Placeholder Content Image

Plot to kidnap TV star foiled

<p>Authorities have thwarted a suspected plot to abduct well-known British television presenter, Holly Willoughby. The 42-year-old host of <em>This Morning</em> was pulled from her hosting duties mid-show and was placed under police protection at her residence.</p> <p>This development followed the arrest of a 36-year-old man, apprehended by law enforcement who had allegedly uncovered "sinister messages" containing threats to kidnap and inflict serious harm upon the mother of three, as reported by <em>The Sun</em>.</p> <p>The suspect, who is not acquainted with the television star, has since been formally charged. In the meantime, a marked police vehicle remained stationed outside the individual's ground-floor apartment, where he resides alone. One neighbour from Harlow, Essex, UK, recounted witnessing the man being escorted out of his flat in handcuffs around 9 o'clock the previous night, with a police presence continuing throughout the day, including a forensic investigation van.</p> <p>The precise means by which the police became aware of the alleged plot remain unclear, but it is understood that digital devices and a mobile phone were confiscated.</p> <p>As detectives persist in their inquiry, a round-the-clock police detail has been stationed outside Holly's London home, where she resides with her husband and children. An insider disclosed, "Investigations are continuing, but police are treating this as a credible conspiracy to kidnap Holly. There were apparently some sinister and threatening messages found on electronic devices threatening to seriously harm her."</p> <p>The police promptly notified the production team of <em>This Morning</em> about the alleged plot early the following day. Holly was informed shortly before she was scheduled to go on air, and she was described as feeling "shocked and distraught." Consequently, it was decided that she would withdraw from hosting the show. Alison Hammond was called in as a last-minute substitute alongside Josie Gibson, who had co-hosted the previous day's episode with Holly. Viewers were puzzled by the sudden change, with Josie only mentioning the situation in passing by introducing Alison.</p> <p>Social media buzzed with fans expressing their concern and curiosity about Holly's absence. She had originally planned to celebrate her TV producer husband Daniel Baldwin's 49th birthday with their children, Harry, 14, Belle, 12, and eight-year-old Chester.</p> <p>This incident unfolded against the backdrop of a turbulent year for the television personality, who has been a fixture on "This Morning" since 2009. In September of the previous year, both Holly and her then-co-host, Phillip Schofield, faced allegations of queue-jumping during their visit to pay respects to the late Queen. Holly later clarified that she had been there in her capacity as an accredited broadcaster for a filming assignment and emphasized that they would never bypass a queue intentionally.</p> <p>In May, Schofield, aged 61, resigned after admitting to an affair with a younger colleague and confessing to having lied about it when confronted by Holly. She subsequently expressed feeling "shaken and let down." Nonetheless, Holly drew some criticism for beginning the show by inquiring to the camera, "Are you OK?"</p> <p>ITV initiated an examination into <em>This Morning</em> amid accusations of a "toxic culture," sparking backlash from viewers. Just last month, Holly did not secure a National Television Award for the first time in 12 years.</p> <p>A spokesperson for Essex Police confirmed, "A 36-year-old man from Harlow has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to kidnap as part of an ongoing investigation. The arrest was made on Wednesday 4 October. He is currently in custody. Inquiries continue."</p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Sneaky secret Bunnings uses to foil shoplifters

<p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">Although Bunnings sell security cameras to customers, their own security measures used to be far more hands-on, according to one former staff member.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">In a recent TikTok video captioned "Bunnings secrets revealed by a former employee", a man who goes by the handle @relayscreations said when he worked at one of their stores in Queensland, they had a trick for warding off shoplifters.</p><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@relayscreations/video/7056403180845944065" data-video-id="7056403180845944065"><section><a title="@relayscreations" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@relayscreations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@relayscreations</a> <a title="stitch" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/stitch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#stitch</a> with @princessannafit Bunnings Secrets revealed by a former employee <a title="bunnings" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/bunnings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#bunnings</a> <a title="australia" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#australia</a> <a title="security" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/security" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#security</a> <a title="companysecrets" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/companysecrets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#companysecrets</a> <a title="aussie" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/aussie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#aussie</a> <a title="♬ original sound" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7056403182695631617" target="_blank" rel="noopener">♬ original sound</a></section></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">"So I used to work at Bunnings. That is a chain of hardware stores if you're not Australian," he said. "When you're in Bunnings, you'll sometimes hear an announcement over the loudspeaker say something along the lines of 'security to section C, security to section C,' and the secret was that there was no section C."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">"There was also, most of the time, no security. It was only meant to be a deterrent for shoplifters," he claimed. "So originally when we started doing it, we did it manually.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">"Someone in the store would actually pick up the intercom and speak it but then they pre-recorded it and added it to the soundtrack of music that would play over the store speakers all day so we actually had the same announcements every day during the same songs and you predict them after you heard them for a while."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">In a separate video, he said he stopped working at Bunnings in 2006, "so some of this information might be out of date."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">This revelation was fascinating to Aussies on TikTok, though some noted they shopped at Bunnings all the time and had never heard those loudspeaker announcements.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">Others claimed "all stores" including Woolies and Big W used this same trick.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">"I work at Big W and we manually say it," one TikTok user commented. "Sometimes it's every couple hours or when there's people acting sketchy. It worked often."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">A person claiming to have worked at Coles said, "We did this manually at Coles when we knew a five-finger discounter was in. We also got workers to follow them but make it look like we are working."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">One person said they worked at Bunnings and "used to say it over the PA system back in 2003."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">"Yep, did it at my old job 12 years ago. Nice to see it's still freaking people out," commented another person.</p>

