Canberra says the target was a dual Iranian-Australian citizen who had joined anti-Iran government protests in Australia. The home affairs minister wants to do more to tackle foreign interference. Australia has discovered an Iranian surveillance operation targeting a dual Iranian-Australian citizen who had joined protests in Australia following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said on Tuesday. The allegations of spying by Iran comes amid a crackdown on anti-government protests across Iran that have shaken the Islamic Republic in a way comparable to the revolution that brought the regime to power 44 years ago. "It is perfectly legal for anyone in Australia to criticize a foreign regime, as tens of thousands of people across the country have been doing in response to events in Iran," O'Neil said in a speech to the Australian National University's (ANU) national security college. "What we absolutely will not tolerate, under any circumstances, are attempts by foreign regimes to disrupt peaceful protests, encourage violence or suppress views." Canberra says it bust the spying operation The minister did not provide any details about the surveillance operation, but said that it had included "extensive research" on the individual "and their family." O'Neil added that Australia's own agencies "were on it like a shot." "We're not going to stand back and have Australians or indeed visitors to our country, watched and tracked by foreign governments on our soil." She went on to call for a "national conversation" on the issue and said she had tasked Australia's own spy agencies with coming up with programs for those communities most likely to be targeted by foreign actors. "Because we don't just need to disrupt these operations, but deter future ones by imposing costs on their sponsor through outing them, where possible to do so," she said. Universities targeted in particular O'Neil did not refer to China in her speech, but a 2018 law against foreign interference came with allegations of Chinese involvement in Australian politics and universities by then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. O'Neil did, however, refer to the particular interest in Australia's universities. "It should be no secret or surprise the university sector is a target of foreign interference," she said. The Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) "has stated that foreign intelligence services and their proxies 'are all too willing to take advantage of the openness that is integral to our universities and research institutions to steal intellectual property and cutting-edge technologies,'" she added.

Australia unveiled its sub-drone prototype to support underwater surveillance and mine warfare capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The unveiled UUV is a Dive-Large Displacement (Dive-LD) vehicle that will increase Australia’s capabilities to tackle the enemies in Indo-Pacific waters, and even provide assistance in case of United States intervention in the clash, according to Asia Times an English-language pan-Asia digital news platform. There are plans to create an armed version of the UUV named Ghost Shark. The report by Gabriel Honrada in the Asia Times said that this vehicle will be developed by Australia under a US$100 million partnership with Anduril Australia, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the Defense Science and Technology Group state agency. The project is under Australia’s Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV) program aiming to produce an affordable autonomous underwater vehicle to serve both military and non-military purposes. The partnership for the production of Ghost Shark is intended to deliver the production model for the combat Ghost Shark by 2025, according to the report by Honrada. Honrada quoted RAN Rear Admiral Peter Quinn in The Warzone report “Due to its modular and multi-role nature, our adversaries will need to assume that their every move in the maritime domain is subject to our surveillance and that every XL-AUV is capable of deploying a wide range of effects — including lethal ones,”. Further according to Quinn, Australia’s recently released Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Artificial Intelligence (RAS-AI) strategy include “the rapid development of combat-ready prototypes to accelerate operational deployment of game-changing capabilities such as Ghost Shark.”. Such an addition to the navel capabilities of Australia will prove beneficial in case proliferation of sea mines in the Indo-Pacific Region. In a 2020 report from Sea Power Soundings, Alia Huberman mentions that sea mines will be increasingly prevalent in the Indo-Pacific as more regional states implement their own anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities. Further, Huberman says that carefully placed mines in the Indo-Pacific region can channel enemy forces into a kill zone. It can also be used to slow them down so that, backup can be provided. Similarly, India is also trying to gather naval warfare capabilities to counter any possible war-like situations. The fifth submarine of the Project – 75, Kalvari Class submarines, Yard 11879 was delivered to the Indian Navy on December 20. Project – 75 includes the indigenous construction of six submarines of Scorpene design. These submarines are being constructed at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai, under collaboration with M/s Naval Group, France. Launched on 12 November 20, Vagir commenced the sea trials on 01 February, 2022. It is a matter of great pride that she has completed all major trials including the weapon and sensor trials in the shortest time compared to the earlier submarines. Submarine construction is an intricate activity as the difficulty is compounded when all equipment are required to be miniaturised and are subject to stringent quality requirements. Construction of these submarines in an Indian yard is another step towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and enhances self-confidence in this field, a notable achievement is that this is the third submarine delivered to the Indian Navy in a span of 24 months. The submarine would shortly be commissioned into the Indian Navy and enhance the Indian Navy’s capability.  Source: ANI

