JUNE 18 (GMT) – JUNE 19 (AEST), 2021

YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS

FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 3

NORTH AMERICA UK AUSTRALIA

Three killed in tubing tragedy Lib Dems claim by-election win NSW on alert amid virus cases

Three people are dead and two remain Boris Johnson’s Tories have suffered a Mask use is again compulsory on missing after a group floating down a shock by-election defeat as the Liberal Sydney’s public transport after a man North Carolina river on inflatable tubes Democrats secured a historic win in picked up COVID-19 from “fleeting went over a dam, authorities said. Chesham and Amersham. Lib Dem exposure” with an infected shopper. A Rockingham County Emergency Services Sarah Green is the country’s newest MP number of new exposure sites have also Director Rodney Cates said a group of after winning the seat, which has been a been announced across Bondi Junction, nine people tubing on the Dan River Conservative stronghold since its creation as well as Macquarie Park and at Sydney’s went over the Duke Energy dam in Eden in 1974. The contest was triggered by the international airport. The man in his 50s around sunset on Wednesday, local time. death of former Cabinet minister Dame caught the virus while shopping at Myer A Duke Energy employee who saw some Cheryl Gillan, who took the seat with a Bondi Junction on Saturday. of the tubers called the situation in to majority of 16,233 in the 2019 general 911, Cates said. election – some 55 per cent of the vote.

NORTH AMERICA UK NEW ZEALAND

Biden faces long to-do list Blue Wall ‘beginning to crumble’ Shot in the arm for Ardern

President Joe Biden is facing a formidable Boris Johnson will be forced to confront Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has had a to-do list now that he’s back from some difficult political choices as he Covid-19 vaccination in Auckland, hailing his summit-filled trip to Europe, with assesses the Tory drubbing in Chesham it as a personal milestone. Ardern was pressing legislative challenges, foreign and Amersham. The Liberal Democrats vaccinated alongside the Chief Science policy follow-up and a need to steer the claim the result has sent a “shockwave Advisor Juliet Gerrard. After being country’s reopening as the coronavirus through British politics” by showing that innoculated, Ardern said it was “pretty threat recedes. His overseas tour was seats in the “Blue Wall” of Tory seats in pain free” and felt better than having the meant to showcase the US return to southern England are vulnerable. flu vaccination. “To be a part of what is global leadership – a central pledge of the biggest vaccination event and the Biden’s 2020 – but he now faces a critical biggest health rollout of our history is a juncture for securing other planks of his really important milestone for me.” agenda.

1 JUNE 18 (GMT) – JUNE 19 (AEST), 2021

YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS

FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 6

ASIA UK AUSTRALIA

Rampaging bear injures four Food exports to Europe plunge Rail driver killed as trains collide

A wild brown bear on the the loose all The UK exported more food and drink to A Queensland Rail train driver is dead night in a city in northern Japan wounded outside the EU than into it in the first few and two others are injured after a four people, entered a military camp months after Brexit as exports to the bloc locomotive and a coal train collided west and disrupted flights at an airport before nosedived. Sales to non-EU countries of Rockhampton. The three drivers were being shot and killed by authorities. The made up 55 per cent of all UK food and all on the locomotive when it collided bear was seen wandering through the drink exports in the first three months of with a coal train on the Aurizon rail streets of Sapporo, triggering a number 2021 compared to less than 40 per cent network, about 11:30am on Friday, local of calls to police. Over the next eight a year earlier, according to data from the time, Queensland Rail chief executive hours, Hokkaido prefectural police said Food and Drink Federation. However, Nick Easy said. Police say the driver the bear injured a woman in her 80s, this is not thanks to any major boom in who died was a 49-year-old man from a man in his 70s and a man in his 40s exports to non-EU countries, which only Margate, north of Brisbane. before attacking a soldier. rose by 0.3 per cent, the group said.

AFRICA UK NEW ZEALAND

Massive diamond unearthed Youth driving rise in Delta cases Peters slams vaccine rollout

A huge diamond weighing more than There has been a 79 per cent rise in one Former New Zealand Deputy Prime 1000 carats, which could be the third- week in cases of the Delta variant first Minister Winston Peters has picked a largest mined in history, has been identified in India, Public Health England surprise place to end his media boycott: discovered in the southern African says. Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of Australian breakfast television. And country of Botswana. The high-quality the UK Health Security Agency, said the the 76-year-old doyen of Kiwi politics gemstone weighing 1098.3 carats was increase across the UK is being driven by has used it to slam the government’s unearthed earlier this month in the younger age groups, many of whom have Covid-19 vaccine rollout, deriding as “too Jwaneng mine owned by Debswana, now been invited for a vaccination as the late” and leaving NZ open to potential the mining company jointly owned by jab rollout extends to anyone aged 18 tragedy. Peters first entered parliament the Botswanan government and the De and over. Hospital cases have also risen, more than 40 years ago, but lost his Beers Group. though most of those needing treatment seat last year in Jacinda Ardern’s Labour have not had a vaccine. landslide.

