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The fiancée of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and a human rights group that he founded filed a lawsuit in a US court with allegations that Saudi Arabia's crown prince ordered him killed. Photo: AFP / Saudi Royal Palace/ Bandar al-Jaloud The civil lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages against Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also named more than 20 other Saudis as defendants. It coincides with complications in the US-Saudi relationship over the 2018 slaying of Khashoggi, Riyadh's human rights record, its role in Yemen's civil war and other issues. The Saudi embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. The crown prince - known by his initials MbS - has denied ordering Khashoggi's murder. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi Photo: AFP / Mohammed Al-Shaikh Khashoggi, who criticised the policies of the crown prince, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, in Washington Post columns, was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. He went there to obtain papers he needed to marry Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish citizen. Cengiz and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a US-based human rights group founded by Khashoggi, a legal resident of Virginia, filed the lawsuit in US District Court for the District of Columbia. It names several of the crown prince's aides and officials who were convicted in Saudi Arabia of the murder. The prosecution declared the Saudi case closed. Hatice Cengiz Photo: Anadolu Agency / Elif Ozturk The lawsuit charged that MbS, his co-defendants and others carried out a plot to "permanently silence Mr. Khashoggi" no later than the summer of 2018 after discovering his "plans to utilize DAWN as a platform to espouse democratic reform and promote human rights." A lawsuit was filed in August in a US court by a former top Saudi intelligence official who accused the crown prince of sending a hit team to kill him in Canada, where he lives in exile. Both lawsuits were brought under a law allowing US court actions against foreign officials over allegations of involvement in torture or extrajudicial killings. - Reuters

Cathay Pacific has announced it is closing its subsidiary Cathay Dragon and cutting 8500 jobs. Photo: 123RF Cathay Dragon was a full service regional carrier flying mainly to mainland China and other Asian destinations. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific says it hopes to retain most of Cathay Dragon's routes. Many other airlines are on the brink of survival as the Covid-19 pandemic batters travel and tourism. The cutbacks at Cathay Pacific are part of the airline group's attempt to reduce costs during travel restrictions that governments have imposed to limit the pandemic. Cathay says it has already tried to cut costs by deferring aircraft deliveries, implementing special leave schemes and cutting executive pay. It also received a $US5bn ($NZ7.6bn) bailout from the Hong Kong government in June. But the airline group is still losing as much as $260m a month. Staff cutbacks Although the restructure will itself cost $284m, the airline said it will reduce costs by $64m a month in 2021. Of the 8500 positions that will be eliminated, 5300 jobs will be from Hong Kong and a further 600 from overseas. A total of 2400 of positions are currently unfilled because of a hiring freeze and the closure of some overseas operations. The job losses account for about 24 percent of the Cathay Pacific's total staff. The airline will also ask Hong Kong-based cabin and cockpit crew to agree to changes in their employment conditions "to match remuneration more closely to productivity". Cathay said this week that it expects to run at half capacity through next year. Dragon down Cathay Dragon originally operated as Dragonair when it was established in 1985. It had the financial backing of Hong Kong as well as mainland Chinese investors. Initially it operated charter flights to China and also flew to a handful of cities in South East Asia. After adding new routes to its network, Cathay Pacific acquired a stake in the airline in 1990, and then bought it outright in 2006. Cathay Pacific changed the brand name to Cathay Dragon in 2016. - BBC

Pacific Islands Forum leaders have drafted a statement to be considered at the special session of the United Nations General Assembly on Covid-19 in December. In its search for a collective response to Covid-19, the Pacific Islands Forum says there is a need to address the disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on vulnerable groups in the region. Sione Teketeke, left, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat's director governance and engagement with Secretary General Dame Meg Taylor. Photo: Supplied/PIFS Forum leaders aim to send a strong message to the world when they present a statement to be considered at the special session of the United Nations General Assembly on Covid-19 in December. The document, Protecting the Health and Well-being of the Blue Pacific, is part of the region's response to the impacts of the global pandemic. Following the Pacific Foreign Ministers Conference last week, meeting chair Simon Kofe from