New Zealand had started reopening its borders in February, and the final phase was completed on Monday. The education and tourism sector are expected to receive a boost. New Zealand fully opened its borders Monday, for the first time since March 2020 when they were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final phase of its borders reopening began at midnight local time (1300 GMT) Sunday with the maritime border and all overseas visitors allowed to submit visa applications. The country had started reopening in February, beginning with its own citizens. It’s been a staged and cautious process on our part since February as we, alongside the rest of the world continue to manage a very live global pandemic, while keeping our people safe, said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern during a speech at the China Business Summit in Auckland on Monday. Borders were reopened the previous night to visitors who need visas, and those on student visas are now also allowed to return to New Zealand. Cruise ships and foreign recreational yachts will also be allowed to dock at its ports. Most visitors are still required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and must take two tests after arriving. However, the quarantine requirements for those testing negative have been removed. In the Pacific, the federated states of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands also announced they would be opening their borders as of Monday. Education, tourism to get boost The education sector is hopeful that the reopening for international students will provide a boost to the industry. International students used to bring in around 5 billion New Zealand dollars (roughly $3.15 billion or euro 3.1 billion) per year, being one of the country’s top export earners. But that figure plummeted in 2021. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said the reopening for cruise ships would also boost local industries. Most cruise visits are during the warmer months of October to April, and summer is our bumper tourism season overall. This means it will be full steam ahead for the industry, he said.

Troops were set to hit the streets of Sydney on Monday to enforce its prolonged lockdown, as stay-at-home orders in Australia's third-largest city Brisbane were extended to curb a worsening outbreak. About 300 Australian Defence Force personnel will be deployed in Sydney after New South Wales state police requested military help to enforce Covid-19 rules. Authorities have been struggling to stop the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant in Sydney -- and ensure that residents follow containment rules -- with more than 3,600 cases recorded since mid-June. "Police officers will be assisted by ADF personnel as they deliver food parcels, conduct welfare door-knocks and go through compliance checks of stay-at-home and self-isolation orders," NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said Saturday. More than five million people in Australia's biggest city and surrounding areas are entering their sixth week of a lockdown set to run until the end of August. Residents are only allowed to leave their homes for exercise, essential work, medical reasons, and to shop for necessities such as food. But compliance has been patchy and police have increasingly been doling out fines to those violating the restrictions. The defence force said the latest deployment was in addition to the 250 military personnel already working at hotels and airports in New South Wales. Meanwhile, millions of people in Brisbane and several surrounding regions will remain under lockdown until Sunday after an "escalating" outbreak there grew to 29 cases. Those stay-at-home orders had been scheduled to lift on Tuesday. "That will make it an 8-day lockdown. And we desperately hope that that will be sufficient for our contact tracers to get into home quarantine absolutely anyone who could have been exposed to the Delta strain," acting Queensland state premier Steven Miles said. The outbreak was linked to a Brisbane school student, with pupils and teachers at several schools subsequently placed into isolation. With about 14 percent of Australia's 25 million people fully vaccinated, authorities are still relying on lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has outlined a long road out of restrictions -- setting a target of 80 percent of the eligible population to be fully vaccinated before borders are reopened and lockdowns eliminated. Australia has recorded more than 34,000 cases and 925 deaths so far during the pandemic. Source: AFP/BSS AH

