Protesters rally on Australia Day

INDIGENOUS QUESTION: A poll showed that those who see the day as ‘Invasion Day’ are outnumbered by those who identify with the holiday’s more traditional message

Thousands yesterday rallied against the mistreatment of indigenous people across Australia as citizenship ceremonies took place to mark the country’s national day. The public holiday marks the date a British fleet sailed into Sydney Harbor in 1788 to start a penal colony, viewing the land as unoccupied, despite encountering settlements. For many indigenous Australians, who trace their lineage on the continent back 50,000 years, it is “Invasion Day.” Many protesters at rallies across cities dressed in black to mourn the day, with some carrying the Aboriginal flag and “change the date” signs. Some protests were organized online due to concerns of surging COVID-19 cases. A monument depicting James Cook, who arrived in the Pacific 252 years ago, triggering British colonization of the region, was doused in red paint overnight in Melbourne. Speaking at a citizenship and national flag-raising ceremony in the capital, Canberra, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison honored the traditional custodians of the country. “We recognize indigenous peoples right across our land from the Torres Strait Islander people in the north, to the people in Tasmania, to the people across the Nullarbor in Perth and the Larrakia people in the Top End,” Morrison said. “Like the country itself, Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are diverse, they’re unique and they connect us through time,” he added. While the holiday remains contentious, a poll by market research company Roy Morgan this week showed that nearly two-thirds of Australians say that Jan. 26 should be considered “Australia Day.” The rest say it should be “Invasion Day.” Australia’s about 700,000 indigenous people track near the bottom of its 25 million population in almost every economic and social indicator. Often living in remote communities, they also have been at greater risk from COVID-19. Most of the about 200 indigenous communities spread across Western Australia are closed to tourists and travelers. The main

‘Ghost’ langur among 224 new SE Asia species

A monkey with ghostly white circles around its eyes is among 224 new species listed in the WWF’s latest update on the Greater Mekong region. The conservation group’s report yesterday highlighted the need to protect the rich biodiversity and habitats in the region, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. The species listed were found in 2020, but last year’s report was delayed. The monkey is called the Popa langur, as it lives on the steep hillsides of the extinct Mount Popa volcano in Myanmar. It was the only new mammal. There are also dozens of newly identified reptiles, frogs, newts and fish, as well as 155 plant species, including the only known succulent bamboo species, found in Laos. The Mekong region is a hot spot for biodiversity, and home to tigers, Asian elephants and saola — an extremely rare animal also called the Asian unicorn or spindlehorn — as well as thousands of other species. Including this latest list, scientists have identified more than 3,000 new species in the region since 1997, the WWF said. Scientists used measurements and samples from museum collections to compare and identify key differences with features of the newly discovered animals and plants, the report said. Studying such differences can help determine the range of species and threats to their survival, Thomas Ziegler, a curator at the University of Cologne’s Institute of Zoology, said in introducing the report. However, identifying new species is tricky, and sometimes can only be determined using a variety of methods, such as frog calls and genetic data used to distinguish the Cardamom leaf little frog, found high up in the Cardamom mountains in a wildlife refuge. Some species are found in more than one country, including the bright orange twin slug snake, which consumes slugs. The Popa langur was identified based on genetic matching of recently gathered

COVID-19-hit warship delivering aid to Tonga

A COVID-19-hit Australian warship yesterday docked in Tonga, delivering desperately needed aid to the volcano-and-tsunami-stricken nation under strict “no-contact” protocols. Tongan Minister of Health Saia Piukala said that the crew of the HMAS Adelaide would follow drastic health protocols to ensure that the remote Pacific kingdom remains one of the few places in the world still free of COVID-19. “The ship will berth, and no contacts will be made. Australians from the ship will unload their cargoes and sail from port,” he told reporters. The Adelaide was deployed as part of an international aid effort after a Jan. 15 eruption that generated massive tsunami waves and blanketed the island nation in toxic ash. The warship is carrying about 80 tonnes of relief supplies, including water, medical kits and engineering equipment. Despite all crew members testing negative before departing Brisbane, officials in Canberra on Tuesday said that 23 COVID-19 cases had been detected on the vessel. Piukala said that number had by yesterday increased to 29. The ship’s crew of more than 600 sailors are fully vaccinated against the virus, and the Australian Defence Force on Tuesday said that the initial 23 cases were asymptomatic or only mildly affected. The military said that the ship has a 40-bed hospital, including operating theaters and a critical care ward. Piukala said that contactless protocols had been applied to all relief supplies, including those aboard the Adelaide, meaning that all goods offloaded from foreign planes or ships would be left in isolation for three days before being handled by Tongans. The ship is said to be loaded with about 250,000 liters of water, buckets, jerry cans and portable field testing kits that can now be offloaded. “We can do that in a contactless way, spray the equipment so that the chance of passing on the virus is obviously negligible,” Australian Minister for Defence Peter

