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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

Diplomatic tensions between China and Australia are set to be reignited after the latter was formally invited to take part in large scale military exercises next month involving the United States, Japan and India. The US, Japanese and Indian navy carrying out an exercise as part of Exercise Malabar in 2015. Photo: AFP / HANDOUT / US NAVY / MCS CHAD M. TRUDEAU The Australian Defence Force (ADF) last took part in Exercise Malabar in 2007, before the Australian government withdrew from the naval drills the following year because of concerns over relations with Beijing. Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has confirmed Australia will participate in Exercise Malabar 2020, which she described as a "milestone activity". "High-end military exercises like Malabar are key to enhancing Australia's maritime capabilities, building interoperability with our close partners, and demonstrating our collective resolve to support an open and prosperous Indo-Pacific," Senator Reynolds said. "Exercise Malabar also showcases the deep trust between four major Indo-Pacific democracies and their shared will to work together on common security interests." Japan and the United States have been pushing diplomatically for Australia's return to the Quadrilateral exercises, which China views as threatening and an effort to contain its military reach. India had been reluctant to allow the ADF to rejoin the powerful military grouping, but the country's Defence Ministry confirmed a long-anticipated invitation had finally been made. "As India seeks to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and in the light of increased defence cooperation with Australia, Malabar 2020 will see the participation of the Australian Navy," the ministry said. "The participants of Exercise Malabar 2020 are engaging to enhance safety and security in the maritime domain. "They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules-based international order." Decision makes Quad 'very formidable' Australia is yet to announce which naval assets will deploy to Exercise Malabar in the Indian Ocean, but defence sources have suggested a warship such as HMAS Hobart or HMAS Brisbane would be likely to go. The HMAS Hobart. Photo: AFP The Malabar invitation follows a Quad foreign ministers' meeting in Tokyo earlier this month, attended by Foreign Minister Marise Payne. "It will bolster the ability of India, Australia, Japan and the United States to work together to uphold peace and stability across our region," Senator Payne said. "This builds on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, to which Prime Minister Morrison and Prime Minister Modi agreed on 4 June 2020, and which I progressed with my counterpart, Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar, this month when we met in Tokyo." India's former Naval spokesman DK Sharma, who has long advocated for Australia's return to the Malabar exercises, said having all four nations taking part made the Quad a more formal security alliance. "It makes it very, very formidable," DK Sharma told the ABC. "The way [China] is moving out, the first island chain and the second island chain, now you have Japan on top, you have the Pacific more or less under the control of the US, then we have Australia which will have a good look towards either the Pacific or Indian Ocean Pacific, and then we have India. "None of us are behaving in a way China is behaving - there is a difference, we are all talking security, prosperity, peace, tranquillity … Those guys are only talking about grabbing the nations, making their ports, militarising them, grabbing the islands." - ABC

A US appeals court on Monday local time dealt Ghislaine Maxwell a blow by refusing to block the release of a deposition she gave concerning her relationship with the late financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Photo: AFP The Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said there was a presumption the public had a right to see Maxwell's 418-page deposition, which was taken in April 2016 for a now-settled civil defamation lawsuit against her. In an unsigned order, the court also said US District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan did not abuse her discretion in rejecting Maxwell's "meritless arguments" that her interests superseded that presumption. Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment, including whether they plan a further appeal. The order upheld Preska's decision in July to release the deposition and hundreds of other documents from the 2015 defamation lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's accusers. That case was settled in 2017, and many of the documents have been made public. But Maxwell's lawyers said bad publicity from disclosing "intimate, sensitive, and personal details" from the deposition could undermine her ability to defend against criminal charges that she enabled Epstein's sexual abuses. They said the British socialite thought her deposition would remain confidential, and that releasing it would violate her constitutional right against self-incrimination, and imperil a fair trial because jurors might hold its contents against her. The appeals court separately rejected Maxwell's request to modify a protective order in her criminal case, so she could access confidential materials she hoped would persuade Preska to keep the deposition under wraps. Maxwell, 58, has pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and groom underage girls as young as 14 to engage in illegal sexual acts in the mid-1990s, and not guilty to perjury for having denied involvement in the deposition. A trial is scheduled for next July. Giuffre said she was a teenager when Maxwell pulled her into Epstein's circle, where she was groomed and trafficked for sex with Epstein and other wealthy, powerful men. The push to unseal the deposition came from Giuffre and the Miami Herald newspaper, which had investigated Epstein's conduct and his successful effort in 2007 to avoid federal sex trafficking charges. Lawyers for Giuffre and the newspaper were not immediately available for comment. The U.S. Department of Justice, which opposed modifying the protective order, did not immediately respond to a similar request. Maxwell was arrested on 2 July in New Hampshire, where prosecutors said she had been hiding out. She has been locked up in a Brooklyn jail after US District Judge Alison Nathan, who oversees the criminal case, called her an unacceptable flight risk. Epstein killed himself at age 66 in August 2019 at a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges announced the previous month. The cases in the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals are Giuffre v Maxwell, No. 20-2413, and US v Maxwell, No. 20-3061. - Reuters

