Australia

Australia: Police Arrest Woman Accused of Setting Fire to Quarantine Hotel

November 30, 2021 by Gabrielle Reyes Leave a Comment

Police in Queensland, Australia, charged a woman with arson on Sunday after she allegedly set fire to a hotel room in which she was quarantined according to state coronavirus protocol, Australia’s Seven News reported Monday.

An unidentified woman, 31, allegedly started a fire under a bed in her room at the Pacific Hotel on the morning of November 28 in the city of Cairns. The woman had checked into the room on November 26 along with her two children. The woman’s children were inside of the hotel room along with their mother when she started the blaze, according to the Queensland Police Service.

The fire “destroyed the room and damaged two floors” according to Seven News. The Pacific Hotel’s operators were forced to conduct an emergency evacuation of the building in response to the blaze. All 163 guests staying at the facility at the time plus the building’s staff successfully evacuated and no injuries were reported, Queensland Police Acting Chief superintendent Chris Hodgman said on November 28.

“We did have some issues with that female occupant that we were managing,” Hodgman said of the alleged arsonist on Sunday, though he did not provide further details.

Hodgman added that the Pacific Hotel’s evacuees “were initially held at another location but have since been relocated.”

“Earlier, Queensland acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken said they were examining options about where to send the quarantine guests,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation noted on November 27.

Aitken said the possibilities included moving the guests to another state-run quarantine hotel in Cairns “or transferring them to Brisbane.”

Brisbane is the capital of Australia’s Queensland state and is located roughly 1,045 miles south of Cairns.

Queensland health officials have taken over the Pacific Hotel in recent weeks for use as a coronavirus quarantine facility.

“Anyone who arrives in Queensland from another state or overseas must quarantine for 14 days under the state’s pandemic borer restrictions,” the New York Times reported on Monday.

“Those who have a house that fits government criteria around ventilation may undergo home quarantine, but those who do not must quarantine in a designated hotel and foot the bill themselves,” according to the newspaper.

The 31-year-old woman who allegedly started a fire at the quarantine hotel in Cairns on Sunday had recently arrived in Queensland from the southern Australian state of Victoria, according to Seven News. The Cairns Magistrates Court heard the initial proceedings of the woman’s case on November 29 before adjourning until November 30.

In addition to one count of arson, the individual has additionally been charged with one count of “willful damage.”

Australian Pop Star Cody Simpson Calls Out 'Tyrannical Fear Mongering': ‘Stand Up to Authoritarianism, a Fearful Public Is a Controllable Public‘

November 29, 2021 by Alana Mastrangelo Leave a Comment

Australian pop star Cody Simpson warned against tyranny in a recent social media post, urging his 4.1 million followers to “stand up to oppression and authoritarianism,” adding that “a fearful public is a controllable public.”

“Don’t believe or buy into this tyrannical and fear-mongering crap,” Simpson said in a recent Instagram Stories post, according to a report by Daily Mail. “Stand up to oppression and authoritarianism. Life is not as chaotic as the news would like you to believe. Drama sells newspapers.”

Cody Simpson went on to say that he doesn’t consider himself a part of “this strange, backwards society,” but has nonetheless been forced to “abide by certain ridiculous laws and rules in order to remain a ‘free’ citizen.”

I really don’t consider myself a member of this strange, backwards society but due to the decades of this gradually established order, and these societal power structures and government systems now arranged and cemented, I have no choice but to abide by certain ridiculous laws and rules in order to remain a “free” citizen and not get locked in prison or unable to make a living or pursue my goals for not “playing the game.”

Instagram

While Simpson didn’t specify on what exactly he was talking about, it appears his post was related to the seemingly never ending draconiana measures taken by governments in response to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, Australia is now reportedly carrying out quarantine camps for the unvaccinated.

The singer finished his message by suggesting fear is being used as a tactic to control the public.

“Most of us with any heightened awareness can smell bullshit,” Simpson said. “All we want is some truth. As soon as things calm down, something new to be afraid of is introduced! A fearful public is a controllable public in my eyes.”

This is not the first time Simpson has been critical of the handling of the coronavirus.

In August, he criticised Queensland’s lockdown, sharing a photo of himself during an early morning swim at the beach.

“Making the most of Aussie lockdown,” Simpson wrote at the time. “We can’t train at our pool all week. But more importantly most people have had to shut their businesses.”