Tuvalu said Forum members were working on a collective response to Covid. And driving this is the Pacific Humanitarian Pathway for Covid-19, Kofe said. The ministers discussed the urgent need to look into how the pandemic had impacted vulnerable groups in the region. Kofe said these groups included the disabled, the elderly, and women and girls. "The Pacific Humanitarian Pathway for Covid-19 continues to drive an effective Pacific-led regional response as Forum nations look for similar collective responses to the widespread cost-cutting impacts of the pandemic," he said. "Recognising the severe health and social impacts of Covid-19 on the Blue Pacific, ministers discussed their comprehensive list of further policy considerations for strengthening collective response efforts to the pandemic." Call for equal access to Covid-19 tests, treatments and vaccines The ministers also highlighted the need for co-operative multilateral projects to ensure equitable access to trusted and certified Covid-19 tests, treatments and vaccines. Kofe said this ensured they were accountable and transparent procurement and distribution methods. Forum Secretary-General Dame Meg Taylor said regional governments had been working closely with different groups to ensure the Pacific secured the vaccine. "And we have a very strong commitment from Australia that it would make sure that as they access that they would make it the pacific was also able to access it," she said. "I feel very confident about that." But Dame Meg said on whether the vaccine would come from Australia or from a combination of other vaccines being developed around the world, she could not clarify. She said at the UN Assembly in December, the Pacific leaders will emphasise they get their fair share of the vaccines. "And this is not just through Australia and New Zealand, if there are opportunities for the vaccines from elsewhere that have been cleared, there are some Pacific island states working with different groupings to ensure that those vaccines will be available." The Tuvalu Foreign Minister said there was this perception that the Pacific was the least affected by the pandemic in terms of infections. But Simon Kofe said this should not affect the support to the region "because although health-wise we are not getting the virus, it has an impact on the economy particularly those countries that rely heavily on tourism. "They require testing facilities, the health equipment to be able to allow the movement of people." Kofe said. "And the same would apply to the vaccines. "I hope that we are not looked upon as not really needing it. "It's something that is a need for our economies and the well-being of the people of the Pacific. Simon Kofe is Tuvalu Foreign Minister. Photo: Supplied/PIFS Economic recovery taskforce Dame Meg said while there was an emphasis on the vaccines, the focus should also be on economic recovery in the Pacific. She said this was a big part of where the Pacific is right now. Dame Meg said the economic ministers, when they met earlier this year, had proposed the establishment of an economic recovery taskforce. "And that has been established and we are trying to get that off the ground to try and look at what are the different opportunities that we can particularly using the digital economy," she said. "But with that of course, we're up against the high cost of transport to get products to the market. "In terms of shipping, there is a lot of activity going on from some of our islands still shipping primary produce to countries like Australia and New Zealand." Kofe said Australia and New Zealand are important development partners for the Pacific. But he said there were other areas that needed cooperation with the two countries. "The vulnerable state of our health systems in the Pacific - if some of these countries were to have cases of Covid 19, the impacts would be devastating on the people socially and economically. "But there are other related mattes as well besides the health sector: one area for Tuvalu is connectivity during Covid-19. "There's a renewed focus on improving our infrastructure and internet connectivity, delivery of our service to some of the remote places. "In some countries in the Pacific we're still under a state of emergency and there was a period where schools were closed for some time." This had placed more pressure on other services like the internet, Kofe said. He hoped support and cooperation from New Zealand and Australia would continue in these areas. Women leaders forum plan Kofe said there was a renewed focus on what the international engagement on the Pacific's priorities would look like post-pandemic. He said consultations, coherence and listening to member states' common concerns and ideas was key to regionalism. "As part of a need to invigorate regional commitment towards gender equality, ministers have recommended a proposal for an annual meeting of Pacific women leaders. "This meeting would involve women leaders of heads of governments, ministerial level, heads of ministries and departments." Kofe said the proposal came after the Forum Secretariat's decision to review the 2012 Pacific Leaders Gender Equality declarations. Eighteen Forum members and associate member Tokelau attended last week's conference.

