Aug
8
2022
Cambodia’s prime minister almost sounded like a measured and reasonable national leader when he censured Myanmar for the recent execution of four opposition activists, noting the killings “deeply disappointed and disturbed” members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The executions by the Myanmar junta went ahead, Hun Sen said last week, “despite the appeals …read more
Aug
2
2022
Thirty-five years after he first clenched his jaw as a daring jet pilot in a tight white t-shirt, Tom Cruise is Top Gun again. The Jurassic world is back, 28 years after those dinosaurs first raked in millions at the movies. Nearly four decades after her song first soared into the charts Kate Bush is …read more
Jul
29
2022
Dramatically called the Lord of War and the Merchant of Death, the convicted Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout, now sitting out a 25-year prison sentence in a US federal prison in Illinois, has been reduced to the status of a “substantial” bargaining chip. The US government has offered to swap Bout, who was scooped up in …read more
Jul
28
2022
The complicated dance of Taiwan diplomacy is becoming increasingly fraught, with a mooted August visit to the beleaguered territory by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi creating any number of potholes to trip up unwary politicians and unsettle the delicate balance of US-China relations. US President Joe Biden is expected to discuss these Taiwan tensions with …read more
Jul
16
2022
Alexis Clarke’s strawberry-blonde hair is pulled back from her face, and she’s wearing no-nonsense black leggings, black running shoes and an olive-green puffer jacket on this chilly day in Thirroul, a northern suburb of the NSW coastal city of Wollongong. Glowing slightly, she looks as though she’s just arrived from the gym (and in fact …read more
May
10
2022
Julia Child’s coq au vin recipe was a bridge too far for me. I have never been able to cook (when I was younger my three-tin mix – tuna, beans, lentils, stir, heat, eat – was the target of much scorn), but recently I have tried to learn to put a meal together.
May
7
2022
SOPHIE MAK will probably never go home. She has been too vocal and too critical of both China’s and Hong Kong’s governments over the years, using Twitter to comment on the unfolding tragedy in her homeland, Hong Kong. With long black hair, a short-sleeved, bright red dress and a surprisingly deep and husky voice, Mak, …read more
Apr
1
2022
Machine learning is driving the computing revolution now sweeping through the world’s economies, and an Adelaide-based institute is ranking high among leading research centres dedicated to this sophisticated form of data analysis. A type of artificial intelligence that enables a computer to improve its operations with experience, machine learning has already up-ended global transport, communications, and …read more
Apr
1
2022
A huge Aboriginal cultural centre under construction on Adelaide’s North Terrace will break design rules and set standards for immersive and creative storytelling. With an unusual and distinctive architectural design that evolved and changed with Aboriginal oversight, the centre will be managed by Aboriginal custodians and become a place of welcome and cultural rejuvenation for Aboriginal and …read more
Mar
8
2022
After 20 years working as a graphic designer, both in Australia and overseas, Kylie McCaffrey started to look around for a different career, a profession with more stability and more face-to-face human interaction.“I started to feel the desire to study something else,” she remembers. “I felt like I was doing the same thing all the …read more