Kiss forced to cancel entire Australian tour, add new dates in Europe and South Africa - Louder

Kiss have been forced to cancel their entire Australian tour due to illness affecting Paul Stanley.

It was reported earlier this week that Kiss had pushed back the start of the tour and cancelled their trip to New Zealand to allow Stanley to recover from a bout of flu.

But the vocalist and guitarist also has a throat infection, meaning all eight dates have had to be cancelled.

A statement reads: “Kiss and both promoters are absolutely gutted by the news and sincerely apologise to fans. Earlier this week it was announced that US doctors had advised Paul Stanley to rest due to a bad case of influenza, prompting the rescheduling of the tour’s first show in Perth to the end of the run and the cancellation of New Zealand.

“It was hoped the extra few days rest would allow Stanley the chance for a complete recovery so the tour could proceed as planned. Unfortunately this has not occurred. Stanley has an additional infection in his throat requiring complete vocal rest and medication for at least two weeks and possibly longer.”

Stanley adds: “Words cannot begin to convey our massive disappointment in having to cancel our End Of The Road tour of your incredible country. Our connection to you is unparalleled and decades deep.

“We waited as long as we could and held out hope to the last minute that my situation would clear up and we would be able to march forward. Doctor’s orders ultimately have taken precedence and finally we now find ourselves with no choice but to surrender.”

Tickets that were bought with a debit or credit card will be refunded in full, while those buying tickets through an agency in cash will be contacted in the next 15 days where a refund will be arranged.

In better news, Kiss have added four more dates to next summer's European schedule, as well as a date in South Africa. Details below.

Last week, Kiss manager Doc McGhee revealed that former members of the band have been approached about the possibility of playing at their last-ever show, which will take place in New York on July 17, 2021.

The venue has still to be announced, with Kiss also recently revealing a further run of 2020 tour dates.

Kiss: Cancelled Australian tour dates
Nov 19: Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Nov 21: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena
Nov 22: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena
Nov 23: Newcastle Supercars 500
Nov 26: Sydney Qudos Bank Arena
Nov 28: Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Nov 30: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena
Dec 03: Perth RAC Arena

Kiss: 2020 European Tour (including South African date)

Jun 09: Paris Accors Hotel Arena, France
Jun 12: Download Festival, Derby UK
Jun 14: Dortmund Westfalenhalle, Germany
Jun 15: Hamburg Barclaycard Arena, Germany
Jun 18: Copenhagen Copenhell Festival, Denmark
Jun 20: Sandnes Osterhuis Arena, Norway
Jun 29: Kaunas Zalgiris Arena, Lithuania
Jul 01: Prague O2 Arena, Czech Republic
Jul 05: Madrid Wizink Arena, Spain
Jul 10: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
Jul 11: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, Germany
Jul 13: Verona Arena Di Verona, Italy
Jul 15: Gliwice Arena, Poland
Jul 16: Budapest Arena, Hungary
Jul 18: Sofia Armeec Arena, Bulgaria
Jul 25: Johannesburg Ticketpro Dome, South Africa

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.loudersound.com/news/kiss-forced-to-cancel-entire-australian-tour

2019-11-14 09:26:00Z
52780435936845

Saving the Fire Victims Who Cannot Flee: Australia’s Koalas - The New York Times

MELBOURNE, Australia — The victims were carried in one by one, their paws burned and fur singed, suffering from dehydration and fear. Their caretakers bandaged their wounds, swaddled them and laid them in baskets with the only thing that was familiar — the leaves of a eucalyptus tree.

As catastrophic fires have burned more than two million acres in Australia, dozens of koalas have been rescued from smoldering trees and ashen ground. The animals, already threatened as a species before these latest blazes ravaged a crucial habitat, are being treated in rescue centers, and at least one private home, along the country’s east coast.

“They are terrified,” said Cheyne Flanagan, the clinical director of the Koala Hospital, in Port Macquarie, the only facility of its kind in the world. She added that what was happening to the koalas was “a national tragedy.”

Meet Kate. She was saved by rescuer Darrel from Bellangry State Forest, NSW east. Kate suffers from extensive burns to her entire body. She is the lucky few. Kate arrived dehydrated & sore but is in the best care at Koala Hospital. Great team effort from donors, volunteers etc ❤ pic.twitter.com/SVyWLjaiTo

— Miz One Teaspoon 🥄 (@MizOneTeaspoon) November 14, 2019

Officials at the hospital began warning weeks ago, when the fires first ignited around Port Macquarie, 250 miles north of Sydney, that hundreds of koalas may have been “incinerated.” Rescuers have not yet been able to confirm the scope of the loss because some of the blazes are still raging.