Protesters have come under gunfire in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, eyewitnesses and local media say, amid continuing anger over police brutality. People hold hands to barricade the protesters from the Nigerian Police force as they march at Alausa Secretariat in Ikeja, Lagos State. Photo: AFP / Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto Who opened fire and the number of casualties is unclear, but Amnesty International said it had credible reports of deaths. An indefinite 24-hour curfew has been imposed on Lagos, the commercial hub. Other regions are also imposing curfews after two weeks of protests that began over a now-disbanded police unit. Eyewitnesses spoke of uniformed men opening fire in the wealthy Lekki suburb of Lagos on Tuesday evening. Armed soldiers were seen barricading the protest site moments before the shooting, BBC Nigeria correspondent Nayeni Jones reports. It is not yet clear how many people were injured or killed, but social media footage streamed live from the scene shows protesters attending to the wounded. In a tweet, Amnesty International Nigeria said it had "received credible but disturbing evidence of excessive use of force occasioning deaths of protesters at Lekki toll gate in Lagos". Amnesty International spokesman Isa Sanusi later said: "People were killed at the tollgate by security forces... we are working on verifying how many." The Nigerian authorities have not yet commented. How did the unrest begin? Protests began nearly two weeks ago with calls for a much-hated police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars), to be disbanded. President Muhammadu Buhari did then dissolve the unit, which had been accused of illegal detentions, assaults and shootings, on 11 October. But the demonstrators called for more changes in the security forces as well as reforms to the way the country is run. Lagos state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said that criminals have hijacked the protests "to unleash mayhem". - BBC

On a windy August afternoon in 2017, Akitsinnguaq Ina Olsen was relaxing in the old harbour of Nuuk, Greenland's capital, when a Chinese icebreaker sailed unannounced into the Arctic island's territorial waters. Nuuk is Greenland's capital. Photo: Unsplash / Aningaaq Rosing Carlsen "I saw it by chance," Olsen, 50, told Reuters. "My first thought was: 'They're already here!' They're pretty cheeky, those Chinese." She pulled out her phone and took a picture of the 167-metre long Chinese icebreaker Xue Long (Snow Dragon), before it turned around and disappeared. The Chinese ship was one of a growing number of unexpected arrivals in Arctic waters as shrinking sea ice has fast-tracked a race among global powers for control over resources and waterways. Both China and Russia have been making increasingly assertive moves in the region, and after the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last year said now is "America's moment to stand up as an Arctic nation and for the Arctic's future," military activity is stepping up. Greenland is a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark and Copenhagen runs the island's defence through its Joint Arctic Command. On several occasions since 2006, foreign vessels have turned up unexpectedly or without the necessary protocols, in waters that NATO-member Denmark aims to defend, Greenland residents and military sources in Denmark and the US told Reuters. Copenhagen and its Arctic neighbours have tried in recent decades to keep the region what they call a "low tension" area. But each event underscores new challenges for Denmark and its allies. The main problem: It's hard to see what's going on there. Greenland, which US President Donald Trump offered unsuccessfully to buy from Copenhagen last year, is largely an ice sheet with a rocky coastline of 44,000 km (27,000 miles) - longer than the earth's equator. It's hidden by almost complete darkness in the winter months. Beneath its rocks and ice are abundant resources of minerals and rare earth metals used in equipment from smartphones to electric vehicles and military jets, as well as uranium and potentially vast resources of oil and natural gas. Greenland offers more than resources. The island, which is nearer to New York than New York is to Los Angeles, is also a strategic window onto space. Located at Thule, the US' northernmost air base houses the 21st Space Wing's network of sensors, which provides early missile warning and space surveillance and control. Thule is one of the few places in the world with access to satellites that orbit the poles, completing coverage of the globe which is essential for weather forecasting, search-and-rescue and climate research. "Historically the Arctic, like space, was characterised as a predominantly peaceful domain," Secretary of the US Air Force Barbara Barrett said in July when presenting America's Arctic strategy in the transcript of a webinar hosted by the Atlantic Council think tank. "This is changing." Several countries are building new icebreakers to increase freight traffic. China, which in 2018 declared itself a "near-Arctic" nation, has said it wants to build infrastructure and "participate in the governance of the Arctic." China has "really gone from zero to 60 in space, very quickly," US Space Force chief General John W. Raymond told the July presentation. He said China's capabilities "threaten our access to space in the Arctic" both in Alaska and Thule. The icebreaker that Olsen photographed in 2017, used by China's Polar Research Institute for