A second person has been charged with murder over the death of a New Zealand firefighter in the NSW Hunter Valley in Australia. New Zealand helicopter pilot and volunteer firefighter Ian Pullen with his wife Vicki. Photo: Supplied / NSW police The body of Ian Pullen, 43, was found on the side of a road in Glenridding, near Singleton, in September 2018. Pullen was a helicopter pilot who had arrived in the region to assist with firefighting efforts. Detectives arrested a 30-year-old woman at a home in Singleton yesterday morning, and she was charged with murder. Police alleged that after a white ute hit Pullen, the woman and the driver of the vehicle returned to the scene a short time later and struck him in the head with an object. Joshua Knight, 29, was arrested last week and charged with murder, dangerous driving occasioning death and failing to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death. He was refused bail in Newcastle Local Court. The arrests came three weeks after police made a plea for an anonymous caller to come forward. They asked for the unknown late-night caller to come forward on the second anniversary of the death. A $350,000 reward was offered last year for information on Mr Pullen's death. The 30-year-old woman was refused bail and will face Muswellbrook Local Court today. - ABC

New Zealand agencies have helped US authorities charge six Russian state-sponsored computer hackers over attacks spanning four years. Britain and US say Russia has targeted 2020 Tokyo Games organisers, logistics suppliers and sponsors. Photo: AFP / Yomiuri The US Justice Department said in a media release six Russian GRU intelligence members sought to undermine, retaliate or destabilise foreign companies and political campaigns through computer hacks. "Their computer attacks used some of the world's most destructive malware to date, including KillDisk and Industroyer, which each caused blackouts in Ukraine; NotPetya, which caused nearly $1 billion in losses to the three victims identified in the indictment alone; and Olympic Destroyer, which disrupted thousands of computers used to support the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics," the DoJ said. "The indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy, computer hacking, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and false registration of a domain name." The statement alleges the hackers operated under a range of names, including Sandworm Team, Telebots, Voodoo Bear and Iron Viking. "No country has weaponised its cyber capabilities as maliciously or irresponsibly as Russia, wantonly causing unprecedented damage to pursue small tactical advantages and to satisfy fits of spite," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C Demers said. "Today the department has charged these Russian officers with conducting the most disruptive and destructive series of computer attacks ever attributed to a single group, including by unleashing the NotPetya malware." This included thousands of US and international companies and organisations, French President Emmanuel Macron's political campaign, and the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Justice Department said governments agencies, including New Zealand's, provided "significant cooperation" and assistance to the investigation. "We also appreciate the hard work and dedication of our foreign law enforcement or intelligence partners, including in Ukraine, Georgia, South Korea, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, who have also pursued these conspirators after attacks and intrusions within their own countries or otherwise assisted in our investigation. "All of these partnerships send a clear message that responsible nations and the private sector are prepared to work together to defend against and disrupt significant cyber threats." UK, US say Russia on cyber offensive to sabotage Tokyo Olympics Britain and the US have condemned what they said were a litany of malicious cyberattacks orchestrated by Russian military intelligence, including attempts to disrupt next year's Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo. British and US officials said the attacks were conducted by Unit 74455 of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency, also known as the Main Centre for Special Technologies. In an indictment unsealed on Monday, the US Justice Department said six members of the unit had played key roles in attacks on targets ranging from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea to the 2017 French elections. British officials said the GRU hackers had also conducted "cyber reconnaissance" operations against organisers of the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were originally scheduled to be held this year but postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak. Dominic Raab Photo: AFP The officials declined to give specific details about the attacks or whether they were successful, but said they had targeted Games organisers, logistics suppliers and sponsors. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "The GRU's actions against the Olympic and Paralympic Games are cynical and reckless. We condemn them in the strongest possible terms." FBI deputy director David Bowdich said: "The FBI has repeatedly warned that Russia is a highly capable cyber adversary, and the information revealed in this indictment illustrates how pervasive and destructive Russia's cyber activities truly are." Russia was banned from the world's top sporting events for four years in December over widespread doping offences, including the Tokyo Games. The attacks on the Games are the latest in a string of hacking attempts against international sporting organisations that Western officials and cybersecurity experts say have been orchestrated by Russia since its doping scandal erupted five years ago. Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations. Russia accused of 2018 Games hacking Britain and the United States said those attacks included a hack of the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in South Korea, which compromised hundreds of computers, took down internet access and disrupted broadcast feeds. Fireworks at the end of the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Photo: AFP The attack in South Korea had previously been linked to Russia by cybersecurity researchers but was made to look like the work of Chinese or North Korean hackers, Britain's foreign ministry said in a statement. "The attacks on the 2020 Summer Games are the latest in a campaign of Russian malicious activity against the Olympic and Paralympic Games," it said. "The UK is confirming for the first time today the extent of GRU targeting of the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea." - RNZ / Reuters