Saudi Arabia, Thailand to restore ties

BLUE DIAMOND: Riyadh cut off diplomatic ties in 1989 after the theft of about US$20 million of jewelry from a Saudi prince’s palace and killings of Saudi envoys

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday ordered the restoration of full diplomatic ties with Thailand and said the countries agreed to trade ambassadors, closing the chapter on three decades of mistrust and hostility between the nations that stemmed from a sensational jewelry heist. The rapprochement came during Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s official visit to the kingdom, which marked the highest-level meeting between the countries since relations soured over the 1989 political scandal. Saudi Arabia downgraded its diplomatic relations with Thailand over the theft that led to a string of mysterious killings and became known as the Blue Diamond affair. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the country’s de facto leader, agreed to bury the hatchet with Prayuth and boost the nations’ economic, security and political ties, said a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) late on Tuesday after talks at the royal palace. The countries are to explore joint investment in fields ranging from energy and petrochemicals to tourism and hospitality, it said. Tourism is a key element of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s economic reform plan meant to wean the kingdom off oil. Saudi Arabian Airlines said it would start direct flights from Riyadh to Bangkok in May, promoting Thailand in a Twitter post as “the land of culture.” In 1989, a priceless 50-carat blue diamond was among an estimated US$20 million of gems and jewelry pilfered by a Thai janitor from a Saudi Arabian prince’s palace in the heist that wrecked relations between the countries. The kingdom stopped issuing and renewing visas for hundreds of thousands of Thai workers, suspended permits for thousands of Thai Muslims hoping to make the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and warned its citizens not to travel to Thailand. Three Saudi Arabian diplomats seeking the valuables’ return were shot dead in Bangkok. A Bangkok-based

Top HRW investigator ‘hacked’ by Pegasus client

The mobile phones of a senior Human Rights Watch (HRW) staff member are alleged to have been repeatedly hacked by a client of NSO Group at a time when she was investigating the catastrophic August 2020 explosion that killed more than 200 people in Beirut. The alleged hacking of Lama Fakih, a US-Lebanese citizen, and director of crisis and conflict at HRW, marks the latest example of how NSO’s powerful surveillance tool, Pegasus, has been used by the company’s clients to target campaigners and journalists. HRW said that Fakih had been alerted by Apple on Nov. 24 last year that her personal iPhone could be under state-sponsored attack. An investigation by HRW’s security team, which was reviewed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab, found that Fakih’s iPhones had apparently been infected with Pegasus through a so-called “zero-click” exploit that allows operators of the spyware to infect a phone without the mobile user doing anything, such as clicking on a link. The news comes as NSO has faced a raft of bad news at home and abroad. In November, the company was placed on a US blacklist by US President Joe Biden’s administration, which said it had evidence that the Israeli company was enabling foreign governments to conduct “transnational repression.” NSO has also been engulfed in a domestic crisis in Israel after it was alleged in a report by Calcalist that the Israeli police had used Pegasus to gather intelligence for investigative purposes without legal oversight. The report prompted Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to announce a probe into police use of the spyware against Israelis. NSO said in a statement that it had no control over how its clients used the spyware. On Tuesday, NSO chairman Asher Levy said he was stepping down as chairman, but denied that the move had any connection to the recent

Poland’s pigeon fanciers eye moving up pecking order

Opening one of his many cages, Michal Trojczak watches proudly as more than 70 dusty-blue pigeons take flight, soaring high above snow-covered fields in eastern Poland. “My birds are athletes,” said the 42-year-old pigeon fancier, who inherited his passion for breeding the birds from his father and grandfather. Poland boasts Europe’s biggest community of homing pigeon breeders — and a string of international competition trophies — but trails other countries in the breeding of pedigree birds that command a higher value. As one of those who has decided to do something about that, Trojczak said that he had turned professional after retiring from the army a few years ago and teamed up with a friend. Together, they bought Belgian pigeons with prestigious pedigrees, investing thousands of euros, including 11,000 euros (US$12,418) alone for the progeny of a bird called Porsche 911. “He’s provided us with a lot of satisfaction and money,” the ex-army captain said. Now, he hopes the sky is the limit for Polish pigeon enthusiasts who, he believes, will rise to rival their Belgian and Dutch counterparts within a decade. Pigeon lofts are a part of Poland’s landscape, especially in the mining region of Silesia, where pigeon breeding has historic roots and the birds enjoy near-mythic status. After a day underground, it is still common to see miners emerge into the daylight, scanning the skies for their winged friends. Released hundreds of kilometers from their pigeon lofts, the birds find their way home thanks to an ability to detect the earth’s magnetic field and orient themselves according to the sun. Flying with the wind, they can reach up to 120kph. After Poland won back its independence in 1918, the use, breeding and racing of pigeons was regulated by the military affairs ministry due to the strategic importance of the birds’ ability to carry communications. The Nazis immediately banned

