Australian soldier loses landmark defamation case
Australia’s most-decorated living soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has lost a historic defamation case against three newspapers which accused him of war crimes in Afghanistan.
The Australian newspapers were sued over several articles which also said he had bullied peers and punched a woman with whom he was having an affair.
It is the first time in history a court has assessed allegations of war crimes by Australian forces.
The judge said the lengthy civil trial had proved the murder allegations – denied by Mr Roberts-Smith – were substantially true.
Mr Roberts-Smith has not been charged over any of the claims and no findings have been made against him in a criminal court. He was not in court for Thursday’s judgement.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts.
Shangri-La 2023: ASEAN rallies for regional stabilityÂ
Asia’s leading defense conference, the Shangri-La Dialogue, is set to take place in Singapore from June 2 to 4. The event provides a semi-formal discussion space in the context of the recent gap in multilateral dialogue on defense and security.
The gathering is also a great opportunity for the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to reaffirm their role in resolving emerging interwoven crises. ASEAN will also need to consider what else it can do to continue maintaining its central role in the regional security structure.
Resolving interwoven crises
The 42nd ASEAN Summit, held in May, ended impressively with the image of regional leaders clasping hands on a boat on the shores of the Indonesian island of Labuan Bajo, as a reminder that ASEAN countries are standing together on the same boat and facing common challenges.
At that conference, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that after more than half a century of establishment and development, ASEAN has never been in such a good position, even while facing many challenges as it does now. ASEAN is the focus of a series of regional connectivity initiatives and at the same time, it is the focus of intense strategic competition among major powers.
The results of the top-level discussions show the focus on strengthening intra-ASEAN solidarity and enforcement measures. If ASEAN has become more introspective, it is the result of concerns about the unpredictable spiral of geopolitical competition between great powers. The defensiveness in ASEAN’s policy is becoming more and more obvious as regional countries prioritize economic cooperation with one another.
Southeast Asian have responded in various ways to challenges presented by the global energy, food, and semiconductor crises, the risk of deflation, and slow recoveries after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Indonesia and other Southeast Asian nations are focusing on internal consolidation, promoting the development and sharing of green energy, building the ASEAN electricity network, and connecting the intra-regional payment network.
Singapore appears enthusiastic about this initiative, while Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is also lobbying Vietnam to support the construction of an undersea transmission line to supply Singapore.
In addition, Malaysia and Vietnam support the modernization and connection of Southeast Asia’s seaport network, the electric-vehicle ecosystem, and other initiative to create new impetus for intra-regional trade and investment.
These efforts show how ASEAN member states are joining hands to deal with challenges and become an important factor to join the world in solving today’s intertwined crises.
Easing tension in South China Sea
If years-long tension between Ukraine and Russia directly sparked the ongoing war there, many experts believe that the situation in the South China Sea and Taiwan is a powder keg that can explode at any time.
This year’s Shangri-La Dialogue is an opportunity for the US and China to have high-level contact to reduce tensions, but it may be missed amid the deterioration of relations between Beijing and Washington. Some observers think that China may send a military delegation to the Dialogue.
China is becoming more and more aggressive with such activities as illegally encroaching on the waters of neighboring countries, increasing militarization of rocky islands, and rapidly increasing its naval power.
There are reports that China is deploying nuclear submarines in the South China Sea, or East Sea as it is designated by Vietnam, causing deep concern to countries in the region. China is also the party promoting confrontations that reach extremely dangerous thresholds with the US Air Force and Navy in the South China Sea. Any mistake could spark a conflict between the two superpowers.
Recently, for various reasons, the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized countries, having just met in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, said they hoped to have a “constructive and stable relationship” with Beijing. This leads optimists to believe that the East-West confrontation will cool down so that Europe can focus on Russia.
However, it should be noted that the G7 also warned China about its “militarization activities” in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, conflicts between the parties in the military field will be difficult to cool down in a short time.
Therefore, in order for this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue to make a substantial contribution to the process of resolving the East Sea issue, ASEAN countries need to affirm the bloc’s stance on handling disputes through negotiation on the basis of compliance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), contributing to building peace, stability and development in the region.
Through multilateral dialogue as well as promoting the completion of a Code of Conduct (COC), ASEAN and its member states must play a central role in resolving the South China Sea issue, rather than as a third party.
Given that the South China Sea issue is subject to major-power involvement and overlapping calculations among the parties, ASEAN needs more than statements about the bloc’s central role in resolving the issue.
