Latest news with #RussellJenkins
Otago Daily Times
18 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
No closure for veteran after crash
A car crash into cows near Gore wrote off the car of a 25-year army veteran, leaving him sitting at home alone on Anzac Day. Ten weeks after crashing into escaped stock on State Highway 94, Russell Jenkins said he had heard nothing from the police or the farmer responsible, with no offer of financial compensation or even an apology. He said he sat at his Riversdale home for 12 days from April 17 through Easter weekend and Anzac Day waiting for some contact from police, an insurance company or a farmer and got nothing. Living alone and with no car, he then caught a bus to Dunedin for his work. "Nobody came and knocked on my door," he said. "And the fact that I am a veteran, on that day, and no-one came and talked to me. It's not like I wasn't available, because I was there. My car was parked on my front lawn." Mr Jenkins was the second person to plough into the cows that night, after 18-year-old Grace Steele, driving the opposite way, first hit the beasts. Grace was told last week by her insurance company that the owner of the stock could not be proven to be liable for the accident, as no evidence of negligence was shown. She had suffered mental stress and concussion from the incident. Despite this, the farmer's insurance company paid the $1050 excess of damage on her car despite the farmer being found not liable. Mr Jenkins has received no compensation. His Hyundai Grandeur V6 was written off and he has since bought a bigger, higher, safer $20,000 four-wheel drive vehicle. On the night of the crash, he hit four cows at open road speed, killing one on impact, he said. One animal rolled up on to his windscreen, puncturing the glass right in front of his face. "I should not have been alive any more," he said. He said he would love some money and a meaningful apology from those responsible for the crash. "Cars are worth nothing. Lives are worth something and an apology is probably up there as well," he said. The ex-veteran joined the army at 16, serving in the East Timor, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan conflicts. He walked to the smaller Riversdale service on Anzac Day. After retiring from the army about 2009, he spent time as a volunteer fire fighter and ambulance officer and now works as a historic stonemason. He did not see how the farmer could be found not liable for the accident. "It has to be a gate left open or something, otherwise the stock would not be on a provincial highway," he said. "I've attended accidents like that as a professional on the other side and if your stock's on the road on a provincial highway; you don't get away with it." He said despite Riversdale fire and vet services attending the accident, and a Lumsden policeman, his rural community had gone quiet in its wake. "Farmers were all quite happy for us to come and help them to drag out flooded animals and clear fences and do all that," he said. "We've had that in the last five years, a couple of times. "How about you hold the other end of the conversation and ... be responsible?"
Otago Daily Times
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- Otago Daily Times
'I should not be alive': Veteran wants answers after cow crash
A car crash into cows near Gore wrote off the car of a 25 year army veteran, leaving him sitting at home alone on Anzac Day. Ten weeks after crashing into escaped stock on State Highway 94, Russell Jenkins said he has heard nothing from the police or the farmer responsible, with no offer of financial compensation or even an apology. On the night of the crash, he hit four cows at open road speed, killing one on impact, he said. One animal rolled up on to his windscreen, puncturing the glass right in front of his face. "I should not have been alive any more," he said. He said he sat at his Riversdale home for twelve days from April 17 through Easter weekend and Anzac Day waiting for some contact from police, an insurance company or a farmer and got nothing. Living alone and with no car, he then caught a bus to Dunedin for his work. "Nobody came and knocked on my door," he said. "And the fact that I am a veteran, on that day, and no-one came and talked to me. It's not like I wasn't available, because I was there. My car was parked on my front lawn." Mr Jenkins was the second person to plough into the cows that night, after 18-year-old Grace Steele, driving the opposite way, first hit the beasts. Grace was told last week by her insurance company that the owner of the stock could not be proven to be liable for the accident, as no evidence of negligence was shown. She had suffered mental stress and concussion from the incident. Despite this, the farmer's insurance company paid the $1050 excess of damage on her car despite the farmer being found not liable. Mr Jenkins has received no compensation. His Hyundai Grandeur V6 was written off and he has since bought a bigger, higher, safer $20,000 four-wheel drive vehicle. He said he would love some money and a meaningful apology from those responsible for the crash. "Cars are worth nothing. Lives are worth something and an apology is probably up there as well," he said. The ex-veteran joined the army at 16, serving in the East Timor, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan conflicts. He walked to the smaller Riversdale service on Anzac Day. He did not see how the farmer could be found not liable for the accident. "It has to be a gate left open or something, otherwise the stock would not be on a provincial highway," he said.