Travel Trouble

Placeholder Content Image

“Every second feels like hours”: Amazing moment a kidnapping is foiled

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Terrifying bodycam footage has been released by US authorities of the moment police foiled the kidnapping of a six-year-old girl.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The video shows the moment when Jason Burba, an officer from the Louisville Metro Police Department, approached a red sedan after the suspect was in custody, opened the passenger door and found the child who had been snatched from her bike and thrown into the car.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After saying “hello”, the officer began to reassure the little girl.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s OK,” he told her as he picked her up.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Come here, it’s OK.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Burba is then seen walking to a police vehicle while the child, who was not physically harmed, can be heard crying, “I want my daddy.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During a police press conference, Burba, who is a father of four, admitted the cry went straight to his heart.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It was tough,” Burba told </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">WAVE 3 News</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> while fighting back tears.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">“You have kids.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Burba’s sergeant, Joseff Keeling, is also a dad to a young child.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Both officers said they felt the same panic as any parent would if their child had been kidnapped.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Keeling said all police units stopped what they were doing when they received reports a man had pulled a child off her bike before throwing her in the back of his red vehicle by her collar.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Neighbours who had followed the car wrote down three of the digits on the licence plate and gave them to police.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s like the world stops,” Burba said of the search.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Like every second feels like hours.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Keeling told radio station </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">WHAS</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that he saw the car and followed it as it pulled into a driveway.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In Keeling’s bodycam footage, he can be seen pulling the vehicle over and ordering the driver to get out of the car with his hands up.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“When I approached the vehicle, I didn’t know what was going to be behind that door,” he told </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">WAVE</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The windows, the tint was so dark.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Robby Wildt, 40, was arrested, charged with kidnapping a minor, and booked into Louisville Metro Corrections on a US $1 (AUD $1.34) million bond.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In an interview with </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">WHAS</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Keeling credited the witnesses for providing a good description of the car and recording part of the number plate.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Louisville Metro Police Department</span></em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

The most bizarre dishwasher hack you’ll ever see

<p>Dishwashers are arguable one of the most useful appliances in the home, let alone the kitchen.</p> <p>Thankfully, there are cleaning prodigies who have some of the most useful tips and the most recent one to go viral has left users in a head spin.</p> <p>Aussie mum<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@carolina.mccauley/video/6968596608103533825?lang=en&amp;is_copy_url=1&amp;is_from_webapp=v1" target="_blank" title="Carolina Mccauley">Carolina Mccauley</a><span> </span>has shared her odd but crucial tip to get sparkling silverware – and it involves a ball of aluminium foil.</p> <p>She says all you need to do is a throw a ball of aluminium foil in with your cutlery before turning on the dishwasher.</p> <p>"This dishwasher hack will leave your silverware sparkling," she captioned the video on<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://9now.nine.com.au/the-block/tiktok" target="_blank" title="TikTok">TikTok</a>.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7841619/aluminium-dishwasher-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/7349503acbde497b8ea9187fb2fcded0" /></p> <p>If you roll some tin foil into a ball and place in the cutlery holder of your dishwasher, your forks, spoons, and knives will come out sparkling like new.</p> <p>It's definitely an odd tip, but the results show it does make a difference.</p> <p>The video has been watched over 123,000 times so far.</p> <p>"Why does my brain think it's not okay to put aluminium foil inside appliances because of the microwave," one TikToker wrote.</p> <p>Another said, "What the scientific magic is this?"</p> <p>The magic behind the foil has been revealed, with<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dashingmaids.com/aluminum-foil-cleaning-hacks/" target="_blank" title="">Dashing Maids</a><span> </span>writing that the chemical reaction from the foil and a dishwasher tablet is what gives cutlery its incredible shine.</p>

