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Entertainment

Dwayne Johnson responds after dividing fans with Joe Rogan defence in wake of N-word controversy

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Dwayne Johnson has said he’s had a “learning moment” after dividing fans with his response to “brother” Joe Rogan.

Earlier this week, the Hollywood star was called out for his swift praise of the US podcaster, who has caused several musicians to boycott Spotify due to his spread of “misinformation’ about the Covid-19 vaccine.

In a lengthy video, Rogan addressed the situation, telling his followers that he thinks “a lot of people had a distorted perception of what I do”.

“[My] podcast has been accused of spreading dangerous misinformation, specifically about two episodes,” he said, adding: “I’m not trying to promote misinformation. I’m not trying to be controversial. I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than just talk to people and have interesting conversations.”

In response to the video, Johnson wrote: “Great stuff here, brother. Perfectly articulated.” He added that he looks forward to “coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you”.

A contingent of Johnson’s fans were disappointed with the actor’s response, and are now asking him to rethink his stance after a compilation of him saying the N-word more than 20 times resurfaced online.

The clip was shared by musician India Arie, who said she was removing her music from Spotify on Tuesday (1 February) because of Rogan’s “language around race”.

Elaborating in a later Instagram post, Arie shared the compilation that was stitched together from several episodes of Rogan’s podcast recorded before 2019.

“In no uncertain terms where I stand on this is he shouldn’t even be uttering the word,” Arie told her followers. “Don’t even say it – under any context.”

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Another clip shows him comparing a Black neighbourhood to being in the film Planet of the Apes.

Joe Rogan has apologised for resurfaced clips showing him using the N-word multiple times

(Getty Images)

Alerting Johnson to the clips, author Don Winslow wrote: “You’re a hero to many people and using your platform to defend Joe Rogan, a guy that used and laughed about using the N word dozens of times, is a terrible use of your power. Have you actually listened to this man’s many racist statements about Black people?”

Johnson thanked Winslow for bringing the clips to his attention, and said that he has now “become educated to [Rogan’s] complete narrative”.

“Thank you so much for this, I hear you as well as everyone here 100 per cent. I was not aware of his N word use prior to my comments, but now I’ve become educated to his complete narrative. Learning moment for me. Mahalo, brother and have a great & productive weekend,” Johnson replied.

Dwayne Johnson said he’s had ‘learning moment’ regarding Joe Rogan amid N-word controversy

(Twitter)

In the wake of the N-word controversy, Rogan issued an apology on Instagram, stating: “There’s nothing I can do to take that back – I wish I could. I do hope, if anything, that this can be a teachable moment.”

Find his full apology here.

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World

Australia rushes to file defence of Djokovic ban as court battle looms

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MELBOURNE, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Australian authorities scrambled on Sunday to file a legal defence of their decision to bar entry to tennis world number one Novak Djokovic over his COVID-19 vaccination status, as the Serbian superstar spent his fourth day in immigration detention.

Djokovic was hoping to win his 21st Grand Slam at the Australian Open, starting next week, but instead of training has been confined to a hotel used to accommodate asylum seekers. He is challenging the decision to cancel his visa after being stopped on arrival at Melbourne Airport early on Thursday.

A vocal opponent of vaccine mandates, Djokovic had declined to reveal his vaccination status or reason for seeking a medical exemption from Australia’s vaccine rules. He broke his silence on Saturday with a legal challenge saying he had been granted an exemption due to contracting – and recovering from – the virus in December.

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The Melbourne drama has rocked world tennis, caused tensions between Serbia and Australia and become a flashpoint for opponents of vaccine mandates around the world.

Australia says its health department notified tournament organising body Tennis Australia in November that a recent COVID-19 infection was not necessarily grounds for exemption in the country, as it is elsewhere. Djokovic’s lawsuit says the Department of Home Affairs wrote to him this month to say he had satisfied the requirements to enter the country.

Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said in his first media interview since the furore began that his organisation had spoken with federal and state officials for months to ensure the safe passage of players.

