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David Woiwod has been named as the successor of Matt Doran as the co-host of Weekend Sunrise . The seasoned broadcaster, who returned from the US this week where he has been based for the past five years as 7NEWS US bureau chief. From Saturday, he will sit alongside Monique Wright . Woiwod was Sunrise’s resident Melbourne reporter for four years before his stint in the 7NEWS Los Angeles bureau. He said: “Five years on the road as a foreign correspondent covering the world’s biggest events has prepared me for the major stories, early hours and bad coffee that 3am starts demand – I’m excited and ready. “In all seriousness, this is a thrilling full-circle moment for me. I’m beyond excited to return to the Sunrise family and to keep telling the stories that matter most to Australians. “Mon is the most talented, generous, hilarious and wickedly smart person to work with and I look forward to riding her coattails until the bosses notice. Aussies lead busy lives, so to be invited into their homes on precious weekend mornings is a privilege not lost on me.” “We’re delighted to welcome David back to the Sunrise family and can’t wait to begin this exciting new chapter with him at the helm of Weekend Sunrise,” Sarah Stinson , Seven’s director of morning television, said. “David’s depth of experience, strong work ethic and authentic warmth make him the perfect choice for this role. He’s a passionate storyteller, he delivers news with integrity, and he has an outrageous sense of humour. Viewers are in for an entertaining ride!” she said. Wright added: “I’ve been a big fan of Woi for years, particularly his ability to move between reporting in a war zone, to covering American politics, natural disasters, interviewing the biggest celebrities on earth and everything in between. “But all of that is insignificant to the awe I felt witnessing his moves on the dance floor at a Sunrise Christmas Party a few years ago. I even think he crowd-surfed at one point. Massive respect. I can’t wait to spend weekends with such a legend. ”Hailing from Melbourne, Woiwod is no stranger to the intensity of live reporting having spent two decades covering the biggest stories in Australia and around the world. Woiwod most recently spent two months in Israel during the war and notably faced rocket fire from Hamas while reporting live on air from the Gaza border. As US Bureau Chief, he led 7NEWS’ US Presidential election coverage including the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the history-making Republican National Convention, and Joe Biden’s sensational campaign withdrawal. Woiwod has also been at the scene of America’s biggest tragedies – including school shootings in Texas and Tennessee, as well as deadly US race riots and the devastation caused by hurricanes, wildfires and floods. He gained exclusive access to Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay for the Bali Bomber’s court appearance last year and was also the only Australian journalist on the scene in Canada’s Newfoundland province during the Titan Submersible tragedy. Woiwod reported live from Windsor Castle’s Long Walk during Queen Elizabeth II’s final funeral procession and covered the 2022 Winter Olympics in China under strict COVID isolation. He also led Sunrise’s coverage of New Zealand’s White Island volcanic explosion tragedy in 2019. From Australia’s devastating Black Summer bushfires to Hollywood’s biggest red carpets, Woiwod’s varied work reflects a deep commitment to storytelling often under the most challenging circumstances. – Top image: David Woiwod Keep on top of the most important media, marketing, and agency news each day with the Mediaweek Morning Report – delivered for free every morning to your inbox.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — While other teams around the NFL are seeing their injury lists grow as the season winds down, the Green Bay Packers appear to be getting healthy at just the right time. Not only is quarterback Jordan Love looking like himself after dealing with early-season left knee and groin injuries, but the rest of the roster is getting better, too. “I think every team that can realize their potential needs to be as healthy as they can be. And injuries are a part of this business,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “It is what it is in terms of the next man up, but obviously, you want the guys that are your starters to be available — especially as you get closer to the end of the year.” Love certainly has been rolling of late, completing 67.1% of his passes for 904 yards with six touchdowns and one interception (118.8 passer rating) over the past four games, owing some of his hot streak to simply being healthy again. “The name of the game is trying to stay as healthy as possible, especially late into the season,” Love said. “There’s definitely injuries that stack up and guys being out. To have everybody relatively healthy and to be able to have our top guys out there would be huge for us." The Packers (9-4) head into their Sunday night matchup with the Seahawks (8-5) in Seattle with only one player having been unable to take part in Wednesday’s practice at all: safety Javon Bullard. LaFleur said Bullard is week-to-week with an ankle injury he suffered in the team’s Dec. 5 loss at Detroit . The Packers got full participation