Jamu Barokahs

Rabu, 14 Agustus 2019

Sydney stabbing LIVE: Michaela Dunn identified as woman found dead in Clarence Street unit - The Sydney Morning Herald

What we know so far

Mert Ney, 20, was seen wielding a knife near the corner of Clarence and King streets about 2pm. Bystanders restrained him with chairs and a milk crate
Michaela Dunn, 24, was killed in a Clarence Street unit. Linda Bo, 41, was stabbed but is in a stable condition
Police say Mr Ney was a "lone actor" with a history of mental health issues and no apparent links to terrorist organisations
Mr Ney was on conditional release after pleading guilty to possessing a prohibited weapon in June
In the days before the stabbing, he was listed as missing after a "domestic violence situation"

Offender stopped to take selfie after alleged murder

Mert Ney stopped to take a selfie after walking out of the Clarence Street building where he allegedly murdered Michaela Dunn, according to CCTV footage obtained by Seven News.

Mert Ney is captured via CCTV in the laneway near Clarence Street.Credit:Seven News

The video of the laneway near the building shows Ney taking out his phone and pausing for a photo, moments before he went on to stab Linda Bo and jump on the bonnet of a car while wielding a butcher's knife.

'I saw the guy stab someone ... I froze'

A man who was confronted by Mert Ney on Clarence Street yesterday was emotional when he returned to the scene of the stabbing on Wednesday.

"Looking back on it now, this was a guy who had just killed somebody," emotional witness Vee Morgana told Nine News. "Obviously I didn't know that then."

"I saw the guy stab someone... There was a moment just here on Clarence when it was me and him 10 metres apart. I only had my phone with me and there was a moment where I froze."

Police are still investigating the crime scene at 118 Clarence Street where Michaela Dunn was killed.

Community devastated, Michaela Dunn a 'whole individual who will be missed and mourned'

The sex worker community has been "devastated by the series of random and senseless acts of violence" in Sydney's CBD, said a joint statement from the Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association and Sex Workers Outreach Project of New South Wales.

"A young woman was murdered by a violent man in Sydney’s CBD yesterday," the statement reads.

"All victims involved in this incident were valued members of their families and communities ... Michaela Dunn was a woman, a community member, and a whole individual who will be missed and mourned.

"Sex workers regularly face barriers to accessing justice and reporting crimes against us, because so often the violence is attributed to our work ... They are equally deserving of empathy and consideration when befallen by tragedy.

"We are mourning the loss of a valued and loved human being. We offer the victim’s family our deepest and most sincere condolences at this time. Our collective hearts are heavy. "

Mert Ney's sister speaks, says 'sorry a million times' and she wants nothing to do with her brother

Yazel Ney agreed to speak to reporters outside her home in Marayong on Wednesday and said sorry to the family of Michaela Dunn, 24, who was killed in yesterday's attack, writes Tim Barlass.

Ms Ney also said it was "obvious that there has been a steep descent into insanity" regarding her brother's behaviour, but she did not want to comment on whether mental health services had let him down.

"I don't want to like say anything about that because then that's like it's like blaming the services, when they could have been doing all they can. Do, you know, I feel like that's unfair," she said.

"[I am] shocked, angry, disgusted. I hate my last name. If someone in your family did this, like, how would you feel? I'm, like, I'm no threat to myself, sorry, I want to be clear about that.

"I wish there was a way that I could make it all better for [my mother], but I can't. I can't make it better for anyone else and I wish I could."

Michaela Dunn remembered as a 'true delight'

A friend of Ms Dunn, Joan Westenberg, wrote on social media that the 24-year-old Notre Dame graduate was a "true delight to know".

"I’ve known this girl since she was just a kid in high school at 14. Mikki was like my baby sister. I cannot describe how sad and how broken I am at this moment. I loved this kid. She was incredible," Ms Westenberg wrote on Twitter.

"Mikki was a true delight to know ... She deserved to be safe while she worked. Her job does not make her a lurid story. She was a person and she is now gone. And she is gone because male violence has taken her from us."