The plight of the koala — a national symbol of Australia — has raised questions among conservationists and scientists about what it will take to preserve biodiversity in a country increasingly prone to intense fire, extreme heat and water scarcity, and which already has among the highest rates of species extinction in the world.

While koalas have evolved to exist alongside wildfires, the animals are facing new threats not just from climate change but also from human development, which has dislocated local populations, impairing their ability to survive fires. In some regions, scientists say, koalas’ numbers have declined by up to 80 percent, though it is difficult to know how many remain across Australia.

“We have these unique animals not found anywhere else on this planet, and we’re killing them,” Ms. Flanagan said. “This is a big wake-up call.”

The animal distress goes beyond koalas. Recently, tens of thousands of bats plummeted from the sky in temperatures exceeding 107 degrees Fahrenheit in northern Australia. Kangaroos, parched by drought, decimated the grapes on a vineyard in Canberra. And waterfowl in the Macquarie Marshes, a wildlife haven in northwest New South Wales, have been affected by a fire in their habitat.

“It’s a swamp for goodness’ sake; it’s burning,” said David Bowman, a professor of pyrogeography and fire science at the University of Tasmania. The current bush fires, the earlier burning of rainforests and a continuing extreme drought, he said, are all “warning lights” that ecosystems have been pushed far beyond their normal patterns.

Climate change and other human impacts have so altered the landscape that the government needs to urgently rethink its approach to conservation, Dr. Bowman said, suggesting interventions like irrigating, feeding and relocating animals.

“You want koalas?” he said. “That’s what we’ve got to do.”

In the weeks that the fires have been burning around Port Macquarie, more than two-thirds of the habitat of a local population of koalas in the forest surrounding two lakes has been decimated, conservationists said.

They estimated that 350 of the nearly 700 koalas that lived in the region had been killed. As of Thursday, 22 adult koalas and one joey had been rescued. They are being treated at the Koala Hospital along with dozens of other animals, including kangaroos and possums that were injured in dog attacks or car accidents — often the collateral damage of creatures searching for a new home after a disaster.

About 50 miles south of the hospital, in Taree, one family has transformed its home into a koala rehabilitation center. There, 24 animals, each given a name on a Post-it note attached to its basket, are beginning the slow road to recovery in the couple’s living room.

“Somebody has to look after them because nobody else is doing too much, as far as the government, in protecting their habitat and protecting them,” Christeen McLeod, who is housing the koalas, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “So we do this,” she added, “and hope that we can save some of them.”

Koalas, unlike kangaroos, birds or snakes, do not flee from fires, but instead scale trees to the canopy, where they can curl themselves into a ball for protection and wait for the danger to pass.

But during high-intensity fires, such as those that have burned in recent weeks, the animals, conservationists say, are far less likely to survive. Even if the fire itself does not reach the tree canopy, the animals may overheat and fall to the ground, where they can be burned to death. They can also suffer smoke inhalation, or burn their paws or claws when trying to climb down trees.

Claws, crucial for life in the wild, do not grow back. A “koala who can’t climb can’t survive,” said Sue Ashton, the director of the Koala Hospital.

She said that while the hospital hoped to rehabilitate and eventually release the animals, it was likely that some would have to be euthanized. That, she added, would be a further blow to conservation efforts.

Though the fires are still burning, a rescue team led by the hospital began to search the periphery last week, walking in a human chain, their necks strained toward the tree canopy, searching for survivors.

The rescuers described a lifeless scene free of birds and insects, with the forest undergrowth gone, reeds burned in a creek, and hollowed-out trees still smoking.

“This fire is currently still burning,” said Scott Castle, the assistant clinical director at the hospital, who participated in the effort. “So,” he added, “there’s a lot more to search.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/14/world/australia/australia-koalas-fire.html

2019-11-14 07:41:00Z
52780436027831

As Australia Burns, Its Leaders Trade Insults - The New York Times

SYDNEY, Australia — When a mass shooting shattered Australia in 1996, the country banned automatic weapons. In its first years of independence, it enacted a living-wage law. Stable retirement savings, national health care, affordable college education — Australia solved all these issues decades ago.

But climate change is Australia’s labyrinth without an exit, where its pragmatism disappears.

The wildfires that continued raging on Wednesday along the country’s eastern coast have revealed that the politics of climate in Australia resist even the severe pressure that comes from natural disaster.

