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Jury in Bruce Lehrmann’s Queensland rape trial may face questions about prior knowledge of case

Queensland Prosecutor Seeks Unusual Jury Questioning Ahead of Bruce Lehrmann Rape Trial

Wanderstayfinder.com – A prosecutor in Queensland has moved to invoke a rarely used provision of state jury law that would allow potential jurors to be formally questioned about what they already know about Bruce Lehrmann before they sit on his rape trial. The application, expected to be lodged within days, stems from the extraordinary public profile the 31-year-old former rugby player has maintained since his first high-profile trial in Sydney in 2023. His new trial, charged with two counts of rape committed at a private residence in regional Queensland in 2021, is scheduled to open on 2 November at Toowoomba District Court.

The move signals that the prosecution believes the sheer volume of media coverage surrounding Lehrmann over the past several years could compromise the impartiality of a randomly selected jury. Rather than relying solely on the standard peremptory challenges available during jury selection, prosecutor Caroline Marco intends to seek a formal inquiry under Section 47 of Queensland’s Jury Act, a mechanism that empowers a judge to probe jurors’ prior familiarity with the accused and the facts of the case.

How Section 47 Jury Questioning Works

Under ordinary jury selection, prospective jurors answer a limited set of standard questions and may be challenged by either side. Section 47 goes further. It permits a judge, upon finding what the statute calls “special reasons,” to order additional questioning of jurors or reserve jurors at the final stage of selection. The Act itself frames the rationale in clear terms:

“Prejudicial pre-trial publicity may be a special reason for questioning persons selected as jurors or reserve jurors in the final stage of the jury selection process.”

If Judge Dennis Lynch grants the application, Marco will be permitted to propose specific questions directed at jurors’ knowledge of Lehrmann, his earlier Sydney trial, and the broader public discourse that followed. The judge retains ultimate authority over which questions are put and how they are framed. In more contested scenarios, the court may also permit both prosecution and defence to cross-examine jurors under oath, effectively turning the selection process into a miniature evidentiary hearing.

Any juror whose answers reveal a level of familiarity or pre-formed opinion that the judge deems incompatible with impartiality can be discharged from service and replaced by another member of the reserve pool. Those replacements, in turn, may themselves be subjected to the same questioning, creating a layered safeguard against the very prejudice the section is designed to detect.

Court Proceedings and Procedural Posture

The matter was listed at Toowoomba District Court on Wednesday for the routine purpose of cataloguing any pre-trial applications each side wished to make. Marco outlined her intention to file the Section 47 application, noting that she was proceeding on the basis that Lehrmann had indicated a desire to have his case heard by a jury rather than by judge alone. Defence solicitor Zali Burrows was not required to respond to the prosecution’s stated intention at that stage.

Lehrmann himself did not attend the Wednesday hearing. His bail conditions were continued without variation, and Judge Lynch adjourned the matter for two weeks to give both parties time to file further written material in support of or opposition to the application. No plea has yet been formally entered by the accused, though his previous legal counsel has already told a magistrate that he intends to contest the charges.

Why the Public Profile Matters

The significance of Marco’s application lies in the fact that Lehrmann’s name has become, in Australian public consciousness, almost synonymous with a single high-stakes criminal trial. His 2023 Sydney trial, which drew sustained national and international media attention and sparked extensive debate about jury selection, media influence, and the rights of complainants, ended in an acquittal. That outcome, and the polarised public reaction it generated, means that a randomly drawn pool of Queensland jurors is likely to contain individuals who have formed views about the accused before ever entering a courtroom.

Section 47 questioning does not guarantee that every juror will be asked about the case. It gives the judge a discretionary tool to be deployed where the circumstances warrant. But by invoking it, the prosecution is formally placing on record its view that the circumstances here do warrant such scrutiny, and it is asking the court to create a procedural mechanism by which any taint can be identified and removed before a single verdict is reached.

The two-week adjournment gives both sides a window to refine their written submissions. For the defence, the question will be whether the proposed questioning is proportionate, whether it risks introducing prejudicial material into the selection process itself, and whether standard challenges are sufficient. For the prosecution, the argument is straightforward: a jury that has already absorbed years of commentary about the accused cannot be assumed to start from a neutral position, and the law provides a specific instrument to test that assumption.

