European settlement wiped out half of Australia's indigenous languages, and about 100 more are in serious danger of being lost.
Miriwoong is one of them. Spoken for tens of thousands of years in a part of Western Australia, the language is now spoken by only a handful of fluent speakers.
But there is a huge push to keep the language alive. So why is it so important?
European settlement wiped out half of Australia's indigenous languages, and about 100 more are in serious danger of being lost.
Miriwoong is one of them. Spoken for tens of thousands of years in a part of Western Australia, the language is now spoken by only a handful of fluent speakers.
But there is a huge push to keep the language alive. So why is it so important?
European settlement wiped out half of Australia's indigenous languages, and about 100 more are in serious danger of being lost.
Miriwoong is one of them. Spoken for tens of thousands of years in a part of Western Australia, the language is now spoken by only a handful of fluent speakers.
But there is a huge push to keep the language alive. So why is it so important?
The 2019 Australian Swimming World Trials concluded in Brisbane last night, where the nation saw one of its most successful domestic championship meets in recent years. The meet rendered a stellar squad of 27 men and women, veterans and emerging athletes, headed to Gwangju, Korea next month to take on the world.
However, fans in Australia may be left in the dark as to how the team fares against the best of the best, as its sports governing body has yet to sell the broadcast rights to the largest competitive aquatic event outside of the Olympic Games.
Per The Daily Telegraph ($), no Australian broadcaster has bought the rights to the 2019 World Championships due to the high fee FINA is demanding. If this situation holds, the only opportunity for Australians to view the championships would be via FINA’s own online streaming service.
However, this isn’t something entirely new, as the Aussie World Swimming Trials itself was without a television broadcast. Prelims and finals were only available via live streaming.
Swimming Australia told SwimSwam, “Swimming Australia does not have the rights to the World Swimming Championships so we cannot live stream it.”
The World Championships kick-off on July 12th, therefore, a deal may yet be struck.
Emily Seebohm, Australia’s top backstoker for the last decade, will miss the world swimming championships for the first time since 2005, when she was 13 years old.
Seebohm finished third and fourth in the backstrokes at Australia’s trials for next month’s worlds in South Korea, where a nation can only send two swimmers per individual event. Seebohm said earlier this week that illness slowed her prep, according to Australian media.
Seebohm qualified for the world championships for the first time when she was 14 years old in 2007. She went on to earn five Olympic medals, including 100m backstroke silver behind Missy Franklin at the 2012 London Games.
She then swept the backstrokes at the 2015 World Championships. After missing the individual medals in Rio, she bounced back to claim Australia’s lone gold at the 2017 Worlds, taking the 200m back. That ensured the formerly dominant swim nation didn’t go winless at an Olympics or worlds for the first time since 1986.
The world’s top backstrokers in the last year have been Americans Kathleen Baker and Regan Smith, Canadians Kylie Masse and Taylor Ruck, Italian Margherita Panziera and Australian Kaylee McKeown.
Australia’s swimming federation also put Mack Horton on the world team in his Olympic gold medal event, the 400m freestyle, even though he did not meet the nation’s qualifying standard time, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Horton would have otherwise made the team in the event for finishing second at trials.
Australia’s other stars had no problem qualifying for worlds, including sprint freestylers Kyle Chalmers, Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell and Katie Ledecky‘s biggest rival, 18-year-old Ariarne Titmus.
Caster Semenya said she has been denied entry into Sunday’s Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, even though she is eligible to race her preferred distances while a Swiss supreme court decides on her appeal against the IAAF’s new rules for female events.
Semenya also said she considered boycotting racing the 800m unless the rule is lifted for all affected runners.
“I am a woman, but the IAAF has again tried to stop me from running the way I was born,” Semenya said in the release. “The IAAF questions my sex, causes me great pain and required me to take hormonal drugs that made me feel constantly sick and unable to focus for many years. No other woman should be forced to go through this in order to have the same right that all women have – to do what we love and run the way we were born.”
The two-time Olympic 800m champion’s team said she was told Tuesday that the president of the Moroccan track and field federation denied her from entering the 800m in Sunday’s meet.
“Caster is currently seeking clarity on the specific reasons for that decision, and she urges the IAAF to ensure its member federations comply with the law and the Supreme Court’s orders,” according to a press release.
The given media contact for the Rabat meet did not respond to an email last week asking if Semenya would be invited to race after the Swiss court made her eligible for the time being to race her best events — from the 400m through the mile. The same contact did not respond to a follow-up email Thursday afternoon following Semenya’s press release.
“It should be noted that the Diamond League meetings are not organized by the IAAF,” the IAAF said in a statement later Thursday. “Entry for any athlete into a Diamond League meeting is by invitation only from the meeting organizer.”
Semenya’s team also said the Swiss court denied an IAAF request to reimpose the regulations. The IAAF said it “continues to comply with” the Swiss court order to suspend the testosterone rule, strictly for Semenya.
