Author: Jonathan Roy

The Western Australian government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Babcock Australasia, focused on industry expansion and workforce development. The MoU will help the government in creating high paying, skilled jobs for decades at the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) in Henderson, as well as at HMAS Stirling on Garden Island. “The WA Government continues to show its support and investment in the defence industry with this latest Memorandum of Understanding,” said Paul Papalia, Defence Industry Minister. “I am confident this MoU will help place Western Australia at the forefront of the latest developments in the maritime defence industry.”…

New Delhi — U.S. officials have spoken with their counterparts in India about allegations that the South Asian nation may have been involved in a plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader on U.S. soil, the U.S. National Security Council said Wednesday. The plot targeted Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S.-Canadian dual national designated a terrorist by India’s government, according to the Financial Times, which first reported on the story Wednesday. The FT, citing anonymous sources, said “U.S. authorities thwarted” the murder conspiracy and “issued a warning to India’s government over concerns it was involved in the plot.” The NSC, in a statement…

A former Pennsylvania veterinary technician-turned-nurse and suspected serial killer who lost 17 patients and injured more, had a “murderous rage” and could have been a “budding serial killer” before she got her nursing license, according to a former detective and a criminal profiler who have followed the case and others like it. Heather Irene Pressdee was first accused of injecting three patients with insulin, killing two and injuring a third in November 2022 and later claiming she “felt bad for their quality of life,” according to a criminal complaint. Authorities tacked on more than a dozen new charges Friday. Between 2018 and…

Soon after the outbreak of the coup in Myanmar, the Economist reported that the Tatmadaw “turns the clock back a decade”. In response, the public and various anti-military groups carried out various forms of resistance and contention, ranging from peaceful protests, economic boycotts and civil disobedience, to armed confrontation, which later became known as “Myanmar’s Spring Revolution”. At first glance, this revolution appeared to be more inclusive than Myanmar’s past anti-military protests, as women appeared to have a greater degree of participation. However, a closer look reveals that patriarchal norms still persist. This article aims to illustrate that Myanmar’s Spring…

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday that it plans to prevent the sale of more advanced artificial intelligence chips to China in the coming weeks. The U.S. government says the new rules are intended to close loopholes that popped up after last year’s restrictions on AI chip exports went into effect. Shares of chip stocks took a leg lower in Tuesday trading on the news. Nvidia closed down about 5% while Broadcom and Marvell slipped about 2% and 1%, respectively. Shares of AMD fell more than 1%; Intel closed down about 1.4%. Those earlier restrictions banned the sale of the Nvidia H100, which is the processor of choice for…

BigPay, a leading Southeast Asian financial services app, has selected Thredd, a fast-growing ‘next-gen’ payments platform to power its payment capabilities, starting with BigPay’s upcoming expansion into Thailand, with Indonesia and the Philippines following in early 2024. BigPay currently operates in Malaysia and Singapore and provides a full suite of financial services with over 1.4 million carded users. With features such as payments, international transfers, micro-insurance, personal loans, spending analytics, the goal is to help Southeast Asians level up their lives – one transaction at a time. One key offering from BigPay is Stashes and Round-ups, a feature that encourages a…

Copenhagen (17/08 – 78) Kidnapping, intimidation, and blackmail are just some of the means used to hit enlistment quotas in Tajikistan. When conscription season comes around in Tajikistan, military recruiters begin resorting to desperate measures. Scooping young men off the streets in actions tantamount to kidnapping is standard. But that is just for starters. To pressure communities into giving up their sons, recruiters will disconnect the electricity, detain relatives, and shut down mosques. Eligible levees draw lots to decide who will be the one to hand themselves over. The hunting season for men of draft age, which applies to people…

Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha has been allowed to remain in his government allocated bungalow after a Delhi High Court verdict on Friday. The Punjab MP asserted that he was fighting to ‘save the constitution’ and opined that the allotment had been cancelled due to ‘political vendetta’. “I want to thank the Delhi High Court from the bottom of my heart for setting aside a lower court order related to my government bungalow and giving its verdict in favour of me and justice…This is not a fight for home or shop but to save the Constitution. I am happy…

Tel Aviv: A special flight carrying Indian nationals and 18 Nepalese citizens wanting to leave Israel amidst the Israel-Hamas conflict left for India on Tuesday as part of ‘Operation Ajay’. In a post on X, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, “Operation Ajay update. 286 more passengers are coming back to India. Also carrying 18 Nepalese citizens.” The Indian Embassy in Israel said Operation Ajay continues with the fifth flight having taken off from Tel Aviv to Delhi. Nepalese Ambassador to Israel Kanta Rizal told PTI that some of these 18 Nepalese were living in difficult zones while others wanted to…

The Writers Guild of America said Monday that the union will resume negotiations with Hollywood studios on Wednesday as a shutdown of productions across the TV and movie business drags on. The announcement comes on the 139th day of the strike, which began May 2. The union told its members to continue joining picket lines as the talks resume. “You might not hear from us in the coming days while we are negotiating, but know that our focus is getting a fair deal for writers as soon as possible,” WGA said. A spokesperson for the Alliance of Motion Picture and…