Domestic Violence Line 1800 65 64 63, 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732

Second stabbing victim, Linda Bo, still stable in hospital

The Australian Associated Press reported it understands the second woman stabbed in Sydney yesterday is Linda Bo, 41.

Ms Bo is believed to be an employee at shipping company Cosco, which has an office nearby Hotel CBD where she was attacked about 2pm.

She is in a stable condition at St Vincent's Hospital after she was stabbed in the shoulder.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said "the fact she's alive is a miracle", considering Mert Ney likely "went on the street to kill more people".

Murder victim spoke against sexual violence

Michaela Dunn's mother said her daughter was well-travelled, loving, and from a beautiful family in Sydney's suburbs.

Ms Dunn had travelled to the United States and Sri Lanka in the last year, according to her social media accounts. She also rallied against sexual violence in a Facebook post several years ago.

"Sexual violence and harassment is never acceptable. Take two minutes to read and sign this petition, it's such an important issue that needs to be addressed sooner than later," she wrote on a post from 2016.

Michaela Dunn, 24, identified as victim

The victim of yesterday's attack was Michaela Dunn, 24, from Sydney.

She was a former student at Rosebank College in Sydney's inner west and attended the University of Notre Dame.

Her mother told Nine News she wanted everyone to know her daughter was from an ordinary family in suburban Sydney, and she "was very much loved".

She was described as a "beautiful girl from a beautiful family".

Michaela Dunn's mother described her as a "beautiful girl from a beautiful family".Credit:Facebook

Sister's emotional words for stabbing victim

The sister of accused stabber Mert Ney has spoken with reporters outside the family's Marayong home, telling them she is sorry that a young woman has lost her life.

"She was like, younger than me. She could have been going out like within a few hours, to do shopping with her mum, eat dinner with her boyfriend, go speak to her girlfriends ... and now she can't do that can she?

"All the words that I can say isn't ever gonna bring her back, is it? I want to say, I'm really, really sorry. No one should have... she was like, defenceless."

Homeless teens say 'agitated' Ney stayed with them in safe house before attack

Nine News has spoken to two young people who said they stayed in a safe house with Mert Ney the night before the attack, sleeping in an adjacent room. They described him as agitated and said he told them he had been kicked out of home and had recently been in hospital.

He also rambled about a USB and left very early in the morning on Tuesday, they said. You can watch their account in the video below:

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2019-08-14 07:01:00Z
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Selasa, 13 Agustus 2019

Australia stabbing: Members of public use milk crate to stop suspect in fatal attack - NBCNews.com

SYDNEY — A knife-wielding man with a history of mental illness who is suspected of killing one woman and stabbing another in Sydney, Australia was stopped when members of the public were able to pin him on his back using a milk crate, authorities said.

The man is believed to be responsible for the slaying a woman in a downtown Sydney apartment before wounding another woman nearby and attempting to stab other people Tuesday. Police and witnesses say they heard the suspect yelling "Allahu akbar," or "God is great."

Police have not labeled the rampage an act of terrorism, although the 21-year-old assailant — who was restrained by members of the public before being arrested — had collected information on his computer about mass killings in North America and New Zealand, New South Wales state Police Commissioner Michael Fuller said.

"It is not currently classed as a terrorist incident. Obviously, as the investigation continues we will reassess that," Fuller told reporters.

Police gather at the crime scene after a man stabbed a woman and attempted to stab others in central Sydney on Tuesday, before being pinned down by members of the public and detained by police.Saeed Khan / AFP - Getty Images

"He is by definition, at the moment, a lone actor. Information was found on him that would suggest he has some ideologies in relation to terrorism, but he has no links to terrorism," Fuller said. "There was certainly information found on him about other crimes of mass casualties and mass deaths around the world."

A gunman who recently killed 22 people at a Texas Walmart appears to have praised the March 15 shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, where an Australian white supremacist is charged with killing 51 worshipers at two mosques.

Witnesses said the assailant Tuesday was carrying a 12-inch knife and attempted to stab multiple people near a busy intersection in Australia's largest city at around 2 p.m. Fuller described the weapon as a butcher's knife.

