Family of 2-year-old girl killed in Pierce County sues day care, state agency
Bowling Green earns 87-62 win over Aquinas
Cancer centre raises $2.7 million for purchase of 'game changer' surgical robotSave articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Miriam Gluyas has been up since 4am in the Melbourne morning to make it here for our lunch, which will not trouble this masthead’s budget. She is warm and bright in a tomato-red cardigan, fitting apparel for the Commissioner of the Salvation Army. Not for us, a flash restaurant in Sydney’s down-town. Gluyas, who is “65 but feels 35”, has invited me to dine as the organisation’s clients do – modestly and communally. We are at William Booth House, a Salvos-run rehabilitation facility in Surry Hills. It is poised on a hip patch of Sydney real estate, amid minimalist clothing boutiques and cafes where the baristas are extremely serious about coffee. It would be worth a fortune, but like nearby Foster House, a facility for the homeless, it is badly in need of refurbishment. “We want to give people who use our services some dignity,” Gluyas tells me. “For that we need to upgrade. So we are going to donors and the government to seek support.” The lunchroom is a cheerful, stainless-steel kitchen, cafeteria-style affair, staffed by residents and scattered with rehab attendees, one of whom sits next to Miriam and chats easily to her. We serve ourselves. On the menu is a Greek-style grilled chicken wrap with yoghurt sauce and salad. We drink tap water from mugs. It’s simple and delicious. Simple and delicious food is available at the Salvos – like this Greek-style chicken wrap. Credit: Louise Kennerley Gluyas is the Salvos’ Big Cheese – the head of an organisation with 8000 employees, about $735 million in property assets and a net income of $22.9 million, according to the December 2023 Annual Report. But she does not have Big Cheese-energy. She also does not get paid Big Cheese-bucks – her pay packet is about $500 a week. Sure, she gets the use of a house and a vehicle thrown in, but I cannot think of any other boss who draws a salary of $26,000 a year. It’s radically counter-cultural. “I don’t like a command-and-control leadership,” Gluyas says. “I like a leadership that says, ‘Let’s come together, let’s wrestle and get to the best outcome’.” A structural flaw of the lunch interview is the fact that the interviewee has to do almost all the talking, and doesn’t get a chance to eat. But that’s not my problem. I begin with asking Miriam about her own background, which she says was as obliviously happy as they come – so much so, that she says she “probably didn’t even realise that people went through difficult stuff”. “I would call myself very blessed to have grown up in a family where you could be anything, do anything.” She was raised in Ballarat, with loving parents and grandparents, the eldest of three siblings, in a strongly Salvation-Army household, going back generations to her Scottish forebears. She barracked for the Geelong Cats and attended Clarendon Presbyterian Ladies College. “It didn’t work,” she quips, meaning the “Ladies” part. Her mother May was a ten-pound Scottish migrant who ran her own small businesses, including a babywear shop and a ladies’ apparel store. Her father, Les, was a builder. “I think my parents were ahead of their time, but I didn’t realise it,” Gluyas says. “They both worked. They always said to me, ‘Be whatever you want. Do whatever you want’.” The family was close-knit but full of robust kitchen table debate, especially about politics. Her father Les was always Gluyas’ chief sparring partner. Now aged 88, he still is. I ask what the fault lines of their discussions are. “He would come from the very white ... there’s only one side of politics for him,” Gluyas says carefully. “So we would debate about that, especially when I was working at Auburn with asylum seekers and refugees. We would probably debate about most things.” Gluyas wanted to be a professional golfer or a sports teacher but ended up training as a Salvation Army officer, graduating aged 24 in 1983. She has worked “all over NSW and Queensland”, but her career highlights were “planting” (starting up) a new church in Newcastle in the mid-1990s, running a church in Auburn in Sydney’s western suburbs in the 2000s, and a three-year mission in Papua New Guinea in the early 2010s. Miriam Gluyas as a young Salvation Army cadet. The Auburn church attracted congregants from 26 different nations, many of them refugees and asylum seekers. There was also a cohort of methadone users. Gluyas learnt that years of drug abuse can ruin