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Sunday, February 7, 2016

Police sniffer dog spotted at harbourside public pool

Police sniffer dogs spotted patrolling at popular harbourside public pool spark outrage over Sydney's 'nanny state'
NSW Police and an English Springer Spaniel spotted at a public pool
An image taken at Andrew Boy Charlton Pool, Sydney is circulating online
It's unclear when it was taken or if the dog was for drug or bomb detection
Outrage is exploding on social media at the 'nanny state'


Outrage over the ‘nanny state’ has reignited after a sniffer dog was photographed patrolling the banks of a harbourside public pool in the middle of the day.
Locals and tourists were working on their tan and enjoying a dip at Andrew Boy Charlton Pool when they were scrutinised by NSW Police and an English Springer Spaniel, 2DAY FM reported.
An image of the unusual event began circulating social media at the weekend and has prompted new calls for the fun police to hand Sydney back.



The picture was originally posted to Instagram and appears to have been deleted, but was then shared to a private Facebook account.
‘Welcome to Sydney The Nanny State Police & sniffer dogs now patrolling our pools during the day , What’s next ?? [sic],’ the caption alongside the image reads.


Many critics have speculated that the sniffer dogs were merely there to intimidate, while some suggested the dogs may have been there for bomb detection rather than to sniff for drugs.
Others pointed out that sniffer dogs frequent areas like Newtown railway station and the streets of Redfern - suggesting Andrew Boy Charlton Pool should be no different.
A NSW Police spokeswoman was unable to confirm when the image was taken, what the dogs were detecting or why.



The spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia English Springer Spaniels are used for both drug and firearm detection.
NSW Police are looking into the incident, the spokeswoman said.
The pool is one of Sydney’s treasures. It backs onto the Royal Botanical Gardens and overlooks the Sydney Harbour with the Art Gallery of NSW by its side.
The affects the Sydney lockout laws have had on business, tourism and live music have come to the fore over recent days after businessman Matt Barrie published an epic 8,400 rant which went viral.
On Saturday evening, the owners of wine bar 10 William Street in inner-Sydney Paddington posted on Instagram that NSW Police said pouring wine by the glass promotes ‘unsavoury antisocial behaviour’.
‘SYDNEY WHAT THE F*** IS HAPPENING,’ the post continued.


Rolf Harris’ wife has stopped visiting him in jail because of her own health problems mean the two hour commute is too much for her

Rolf Harris’ wife has stopped visiting him in jail because of her own health problems mean the two hour commute is too much for her
Harris' wife Alwyn has avoided the two-hour trip to HMP Stafford
A neighbour said the journey from Berkshire was 'too arduous' to make
Shamed entertainer's early 2017 release could fail after new sex claims
Alwyn hasn't been seen 'for months' after paedophile Harris was jailed


Shamed former entertainer Rolf Harris hasn't had a visit from his wife in prison for months because she is too ill to go.
Alwyn Harris, wife of the disgraced television presenter, has avoided the two-hour trip to HMP Stafford, according to a friend and neighbour.
A man who lives close to the couple in Bray, Berkshire, said: 'We used to be on quite friendly terms with Alwyn and would spot her coming and going.



'But the last time she was seen was months and months ago – not that long after Rolf was sent down.'
The man, who didn't want to be named and was contacted by the Star on Sunday, added: 'She finds the journey to see him very arduous and has become a recluse.'
Harris, 85, was jailed for almost six years in 2014 for 12 indecent assaults against four girls, including one aged just seven or eight.
The neighbour, who used to have street parties with the couple, claimed Alwyn was finding it difficult to cope without her husband.


He thought the couple wouldn't be likely to attend another party in the future.
This week Alwyn was spotted at her luxury riverside home but her housekeeper quickly drew the CURTAINS when a passerby turned to look in.
Harris' early release from prison next year could fail after five further women made claims and are set to make sex allegations against him.
When asked about her employer's visits to Harris, Alwyn's assistant did not deny she hadn't gone to see Rolf in recent months but refused to make any comment.
She also declined to speak about potential new sex charges.
The new claims against him date back to the 1980s but are not believed to involve children.
Investigating officers are set to visit Harris in prison next week to question him in relation to the fresh claims.