Whatever the court ultimately decides, the episode underscores a structural tension in Australian jury trials involving defendants of high public visibility: the right to a trial by one’s peers coexists with the practical reality that those peers have, in many cases, already been exposed to extensive narratives about the accused before the first witness takes the stand. Section 47 exists precisely to bridge that gap, and its invocation here marks one of the more prominent recent uses of the provision in Queensland courts.

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‘We have had enough’: thousands of University of Sydney staff walk off the job over AI and job security

Wanderstayfinder.com – The same week union members at the University of Sydney agreed to a 24-hour strike, staff received the results of an internal survey. In the faculty of arts and social sciences, 0% agreed with the statement: “I trust the University of Sydney to act in the best interests of staff, students and the broader community.” It was the issue of trust, alongside longstanding concerns over staff protections from artificial intelligence, workload fairness and job security, that saw about 2,000 members to walk off the job on Wednesday. From 7am, about 500 people were stationed at picket lines at each of the inner Sydney campus’s entrances, armed with flags, banners and megaphones.

The University of Sydney advised students “almost all” scheduled classes would move online as a result of the strike, while others were rescheduled or cancelled. Peter Chen, the branch president of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of Sydney, said management had rebuffed the union “at every opportunity” to enforce appropriate protections around the use of AI. “Higher education is the canary in the coalmine,” he said.

“Where we go on AI … will travel through the rest of the economy.” The New South Wales division secretary of the NTEU, Vince Caughley, said the University of Sydney’s own green paper advised AI was the most “fundamental transformation” education had seen, pointing to AI chatbots that were already being used to help teach online-only classes at other universities. “We are asking for best practice, we are asking for due diligence,” he said. “Not their own commercialisation aims and certainly not the interest of venture capital.” The union was confident it would reach an agreement with management within the year but had concerns over the lack of senior leadership at the table, including the provost, Prof Annamarie Jagose.

The last bargaining process represented the longest running industrial action at an Australian university, and the prospect of future strikes remained active. A spokesperson for the University of Sydney said it was “continuing to engage” with the union and maintained industrial action was “premature”. “We agree using AI ethically requires a human-centred approach, and our … principles and guardrails that govern use have been developed in consultation with our community,” they said.

“We support many of the objectives of the unions’ claims, but believe it’s more appropriate to implement many of these through relevant policies, instead of in the Enterprise Agreement.” There are broader concerns, some interlinked and widespread in the sector. Growing class sizes and reduced student satisfaction. A new proposal for teaching-only roles with no research component or scope for future growth.

Prof Laura Shepherd in the school of social and political sciences is part of the bargaining team and said students often sacrificed a “huge amount” to come to the university, including spending $50,000 on degrees. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion “They come here … for quality and access to research leaders,” she said. “I think we should be very ashamed if we allow anything in the enterprise agreement that threatens that.” The University of Sydney’s NTEU branch is the largest in Australia, and the university has long been a hotbed for activism.

As management approaches its fifth month of bargaining, it is also grappling with continued opposition to its response to Gaza and restrictions on protest. New restrictions were brought in as a result of the university’s pro-Palestine encampment in 2024, which received intense scrutiny during this year’s royal commission. On Wednesday, keffiyehs and pro-Palestine banners stood out among purple NTEU flags and signage.

The Student Representative Council was also striking in solidarity with staff and picketing online classes. Its education officer, Dana Kafina, said the university’s “draconian” protest restrictions were a motivation. “In the wake of … suppressions of free speech and activism, and some of the lowest rates of student and graduate satisfaction in the country, we have had enough,” she said.

Despite the presence of campus security and police, the picket lines had a jovial atmosphere. Some blasted music on speakers, others banged drums and chanted with abandon. Kurt Iveson, a professor of geography, was among them, running a quiz on his megaphone as, behind him, students sold baked goods to raise funds for lost income of strikers.

Iveson has been with the university for 20 years, and wants “meaningful protections” that do not outlaw AI but ensure “the tech is serving our purpose, rather than us serving the tech”. “All of us on the picket line today are here because we care so much about the education and research we do,” he said.