2 JUNE 18 (GMT) – JUNE 19 (AEST), 2021

Emergency personnel respond to the scene where a group tubing on the Dan river went President Joe Biden. - AP over a dam in North Carolina. - AP

NORTH AMERICA NORTH AMERICA Three dead, two missing Biden faces to-do list on after tubers go over dam return home from Europe

Three people are dead and two remain missing after a President Joe Biden is facing a formidable to-do list now group floating down a North Carolina river on inflatable that he’s back from his summit-filled trip to Europe, with tubes went over a dam, authorities said. pressing legislative challenges, foreign policy follow- up and a need to steer the country’s reopening as the Rockingham County Emergency Services Director Rodney Cates coronavirus threat recedes. said a group of nine people tubing on the Dan River went over the Duke Energy dam in Eden around sunset on Wednesday, His overseas tour was meant to showcase the US return to local time. A Duke Energy employee who saw some of the global leadership – a central pledge of Biden’s 2020 campaign tubers called the situation in to 911, Cates said. for the White House – but he now faces a critical juncture Cates did not release the identities of the three people for securing other planks of his agenda. From voting rights who died. and immigration to his massive legislation on jobs and Four other people were rescued and taken to a hospital for infrastructure, Biden is trying to get as much done as possible treatment of injuries that Cates said were not life-threatening. in Congress before the start of its August recess. Two more remained missing. “I think we – the country, has put a different face on where Boats and helicopters were used in the search in the county we’ve been and where we’re going,” Biden said on the tarmac north of Greensboro along the Virginia state line. in Geneva as he headed back to Washington. “And I feel good Cates said it’s not immediately clear why the tubers didn’t about it.” contact authorities sooner, but he said it may have been It has been a start-and-stop process on many of Biden’s because they didn’t have phones with them. priorities on Capitol Hill, where Democrats hold the majority He said it’s not unusual for people to float the river on tubes but only by the narrowest of margins. He is reaching for or rafts in the area but most get out and walk around the dam, bipartisan deals with Republicans while also moving along with which is marked by signs. The dam is approximately eight feet his own party’s go-it-alone strategy, a two-pronged approach (2.5m) tall, he said. ■ that is particularly coming into focus on his big infrastructure investment plan. Other legislation, on voting rights, policing reforms and immigration, will need support from Republicans in the Senate, and talks are teetering on those and other issues as bipartisan groups of lawmakers strain to find agreements while the days tick off on the legislative calendar. Talks over immigration have all but come to a standstill, and Democrats are now eying putting some immigration law changes into the infrastructure overhaul, relying on budget rules that would allow majority passage without the need for Republican votes. Talks on policing reform are still going, but even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi noted, “It’s challenging.” ■

3 JUNE 18 (GMT) – JUNE 19 (AEST), 2021

Lib Dem Sarah Green. - PA Conservative candidate Peter Fleet. – PA

UK UK Liberal Democrats claim Tory Party Blue Wall historic by-election win ‘beginning to crumble’

Boris Johnson’s Tories have suffered a shock by-election Boris Johnson will be forced to confront some difficult defeat as the Liberal Democrats secured a historic win in political choices as he assesses the Tory drubbing in Chesham and Amersham. Chesham and Amersham.

