At Monday night's council meeting, councillors voted to note letters have been written to the Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery Jacinta Allan and Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy Harriet Shing, advocating opportunities for local businesses for the Games in response to a petition.
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Vandals damage local truck wash - bay 93.9 Geelong Bay 93.9
An extra $286 million over four years in funding will also be pumped into the arts sector.
Under the changes, the Australia Council will morph into a new umbrella body called Creative Australia.
If we skew it too far in favour of the streamers we will end up with more content behind the paywall.
— Bridget Fair, Free TV chief executive
The governing board will continue to be known as the Australia Council, and it will continue to provide grants to visual artists and theatre and dance groups. The existing board members will retain their positions.
But sitting alongside that will be two new independent bodies which will also make grants: Music Australia, with a focus on live and recorded music, and Writers Australia, which will help authors and publishers.
The government believes commercial musicians and authors have not been well-served by the traditional grants-based funding approach.
Dean Ormston, chief of music industry association APRA AMCOS, welcomed the creation of Music Australia.
“There is an unrealistic expectation that it’s OK for people working in the music industry to work three jobs to eke out a sustainable career, and it doesn’t have to be like this” he said.
The government will spend the six months consulting over the details of local content requirements, including the size of the contribution from the streamers, amid demands from Screen Producers Australia for the companies’ to spend 20 per cent of their local revenue on home-grown programs. However, the government may settle for a smaller figure.
“If you’re watching commercial TV, there are Australian content obligations. But if you’re watching a streaming service, there are none. I know we can do better,” Mr Burke said.
However, Free TV chief executive Bridget Fair, who represents commercial broadcasters, said she was concerned local content quotas for streaming services would drive up the overall cost of producing shows in Australia as the two sectors competed for talent and staff.
She said the free-to-air networks already spent $1.5 billion annually on their local content requirements.
“I understand we’ve got to compete in a new environment, but I’m not sure we need to distort the market with new quotas,” she said.
“If we skew it too far in favour of the streamers we will end up with more content behind the paywall.”
Free-to-air broadcaster Channel 9 is part of a media group that also owns streaming service Stan and publishes The Australian Financial Review.
Screen Producers Australia chief Matt Deaner said what would be defined as “Australian content” would be a key part of consultations
“Getting this right is no simple matter. There’s a world of cultural difference between Pirates of the Caribbean and The Drover’s Wife, both of which were supported by Australian taxpayers,” he said.
Opposition arts spokesman Paul Fletcher and communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said the government’s plans raised a raft of questions, including how the quota would be calculated, whether local content would be limited to just drama or extend to reality television and games shows, and the risk streamers may withdraw from Australia.
They also questioned how the scheme would treat Paramount+ and Stan, which are part of broader media groups that include Australian free-to-air television stations.
“Why does it makes sense to have three different sets of Australian content rules, one for free-to-air TV, one for pay TV (Foxtel) and a third for SVOD services,” Mr Fletcher and Ms Henderson said.
words by kaya martin
For the small business, which only opened in April of last year, the robbery was a heavy blow. When a thief broke the back window of Sonic Rendezvous and made off with four guitars, an amp, rare Metallica records and $100 cash, owner Robert MacManus was despondent.
But on Tuesdsay evening, only a few days after the robbery, he received a tip from a friend that would set him on a path to getting his prized instruments back.
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
His friend, who would like to remain anonymous, had gone to buy a guitar from a man on Facebook Marketplace. When he arrived at the man’s house, he recognised one of the basses stolen from Sonic Rendezvous from a previous Beat article.
The friend took a photo of the bass and its serial number, then gave MacManus a call to confirm.
They organised to meet up at a Pasco Vale MacDonalds, before going to the robber’s house to take back the goods.
“Initially, I was like, ‘man, I’m going to get the guy. I’m going to bash down the door’ and all this. But when we got there, the commission flat was so sketchy. I was like, no way man. This guy could have a gun, there could be people inside… It’s not worth it,” says MacManus.