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Queensland police investigate after 5,500 sheep worth $1.7m stolen from farm

Wanderstayfinder.com – Queensland police are investigating after about 5,500 Dorper sheep worth more than $1.7m were allegedly stolen from a western Queensland farm. Police said the sheep were stolen from a property outside Blackall, about 830km west of Brisbane, between February and May this year. Detective Sen Sgt Paul Elliot, from the rural and stock crime squad, said the sheep had an estimated value of about $1.7m (£899,000).

They are fitted with white National Livestock Identification System tags and are Dorper sheep, a breed with white wool but a black face. Both ewes and rams were taken. Elliot urged anyone with information about the theft or who had seen Dorper sheep matching the description in the area to come forward.

“Livestock theft investigations can be complex, often spanning large geographical areas, which is why we work closely with producers, saleyards, transport operators and industry stakeholders to identify offenders and disrupt criminal activity,” he said. The AgForce general president, Shane McCarthy, said it was a “a concerning amount of sheep that have been stolen” and would have a significant effect on the farm’s bottom line. “We’re seeing a concerning rise in the number of incidents like this happening across the state,” he said.

“We would trust that the police are taking these matters very, very seriously.” He said a sheep theft of that scale would require a plan, time and more than one person. Sheep rustlers will sometimes take a group into a property where they can be bred to gain the value of their progeny and then slowly sold to abattoirs over time. Thefts are often discovered at the abattoir, he said.

“I would say that it’s been thought out for a while,” he said. “I would suggest that one or two sheep here and there, even up to you know 10 or so sheep, is opportunistic. When we’re talking these numbers, they’re organised.” It is not yet clear how the sheep were stolen, such as being loaded on to several trucks or mustered.

Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Dorpers are bred to be eaten, not for wool. The Blackall-Tambo mayor, Andrew Martin, said the herd was probably not all taken in one night. “I’m suspecting a number of smaller hits and sneaking them off to the abattoir or whatever it is they’re doing with them,” he said.

Farms in some parts of Queensland can rival the size of some countries. Stock theft is typically discovered during a muster. Martin, who has farmed Dorper sheep, said some properties have as many as 25,000 sheep.

It is possible to lose thousands by them escaping, from an animal attack or just miscounting them, without noticing for a long period of time, he said. “This is an age-old problem. Potty dodging is a bit of an art, and it’s been going on ever since potties were there to be dodged,” he said, using Australian slang for stock theft.

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Shein shares slide on fast-fashion retailer’s stock market debut

Wanderstayfinder.com – Shares in the fast-fashion brand Shein slumped by as much as 10% as the China-founded company made its long-anticipated trading debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The Singapore-headquartered company, once valued at almost $100bn (£74bn), went public on Tuesday pricing shares at HK$48.56, valuing the business at just over $26bn. However, minutes after the flotation, which raised HK$13.6bn, the stock fell as much as 10%, pushing the online retailer’s valuation below $25bn.

Shein’s share price recovered most of its early trading plunge, closing at HK$48.50, just 0.12% down on its opening price. “Let global consumers enjoy the sound of fashion,” said Leigh Gui, Shein’s chief financial officer, after a gong was struck to mark the start of trading. The lacklustre launch as a publicly listed company comes after one of the longest-awaited initial public offerings in recent years, after plans to list in New York were blocked by regulators over forced labour concerns.

Shein also considered a £50bn flotation in London but faced similar questions about its supply chain from campaigners, MPs and investors. Nevertheless, the company has still floated as one of the world’s biggest listed fashion groups, with a valuation around the same as the Swedish retailer H&M. The Zara owner, Inditex, has a market capitalisation of about $213bn.

Shein reached a valuation of $100bn in an April 2022 fundraising round, making it the third most valuable startup in the world at the time. The plunge in its value since has been driven by regulatory changes around the world that threaten its business model of shipping goods in small packages out of China to take advantage of tax breaks on low-value imported goods. The company swung to a loss of $99m in the first three months of this year, compared with a net income of $395m the year before, after the US removed its “de minimis” import duty exemption on small packages, hitting its sales in the country.