Vietnam is said to be a textbook example of successful hedging, balancing relations with China and the US as well as with Russia, without angering any country. Even as the US is eager to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with Hanoi, Vietnamese leaders still have a delicate way of handling it while not making its giant neighbor China uncomfortable.
An interesting detail to supplement this point of view is that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that he “did not choose sides and only chose peace and justice” during his brief meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Japan recently.
This also would have been noted by Dmitry Medvedev, vice-chairman of the Russian Security Council during his visit from May 22-23 to Hanoi shortly afterward.
It should be noted that not every country in the region has been able to hedge as successfully as Vietnam. The rapid foreign-policy reversal of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s administration in the Philippines in cooperating with the US has caused some concern both at home and abroad.
By contrast, the G7 Summit agreed to put Vietnam on the list of priority countries for cooperation, though the G7 member countries were its former enemies.
This weekend’s Shangri-La Dialogue will still revolve around geopolitical competition between the US and China. At the same time, this event is also where the superpowers attempt to gather forces by listening to and responding to calls from stakeholders.
This means a lot to ASEAN member countries after the 42nd ASEAN Summit in May focused deeply on internal issues, to be able to give voice, perspective, and solutions to global and regional problems.
The quiet committee keeping China investment at bay
A Chinese private equity firm, Primavera Capital Group, in May acquired the well-known test preparation company Princeton Review and an online learning platform, Tutor.com.
The move, like other Chinese investments in tech and those that deal with personal information, is increasingly drawing the attention of politicians, the US government and national security experts – especially as tensions rise between the US and China.
What remains unclear, however, is if this seemingly routine business acquisition was reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the the US, which has authority to examine transactions involving foreign investment.
The committee is largely prohibited from publicly disclosing any information filed with it, including whether it is reviewing a transaction or whether one was referred for review.
While the committee is hardly a household name, its mission and its expanding oversight have important implications for the US economy and national security.
Government oversight
The Committee on Foreign Investment, a US government interagency committee established in 1975 by President Gerald Ford, is tasked with studying and coordinating the implementation of policy on foreign investment in America.
Investment by foreign countries greatly benefits the US, supporting 10.1% of the total labor force in 2019. Yet, beginning in the 1980s, the federal government grew increasingly concerned about potentially harmful effects of foreign investment in the US. For example, if a foreign firm gets control of sensitive technologies, it could hurt national competitive advantages or even threaten national security.
The primary objective of the committee is to review selected foreign investments and some real estate transactions by foreigners in the US for their national security implications. Real estate transactions are generally scrutinized only when a transaction involves land that is either close to a military base or near an airport or seaport.
Vetting foreign investments
In the 1980s, political concern grew about Japanese investment and, specifically, the proposed purchase by Japanese computer giant Fujitsu of chipmaker Fairchild Semiconductor. Semiconductors were considered a sensitive industry, with potential defense applications, so the purchase prompted Congress in 1988 to pass the Exon-Florio amendment to the Defense Production Act of 1950.
This amendment empowered the committee not just to review foreign investment deals but also to recommend rejecting them. Acting on its recommendation, a US president could block a foreign transaction on “national security” grounds.
For instance, in 1990, President George H W Bush voided the sale of MAMCO Manufacturing, which made metal parts for airplanes, to a Chinese agency, ordering the China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation to divest itself of the Seattle-based company.
In the context of a committee review, the term national security typically refers to foreign transactions that could cause significant outsourcing of jobs, a loss of control over agricultural supply chains, the sharing of sensitive technologies, control of a firm that satisfies defense needs, or the impairment of critical infrastructure.
Strengthening the committee
In 2006, Dubai Ports World, owned by the United Arab Emirates government, was about to gain managerial control of six US ports in a major deal. Because of terrorism-related concerns, Senator Chuck Schumer led a campaign against this proposal and the transaction was eventually called off, even though it had initially been approved by both the committee and President George W Bush.
In the aftermath of this controversy, lawmakers passed the Foreign Investment and National Security Act in 2007, giving Congress greater oversight of the committee to ensure that potential acquisitions were adequately reviewed. In addition, it required the committee to scrutinize any foreign investment deal in which the pertinent overseas entity is either owned or controlled by a foreign power.
National security concerns
Over time, the Committee on Foreign Investment has been given more power to reflect and act on the political and economic concerns of the US.
China, for example, appears to have global ambitions to replace the US-led world order. As it gains geopolitical power, China has come under increased scrutiny by the US, with public support for getting tough with China on economic issues. In response to these concerns, concrete steps have been taken by US lawmakers to increase the scope of what the committee is able to do.