Beatles memorabilia up for virtual auction

DIGITAL ASSETS: Buyers will get a unit of blockchain data recording that their crypto wallets own an NFT linked to a digital file showing the Beatles item

John Lennon’s son Julian is auctioning off pieces of memorabilia relating to the Beatles, including three guitars given to him by his father and handwritten notes about the 1968 song Hey Jude — but not physically. Instead, the auction is a sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a type of digital asset. Each winning bidder will be able to claim ownership of a digital file described as an “audio/visual collectible” in which Julian Lennon narrates a “specific heartfelt memory.” “I feel incredibly lucky to live in a day and age where innovation allows me to share such personal pieces of my Lennon family history,” said Julian Lennon, a singer-songwriter, writer and artist. “Through this NFT collection, I’m able to grant exclusive access to special items that I cherish and carry on the legacy of my father in a new way,” he said. NFTs use blockchain to record who owns a digital file, such as an image, video or text. Although they are sometimes sold alongside physical items, as a sort of digital certificate of authenticity, owning an NFT does not confer ownership of the underlying item — rather, it can be thought of as a kind of digital bragging rights. Such sales have nevertheless exploded in popularity, with NFT artworks selling for millions of US dollars. In this case, the buyers of the Beatles NFTs will not receive a guitar or physical piece of paper. What they will get is a unit of blockchain data recording that their crypto wallets own an NFT linked to a digital file showing the item. So for the Hey Jude notes, which show Paul McCartney’s doodles and drawings, the buyer is to receive an NFT of an image of the object “brought to life in an even more personal way through Julian Lennon’s exclusive audio narration,” the auction Web site says. Bids on this

As sole candidate, Tedros looks set to remain WHO head

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is all but guaranteed a second term after a procedural vote on Tuesday made him the sole nominee for a leadership election in May. The first African leader of the UN health agency said he was “very grateful for the renewed support,” after the WHO’s executive board held a secret-ballot vote approving his nomination as the only candidate for the post. “I am actually lost for words,” Tedros said after all of the board’s 34 members, representing countries from around the world, threw their weight behind him. The only three votes he was missing were from absentees Tonga, Afghanistan and East Timor, a diplomatic source said. The former Ethiopian minister of health and foreign affairs is thus expected to be re-elected when all 194 WHO member states cast their ballots in May for the next director-general. Tedros, one of the most recognizable figures of the global fight against COVID-19, acknowledged that his first five-year term had been “challenging and difficult,” and said it was a “great honor” to be given the opportunity to continue the battle. Since COVID-19 emerged more than two years ago, the 56-year-old malaria specialist has received praise for the way he has steered the WHO. “We appreciate not only your leadership during this period, but also your humanity and your compassion,” South Korean Minister of Food and Drug Safety Kim Ganglip said, speaking for the WHO’s western Pacific region countries. African nations have been pleased at the attention paid to the continent and at his relentless campaign for poorer nations to receive a fair share of COVID-19 vaccines. The main source of opposition against Tedros has ironically come from his own country. Ethiopia’s government has slammed his comments about the humanitarian situation in his home region of Tigray, in the grip of a 14-month conflict. In a statement, Ethiopia accused him of