The EU is also cracking down on the loophole, introducing a €3 (£2.56) duty on small parcels imported from outside the trading bloc in June, and intends to phase it out, while the UK has said it will do the same by October 2028. On Tuesday, France began imposing penalties on some fast-fashion items to curb the surge in sales of cheap products sold by retailers such as Shein and its Chinese rival Temu. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Paris passed a fast-fashion law in June to address concerns about overproduction, with the penalties calculated using a formula that factors in the number of products sold, their prices and repairability.

The penalties, which are set to increase in 2030, range from €0.25 for a pair of boxer shorts or socks to €12 for a coat, with the amount capped at 50% of the product’s pre-tax sales price. China’s commerce ministry has called the French law discriminatory and a trade barrier and said it could be in violation of World Trade Organization principles. Shein, founded by the entrepreneur Chris Xu, runs most of its operations from China but sells all its goods outside the country.

It moved its headquarters to Singapore at about the start of 2022, a move viewed by analysts as designed to avoid increasing scrutiny of Chinese companies. After forced labour concerns were raised, Shein said it had tightened its supplier policies, enforced through regular audits, with any child or forced labour violations becoming grounds for immediate termination of contract.

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Thai resort prepares to host USS Abraham Lincoln sailors after more than 270 days at sea

Wanderstayfinder.com – Authorities in the Thai resort city of Pattaya have stepped up security as they prepare to welcome thousands of sailors and marines from the USS Abraham Lincoln who have spent more than 270 consecutive days at sea. “About 600 officials will provide security and other necessary assistance,” the provincial governor, Narit Niramaiwong, told AFP. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier sailed past Singapore over the weekend on its way back to the US after a lengthy deployment in the Middle East as part of the US war against Iran.

It left California in November 2025 for duty in the South China Sea and was rerouted to the Middle East before the US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began six months ago. Reports of deteriorating living conditions and poor mental health onboard, including attempted suicides, have made headlines in the US and provoked criticism of Donald Trump’s war against Iran. Pattaya’s mayor, Poramase Ngampiches, said the carrier would dock just after midnight on Wednesday (about 5pm GMT on Tuesday) at Laem Chabang port.

About 40 buses have been laid on to transport the sailors to Pattaya and back in staggered groups before the carrier departs on Sunday. After meeting US officials on Monday, Poramase said service members would be banned from certain recreational activities such as parasailing and cannabis use. Medical cannabis was legalised in Thailand in 2022 and dispensaries have become common in Thai cities.

Once a sleepy fishing village, Pattaya was transformed by the Vietnam war in the 1960s, when US soldiers on leave began coming for rest and recreation. The city has since become hugely popular with foreign tourists, known for its beaches and a nightlife scene that has long drawn scrutiny over sex tourism. Poramase told AFP there had been a recent crackdown on sex workers but denied this was linked to the US arrivals.

Government officials are warning local businesses not to overcharge US sailors, and Poramase said there would be a greater police presence in popular areas along Pattaya beach and Walking Street. The city’s police chief, Anek Srathongyoo, said law enforcements agencies had been ordered to step up security measures to prevent undesirable situations. He said that if any US service members broke Thai law, they would be prosecuted accordingly.

Local business owners feeling the tourism slump from the Iran war are eager for the new arrivals. A banner hung over a local bar near a beach read: “Welcome all US military personnel. Thank you for your service.” Bualuang Ponok, a bar employee, said she had seen US service members during past visits but she did not expect many from this crew.

“They said 5,000 people will come here but how many will reach us?” she said. Earlier in August, the usually Asia-based USS George Washington relieved the long-deployed Lincoln in the Middle East. The Lincoln, one of the US navy’s largest warships, was part of American efforts in the Iran war, which flared back up over the weekend for the first time in a month.

The deployment included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 270 days. Trump downplayed concerns over conditions onboard and said the deployment was “not nearly long enough”. Thai officials have said the Lincoln will return to the US after its port call in Thailand.

Associated Press and Agence France-Press contributed reporting

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USS Abraham Lincoln arrives at Thai port after gruelling 270 days at sea

Wanderstayfinder.com – The USS Abraham Lincoln, an US aircraft carrier at the centre of a row over conditions on board after months at sea as part of Donald Trump’s war against Iran, has arrived off a Thai port. Reports of deteriorating living conditions and poor mental health on the vessel, including attempted suicides, have made headlines around the world, provoking criticism of the president’s actions in the Middle East. A heavy security presence was in force at Laem Chabang port near Pattaya, south of Bangkok, where the 5,000-strong crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln arrived on Wednesday morning after more than 270 days at sea.