Lib Dem Sarah Green is the country’s newest MP after winning The Liberal Democrats claim the result has sent a “shockwave the seat, which has been a Conservative stronghold since its through British politics” by showing that seats in the “Blue Wall” creation in 1974. of Tory seats in southern England are vulnerable. The contest was triggered by the death of former Cabinet The warning signs were there in the local elections in May – minister Dame Cheryl Gillan, who took the seat with a majority although Conservative eyes may instead have been tempted of 16,233 in the 2019 general election – some 55 per cent to look north, where further inroads were being made into of the vote. previously safe Labour territory. The stunning result saw Green defeat Tory Peter Fleet by a The party lost councillors in places including Tunbridge majority of 8028. Wells, Surrey and Oxfordshire, as well as the West of England Green said she was “humbled by the faith you have placed in mayoralty. me” and promised she would hold the government to account. But there was nothing as spectacular as the loss of Chesham “This Conservative Party has taken people across the country and Amersham – a seat which had been in Tory hands since for granted for far too long,” she said. its creation in 1974 and which returned a Tory MP with 55 per The victory saw Green take almost 56.7 per cent of the vote, cent of the vote in 2019 with the Tories second, the Green Party in third with 1480 The lingering Brexit divide, the Prime Minister’s style of votes and Labour trailing in fourth with just 622 votes, losing politics and demographic shifts which have seen younger, the party’s deposit in the process. liberal voters priced out of cities and head to the suburbs and In her acceptance speech, Green said: “Tonight the voice of commuter belt have all contributed to an erosion of previously Chesham and Amersham is unmistakable. rock-solid Tory heartlands. “Together we have said ‘Enough is enough, we will be heard The shift was nowhere near as significant as the collapse and this government will listen’. in Labour support across former industrial areas in the north “This campaign has shown that no matter where you live, or and Midlands – the crumbling “Red Wall” which helped Johnson how supposedly safe a constituency may appear to be, if you secure his 2019 landslide. want a Liberal Democrat member of Parliament, you can have But the Prime Minister’s focus on “levelling up” means Tory a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament. priorities may lie beyond their southern strongholds, while “If you wish to reject Conservative mismanagement and the Chesham and Amersham contest showed that proposed vote for a voice that will represent you and stand up for your planning reforms aimed at boosting housebuilding may not be rights then it is the Liberal Democrats who will continue to vote-winners in the home counties. fight your corner.” After confirmation of Sarah Green’s victory, defeated Tory She added: “We will continue the work of holding this Peter Fleet hinted that the Conservative effort in Chesham and government to account for letting Covid rip through the care Amersham had not been able to match the resources directed homes." ■ at the Buckinghamshire seat by the Liberal Democrats. ■

4 JUNE 18 (GMT) – JUNE 19 (AEST), 2021

Sydneysiders wearing masks in the CBD in Sydney. - AAP Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gets her Covid vaccine. – RNZ / Louise Ternouth

AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND Exposures prompt Shot in the arm as Sydney mask move Ardern gets vaccine

Mask use is again compulsory on Sydney’s public Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has had a Covid-19 transport after a man picked up COVID-19 from “fleeting vaccination in Auckland, hailing it as a personal exposure” with an infected shopper. milestone.

A number of new exposure sites have also been announced Ardern was vaccinated alongside the Chief Science Advisor across Bondi Junction, as well as Macquarie Park and at Juliet Gerrard. Sydney’s international airport. After being innoculated, Ardern said it was “pretty pain free” The man in his 50s caught the virus while shopping at Myer and felt better than having the flu vaccination. Bondi Junction on Saturday. He was on the same floor in the “To be a part of what is the biggest vaccination event and same section as a limousine driver believed to be at the centre the biggest health rollout of our history is a really important of this week’s outbreak. milestone for me.” His symptoms began on Tuesday and he visited venues Ardern has outlined staggered age bands for the rollout of in Redfern, Newtown, Bondi Junction and Campbelltown the vaccine to the wider population. while infectious. Those aged 60 or over would be eligible from 28 July, and NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said it appeared the those aged 55 and over from 11 August. limousine driver had passed on the Delta strain of the virus Further age cohorts would be confirmed following more with just fleeting contact. Pfizer shipments in July. Queensland and Tasmania on Friday responded to Ardern said despite about only 7.7 per cent of the the development by tightening border restrictions, with population being fully vaccinated, she was pleased with Queensland declaring a virus hotspot from 1am on Saturday in progress of the immunisation program. Sydney’s Waverley council area. There were over 340,000 people in the country who are Tasmania will block entry for those who attended any NSW fully vaccinated, and some time next week, it was expected the exposure site. millionth dose would be administered. “This indicates that the initial case was highly infectious as Meanwhile Ardern said the government was constantly transmission must have occurred through fleeting exposure,” reviewing and improving its managed isolation service. Chant said. An independent review of the country’s 31 managed “(This is) noting that the person who caught the infection at isolation facilities had made 82 recommendations for the cafe was seated outside and there was no known (contact) improvements. with the initial case.” Eight of the recommendations were deemed ‘high priority’ – As a result, mask usage is again compulsory on Sydney including strengthening IT systems and iwi-Māori partnerships. public transport for at least the next five days, Premier Gladys Ardern said the country’s MIQ facilties had always operated Berejiklian announced. under a constant review and improvement system. Berejiklian urged people who’ve been to venues on NSW’s “That’s exactly what we need to do where we have a virus hotspot list “that you don’t go away anywhere” as the number that continues to evolve and variants that continue to pose of people forced to isolate as a result of the Bondi Junction a threat." ■ cluster climbed to more than 100. ■