In 2018, then-president Donald Trump signed the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, giving the committee new powers over certain types of foreign investment that affect many Chinese investors. In the two-year period after the passage of the act, transaction registrations from Chinese investors fell by 43%.
In 2022, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the committee to sharpen its investigation of foreign investment deals that could negatively affect cybersecurity, quantum computing, biotechnology and sensitive data.
The Committee on Foreign Investment is now more powerful than it has ever been, and it is a gatekeeper on major foreign investment deals.
The US is not alone in examining foreign investment deals for national security implications. In recent times, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia have either created or strengthened existing regulations to police with greater care foreign investment deals, particularly those originating in China.
It remains to be seen what the long-term implications of these expanding powers of the Committee on Foreign Investments in the US will be.
Amitrajeet A. Batabyal is a distinguished professor, the Arthur J Gosnell professor of economics and interim head of the Department of Sustainability at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Seatrium says CPIB probe relates to events that ‘occurred prior to 2015’
In March this year, Seatrium announced that its wholly-owned Brazilian subsidiary, Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz, was being investigated for “alleged irregularities” over its practices. Seatrium said later that month that the proceedings relate generally to “past conduct investigated by the Brazilian authorities in connection with Operation Car Wash”. However, on AprContinue Reading
‘Unfortunate’ that Chinese counterpart declined talks: Austin
“You’ve heard me talk a number of times about the importance of countries with large, with significant capabilities, being able to talk to each other so you can you can manage crises and prevent things from spiralling out of control unnecessarily,” Austin said. Recent “provocative intercepts of our aircraft andContinue Reading
Moment climber is rescued from Everest âdeath zoneâ
Nepali guide Gelje Sherpa found a Malaysian climber shivering and clutching a rope in the area of Mount Everest called the “death zone”, where temperatures can dip to -30C.
He carried the climber down from 8,500m above sea level over the course of six hours, in what has been described as a “very rare” high-altitude rescue.
China reaching for biotech breakthroughs in space
Three Chinese astronauts will conduct five life-science experiments within the next five months following the spacecraft Shenzhou-16’s successful docking with China’s Tiangong space station on Tuesday.
Three experiments will look into how stem cells, plant hormones and protein formation are affected by the microgravity environment while two others are aimed at discovering how nematodes, or roundworms, are hurt by gamma rays in space and how the damage can be measured through biomarkers.
The experiment kits have a total volume of 95 liters and weigh about 23.6 kilograms, said the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The experiments are aimed to provide information that will allow for astronauts to stay in space for longer periods of time, it added.
Chinese scientists and state media explained the goals and challenges of the five experiments on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A protein formation experiment, led by CAS Academician Zhao Yufen, will be conducted for the first time in space to try to ascertain whether life on Earth was created domestically or brought from elsewhere.
“Different enzymes play their roles during the formation of protein – but how was it done before life was created?” Liu Yan, an associate professor at the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Xiamen University, explained to the China Science Daily on Tuesday.
“We want to find out how the three most important life elements – amino acids, nucleotides and phosphate groups – will work together in the microgravity environment in the space station.”
In the formation of protein, the genetic codes on DNA are transferred to a messenger RNA (mRNA) in a process called transcription, which can be accelerated by enzymes, according to Nature.com. Following the sequence on mRNA, amino acids can be linked together to become a polypeptide in a process called translation. Polypeptide then becomes protein.
Astronauts in the space station and scientists on Earth will run the same transcription and translation processes without enzymes simultaneously to see whether gravity plays a role in life creation. The other two gravity and two gamma ray experiments are more common and straightforward.
A team led by Cai Weiming, a researcher of the CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, will test whether Arabidopsis (thale cress) seeds will grow differently in the first 10 days of their bud stage with and without gravity. Before this, the first batch of Arabidopsis seeds were already sent to the space station by Shenzhou-15 last November.
With the gravity on Earth, plant hormones can guide the roots to grow downward toward water. Scientists want to know how plant hormones will work without gravity.
Similar experiments about plant gravity perception have been done by Western astronauts, according to NASA’s website.
Another team led by Long Mian, a researcher at the CAS Institute of Mechanics, sent liver and endothelial stem cells to the space station to see whether they will grow differently in the microgravity environment.
A team led by Sun Yeqing, a professor at the Dalian Maritime University, will manage two experiments involving nematodes.
“Nematodes are widely used in life science research as their genes have a certain homology with the human genome,” said Zhao Lei, an associate professor at the Dalian Maritime University. “We use nematodes to study the mechanism of biological effects of space radiation and look for biological markers for space radiation measurement.”
