Author: DispatchTimes News Desk

Businesses in Phoenix’s Melrose District planned a vigil on Thursday, September 3, to honour two men killed outside a Tucson gay bar in what police have confirmed was a hate crime targeting the LGBTQ+ community. Bars and other businesses along the roughly one-mile stretch of 7th Avenue were due to line the pavements with about 600 battery-powered luminaries, creating a display of solidarity with the community in Tucson. The shooting happened shortly after midnight on Monday, August 31, in the car park of Venture-N. Police identified the victims as 42-year-old Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and 33-year-old Cameron Davis Capara. Investigators said…

Melbourne Assembly will bring together leading figures from universities, medicine, technology and business to debate how education and innovation can help shape the city’s future. The three-day civic forum, presented by The Age in partnership with the University of Melbourne, will be held at The Edge in Federation Square from October 19 to 21. Education and innovation will be one of four central themes, alongside urban planning, health and wellbeing, and sport and the arts. Organisers say the discussions will examine how Melbourne can remain productive and prosperous as its population grows and the city is projected to become Australia’s…

A federal prosecutor who was investigating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer over the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minnesota has been dismissed, according to people familiar with the matter. Assistant US Attorney Matthew Evans had been examining whether ICE officer Christian Castro violated the victim’s civil rights during the January incident in Minneapolis. Three sources said the Justice Department is now investigating Evans, with two saying the inquiry centres on allegations that he leaked information about the case. The development came as federal prosecutors charged Castro with making false statements about the shooting. A grand jury returned a…

John Anslow and his daughter Hayley-Marie Ferguson have been convicted after the body of Chereiss Bailey was weighed down with paving slabs and dumped in a canal in West Bromwich. Anslow, 65, was found guilty of murdering the 36-year-old and preventing her lawful burial following a three-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court. Ferguson, 42, was convicted of assisting an offender and preventing a lawful burial. Ms Bailey was last seen alive on CCTV entering Anslow’s home on 27 September 2025, after meeting him on Great Bridge Street. Police said she was subjected to a traumatic assault inside the property which…

Bindi Irwin has paid tribute to her late father Steve Irwin, describing the Crocodile Hunter as her family’s “superhero” on the 20th anniversary of his death. Steve Irwin died on 4 September 2006 after a stingray’s barb struck him in the chest while he was filming off the Queensland coast. His death at the age of 44 prompted an outpouring of grief in Australia and around the world. In an emotional Instagram post, Bindi said the loss continued to be felt by the family every day. “20 years ago, today, the world lost the most passionate and dedicated wildlife conservationist,”…

Tesla has launched its Cybercab robotaxi in Austin, Texas, marking a significant step in Elon Musk’s long-promised plan to build a driverless transport network. The two-seat electric vehicle will initially operate within a small-scale service, with no date yet confirmed for customer sales. The private event was held behind closed doors and was not livestreamed by Tesla. Access was largely given to pro-Tesla influencers, several of whom were required to sign non-disclosure agreements and wait until the event ended before publishing material. Tesla has been testing the vehicles in Austin and other cities for several months. Records from the Texas…

Milwaukee’s Central Library became an after-hours concert venue on Thursday evening as local rappers and DJs took over its Grand Rotunda for The Library Show. The free event, presented by Milwaukee Public Library, Run Along and On What, featured performances from 414BigFrank, Sabbath, Lightris & Sero and AyooLii, alongside DJ sets by Sunny Lou, DJay Mando and r3algrl. ([mpl.org](https://mpl.org/)) Organisers had been planning the show for around a year as part of National Library Card Sign-Up Month. Library card registration and renewal stations were available during the evening, with special-edition cards offered while supplies lasted. ([cbs58.com](https://www.cbs58.com/news/its-a-message-of-solidarity-milwaukee-rap-artists-to-perform-inside-milwaukee-public-library-sept-3)) The event came weeks…

Australian author Garth Nix is preparing to publish Massif, his first adult science fiction novel, more than 30 years after his debut and following worldwide sales of about seven million books. The novel, due out on 8 September, moves Nix from the children’s and young adult fantasy readership that made his name into a darker, military space opera set in the 24th century. In Nix’s imagined future, humanity travels between planets aboard enormous, sentient mountain ranges known as massifs. Earth and Mars use the extraordinary vessels to establish colonies and wage an intermittent intergalactic war, but the purpose of the…

Bondi Icebergs, the celebrated ocean pool and licensed club at the southern end of Sydney’s Bondi Beach, is the subject of an Aboriginal land claim lodged by the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council. The council said the claim was submitted in 2009 and remains unresolved while it awaits a decision from Stephen Kamper, New South Wales’ Minister for Lands and Property. In a statement read on 2GB breakfast radio, the organisation said it was prepared to work with Bondi Icebergs while the claim was assessed. “We remain willing to work constructively with Bondi Icebergs while the claim is being…

Crusoe, the US data-centre developer whose customers include Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI, has reportedly raised $3 billion in fresh funding at a valuation of $30 billion. The investment was co-led by Atreides Management and Valor Equity Partners, with participation from Mubadala Capital, the asset-management arm of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Bloomberg reported. The new funding comes less than a year after Crusoe secured $1.38 billion at a valuation of $10 billion in October. The latest deal underlines the rapid rise in investor interest in the infrastructure required to run artificial intelligence services. Crusoe has also agreed a five-year cloud…