The huge nuclear-powered ship left California in November 2025 for duty in the South China Sea and was rerouted to the Middle East before US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began six months ago. The Lincoln left California in November 2025 for duty in the South China Sea and was rerouted to the Middle East before US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began six months ago. The resort city of Pattaya, a rest-and-recreation destination for US troops since the Vietnam war, has stepped up security as it prepares to welcome the sailors and Marines.

The sailors will disembark in groups of approximately 50, according to police colonel Anek Srathongyoo, a superintendent of Pattaya city police station. Once a quiet fishing village, Pattaya was transformed into one of the most infamous red light districts in the world with the arrival of American troops using military bases in Thailand during the Vietnam war. At its peak, tens of thousands of US military personnel came through each year, said Pipatpong Fakfare, an associate professor specialising in tourism at Bangkok University.

“In my opinion, it’s really the founding influence for the town. The US military turned a quiet fishing village into a global destination for an international nightlife and entertainment hub in about 15 years,” he said. Pattaya is now hugely popular with foreign tourists, known for its beaches and a nightlife scene that has long drawn scrutiny over sex tourism.

Although the American troops left by the mid-70s, the sex industry infrastructure continued to grow, with European tourists taking their place, and more recently waves of Chinese and Russian visitors, Pipatpong said. Sex work is illegal in Thailand, but authorities often turn a blind eye, said Pattarachit Gozzoli, a sociologist at Mahidol University in Bangkok. Pattaya’s mayor, Poramase Ngampiches, has downplayed the city’s past, saying there had been a recent crackdown on sex workers but denied it was linked to the US arrivals.

Local police arrested 25 women for soliciting on the beachfront promenade a week before the ship arrived. The mayor said buses had been arranged to transport the sailors between the ship and Pattaya until the carrier departs on Sunday. Outside one bar, a sign said: “Welcome all US military personnel.

Thank you for your service.” Poramase said in a Facebook post: “They come to relax. Our preparations will focus on safety and ensuring fair pricing, so we don’t take advantage of them.” He said they had been banned from water sports such as jetskis, and from taking advantage of Thailand’s lax cannabis laws, but encouraged them to enjoy the city’s many other attractions, from malls to religious sites.

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Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong pleads guilty in second national security case

Joshua Wong Admits Guilt in Second National Security Prosecution, Extending a Detention That Began in Late 2020

Wanderstayfinder.com – At 29, Joshua Wong has now faced two separate criminal cases under Hong Kong’s national security statute — a distinction that makes him, by the account of both supporters and observers, the sole activist in the territory to be twice prosecuted under that framework. On Wednesday he entered a guilty plea to a charge of conspiring to seek foreign sanctions, blockades, or other hostile measures directed at Hong Kong and mainland China. The offence carries a statutory maximum of life imprisonment, though the standard sentencing band runs from three to ten years unless the court determines the conduct was “of a grave nature.”

A Plea Delivered Behind Bars

Wong has been held in continuous custody since November 2020, meaning he has spent close to six years behind bars before this latest hearing. His original sentence — four years and eight months imposed in November 2024 for conspiracy to commit subversion tied to an unofficial primary election held in 2021 — was set to expire in January 2027. A guilty plea in the new case, however, will almost certainly extend that timeline, and prosecutors indicated sentencing would follow at a later date. Guilty pleas in Hong Kong courts typically carry a sentencing discount, but the magnitude of any reduction remains uncertain given the political weight attached to the national security statute.

Inside the dock, Wong wore a blue shirt and black-rimmed glasses. He raised a hand to wave at supporters gathered in the gallery before standing with his arms clasped behind his back while formally entering the plea. Outside the high court building, members of the public had queued overnight to secure seating for the Wednesday hearing, a turnout that underscored the degree of public attention the case commands.