Home & Garden

Placeholder Content Image

Hero grandfather foils neighbourhood thief

<p><span>A NSW grandfather has put his body on the line to stop a thief from stealing his neighbour's car.</span><br /><br /><span>A man has cheated with allegedly breaking into a home and fleeing on the back of a ride-on lawn mower on the NSW South Coast on Thursday.</span><br /><br /><span>The 30-year-old man allegedly threw a brick into the window of a home on Semillon Place in Dapto around 6.50 am Thursday moments before entering and stealing a Ford Focus.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height:281.11273792093704px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7839191/rabbid-dog.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/984ab41c13164856b0f1b65ca2327bcb" /><br /><br /><span>Paul Robinson saw the robbery unfolding at his neighbour's house and knew that he had to step in.</span><br /><br /><span>Mr Robsinson had the man in a headlock as the Ford Focus took off and slammed into a parked trailer.</span><br /><br /><span>"I tried to get the ignition key off him and tried to hang on and he hit the accelerator and dragged me out of there," Mr Robinson told <em>9News</em>.</span><br /><br /><span>"My face actually head-butted the inside door handle."</span><br /><br /><span>Mr Robinson was dragged about 40 metres before the car crashed but had only minor injuries.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height:281.30360205831903px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7839190/rabbid-dog-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/50d8a77329184d2182168f87fe76f7c8" /><br /><br /><span>The man fled the scene on foot before allegedly breaking into a second home on Cormack Street.</span><br /><br /><span>Police say he attempted to drive off on a ride-on lawn mower.</span><br /><br /><span>He was arrested on Mawarra Avenue before being taken to hospital.</span><br /><br /><span>It is believed he allegedly may have ingested an unknown substance.</span><br /><br /><span>He remains in police custody.</span></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

11 surprising uses for aluminium foil

<p>Aluminium foil is a kitchen necessity but this item’s metallic structure also makes it useful for other tasks around the house. Here are 11 surprising times aluminium foil can come in handy for.</p> <p><strong>1. Line cabinets and drawers</strong></p> <p>Aluminium foil is easy to clean with a damp sponge and will also help reflect light in a cabinet’s dark corners.</p> <p><strong>2. Scare birds away</strong></p> <p>If you have a fruit tree in your garden that birds like to feast on, aluminium can solve your problem. Simply hang up strips of aluminium foil in your tree and it will scare the birds away.</p> <p><strong>3. Polish silverware</strong></p> <p>Line a plastic bin with aluminium foil with the shiny side up and place your silverware inside the bin. Pour in ¼ cup of washing soda and fill the bin with boiling water. Stir and let soak for 10 minutes. This trick causes a chemical reaction that will transfer the tarnish on your silverware to the foil.</p> <p><strong>4. Clean the BBQ</strong></p> <p>A ball of foil will speed up the process of getting rid of the gunk on a BBQ.</p> <p><strong>5. Protect baking</strong></p> <p>If you ever fear you will burn the crust of an apple pie then you can cover the edges with a ring cut out of aluminium foil which will stop the crust from getting too brown.</p> <p><strong>6. Protect a credit card</strong></p> <p>If you have a credit card which allows you to make wireless transactions (e.g. PayPass) it is possible for con artists to scan it and collect a certain amount of information through your wallet. The risk of it occurring is very low but if the thought makes you uneasy, you can wrap your card in a piece of aluminium foil to deflect the scanner.   </p> <p><strong>7. Scrub dishes</strong></p> <p>Similar to steel wool, a ball of aluminium foil can assist you in cleaning cookware such as casserole dishes or cast-iron frying pans.</p> <p><strong>8. Iron clothes faster</strong></p> <p>To remove wrinkles a bit faster, place a sheet of aluminium foil under your ironing boards as aluminium foil reflects heat.</p> <p><strong>9. Move heavy furniture</strong></p> <p>Wrap the feet of your couch in a few layers of heavy duty aluminium foil to help scoot it across carpet. Don’t use this trick on delicate surfaces or furniture, however, in case the foil scratches.</p> <p><strong>10. Make a funnel</strong></p> <p>If you ever need a makeshift funnel, simply fold aluminium foil into a cone.</p> <p><strong>11. Soften hard sugar</strong></p> <p>Sometimes it can be difficult trying to get a tablespoon of sugar when it has gone hard. To soften sugar, wrap it in a piece of aluminium foil and put it in the oven for five minutes.</p> <p><em><strong>To find your home essentials <a href="https://shop.oversixty.com.au/?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_campaign=Over60Shop&amp;utm_medium=in-article-link-o60shop&amp;utm_content=over60-shop" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">head to the Over60 Shop for high-quality offerings</span></a>.</strong></em></p> <p><a href="https://shop.oversixty.com.au/collections/living?utm_source=Over60&amp;utm_medium=in-article-banner-living&amp;utm_campaign=Over60Shop&amp;utm_content=over60-shop" target="_blank"><img src="http://media.oversixty.com.au/images/EditorialAddon/201706_Shopnow_EditorialAddon_468x60_Living.jpg" alt="Over60 Shop - Living Range"/></a></p>

Home & Garden

Our Partners