5 JUNE 18 (GMT) – JUNE 19 (AEST), 2021

Police gather to look for a bear on the loose in Sapporo, northern Japan. - AP - 123RF

ASIA AFRICA Rampaging bear in Massive diamond Japan injures four found in Botswana

A wild brown bear on the the loose all night in a city in A huge diamond weighing more than 1000 carats, which northern Japan wounded four people, entered a military could be the third-largest mined in history, has been camp and disrupted flights at an airport before being discovered in the southern African country of Botswana. shot and killed by authorities. The high-quality gemstone weighing 1098.3 carats was The bear was seen wandering through the streets of Sapporo unearthed earlier this month in the Jwaneng mine owned in the early hours of Friday, local time, triggering a number of by Debswana, the mining company jointly owned by the calls to police. Over the next eight hours, Hokkaido prefectural Botswanan government and the De Beers Group. police said the bear injured a woman in her 80s, a man in his “With the recent introduction of a modern, state-of-the-art 70s and a man in his 40s before attacking a soldier. large diamond pilot plant, I have every hope that we will be Police said the condition of those injured was not known, but able to recover more large diamonds,” said Lynette Armstrong, the Asahi newspaper reported that the man in his 40s suffered Debswana’s acting managing director. serious injuries to his chest, back and limbs after he was “This by all standards is a great metallurgical achievement, to mauled by the bear while walking on the street. recover a diamond of this size intact through our conventional Footage on local television showed the bear wandering a ore processing plant,” she said. street in Sapporo. Chased by a car, it crossed a busy road and The large diamond – 73mm long, 52mm wide and 27mm forced its way into the Ground Self-Defence Force’s Camp thick – is the largest gem-quality diamond found in Debswana’s Okadama. The bear knocked down a uniformed soldier on mines in the company’s more than 50-year history, she duty at the gate. said. Diamonds were discovered in Botswana in 1967 and The soldier suffered cuts to his chest and stomach, but his Debswana was formed in 1969. injuries were not life threatening, according to the Defence The most recent large diamond found at Jwaneng mine was Ministry. a stone weighing 446 carats in 1993, she said. Next the bear ran through the camp and intruded onto “The first sighting of the stone was on the first of June by our the runway at a nearby airport, causing several flights to colleagues Kefentse Orakeng and Phodiso Selaledi when it was be grounded. processed in the Aquarium plant. This sighting was confirmed The bear then ran into a forest, where it was shot by local three days later in the sort house on June 4th by a team led by hunters. Wapula Gaolatlhe,” said Armstrong. Toshihiro Hamada, an official at Sapporo city environmental The big diamond is good news for Botswana’s beleaguered department, said the bear’s presence in town was a surprise economy which has experienced a significant downturn during and officials were investigating how the animal ended up in the COVID-19 pandemic. Diamonds account for about two- town. thirds of Botswana’s export earnings. ■ “We are sorry that four people were injured,” Hamada said. Brown bears roam mainly in Hokkaido forests, but experts say they have been increasingly spotted in inhabited areas looking for food, especially during the summer. ■

6 JUNE 18 (GMT) – JUNE 19 (AEST), 2021

- PA - PA

UK UK Food exports to Europe Younger people driving plunge after Brexit rise in Delta virus cases

The UK exported more food and drink to outside the There has been a 79 per cent rise in one week in cases of EU than into it in the first few months after Brexit as the Delta variant first identified in India, Public Health exports to the bloc nosedived. England (PHE) says.