teeth, which in turn can result in self-esteem issues and social rejection. So the Salvos offered dental care. “Beautifully, one of the dentists out there said, ‘Everything would change if they could get their teeth back’,” Gluyas recounts. “So he would redo their teeth and to see them come back and say ‘Finally, I am game enough to smile and get a job!’” One of Gluyas’ most memorable clients at the Auburn centre was a young girl from Sierra Leone. “She had been in two refugee camps where she was not sure if she would survive,” Miriam says. “When she arrived in Australia, she was placed in Year 10, but she was years behind in her schooling.” With support and tuition from the Salvation Army, she finished the HSC, went on to university and is now a registered nurse. “I remember sitting at a table with someone once and people were saying, ‘Those people should have to learn English before they come here’, and I remember reacting and saying, ‘How dare you say that? You don’t know their stories’,” Gluyas says. “But then I had to stop and think, ‘I didn’t know their stories before either’. If you don’t know, you don’t know.” Gluyas speaking to some of the staff at the Salvation Army kitchen in Surry Hills, where people in need of food can have a meal. Credit: Michael Quelch Gluyas has managed a few nibbles of her lunch before I hit her with a big question – I ask her what the voice of God sounds like to her. She answers by telling me about her mother. When Gluyas was working in Papua New Guinea, her mother, who suffered from dementia towards the end of her life, used to phone and beg her daughter to come home. Gluyas was in knots about what to do, until one night as she was jogging around the Salvos’ compound, God spoke to her. “He said, ‘I never want you to worry about a title or a position any more. Go home and look after your mum’.” Gluyas did what she was told, and got another seven years with her mother, but when her mum died in 2021 during lockdown, it was “incredibly sad” and Gluyas had “a little argument with God”. “I said, ‘You could have waited because I would really have liked to be there with my dad at her funeral’,” she says. “But then I thought, ‘It is what it is, and many other people have been through the same thing’.” Gluyas is too nice, too clever and too unassuming to bite on any questions about politics. But she says the impact of the cost of living crisis is “huge”, and is forcing people to make impossible choices between paying power bills and buying food. “It’s just becoming overwhelming, like a blanket over people, they think, ‘How will I do this?’” Last week, the Salvation Army put out a press release saying it expected this Christmas to be the hardest in its 140-year history in terms of the volume and widespread nature of need across the country. Gluyas says the Salvos are seeing “people who have never come before and are actually embarrassed to come”. Having seen the effects of gambling addiction, she supports cashless gambling cards and banning gambling advertisements. “It’s all right to say at the end of the Footy Tab ad, ‘You are likely to lose’ or whatever, but I think, ‘Why bother?’” While some faith groups want to retain exemptions to anti-discrimination laws, the Salvation Army has a formal “Commitment to Inclusion” which encompasses “people of all cultures, languages, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and intersex status”. “I think there is a massive degree of loneliness,” Gluyas says of the Salvos’ mission. “A lot of people come into our centres because they’re lonely, and they’re after real community.” By now I have polished off my chicken wrap and Gluyas has barely touched hers, and I do start to feel bad about it. Gluyas is so thoroughly equable and kind that it is starting to rub off on me. I tell her I worry she will be hungry later. “That’s fine!” she says. “It’s totally fine.” She takes a few more bites before we make her work again, this time to pose for the photographer. Ghoulishly desperate to discover Gluyas’ dark side, I ask her if she ever feels despondent. “Look, I am a pretty positive, upbeat person,” she says. She pauses for a moment to reflect, and then says that the only thing she gets despondent about is “attitudes”. Characteristically, she refrains from mentioning the people whose attitudes sadden her. “You have to hear the story behind the person, and then you’ll start to think differently,” she says. “Why is someone lying in the doorway? What is their story? How did they end up getting there? You will usually find a pretty powerful story there.” Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter .
ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons are back in first place in the NFC South and again in control of their playoff hopes. Rookie quarterback showed the poise in his first NFL start the Falcons will need to take advantage of their opportunity to end a six-year playoff drought. Powered by a big-play defense that produced two pick-6s, a solid starting debut by Penix and two rushing touchdowns by Bijan Robinson, the Falcons on Sunday. On Sunday night, the Falcons (8-7) received the assist they needed when Tampa Bay . Because the Falcons swept the Buccaneers, they hold the tiebreaker advantage if they remain tied atop the division. The Falcons have games remaining at Washington on Sunday night and at home against Carolina to close the regular season. If Atlanta wins both games, it would win the division and have a home playoff game. The Falcons are assured of their best record since a 10-6 finish under coach Dan Quinn in 2017, their most recent playoff season. Quinn is in his first season as Washington's coach and has led the Commanders (10-5) to three straight wins, including Sunday's over Philadelphia. Penix, the No. 8 overall pick in this year's NFL draft, was promoted after coach Raheem Morris benched Kirk Cousins. Penix completed 18 of 27 passes for 202 yards with one interception on a pass that should have been caught by tight end Kyle Pitts. Penix is not a dual-threat quarterback, but he showed the ability to escape pressure in the pocket that Cousins lacks following his 2023 Achilles tendon injury. The left-hander's superior arm strength also was immediately obvious. What’s working Robinson's production provided a safety net for the offense which helped make for a smooth transition to Penix. Robinson had scoring runs of 2 and 4 yards. Robinson has rushed for 10 touchdowns this season. He's the first Atlanta player with 10 more more rushing touchdowns since Devonta Freeman during the 2016 Super Bowl season. Robinson ran for 94 yards on 22 carries and had 103 yards from scrimmage. His 11th game this season with at least 100 yards from scrimmage are the most for the Falcons since Warrick Dunn's 11 in 2005. Morris said Robinson deserves to be considered with Philadelphia's Saquon Barkley in discussions regarding the league's top running backs. “Bijan has been outstanding all year in the things that he’s able to do," Morris said. “He’s special. If it wasn’t for this other guy out in Philly, he’d get a lot more recognition across the league. But that guy is having a special year, and Bijan’s not far behind him.” What needs help With kicker Younghoe Koo on injured reserve and watching from the sideline, Riley Patterson was wide left on his first field-goal attempt from 43 yards. Patterson rebounded to make attempts from 52 and 37 yards. Stock up Jessie Bates III and Matthew Judon each had a pick-6 to highlight a day of big plays for the defense. Arnold Ebiketie had his fifth sack of the season and added a fumble recovery. Kaden Ellis added a strip-sack. He also has five sacks this season, including sacks in four consecutive games. It is the longest streak for Atlanta since Patrick Kerney had sacks in five straight games in 2001. Stock down There was some thought that a change at quarterback could be good news for Pitts, who often seemed to be missing in action with Cousins running the offense. After all, a tight end often is a natural target for quick passes from a rookie making his first start. Instead, Pitts had a poor start to the Penix era when he bobbled his first pass from the left-hander, creating an interception by cornerback Cor’Dale Flott. Pitts caught a 7-yard pass on his only other target. For the season, Pitts has 41 catches for 543 yards and three touchdowns. Injuries There will be much interest in this week's injury report after WR Drake London (hamstring) was hurt in the second half. Morris provided an optimistic postgame outlook on London. CB Antonio Hamilton (quad) did not return after leaving the game in the first half. Key number 8: Bates has four interceptions and four forced fumbles. His combined eight forced turnovers lead the NFL. Next steps The game against Jayden Daniels and the Commanders is a reminder Penix was only the fourth of six quarterbacks selected in the first round of the NFL draft. Daniels, from LSU, was the No. 2 overall pick behind Caleb Williams by Chicago. ___ AP NFL: Charles Odum, The Associated PressShreyas Talpade recalls working with Shyam Benegal
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard is apparently a Game of Thrones fan. Howard trolled Tennessee with a famous quote from the popular HBO show after Ohio State defeated Tennessee, 42-17, in their first-round matchup at the College Football Playoffs on Saturday. "When people ask you what happened here, tell them the North remembers," he wrote on Instagram . "Tell them Winter came for the Volunteers." Howard wasn't alone in trolling Tennessee after the blowout victory. Ohio State's social media admin also had a bit of fun at the Volunteers' expense, dropping a "Not so rocky on top" on social media , among other posts. Howard, meanwhile, had a strong game, finishing 24-of-29 for 311 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also rushed for 37 yards. "We really put together a full, all-out performance, and I think that's what we needed to do and what we needed to show," he told reporters after the win. It was a far cry from his showing in the regular-season finale against Michigan, a shocking 13-10 upset loss that cost the Buckeyes a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game. Howard finished that contest 19-of-33 for 175 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. And Tennessee paid for the fallout that followed. "For three weeks, everyone in the world was telling us we sucked," offensive lineman Donovan Jackson told reporters after beating Tennessee. "Half the fan base was telling us we sucked. Almost every analyst, expert and anyone with a podcast was telling us we sucked. We took it personally. That's not how we were going to go out. ... We went out there and played with our hair on fire, that was the message all week." Up next for Ohio State is a matchup with Oregon in the CFP semifinals on Jan. 1. The Ducks won the first meeting between the teams, 32-31, back in October.