COVID-19: India Republic Day parade curtailed amid COVID-19

Thousands of people braved a morning chill yesterday on a ceremonial boulevard in India’s capital to watch a display of the nation’s military power and cultural diversity, but the colorful annual Republic Day spectacle was curtailed amid COVID-19. Nearly 500 schoolchildren, folk dancers, police and military battalions, floats and stunt performers on motorbikes paraded from the presidential palace down the refurbished tree-lined boulevard of Rajpath. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind received salutes from the marching columns, which included a camel-mounted regiment with its mustachioed riders led by shiny brass bands with tubas. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ministers and foreign envoys applauded the performers. The 90-minute parade ended with a flypast featuring 75 air force fighters, including Rafale jets, transport planes and helicopters. Republic Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution on Jan. 26, 1950. India won independence from British colonial rule in 1947. The parade started half an hour late to ensure better visibility for participants and of the flypast. Authorities also shortened the parade route, which normally culminates at the 17th century Red Fort after marching through various districts. The number of people watching the parade was limited and included only fully vaccinated adults and children over 15 who have had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. All spectators were required to wear masks and observe social distance. Cases of infections from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 have begun declining in big cities like New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, and authorities are now focused on curbing infections in smaller cities, towns and villages. The Indian Ministry of Health yesterday reported 285,000 new cases, including the Delta and Omicron variants, and 665 deaths across the country in the past 24 hours, with a test positivity rate of 16.16 percent. India’s government also announced civilian awards in art, trade, literature, science, social work and

UN head decries anti-Semitism

IGNORANCE: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was alarmed that barely half of adults worldwide know of the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were murdered

In comments on Tuesday night at a service commemorating victims of the Nazi Holocaust, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried the resurgence of anti-Semitism, urging people around the world to “stand firm against hate and bigotry anywhere and everywhere.” The UN head said he was alarmed to learn that barely half of adults worldwide have heard of the Holocaust, which saw the murder of 6 million Jews, comprising one-third of the Jewish people, and millions of others during World War II. The lack of knowledge among the younger generation “is worse still,” he said. “Our response to ignorance must be education,” Guterres said. “Governments everywhere have a responsibility to teach about the horrors of the Holocaust.” He spoke at the UN International Holocaust Remembrance Service at Park East Synagogue on the eve of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, which was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in November 2005 establishing the annual commemoration and chose Jan. 27, the day that the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by troops from the Soviet Union in 1945. Guterres said that the rise in anti-Semitism — “the oldest form of hate and prejudice” — has seen new reports of physical attacks, verbal abuse, the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, synagogues vandalized, and last week the hostage-taking of the rabbi and members of Beth Israel Congregation in Colleyville, Texas. Around the world, Jewish boys are told not to wear a kippa — the skullcap worn by observant Jews — “for fear of being assaulted,” and there are conspiracy theories devolving into “heinous anti-Semitic tropes” and “deeply disturbing attempts to deny, distort or minimize the Holocaust,” especially on the Internet, he said. Guterres welcomed the UN General Assembly’s adoption on Thursday last week of a resolution condemning Holocaust

California city votes to mandate gun insurance

FIRST IN US: San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said the US constitution protects citizens’ right to own a gun, but does not ‘require taxpayers to subsidize that right’

The city of San Jose on Tuesday voted to pass a law that would compel gun owners to take out insurance to cover any damage caused by their weapon, a move that its mayor said is the first of its kind in the US. The plan, voted on by the city council, would also require weapons owners in the Californian city to pay an annual fee that would fund a non-profit group to help victims of gun violence. “Tonight, San Jose became the first city in the United States to enact an ordinance to require gun owners to purchase liability insurance, and to invest funds generated from fees paid by gun owners into an evidence-based initiative to reduce gun violence and gun harm,” Mayor Sam Liccardo wrote on Twitter. The proposed ordinance, which must pass a second reading on Feb. 8 before it becomes law in August, is also intended to cut down the costs to taxpayers. “We have seen how insurance has reduced auto fatalities over several decades, for example, by incentivizing safer driving, and the purchase of cars equipped with airbags and antilock brakes,” Liccardo said ahead of the vote. “Similarly, gun liability insurance available today on the market can adjust premiums to encourage gun owners to use gun safes, install trigger locks and take gun safety classes,” he added. Firearms are prevalent in the US, where about 40 percent of adults live in a gun-owning household, the Pew Research Center said. Almost 23 million firearms were sold across the country in 2020 and 40,000 people die from gunshots annually. Despite the toll and the fact that most Americans favor tightening gun control rules, attempts to limit gun ownership have failed, with opponents saying that controls are an infringement of individual liberties. A news release from the San Jose City Council said that gun violence costs the