A man, who slaughtered 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the first time the maximum available sentence has been imposed. Judge Cameron Mander said the crimes committed by 29-year-old Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant were so wicked that a lifetime in jail could not begin to atone for them. He said they had caused enormous loss and hurt and stemmed from a warped and malignant ideology. “Your actions were inhuman,” Mander said. “You deliberately killed a 3-year-old infant by shooting him in the head as he clung to the leg of his father.” The March 2019 attacks targeting people praying at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch shocked New Zealand and prompted new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons. They also prompted global changes to social media protocols after the gunman livestreamed his attack on Facebook. During the four-day sentencing hearing, 90 survivors and family members recounted the horror of that day and the trauma they continue to feel. One of those who spoke was Temel Atacocugu, who survived being shot nine times during the attack at the Al Noor mosque. Atacocugu said he felt relieved at the sentence. “Finally we can breathe freely, and we feel secure, and my kids feel secure," Atacocugu said. “The justice system has locked up this ideology forever.” Tarrant in March pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism, reversing his earlier not guilty pleas. He fired his lawyers and told the judge he didn’t wish to speak at his sentencing. A standby lawyer appointed by the court told the judge that Tarrant did not oppose the maximum sentence. The judge said that Tarrant recently told a psychiatrist that he now rejects his extremist views and considers his attacks “abhorrent and irrational.” But Mander said he was skeptical Tarrant had abandoned his ideology, especially considering the gunman told police after the attacks he wished he'd killed more people. Mander said Tarrant had shown no empathy toward his victims and remained detached and self-centered. Tarrant arrived in New Zealand in 2017, never sought work, and began planning for his attack by stockpiling high-powered weapons and joining shooting clubs, the judge said. “It appears that while travelling in Europe you developed deep-seated radical views regarding the migrant population of some Western countries,” the judge said. Tarrant flew a drone over the Al Noor mosque and researched the layout, according to prosecutors. On the day of the attacks, he drove to the mosques with six guns, including two AR-15s. “You committed mass murder,” the judge said. “You slaughtered unarmed and defenseless people. You maimed, wounded and crippled many others. Your victims include the young and the old, men, women and children.” Dressed in a gray prison tracksuit, Tarrant showed little emotion during his four-day sentencing. He watched the speakers, occasionally giving a small nod or covering his mouth as he laughed at jokes, often made at his expense. He was noticeably thinner than when he was first arrested. He didn't show the brazenness he did at his first court appearance the day after the attacks, when he made a hand gesture sometimes adopted by white supremacists. The sentencing hearing gave survivors and family members a chance to confront the gunman. As the hearing went on, the speakers became more emboldened and the numbers who signed up to speak swelled. Some chose to yell at the gunman and give him the finger. Others called him a monster, a coward, a rat. Some sung verses from the Quran or addressed him in Arabic. A few spoke softly to Tarrant, saying they forgave him. “It was very empowering,” said Aya Al-Umari, who spoke about the death of her brother, Hussein. “Every one of us was so powerful in delivering our statements.” Al-Umari said the hearing had shown how resilient the Muslim community in Christchurch had been in recovering from the trauma of the attacks. “No sentence will bring our loved ones back,” she said. “But at least we can close this chapter and move on.” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who was praised globally for her empathy and leadership after the attacks, said the crime was still raw for many. “Nothing will take the pain away but I hope you felt the arms of New Zealand around you through this whole process, and I hope you continue to feel that through all the days that follow," Ardern said. Source: UNB AH

It has been described as Australia's Galapagos Islands and has long been a refuge for some of the country's most endangered creatures. But devastating wildfires over recent days have undone decades of careful conservation work on Kangaroo Island and have threatened to wipe out some of the island's unique fauna altogether. Experts working on the island say the fires have killed thousands of koalas and kangaroos, and also have raised questions about whether any members of a mouse-like marsupial species that carries its young in a pouch have survived. Similarly, it remains unclear how many from a unique flock of glossy black-cockatoos got away from the flames and whether they have a future on an island where much of their habitat has gone up in smoke. Located off the coast of South Australia state, Kangaroo Island is about 50% larger than Rhode Island and home to 4,500 people and what was a thriving ecotourism industry. But the wildfires that have been ravaging swaths of Australia have burned through one-third of the island, killing a father and his son and leaving