Sales to non-EU countries made up 55 per cent of all UK food Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security and drink exports in the first three months of 2021 compared Agency, said the increase across the UK is being driven by to less than 40 per cent a year earlier, according to data from younger age groups, many of whom have now been invited the Food and Drink Federation. for a vaccination as the jab rollout extends to anyone aged However, this is not thanks to any major boom in exports 18 and over. to non-EU countries, which only rose by 0.3 per cent, Hospital cases have also risen, though most of those the group said. needing treatment have not had a vaccine. It means that overall exports of food and drink sunk to The data shows that 75,953 confirmed and probable cases £3.7 billion from £5.1 billion a year earlier. of the COVID-19 Delta variant have now been found in the UK – “The loss of £2 billion of exports to the EU is a disaster up by 33,630, or 79 per cent, on the previous week. for our industry, and is a very clear indication of the scale of Of the 75,953, some 70,856 have been in England, 4659 in losses that UK manufacturers face in the longer-term due to Scotland, 254 in Northern Ireland and 184 in Wales. new trade barriers with the EU,” said the federation’s head of The most recent data shows 99 per cent of confirmed international trade Dominic Goudie. and probable cases of coronavirus across the country are Some of the drop will be down to EU importers having the Delta variant. stockpiled goods from the UK ahead of Brexit, the Food and Dr Harries said: “Cases are rising rapidly across the country Drink Exporters Association’s John Whitehead said. and the Delta variant is now dominant. Yet, he said, “significant business has been lost as a direct “The increase is primarily in younger age groups, a large result of the additional bureaucracy, customs delays and costs proportion of which were unvaccinated but are now being of trading with the EU.” invited to receive the vaccine.” He added: “Experienced FDEA members are continuing to Meanwhile, 806 people in England have been admitted to battle against inconsistent interpretations of regulations across hospital with the Delta variant of COVID-19 as of June 14, a rise the EU and having to weigh up whether the time and cost of 423 on the previous week, according to PHE data. involved is sustainable. We fully support the FDF in pressing Of the 806 admitted, 527 (65 per cent) were unvaccinated, Government to boost support for exporters.” 135 (17 per cent) were more than 21 days after their first dose The hardest hit sector was dairy exporters. Milk and cream of vaccine, and 84 (10 per cent) were more than 14 days after exports to the EU dropped more than 90 per cent while their second dose. cheese exports fell by two-thirds. Dr Harries said: “It is encouraging to see that hospitalisations Across the three months food and drink exports to Ireland and deaths are not rising at the same rate, but we will continue dropped by nearly 71 per cent, while to Portugal they dropped to monitor it closely. 72 per cent and to Spain by 63 per cent. ■ “The vaccination programme and the care that we are all taking to follow the guidance are continuing to save lives.” ■

7 JUNE 18 (GMT) – JUNE 19 (AEST), 2021

RACQ CapRescue attending the scene of a train collision near Westwood, 50kms west of Former deputy prime minister Winston Peters and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. – RNZ / Rockhampton. - AAP Dom Thomas

AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND Queensland Rail driver Peters slams Ardern’s killed as trains collide COVID vaccine rollout

A Queensland Rail train driver is dead and two others Former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston are injured after a locomotive and a coal train collided Peters has picked a surprise place to end his media west of Rockhampton. boycott: Australian breakfast television.

The three drivers were all on the locomotive when it collided And the 76-year-old doyen of Kiwi politics has used it to slam with a coal train on the Aurizon rail network, about 11:30am the government’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout, deriding as “too on Friday, local time, Queensland Rail chief executive Nick Easy late” and leaving NZ open to potential tragedy. said. Peters first entered parliament more than 40 years ago, but Police say the driver who died was a 49-year-old man from lost his seat last year in Jacinda Ardern’s Labour landslide. Margate, north of Brisbane. The proud populist has kept a low profile since October’s Another driver, 43, suffered a broken leg and was flown to poll humbling, declining all interview requests. Rockhampton Hospital. The third driver, 41, sustained minor On Friday morning, he shocked political observers by giving injuries and was taken to the hospital by road. an interview with Channel Nine’s Today show from Earnslaw Police have said both trains were westbound but it’s unclear Park on the Queenstown waterfront. if both were moving at the time of the crash. Peters, who made Ardern prime minister by forming a The RACQ CapRescue helicopter service, which attended the coalition with Labour in the last parliament, attacked the scene, said it appeared one train was stationary and was hit current government’s vaccination program. from behind by the other. “We’re half way through the vaccine year and we’ve done “We are deeply saddened and distressed by the incident and about a tenth of the job. That’s the problem,” he said. our priority is the welfare of our people and the families of the “It’s months too late. A lot of the strands right now are real drivers involved,” Easy said. dangerous. If (an outbreak) would happen we could see a He said the Rail Safety Regulator and Workplace Health and tragedy again.” Safety Queensland would investigate the cause of the crash NZ is ranked 120th in the world for vaccine doses “Given the nature of the incident, it is not appropriate to administered per capita – last in the developed world. comment or speculate further on the potential cause.” It is likely to hit one million doses next week. The Capricorn Highway had to be closed for about two hours NZ has five million people, including about four million so the helicopter could get access to the scene. adults, each of whom need two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Forensic Crash Unit investigations are continuing. ■ The government’s vaccination plan includes a major spike from July. “We’ve got to get our rollout going much faster,” Peters said. “When we get 80, 90 per cent, we’ll be safe, so to speak.” Peters’ New Zealand First party picked up just 2.6 per cent of the nationwide vote in the 2020 election. NZ First is holding its AGM in Auckland on Sunday, where Peters is expected to speak and potentially rejoin the political fray. ■

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