scientific expeditions, had been invited by a researcher in Greenland, the researcher said. But it had not, as would normally be expected, applied in advance for clearance, the head of the Joint Arctic Command Kim Jorgensen told Reuters. Also in the area taking advantage of the short Arctic summer, a multinational search-and-rescue exercise spotted the Xue Long. Danish armed forces invited it to seek permission to enter, which was granted, Jorgensen said. China's foreign ministry did not comment on that incident but said in a statement it respects the sovereignty and jurisdiction of "the Arctic countries in the area" and is ready to make positive contributions to the peace, stability and sustainable development. By this year, Western allies had increased their presence. US destroyer Thomas Hudner, together with Denmark's Joint Arctic Command, sailed for the first time into the deep fjord near Nuuk in August. In August and September, a US Coast Guard cutter carried out joint exercises with Danish and French naval vessels on Greenland's west coast. And last month, Denmark for the first time joined the United States, UK and Norway in a large-scale military exercise in the Barents Sea near Russia. The Barents Sea. Photo: Unsplash / Yury Orlov Danish Defence Minister Trine Bramsen told Reuters in a statement that Denmark wants to keep tension low in the Arctic, "but we must not be naive." Russia is trying to limit the right to free navigation in international waters, she said; Denmark is taking steps towards strengthening the Armed Forces' surveillance and presence there. A spokesperson at the US embassy in Copenhagen said Denmark needs to strengthen its defence in the Arctic with additional investment. Moscow's ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, said talk of threats to freedom of navigation is a "made-up pretext" for naval exercises and Russia's activities in the Arctic are peaceful. US policy "accompanied by bellicose rhetoric, is creating a new reality and splitting Arctic states and could open (the) sluice gates for overspill of tension from the outside to the Arctic region," he told Reuters in a statement. Below the radar Some Arctic regions are relatively well covered by satellite and radar. But since the early 1990s, Greenland has slipped off the radar. From 1959 to 1991 Greenland was part of the North American Aerospace Defence Command, an integrated chain of 63 radar and communication centres stretching 3000 miles from Western Alaska across the Canadian Arctic. It had four radars operating on its ice sheet. Two were dismantled; the other two were abandoned and are now slowly sinking into the ice. Today, to monitor its vast area, Greenland has one aircraft, four helicopters and four ships. In addition to enforcing sovereignty, they handle fishing inspection and search and rescue operations. Six sleds powered by 80 dogs patrol the remote northeastern part. In August 2006, a local couple said they spotted a submarine while they were hunting reindeer at the remote Qassit fjord in southern Greenland, said Niels Erik Sorensen, who headed Denmark's Arctic Command at the time. The couple told the police and made a drawing, which the military identified as a likely Russian model. "This was the first sighting since the end of the Cold War," said Sorensen. The sub was mentioned in a 2016 report on Denmark's Arctic defence, which said candidly that "there is no access to a coherent picture" of the situation in the area of responsibility for its Arctic Command. Neither the airspace nor activities below sea-level are monitored. As there is no surveillance, it said, "it is not possible to assess whether violations of sovereignty are taking place in the air. Thus, no deliberate violations of the airspace ... have been found." In another part of the Arctic that year, a US Coast Guard vessel accidentally discovered a joint Russian-Chinese naval exercise in Arctic waters near Kamchatka, said Paul Zukunft, who retired as Commandant of the US Coast Guard in 2018. "This is a region where we did not have any satellite coverage," he said. "But we did have a ship up there, and they literally stumbled upon this joint naval exercise between Russia and China that otherwise would not have been known." Russia's ambassador said there are no joint Russian-Chinese military-naval exercises in the Arctic Ocean. The Chinese foreign ministry did not comment. The Danish government promised in 2019 to upgrade military spending in Greenland with a payment of 1.5 billion Danish crowns ($US237 million) for surveillance. Denmark's Bramsen said that was a "first step" and Copenhagen has yet to decide how to spend the money. For now, Denmark has no satellites to monitor traffic around Greenland. In 2018, it started receiving a few satellite images a day from the European Union's Maritime Safety Agency, but they aren't always detailed enough for military purposes. "Denmark will never be able to defend itself in the Arctic," said Steen Kjaergaard, head of the Centre for Arctic Security Studies at the Royal Danish Defence College, which does research for the defence ministry. "The government is trying to strike a balance." "Dark targets" That balance is becoming increasingly delicate. For years, it's been fairly easy for foreign researchers to access the waters around Greenland and those between Greenland, Iceland and the UK, researchers and military sources say: All that's needed is to fill in a form seeking permission. Last year, though, Danish authorities failed to approve an application from a Swiss-led group of international