Instead, he contacted the Preston police, who arranged a court order and a search warrant for the next morning. When MacManus called the next day, they told him cops had just headed out raid the house.
“My partner Catherine and I, we jumped in the van and raced over to the property and we got there just as they’re kicking in the door and searching the place,” he says.
What they saw inside exceeded their expectations.
“They found all these stolen bikes and tradie tools, drugs, electric bikes… One of the cops said his apartment was like a labyrinth, it was just so full of stolen stuff,” MacManus tells me, “It was just insane how much shit this guy had.”
They were only able to retrieve the one bass guitar – the thief had unfortunately already sold MacManus’s other instruments, although the police are still following up on leads. The suspect is now in custody and the case is ongoing.
But despite still missing some gear, MacManus is still thrilled to have been part of the investigation and to have been able to help the local community by getting the thief off the streets.
“It’s partially about me, but it’s also about the bigger picture, where hopefully this guy won’t steal other people’s guitars and tools and ruin other people’s lives. That’s the end goal.”
To find out more about Sonic Rendezvous, head to their socials here.
words by kaya martin
For the small business, which only opened in April of last year, the robbery was a heavy blow. When a thief broke the back window of Sonic Rendezvous and made off with four guitars, an amp, rare Metallica records and $100 cash, owner Robert MacManus was despondent.
But on Tuesdsay evening, only a few days after the robbery, he received a tip from a friend that would set him on a path to getting his prized instruments back.
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
His friend, who would like to remain anonymous, had gone to buy a guitar from a man on Facebook Marketplace. When he arrived at the man’s house, he recognised one of the basses stolen from Sonic Rendezvous from a previous Beat article.
The friend took a photo of the bass and its serial number, then gave MacManus a call to confirm.
They organised to meet up at a Pasco Vale MacDonalds, before going to the robber’s house to take back the goods.
“Initially, I was like, ‘man, I’m going to get the guy. I’m going to bash down the door’ and all this. But when we got there, the commission flat was so sketchy. I was like, no way man. This guy could have a gun, there could be people inside… It’s not worth it,” says MacManus.
Instead, he contacted the Preston police, who arranged a court order and a search warrant for the next morning. When MacManus called the next day, they told him cops had just headed out raid the house.
“My partner Catherine and I, we jumped in the van and raced over to the property and we got there just as they’re kicking in the door and searching the place,” he says.
What they saw inside exceeded their expectations.
“They found all these stolen bikes and tradie tools, drugs, electric bikes… One of the cops said his apartment was like a labyrinth, it was just so full of stolen stuff,” MacManus tells me, “It was just insane how much shit this guy had.”
They were only able to retrieve the one bass guitar – the thief had unfortunately already sold MacManus’s other instruments, although the police are still following up on leads. The suspect is now in custody and the case is ongoing.
But despite still missing some gear, MacManus is still thrilled to have been part of the investigation and to have been able to help the local community by getting the thief off the streets.
“It’s partially about me, but it’s also about the bigger picture, where hopefully this guy won’t steal other people’s guitars and tools and ruin other people’s lives. That’s the end goal.”
To find out more about Sonic Rendezvous, head to their socials here.
"We, along with all of those who get involved locally, are very appreciative of that attitude and that change, and I think they have seen the benefits of working with us as well... because I want to be proud of the work that we do and also the service that we provide.
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Everybody appearing at Coffs Harbour Local Court, Tuesday, January 24 Coffs Coast AdvocateCollingwood forward Jack Ginnivan has taken his talents to the cricket pitch scoring a quick century for his hometown club Barkers Creek on Saturday.
Featuring for the club’s second XI against Castlemaine United, Ginnivan’s 118 not out from 85 balls helped chase the target set of 208 from just 27 overs.
While it was Ginnivan’s first game for the 2022/23 season, he has suited up for his local club seven times since being taken with pick No. 13 in the 2020 Rookie Draft.