“It’s a curious and complex argument but I hope the world can open again soon and we can go back to normal life,” he added. “If politicians and bureaucrats had to sacrifice their salaries or take pay cuts during lockdowns, I wonder how long they’d last. Food for thought.”

“Fear is the best weapon others have in destroying wide-open awareness and freedom,” Simpson said. “Turn off the news and go outside.”

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

Father: Novak Djokovic 'Probably Won't' Play Australian Open over Vaccine 'Blackmail'

November 29, 2021 by Frances Martel Leave a Comment

Srdjan Djokovic, father of world tennis number one Novak Djokovic, said on television Sunday that his son “probably won’t” play in the Australian Open in January due to the implementation of a coronavirus vaccine mandate, which he called “blackmail.”

Djokovic is the top-ranked player on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour and has held that ranking for more time than anyone else in history. He has also won more Australian Open tournaments than anyone else, taking home the trophy nine times. He has won 20 Grand Slam tournament titles – more than anyone else except for Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who both also have 20 titles.

Djokovic’s absence at the Australian Open would have some sentimental significance as it was the first Grand Slam that he won in 2008 and he has called it his “favorite tournament.”

Srdjan Djokovic made the remarks during an interview on a morning program on TV Prva in the family’s native Serbia.

“As far as vaccines and non-vaccines [sic] are concerned, it is the personal right of each of us whether we will be vaccinated or not. No one has the right to enter into our intimacy, it is guaranteed by the constitution,” the elder Djokovic said, according to a translation by the Serbian state-affiliated news site B92. “Everyone has the right to decide on their health. Whether he is vaccinated or not, that is his exclusive right. Will he publish it, I don’t think so. I don’t know that decision either, and if I did, I wouldn’t share it with you.”

Srdjan Djokovic said his son would want to go to the tournament “with all his heart … and we would love that, too.”

“Under these blackmails and conditions, he probably won’t,” he concluded. “I wouldn’t do that. And he’s my son, so you decide for yourself.”

Djokovic’s presence at the tournament became widely considered uncertain since organizers asserted they would demand all players show proof of vaccination before entering. Djokovic has refused to answer anyone asking if he has received a Chinese coronavirus vaccine. He tested positive for Chinese coronavirus last year while participating in an unofficial tennis tournament, the Adria Tour, that he personally organized amid global coronavirus lockdowns.

A study published in the science magazine Nature in July 2021 found that individuals who have been infected with the virus possess some level of resistance to it in the future, though to what extent those recovered are immune to a second infection, particularly in light of the discovery of significantly mutated coronavirus variants, has remained a point of contention in the scientific community.

Asked about the Australian Open last week, Novak Djokovic only responded, “we’ll see.”

“The freedom of choice is essential for everyone, whether it’s me or somebody else,” he said on a separate occasion last week. “Doesn’t really matter whether it’s vaccination or anything else in life. You should have the freedom to choose – in this particular case, what you want to put in your body.”

While Djokovic has not specified if he has received doses of any approved coronavirus vaccine product, he openly stated he did not want a vaccine against coronavirus in 2020, prior to their availability.

“Personally, I am opposed to vaccination,” Djokovic said on Facebook in April 2020. “I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel.”

“But if it becomes compulsory, what will happen? I will have to make a decision. I have my own thoughts about the matter, and whether those thoughts will change at some point, I don’t know,” he continued.

Pressed on the issue following that statement, Djokovic asserted, “I have expressed my views because I have the right to and I also feel responsible to highlight certain essential topics that are concerning the tennis world.”

Following those remarks, and in an apparently show of defiance against the ATP Tour for canceling several high-profile tournaments, Djokovic founded what he called the Adria Tour, a small Eastern European tournament with little-to-no coronavirus precautionary measures. The Adria Tour ended preemptively when several of the major players participating, including Djokovic, tested positive for coronavirus, resulting in widespread condemnation.

“I can only see criticism lately and much of it is malicious,” Djokovic told Serbian media at the time. “It’s obviously more than just criticism, it’s like an agenda and a witch hunt are on. Someone has to take the fall, a big name.”

Djokovic has won the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon since the ill-fated Adria Tour.

Craig Tilley, the CEO of Tennis Australia, almost immediately began fielding questions about Djokovic upon announcing a vaccine mandate for the Australian Open. He addressed the situation on Australian television on Monday in response to the younger Djokovic’s “we’ll see” comments – not the elder’s about “blackmail.”