What the Prosecution Alleged

According to the case presented in court, Wong collaborated with Nathan Law, a fellow activist now living in exile, to lobby foreign governments for punitive economic measures against China. The prosecution detailed visits Wong made to foreign countries where he met politicians and officials specifically to press for sanctions or trade restrictions. It further noted that he continued to advocate for such measures even after the national security law took effect in 2020, and that he documented these meetings through posts on his social media accounts.

Supporters and rights advocates have argued that the case draws heavily on advocacy Wong conducted before the statute existed, effectively applying the law retroactively to speech and lobbying that predated its enactment. That argument sits at the centre of broader criticism that the statute’s scope has widened over its six-year life, reaching conduct that critics say falls well outside the original intent of restoring stability to the financial hub after the 2019 unrest.

Voices from the Gallery and Beyond

One supporter present at the hearing, who asked not to be named, offered a sharp assessment of what the plea represented:

“Under a compromised judicial system with zero space for a fair trial, Wong’s plea is a forced reality. This is not justice, but Beijing’s absolute eradication of Hong Kong’s dissident voices.”

Frances Hui of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation framed the prosecution in terms of political isolation:

“It’s obvious that the government wants to keep him behind bars for as long as they can, so as to isolate him and not to let him become a visible symbol of resistance.”

International rights organisations weighed in with similar force. Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, described the sequential charging as a deliberate strategy:

“By stacking one charge after another against Joshua Wong, the authorities are ensuring that the democracy icon stays behind bars, silencing him and the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement he helped lead and inspire.”

Sophie Richardson, a longtime China rights advocate, pointed to a broader rhetorical pattern:

“Conflating promoting democracy and free speech with undermining national security is a favourite dodge for authoritarians. Beijing also likes blaming ‘hostile’, but unspecified foreign forces.”

From Umbrella Movement to Repeated Prosecution

Wong first entered the global spotlight in 2014, as a teenager, when he became the internationally recognised face of the Umbrella Movement — a 79-day occupation of major Hong Kong roads by thousands demanding expanded democratic representation. That October he appeared on the cover of Time magazine under the headline “The Face of Protest.” When fresh protests erupted in 2019 over a proposed extradition bill, Wong was serving a prison sentence connected to his 2014 role. He was released at the peak of that movement and immediately joined public calls for the bill’s withdrawal.

Beijing responded to the 2019 unrest by imposing a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, stating the measure was necessary to restore order to the international financial centre. Six years later, critics contend the statute’s reach has expanded well beyond its stated purpose, and Wong’s dual prosecution has become a focal example of that expansion.

Diplomatic and Political Reactions

The case has drawn attention beyond Hong Kong’s borders. On Tuesday, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith called on the UK government to raise Wong’s situation directly with Beijing:

“Enough is enough. It’s time to stop chasing peaceful protesters.”

Whether that diplomatic pressure will alter the sentencing trajectory remains to be seen. What is clear is that Wong’s continued detention — now stretching toward a seventh year and potentially beyond — has transformed him from a symbolic figure of youth-led protest into a long-term test case for how far the national security statute will be applied to speech, advocacy, and cross-border political engagement in Hong Kong.

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Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

Wanderstayfinder.com – Drivers on residential roads in Japan have been forced to take their foot off the accelerator, after the speed limit was slashed from 60km/h (37mph) to 30km/h in an attempt to reduce deaths and injuries among pedestrians on narrow urban streets. The new limit, which went into effect on Tuesday, applies to residential roads with no centre line or maximum speed signs, media reports said. Narrow roads with no centre lines or pavements are a common sight in crowded Japanese cities, with data indicating that children and older people are at particular risk of being involved in a fatal or serious accident.

The measures apply to about 870,000km of roads that are less than 5.5 metres wide and do not have centre lines or median strips, according to the Mainichi Shimbun. They account for about 70% of the country’s general roads, the newspaper said. Authorities hopes the restrictions will address concerns that residential areas are not experiencing the same improvements in safety seen on larger roads.

While the overall number of deaths in traffic accidents is in decline – falling to a record low of 2,457 last year – those involving children and older people on residential roads has remained steady at about 300 a year since 2021, and rose for the first time in three years in 2025, according to the national police agency. The introduction in 2011 of “zone 30” areas on a limited number of residential streets and along school routes resulted in a 30% reduction in fatalities and serious injuries, the Mainichi said. Police agency data show that the mortality rate among pedestrians is less than 1% in accidents involving vehicles traveling at or below 30km/h, with the rate rising to 2.7% at speeds of 30-40km/h, and to 17.4% at 50-60km/h.