Even though football duties have taken precedence in recent years, Ginnivan’s cricket record as a junior and senior player in 165 games for Barkers Creek is impressive with the 20-year-old scoring 2994 runs at an average of 34.02.
Having also played junior representative cricket for the Castlemaine & District Cricket Association and Country Central Highlands in the Youth Premier League, Ginnivan has made 22 fifties and now two centuries according to his MyCricket statistics.
The small forward has been no slouch with the ball either, taking 174 career wickets at an average of 17.14.
Ginnivan’s main focus though will be on his football as he enters his third season with the Magpies at AFL level.
The sharpshooter will hope to build on his breakout 2022 season where he kicked 40 goals from 23 games.
Australians really took up the challenge of travelling in their own backyard these past two years.
According to Tourism Australia, spending on overnight and day trips in the past year exceeded levels before the pandemic. This year, it's expected that international trips will be down, but shorter day trips and intrastate trips are expected to rise as cost-of-living pressures start to bite.
All travel doesn't have to be a huge adventure. In fact, some of the most delightful short trips you can take are on your doorstep, quite literally in some cases.
There's a kind of travel so micro, it involves travelling through other people's backyards.
That is, on suburban and local trains.
I've not alone in lamenting the lack of a great interstate train network in this country, but that's not to say as a nation we're bad at trains. In fact, we have some glorious train trips that commuters experience every day, and they're the best value way to have a tiny holiday, even if it only lasts a few hours.
Most people are fixated on big holidays, but micro breaks – a few hours out of our routines, doing something entirely novel - are great for our mental health. It's possible to make lifelong memories from something that takes as little planning as swiping your card at the local station.
I was thinking about this recently, when one weekday I took the train to Woy Woy from Sydney's Central station with a group of friends. We were heading for lunch at the Lucky Bee at Ettalong Beach, a restaurant I'd wanted to visit but was waiting for the "right'' moment when I could get a ride there, thinking travelling by car was the easiest way.
The friends suggested we take the train. Woy Woy is on the express line to Newcastle, a popular commuter route, especially for the many increasing numbers of people choosing to live on NSW's Central Coast.
The scenery was exquisite as we curved through the flowering bushland and around the banks of the Hawkesbury River. You can't see all the inlets and coves from the roads and enjoying it from an air-conditioned carriage made the whole experience so much more relaxing than driving. We got a taxi quickly from the station, had a wonderful yum cha by the water, and caught the train home before dark.
It was as lovely as the Amalfi Coast in its own way and without the hassle. And while I think international travel is always worth the hassle, it's not always relaxing. I felt as if I'd had a real break, even though I had only travelled 90 kilometres from home.
For several years I lived near Thirroul, a coastal suburb between Sydney and Wollongong. The train service between the two cities, which went as far south as Kiama, ran two or three times an hour. The 75-minute trip to Thirroul must be one of the most beautiful commuter journeys in the world, cutting through the Royal National Park, the picturesquely abandoned coal mine at Coalcliff, and then hugging the magnificent surf coast all the way south, with the Illawarra escarpment looming on one side.
This was my commute into the city, and I felt grateful for it every time. Because so much of Australia is coastline, including most of our cities, these breathtaking journeys are replicated throughout the country. But the inland journeys have their own beauty too. I grew up in a suburb of Melbourne that only had buses and trams but I remember frequent trips on the Ballarat Line, a commuter ride for some, where you can visit Victoria's central highlands in just under 90 minutes.
But even those suburban train trips that rattle through less picturesque and mundane suburbia have a huge appeal for a natural stickybeak like me. I love other people's backyards.
You never really know a place until you see how people live their real lives and backyards, normally sheltered from prying eyes, are so revealing of the everyday.
I love Hills Hoists and crumbling old outhouses, chook pens and vegetable patches, rusting car bodies and children's swings. Every now and again you see a Balinese hut, a fire-pit, a palatial doghouse, a row of beehives or a farmyard animal. It's endlessly fascinating.
