
Panic among spectators at soccer game kills at least 56 in the West African nation of GuineaGREGG Wallace returned to TV screens tonight for the first time since the BBC launched an investigation into allegations of misconduct on set. The 60-year-old TV star hosted MasterChef: The professionals' semi-final, alongside Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing. During the show, the under fire greengrocer turned TV star tasted five varied dishes and helped decide who would progress to the series finale. The remaining five contestants had 1hr 45 minutes to produce a dish worthy of the showpiece. Unfortunately for chef William, his dish was the least complete and he was sent home at the end of a stressful time in the kitchen. The salt-baked chicken roulade with smoked vegetables and black and white noodles, which was inspired by William's grandmother, sounded delicious on paper, but the execution was a big let down. The noodles, in particular, were soggy, and Marcus was baffled by the decision to salt-bake the roulade. The semi-finalists each cooked a dish that had an emotional tie to someone that meant a lot to them. Gregg said: "We have a strong suspicion this is going to be a very emotional day." While four of the five cooks chose family members, quirky Gaston dedicated his lobster dish to pop star Lady Gaga. It prompted Greg to declare: "You are different." Gaston took it as a compliment and replied: "Thank you." Gregg added to camera: "I’m sure Lady Gaga will love it. If he came and did sausage and mash, we’d probably collapse in shock." Elsewhere, George's take on an 1,000 year old Iranian lamb dish went down a storm. Gregg told the delighted chef to thank his girlfriend and her mum - the two inspirations behind the meal - such was its impact. Viewer reaction to his appearance was mixed. One fumed on X: "And there he is, centre stage. Crass, idiotic misogynistic Gregg Wallace's career defies logic, his agent was a genius." A second wrote: "Watching MasterChef and thinking how the heck could Greg Wallace not contain himself to professional standards and protect the charming career he had??!!" However, a third said: "Just want to let you know that I am watching #Masterchef this evening @bbc and I am not being 'triggered'!!" Earlier today, Gregg apologised over his "middle-class women of a certain age" rant. Former MasterChef host Gregg said he'll "take time out" during a probe into his alleged sexual comments on MasterChef. Gregg faces a backlash after mounting a disastrous defence of his behaviour yesterday. He said: "Now I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years. Amateur, Celebrity and Professional MasterChef. "In that time I’ve worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds and all different walks of life. "Now I’m reading in the paper that there have been 13 complaints in that time. "I can see them coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right. "Over 20 years of TV, can you imagine how many women on MasterChef have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo?" But he has now posted an apology on his Instagram account - saying he was under a "huge amount of stress". He said: "I want to apologise for any offence that I caused with my post yesterday and any upset I may have caused to a lot of people. "I wasn't in a good space when I posted it. I've been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion." In the post, he added: "I felt very alone and under siege yesterday when I posted it. "It is obvious to me I need to take some time out while this investigation is underway. "I hope you understand and I do hope you will accept this apology." Wallace stepped back from the BBC1 cooking show last week after complaints about inappropriate behaviour over a number of years. It has emerged that the BBC was warned about Gregg's sexist behaviour at least five times over seven years. BBC officials carried out an HR investigation in 2018 and spoke to the star multiple times about inappropriate comments. GREGG Wallace has stepped down from his MasterChef hosting role after a probe into alleged inappropriate behaviour. But what's the situation? Regular MasterChef host Gregg Wallace is currently the subject of a probe after an investigation was launched into his alleged misconduct over a number of years. Gregg has been accused of making sexual remarks to 13 colleagues including Beeb anchor Kirsty Wark - accusations he denies. The 60-year-old has now stepped away from the BBC show while historical misconduct allegations against him are investigated. Yet the former greengrocer spoke out on social media to blast the "women of a certain age" who he claimed were behind the allegations. The cooking show’s production company, Banijay UK, has said law firm Lewis Silkin would lead the investigation into Wallace’s alleged misconduct.NEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks pulled Wall Street to another record amid mixed trading. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% Monday after closing November at an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%. Super Micro Computer, a stock that’s been on an AI-driven roller coaster, soared after saying an investigation found no evidence of misconduct by its management or the company’s board. Retailers were mixed coming off Black Friday and heading into what’s expected to be the best Cyber Monday on record. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. NEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks are pulling Wall Street toward another record amid mixed trading on Monday. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% in afternoon trading after closing its best month of the year at an all-time high . The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 86 points, or 0.2%, with a little more than an hour remaining in trading, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% higher. Super Micro Computer, a stock that’s been on an AI-driven roller coaster, soared 31.1% to lead the market. Following accusations of misconduct and the resignation of its public auditor , the maker of servers used in artificial-intelligence technology said an investigation found no evidence of misconduct by its management or by the company's board. It also said it doesn’t expect to restate its past financials and that it will find a new chief financial officer, appoint a general counsel and make other moves to strengthen its governance. Big Tech stocks also helped prop up the market. Gains of 1.8% for Microsoft and 2.9% for Meta Platforms were the two strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500. Intel was another propellant during the morning, but it lost an early gain to fall 1.1% after the chip company said CEO Pat Gelsinger has retired and stepped down from the board. Intel is looking for Gelsinger’s replacement, and its chair said it’s “committed to restoring investor confidence.” Intel recently lost its spot in the Dow Jones Industrial Average to Nvidia, which has skyrocketed in Wall Street's frenzy around AI. Stellantis, meanwhile, skidded following the announcement of its CEO’s departure . Carlos Tavares steps down after nearly four years in the top spot of the automaker, which owns car brands like Jeep, Citroën and Ram, amid an ongoing struggle with slumping sales and an inventory backlog at dealerships. The world’s fourth-largest automaker’s stock fell 6.3% in Milan. The majority of stocks in the S&P 500 likewise fell, including California utility PG&E. It dropped 3.7% after saying it would sell $2.4 billion of stock and preferred shares to raise cash. Retailers were mixed amid what’s expected to be the best Cyber Monday on record and coming off Black Friday . Target, which recently gave a forecast for the holiday season that left investors discouraged , fell 1.6%. Walmart , which gave a more optimistic forecast, rose 0.3%. Amazon, which looks to benefit from online sales from Cyber Monday, climbed 1.3%. The stock market largely took Donald Trump’s latest threat on tariffs in stride. The president-elect on Saturday threatened 100% tariffs against a group of developing economies if they act to undermine the U.S. dollar. Trump said he wants the group, headlined by Brazil, Russia, India and China, to promise it won’t create a new currency or otherwise try to undercut the U.S. dollar. The dollar has long been the currency of choice for global trade. Speculation has also been around a long time that other currencies could knock it off its mantle, but no contender has come close. The U.S. dollar’s value rose Monday against several other currencies, but one of its strongest moves likely had less to do with the tariff threats. The euro fell amid a political battle in Paris over the French government’s budget . The euro sank 0.7% against the U.S. dollar and broke below $1.05. In the bond market, Treasury yields gave up early gains to hold relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed above 4.23% during the morning before falling back to 4.19%. That was just above its level of 4.18% late Friday. A report in the morning showed the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted again last month, but not by as much as economists expected. This upcoming week will bring several big updates on the job market, including the October job openings report, weekly unemployment benefits data and the all-important November jobs report. They could steer the next moves for Federal Reserve, which recently began pulling interest rates lower to give support to the economy. Economists expect Friday's headliner report to show U.S. employers accelerated their hiring in November, coming off October's lackluster growth that was hampered by damaging hurricanes and strikes. “We now find ourselves in the middle of this Goldilocks zone, where economic health supports earnings growth while remaining weak enough to justify potential Fed rate cuts,” according to Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide. In financial markets abroad, Chinese stocks led gains worldwide as monthly surveys showed improving conditions for manufacturing, partly driven by a surge in orders ahead of Trump’s inauguration next month. Both official and private sector surveys of factory managers showed strong new orders and export orders, possibly partly linked to efforts by importers in the U.S. to beat potential tariff hikes by Trump once he takes office. Indexes rose 0.7% in Hong Kong and 1.1% in Shanghai. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
AP Business SummaryBrief at 6:36 p.m. EST
