Child sex offender Hamzeh Bahrami jailed over attack on young girl in Blair Athol toilet block

A man who sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl at a sports ground in Adelaide's north has been sentenced to more than four-and-a-half years in prison — but could apply for release in less than half that time.

Key points:

Hamzeh Bahrami lured the girl to the toilet block

He was arrested by police two weeks after the attack

Judge Paul Slattery has set a three-year non-parole period

Hamzeh Bahrami, 33, assaulted the girl multiple times at a Blair Athol playground and nearby toilet block in April 2019 in front of his own young daughter and niece.

Judge Paul Slattery called the offending "abhorrent in the extreme" and said it was concerning Bahrami could not explain his actions.

The judge said the sentence took into account the fact that Bahrami accused the victim of lying, fabricated a version of events and allowed his innocent brother to be arrested over the incident.

Bahrami was handed a head sentence of four years and nine months in prison, and a non-parole period of three years.

Both were backdated to when Bahrami was taken into custody in April 2019, meaning he could be eligible for parole in less than two years, in April 2022.

In a victim impact statement, the girl's mother wrote that the attack on her daughter had left her family unable to "trust anyone".

"The perpetrator was known to the community so it's very uncomfortable," she said.

"I know feel like I don't want to do anything with the community.

"I now feel like I can't trust anyone, and that the children can't trust anyone."

Bahrami pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count of false imprisonment over the attack.

He arrived in Australia with his mother and siblings as refugees in 2006.

In a letter of apology, he said custody had granted him time to reflect on the seriousness of his crime.

"As a parent of a four-year-old daughter, I cannot imagine how I would react if someone abused her in the same way that I abused my victim. I know that I would be very, very angry," he said.

"As a child in Afghanistan I witnessed several acts of brutal physical abuse of other children and the fact that I have since caused so much damage to an innocent child fills me with shame.

"I fully accept that I may spend many years behind bars for my crimes but I hope that up (sic) my eventual release I will become a positive contributor to the community once again."

Offending was 'impulsive', psychiatrist says

Police have previously said the victim had been playing at a park at suburban Blair Athol when she was approached by Bahrami.

The court heard last month she was on a swing set when he asked her where the toilets were.

Prosecutors said he then sexually assaulted her multiple times and threatened her inside a locked cubicle as his daughter and niece peered under the door. Bahrami was arrested two weeks after the attack following a police campaign, which included officers doorknocking in the area.

Police had initially arrested his brother, but withdrew the charges "after forensic evidence cleared him of direct involvement" in the attack.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-06/child-sex-offender-hamzeh-bahrami-jailed/12424824

Netanyahu sounds alarm over Israel’s new Covid-19 spike, warning ‘we’re in a state of emergency’

Israel is currently in a “state of emergency,” in the wake of the alarmingly high number of new coronavirus cases, PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said. The country has smashed past the 10,000 active cases mark and the growth continues.

Speaking during the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu called on the country’s legislators to work faster on a new package of anti-coronavirus measures.

“We’re in a state of emergency. We cannot delay the legislation – we must move forward with it to stop the spread,” the PM stated, referring to the ongoing spike.

We’re in the midst of a renewed coronavirus attack. We’re seeing, as I’ve warned before, that the outbreak is accompanied by an increase in the number of serious cases, which will challenge the Health Ministry.

On Friday, the number of active Covid-19 cases in Israel passed the 10,000 mark for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. The total number of registered cases is rapidly approaching the 30,000 mark, the latest figures from the US’ Johns Hopkins University indicate.

Tel Aviv imposed very strict restrictions to fight the disease, including shutting down businesses and strictly limiting the movement of Israel’s citizenry. The measures seemingly worked, because, late in May, the number of active cases was as low as 1,900. It was this drop that prompted the authorities to start easing the restrictions. However, the infection rate picked up shortly afterwards, derailing the planned relaxation of the lockdown.

Worldwide, the coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 530,000 people, having infected a total of some 11.4 million. In recent weeks, the spread has accelerated in a number of countries, including Brazil, India and the US, which currently have the largest numbers of registered cases.

https://www.rt.com/news/493873-israel-covid-netanyahu-emergency/

Fauci omits context, feeds alarm with warning of 100,000 coronavirus infections a day

Estimates by other U.S. public health authorities and academic researchers indicate we may have already far surpassed 100,000 new infections per day, the vast majority of them mild and/or asymptomatic.

Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before the Senate this week that the United States could soon see as many as 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day, feeding alarmist narratives that have spread rapidly through the media: Surging COVID-19 infections, hospital systems under strain, and the prospect of a "second wave" of the virus potentially throwing much of the nation back into open-ended lockdowns.

Yet estimates cited by other U.S. public health authorities and academic researchers indicate we may have already far surpassed 100,000 new infections per day, the vast majority of them mild and/or asymptomatic. If so, the U.S. would now be significantly closer to herd immunity — and the end of the pandemic — than widely assumed.

