CANBERRA, Australia — Scott Morrison has come out on the front foot ahead of a rare news conference from the Chinese ambassador. China has repeatedly criticized Australia for speaking out about human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong and blames the Morrison government for the poor state of the relationship. The prime minister said there was no doubt the Chinese relationship was heavily strained. “We want a positive relationship, but we will have a positive relationship that is consistent with Australia acting following its values and national character,” he told reporters in Canberra on April 7. “That would never be…
Author: zenger.news
HABERFIELD, Australia — Australia’s longest-running TV drama ‘Neighbours‘ has been plunged into scandal after a guest actor claimed a racist culture was running “rife” on set. Shareena Clanton (Wentworth star) claims her six-week stint on Ramsay Street in a guest role was marred by “multiple racist traumas,” which have required ongoing counseling. “It’s been lonely, triggering, and traumatizing to work in such a culturally unsafe space,” she posted on Instagram, adding she would never work for the Network Ten show again. Within the social media post, the 30-year-old Perth-born actor listed multiple allegations of racist and inappropriate behavior by senior Neighbour’s…
SYDNEY — Three in five farmers from New South Wales, a state on the east coast of Australia, have been victims of crime on multiple occasions, new research reveals, amid a push for better reporting. The University of New England survey of New South Wales farmers in the past year shows 80.8 percent of respondents reported being victims of some type of farm crime. About 77 percent of that group — or 62 percent of all farmers — reported being victims of multiple crimes, with a significant minority experiencing crime more than seven times. The data was released as New South…
AROSA, Switzerland — A female bear woke up from hibernation and emerged out of the snow after snoozing for the last few months. Amelia, the bear, was filmed waking up at the Arosa Bear Sanctuary in the Swiss mountains after months of sleeping under snow cover. Visitors in the winter resort town of Arosa in the Swiss Canton were amazed to see Amelia come out of her winter hibernation. The video shows Amelia popping out of her snow-covered winter cave and enjoying the spring sunshine. Meimo, a male pal in the same sanctuary that woke up before, was also seen by visitors. In November…
CANBERRA, Australia — An Australian couple has expressed their relief after being freed from house arrest in Myanmar and leaving the country. But there are still serious concerns for another Australian, Sean Turnell, who has been imprisoned since the army seized control of the country on February 1. Australian business consultants Christa Avery and Matthew O’Kane were initially refused permission to leave Myanmar last month when they were about to board a flight home. They have since been released from home detention without charge and flew out of Yangon on April 4. “I am, of course, incredibly relieved to have been released…
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is likely to be one of the first Australians to skip New Zealand’s quarantine queue when the long-awaited trans-Tasman bubble is finally launched. Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, has announced the start date for quarantine-free travel for Australians to visit New Zealand. “We were due to have our leader-level meeting at the beginning of the year. We had hoped to do that face-to-face,” she said in Wellington on April. 6. The trans-Tasman PMs meet formally at the start of each year for the Australia-NZ Leaders’ Meeting, and it is Aotearoa’s turn to…
DARWIN, Australia — More than a dozen alleged online predators have been charged for child exploitation and abuse offenses in the Northern Territory and Queensland, Australia. Police raided 11 Australian homes in Darwin, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Mataranka, Cairns, Mosman Gorge, Mount Garnet, and Mount Isa between January and March. Fifteen men, aged 21 to 52, were charged with 45 offenses related to child abuse and using internet chat forums to procure children. “Their victims included four girls aged between five and eight years old,” said Lauren Hill, Police Superintendent Northern Territory. “In one of these matters, investigators pretended to be…
March 2021 saw an unusual number of funding rounds for Israeli companies topping $100 million. The most money was raised by Next Insurance, which completed a $250 million funding round at a valuation of $4 billion. Next brings affordable, tailored insurance products to small businesses and self-employed people in the United States, and recently began a partnership with Amazon to offer digital insurance for the first time through the Amazon Business Prime platform. It was the second $250 million raise for Next in the past six months and brings the five-year-old startup’s total investments to $881 million. This round was…
BLUE MOUNTAINS CITY COUNCIL, Australia — The population of greater gliders in the New South Wales Blue Mountains, Australia, has more than halved after the 2019-20 bush fire season and years of drought and heatwaves. Local ecologists who used spotlighting and wildlife cameras to survey the gliding marsupials’ habitats estimate that numbers have declined by 60 percent in the mountain region. Peter and Judy Smith, glider experts, looked at six burnt sites at Wombeyan and Jenolan last November and December to compare the population to surveys from before the 2019-20 fires. “We found a significant decline in the population in the research area and estimate…
Health is one of the most important topics today, especially for entrepreneurs and business executives. This is no less the case in Israel, where there has been an increasing awareness of how self-care leads to optimal performance. Business owners and executives everywhere can learns from these experiences. Most entrepreneurs in Israel spent their early years in high-stress settings such as the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). But as they age, they learn that they can’t build a high-growth company without taking care of themselves. As someone keenly interested in self-optimization, I am always on the lookout to learn and speak with…