None
Family of 2-year-old girl killed in Pierce County sues day care, state agency
The German government pledged Sunday to fully investigate whether there were security lapses before the Christmas market car-ramming attack that killed five people and injured over 200. Political pressure has built on the question of potential missed warnings about Saudi suspect Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old psychiatrist who had made online deaths threats and previously had trouble with the law. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the heads of Germany's domestic and foreign intelligence services are due to answer questions at parliamentary committee hearings on December 30, a senior lawmaker told AFP. Faeser vowed Sunday that "no stone will be left unturned" in shedding light on what information had been available to security services ahead of last Friday's bloody attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg. She stressed that the attacker did "not fit any previous pattern" because "he acted like an Islamist terrorist although ideologically he was clearly an enemy of Islam". Abdulmohsen has in the past called himself a "Saudi atheist" who helped women flee Gulf countries and charged Germany was doing too little to help them. In online posts, he also strongly criticised Germany for allowing in too many Muslim refugees and backed far-right conspiracy theories about the "Islamisation" of Europe. In one post, he wrote: "Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German citizens?... If anyone knows it, please let me know." News magazine Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germany's spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a "price" for how it treated Saudi refugees. Die Welt daily reported, also citing security sources, that German state and federal police had carried out a "risk assessment" on Abdulmohsen last year but concluded that he posed "no specific danger". The city of Magdeburg has been in deep mourning over the mass carnage on Friday evening, when an SUV smashed through a crowd at its Christmas market, killing four women and a nine-year-old child and injuring 205 people. Surgeons at overwhelmed hospitals have worked around the clock, and one health worker told local media of "blood on the floor everywhere, people screaming, lots of painkillers being administered". Scholz on Saturday condemned the "terrible, insane" attack and made a call for national unity, at a time Germany is headed for early elections on February 23. But as German media dug into Abdulmohsen's past, and investigators gave away little, criticism rained down from opposition parties. Conservative CDU lawmaker Alexander Throm charged that "many citizens feel... that the Scholz government has completely failed in terms of internal security". He demanded greater police powers to monitor and analyse data from social media platforms, telecommunications and surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology. The far-right AfD called for a special session of parliament, and the head of the far-left BSW party, Sahra Wagenknecht, demanded that Faeser explain "why so many tips and warnings were ignored beforehand". Mass-circulation daily Bild asked: "Why did our police and intelligence services do nothing, even though they had the Saudi on their radar?... And why were the tips from Saudi Arabia apparently ignored?" It charged that "German authorities usually only find out about attack plans in time when foreign services warn them" and called for sweeping reforms after the election for a complete "turnaround in internal security". Senior MP Dirk Wiese of Scholz's Social Democrats said the December 30 hearings will summon the heads of the BND, the domestic intelligence service BfV and the Office for Migration and Refugees. Media meanwhile reported more details on Abdulmohsen, who had worked at a clinic that treats offenders with substance addiction problems, but had been on sick leave since late October. Der Spiegel reported that in 2013 a court fined him for "disturbing the public peace by threatening to commit crimes" after he had darkly referenced the deadly attack on the Boston marathon. The chairwoman of the group Central Council of Ex-Muslims, Mina Ahadi, said Abdulmohsen "is no stranger to us, because he has been terrorising us for years". She labelled him "a psychopath who adheres to ultra-right conspiracy ideologies" and said he "doesn't just hate Muslims, but everyone who doesn't share his hatred." bur/fz/gvTommy DeVito quickly learns what Daniel Jones went through after Giants starting QB change
Foodies left ‘horrified’ and say Aldi has gone ‘too far’ with new ‘vile’ £1.30 Christmas sauce – but what do you think?AP Sports SummaryBrief at 4:44 p.m. EST
Uncover How One Tech Giant’s Success is Shaping the Future of Electronics
The German government pledged Sunday to fully investigate whether there were security lapses before the Christmas market car-ramming attack that killed five people and injured over 200. Political pressure has built on the question of potential missed warnings about Saudi suspect Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old psychiatrist who had made online deaths threats and previously had trouble with the law. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the heads of Germany's domestic and foreign intelligence services are due to answer questions at parliamentary committee hearings on December 30, a senior lawmaker told AFP. Faeser vowed Sunday that "no stone will be left unturned" in shedding light on what information had been available to security services ahead of last Friday's bloody attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg. She stressed that the attacker did "not fit any previous pattern" because "he acted like an Islamist terrorist although ideologically he was clearly an enemy of Islam". Abdulmohsen has in the past called himself a "Saudi atheist" who helped women flee Gulf countries and charged Germany was doing too little to help them. In online posts, he also strongly criticised Germany for allowing in too many Muslim refugees and backed far-right conspiracy theories about the "Islamisation" of Europe. In one post, he wrote: "Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German citizens?... If anyone knows it, please let me know." News magazine Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germany's spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a "price" for how it treated Saudi refugees. Die Welt daily reported, also citing security sources, that German state and federal police had carried out a "risk assessment" on Abdulmohsen last year but concluded that he posed "no specific danger". The city of Magdeburg has been in deep mourning over the mass carnage on Friday evening, when an SUV smashed through a crowd at its Christmas market, killing four women and a nine-year-old child and injuring 205 people. Surgeons at overwhelmed hospitals have worked around the clock, and one health worker told local media of "blood on the floor everywhere, people screaming, lots of painkillers being administered". Scholz on Saturday condemned the "terrible, insane" attack and made a call for national unity, at a time Germany is headed for early elections on February 23. But as German media dug into Abdulmohsen's past, and investigators gave away little, criticism rained down from opposition parties. Conservative CDU lawmaker Alexander Throm charged that "many citizens feel... that the Scholz government has completely failed in terms of internal security". He demanded greater police powers to monitor and analyse data from social media platforms, telecommunications and surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology. The far-right AfD called for a special session of parliament, and the head of the far-left BSW party, Sahra Wagenknecht, demanded that Faeser explain "why so many tips and warnings were ignored beforehand". Mass-circulation daily Bild asked: "Why did our police and intelligence services do nothing, even though they had the Saudi on their radar?... And why were the tips from Saudi Arabia apparently ignored?" It charged that "German authorities usually only find out about attack plans in time when foreign services warn them" and called for sweeping reforms after the election for a complete "turnaround in internal security". Senior MP Dirk Wiese of Scholz's Social Democrats said the December 30 hearings will summon the heads of the BND, the domestic intelligence service BfV and the Office for Migration and Refugees. Media meanwhile reported more details on Abdulmohsen, who had worked at a clinic that treats offenders with substance addiction problems, but had been on sick leave since late October. Der Spiegel reported that in 2013 a court fined him for "disturbing the public peace by threatening to commit crimes" after he had darkly referenced the deadly attack on the Boston marathon. The chairwoman of the group Central Council of Ex-Muslims, Mina Ahadi, said Abdulmohsen "is no stranger to us, because he has been terrorising us for years". She labelled him "a psychopath who adheres to ultra-right conspiracy ideologies" and said he "doesn't just hate Muslims, but everyone who doesn't share his hatred." bur/fz/gvPep Guardiola claims three-quarters of the Premier League want to see Manchester City relegated over financial irregularities. But the City boss has vowed to stay on and lift the club back to the top even if they are sent all the way down to the National League. Guardiola ended speculation over his immediate future this week by extending his contract, which had been due to expire at the end of the season, through to the summer of 2027. That has given the club some stability at a time of great uncertainty as they fight 115 charges related to alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations. City have denied all wrongdoing but their punishment if found guilty could be severe, with demotion even a possibility. Guardiola has strongly defended the club in the past and is happy to continue doing so. The Spaniard said: “I don’t enjoy it, I prefer not to be in that position, but once it’s there I love it because, when you believe in your club, and the people there – I believe what they say to me and the reasons why. “I cannot say yet because we’re awaiting the sentence in February or March – I don’t know when – but at the same time, I like it. “I read something about the situation and how you need to be relegated immediately. Seventy-five per cent of the clubs want it, because I know what they do behind the scenes and this sort of stuff. “I said when all the clubs accused us of doing something wrong, (and people asked) what happens if we are relegated, (I said) I will be here. “Next year, I don’t know the position of the Conference they are going to (put) us, (but) we are going to come up and come up and come back to the Premier League. I knew it then and I feel it now.” The immediate priority for Guardiola, who said his contract negotiations were completed in “just two hours”, is to arrest a run of four successive defeats in all competitions. Yet, ahead of their return to action against Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, the champions continue to grapple with a lengthy injury list. Mateo Kovacic is their latest casualty after sustaining a knock on international duty that could keep him out for up to a month. On the positive side, defenders Nathan Ake, John Stones and Manuel Akanji could feature and Jack Grealish is also closing in on a return after a month out. Much to Guardiola’s frustration, Grealish was called up by England for their recent Nations League games, although he later withdrew. Guardiola said: “I want the best for Jack and I want the best for Jack with the national team but the doctor said to me that he was not ready to play. “I know (England) want him but they have 200 players to select from and Jack was not fit. He had to recover from many things.” Kyle Walker played for England against both Greece and the Republic of Ireland despite limited game time since suffering injury in the October international break. Guardiola said: “If he is fit I like him to play in the national team. It is not a problem, don’t misunderstand me. “Kyle has a dream to make 100 caps for the national team. Do I want to cancel this dream? Absolutely not. “But if you are not fit, if you cannot play here, you cannot play for the national team. It is quite obvious.”