“Primarily because there is (so) much contradictory information the whole time, every single week we were talking to Home Affairs, we were talking to all parts of government to ensure that … we were doing the right thing and (following) the right process with these exemptions,” Tiley told Channel Nine television.

“The conflicting information, and the contradictory information we received, was because of the changing environment. We are in a challenging environment.”

Home Affairs, which was due to file its defence on Sunday, requested a delay of the matter’s hearing from Monday to Wednesday, a court representative told Reuters. The application was rejected, according to a ruling on the federal court’s website.

Djokovic’s lawyers will have up to two hours to present their case from 10 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Monday, while the government department gets two hours to present its defence from 3 p.m., the Federal Circuit and Family Court ruled.

A Home Affairs spokesperson was not immediately available for comment about its legal defence.

Supporters of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic rally outside the Park Hotel, where the star athlete is believed to be held while he stays in Australia, in Melbourne, Australia, January 9, 2022. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

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SPOTLIGHT ON REFUGEES

Health Minister Greg Hunt, asked about the furore at a media conference on Sunday, declined to comment since it was before the court, but noted that several other people involved in the tournament had their visas revoked.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham, asked about the matter on Channel 9 television, said without referring directly to Djokovic that “there’s a clear difference between visas and entry requirements” and “entry requirements … sit over and above the visa conditions”.

Czech player Renata Voracova, who was detained in the same detention hotel as Djokovic and had her visa revoked after issues with her vaccine exemption, left the country without challenging her status, the Czech Foreign Ministry said.

Djokovic’s situation has drawn an unlikely crowd to the modest Melbourne hotel which, until this month, was best known for media reports about asylum seeker occupants claiming they were served food containing maggots.

Anti-vaccine protesters, refugee advocates and Djokovic fans have converged outside the building, which is under police guard.

“We are sorry that he has been detained, but we ask you: why does it take the presence of a celebrity to bring attention to our plight?” said Bangladeshi refugee Mohammad Joy Miah, who has been at the facility since 2020.

Since the hotel’s windows don’t open, Miah gave his speech over the phone, which a supporter projected through a megaphone at a protest outside the facility on Sunday.

Home Affairs was not immediately available to respond to Miah’s comments.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said Djokovic had been given gluten-free food, tools to exercise and a SIM card to stay in contact with the outside world.

“It’s a positive tone from the Australian side. The Serbian government is ready to provide all the guarantees necessary for Novak to be allowed to enter Australia, the Serbian president is also involved,” Brnabic said.

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Reporting by Courtney Walsh in Melbourne and Byron Kaye in Sydney; Editing by Paul Simao, William Mallard and Ana Nicolaci da Costa

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Australia, South Korea sign $717m defence deal | Military News

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Defence contract is the largest struck between Australia and an Asian nation, and its signing came during a visit by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to the capital of Australia, Canberra.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have signed a $717m defence deal.

Worth about 1 billion Australian dollars, the contract was signed on Monday during a four-day visit by Moon to Canberra. The South Korean president is the first foreign leader to visit Australia since the pandemic began.

The new defence deal will see South Korean defence company Hanwha provide the Australian army with artillery weapons, supply vehicles and radars.

It is the largest defence contract struck between Australia and an Asian nation, and comes at a time of heightened tensions between Australia and China.

Australia recently announced a deal to build nuclear-powered submarines in a partnership, dubbed AUKUS, with the United States and the United Kingdom — a move that China has strongly condemned.

Morrison said the new defence contract would create about 300 jobs in Australia, where a division of Hanwha operates.

“The contract that we have signed today, I think, speaks volumes about what we believe are the capabilities of the Korean defence industry,” he said.

“It’s an important further chapter in the defence industry story for Australia as we continue to build our sovereign capability and Korea is an important partner in that journey – both in our security arrangements, but also in the building of our sovereign capability in defence manufacturing.”

Moon said South Korea had similar values to Australia when it came to its geopolitical outlook and said his Canberra visit “is very important for the national interest of Korea and to promote peace and prosperity in the region”.