Instead of common-sense debate, there are culture war insults. The deputy prime minister calls people who care about climate change “raving inner-city lunatics.” Another top official suggests that supporting the Greens party can be fatal. And while the government is working to meet the immediate need — fighting fires, delivering assistance — citizens are left asking why more wasn’t done earlier as they demand solutions.

“We still don’t have an energy policy, we don’t have effective climate policy — it’s really very depressing,” said Susan Harris Rimmer, an associate professor at Griffith Law School.

Australia is not the only country where the threat of climate change has largely produced inaction or failed promises. President Trump has done everything he can to erase the United States’ climate policy even as dangerous fires ravage California. Canada and South Korea are far from meeting their targets to cut emissions in line with Paris Agreement commitments.

But in Australia, where coal is king and water is scarce, the country’s citizens have spent the week simmering with fear, shame and alarm. As a 500-mile stretch from Sydney to Byron Bay continued to face catastrophic fire conditions, with 80 separate blazes burning and at least three deaths reported, Australians have watched, awe-struck, as life-changing destruction has been met with political sniping.

Michael McCormack, the No. 2 official in the conservative government, kicked it off on Monday, telling listeners of the country’s most popular morning radio programs that fire victims needed assistance, not “the ravings of some pure, enlightened and woke capital city greenies.”

Barnaby Joyce, the government’s special envoy for drought assistance, followed up by suggesting that two people killed by fires near a town called Glen Innes over the weekend might have contributed to their own deaths if they supported the Greens.

The victims’ neighbors called his comments “absolutely disgraceful.”

But a Greens party senator responded with his own outrage: He said the major parties were “no better than arsonists,” an insult carrying special weight for the world’s most arid inhabited continent.

“The higher the flames in the bush, the lower the politics,” blared a headline in The Sydney Morning Herald.

While the latest conflict has flared as smoke fills the skies of Sydney, its roots go back years, maybe centuries. Even as the country’s emissions continue to soar, it’s been hard to reach a political consensus on energy and climate change policy because of Australia’s mining history and a powerful lobby for one product: coal.

“Coal is our N.R.A.,” said Ms. Harris Rimmer, referring to the National Rifle Association, which has stymied changes to gun laws in the United States even as mass shootings have become shockingly common. “They have total control over Parliament.”

The comparison has its limits. Coal is not enshrined in the Constitution, as a right to bear arms is in the United States, nor is it a consumer product. But like guns in America, coal helped define the country in its early years of settlement — and is still an outsize presence in Australian life.

The industry’s economic benefits reach fewer people than many Australians believe. It frequently hires federal lawmakers after they leave office, and even now politicians often defend coal in patriotic terms. For conservatives in particular, extraction of natural resources in rural areas is a stand-in for values worth fighting for against condescending urban elites.

Just a few days before the fires, for example, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a mining group that new laws were needed to crack down on climate activists and progressives who “want to tell you where to live, what job you can have, what you can say and what you can think.”

“Climate change has become a proxy for something else,” said Robyn Eckersley, a climate politics expert at the University of Melbourne.

What’s galling for many scientists is that the public wants the federal government to do more; polls consistently show that Australians see climate change as a major threat requiring aggressive intervention.

And the problems emerging now — fires, cyclones, heat waves, drought, shifts in sea life and the death of the Great Barrier Reef — have been predicted in the public record for years.

In 2000, a Senate committee report criticized the government for a lack of action, stating that “Australia’s per capita emissions have shot to the highest in the world,” and making more than 100 recommendations for both reducing emissions and adapting to a more dangerous environment.

“Australia will be very negatively affected by climate change given the size of its land mass,” the report says, “its long coastline, current extremes of climate, vulnerability to cyclones and the El Niño/La Niña cycle, existing problems with soil salinity, and its economic dependence on agriculture and tourism.”

Fires have been a focus of in-depth reports since at least 2013, when the nonprofit Climate Council issued its first one: “Be Prepared: Climate Change the Australian Bushfire Threat.”

Even firefighters, who scramble the class and urban-rural divide that the government often tries to exploit, have tried to tell officials that they need to confront the way that the changing climate supercharges the already dangerous threat of fires.

“We’ve seen these incidents becoming larger and more intense,” said Leighton Drury, a fire union official in New South Wales. “It would be very silly for any politician or any leader to keep their head in the ground and say we don’t need to do anything here.”

Nonetheless, for now, that is what the government is doing. Mr. Morrison, who in the past has made it clear that Australia’s economic prosperity comes first, has repeatedly argued in recent days that now is not the time to discuss climate policy or politics. Photographed hugging fire victims, he has sought to focus on emotional and financial support.