“No woman should be subjected to these rules,” Semenya said in the release. “I thought hard about not running the 800m in solidarity unless all women can run free. But I will run now to show the IAAF that they cannot drug us.”
Semenya is also seeking to change her event at the Pre Classic on June 30 from the 3000m to the 800m, according to the release.
“As one of the premier track and field meets in the World, the Prefontaine Classic always strives to have the top athletes in attendance,” a meet spokesperson said when asked if Semenya will be allowed in the 800m. “If an athlete has a time/mark that is among the best in the World and is eligible in the eyes of the sports’ governing bodies, then yes, they will be considered for an invite to the Prefontaine Classic.”
A month after being edged at the finish line, Christian Coleman left no doubt on Thursday. He is the world’s fastest man this year, not to mention this Olympic cycle.
Coleman won the 100m at a Diamond League meet in Oslo in 9.85 seconds, breaking his tie with Noah Lyles and Nigerian collegian Divine Oduduru atop the 2019 world rankings. Neither Lyles nor Divine was in Thursday’s race, but neither of them has ever broken 9.86, either.
“I’m pretty excited about it. It was a good run and a pretty good time,” Coleman said, according to meet organizers. “Now I’ll look back at the video and critique it. It wasn’t ideal conditions but … I executed better than in the last race.”
Lyles put Coleman’s 100m dominance to the test, beating him by .006 on May 18 in Coleman’s first race since Aug. 31. Both clocked 9.86 in Shanghai.
But Lyles is focusing on the 200m this season, while Coleman is bidding to race both the 100m and 200m at the USATF Outdoor Championships next month. The top three at nationals qualify for those individual events at worlds.
Coleman has progressed from being strictly a 4x100m prelim runner at the Rio Olympics to taking silver at the 2017 World Championships between Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt. Then last year, Coleman came back from an early season hamstring injury to clock 9.79, the world’s fastest time since the Rio Olympics.
In other events in Oslo, 19-year-old Sydney McLaughlin beat the reigning Olympic, world and U.S. champions to become the 400m hurdles favorite for next month’s USATF Outdoor Championships as well as the world championships.
Muhammad, who in Rio became the youngest U.S. track and field athlete to compete at an Olympics in 44 years, rebounded from hitting the first hurdle and coming around the last curve multiple steps behind Dalilah Muhammad.
She passed the Olympic champion in the sprint off the last hurdle for her first career win over Muhammad in her Diamond League 400m hurdles debut.
McLaughlin’s time — 54.16 and .19 faster than Muhammad — was .02 slower than her domestic season opener, but she beat not only Muhammad but also U.S. champ Shamier Little and world champ Kori Carter.
“It wasn’t the cleanest race for me, but I came back strong, and that shows me where I am fitness-wise,” McLaughlin said, according to meet organizers. “It was a sloppy race, but I pulled through.”
World champion Emma Coburn took fourth in the 3000m steeplechase, 4.71 seconds behind Kenyan winner Norah Jeruto. Jeruto clocked 9:03.71, handing countrywoman and world-record holder Beatrice Chepkoech her first steeple loss since May 31, 2018.
Olympic champion Brianna McNeal was disqualified from the 100m hurdles for a false start. Another American, Christina Clemons, ended up winning in 12.69. McNeal has yet to race world-record holder Keni Harrison this season. They ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the world last year — Harrison in 12.36 and McNeal in 12.38.
World champion Johannes Vetter won the javelin but pulled out after one legal, 85.27-meter throw with a right adductor injury. He was competing for the first time since August after missing time with a left leg injury.
World champion Sam Kendricks won a pole vault duel with Swede Mondo Duplantis by clearing 5.91 meters. Duplantis, who turned pro after his freshman season at LSU, cleared 6.05 meters at the 2018 European Championships, matching the world’s best since 2001.
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Rare earth developers in Australia say they are edging closer to signing deals with new customers that would drive forward their projects amid mounting global supply concerns over the minerals that are crucial to high-tech industries.
FILE PHOTO: Rare earths dug up and processed into concentrate at Mount Weld in Western Australia, are pictured after being shipped to the Lynas plant in Gebeng, Malaysia, July 3, 2014. REUTERS/Sonali Paul
Australia contains only 2.8% of the world’s rare earth reserves, according to the United States Geological Survey. However, the country accounts for more than half of the new projects in the global pipeline, according to data compiled by the Western Australian School of Mines (WASM) at Curtin University.
Rare earths are a group of 17 minerals critical to a wide array of industries from high-tech consumer electronics to electric vehicles and sophisticated military equipment.
Most of Australia’s projects, however, have been stuck as developers struggle to secure financing because of the domination of China, which accounts for about 90% of global rare earths processing capacity and one-quarter of the world’s reserves.
Even the projects closest to start-up are unlikely to begin operations until 2023 at the earliest, the WASM data shows.
Still, those projects may speed up amid the escalating trade war between the United States and China. The United States imports 80% of its rare earths from China, where state-owned news outlets have reported it could cut its shipments to the U.S. as part of the dispute.
