Catalano and Waislitz acquire stake in Real Estate View

Regional media proprietor Antony Catalano and his billionaire backer Alex Waislitz have acquired a 26 per cent stake in digital real estate business Real Estate View.

The acquisition comes seven months after Mr Catalano and Mr Waislitz acquired Nine's regional publishing business Australian Community Media for $150 million. Nine is publisher of this masthead.

Real Estate View chief executive Toby Balazs said the opportunity to work with ACM was a "clear vote of confidence" in the company's work.

“I feel confident that realestateview.com.au will grow its market value immensely by becoming part of Antony’s cross-platform media network," Mr Balazs said.

Mr Catalano said the "highly engaged audience" and advertising solutions presented an opportunity for him to create a "multi-pronged media group".

Saint John police investigate stabbing at strip mall

Police in New Brunswick are investigating a stabbing at a shopping mall in Saint John.

Officers were dispatched to the Westmorland Place strip mall just after midnight Saturday night.

The Saint John Police Force was told there was a fight going on.

Once inside the mall, police found a 30-year old man suffering from a stab wound.

He was taken to the Saint John Regional Hospital for treatment.

Iran welcomes election of Allawi as Iraq prime minister: Iran foreign ministry

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran welcomes Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi’s election as prime minister of Iraq, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Sunday, according to the official IRNA new agency.

“In continuing support for the independence, national sovereignty, territorial integrity and strengthening the foundations of democracy in Iraq, Iran welcomes the election of Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi as the new prime minister of this country,” Mousavi said.

Sophy Ridge on Sunday podcast: Diverging views: Dominic Raab & Arlene Foster

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says the government will prioritise freeing the UK from EU rules in trade negotiations with Brussels.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster says that these plans to diverge could lead to a further weakening of Northern Ireland’s place in the union.

:: Listen to Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

Montana GOP Condemns Lawmaker Calling Socialists To Be Shot

BILLINGS, Montana (AP) — The Montana Republican Party on Saturday condemned a comment made by a state GOP lawmaker who said the U.S. Constitution calls for people who identify as socialists to be jailed or shot.

State Rep. Rodney Garcia made the comment Friday at a state party gathering when he spoke about being worried about socialists entering the government and being “everywhere” in Billings, the Billings Gazette reported.

Garcia stood behind his remarks on Saturday when asked by a reporter about them, though he couldn’t point out where in the Constitution it says socialists are to be shot or jailed.

“They’re enemies of the free state,” Garcia said. “What do we do with our enemies in war? In Vietnam, (Afghanistan), all those. What did we do?”

Spenser Merwin, the executive director of the Montana Republican Party, said in statement the party wholeheartedly condemned Garcia’s comments.

“Under no circumstance is violence against someone with opposing political views acceptable,” he said. ”It’s disappointing that this isolated incident took away from the weekend’s events which showcased the strength of our statewide candidates and the importance of the upcoming election.”

Montana Democratic Party chair Robyn Driscoll condemned Garcia’s remarks.

Biden Opens a Big Lead in Delegate-Rich Texas, New Poll Shows

Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading his Democratic opponents almost two-to-one in Texas as he has improved his standing among Hispanic Democrats there, a new poll shows.

The Dallas Morning News-University of Texas at Tyler poll released Sunday shows Biden at 35%, followed by Senator Bernie Sanders at 18%.

Senator Elizabeth Warren and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have 16% each. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

Texas is one of 16 states and territories holding primaries in the March 3 “Super Tuesday” round of voting, the first primaries Bloomberg is competing in.

It’s the third-largest delegate prize on the calendar, awarding 228 delegates — about 11% of those needed to clinch the nomination.

Democrats use a proportional representation to award delegates to each candidate who gets 15% support in a state or congressional district. But under what has been described as a “winner-take-most” system, candidates who win a state by large margins can still run up the delegate count.

Biden’s support in Texas is particularly strong among African-Americans, with 50%, and Hispanics at 33%.

The poll has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

London Police Kill Man After Terror-Related Stabbings

U.K. armed officers shot and killed a man on Sunday afternoon in south London in an incident they called terrorism-related, according to a tweet by the U.K. Metropolitan Police.

Police said two people were injured and the scene in Streatham has been contained. The London Ambulance Service said it was called at 1:58 p.m. local time and is treating a number of patients.

“Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life,” Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said in a statement. “Here in London we will never let them succeed.”

The attack is the latest in a series of terror-related incidents in the British capital, after two people were killed near London Bridge in November and eight people died in another attack at the same location in 2017. Before winning the U.K.’s general election in December, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted to toughen punishments on those convicted of terrorist or extremism offenses.

“My thoughts are with the injured and all those affected,” Johnson said Sunday on Twitter. “Thank you to all emergency services responding to the incident in Streatham.”