“We ask drivers to recognise that they need to take particular care on roads shared by vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists,” the police agency’s commissioner general, Yoshinobu Kusunoki, told reporters this week.

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Canada’s ruling Liberals sweep byelections in boost to Mark Carney

Liberal Party Captures All Three Byelections, Cementing Carney’s Mandate

Wanderstayfinder.com – Prime Minister Mark Carney’s governing Liberals emerged unscathed — indeed strengthened — from a triple byelection contest held Monday, converting a moment of partisan vulnerability into a decisive reaffirmation of his leadership. The party took all three seats up for grabs, including one it had never held in the district since 2018, in a result that lands amid a bitter and widening trade confrontation with Washington.

The Canadian Press, the country’s national newswire, called Liberal victories in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord (Quebec), Beaches-East York (Toronto), and North Vancouver-Capilano (British Columbia). Together, the wins push the governing party to 173 seats in the 343-member House of Commons, deepening its parliamentary majority at a moment when Carney’s government faces its most consequential external challenge since taking office.

The Quebec Flip: A Watershed Moment

Of the three contests, the Quebec result carried the greatest symbolic weight. Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, a riding anchored by aluminium smelters, dairy operations, and other heavy industry, had been a Conservative stronghold since the 2018 federal election. Liberal candidate Daniel Gobeil was projected to win by a wide margin, effectively erasing the opposition’s presence in a region now caught in the crossfire of an escalating transborder trade war.

“This victory means we can maintain Canadian unity all across the country,” Gobeil said.

The district’s economic profile makes the result particularly pointed. Workers and plant managers there have watched tariffs reshape their supply chains overnight, and the Liberal sweep suggests that voters in such communities are choosing continuity with Carney’s government over the Conservatives’ alternative platform.

Two Incumbent Seats Retained

The remaining two contests were defensive tests. In North Vancouver-Capilano, Braeden Caley — formerly Carney’s deputy chief of staff — claimed the seat previously held by a Liberal MP. In Beaches-East York, the party likewise held its ground in a Toronto riding. Liberal MP Hedy Fry, speaking to CBC, framed the combined outcome as a signal directed southward:

“The United States is getting a message tonight. Our leader has the support of the Canadian people.”

Trade Talks Collapse and Escalation

The byelections arrive against a backdrop of sharp deterioration in bilateral relations. Negotiations between Ottawa and Washington broke down on 21 August when neither side could close a deal. President Donald Trump subsequently imposed 50 per cent tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, and Canada answered with its own tariff plans targeting American products.

Since the talks failed, Trump has intensified rhetorical pressure on Ottawa. He signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” and on Monday US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asserted that Canada held limited leverage in the dispute because the American economy is approximately thirteen times larger. Trump has also reiterated, on multiple occasions, his long-standing suggestion that Canada should become the 51st state.

Against that backdrop, Carney has accelerated diplomatic and commercial outreach toward Europe and other trading partners, seeking to diversify Canada’s economic dependencies away from a single dominant neighbour.

Expert Read: Regional Breadth and Conservative Trouble

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University, characterized the sweep as evidence that Carney retains robust support across Canada’s geographic and linguistic regions. He singled out the Quebec result as the most consequential of the three, arguing that the ease with which Gobeil carried Chicoutimi-Le Fjord likely reflected, in part, the popularity in Quebec of Carney’s decision to pull the plug on trade negotiations with the White House rather than accept terms perceived as punitive.

For the opposition, the numbers were stark. The Conservatives had captured roughly 41 per cent of the national vote in last year’s federal election. On Monday, in the three byelection districts, their share fell to approximately 13 per cent, dropping them to third place behind the Liberals and the NDP. Béland was blunt about the implications:

“These numbers do look bad.”

The collapse in a single riding, let alone three, complicates the leadership calculus for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who must now explain a party that went from near-parity to marginal relevance in a matter of months.