Police said a man was arrested, and that a 41-year-old woman with a stab wound to her back was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Police said the body of a 21-year-old woman was later discovered in a nearby fourth-floor apartment.

"A number of members of the public physically restrained the offender," Police Superintendent Gavin Wood said. "I want to acknowledge those members of the public who got involved. They were significantly brave people."

Video showed that people pinned the man to the pavement on his back with a plastic milk crate over his head and two chairs over his body.

Wood said it appeared that the attack was unprovoked. The man "attempted to stab multiple people. Those attempts, thankfully, were unsuccessful," Wood said.

Uber driver Leon Baghani said the assailant, clutching a knife, jumped on the hood and then the roof of his Mercedes as he was driving an elderly couple on the street where the violence occurred.

"For a second, I thought maybe he's wearing a vest of some sort and he's going to detonate himself," Baghani told Ten Network television. "So I quickly accelerated and made a left turn and made sure that he came off the roof of the car."

A witness told reporters that the man was screaming comments about religion, before yelling to police that he wanted to be shot. Police said he used the Arabic phrase "Allahu akbar."

A witness, Paul O'Shaughnessy, said he and his brother Luke were working in the office of their recruitment company when they heard shouting through an open window. They looked out and saw a Caucasian man screaming "extremist" words, O'Shaughnessy said.

The brothers, fearing the man was conducting a terrorist attack, ran down to the street and began chasing the man, who was covered in blood.

Luke O'Shaughnessy and another man caught up with the offender and tackled him to the ground, Paul O'Shaughnessy said. Along with other passers-by, they used a milk crate and a chair to keep him pinned to the ground, he said.

Paul O'Shaughnessy told The Associated Press that the man "didn't show any remorse at all."

Fuller said the assailant had a "history of mental health." He said the assailant would be charged.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Twitter that the violence was "deeply concerning" and praised the people who restrained the assailant.

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2019-08-13 11:40:00Z
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Sydney stabbing attack in Australia by suspect with history of mental health issues today - Live updates - CBS News

Sydney -- Australian police said a knife-wielding man yelling "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," attempted to stab several people in downtown Sydney on Tuesday before being arrested. At least one woman was brought to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the attack, and another was found dead in a nearby residence.

Police said later that "all the evidence points to" a man with mental health issues lashing out, but they would not rule out any potential motives as the investigation was still at an early stage. Given the information they had, they said the incident was not being classed as terrorism and that the suspect was believed to have acted alone.

Witnesses said the man, wielding a long knife, tried to stab multiple people near a busy intersection. New South Wales state police said in a statement that the man was caught and the woman was in stable condition.

Trending News

Not far away, the body of a woman, an acquaintance of the detained suspect and of a similar age to the 21-year-old suspect, was found in a home.

Video of man being arrested after police operation in Sydney's CBD on King and Clarence St. #SydneyCBD #BREAKING pic.twitter.com/cTs063eKM5
— Daniel Timms (@deadsetdaniel) August 13, 2019

A witness told reporters the man screamed comments about religion before yelling to police that he wanted to be shot. Police said he used the Arabic phrase "Allahu akbar." However, police later said the man also had in his possession a thumbnail USB drive containing information related to recent mass shooting attacks carried out by white supremacists.

Asked by a reporter whether the conflicting religious references suggested to him a mental health problem at the root of the crime, New South Wales Police Commissioner Michael Fuller said, "certainly all the evidence points to that" at this stage.

The incident brought the central business district of Australia's biggest city to an early afternoon standstill.

Videos posted on social media showed several members of the public, including tourists from England, chasing the armed man through the streets and eventually pinning him to the ground with chairs and a milk crate. They held him in place until police officers arrived and took him into custody.

The violent attack that took place in Sydney this afternoon is deeply concerning. The attacker is now in police custody following the brave actions of those who were present at the scene and were able to able to restrain him.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) August 13, 2019

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison praised members of the public who helped subdue the suspect during the attack.

Reuters quotes Police Superintendent Gavin Wood as telling reporters in Sydney the woman was stabbed in the back but her wounds weren't life-threatening and that the attack on her seemed to be unprovoked.