Northern Minerals, which is developing the Browns Range project in Australia’s northwest, said last week that it was in “discussions with an internationally recognized industrial group” for supply.
“The level of interest has increased since the increased news focus on the issue,” a company spokesman said this week.
Hastings Technology, which is readying its Yangibana rare earths project in Western Australia for late 2021 production already has one preliminary supply agreement with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp and signed another with automotive supplier Schaeffler AG last week.
“We are working on another German supply agreement which we expect to tie up this year,” said Charles Lew, Hastings’ executive chairman.
Additionally, Hastings is receiving financing from Germany’s strategic minerals procurement body, he said.
The prospects for Australia’s rare earths industry are picking up based on growing demand expectations.
The U.S. said this week it would look to Australia and Canada to develop rare earths reserves around the world to reduce the global reliance on China.
A Thyssenkrupp spokesman said last week that “in the area of rare earths we are regularly on the lookout for new partners to serve the growing global demand.”
The reason rare earths projects outside of China have not advanced is because China’s vast production, underpinned by cheaper labor and less stringent environmental regulations, means no one else can compete on cost, said WASM Professor Dudley Kingsnorth.
Australia’s Lynas Corp, the world’s only rare earths producer outside of China, has been supported by low interest loans from Japan’s government. Last month Lynas outlined expansion plans including building a U.S. processing plant.
Kingsnorth estimates the world will need 75,000 tonnes of rare earths per year to be independent of China by 2025. However, his projections are that the rest of the world will only be producing 50,000 tonnes independent of China by that time.
End-users are not willing to invest in mines that are years away from production and more costly than in China, he said.
However, companies are not pricing in the risk of a politically driven supply disruption, he said.
“It’s not about being competitive with China, it’s do you get your metals or not?” said Kingsnorth.
(For a graphic on 'Rare earth export markets perk up after China rattles trade warsaber' click tmsnrt.rs/2XdxeS8)
Without government support, most new projects will struggle to see the light of day, said a resource companies analyst who declined to be named because of company policy.
Especially if companies are planning to build processing plants, the cost of which can be an order of magnitude more than the value of the companies building them, he said.
For example, Australian rare earths miner Arafura Resources, a company with a market capitalization of A$77 million ($53.24 million), is seeking to secure $1 billion in funding for its project that includes a processing plant.
Arafura and fellow miner Alkane Resources met with U.S. defense officials as part of an Australian trade delegation in February but returned empty handed, executives from both companies said.
“The conundrum that’s occurring is do or don’t people wish to put money on the ground to pay higher costs to mitigate risk?” said Alkane’s Managing Director Nick Earner.
Reporting by Melanie Burton in MELBOURNE. Additional reporting by Yuka Obayashi in TOKYO and Christoph Steitz in FRANKFURT; editing by Christian Schmollinger
Thousands of Australians have honoured the nation's third-longest serving leader, Bob Hawke, in a state memorial service at the Sydney Opera House.
Mr Hawke was prime minister from 1983 to 1991 - a period of immense national reforms. He died last month aged 89.
He was honoured as an "inspirational" figure in a service attended by his family and many prominent Australians, including five former prime ministers.
Mr Hawke launched his successful bid for PM at the opera house in 1983.
He went on to win four elections - still a record for a Labor Party leader - and achieve record approval ratings. Together with successor Paul Keating, Mr Hawke is credited with modernising Australia's economy.
Among other legacies, he created Australia's universal Medicare healthcare system, promoted large-scale conservation efforts, and outlawed workplace gender discrimination.
His wife, Blanche d'Alpuget, said that his death had prompted "a national outpouring of grief".
"Today, this memorial service marks the transition from the grief of loss to the celebration of a life triumphantly well lived," she told the service.
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In his tribute, Prime Minister Scott Morrison described Australia as "a nation Bob Hawke loved and that deeply loved him in return".
Among hundreds of people in the sold-out hall were former prime ministers Mr Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, as well as current Labor leader Anthony Albanese.
Thousands more watched the service on a screen outside, with some carrying tributes on placards.
Former prime minister Julia Gillard, who is chairing a summit overseas, said in a video message: "A million words could be written and a million more spoken about Bob Hawke, such is the breadth of his achievement.
"But for me, the essence of the Bob I knew is caught by one word - inspiration... He inspired the nation to embrace a new and better future."
Others celebrated Mr Hawke for his "larrikin" humour, resolve, and preparedness to show emotion.
Mr Hawke cried publicly a number of times in office - most famously in 1989 at a memorial service at Parliament House following the crackdown on Chinese students at Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Ms d'Alpuget used her speech to thank Chinese Australians for their condolences, saying "in no country besides Australia did he have more friends... than in China".
Mr Keating drew laughs when he told the service that he and Mr Hawke would sometimes "criticise one another to immediate staff... often heavy criticisms", but said the pair were united in delivering significant reforms.
"What matters is the value of the legacy, its quality and its endurance," he said, adding that Mr Hawke's was "five-star and 24 carat".