But he also said that South Korea’s relationship with China was important, particularly when it came to pursuing peace with North Korea.

“Therefore, South Korea is focused on the steadfast alliance with the US and also with China,” Moon said. “We want a harmonised relationship.”

The South Korean president also ruled out joining a US-led diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, saying he was “not considering” such a move.

Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom have joined Washington’s campaign, citing concern over alleged human rights abuses in China.

A top diplomat in Canberra told the ABC broadcaster that Moon had calculated it was worth travelling to Australia to strengthen ties despite possible repercussions from China.

“At the end of his single five-year term and in the midst of the pandemic, it has to be quite important to signal a degree of support and comfort with Australia’s membership of the Quad and the AUKUS agreement,” said Bill Paterson, a former diplomat who served as Australia’s ambassador to Seoul until 2016.

“[The] Koreans have obviously taken a view that they want to send a positive signal to Australia both strategically and economically – and are prepared to take some measure of risk in this.”

Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton said his government was committed to keeping the region safe, and the new contract would help modernise the Australian army.

“The prime ability of the new vehicles is to fire and move quickly, avoiding enemy counterattack,” Dutton said. “This project will mean a significant increase in the level of firepower and security for Australian artillery capability.”

South Korea is Australia’s fourth-largest trading partner and fourth-largest export market under a free trade agreement that has been in force since 2014.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

During their talks, Morrison and Moon agreed to upgrade the formal ties between their nations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”.

The leaders also said they would work together on developing clean energy technologies, including hydrogen, and on facilitating the supply of critical minerals, which Australia has in abundance.



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World

Attack on Burkina Faso defence outpost kills at least 20 | News

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Government denounces ‘cowardly and barbaric attack’ that killed 19 gendarmes and a civilian.

Gunmen have killed at least 19 gendarmes and a civilian in northern Burkina Faso, in the tri-border region where the country has for years been battling armed groups.

Security Minister Maxime Kone told state media on Sunday the toll from the attack on a military police outpost near a gold mine in Inata was provisional.

“This morning a detachment of the gendarmerie suffered a cowardly and barbaric attack. They held their position,” Kone said, adding that 22 survivors had been found.

There were fears the death toll could rise.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, one of the deadliest against defence and security forces since Burkina Faso was gripped by conflict in 2015.

It came two days after another assault in which seven police officers were killed in the area near Niger and Mali.

Attacks by armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) have continued to intensify in the tri-border area despite the presence of thousands of United Nations, regional and Western troops and efforts by some governments to negotiate with the fighters.



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World

China sends 19 aircraft into Taiwan’s air defence zone | Taiwan

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China’s military sent 19 aircraft into Taiwan’s “air defence identification zone” on Sunday, including several nuclear-capable bombers, on the eve of Taipei’s annual war games exercises.

The sortie by China’s People’s Liberation Army air force was one of the largest in weeks, and included 10 J-16 and four Su-30 fighters, as well as four H-6 bombers, which can carry nuclear weapons, and an anti-submarine aircraft.

The planes flew a short distance from the coast of China towards the southern tip of Taiwan, north of the disputed Pratas Island, and into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (Adiz). The area is not Taiwan’s territorial airspace but the sorties provoke Taiwan’s air force to scramble jets in response, and on Sunday missile monitoring systems were also deployed.

PLA flights towards Taiwan have increased in the last 18 months, with periods of near-daily flights involving a usually small number of planes. The largest recorded was 28 planes sent in June. Planes have also been sent past Taiwan and up the island’s east coast.

While activity has been increasing generally, large incursions by the PLA usually appear to be in response to particular events, for instance US arms sales to Taiwan, or military activity in or near the Taiwan Strait.

It was not clear what prompted Sunday’s action, but Taiwan’s annual large scale live-fire exercises are set to begin next weekend, with rehearsal drills held on Monday. In recent weeks, military vessels from the US and the UK have also sailed through the region, with a US warship and a US Coast Guard cutter going through the Taiwan Strait.