researchers, the government said in response to a Freedom of Information request from Reuters. The researchers were planning to travel on a Russian icebreaker, 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory) on the first-ever circumnavigation of Greenland. Authorities let the application expire without responding. Two sources with knowledge of the matter said they had become suspicious that the icebreaker, used for several earlier expeditions in Greenland, could serve non-scientific purposes such as tapping information from subsea fibre cables or mapping the seabed to ease access for Russian submarines. In 2016, a Russian vessel, Yantar, which the US Navy has alleged transports submersibles that can sever and tap into cables miles beneath the ocean's surface, anchored outside Nuuk, where a subsea communications cable lands that connects Iceland and America. Ambassador Barbin said Russia considered the icebreaker decision an "unfortunate misunderstanding," noting that this year Denmark agreed to another Russian icebreaker visiting Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Even NATO allies arrive unannounced in these vast, dark waters. Foreign ships usually report their arrival using the international Automatic Identification System ship-tracking system. When analysing satellite images, the Joint Arctic Command often identifies what it calls "dark targets" - objects that look like ships but can't be identified on the system. If the Danish military sends out vessels or helicopters to the target, they often find an iceberg. When the targets have turned out to be ships, these have most often been US marine vessels that haven't reported their arrival, military sources say. The US embassy didn't comment. Denmark's defence ministry said the allies are working to bolster information sharing. - Reuters

The father of a pupil accused of launching an online campaign against Samuel Paty, the teacher beheaded in France, sent messages to the killer before the attack, French media report. People look at flowers layed outside the Bois d'Aulne secondary school in homage to slain history teacher Samuel Paty. Photo: AFP or licensors Samuel Paty, who was killed on Friday, had earlier shown controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his pupils. The 48-year-old father, who has not been officially named, is accused of issuing a "fatwa" against the teacher. The brutal murder of Mr Paty, 47, has shocked France. Tens of thousands of people took part in rallies across the country on Sunday to honour him and defend freedom of speech. A man named as 18-year-old Abdoulakh A was shot dead by police after killing Paty on Friday. What's the latest? The father of the pupil is reported to have exchanged a number of text messages with Paty's killer prior to the attack close to the teacher's school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a north-western suburb of Paris. He is accused, along with a preacher described by French media as a radical Islamist, of calling for Paty to be punished by issuing a so-called "fatwa" (considered a legal ruling by Islamic scholars). Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the two men have been arrested and are being investigated for an "assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise", French media report. Police launched a series of raids targeting Islamist networks on Monday, and some 40 homes were targeted. More raids are expected and President Emmanuel Macron is due to chair a meeting on Tuesday to review the police operation. Meanwhile, Darmanin said 51 French Muslim organisations, including charities and NGOs, would be inspected by government officials and closed down if they were found to be promoting hatred. So far, a total of 16 people have been taken into custody in the aftermath of the murder. The killer's grandfather, parents and 17-year-old brother were detained shortly after the gruesome attack. Four school students have been detained as well. The interior minister also said police would be interviewing about 80 people who were believed to have posted messages in support of the killing. On Tuesday, the French government ordered a mosque to close after it shared videos on Facebook calling for action against Paty and sharing his school's address. The Pantin mosque, just north of Paris, will close for six months on Wednesday. The mosque expressed "regret" over the videos, which it has deleted, and condemned the teacher's killing. Darmanin said the Pantin mosque, which has more than 1,500 worshippers and is situated in a busy suburb, shared the videos on its Facebook page just days before Paty's death on Friday. Marlène Schiappa, French junior interior minister, met police chiefs on Monday to discuss the spread of radical material online. On Tuesday, she will meet the heads of social media networks in France to discuss so called "cyber-Islamism". Why was Samuel Paty targeted? On Monday, anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard said Paty had been the target of threats since he showed the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a class about freedom of speech earlier in October. The history and geography teacher advised Muslim students to leave the room if they thought they might be offended. Ricard said that the killer went to the school on Friday afternoon and asked students to point out the teacher. He then followed Paty as he walked home from work and used a knife to attack him. A silent rally is being planned for Tuesday evening and President Emmanuel Macron's office said he would attend a ceremony organised with Paty's family on Wednesday. The teacher will also be posthumously given France's highest award, the Legion d'Honneur. Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad can cause serious offence to Muslims because Islamic tradition explicitly forbids images of Muhammad and Allah (God). The issue is particularly sensitive in France because of the decision by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to publish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. A trial is currently under way over the killing of 12 people by Islamist extremists at the magazine's offices in 2015 following their publication. France's Muslim community comprises about 10 percent of the population, one of the largest Muslim minorities in Europe. Some French Muslims say they are frequent targets of racism and discrimination because of their faith - an issue that has long caused tension in the country. "In France, the vast majority of Muslims are of the republican philosophy," Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told the BBC on Tuesday. "We want them to be mobilised, as we want everyone to be mobilised to defend democracy," he added. - BBC

The US government has filed charges against Google, accusing the company of abusing its dominance to preserve a monopoly over internet searches and online advertising. Photo: 123RF / Anthony Brown The lawsuit marks the biggest challenge brought by US regulators against a major tech company in years. It follows more than a year of investigation and comes as the biggest tech firms face intense scrutiny of their practices at home and abroad. Google called the case "deeply flawed". The company has maintained that its sector remains intensely competitive and that its practices put customers first. "People use Google because they choose to - not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives," it said. Monopoly concerns The charges, filed in federal court, were brought by the US Department of Justice and 11 other states. The lawsuit focuses on the billions of dollars Google pays each year to ensure its search engine is installed as the default option on browsers and devices such as mobile phones. Officials said those deals have helped secure Google's placeas the "gatekeeper" to the internet, owning or controlling the channels for about 80 percent of search queries in the US. "Google has thus foreclosed competition for internet search," the lawsuit said. "General search engine competitors are denied vital distribution, scale, and product recognition - ensuring they have no real chance to challenge Google." It added: "Google is so dominant that 'Google' is not only a noun to identify the company and the Google search engine but also a verb that means to search the internet." The case could be the first of many in the US that challenge the dominance of big tech firms and potentially lead to their break-up. Coming just a few weeks before the US presidential election, it has also been viewed as a move by the Trump administration to prove its willingness to challenge the influence of the sector if it gains a second term. Officials said they had not rushed the investigation to ensure it was filed before the election. "We're acting when the facts and the law warranted," deputy attorney general Jeffrey Rosen said, adding that the department's review of competition practices in the technology sector is continuing. Google has faced similar claims in the European Union. It is already appealing against €8.2bn ($NZ14.73bn) in fines demanded by the European Commission which include: in 2017, a €2.4bn ($NZ4.3bn) fine over shopping results in 2018, a €4.3bn (4NZ7.7bn) fine over claims it used Android software to unfairly promote its own apps in 2019, a €1.5bn ($NZ2.7bn) fine for blocking adverts from rival search engines. - BBC

A Samoan author who wrote a book during a week of New Zealand's Covid-19 national lockdown, hopes her new project will show the value of Pacific women of all ages. Dahlia Malaeulu Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta The paperback version of Teine Sāmoa, or Samoan girl, was launched this month following on from a popular e-book of the same name. Dahlia Malaeulu is a teacher, turned author, who wrote the e-book while in lockdown this year. Since then, she has spent time gathering the stories of how seven students and seven educators, all Teine Samoa, navigate the challenging world of two cultures in New Zealand. Malaeulu added these stories to the original material with other additional features including discussion points designed to be used in the classroom. "As Tagata Sāmoa, as Tagata Pasifika, only we can see the world the way we do so it really should be up to [us to] share our stories so our stories reflect us and help others to understand us better and connect with us," she said. Malaeulu said that connection was something that could help bridge gaps within the education system. "You hear about the 'brown tail' that we were labelled once and how Māori and Pasifika tamaiti really dominate underachievement so when you are Pasifika yourself and you actually have the insight into this world, you actually understand how rich and how knowledgeable our tamaiti are and also what our cultures are and that no learning can actually happen without culture." Vaia'ua'u Pilitati Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta Vaia'ua'u Pilitati has been a teacher for more than 35 years and said she had seen a gradual change. "People in the community, in the schools, parents are more aware of celebrating