Epic drama War and Peace is made longer as producers extend final to cram in an ‘enormous amount of suffering’ and warn fans to watch with a packet of tissues

Epic drama War and Peace is made EVEN longer: Producers extend tonight's final to cram in an 'enormous amount of suffering' and warn fans to watch with a packet of tissues
Finale tonight of BBC's adaption of Tolstoy's epic drama War and Peace
Producers have extended the final to resolve the stories of main characters
Viewers warned there'll be 'no Hollywood ending' and to have tissues ready


The BBC's lavish adaption of Tolstoy's epic War and Peace has gripped the nation with its heart-wrenching scenes, breathtaking sets and star studded cast.
So fans will be delighted to hear the BBC has granted an extension to the finale of the lavish six-part serialisation, set to be aired this evening.
The denouement of the Russian period drama will be extended by some 20 minutes, in order to resolve the stories of the main characters Natasha, Prince Andrei and Pierre, while packing in 'an enormous amount of suffering'.




The show's producer told The Telegraph there would be 'no Hollywood ending', and advised audiences to have a tissue at the ready as the thrilling drama comes to an end.
According to The Telegraph, this is understood to be the first time the BBC has granted a last-minute extension to a Sunday night drama.


'The BBC have been very generous and allowed us that bit of extra time,' Producer Julia Stannard told Hannah Furness of the Telegraph.
'I hope the audience will feel its a bit of a treat on Sunday night. It's an episode of extreme emotions. I'd really tell everybody to have a box of tissues.
'What's important is that it feels very real; there are no Hollywood endings here.'
Millions have been gripped by War and Peace, resulting in huge ratings for the BBC.



In the tear-jerking final scenes, viewers will see a two-year-old dog called Samba stealing the show.
The cross-breed was found in a rescue centre in Lithuania.
In deeply emotive scenes, the dog comes to the aid of her owner Platon, a lowly soldier in the Napoleonic Wars, as he lies injured in the fierce Russian winter.
Samba, given the name Sashenka in the show, even gets a higher billing in the credits than Tuppence Middleton, who plays the scheming Helene.
Scriptwriter Andrew Davies, who adapted Tolstoy’s masterpiece for television, said: ‘I think perhaps I made a little bit more of the dog than there is in the book because I am a great dog-lover myself.’
Tolstoy did not name the dog, so Davies picked Sashenka after a romantic ballad sung by Russian troops.



The writer also accepted that some viewers would care more about the fate of the dog than the human characters, but added: ‘I have no problem with that. I just want viewers to be swept up in the emotion of it all.’
Audiences will also see what happens to the dashing Prince Andrei (James Norton), Natasha Rostova (Lily James) and Pierre (Paul Dano).
The final episode of War and Peace will be on BBC One at 9pm tonight.



Toddler is pulled from the rubble 24 hours after 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan as death toll rises to 24 and 158 people remain missing

Toddler is pulled from the rubble 24 hours after 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan as death toll rises to 24 and 158 people remain missing
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit southern Taiwan just before 4am local time on Saturday, causing chaos
A 17-storey residential block which was home to more than 200 residents has collapsed in Tainan City
Among the dead are ten-day-old baby girl and two other children, while 158 people remain missing
Another 484 people were injured during the disaster, with a total of 230 pulled alive from the rubble

Rescuers are racing against time to save more than 125 people stuck beneath the rubble of an apartment complex in Taiwan after a powerful earthquake struck the southern part of the island on Saturday.
Around 200 people have been rescued so far, including a dazed-looking toddler who was lifted out of a collapsed flat by firemen, and more than 50 others were able to escape unaided.
The death toll for the 6.4 magnitude earthquake has now reached 24, with 22 of the victims found in the toppled block of flats in the city of Tainan, including a ten-day-old girl and two other children.


The mayor of Tainan said 126 residents were still missing, with 103 of them still trapped 'very deep' in the rubble mote than 24 hours after the 4am earthquake yesterday.
'There's no way to get to them direct, it's very difficult,' Tainan mayor William Lai said, adding that emergency workers were having to shore up the ruins to ensure they were secure before digging.

Rescuers drilled down into the rubble Sunday, urging survivors to stay strong as they tried to reach them. Several residents of the 17-storey flats were pulled out alive after being buried for more than 24 hours.
By Sunday morning, the national disaster response centre reported 158 people - including at least 41 children, according to one broadcaster - still out of contact across the city of Tainan and neighbouring counties following the disaster which struck at 4am on Saturday.
Rescue efforts have been focused on the apartment complex in the city, which had been full of families who had gathered together to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Census records show around 260 people living in the blocks but Mayor Lai said it was now thought that more than 300 had been inside to celebrate the holiday.