U.S. senator says mysterious drones spotted in New Jersey should be 'shot down, if necessary'OptiSigns to Showcase Cutting-Edge Digital Signage Solutions at the Digital Signage Experience 2024 in Las VegasA sprawling crocodile farm on the Tropic of Capricorn is not where you would expect a royal reception. But wildlife researchers are greeted with just that when they come face-to-face with a 3.7-metre saltwater crocodile. "Meet King Charles," the farm's owner John Lever says. Crocodile handlers wrangle the big male saltie from his watering hole. (ABC News: Aaron Kelly) The crocodile is given a muscle relaxant to make the task a little bit easier. (ABC News: Aaron Kelly) It's an arduous activity with all hands — and machinery — on deck to move the croc. (ABC News: Aaron Kelly) Charles is just one of the big male "salties" from Koorana Crocodile Farm taking part in a groundbreaking trial with scientists from the University of Queensland. The world-first artificial insemination program is being conducted at the farm outside Rockhampton in central Queensland. On any other day, you wouldn't want to be this close to a crocodile like Charles. But today, he's lying in a cage on the back of a ute, as the research team go to work to collect semen. The wildlife research team is led by Stephen Johnston (front). (ABC News: Aaron Kelly) Semen is collected from the crocodile. (ABC News: Aaron Kelly) Koorana Crocodile Farm owner John Lever (centre) believes the program could make croc farming more sustainable. (ABC News: Aaron Kelly) "King Charles" is just one of the male crocs taking part in the trial. (ABC News: Aaron Kelly) Creating crocs Semen collection and preservation is another step towards artificial insemination for crocodiles. In the beginning, the small, on-farm trial produced one baby crocodile. Mr Johnston says he is confident a full trial would see a much higher success rate. "They have some of the highest sperm concentration out of any species that we work with," lead researcher Stephen Johnston says. "We're talking in order of anything around one-to-five billion sperm per millimetre." Koorana manager Adam Lever says commercially, artificial insemination made a lot of sense, and it would avoid the female animals being attacked by their mates. Mr Johnston, an associate professor in wildlife reproduction, says it's hoped the work will lead to more sustainable crocodile farming worldwide. "When we first started, about eight years ago, we were trying to develop an artificial insemination program for crocodiles, [for us] to be able to learn how to collect the semen sample, to preserve it and then put it back into the female to produce fertilised eggs," he says. "We've probably collected semen from maybe 50 crocodiles now and we've got a base by which we can compare what's normal and what's not normal, so that's important. "We're also extending on the original idea of artificial insemination by looking at how long the sperm will last in the refrigerator. "That gives us an option if we were to collect semen from this farm and if we were going to another farm, we could essentially transport it and then do the AI at the other end." Despite funding issues, Mr Johnston and his fellow passionate researchers believe the work is beneficial for not only the conservation of crocodiles but other species around the world. "This particular trip we've got some overseas researchers that are really interested in the crocodile as a model and understanding its reproductive physiology and how it compares to other vertebrates," he says. Mr Johnston says some of the samples collected will go to colleagues in Spain and Ireland. "One of the things that the crocodile gives us is the chance to look at an animal that's outside of the mammal range," he says. Breeding ground The crocodile industry is worth millions of dollars in Australia. It's renowned for producing high-quality croc skins for the luxury fashion market, as well as meat and other by-products. The commercially operated Koorana Crocodile Farm has more than 3,500 crocs in its watery stable and supplies meat and leather to Australian and overseas businesses. Adam Lever says if successful, the AI technology could improve skin pattern quality through genetic selection. "It was a world-first study when it first came through," he says. "It means we can take strong genetics from one male and inseminate our breeding colony with that one." Just like with beef breeding programs, researchers are optimistic. "This is a farm and obviously there are commercial reasons for doing the sort of things similar to say cattle AI programs," Mr Johnston says. "In the United States with alligators, they have been quite successful at doing artificial insemination and that produces a number of offspring that way. "Once we've established and we've got the technique working, I'm confident we'll get it to work here." A potential game-changer As saltwater crocodiles are a protected species, the industry operates under the scrutiny of government. Mr Lever says AI would be a game-changer for the industry while ensuring the preservation of the species and contributing to the economy. "If we had a selection of five good-sized males then we could hopefully inseminate 50, 60, 70 females. "We envisioned from the start that it would be beneficial for conservation studies for other species and that's the main aim for this. "But if it can be utilised in the farming industry we'll definitely jump on board with it." ABC Capricornia — local news in your inbox Related stories Animal Behaviour Animal Behaviour Crocodile Attacks Related topics Academic Research Brisbane Coowonga QLD Reptiles Rockhampton Sustainable and Alternative Farming
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