behind a scorched wasteland and a devastated community. They also have left people scrambling to help the critters that have survived. "Caring for all these animals is quite amazing," said Sam Mitchell, co-owner of the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park. "However, we are seeing a lot that are too far gone. We are seeing kangaroos and koalas with their hands burned off — they stand no chance. It's been quite emotional." Inspired in part by the late Australian wildlife expert Steve Irwin, Mitchell and his wife, Dana, bought the commercial park seven years ago in their early 20s, and have been renovating the place and taking in rescue animals since. On Friday night with the fire approaching, Dana fled with their 18-month-old son, Connor, while Sam stayed behind to defend the park and their dream. A wind change spared the park from the wildfire's path. Mitchell said the fires have killed thousands of koalas on the island, a particularly devastating loss because the creatures have remained largely disease-free there, while many koalas on mainland Australia suffer from chlamydia. The couple are currently caring for about 18 burned koalas, and they've had to euthanize many more. Meanwhile, Heidi Groffen could do nothing, as all eight monitoring stations she and her partner had set up to keep track of the mysterious Kangaroo Island dunnart, the mouse-like marsupial, melted in the flames. An ecologist and coordinator for the nonprofit Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife, Groffen said the population of 300 or so dunnarts may have been wiped out altogether because they are too small to outrun wildfires, although she remains hopeful that some may have sheltered in rock crevices. "Even if there are survivors, there is no food for them now," she said. "We're hoping to bring some into captivity before they are completely gone." She said the creatures have long fascinated her because so little is known about them. Also uncertain is the future for the 400 or so Kangaroo Island glossy black-cockatoos. Once prevalent on the South Australia mainland, the birds retreated to the island after humans destroyed much of their traditional habitat. "Unlike some of the other animals, the birds are in the best position to escape. They can get away from the fires a bit more," said Daniella Teixeira, who is working on a doctoral degree about the birds at The University of Queensland. But much like the dunnarts, the cockatoos could find they don't have enough food left on the island, particularly because they eat only from a single type of tree known as a drooping she-oak. And many hot spots on the island continue to burn. Teixeira said careful conservation work over the past 25 years has seen the glossy black-cockatoo population increase from 150, but those gains have been wiped out in the space of a week. She said she is currently writing the final chapter of the thesis she began in 2016, but that suddenly everything has changed. "It's pretty hard to sit here and write a paper on them when I don't know their status today," she said. Source: AP/UNB AH

A Bangladeshi student found guilty of engaging in a terrorist act after stabbing her homestay landlord in an Islamic State-inspired attack has been sentenced to 42 years in jail. Momena Shoma attacked Roger Singaravelu with a kitchen knife while he was having an afternoon nap in his Mill Park home, in Melbourne's north, in February 2018. The Victorian Supreme Court had heard she yelled "Allahu akbar" as she plunged the knife into Mr Singaravelu's neck with such force the blade tip broke off when it was dislodged. His five-year-old daughter witnessed the attack and still suffers from fear, trauma and an inability to trust people. Shoma pleaded guilty to engaging in a terrorist act for the advancing of a political, religious or ideological cause, namely violent jihad. It is the first time a sentence has been handed down for that charge. Shoma, who did not stand for sentencing in the Victorian Supreme Court, received a non-parole period of 31 years and six months. Shoma had been granted a scholarship to study at La Trobe University, but Supreme Court Justice Lesley Taylor said Shoma's only intention in coming to Australia was to carry out the "chilling" terrorist attack. "You sought notoriety," Justice Taylor said. "You wished to be a martyr and to trigger the West." The court heard Shoma had brought the knife used in the attack with her from Bangladesh. "You chose a method of attack that could be executed with speed," Justice Taylor said. Shoma was initially housed in Bundoora after moving to Australia, where she prepared for the attack by stabbing a mattress. She moved to Mr Singaravelu's home as an emergency after the original host family expressed concern over the event — but Mr Singaravelu said he was never notified about the incident. The court previously heard Shoma carried out the attack to "trigger the west" and attempted to fatally stab Mr Singaravelu in the neck because he was "vulnerable" and an "easy target". Six days before the attack, Shoma had searched the internet looking for night-vision goggles so she could see in the dark, and later purchased them for $10, the court heard. She became radicalized in 2013 and was joyous at the rise of the Islamic State caliphate in Syria and Iraq a year later. On the morning of the attack she had downloaded a video from Islamic State's media centre, Al Hayat, entitled Flames of War. Source: ABC AH