Eight hundred troops have been drafted in to help with the search at the flats in Wei-Kuan, using sniffer dogs to try to find signs of life in the mangled wreckage of the building. Emergency workers use cranes, ladders and sniffer dogs to trace and extract survivors.
As they worked, groups of people gathered to chant prayers at the site, accompanied by Buddhist monks.
Relative Huang Yu-liang, whose brother, sister-in-law and their two children lived in one of the flats, said: 'I was woken up by the quake and called my brother's mobile - no-one answered and I feared something was wrong.
'I rushed here and saw the collapsed building and I was in shock. Their building is at the bottom (of the wreckage).
'I am praying for miracles.'
Wang Chien-ming came from Yunlin county to the north of Tainan to find his sister and her family.
'My sister, her husband and their child live on the third floor and I haven't heard any news since I arrived here. I will keep waiting for as long as it takes.'
Liang Chuan-shun, deputy fire bureau chief for Tainan, said the search was now 'a race against time' and would continue through the night.
'Some rooms in the building were rented to students who would not register with the census authorities - we're not sure how many others might still be left within,' he said.


Officials said there were 256 people registered as living in the complex, which contained 96 apartments.
More than 250 have been rescued so far, with more than 40 hospitalised.
TAIWAN EARTHQUAKE BY NUMBERS
Dead: 11, including a ten-day-old girl
Injured: 378 taken to hospital
Saved: 230 pulled from rubble
Rescuers: 1,200 firemen and soldiers
Trapped: Up to 30 inside apartment block
Magnitude: 6.4, striking at 3.57am
One emergency worker described going from apartment to apartment, drawing red circles near windows of apartments they already had searched.
'I went to the top floors of the middle part of the building, where we found five people, one of whom was in bed and already dead,' said Liu Wen-bin, a rescuer from Taichung. 'Some people were found in the shower, some in the bedroom.'
Interior minister Chen Wei-jen said he feared there may have been more people in the building than usual as family members would have returned to celebrate the Lunar New Year holidays next week.
Residents told of their horror as the quake hit, with survivors pulled bleeding and crying from the ruins, some just in their underwear.
'The quake was really powerful - it shook up and down, left and right and even in a circle. It was terrifying,' one elderly woman at the scene who was waiting for news of a missing friend said.
The spectacular fall of the building immediately raised questions about its construction, and Taiwan's interior minister said there would be an investigation.


The initial quake, which struck just before 4am, was very shallow, at depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), which would have amplified its effects, the United States Geographical Survey said.
It was followed least five aftershocks of 3.8-magnitude or more, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau. Any earthquake which measures above 6 on the Richter scale is considered strong, with the most severe recorded measuring at 8.9.
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, speaking to reporters in the capital before leaving for the Tainan, said authorities were not clear on the extent of the disaster.
'The disaster situation is not very clear yet. We will do our utmost to rescue and secure (survivors),' Ma said.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office, which in is charge of Beijing's relations with the self-ruled island, said China was willing to provide help if needed, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said. Beijing regards Taiwan as a wayward province.
Eight shelters have been set up around the city, with over 100 people taking refuge there.
Officials said several blocks had collapsed or half collapsed in other parts of the city, with some buildings left leaning at alarming angles.
The quake initially cut power to 168,000 households in Tainan. Later, utility Taipower said power had been restored to all but about 900 households.


A 71-year-old neighbour, who gave his name as Chang, revealed he was watching television when the quake struck.
'I was watching TV and after a sudden burst of shaking, I heard a boom,' he said. 'I opened my metal door and saw the building opposite fall down.'
A plumber, he said he fetched some tools and a ladder and prised some window bars open to rescue a woman crying for help.
'She asked me to go back and rescue her husband, child, but I was afraid of a gas explosion so I didn't go in. At the time there were more people calling for help, but my ladder wasn't long enough so there was no way to save them.'



One weeping resident told how she tried to smash her way out of her home.
'I used a hammer to break the door of my home which was twisted and locked, and managed to climb out,' she told local channel SET TV, weeping as she spoke.
Elsewhere in the city of two million people, several buildings tilted at alarming angles.
Dozens have been rescued or safely evacuated from a market and a seven-floor building that was badly damaged, the Central News Agency reported.
A bank building also careened, but no injuries were reported, it said.
A Tainan resident told : 'The water supply has been cut off and the hospitals are full. It's pretty horrendous. Some people are trapped in collapsed buildings.'


'This has also taken place just before Chinese New Year, which starts on Sunday.'
Liu Shih-chung, an official with the Tainan City Government, said the city had set up an emergency response centre as it tried to cope with the disaster.
'I hugged the wall and put my face to the wall,' Pao-feng Wu, a Tainan resident, said after the quake hit.

The centre was located some 22 miles (36 kilometres) south-east of Yujing, and was felt as a lengthy, rolling shake in the capital, Taipei, on the other side of the island.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami was not expected.
Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.
A strong 6.3-magnitude quake which hit central Taiwan in June 2013 killed four people and caused widespread landslides.
A 7.6-magnitude quake struck the island in September 1999 and killed around 2,400 people.


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