not only Samoan, but all our Pasifika sisters and brothers, so yes [there's] definitely a growing awareness and also not just thinking about it and hearing about it but also putting into action that celebration - whatever it looks like." Pilitati, who arrived in New Zealand as a child without being able to speak English, said she loved sharing her story and reading everyone else's. "There was definitely connection in each and every one of us. We have a lot to say but I loved reading about how we did connect. We connected through our culture, through our identity, through our family, through our friends and community. It it just amazing to be able to experience that connection." Niusila Faamanatu-Eteuati, a lecturer at Wellington's Victoria University, contributed to the project and agreed that sharing stories was valuable. "Most of the time we tend to think that we are inferior, I mean in the world that we are living in, and we think our story and our gagana and our experiences are not that important so having this project is a way to share those stories and inspire young people ... to use their own knowledge and their own experiences of their culture as sources of empowerment with the work they do." Victoria University lecturer, Niusila Faamanatu-Eteuati Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta The youngest contributor, 13-year-old Telesia Tanoai, was doing some inspiring of her own. Born in Taiwan but schooled in New Zealand, Telesia said she had struggled with her identity and being accepted. During lockdown she created a short film based on her journey, during which a young girl holds a conversation with a spirit version of herself. "She's basically explaining, I don't feel Samoan, I feel like a foreigner to my family, I feel like I'm not accepted and Telesa [the spirit] says 'it doesn't matter how much Samoan blood runs through your body or if you speak the language or if you live on Samoan land. You are Samoan and no-one can tell you otherwise.'" Sacred Heart College studen Rebecca Sa'u said she wanted to explore the aspects of teine Samoa. "I wanted to incorporate the ideas of a teine Samoa from Samoa and raised in Samoa and a teine Samoa raised in New Zealand, because there are differences and similarities that I think a lot of people should know because we are not all the same. "For Pasifika people in general, I just want them to feel confident in embracing who they are." Wainuiomata High Head Student, Sarah McLeod-Venu Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta Wainuiomata High School Head Girl Sarah McLeod-Venu also contributed to the project. The up and coming representative netballer is of both Samoan and Scottish heritage and wanted to share what being Afakasi was like. "I wanted to share how my experiences are different to say full-Samoan, Teine Sāmoa, and I wanted to share how it's perfectly fine to have different experiences and how being different is good and you should embrace it and that you can find strengths and opportunities to use your cultural experiences to help others." Telesia agreed. Telesia Tanoai Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta "It doesn't matter how I am or my personality or how different I am. I know I am Samoan and I just have to believe that I am and I am proud to be a Teine Samoa and I love my culture. "I am different, I was raised differently from most of my family and peers but that's what makes me different, that's what makes me unique. I'm proud to say that." Dahlia Malaeulu said although the 14 stories contained common threads, they also displayed how there was diversity. "Within our culture, our Samoan culture, as well as many of other Pasifika cultures, there is diversity within it. So that many years ago you had this idea going around or this stereotype of what a Samoan is; that they typically go to church, that they typically all speak the language." She said that was definitely not the case today. "There is so much diversity. There are families who have Afakasi children. There are families who have been brought here, scholarship children who have to be raised in a foreign country. There are teine Samoa who struggle with the dual worlds, our tagata Samoa who struggle with the dual worlds of pālangi and then their home life." Teine Sāmoa contributors Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta But whatever the case she hoped the project would do at least one thing. "It would enable us all to better support our tamaiti to succeed as themselves. So succeeding as Samoan, succeeding as Pasifika, because our language, our culture, who we are, is worth it." Malaeulu said schools across the region were already inquiring about the book. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta

South Australia is joining New South Wales and Northern Territory in opening its borders to New Zealanders. Adelaide Airport. Photo: 123RF The state's Police Commissioner, Grant Stevens, has announced the move with immediate effect. The decision was made at a meeting of the state's Transition Committee this morning. It was revealed yesterday that five New Zealand travellers arrived unexpectedly at Adelaide Airport on Sunday and were put into hotel quarantine at their own expense. Commissioner Stevens has since revealed there were in fact 12 recent arrivals from New Zealand who were already in hotel quarantine in South Australia, and all would be let out. Stevens said the state was now happy to receive direct flights from New Zealand. He said the South Australian authorities had been in direct contact with New Zealand authorities and there was now a "level of comfort" that allowed the Transition Committee to make its decision. He said it was unfortunate that some travellers had been inconvenienced for a short period of time. - ABC