One of these two experiments is aimed at checking how nematodes can repair their DNA and reproduce themselves while exposed to gamma rays. Similar experiments have been done before in space.
Another experiment will be conducted to measure the radiation damage suffered by nematodes and the associated relevant biomarkers, which will help astronauts improve their protection from radiation in the future.
“Nematodes are cultivated in a solution but they are not dormant,” said Cang Huaixing, a chief researcher for the space station’s scientific experiments at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the CAS.
“They can only be brought from the laboratory to the rocket platform seven hours before the launch, and from the platform to the spacecraft five hours before the launch.”
On Tuesday morning, the Shenzhou-16 manned spaceship carrying three Chinese astronauts, namely Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, and their experiment kits was successfully launched.
After entering orbit, the spaceship docked with the space station. The Shenzhou-16 crew will rotate with the Shenzhou-15 crew in orbit.
Apart from life science experiments, the Shenzhou-16 crew will also conduct more than 50 in-orbit tests and experiments on space science and application payloads, Chinese media reported.
They will study novel quantum phenomena and high-precision space time-frequency systems, as well as teach a space class to students back on Earth.
Read: China’s first Mars rover may sleep forever
Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at @jeffpao3
Should security officers wear body cameras to deter abuse?
He added that there are other ways to use the technology. He gave an example of a security agency that was tasked to protect a statue that did not have any barriers as the intention was for it to be looked at up close.
To manage the possibly of damage, the security firm put cameras around the statue that activated an automated warning if visitors got too near.
People tend to be more open to hearing warnings from an automated voice instead of from a security officer, Mr Thomas said.
“He (a security officer) may be trying to be a bit more firm. People may take offence to that,” he said.
THE FUTURE OF THE SECURITY JOB
The industry can do away with security officers having to conduct patrol on foot, Mr Thomas said.
Instead, CCTVs with video analytics can replace this aspect of the job, he said.
“(Video surveillance work) 24 hours. It doesn’t get tired. It’s perpetual, and security officers then become response personnel instead of being the enforcers on the ground,” he said.
For this to happen, customers engaging security services have to change their mindsets, Mr Thomas noted.
“They have to be prepared to accept that a CCTV looking at an entrance or an exit can actually do a better job than a security officer,” he said.
More cabin space for commuters on new North-South, East-West Line trains; first batch rolled out from June
NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR DECOMMISSIONED TRAINS
Community partners may choose to give these decommissioned trains a “new lease of life” by adopting train cars or their individual parts.
LTA has so far worked with educational institutions such as Skool4Kidz, the Rainbow Centre and SUTD, as well as non-profit organisations like SG Enable and the Action for Green Towns Taskforce to upcycle various train parts. It has also partnered with ITE College West to upcycle an entire train car for educational purposes.
Those interested in acquiring retired trains or upcycling train parts can email LTA_Train_Repurpose [at] lta.gov.sg.
MORE TRAINS FOR NORTH-EAST, CIRCLE LINES
LTA has also purchased six new trains from Alstom to serve the North-East Line (NEL) and 23 new trains to serve the Circle Line (CCL).
These trains are intended to cater for additional capacity when the North East Line Extension (NELe) and the Circle Line 6 (CCL6) begin operations, said LTA.
LTA has completed tests for the six new NEL trains and will be handing them over to SBS Transit for further operational testing. It has also received two of the 23 new CCL trains, which will be transported to the Integrated Train Testing Centre later this month for testing and commissioning.
More cabin space on new MRT trains for North-South, East-West Lines
NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR DECOMMISSIONED TRAINS
Community partners may choose to give these decommissioned trains a “new lease of life” by adopting train cars or their individual parts.
LTA has so far worked with educational institutions such as Skool4Kidz, the Rainbow Centre and SUTD, as well as non-profit organisations like SG Enable and the Action for Green Towns Taskforce to upcycle various train parts. It has also partnered with ITE College West to upcycle an entire train car for educational purposes.
Those interested in acquiring retired trains or upcycling train parts can email LTA_Train_Repurpose [at] lta.gov.sg.
MORE TRAINS FOR NORTH-EAST, CIRCLE LINES
LTA has also purchased six new trains from Alstom to serve the North-East Line (NEL) and 23 new trains to serve the Circle Line (CCL).
These trains are intended to cater for additional capacity when the North East Line Extension (NELe) and the Circle Line 6 (CCL6) begin operations, said LTA.
LTA has completed tests for the six new NEL trains and will be handing them over to SBS Transit for further operational testing. It has also received two of the 23 new CCL trains, which will be transported to the Integrated Train Testing Centre later this month for testing and commissioning.