Otago Daily Times
24-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
No closure for veteran 10 weeks after crash
A car crash into cows near Gore wrote off the car of a 25 year army veteran, leaving him sitting at home alone on Anzac Day. Ten weeks after crashing into escaped stock on State Highway 94, Russell Jenkins said he has heard nothing from the police or the farmer responsible, with no offer of financial compensation or even an apology. He said he sat at his Riversdale home for twelve days from April 17 through Easter weekend and Anzac Day waiting for some contact from police, an insurance company or a farmer and got nothing. Living alone and with no car, he then caught a bus to Dunedin for his work. "Nobody came and knocked on my door," he said. "And the fact that I am a veteran, on that day, and no-one came and talked to me. It's not like I wasn't available, because I was there. My car was parked on my front lawn." Mr Jenkins was the second person to plough into the cows that night, after 18-year-old Grace Steele, driving the opposite way, first hit the beasts. Grace was told last week by her insurance company that the owner of the stock could not be proven to be liable for the accident, as no evidence of negligence was shown. She had suffered mental stress and concussion from the incident. Despite this, the farmer's insurance company paid the $1050 excess of damage on her car despite the farmer being found not liable. Mr Jenkins has received no compensation. His Hyundai Grandeur V6 was written off and he has since bought a bigger, higher, safer $20,000 four-wheel drive vehicle. On the night of the crash, he hit four cows at open road speed, killing one on impact, he said. One animal rolled up on to his windscreen, puncturing the glass right in front of his face. "I should not have been alive any more," he said. He said he would love some money and a meaningful apology from those responsible for the crash. "Cars are worth nothing. Lives are worth something and an apology is probably up there as well," he said. The ex-veteran joined the army at 16, serving in the East Timor, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan conflicts. He walked to the smaller Riversdale service on Anzac Day. He did not see how the farmer could be found not liable for the accident. "It has to be a gate left open or something, otherwise the stock would not be on a provincial highway," he said.
Newsweek
12-06-2025
- Health
- Newsweek
Overlooked Bat Viruses May Be 'Small Step' From Causing Next Pandemic
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. An overlooked subgroup of bat viruses may be just one minor mutation away from being able to infect humans and potentially set off the next pandemic. This is the warning of a team of U.S.-based researchers who have been studying "merbecoviruses," a coronavirus subgenus that also includes the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus. Investigating how these merbecoviruses operate, the scientists found that while most likely pose no direct threat, the "HKU5" subgroup, which can be found across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, do possess traits that raise concerns. "Merbecoviruses—and HKU5 viruses in particular—really hadn't been looked at much, but our study shows how these viruses infect cells," said paper author and virologist Michael Letko of the Washington State University in a statement. "What we also found is HKU5 viruses may be only a small step away from being able to spill over into humans." Stock image of a Japanese house bat, Pipistrellus abramus, mid-flight Stock image of a Japanese house bat, Pipistrellus abramus, mid-flight Russell Jenkins/iStock / Getty Images Plus Even though thousands of viruses that infect wild animals have had their genomes sequences over the last couple of decades, it is typical that we have little information on the potential risk these agents pose to humans. And little attention has been given to date to the merbecoviruses, with the notable exception of MERS-CoV. First detected in 2012, this zoonotic coronavirus—which can be transmitted to us from dromedary camels—causes severe respiratory disease in humans and has a mortality rate of around 34 percent. Like SARS-CoV-2 (the virus behind COVID-19), merbecoviruses attack host cells by binding to them using a so-called spike protein. In their study, Letko and colleagues conducted experiments involving virus-like particles that sported only the binding part of the spike, allowing them to study the ability of merbecoviruses to infect human cells. Although the team found that most merbecoviruses are unlikely to have the capacity to infect humans, the HKU5 subgroup can; in fact, its members latch onto the ACE2 receptor on target cells just like SARS-CoV-2 does. At present, HKU5 viruses are only able to adequately exploit the ACE2 receptor in bats—and are far less proficient at latching onto those found on human cells. However, when the researchers analyzed HKU5 viruses from Asia (where their natural host is the Japanese house bat, Pipistrellus abramus), the researchers identified mutations that might allow the viruses to bind to the ACE2 receptors in other species, including humans. In fact, a study published in 2024 found a HKU5 virus that had spilled over into mink. "These viruses are so closely related to MERS, so we have to be concerned if they ever infect humans," explained Letko. "While there's no evidence they've crossed into people yet, the potential is there—and that makes them worth watching." Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about exoplanets? Let us know via science@ References Catanzaro, N. J., Wu, Z., Fan, C., Jefferson, V., Abdelgadir, A., Schäfer, A., Yount, B. L., Bjorkman, P. J., Baric, R., & Letko, M. (2025). ACE2 from Pipistrellus abramus bats is a receptor for HKU5 coronaviruses. Nature Communications, 16(1), 4932. Zhao, J., Wan, W., Yu, K., Lemey, P., Pettersson, J. H.-O., Bi, Y., Lu, M., Li, X., Chen, Z., Zheng, M., Yan, G., Dai, J., Li, Y., Haerheng, A., He, N., Tu, C., Suchard, M. A., Holmes, E. C., He, W.-T., & Su, S. (2024). Farmed fur animals harbour viruses with zoonotic spillover potential. Nature, 634(8032), 228–233.