The Taiwan strait and nearby South China and East China Seas are geopolitically sensitive and the site of increasing Chinese expansionist activities. Beijing considers Taiwan to be a province of China under what it calls the “one China principle”, and has not ruled out the use of force to “reunite” it. It considers the Tsai Ing-wen-led Taiwanese government to be separatist. Tsai’s administration maintains that Taiwan is already an independent state.

There is growing speculation over the likelihood of Beijing, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, deciding to move on Taiwan. The potential circumstances and timing is vociferously debated, but there is general consensus that the risk is higher now than it has been for decades.

In a report to parliament last month, Taiwan’s defence ministry said China has the capability to “paralyse” the island’s defences, including through cyber-attacks, Reuters reported.

China “can combine with its internet army to launch wired and wireless attacks against the global internet, which would initially paralyse our air defences, command of the sea and counter-attack system abilities, presenting a huge threat to us”, the ministry’s report said.

As China has become more isolated on the world stage, modernised its military, and expanded its activities in border and disputed regions, tensions have grown between its government and Taiwan and its supporters. The US maintains a policy that does not guarantee or rule out coming to Taiwan’s defence in the event of an attack, but under president Donald Trump the US increased its arms sales to Taiwan, and the Biden administration has reaffirmed support.

Japan has also become increasingly vocal with its concerns over the China threat. Its deputy prime minister remarked in July that an attack on Taiwan could be considered an existential threat to Japan – which would trigger constitutional permissions for the country to engage militarily. Under a 2015 reinterpretation of its pacifist, post-second world war constitution, Japan says it can use force to come to the aid of an ally, with the justification that failing to do so could endanger Japan.

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Business

Pentagon cancels $10bn Jedi contract with Microsoft after Amazon challenge | US defence spending

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The US defense department (DoD) has canceled its $10bn Jedi cloud-computing project, pulling the Trump-era award to Microsoft Corp and announcing a new contract that pits the big software firm against rival Amazon.com.

The contract awarded by the Pentagon in late 2019 has been on hold after Amazon filed a lawsuit challenging the decision under then president Donald Trump. Trump publicly derided Amazon’s then CEO, Jeff Bezos, and repeatedly criticized the company.

Amazon said in 2019 the Pentagon decision was full of “egregious errors”, which it suggested were a result of “improper pressure from Trump”. The company cited a 2019 book that reported Trump had directed the defense department to “screw Amazon” out of the Jedi contract.

As recently as September the defense department re-evaluated the contract proposals and said Microsoft’s submission was the best.

John Sherman, acting chief information officer for the defense department, said he expects both Microsoft and Amazon will get cloud contracts. He said the need was urgent. “I’ve got to get this now – as soon as possible – starting hopefully as soon as April,” Sherman said.

Under the new Biden administration, the Pentagon initially said Amazon and Microsoft were the only companies that can meet the department’s requirements but noted later in a press conference that they were reaching out to other cloud providers in the next three months if they also meet the government’s standards.

Other top cloud companies include Oracle Corp, Alphabet Inc’s Google and IBM Corp.

Microsoft shares were down 0.5%, while Amazon traded up more than 4% and hit a record high after the news.

Microsoft said in a statement the company was confident it will “continue to be successful as the DoD selects partners for new work”. Microsoft could submit a termination bid to recover costs of the scrapped project, Sherman said. Amazon did not immediately comment.

The now-cancelled Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (Jedi) contract was budgeted for as much as $10bn and was part of a broader digital modernization of the Pentagon aimed at making it more technologically agile.

“We don’t have an estimate yet, but I wouldn’t latch on to the $10bn figure,” Sherman said.

“This plan involves a multi-cloud procurement by a full and open competition perhaps as soon as early 2025. For the near term, however, we are confident that a direct award path is absolutely required and appropriate to enable us to bring urgently needed enterprise cloud capabilities to the force,” Sherman said.

