CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s Future Submarine Program has reached a milestone as negotiations concluded between the country’s Department of Defense and the Naval Group. The Naval Group and the federal government have locked in a commitment for a local spend of at least 60 percent in constructing Australia’s new submarine fleet. The move is expected to support Australian jobs in the defense industry. “The commitment had been included in the program’s Strategic Partnering Agreement related to the contract for the 12 Attack Class subs,” the company said on March 23. Pierre Eric Pommellet, chief executive, Naval Group global, visited Australia last month for talks with…
Author: zenger.news
BRISBANE, Australia — Amendments will be made to regulations protecting the Great Barrier Reef in Australia from agricultural runoff in a win for local producers. Queensland’s government regulations for the agricultural industry in the reef catchment are due to come into effect on June 1, 2021. The regulations outline rules for appropriate land management practices on farms to protect water quality and improve the run-off of substances such as dissolved inorganic nitrogen, the Reef’s highest-risk marine pollutant. Amendments proposed by Brisbane-based industry body AgForce and its members are to be included in the re-write of the regulations, acknowledging the practical and…
SYDNEY — Regional Victorian renewable energy workers are asking the Scott Morrison government in Australia to step in after 40 people lost their jobs with a further 100 roles at risk. Keppel Prince Engineering in the state’s southwest is the only manufacturer of wind turbines in Victoria but was last week forced to sack workers after a multinational opted to use Chinese steel at a $360 million wind farm. Keppel Prince Engineering specializes in the construction, fabrication, and maintenance of industrial structures and equipment. Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union national secretary Steve Murphy said the workers would visit Parliament House in Canberra…
CANBERRA, Australia — On the night of the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins in a Parliament House ministerial office in Australia, a guard on duty has questioned Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s claim, who has called it a “security breach.” Higgins, a former Liberal staffer, alleges she was raped by a colleague in minister Linda Reynolds’ office in Canberra in March 2019. “Experienced security guard Nikola Anderson found Higgins naked on a couch in the office after the alleged rape,” said an official. Higgins and the male colleague turned up at parliament’s ministerial entrance just before 2 am on the day in question and were…
MUMBAI, India — After enjoying a short vacation on pristine beaches in Bali, an island in Indonesia, Malhar Kalambe, then a teenager, wanted to bring a change to his hometown Mumbai and make the city’s beaches clean. Kalambe started the work on his own after his mother inspired him. He floated the idea before his friends at a school reunion meeting in 2017. Soon ‘Beach Please’ was born. “After witnessing the condition of the only river in the city, our group decided to clean the Mithi river bank near Mahim just before it merges in the Arabian Sea where no one…
The Australian government has announced that it plans to open up five gas fields to support exports and manufacturing. But energy analysts argue the government’s plan for a so-called “gas-fired” economic recovery will lead to a dead end. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis released a report on March 23, showing demand for gas will dwindle from both Australians and the nation’s top export customers. The report, titled “The Northern Territory Is Pinning Its Hopes On a Declining Industry”, focuses on the rapid decline of gas as a significant fuel source being replaced by renewable energy and more sustainable technologies in the international…
MUTARE, Zimbabwe — Torrential rains that washed out roads and bridges have kept hundreds of children in rural areas of eastern Zimbabwe from attending school for weeks. A few students have used small boats to brave the raging waters to get to school, as heavy rains have been pounding most of the country, including cyclone Eloise, since January. In Chipinge district along the border with Mozambique, schoolchildren from Chisumbanje, St. Peters and Checheche primary schools and Takwirira secondary school have been kept away from the flooded Save River. “It’s a week since schools opened, and I haven’t attended class because the…
VERVIERS, Belgium — This isn’t a tale of a broken heart, but of a legendary one. More than 180 years after the death of a beloved mayor of Verviers, Belgium, a box containing his heart was uncovered during the restoration of a fountain in the Place Verte — fittingly, in the heart of the city. Long-held legend had it that the city had a real human heart at its core. During restoration work at the Fontaine David in September 2020, “an amazing discovery was made,” the city posted on its website. And the legend turned out to be true. “A box…
Scientists have new information about one of the world’s last dinosaurs and one of its strangest: a chicken-sized, feathered dinosaur that devoured small prey with dagger-sharp teeth in Spain’s Pyrenees mountains. “We are talking about the last dinosaurs living in the world,” said Albert Sellés Garcia, a researcher at Spain’s Catalonian Miquel Crusafont Institute of Paleontology. The international team he led saw its research published in the academic journal Scientific Reports in March 2021. The creature was warm-blooded and physically active, yet small enough to become dinner for larger dinosaurs. Different angles of a foot bone of Tamarro insperatus are…
Actor Rick Gonzalez is putting his versatility on display. After playing a vigilante for several seasons in a superhero series, Gonzalez will don a police uniform in the upcoming Peacock drama series “Dan Brown’s Langdon,” based on a novel by the author of the bestselling book “The Da Vinci Code.” It follows the early adventures of famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who must solve a series of deadly puzzles to save a kidnaped mentor and thwart a chilling global conspiracy. Gonzalez (“Arrow”) is one of the first-billed cast members of the series. Having previously played a vigilante in a superhero…