Context: How Carney Got Here

Carney won last year’s federal election riding a wave of public anger over Trump’s annexation rhetoric and tariff threats. His campaign pledged to reduce Canada’s structural dependence on the American economy, and the byelection results suggest that pledge still resonates with voters in industrial regions, urban cores, and western provinces alike. The three seats were vacated earlier this year when the sitting MPs resigned from parliament, triggering the contests under standard electoral procedure.

With 173 seats now secured, Carney’s government enters the autumn session with a reinforced mandate and, arguably, a stronger hand in whatever next round of negotiations — or continued confrontation — unfolds with Washington. The message from Monday’s ballot boxes is unambiguous: Canadian voters, at least in these districts, are not looking for a change of government while the trade war rages.

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Trump suggests he is reviewing US support for UK over Falkland Islands

Wanderstayfinder.com – Donald Trump has suggested he is reconsidering US support for Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, in a move likely to strain the “special relationship” between Washington and London. “I always review every position – that’s just one of many,” the US president told reporters in the White House, in response to a question about whether he was reviewing the US’s position over the South Atlantic islands, an archipelago whose status has long been disputed by Argentina, which claims sovereignty. Officially, the US takes a neutral position on who has rightful sovereignty over the islands, which Britain first claimed in the late 17th century and has held almost continually since 1833.

In practice, it recognizes British administration over the territory, which was the subject of an Argentinian invasion and subsequent military conflict with Britain in 1982. Trump’s remarks were the clearest sign yet that the administration is prepared to use the dispute as leverage to pressure the government of the new British prime minister, Andy Burnham, to raise defence spending and contributions to Nato. A spokesperson for Burnham said on Tuesday that the UK’s position on the Falkands was “crystal clear”.

“The Falkland islanders are British with a right to determine their own future. The islanders have expressed their wish to remain a British overseas territory, and our commitment to them is unwavering,” he said. “The prime minister was clear on his first day in office that we’ll meet our international commitments to our allies on defence spending, and he hasn’t wavered from that.” Trump’s comments came after an unnamed US official told the Telegraph last week that Washington could change its position over the islands if Britain failed to meet its defence spending commitments.

That followed reports that John Healey, the UK chancellor, was preparing to drop Britain’s prior commitment to devote 3% of its GDP to defence spending by 2030 when he delivers his first budget on 28 October. Trump has made a priority of pressuring the US’s allies into boosting defence budgets and raising their Nato contributions during both his presidencies, accusing other countries of “freeloading”. At a summit in The Hague last year, allies committed to spending 5% of GDP on defence and security-related expenditures by 2035.

Speculation about a US switch of allegiance over the islands has been swirling for months. In April, a leaked Pentagon email suggested reviewing Britain’s claim in response to its lack of support for Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran. A switch of US position would represent a psychological blow to Britain’s sovereignty over the Falklands.

After Argentina invaded the islands in 1982, the decision by Margaret Thatcher’s government to dispatch a naval taskforce that eventually resulted in their recovery was bolstered by staunch diplomatic support from Ronald Reagan, who came down on Britain’s side, even though Washington was also an ally of the Argentinian ruling military junta. A total of 649 Argentinian and 255 British personnel died in fighting before Argentina’s forces surrendered in June 1982. The episode played a central role in cementing the bond between Thatcher and Reagan, who were political allies and ideological kindred spirits.

In recent times, Trump has become close to Argentina’s populist president, Javier Milei, who attended his second inauguration in January last year. Last year, Trump authorized a $20bn financial lifeline to Argentina to help it navigate a financial crisis, but made the funds contingent on Milei’s party winning subsequent congressional elections. Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party duly won the election, confounding pollsters’ forecasts.

Trump later authorized the importation of Argentinian beef in an effort to reduce US grocery prices. Milei has vocally supported Argentina’s claim to the islands. In a 2013 poll, 1,513 out of 1,517 Falklands residents who cast a ballot said they wanted the territory remain a part of the UK.

Feelings over the islands surfaced after Argentina’s 2-1 victory over England in the semi-final of the World Cup in July, when celebrating Argentinian players unfurled a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” – the Falklands are Argentinian. The Argentinian football association was subsequently fined $235,000 by Fifa for violating its rules on non-sporting demonstrations.

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