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2019-08-13 11:23:00Z
CAIiELaLbdodhBbjCJDXmusX0tkqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowyNj6CjDyiPICMKb_xAU

Sydney, Australia: Sydney stabbing spree by man yelling "God is great" in Arabic - CBS News

Sydney -- Australian police and witnesses said a knife-wielding man yelling "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," attempted to stab several people in downtown Sydney on Tuesday before being arrested. At least one woman was brought to a hospital.

Police said later that "all the evidence points to" a man with mental health issues lashing out, but they would not rule out any potential motives as the investigation was still at an early stage. Given the information they had, however, they said the incident was not being classed as terrorism and that the suspect was believed to have acted alone.

Witnesses say the man, wielding a long knife, tried to stab multiple people near a busy intersection. New South Wales state police said in a statement that the man was caught and the woman was in stable condition.

Trending News

Not far away, the body of a woman believed to have been an acquaintance of the detained suspect was found in a home.

Video of man being arrested after police operation in Sydney's CBD on King and Clarence St. #SydneyCBD #BREAKING pic.twitter.com/cTs063eKM5
— Daniel Timms (@deadsetdaniel) August 13, 2019

A witness told reporters the man was screaming comments about religion before yelling to police that he wanted to be shot. Police said he used the Arabic phrase "Allahu akbar." However, police later said the man also had in his possession a thumbnail USB drive containing information related to white supremacy.

The incident brought the central business district of Australia's biggest city to an early afternoon standstill, the Reuters news service reports.

The violent attack that took place in Sydney this afternoon is deeply concerning. The attacker is now in police custody following the brave actions of those who were present at the scene and were able to able to restrain him.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) August 13, 2019

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison praised members of the public who helped subdue the suspect during the attack.

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2019-08-13 08:27:00Z
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Jumat, 09 Agustus 2019

China’s influence on campus chills free speech in Australia, New Zealand - The Washington Post

SYDNEY — Chinese students poured into Australia and New Zealand in their hundreds of thousands over the past 20 years, paying sticker prices for university degrees that made higher education among both countries’ top export earners.

Now, as a more-authoritarian China projects its influence deeper into the South Pacific, attempts by Chinese students and diplomats to interfere with anti-Beijing dissidents and stifle free speech on campus pose an uncomfortable challenge for both U.S. allies.

The immediate trigger for the flare-ups was mass protests in Hong Kong, which authorities in the semiautonomous Chinese territory are struggling to contain. Protesters there have assailed what they say is the steady erosion in Hong Kong’s rule of law, aided and abetted by the city’s pro-Beijing leaders.

Students, academics and officials in Australia and New Zealand, two of the modern world’s older democracies, now find their natural sympathy for the Hong Kong protesters colliding with their nations’ economic dependency on Beijing — a weakness the Chinese Communist Party isn’t hesitating to exploit.

The most visible flash point is on campus. Students who support and oppose the Chinese Community Party have spent recent days erecting, ripping down, and restoring walls covered with cards and Post-it notes calling for freedom in Hong Kong at universities in the Australian cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart, and in New Zealand.

“Beijing’s influence on campuses is responsible for widespread self-censorship by universities and academics in Australia and New Zealand,” said Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and author of “Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia.”

“The events of the last couple of weeks on Australian campuses have proved to be a serious escalation of Beijing’s interference,” he said.

Every pro-democracy protest is countered by Beijing’s well-drilled student supporters. When some University of Sydney students proposed a protest on Friday, which did not proceed, opponents shared notes on the Chinese WeChat platform about how to respond.

“The pro-Hong Kong independence demonstration on August 9 is planned by some forces of Sydney University,” one person wrote, according to an image taken by a student. “We will not use force, but will absolutely not sit idly by and do nothing. [We] will fight the separatist forces to the end using legal means. Never make a concession!!”

The person, who could not be reached for comment, added in the message that they had “reported this to the education section” of the Chinese Consulate.

[Hong Kong strike cripples city as leader warns of ‘dangerous situation’]

After years of feeling fortunate about their economic relationship with China, Australians are starting to worry about the cost. On Thursday, a ruling-party lawmaker, Andrew Hastie, compared China’s expansion to the rise of Germany before World War II and suggested it posed a direct military threat.