F-35’s US$14bn software upgrade deployed despite flaws

A US$14 billion Pentagon software upgrade for F-35 jets is being installed on aircraft that are deployed although it is “immature, deficient and insufficiently tested,” a new assessment by the military’s testing office said. Aircraft operators “identified deficiencies in weapons, fusion, communications and navigation, cybersecurity and targeting processes that required software modification and additional time and resources, which caused delays,” the 13-page assessment in the testing office’s annual report said. Built by Lockheed Martin, the F-35 is a flying computer, with more than 8 million lines of computer code, and the software needed to increase its capabilities has been marred by problems since deliveries of the upgrades began in 2020. The US Department of Defense’s F-35 program office has implemented “process improvements to address software development issues,” the assessment said. The F-35 section of the annual report, which has circulated inside the Pentagon for comment, is a combination of unclassified and “controlled, unclassified information.” Laura Seal, spokeswoman for the defense department’s F-35 program office, said that the office would issue comments once the report is officially released. Although the program office designed the upgrade effort around commercial “agile software” concepts, “it does not adhere to the published best practices,” and it has “consistently failed to deliver the capabilities contained in their master schedule,” said the assessment, which was conducted under the agency’s new Operational Test and Evaluation Director Nickolas Guertin. “The program has not sufficiently funded” teams to “adequately test, analyze data or perform comprehensive” checkup analysis “to assure that unintentional deficiencies are not embedded in the software prior to delivery,” the testing office said in the assessment. As a result, the process has resulted in frequent “discoveries of critical warfighting deficiencies after fielding to the combat units.” Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed has delivered more than 750 of a potential 3,300 jets to the US and partners. They are in

After seven years, SpaceX rocket to crash into moon

A SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the moon after spending almost seven years hurtling through space, experts say. The booster was originally launched from Florida in February 2015 as part of an interplanetary mission to send a space weather satellite on a journey of 1.6 million kilometers. However, after completing a long burn of its engines and sending the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Deep Space Climate Observatory on its way to the so-called Lagrange point — a gravity-neutral position four times further than the moon and in direct line with the sun — the rocket’s second stage became derelict. At this stage, it was high enough that it did not have enough fuel to return to Earth’s atmosphere, but also “lacked the energy to escape the gravity of the Earth-moon system,” meteorologist Eric Berger wrote in a post on Ars Technica. “So it has been following a somewhat chaotic orbit since February 2015,” Berger added. Space observers believe the rocket — about 4 tonnes of “space junk” — is on course to intersect with the moon at a velocity of about 2.58 kilometers per second in a matter of weeks. Bill Gray — who writes software to track near-Earth objects, asteroids, minor planets and comets — has said that the Falcon 9’s upper stage is likely to hit the far side of the moon, near the equator, on March 4. The data analyst said in a blog post that the object “made a close lunar flyby on Jan. 5,” but is to make “a certain impact at March 4.” “This is the first unintentional case [of space junk hitting the moon] of which I am aware,” Gray added. The exact spot the rocket is to hit remains unclear due to the unpredictable effect of sunlight “pushing” on the rocket and “ambiguity in measuring rotation

Meet Australian lungfish Methuselah, the world’s oldest living aquarium fish

Methuselah — a fish that likes to eat fresh figs and get belly rubs — is believed to be the oldest living aquarium fish in the world. In the Bible, Methuselah was Noah’s grandfather and was said to have lived to be 969 years old. While Methuselah the fish is not quite that ancient, biologists at the California Academy of Sciences believe that it is about 90 years old, with no known living peers. Methuselah is a 1.2m, 18.1kg Australian lungfish that was taken from Australia to the San Francisco museum in 1938. A primitive species with lungs and gills, Australian lungfish are believed to be the evolutionary link between fish and amphibians. No stranger to publicity, Methuselah’s first appearance in the San Francisco Chronicle was in 1947: “These strange creatures — with green scales looking like fresh artichoke leaves — are known to scientists as a possible ‘missing link’ between terrestrial and aquatic animals.” Until a few years ago, the oldest Australian lungfish was at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, but that fish, named Granddad, died in 2017 at the age of 95. “By default, Methuselah is the oldest,” said Allan Jan, senior biologist at the museum and the fish’s caretaker. Methuselah’s caretakers believe that the fish is female, although it is difficult to determine the species’ sex without a risky blood draw. The museum plans to send a tiny sample of her fin to researchers in Australia, who would try to confirm the sex and figure out the fish’s exact age. Jan said that Methuselah likes getting rubbed on her back and belly, and has a “mellow” personality. “I tell my volunteers, pretend she’s an underwater puppy, very mellow, gentle, but of course if she gets spooked, she will have sudden bouts of energy. But for the most part she’s just calm,” Jan said. Methuselah has developed a