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Science

Boeing Company (BA), European Aeronautic Defence And Space Unsponsored (EADSY), Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) – Space And 3-D Printing: A Marriage Made In Orbit

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Space exploration and orbital operations remain an exciting investment sector because, if history and reputation are any guides at all, space programs are where tomorrow’s market-changing technologies are designed, tested, and proven. Not much has changed that—not even Covid-19.

You may not have noticed, for example, that there were 114 space launches over the past year. That’s nearly a 20-year high. You probably did notice the recent flood of commercial players in space launch and delivery. Sure, SpaceX and Blue Origin gobbled up most of the headlines, but the space market is actually now a viable and addressable market.

However, it’s not a new market. Some investors have been long on private space interests for years. As an example, I backed privately held OneSpace a few years ago. So, it’s not the space aspect that is new, it’s the addressable market potential.

The Need For More Stuff In Space

That space is now a commercially competitive arena is why we’ve seen, for example, the cost of moving materials from Earth to orbit fall at a shocking clip. It used to cost a staggering $54,000 to get one kilogram of something into space aboard the space shuttle. Now, that cost has shrunk under $3,000 per kilo with private carriers, and will probably fall further.

With orbital freight rates falling, it may seem counterintuitive to have growing excitement for investments in the space-adjacent market of 3-D printing.

The idea of 3-D printing in space was always intended, in part, as a workaround to the outlandish and prohibitive cost of getting things to orbit. Why box up and launch heavy machinery, gear, or even fragile components if you can just print them in space and save the cost and trouble?

Falling launch costs would appear to undermine that premise. If launch costs now are comparatively as cheap and accessible as shipping something across the continent, why bother with 3-D printing in space?

Why 3-D Printing Is Still Necessary In Space

There are many reasons to believe 3-D space printing is not only viable but will be increasingly indispensable. The top two reasons are availability and safety.

Though the cost of transferring an object to orbit is coming down, it’s still no easy task. More than ever, launch vehicles and launch windows are still limited. Safety inspections and trials of space-bound materials are substantial and costly, and it’s not worth risking an entire launch cargo over one small piece of anything that isn’t absolutely safe to fly.

Even if you get something in orbit, getting it to exactly where it needs to go is also complicated. There is no DoorDash for space yet.

So, for example, if someone needs a spare part on the International Space Station, it’s still many miles more convenient to have them print parts on-site rather than to send it up from Earth.

Second, many of the parts and pieces required in orbit aren’t entirely safe or easy to launch, at any price. Lasers, heat shields, batteries, microprocessors, even off-the-shelf laptops are sensitive to the vibrations and jostling that happen during launch. Damaging them could limit their use or could even be dangerous. It’s simple really: why risk damaging a lithium-ion battery pack or vital machinery if you don’t have to? Even if the risk is low, when it comes to space, the best decision is always to eliminate it.

All of which is to say that 3-D printing in and for space is more likely to become more common and more necessary even as orbital prices fall and competition increases. The more space flights there are, the more satellites and exploration and research vehicles there are, the more parts and pieces they will need. And in many of those cases, it won’t make logistical or safety sense to launch them.  

From an investment view, the good news is that dozens of companies are already deeply invested, both financially and technologically, in 3-D space printing. Here’s an independent list of 50 of them. Some of these companies are going to do quite well as the demand for bypassing or supplementing the launch process grows. While most of the companies listed are still privately held, there is a handful that are already publicly traded, such as Airbus SE (OTC:EADSY), Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc (NYSE:AJRD), Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT), Jacobs Engineering Group Inc (NYSE:J), and a company I am a current investor of, KULR Technology Group (OTCQB:KULR).

The even better news is that a few of the companies that get space printing right will have front-row seats to the technology’s growth and commercialization on Earth, which is sure to happen. That’s the investment space play entirely – finding things that work both up in space and down on Earth. In my opinion, 3-D printing will probably do both.

 

Xia Zuoquan is a founding investor and director of BYD Co Ltd, a maker of electric buses and plug-in electric cars and batteries. Xia founded investment firm Zhengxuan Capital in 2004, with an estimated $1.5 billion in assets.

Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash

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