“Like the French, Australia has failed to see how mobile our authoritarian neighbor has become,” Hastie wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Hastie’s comments ricocheted between Beijing and Canberra, where the Chinese Embassy condemned the former officer in Australia’s Special Air Service Regiment, an elite army special forces unit.

“We urge certain Australian politicians to take off their ‘colored lens’ and view China’s development path in an objective and rational way,” a spokesman said. “They should make efforts to promote mutual trust between China and Australia, instead of doing the opposite.”

As the smallest members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance that includes the United States, Britain and Canada, Australia and New Zealand are attractive targets for Chinese influence and espionage operations, analysts say.

Paul Buchanan, a strategic analyst based in Auckland, said that New Zealand is an “ideal liberal democratic lab rat” for China to experiment with ways to use “the very freedoms and transparency of democratic systems against them.”

[Will China crush the Hong Kong protests? For Beijing, there are no good options]

Chinese diplomats in both Australia and New Zealand appear to be encouraging confrontations by praising counterprotesters.

On July 29, a student at New Zealand’s Auckland University was confronted by a group of men who objected to her involvement in adorning a protest site, known as a “Lennon Wall,” with messages of support for Hong Kong demonstrators.

Cellphone footage uploaded to social media showed one of the men moving aggressively toward the student, who fell to the ground.

Three days later, the Chinese Consulate in Auckland published a statement that appeared to support the actions of the alleged assailant and his companions, conveying its “appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism,” while condemning unnamed individuals for “inciting anti-China sentiment.”

Protests and counterprotests have taken place since; participants say they have received threatening messages from unknown senders.

Defenders of free speech say the episodes are a wake-up call. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said this week that officials have reminded their Chinese counterparts that New Zealand “will uphold and maintain our freedom of expression.”

[Paramount and paranoid: China’s Xi faces crisis of confidence]

Standing up for such values comes at the cost of worsening relations with Beijing, the top trade partner of both countries and a lucrative source of funds for universities, which lack the big endowments of American colleges. China’s purchases of iron ore, coal and dairy products have helped power Australia and New Zealand’s prosperity.

The University of Queensland, where punches were thrown at a Hong Kong sympathy protest two weeks ago, is so close to Chinese authorities that it appointed the Chinese consul general in Brisbane a visiting professor of language and culture last month.

The consulate then praised the “patriotic behavior” of 300 pro-Beijing students after the violent incident, prompting Australia’s defense minister to warn foreign diplomats against interfering in free speech.

The university has said that it is committed to freedom of expression on campus.

https://twitter.com/nilssonjones_/status/1153869342502637568?s=20">

Among themselves, mainland Chinese students share advice on how attract sympathetic coverage in confrontations with the left-wing activists they call the “baizuo,” a pejorative term for Western liberals that translates as “white left.”

“UQ students please be calm, don’t resort to violence,” said a recent post on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service. “Try to learn from the tricks of those pro-Hong Kong independence activists. If you push me I will fall over. Fake tumble, cry and wail, call campus police. We are too strong, which won’t work in the world of baizuo.”

“It’s very tense,” said Drew Pavlou, one of the student organizers of the University of Queensland protest, in an interview. “It doesn’t feel safe. I have had to have security walk me to some classes.”

In New Zealand, an event commemorating China’s 1989 suppression of pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square scheduled for June 3 was moved away from Auckland University of Technology following pressure from Chinese officials.

[Threat from China recalls that of Nazi Germany, Australian lawmaker says]

Emails obtained through freedom-of-information requests by online outlet Newsroom revealed that China’s vice consul met with the university’s president on May 31 to request that the event be scuttled. The university received emails from the consulate on the matter, too.

University spokeswoman Alison Sykora denied that the commemoration, which was held in a different location off campus, was abandoned because of diplomatic pressure.

In Australia, officials are so concerned about Chinese influence that the attorney general has asked his department to examine why 14 Confucius Institutes — Chinese-funded education units within Australian universities — have not been registered as agents of foreign influence under a new law directed at Chinese espionage, influence and propaganda.