Dozens of people missing after boat capsizes off Florida

The US Coast Guard has launched a search for 39 people reported missing when a boat capsized off the coast of Florida in a “suspected human smuggling venture.” Coast guard personnel in Miami on Tuesday said that it had received a report “from a good Samaritan” who rescued a man “clinging to a capsized vessel approximately 45 miles [72km] east of Fort Pierce Inlet [Florida].” The survivor said that the boat left Bimini in the Bahamas on Saturday night, and had encountered rough weather before it capsized. “According to the survivor, no one was wearing a life jacket,” the statement said. “Coast Guard air-and-surface asset crews are actively searching for people in the water. This is a suspected human smuggling venture,” the coast guard wrote on Twitter. The coast guard later wrote that air-and-surface crews would “continue to search throughout the night” for the missing people. It released an image showing the capsized vessel in the water with a man straddling on the hull. The survivor was taken to a hospital to be treated for dehydration and sun exposure, it added. Human smugglers are known to use the Bahamas as a departure point for transporting people — many from other Caribbean countries, such as Haiti — to the US. The International Organization for Migration said that about 5,000 Haitian migrants work legally in the Bahamas, but that 20,000 to 50,000 of their compatriots are in the country illegally. Bimini, the westernmost district of the Bahamas and its closest point to the mainland, is about 217km from Fort Pierce Inlet. On Friday, 32 people were rescued after a boat capsized about 8km west of Bimini in another suspected human smuggling attempt, the US Coast Guard and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force said. The US Coast Guard wrote on Twitter that its vessels patrol the waters around Haiti, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas to

Australian Open allows Peng Shuai T-shirts

‘HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE’: There is no legal basis for asking an attendee to take off a T-shirt asking the whereabouts of the Chinese tennis player, a lawyer said

Fans at the Australian Open can wear “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts as long as they are peaceful, tournament chief Craig Tiley told reporters yesterday, after a backlash over the Grand Slam’s controversial stance. The about-turn followed video emerging on Sunday of security staff ordering spectators to remove shirts and a banner in support of the Chinese player at Melbourne Park. It prompted tennis legend Martina Navratilova to brand the move “pathetic.” Peng Shuai (彭帥), the former doubles world No. 1, is absent from Melbourne and there are fears for her well-being after she alleged online in November last year that she had been “forced” into sex by a former Chinese vice premier during a years-long on-and-off relationship. Her allegation was quickly censored and the 36-year-old was not heard from for nearly three weeks, before reappearing in public in China. However, there are still concerns as to whether she is free. Tennis Australia, which organizes the Australian Open, reiterated its long-standing policy on Monday of “not allowing banners, signs or clothing that are commercial or political.” However, with pressure mounting, Tiley said that “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts would be permitted as long as those wearing them were peaceful, adding that security would make case-by-case assessments. “Yes, as long as they are not coming as a mob to be disruptive, but are peaceful,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Grand Slam. “It’s all been a bit lost in translation from some people who are not here and don’t really know the full view. “The situation in the last couple of days is that some people came with a banner on two large poles and we can’t allow that. If you are coming to watch the tennis that’s fine, but we can’t allow anyone to cause a disruption at the end of the day,” he said. A GoFundMe

Seoul says North Korea test-fired cruise missiles

North Korea yesterday test-fired two suspected cruise missiles in its fifth round of weapons launches this month, South Korean military officials said, as it displays its military might amid COVID-19 pandemic-related difficulties and a prolonged freeze in nuclear negotiations with the US. One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department rules, said South Korean and US intelligence officials were analyzing the launches, but did not provide further details. Another military official, who requested anonymity over similar reasons, said the tests were conducted from an inland area, but did not specify where. North Korea has been increasing its testing activity recently in an apparent effort to pressure the administration of US President Joe Biden over the stalled diplomacy after the pandemic unleashed further shock on an economy broken by crippling US-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons program and decades of mismanagement by its own government. North Korea on Thursday issued a veiled threat to resume the testing of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles targeting the US homeland, which North Korean leader Kim Jong-un suspended in 2018 while initiating diplomacy with the US. Some experts say North Korea could dramatically escalate weapons demonstrations after the Winter Olympics, which begin on Friday next week in China, the North’s main ally and economic lifeline. They say Pyongyang’s leadership likely feels it could use a dramatic provocation to move the needle with the Biden administration, which has offered open-ended talks, but showed no willingness to ease sanctions unless Kim takes real steps to abandon the nuclear weapons and missiles he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival. Yesterday’s launches could have been followup tests of a weapon North Korea has described as a long-range cruise missile and first tested in September last year, said Kim Dong-yub, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies. State media in reports