Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews tests positive for Covid

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has tested positive for Covid and will stand aside from the top job while he is in isolation.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has tested positive for Covid and will stand aside from the top job for the next week while he isolates.

Mr Andrews said he developed mild symptoms on Monday morning, including a sore throat and mild temperature.

“I undertook a rapid antigen test. I have tested positive to Covid, and will now isolate for the next seven days,” he said in a statement.

Mr Andrews said he is isolating at his home in Melbourne.

The premier said his wife, Cath, and children, Joseph, Grace and Noah, had tested negative but would isolate for seven days at home as close contacts.

He took to Twitter to say his family had stocked up on Panadol and he would be spending the week “resting up”.

Mr Andrews and his family attended the premiere of Hamilton in at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne on Thursday evening.

Deputy Premier James Merlino will be Acting Premier for the next week.

Victoria recorded 8739 new community infections of Covid-19 on Monday, however the premier’s result will be included in Tuesday’s figures.

There are 252 people in hospital with the virus, including 21 in ICU and six on ventilators.

The state is currently managing almost 57,000 active cases, the majority of which were detected on at-home rapid antigen tests.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/politics/victorian-premier-daniel-andrews-tests-positive-for-covid/news-story/dc0657129dbfb0bb43c30ce03fb7386d

The Star CEO Matt Bekier resigns effective immediately

The managing director and CEO of The Star Entertainment Group Matt Bekier has resigned following damning allegations aired during public hearings into the casino.

In a statement to the market this morning, the casino operator said Mr Bekier had tendered his resignation to the board, saying as CEO he was accountable for the company as a whole.

Mr Bekier will step down from the board immediately, but no final departure date has been set.

"Mr Bekier's decision follows issues raised in public hearings in connection with the review of The Star Sydney being undertaken by Mr Adam Bell SC," the company said in a statement.

"While the review remains ongoing, Mr Bekier informed the board that as managing director and CEO he is accountable for the effectiveness and adequacy of the company's processes, policies, people and culture.

"Mr Bekier said the right thing to do was for him to take responsibility."

Among the allegations aired during the Bell Inquiry were concerns the casino disguised approximately $900 million worth of gambling transactions by Chinese high rollers as "hotel expenses".

Mr Bekier will work with the board to "transition his executive responsibilities in an orderly manner".

https://www.9news.com.au/national/the-star-casino-ceo-matt-bekier-resigns-immediately-bell-inquiry/4e04646d-1099-4697-a453-0e1350936401

Manhattan D.A.: 6 facing charges in takedown of ‘global bitcoin money laundering operation’

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. on Thursday announced the indictment of Thomas Spieker, 42, for operating a global money laundering business that enabled at least 7 clients, who engaged in a wide-range of criminal activity, to use Bitcoin anonymously to hide and obscure their illegal proceeds. Between January 2018 and August 2021, SPIEKER converted more than $2.3 million into Bitcoin and more than $380,000 worth of Bitcoin into U.S. dollars, using a rotating set of accomplices including Dustin Sites, 33, to open bank and cryptocurrency exchange accounts to launder criminal proceeds.

Spieker is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with multiple counts of Unlicensed Money Transmission and Money Laundering in the Third and Fourth Degrees. Sites is charged with one count of Unlicensed Money Transmission.

Many of Spieker’s clients are also charged for criminal activity uncovered by the Manhattan D.A.’s Office’s investigation, including Zashan Khan, 30, and Cosma Siekierski, 25, who are charged with operating an illegal drug marketplace on the dark web that manufactured and sold MDMA, ketamine, and counterfeit Xanax to all 50 states; and Anderson Laroc, 33, who is charged with a “SIM-swapping” identity theft scheme that targeted 30 victims across the U.S.

“As alleged, this sprawling web of international money laundering helped drug traffickers, an organized crime ring, and scammers hide their criminal activity and transmit their proceeds around the globe,” said District Attorney Bragg. “This case shows us how new technologies like cryptocurrency can become key drivers of a wide-range of criminal activity that can easily span across the globe, but the indictment today makes clear that my Office has the tools and expertise to uncover and prosecute these schemes in any form that they take. As technology evolves, so does our work, and alongside our partners, we will continue to dismantle these complex crime rings.”

“It is alleged that the defendant charged today openly bragged about laundering illicit proceeds for a rolodex of crooks involved in a variety of unscrupulous activity ranging from dark web drug dealing to identity theft and other online scams,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Acting Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel. “While Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are quickly emerging as alternatives to traditional monetary payments, transnational criminal organizations and malicious actors are evolving to utilize these methods of payment to launder dirty money in perceived anonymity. Today’s arrests demonstrate HSI’s commitment to work with its partners and unravel the most sophisticated of cyber schemes and bring to justice those that manipulate technology for illicit purposes.”

https://breaking911.com/manhattan-d-a-6-facing-charges-in-takedown-of-global-bitcoin-money-laundering-operation/

Will Smith Rushes Oscar Stage And Punches Chris Rock In The Face For Insulting His Wife

Will Smith rushed the Oscar stage and punched comedian Chris Rock in the face for making a joke about his wife Jada’s haircut.