At the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, a Confucius Institute shares a building with the office of Anne-Marie Brady, a professor who has researched Chinese government influence. Brady has complained of threats, break-ins at her home and attempted sabotage of her car. Police investigated but were unable to identify a culprit.

Reflecting a growing unease that Australia’s economic future depends on an unpredictable adversary, former prime minister John Howard said this week that unrest in Hong Kong “perhaps represents a glimpse of the future for Chinese society.”

“If you’ve been born into relative affluence and comfort you take that for granted and you resent being told how to run your life,” he said. “Perhaps over the next 50 years we’re going to see just how all of that works out.”

Stoakes reported from Christchurch, New Zealand. Yang Liu in Beijing contributed to this report.

Hong Kong strike cripples city as leader warns of ‘dangerous situation’

Threat from China recalls that of Nazi Germany, Australian lawmaker says

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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2019-08-09 09:54:22Z
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Qatar Airways Delays Introduction Of Airbus A350-1000 To Australia - Simple Flying

Qatar Airways has delayed rolling out its A350-1000 on its Doha-Sydney-Canberra-Sydney-Doha route. The aircraft, set to begin flying the route on October 27th, 2019, has had its start date pushed back to November 16th. Currently, this flight is serviced by a Boeing 777-300ER.

qatar-airbus-a350-1000-australia — Qatar is delaying deploying its A350-1000 to Australia. Photo: Qatar Airways

It means Cathay Pacific will pip Qatar Airways to the post. It will send the first A350-1000 into Australia on October 27th, when one of its A350-1000s will operate CX105 to Melbourne. The following day, October 28th, Cathay Pacific will launch A350-1000 flights into both Sydney and Perth.

The Qatar 777 flight, QR0906, touches down in Sydney at 07:40 AEST. It would have beat Cathay’s inaugural A350-1000 landing in Melbourne by five hours. It’s hardly earth-shattering, but it would have been a little footnote in aviation history and Qatar is rarely one to miss a marketing opportunity.

Qatar in Australia

Qatar has a significant market presence in Australia and is widely regarded as one of the best airlines flying into the country. Premium Aussie travelers love the QSuites on the long haul out across the Indian Ocean to Europe.

Featured Video:

Qatar flies into Sydney twice a day. In addition to the 777-300ER morning arrival, an A380 (QR0908) touches down every evening. There is a daily A380 service (QR0904) into Melbourne, arriving early evening. Perth is graced with a daily 777-300ER service (QR0900).

Qatar doesn’t service Brisbane, despite repeated attempts to do so. But it does get kudos in Australia for flying into two under-serviced airports; Adelaide and Canberra. It sends an A350-900 (QR0914) into Adelaide every day, arriving late afternoon. It is a popular service with locals, especially as Qantas does not offer direct international flights out of the South Australian capital.

The Canberra Qatar tag flight

Canberra is a braver (some would say, crazy brave) destination. The Canberra flight is a tag flight on the morning 777-300ER Sydney flight. It is this flight that’s earmarked for the A350-1000.

Canberra, Australia’s national bush capital, is a small city of just under 400,000 people a few hours drive down the M5 from Sydney Airport. Qantas and Virgin Australia also offer frequent services between the two cities. Canberra Airport has lofty ambitions but it has had a hard time attracting international airlines. In the last few years, both Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways have started to fly in.

And the Canberra services seem to be working okay. It isn’t about saving time, it’s about avoiding the hassle of the transfer between domestic and international flights at Sydney Airport.

Says one Canberra local on a forum on Australian Frequent Flyer;

“Living in Canberra, and returning to overseas travel in the last couple of years…. how GOOD is it that one can now actually take an international flight from Canberra INTERNATIONAL Airport?

I’ve flown out with Qatar four times in the last 18 months, and damn I just love the almost toy-town experience of departing from Canberra airport.

Generally its five minutes from arrival to the airport to check in to domestic security to international security to gate. FIVE minutes.

Sooooo much indescribably better than flying domestically to Sydney and going through the Sydney transfer circus!

So much faster than catching a bus to the Sydney International Terminal… etc etc.