from Jaire Alexander, who has missed four of the team’s last five games with a knee injury suffered at Jacksonville on Oct. 27, and wide receiver Romeo Doubs, who has missed the last two games with a concussion he suffered against San Francisco on Nov. 24. Although Alexander had practiced on a limited basis in recent weeks, he has missed the last three games and pulled himself out of the team’s Nov. 17 win at Chicago because of his knee. Getting Alexander back to face Seahawks receivers DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba would give a major lift to the Packers’ pass defense, currently ranked 21st with 222.2 yards per game allowed. “When I was watching him, he looked like he was moving around well, and we’ll just see how it transpires throughout the course of the week,” LaFleur said. “Hopefully, he’ll be ready to roll.” LaFleur said Doubs and rookie safety Evan Williams, who left the Packers’ 34-31 loss to the Lions because of a concussion, are still in the concussion protocol. But Williams was able to practice on a limited basis. Meanwhile, tight end Luke Musgrave, who hasn’t played a snap since injuring his left ankle during a a Sept. 29 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, has been designated for return from injured reserve. Musgrave took part in practice for the first time since undergoing surgery in early October to repair a torn ligament in the ankle. He said he only did individual drill work Wednesday, making it unlikely he would be activated this week. “Just going to ease back into it, but I feel good,” Musgrave said. “Still getting the cutting back, but overall, it feels good.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflLockheed Martin Elects John C. Aquilino to Board of DirectorsBy Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Britain, France and Germany have told the United Nations Security Council that they are ready - if necessary - to trigger a so-called "snap back" of all international sanctions on Iran to prevent the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon. They will lose the ability to take such action on Oct. 18 next year when a 2015 U.N. resolution expires. The resolution enshrines Iran's deal with Britain, Germany, France, the United States, Russia and China that lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. Iran is "dramatically" accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief told Reuters last week. The move comes as Iran has suffered a series of strategic setbacks, including Israel's assault on Tehran's proxy militias Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and the ouster of Iranian ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Western states say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level under any civilian program and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs. Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons. "Iran must deescalate its nuclear program to create the political environment conducive to meaningful progress and a negotiated solution," the U.N. ambassadors of Britain, Germany and France wrote in a Dec. 6 letter to the Security Council. "We reiterate our determination to use all diplomatic tools to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, including using snap back if necessary," they said. The communication was in response to letters earlier last week from Russia and Iran, which followed an initial note to the council by Britain, Germany and France on Nov. 27. Russia and Iran also then followed up with further letters this week. The tit-for-tat letters came as European and Iranian diplomats met late last month to discuss whether they can work to defuse regional tensions, including over Tehran's nuclear program, before Donald Trump's return to the White House. During his first term, Trump quit the nuclear deal in 2018. 'EMBRACE DIPLOMACY' In a letter to the council on Monday, Iran's U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani urged the Europeans to "abandon their ineffective and failed policy of pressure and confrontation," saying they "should embrace diplomacy and focus on rebuilding the trust essential to resolving the current impasse." The European parties to the Iran nuclear deal have adopted a tougher stance on Iran in recent months, notably since Tehran ramped up its military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia - in a Tuesday letter - said Britain, Germany and France had no right to invoke the "snap back" of sanctions and that it was irresponsible of them to suggest the possibility of using the "snap back" mechanism. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres submitted his biannual report to the Security Council on the implementation of the 2015 resolution on Tuesday, warning there was a "critical need for a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear issue" given the deteriorating situation across the Middle East. The "snap back" of international sanctions on Iran would require Iran to suspend all nuclear enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, and ban imports of anything that could contribute to those activities or developing nuclear arms delivery systems. It would also reimpose a conventional arms embargo, ban Iran from developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and revive targeted sanctions on dozens of individuals and entities. Countries also would be urged to inspect shipments to and from Iran and authorized to seize any banned cargo. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Don Durfee and Daniel Wallis)LOS ANGELES — Until he sustained a season-ending knee injury last week in the Western Conference final, Galaxy playmaker Riqui Puig was having a tremendous season. So I heard. I watched Puig play only twice this year, once in the Galaxy's season-opening 1-1 draw with Inter Miami and a second time in his team's Fourth of July defeat to LAFC at the Rose Bowl. Outside of short highlight clips on social media, I never saw the former Barcelona prospect, not even when he assisted on the goal that sent the Galaxy to the MLS Cup final. That wasn't a reflection of my interest. Some of my friends will make fun of me for publicly admitting this, but I like Major League Soccer. I covered the league in my first job out of college and have casually kept up with it since. I take my children to a couple of games a year. My 11-year-old son owns Galaxy and LAFC hats but no Dodgers or Lakers merchandise. When flipping through channels in the past, if presented with the choice of, say, college football or MLS, I usually watched MLS. But not this year. While the MLS Cup final between the Galaxy and New York Red Bulls will be shown on Fox and Fox Deportes, the majority of games are now exclusively behind a paywall, courtesy of the league's broadcasting deal with Apple. MLS Season Pass subscriptions were reasonably priced — $79 for the entire season for Apple TV+ subscribers, $99 for non-subscribers — but I was already paying for DirecTV Stream, Netflix, Amazon Prime, PlayStation Plus and who knows what else. MLS became a casualty in my household, as well as in many others, and the possibility of being out of sight and out of mind should be a concern for a league that is looking to expand its audience. Which isn't to say the league made a mistake. This was a gamble MLS had to take. Now in the second year of a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with Apple, MLS did what Major League Baseball is talking about doing, which is to centralize its broadcasting rights and sell them to a digital platform. Regional sports networks have been decimated by cord cutting, making traditional economic models unsustainable. The move to Apple not only increased the league's broadcast revenues — previous deals with ESPN, Fox and Univision were worth a combined $90 million annually, according to multiple reports — but also introduced a measure of uniformity in the league. The quality of the broadcasts are better than they were under regional sports networks. Viewers know where to watch games and when, as every one of them is on Season Pass and most of them are scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. local time either on Wednesday or Saturday. "That's been fueling our growth and driving our fan engagement," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Friday at his annual state of the league address. Apple and MLS declined to reveal the number of League Pass subscribers, but the league provided polling figures that indicated 94% of viewers offered positive or neutral reviews of League Pass. The average viewing time for a game is about 65 minutes for a 90-minute game, according to Garber. In other words, the League Pass is well-liked — by the people who have it. The challenge now is to increase that audience. The launch of League Pass last year coincided with the arrival of Lionel Messi, which presumably resulted in a wave of subscriptions. But the league can't count on the appearance of the next Messi; there is only one of him. MLS pointed to how its fans watch sports on streaming devices or recorded television than any other U.S. sports league, as well as how 71% of its fans are under the age of 45. The league also pointed to how it effectively drew more viewers to the Apple broadcast of Inter Miami's postseason opener with a livestream of a "Messi Cam' on TikTok, indicating further collaborations with wide-reaching entities could be in its future. Garber mentioned how Season Pass is available in other countries. The commissioner also made note of how Apple places games every week in front of its paywall. "What we have, really, is a communication problem," Garber said. "This is new, and we've got to work with Apple, we've got to work with our clubs and we've got to work with our partners to get more exposure to what we think is a great product." The greatest benefit to the league could be Apple's vested interest in improving the on-field product. MLS insiders said Apple has not only encouraged teams to sign more high-profile players but also pushed the league to switch to a fall-to-spring calendar more commonplace in other parts of the world, reasoning that doing so would simplify the process of buying and selling players. The on-field product is what matters. The on-field product is why MLS continues to face competition for viewers from overseas leagues. The on-field product is why the league hasn't succeeded in converting every soccer fan into a MLS fan. And ultimately, if casual viewers such as myself are to pay to watch the Galaxy or LAFC on a screen of some kind, the on-field product will be why. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!
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