Daily News Roundup

Invictus Games powerlifter charged over steroids, cocaine stash

An Australian powerlifter competing in the Invictus Games is facing drugs and weapons charges, after he was allegedly found with a stash of steroids, cocaine and peptides last month.

Afghanistan veteran Tyrone Ian Gawthorne — who gained publicity for his brush with Games founder Prince Harry while training for the event last year — was arrested by Queensland police in Cairns on September 17.

It is alleged Mr Gawthorne was found in his car with the anabolic steroid fluoxymesterone, the peptide melanotan, over two grams of cocaine and a weapon not properly secured.

The 2017 Invictus Games silver medallist won another silver medal last night in powerlifting, and is set to compete in discus and shotput later this week.

Mr Gawthorne faces two counts of possessing dangerous drugs, as well as restricted drugs without medical endorsement.

The latter allegedly included letrozole and anasprozole, which can be used to treat the unwelcome side effects of steroid use.

He is due to front Cairns Magistrates Court again in December, including on charges of failing to safely secure a weapon in his car and flouting a police order to unlock an electronic device.

###

Trump and Putin to meet again in Paris as countries face off on nuclear missiles

US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin plan to meet in Paris next month in their first encounter since a summit in Helsinki that unleashed a storm of criticism that Mr Trump was cosying up to the Kremlin.

The news of the upcoming meeting came amid growing tensions between the US and Russia around the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), with both countries threatening to increase their nuclear arsenals should Mr Trump follow through on a threat to abandon the 1987 agreement.

After a meeting in Moscow between Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton, officials on both sides said a preliminary agreement to hold a November 11 meeting in the French capital had been reached, and that detailed arrangements were underway.

Both presidents plan to be in Paris for events to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War I, and they are planning to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.

Mr Bolton, speaking to reporters after his talks with Mr Putin, said Mr Trump would like to meet the Russian president in Paris and that precise arrangements were being worked on.

###

NSW Government’s adoption law changes to create a two-year deadline for re-homing

Children in NSW’s foster care system would have to be placed in permanent homes within two years under new laws being proposed by the State Government to combat low adoption rates.

There are almost 18,000 children in out-of-home care in NSW — either with foster carers or in group homes — but this year, only 136 were adopted.

Nationally, only four Indigenous children were adopted last year — three by non-Indigenous families — according to figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Amendments to the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act and the Adoption Act, to be introduced to Parliament this week, would mean a permanent home would need to be found within two years of a child entering state care.

Minister for Family Affairs Pru Goward said the changes would provide more certainty for children.

“The days of leaving a child flopping from one foster home to another — 12 years in foster care a dozen families — that’s not good enough for a child or their childhood,” she said.

“We wanted to stop that and that’s why we’re introducing short-term court orders that will require a Family and Community Services to have a permanent home for that child within two years.”

 

This daily news roundup is curated by ABC News.