A representative of Fauci's office this week told Just the News that the public health expert's estimate this week was not "a hard prediction that we’d reach 100,000 cases per day"; rather, the doctor was indicating that "if we do not act quickly and decisively, the cases could surge to that level as a matter of exponential growth."

To be sure, cases in recent weeks have been surging in multiple states across the country, including Texas and Florida, with some local health systems under growing strain to handle the number of COVID-19-positive patients filling hospital beds. However, many of those states began reopening as long as two months ago, leaving experts scrambling to explain why surges would suddenly begin so long after reopening commenced.

Whatever the explanation, health officials have been bracing for an even bigger surge in the weeks ahead, fearing that a scenario as envisioned by Fauci could very well be in the near future.

Serology tests indicate far wider spread than confirmed cases

Yet, based on an estimate cited recently by Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of confirmed cases per day throughout the country would have topped 100,000 long ago and remained at significantly high levels for months.

During a news call last month, Redfield estimated that — based on the evidence of ongoing serology tests, which look for antibodies indicating past infection from COVID-19 — the CDC's "best estimate right now is that for every case that's reported, there actually are 10 other infections."

If those estimates drawn from serology studies are correct, that would place the number of coronavirus infections in the country at about 30,000,000. In addition to sending the death rate of the disease plummeting, that number would also indicate that the U.S. has for some time been adding daily infections greatly exceeding those of Fauci's worst estimates.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/fauci-said-us-may-soon-hit-100000-cases-day-evidence-suggests-were

Oh FFS next attack coming in

Coronavirus Is Airborne: 239 Scientists Outline Evidence Proving COVID-19 Airborne Transmission

More scientists argue SARS-CoV-2 can be spread by small droplets or aerosols

WHO is unconvinced COVID-19 is airborne

"We consider airborne transmission as possible but certainly not supported by solid or even clear evidence," WHO says

Hundreds of scientists worldwide urge the World Health Organization (WHO) to reconsider its stand that COVID-19 is not airborne and revise its global recommendations accordingly.

WHO continues to insist SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the virus that causes COVID-19, is spread primarily by large respiratory droplets that fall quickly to the floor after being expelled by an infected person that coughs or sneezes.

As a corollary to this theory, WHO also believes in the fomite transmission of SARS-CoV-2. A fomite is any inanimate surface, hence, WHO's recommendation for frequent hand washing. Both these theories are now being assailed by scientists based on mounting evidence.

WHO continues to dismiss a widening body of evidence small SARS-CoV-2 particles floating indoors are infectious, saying research that bears this out is inconclusive. This claim is being challenged once again.

In an open letter to WHO, 239 scientists from 32 countries presented evidence showing smaller particles can infect people. The letter will be published in a scientific journal next week, said The New York Times.

These scientists say repeated outbreaks and clusters of infections in many countries increasingly confirm SARS-CoV-2 lingers in the air indoors and infects persons close by. They contend the distinction between particle size is unnecessary since WHO and its critics agree on airborne transmission. They said WHO keeps insisting on an artificial distinction between tiny aerosols and larger droplets despite evidence proving infected people produce both types.

“We’ve known since 1946 that coughing and talking generate aerosols,” Dr. Linsey Marr, an expert in airborne transmission of viruses at Virginia Tech, told The Times.

Dr. Marr said SARS-CoV-2 appears to be most infectious when people are in prolonged contact at close range, especially indoors. She said this transmission is even worse in superspreader events such as indoor gatherings in large places.

https://www.ibtimes.com/coronavirus-airborne-239-scientists-outline-evidence-proving-covid-19-airborne-3005786

CBA down: CommBank app, website outage hits thousands of customers

Countless Aussie Commonwealth Bank customers have been left in the lurch after the organisation’s app and website failed this afternoon.

Commonwealth Bank customers have taken to social media after the bank experienced a widespread outage affecting payments and online banking this afternoon.

It appears most customers have encountered problems at point-of-sale terminals or while trying to view their banking details via the app or website.

A CBA spokeswoman confirmed the outage and apologised to affected customers in a statement provided to news.com.au.

“We’re aware of an issue impacting some POS transactions on some CBA terminals, as well as viewing cards and loans in the CommBank app and NetBank,” the spokeswoman said.

“We’re working to fix this as soon as possible.

“We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience.”

It has not yet been confirmed what has caused the failure or how many of the bank’s 15.9 million customers are affected.

Customers have experienced a range of issues today including viewing their accounts and statements for a variety of home loan, credit card and savings accounts, paying with CBA debit and credit cards and using cardless cash.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/banking/cba-down-commbank-app-website-outage-hits-thousands-of-customers/news-story/384774f838cbcee148774d0dce348432