“This has been a bone of contention all the way through but when the premier announced that anyone coming into Victoria and playing at Melbourne Park will need to be vaccinated, that included the fans as well as the staff and also for the players,” Tilley said, predicting “close to 90 percent” compliance from players.

Tilley claimed that “everyone understands it” and the vaccine mandate has “been well received.”

“[W]e’ve contributed to more players getting vaccinated because we’re the first event that’s required mandatory vaccinations,” Tilley asserted.

Tilley also specifically stated Djokovic would have to show proof of vaccination to attend and would not receive an exception based on his prior coronavirus-positive status or his ranking as top men’s player in the world.

Djokovic’s absence will leave only Nadal of the three most awarded players in history in the Australian Open, as Federer is recovering from knee surgery. Their absence leaves open the opportunity for a younger generation of players to make it to the final after nearly two decades of dominance by the three.

Australia has enacted some of the most severe Chinese coronavirus restrictions in the world, including provisions such as the use of soldiers to trap people indoors, which have attracted the concern of global human rights activists. Australia deployed hundreds of soldiers last summer to enforce a ban on people leaving their homes. Australian officials have used disproportionate violence on occasion to quell the protests, including one incident in which police pepper-sprayed an elderly woman in the face.

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.

Chinese Defense Ministry Wants Closer Ties to U.S. Military

November 26, 2021 by John Hayward Leave a Comment

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said on Friday that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) desires closer relations with the U.S. military – and then blamed the U.S. for taking “provocative” actions that make such a close relationship difficult.

Wu said China wants to be friends, but Washington insists on such aggressive policies as supporting Taiwan, challenging China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, and monitoring Chinese military movements.

“As we have said many times, China has principles for the development of relations between the two militaries, which is that China’s sovereignty, dignity and core interests cannot be violated,” Wu said.

“On the Taiwan issue in particular, China has no room for compromise and the U.S. should not have any illusions,” he added.

Wu objected to U.S. officials describing China as a “strategic threat,” accusing them of “paranoia” and “persecution.”

“People who are addicted to and chasing hegemony always feel that others are coveting their hegemony,” he sniffed. “Their purpose is simply to find excuses for their own pursuit of absolute superiority in the military field and the maintenance of global hegemony,”

In truth, China is the party raising tensions across the Pacific – everywhere from the skies of Taiwan, which have been filled with a large number of Chinese warplanes lately, to the Philippines, which is resisting aggressive Chinese attempts to seize disputed shoals by force.

Philippine Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday rejected China’s demands for Philippine forces to remove their unusual outpost from the disputed Second Thomas Shoal as “baseless.”

Lorenzana said China is the “trespasser” on the shoal, which has been blockaded by Chinese coast guard ships over the past few days. Philippine vessels were blocked from resupplying the small contingent of troops based on the BRP Sierra Madre, a rusty ship deliberately run aground in 1999 so the Philippine military could use it as an observation post.

“Ayungin Shoal lies within our EEZ, where we have sovereign rights. Our EEZ was awarded to us by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China ratified. China should abide by its international obligations,” said Lorenzana, using the Philippines’ preferred name for the landmark.

The U.S. State Department said last week that America “stands with our ally, the Philippines, in the face of this escalation that directly threatens regional peace and stability.”

The State Department said China’s blockade of the Second Thomas Shoal “escalates regional tensions, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as guaranteed under international law and undermines the rules-based international order.”

The State Department said America would respond to any “armed attack on Philippine public vessels” under relevant defense treaties.

Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton also denounced China’s “alarming” actions on Friday, pointing to its bullying of Taiwan and relentless militarization of the South China Sea.

“We’re all familiar with the frequent claims of the Chinese government that it is committed to peace, cooperation and development. And yet we bear witness to a significant disconnect between the words and the actions. We’ve watched very closely as the Chinese government has engaged in increasingly alarming activities,” he said.

The Australian government on Thursday took note of Chinese surveillance ships operating near the Australian coast in July and August, passing through its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that in contrast with China’ incessant complaints about U.S. Navy Freedom of Navigation operations (FONOP) in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, Australia was willing to acknowledge the Chinese ships did take illegal actions.

“It does mean that Australia has to be on its guard and Australia has to stand up to those who want to coerce us… and slap trade sanctions on things like our wine, and our government is standing up to that,” Morrison said, alluding to punitive Chinese sanctions against Australian goods.