So yeah yeah there’s a “technical stop” (marketing stop) in Sydney but it still makes the experience much better.

Have to try Singapore Airlines at some point too….”

While the 777-330ER servicing this route does have the QSuites, the A350-1000 offers more seats and, in a win for economy class passengers, offers an extra 0.4” of seat width compared to economy seats on the 777-300ER.

Qatar currently sends it A350-1000s to Dallas, Washington, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo, Houston and New York. That lofty list will surely give local Canberra media and the bush capital boosters a chance to claim Canberra’s arrival on the scene as a serious world capital!

Simple Flying approached Qatar Airways for comment but had received no response prior to publication.

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2019-08-09 03:10:37Z
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Australia’s ‘Unbreakable,’ and Worrisome, Alliance - The New York Times

This week’s Australia Letter is written by Damien Cave, the Australia bureau chief.Sign up to get it by email.

______

Mike Pompeo, the United States secretary of state, came to Sydney a few days ago and described the American relationship with Australia as an “unbreakable alliance.”

I was there, at the State Library of New South Wales, surrounded by Australia’s foreign policy elite (including Malcolm Turnbull). I noticed both Mr. Pompeo’s stiff delivery of his upbeat, prepared remarks and his more comfortable, combative responses in the question-and-answer session.

Sitting beside Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, he was most animated when discussing why standing up to Beijing has become a priority for the Trump administration. At one point, his voice slightly raised, he stressed that the American trade war with China was not just about economics.

“Sometimes I’ll hear folks talk about trade and economic issues as separate from national security,” he said. “Let’s make no mistake about it, China’s capacity, the People’s Liberation Army’s capacity to do exactly what they are doing is a direct result of the trade relationships.”

The idea that trade and military power go hand in hand is nothing new in geopolitics, of course. But what emerged there in the library, and throughout Mr. Pompeo’s tour of the region, is an American view of China that encapsulates how the Trump administration views the world: through the lens of having been wronged, for far too long, by far too many.

In the United States, as the 2020 campaign begins, the approach is sometimes referred to as grievance politics (white grievance, in particular). Internationally, it looks more like the politics of retaliation.

President Trump has repeatedly sought to punish other countries, including allies like Mexico and Canada, for what he perceives as attempts to take advantage of the United States. China is simply his biggest target — the country that’s inspired the most frustration in the United States, and not just within the White House. The call to “do something about China” spans political parties at a time when few other subjects do.

And increasingly, there is the expectation that other countries will fall in line.

Notice how Mr. Pompeo answered the question, “How worried should Australians be about the rise of China as a great power?”

“We have to be very, very careful. America sat — I think the world, frankly, watched for too long. We were asleep at the switch as China began to behave in ways that it had not done before. So whether that’s efforts to steal data across networks … or militarize the South China Sea, something President Xi promised the world he would not do; or engage in activities where they foist money on nations that are desperate for resources and leave them trapped in debt positions which ultimately aren’t about commercial transactions but are about political control — those are the kind of things that I think everyone needs to have their eyes wide open with respect to. The United States certainly does, and we welcome China’s continued growth, but it’s got to be right. It’s got to be fair. It’s got to be equitable. It’s got to be reciprocal. They have to behave in a way that ensures that the value sets that Australia and the United States have continue to be the rules by which the entire world engages.”

In that answer, I count three related threads. First, there is that sense of outrage — I could hear it in Mr. Pompeo’s voice. Second, there is the appeal to ideals like fairness; and third, there is the expectation of loyalty, not to nation, but to values.

This is where things get tricky for Australia and many other countries. Which of these elements defines the current relationship with the United States? What I hear in conversations with Australians about America these days is a mix of curiosity, attraction and doubt.

Does aligning with the United States mean jumping into a car with an angry, vengeful driver more likely to crash, or joining forces with a still-powerful ally fighting for shared values and the preservation of a rules-based order?

Australian journalists peppered Mr. Pompeo with specific questions, seeming to poke around for clues to how much action the United States wanted Australia to take. Would it be asked to host American missiles? How did the Trump administration want Australia to contribute to its efforts to keep oil flowing from the Middle East?

