beating the rules is hurting the anti-doping movement’s credibility.”
Former world 100m silver medallist Marvin Bracy-Williams was banned for more than three and half years last month after admitting doping offences, while fellow American Erriyon Knighton was banned for four years in September after testing positive for steroids.
Women’s marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich was banned for three years in October after her sample showed a banned diuretic commonly used as a masking agent.
The unity of world anti-doping effort has been compromised in recent years.
Wada and the US anti-doping agency have clashed over the handling of a doping scandal involving 23 Chinese swimmers, funding and the staging of next year’s Enhanced Games, an event which encourages the use of banned substances, in Las Vegas.
The anti-doping authorities in Kenya, whose athletes have been involved in a spate of positive tests, are on a Wada watchlist, while Russia, whose officials were found to be involved in the systematic cheating and swapping of samples at the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi, are still judged as “non-compliant” by Wada.
Howman suggested better sharing of information among anti-doping bodies and a “bounty-hunting” style incentivisation to encourage them to proactively chase cheats.
In her second public appearance after more than a year in hiding, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has promised that, one way or another, the presidency of Nicolas Maduro will end.
Speaking to reporters in Oslo, Norway, on Friday, Machado added that she was still hopeful that a change in leadership in Venezuela would be peaceful.
list of 3 itemsend of list
“Maduro will leave power, whether it is negotiated or not negotiated,” Machado said in Spanish. “I am focused on an orderly and peaceful transition.”
Her latest statement comes as the administration of US President Donald Trump maintains its buildup of military forces in the Caribbean.
The Trump administration has repeatedly struck alleged drug smuggling boats in the region, in what experts say amounts to extrajudicial killings. The president has also, in recent days, repeatedly threatened to begin operations on Venezuelan territories, in what he has characterised as actions to stem illegal drug flows from the country.
Maduro has accused the Trump administration of seeking to topple his government. Some critics have accused the US of aiming to open up Venezuela’s vast oil reserves to US and Western companies.
Machado, who remains popular in the Latin American country but was barred from running in last year’s presidential election, has been seen by many as Washington’s favourite to replace Maduro.
The opposition has maintained that Machado’s replacement, Edmond Gonzalez, won the July polls by a landslide, with a group of independent election experts later legitimising their evidence. Maduro has continued to claim victory.
On Thursday, Machado emerged in Oslo, Norway, where she received the Nobel Peace Prize after evading a travel ban in her home country.
The 58-year-old opposition leader has aligned herself closely with Trump and Venezuela hawks in the Republican Party.
She has praised several actions taken by the Trump administration to pressure Maduro, including the US seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean earlier this week.
Machado called Trump’s actions “decisive” in weakening Maduro’s government.
She has been more circumspect on the prospect of military action on Venezuelan territory, saying only on Thursday that Venezuela “has already been invaded”.
“We have the Russian agents, we have the Iranian agents, we have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, operating freely in accordance with the regime. We have the Colombian guerrilla, the drug cartels,” she said.
On Friday, she predicted that Venezuela’s armed forces would comply with a transition of power.
“I have confidence that the immense majority of the Venezuelan armed forces and the police are going, in the instant that the transition begins, to obey orders, guidelines, instructions from the superiors who will be designated by the civil authority duly elected by Venezuelans,” she said.
Experts have warned that any transition would need to be carefully negotiated with political and military officials to avoid an internal conflict.
Speaking at a briefing earlier this week, Francesca Emanuele, senior policy associate for Latin America at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), noted that Maduro’s Chavismo ideology, named after former leader Hugo Chavez, remains a strong political force in Venezuela, while segments of the opposition are also staunchly opposed to US military interventions.
A deeply entrenched system of corruption and patronage will also make many military officials hesitant to change allegiances, she explained.
“The military won’t want to leave the government of Maduro if they don’t have amnesties, if there is no negotiation, so we [could] see a very horrible, devastating conflict in Venezuela that would spread in the region,” she said in reference to a possible US military intervention.
For its part, the Trump administration has shown little indication that it planned to alleviate pressure.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt would not rule out future seizures of sanctioned vessels off Venezuela’s coast.
On Friday, Reuters news agency reported that Admiral Alvin Holsey, who leads US military forces in Latin America, would retire early.
Three US officials and two people familiar with the matter told the news agency that Holsey was forced out by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over frustrations with his response to the Pentagon’s increasingly aggressive strategy in the region.
Holsey has not publicly explained the reason for his retirement.