Joëlle Gergis, a climate scientist and author, said that “it wastes the opportunity to explain to the Australian public what we’re seeing in climate extremes.”

Unfortunately, more opportunities are on the way. Strong winds and high temperatures are predicted for this weekend, leading fire officials to warn that the blazes already burning will spread, while new conflagrations will produce more demands for help.

The pressure on the Australian government to do for the climate what it’s done for other policy problems will only grow with the flames.

Isabella Kwai and Jamie Tarabay contributed reporting.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/world/australia/fires-climate-change-pragmatism.html

2019-11-13 11:23:00Z
52780435184324

Australia bushfires: Pregnant firefighter defends decision to fight fires - BBC News

A 23-year-old pregnant volunteer firefighter has fiercely defended her decision to fight dangerous bushfires that have swept across Australia.

Kat Robinson-Williams, who is 14 weeks pregnant, said she received many appeals from worried friends to stop.

It prompted a powerful post from her on Instagram where she said she would not "just stay behind".

Ms Robinson-Williams has been volunteering with the New South Wales (NSW) Rural Fire Service for 11 years.

"I'm not the first pregnant firefighter and I'm not going to be the last one," she told the BBC. "I'm still in a position where I'm able to help so I will."

Australia is enduring a bushfire crisis that has left three people dead since Friday and burnt more than 200 homes.

'I don't care if you don't like it'

Ms Robinson-Williams first posted on Instagram on Monday, putting up several pictures of herself in firefighting gear on the way to an incident.

The post was captioned: "Yes I am a firefighter. No I'm not a man. Yes I am pregnant. No I don't care if you don't like it."

Her post was met with an outpouring of support, with many calling her "an inspiration to all girls".

The volunteer firefighter, who comes from the Hunter Valley in NSW, told the BBC she had posted the picture after several friends had told her "you shouldn't be doing this".

"I wanted to tell them I'm okay and that I'm not just going to stop," she said. "I'll stop when my body tells me to stop."

She added that her doctor had given her the all-clear "as long as I wear the right equipment".

Ms Robinson-Williams, who works in childcare, is the third generation in a family of volunteer firefighters.

"My mum was also pregnant during the fire season of 1995. It kind of runs in the family," she said. "When I was young, my grandma made a toddler size firefighter outfit for me."

A large number of her family members are still firefighter volunteers, including her grandmother.

"It's a family thing, we've always done it. My grandmother is still volunteering, has been for 50 years, and my mum has been doing it for over 30 years," she said.

Her husband is also a volunteer firefighter, as are her in-laws.

"I'm hoping my child will follow, though that's up to them," she said.

When asked if she felt scared at all while battling the fires, Ms Robinson-Williams was quick to say "no".

"I was in the thick of a fire yesterday, the houses were alight and backyards were on fire - we were there putting it out. It's just what I've always been doing."

About six million people live in the state of NSW.

Fire crews have been battling a front spanning 1,000km (620 miles) with several blazes "exceeding 100,000 hectares alone", according to officials.

On Wednesday, bushfires briefly spread to suburbs of Sydney.

Authorities have said the region is in for a particularly dangerous bushfire season due to a severe drought and other factors.

Reporting by the BBC's Yvette Tan and Frances Mao.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50400238

2019-11-13 05:26:51Z
CBMiMWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy93b3JsZC1hdXN0cmFsaWEtNTA0MDAyMzjSATVodHRwczovL3d3dy5iYmMuY29tL25ld3MvYW1wL3dvcmxkLWF1c3RyYWxpYS01MDQwMDIzOA

Australian boxer Dwight Ritchie dies in freak sparring accident - New York Post

Australian boxer Dwight Ritchie died Saturday following a freak training accident.

The father of three collapsed after a devastating body shot during a sparring session with light-middleweight star Michael Zerafa.

The rising super welterweight. Ritchie, 27, was in Melbourne preparing for a bout with Tommy Browne on Dec. 6.

“Dwight will always be remembered by the boxing fraternity as one of the brightest talents in Australia who’s fighting style embodied exactly how he lived,” said his promoter, Jake Ellis, The Sun reported.

“The Fighting Cowboy” had a professional boxing record of 19-2.

He grew up in Shepparton, Victoria, Australia, and twice overcame cancer as a child, first when he was six months old and then at 18 months.

Share this:

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://nypost.com/2019/11/09/australian-boxer-dwight-ritchie-dies-in-freak-sparring-accident/

2019-11-09 16:56:00Z
52780431119897

'Unprecedented' fires rip through Australia's New South Wales - CNN

Images posted to social media show ominous bright orange skies and thick smoke wafting across roads and towns throughout the region.