In his answers, Mr. Pompeo repeatedly promised consultation. He warned against jumping to the most severe conclusions, dismissing “the idea that somehow we’re close to conflict in the military sense with China.”

But in all of these exchanges, there were signs of deeper doubts and concerns about what an “unbreakable alliance” really means, now and in the near future. Fear, it seems, is a natural byproduct of a foreign policy focused on retaliation, and in the wake of Mr. Pompeo’s visit, the discussion about China’s potential threats has already ramped up in Parliament.

So here’s my question for Australia Letter readers. Which country of great importance to Australia do you fear more right now: China, or the United States? Why? And how should those fears guide Australia’s foreign policy, if it all?

Also of note: I’ll be discussing China — more specifically, Hong Kong, and where the protests there might lead — on a free group call on Friday at 10 a.m. A.E.S.T. with Austin Ramzy, who has been covering the demonstrations for us. Jamie Tarabay, an Australia correspondent and former Hong Kong resident, will be moderating. Here’s how to join the call.

Now, here are a few more stories to keep you informed and engaged …

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Australia and New Zealand

Aisling Franciosi in Jennifer Kent’s “The Nightingale.” — CreditKasia Ladczuk/IFC Films

— When Rape Onscreen Is Directed by a Woman: A divisive new film, “The Nightingale,” by the same director as “The Babadook,” has been met with praise as well as vitriol and walkouts. The controversy raised questions about how stories involving rape should be told — and by whom.

— Read a review of the film by our critic A.O Scott, who called it “thick with horror and heavy with feeling.”

— In Sydney, a Ceramic Artist Who Captures the Beauty of Decay:Alana Wilson’s delicate vessels belie the violent chemical processes she uses to make them.

— What Veterans Say This New Film Gets Right, and Wrong, About Their Vietnam War: In “Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan,” a filmmaker’s dramatization has earned both praise and pushback from the soldiers who survived the attack 53 years ago.

— New Zealand Takes On a Long-Avoided Issue: Decriminalizing Abortion: The government is taking on an issue that has long been sidestepped, hoping to fulfill a campaign vow by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

— These Giant Parrots Once Roamed New Zealand: They were three feet tall, probably flightless and weighed as much as some bowling balls.

— Canadian Teenage Murder Suspects Found Dead in Manitoba, Police Say: The police said they believed they had found the bodies of two teenagers suspected in a violent rampage that killed an Australian man.

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Around the Times

Image

CreditKathy Willens/Associated Press

— Toni Morrison, Towering Novelist of the Black Experience, Dies at 88: Ms. Morrison, who wrote “Beloved” and “Song of Solomon,” was the first African-American woman to win the Nobel in literature.

— The Vegetarians Who Turned Into Butchers: How several former vegans and vegetarians came to see meat as their calling.

— Nicolas Cage on Acting, Philosophy and Searching for the Holy Grail: “I wanted to have the mystery of the old stars, always preserved in an enigmatic aura.”

— ‘Shut the Site Down,’ Says the Creator of 8chan, a Megaphone for Gunmen: The site is a venue for extremists to test out ideas, share violent literature and cheer on the perpetrators of mass killings.

— T Presents: 15 New Creative Talents: Working across food, fashion, art and design, these people are reinventing the rules of their professions and inspiring us to look at familiar worlds anew.

… And Over to You

Last week, Isabella Kwai, self-confessed anxious driver, chose four podcasts to explore for your morning commute and asked for your favorite. Thanks to everyone who put forward some choice recommendations — the list grows ever longer! Here are some of them:

— Chat 10 Looks 3 — from Billi McCarthy-Price

— Hamish & Andy — from Andrew Vann

— Human/Ordinary — from Debbie Ann

— Conversations — from Janet Hanson

And from Barry Long: “You should try driving in silence. It greatly enhances your ability to focus on your driving. This is especially important when traveling at high speed or in challenging driving conditions. To me, trying to listen to a podcast is no different to talking on the phone while driving. More and more, people seem to treat driving as sitting in a mobile entertainment center.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/world/australia/pompeo-china.html

2019-08-08 23:56:49Z
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