An American spacecraft is about to attempt the audacious task of grabbing rock samples from an asteroid. Artwork: Osiris-Rex approaching the surface of Asteroid Bennu. Photo: NASA/GODDARD/UOA The Osiris-Rex probe will lower itself on to the 500m-wide object known as Bennu - a carbonaceous asteroid - to make a contact that lasts no more than a few seconds. But in the course of this "high-five" manoeuvre, the spacecraft will deliver a squirt of gas to stir up the surface. And with luck, Osiris-Rex will catch a couple of handfuls of dust and grit it can bring back to Earth. The aim is to capture at least 60g, but the scientists and engineers working on the Nasa-led mission are confident the probe can secure a kilo or more. If that happens, it would represent the biggest extraterrestrial sample-return cache since the Apollo astronauts picked up rocks from the Moon 50 years ago. Contact with Bennu is timed to occur just before 10.15pm GMT on Wednesday (10.15am Thursday NZT) when the asteroid and Osiris-Rex are about 330 million km from Earth. The whole procedure will be automated. It has to be. Radio signals take 18 minutes to traverse the expanse of intervening space, making it impossible for controllers to intervene. Bennu is a fascinating object. About the size of the Empire State Building, it looks somewhat like a spinning-top toy. Researchers understand it to be what they call a carbonaceous asteroid, meaning its rocks still retain a lot of the chemistry that was present when the Sun and the planets came into being more than 4.5 billion years ago. Hence the desire to bring some of its material home for analysis in sophisticated Earth laboratories. Distant telescope and radar observations had suggested the asteroid would have a kind of sandy surface. But the probe's close-up imagery revealed the surface to be littered with imposing boulders instead. Worse still, it was noticed the asteroid would occasionally kick out fragments from its surface as volatile substances vented into space. This environment has challenged the mission team to find a safe place to sample. Months have been spent precisely mapping every lump and bump on Bennu. Bennu contains chemistry preserved from the dawn of the Solar System. Photo: NASA/GODDARD/UOA Extensive investigations have identified two locations Osiris-Rex should be able to get in and out reasonably comfortably. The primary site, called Nightingale, is 8m across - a little under the width of a singles tennis court, or a few car parking spaces. The probe will approach this constrained zone very slowly, using its automated visualisation system to avoid nearby hazards, including a two-story boulder that's been dubbed Mount Doom. "For some perspective: the next time you park your car in front of your house or in front of a coffee shop, and walk inside - think about the challenge of navigating Osiris Rex-into one of these spots from 200 million miles away," remarked Mike Moreau, Nasa's deputy project manager on the mission. With its sampling arm outstretched, Osiris-Rex will press a ring-shaped device into the asteroid's surface that works like a kind of "reverse vacuum cleaner". When the ring touches down, a charge of pressurised nitrogen will be released to kick up small chunks of rock and "soil". If a good contact is made, a decent amount of this elevated debris should get trapped inside the sampling head. "We estimate that our time on the surface will be between five and 10 seconds before the spacecraft backs away with the sample safely inside of the sampler head," explained Sandra Freund, the mission operations manager from Lockheed Martin Space, the company that made Osiris-Rex. The probe will be taking pictures throughout, to enable the mission team to gauge the success or otherwise of the sampling bid. However, it could be some days before Nasa is able to make a definitive statement on how much of Bennu's surface material has been retrieved. "I'm confident that we're going to have abundant material based on the nature of the Nightingale site and the extensive testing that we did with our Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (Tag-Sam)," said principal investigator Dante Lauretta from the University of Arizona, Tucson. "And in the best-case scenario where the Tag-Sam filter is filled up, we might have a kilogram of sample or more. So, I can't tell you how excited I am." Should a second attempt be needed, Osiris Rex would target the back-up site nicknamed Osprey. Any samples will be packaged for return in a capsule that's expected to land back on Earth in September 2023. Nasa is working closely with the Japanese space agency whose Hayabusa-2 probe sampled a different type of asteroid called Ryugu last year. That mission's cache, weighing perhaps 100 milligrams, is coming home in December. Numerous scientists, including in the UK, are hoping to get the chance to analyse the materials from both endeavours - among them Sara Russell from London's Natural History Museum. "We can learn a lot about the early formation of the Solar System from meteorites. But as soon as those rocks come through the atmosphere to fall to Earth, they're immediately contaminated in some way or another," she told BBC News. "So, this is our chance to get a truly pristine sample, to understand what the primordial chemistry in the Solar System was really like." - BBC