AUSTRALIA
Satellite program changed
A defense satellite program was scrapped because of the threat of new technology that can “shoot satellites out of the sky,” and Canberra instead wants to use a mesh of micro satellites for defense communications, Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. The Department of Defence on Monday said it canceled a multibillion-dollar Geostationary Earth Orbit satellite project with Lockheed Martin that was to deliver the nation’s first sovereign-controlled satellite communication system over the Indo-Pacific ocean regions. Marles yesterday said the government had abandoned the plan because the system designed eight years ago was out of date. Marles cited the use of Starlink above Ukraine and said Australia needs to develop defense communications that are distributed, more resilient and cost effective.
THAILAND
Baby hippo picks Trump
As Americans go to vote, Thai superstar baby hippo Moo Deng has predicted former US president Donald Trump would regain the White House. The chubby chomper took the Internet by storm with her adorable antics at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, quickly becoming a staple of social media memes and inspiring a raft of merchandise. Now Moo Deng, whose name means “bouncy pork,” has predicted a comeback victory for the Republican over Democrat Kamala Harris. Offered two dishes of carved fruit, each emblazoned with one of the candidates’ names, the four-month-old pigmy hippo chose Trump, in video posted online by the zoo. Moo Deng has proved a particular hit in the US, where comedian Bowen Yang portrayed her in a Saturday Night Live comedy sketch.
IRAN
Jailed French couple ‘well’
French nationals Cecile Kohler and her partner, Jacques Paris, jailed since 2022, are “in good health,” local authorities said, denying recent claims of deteriorating conditions. “The two are ... in good health, so any claim regarding their poor condition is denied,” judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told reporters in Tehran, citing a report from the authorities. The couple have been jailed since May 2022 on charges of espionage. In October 2022, Iranian state television broadcast what it said were “espionage confessions” by the two French detainees. The French government condemned the airing of the alleged confessions as “shameful, revolting and unacceptable,” and described the pair as “state hostages.” Last month, dozens of people held a demonstration in Paris to denounce what Kohler’s sister, Noemi, described as the “alarming” physical and psychological condition of the pair.
SOUTH KOREA
Meta fined over user data
The Personal Information Protection Commission yesterday ordered Facebook owner Meta Platforms to pay 21.62 billion won (US$15.7 million) in fines after finding it had collected sensitive user data and given it to advertisers without a legal basis. The US tech giant obtained information from about 980,000 South Korean Facebook users on issues such as their religion, political views and sexuality while failing to seek agreement from users, the commission said in a statement. The information was then used by about 4,000 advertisers, it said. A Meta Korea official declined to comment. Meta had also unfairly declined a request by users to access personal information and failed to prevent data on about 10 South Koreans from being leaked by hackers, the agency said.
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
Czech intelligence chief Michal Koudelka has spent decades uncovering Russian spy networks, sabotage attempts and disinformation campaigns against Europe. Speaking in an interview from a high-security compound on the outskirts of Prague, he is now warning allies that pushing Kyiv to accept significant concessions to end the war in Ukraine would only embolden the Kremlin. “Russia would spend perhaps the next 10 to 15 years recovering from its huge human and economic losses and preparing for the next target, which is central and eastern Europe,” said Koudelka, a major general who heads the country’s Security Information Service. “If Ukraine loses, or is forced
THIRD IN A ROW? An expert said if the report of a probe into the defense official is true, people would naturally ask if it would erode morale in the military Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) has been placed under investigation for corruption, a report said yesterday, the latest official implicated in a crackdown on graft in the country’s military. Citing current and former US officials familiar with the situation, British newspaper the Financial Times said that the investigation into Dong was part of a broader probe into military corruption. Neither the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Chinese embassy in Washington replied to a request for confirmation yesterday. If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to fall under investigation for corruption. A former navy
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