As of 5:30 p.m. local time Friday (1:30 a.m. ET) there were 96 fires across the state, with 57 burning out of control, according to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS).

"If you are near these fires, your life is at risk and you need to take action to protect your life," the NSW RFS said in a Twitter post. Some residents in Jacobs Spur near the town of Kempsey have been told it is too late to evacuate so they should take shelter immediately.

The areas most affected by the fires include Tenterfield, Armidale, Clarence Valley, Port Macquarie, Nambucca and Kempsey, according toCNN affiliate Nine News.

The fire service said in a Twitter post that a number of blazes "are becoming more intense" and "more dangerous."

It warned that some blazes were creating their own weather conditions and that fire clouds -- which can produce lightning without rain -- were developing.

"These (fire clouds) are extremely dangerous. Do not be caught in the open," the NSW RFS said.

The blazes are so fierce that major roads and highways have been closed and motorists in affected areas have been advised to delay non-essential travel, Nine News reported. At least five schools have closed due to the fires.

"To have 17 fires concurrently burning at emergency alert level is without precedent in the state of New South Wales," NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said in a briefing Friday. "We've simply never had this number of fires burning at the same time."

Fitzsimmons said the fire service has received reports that several communities have been impacted by the blazes, including reports of injuries to residents and damage to buildings.

The "high concentration of fire and extreme volatility and extraordinary fire behavior" was being driven by a "drought stricken landscape" and hot, dry, windy conditions," he said.

Winds are set to be "relentless" throughout the evening, Fitzsimmons added.

In a tweet Friday, Rob Rogers, Executive Director Operations at the NSW Rural Fire Service described the fires as "unprecedented" and asked residents to "avoid fire affected areas."

About 50 bushfires are also blazing in the neighboring state of Queensland. Residents in several areas there have been told to evacuate as emergency-level fires threaten homes and properties.

Queensland and New South Wales are prone to wildfires in spring and early summer, and this year's blazes follow Australia's hottest summer on record, which brought worsening drought, bushfires and very low rainfall.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/08/australia/australia-bushfires-nsw-intl-hnk-scli/

2019-11-08 08:58:00Z
52780430174497

Australia bushfires: Record number of emergencies in New South Wales - BBC News

Australian authorities say an "unprecedented" number of emergency-level bushfires have threatened the state of New South Wales (NSW).

More than 90 blazes were raging across the state on Friday.

The fires - many in drought-affected areas - were being exacerbated by gusty winds and up to 35C heat.

There are reports of people trapped in their homes in several places, with crew unable to reach them due to the strength of the fires.

"We are in uncharted territory," said Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, with at least 17 blazes at the highest threat level.

"We have never seen this many fires concurrently at emergency warning level."

Authorities warned some people to seek shelter from fires rather than flee, as it was now "too late to leave".

Emergency warnings were also issued on Friday for bushfires burning in Queensland and Western Australia.

In NSW, the worst-hit state, crews have fought hundreds of fires since September. Last month, two people died while trying to protect their home.

• Early Australian bushfires 'an omen for summer'
• Climate emergency 'clear and unequivocal'

Last week, one blaze burnt though 2,000 hectares of bush which contained a koala sanctuary. Hundreds of the animals were feared to have died.

The state is in the grip of a long-running drought and authorities warn that many fires will continue to burn unless there is rain.

"We just cannot overstate the profound impact that the drought is having on fire behaviour," Mr Fitzsimmons said.

Officials said spot fires - caused by embers travelling in the wind - were breaking out up to 12km (7.4 miles) from fire fronts. This was three times further than average, they added.

Accessing water in dry areas to fight the fires was also proving challenging, with water-bombing aircraft often being forced to fly long distances.

In some cases bores were being drilled to keep up with demand, authorities said.

"We've very mindful of the scarcity of water and how precious it is but the reality is we can't do firefighting without water," Mr Fitzsimmons said.

Last week, Sydney was blanketed by smoke for days due to fires in Port Macquarie - a region 380km away.

The poor air quality prompted health warnings for those with asthma and other respiratory problems.

Authorities said they were concerned about the severity of the fires ahead of its hottest months, a year after the nation experienced its warmest summer on record.

Australia's fire season risks growing longer and more intense due to climate change, according to scientists.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

All pictures subject to copyright.

---

Have you been affected by the bushfires? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

• WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803
• Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
• Text an SMS or MMS to 61124 or +44 7624 800 100
• Please read our terms of use and privacy policy

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50341207

2019-11-08 08:41:55Z
52780430174497