Rock had joked about her haircut resembling G.I. Jane and had started to move on as Smith approached the stage and punched him dead in the face.

Rock, stunned, attempted to shake it off and keep going with his part as Smith shouted at him from back in the audience.

The outburst from the audience was not censored in Australia, with the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire actor shouting keep my wife’s name out of your f-cking mouth!”

“Wow dude, it was a G.I. Jane joke,” Rock responded.

It was not immediately clear if the actor was removed from the award’s ceremony following the violent outburst.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/watch-will-smith-rushes-oscar-stage-punches-chris-rock-face-insulting-wife/

Russian energy chief says country will begin taking payment for oil in gold, bitcoin to bypass Western sanctions

The chairman of the Russian Energy Committee says that his nation is likely to begin taking payment for energy exports in “hard currency” and Bitcoin.

“If they want to buy, let them pay either in hard currency, and this is gold for us, or pay as it is convenient for us,” said Pavel Zavalny, a Duma deputy, according to an English translation of his words.

“The set of currencies can be different, and this is normal practice, [so] you can also trade bitcoins,” he added.

Perhaps in response to Zavalny’s remarks, Bitcoin rose last week to $44,000 for one of the currency instruments, Big League Politics reported.

Meanwhile, much of the West continues to support Ukraine with sanctions on Russia, though the Ukrainian government was a corrupt authoritarian regime prior to the Russian invasion on February 24.

But more than anything else, Russia — with Chinese assistance — appears to be on a path to separate itself from the current globalist order, and will take its vast wealth in natural resources with it.

That said, what is more maddening is the effect those Western sanctions are already having on the global order the elitists created without even our tacit approval. The interconnectivity of relying on others for resources and capabilities that could be domestically produced began decades ago in the U.S. with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which built on GATT — the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade signed in 1947 by 23 countries after World War II. GATT “was a legal agreement minimizing barriers to international trade by eliminating or reducing quotas, tariffs, and subsidies while preserving significant regulations,” according to Investopedia. It “was intended to boost economic recovery after World War II through reconstructing and liberalizing global trade.”

https://www.cracknewz.com/2022/03/russian-energy-chief-says-country-will.html

Teacher who flagged alleged strip searches put on leave, given more violations

The Garside Junior High School teacher who reported alleged student strip searches was put on paid administrative leave Friday, her lawyer said.

Shushan Sadjadi was also hit with seven new alleged violations, attorney Brian Berman said, totaling 24 teaching offenses since she reported the strip search allegations in February.

Sadjadi, a math teacher, was confronted after class Friday by the Garside principal and told she was being “assigned to home” while an investigation was being conducted, Berman said.

The principal, Marbella Alfonzo, took Sadjadi’s badge and keys, and the teacher was ordered to leave the school campus, Berman said. Sadjadi’s access to the school’s computer system also was revoked.

“I presume they’re setting her up for termination,” Berman said. “If I had to make up the facts, I couldn’t dream up a better case of retaliation.”

Sadjadi could not be reached for comment.

Clark County School District spokesman Tod Story said he could not comment on the administrative action because it was a personnel matter.

Sadjadi’s departure comes one day after the Review-Journal published a story online in which Sadjadi and Berman accused Garside administrators of retaliating against her after she raised concerns about the alleged strip searches.

Both Story and Alfonzo have said the school has not been able to substantiate the allegations.

But another teacher also reported on Feb. 11 one of her students had experienced an “uncomfortable” search, according to a school district document.

Sadjadi, who teaches seventh- and eighth-graders, told the Review-Journal this week that both male and female students voluntarily told her about uncomfortable searches by administrators and staff members after suspicions of marijuana use.

Sadjadi said she reported the concerns to Garside administrators the morning of Feb. 11 after students first told her about the searches the previous day. She claims Alfonzo and Vice Principal Matthew Spurk were initially slow to respond to her concerns.

School district regulations say strip searches can only be conducted in “extraordinary circumstances when necessary to avoid an immediate threat or danger to safety, welfare or health and less intrusive means are not practical.”

Earlier Friday, district police told Sadjadi they were investigating whether students were strip-searched, and they went to Garside to interview her, Berman said.

Sadjadi had no teaching violations prior to raising her concerns about the possible searches, Berman said.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/investigations/teacher-who-flagged-alleged-strip-searches-put-on-leave-given-more-violations-2551534/?itm_source=parsely-api