If the big holiday seems too many months away, think about taking a tiny, very sustainable break on a local train to somewhere completely different. And if you do it every day – go in another direction.
Instagram: @bymrsamos
Sydney Airport has warned Australia’s carriers to unlock more capacity quickly or risk hampering the recovery of our tourism, education and export industries.
More than 3 million passengers passed through Sydney Airport in December, the first time since before the country shut its borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the airport’s traffic remains 20 per cent lower on the same time in 2019.
Passenger numbers continue to climb but Sydney Airport’s traffic remains 20 per cent lower on the same time in 2019.Credit:Brook Mitchell
The airport’s chief Geoff Culbert welcomed the milestone but said there is still a significant amount of work to be done to rebuild Australia’s travel industry.
“Our domestic terminals were bustling over the Christmas period as Australians travelled to see friends and family and explore this great country. The recovery is by no means over though, with 411,000 fewer domestic passengers in December 2022 than in December 2019.
International passenger traffic is still well behind pre-pandemic levels due to lower flight numbers.
There were 1,157,000 international passengers who passed through the airport in December 2022,
more than three times the number in December last year but still almost 30 per cent lower than 2019.
Culbert said he was encouraged by the rapid return of China’s biggest carriers and All Nippon Airways doubling its Sydney to Tokyo flights twice daily in March.
“Australia needs to unlock more capacity, and quickly, if we want to see a sustained recovery for our tourism, education, and export industries,” Culbert said.
China Southern, China Eastern and Xiamen Air have all operated passenger flights to Sydney Airport up to three times a week over the last three years and have committed to increasing these services. Air China has also announced its return to Australia, with flights commencing next month.
Next month, China Southern will be the first airline to return to daily services between China and Australia’s two biggest airports. Culbert expects more carriers to follow suit.
Air New Zealand is the only regional carrier which has returned to servicing the China route, with Qantas still only offering cargo services. Unlike Australia, New Zealand has not mandated a COVID-19 test on international arrivals from China.
Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert has called on airlines to boost capacity urgently.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
The Qantas Group’s domestic capacity hovers at about 85 per cent of pre-covid but is still lagging behind on international routes despite recently increasing services on the Queenstown and Fiji route and launching a new service to Soul.
International competitor Virgin Australia emerged from the pandemic after a brief stint in administration under new ownership. The carrier has refined its fleet and will add 13 additional aircraft this year and is preparing to launch direct services from Sydney to Vanuatu and Samoa.
After a bumpy year of operational performance across the aviation sector, Sydney Airport finished the year on a high, with more 95 per cent of domestic passengers clearing security in less than 10 minutes in December.
The airport blamed insufficient staffing levels for the major delays over peak periods of 2022 but says it’s now ready to cope with the influx of international travellers more flights in and out of the country will bring.
Melbourne Airport is looking to boost its workforce by more than 2000 to cope with an expected surge in international arrivals as China’s main airlines ramp up services. Melbourne Airport predicts China’s return to the region to boost the number of international passengers to 80 per cent of 2019 levels by March.
More than 2.5 million passengers passed through Melbourne airport in December, the highest monthly total since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in large part due to international airlines increasing capacity. The December figure is about 79 per cent of the 3.3 million who travelled over the same period in 2019.
The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.
"Then coming to Australia and feeling lonely, isolated and experiencing racism that at times made me feel sick in my stomach."
Then coming to Australia and feeling lonely, isolated and experiencing racism that at times made me feel sick in my stomach.
Amar Singh
"I can remember when I started TAFE a few years later, I thought to myself ... if you want to speak with me, you better use my real name."
Amar Singh when he was 18 years old. Source: Supplied / Amar Singh
"The first victim of a hate attack in the United States was a Sikh service station owner. Sikhs in Australia became targets of hate as well, including me."
"If we build walls around ourselves, how can we expect people to know about our faith, values and community?" Mr Singh said.
"That moment was the catalyst for me to start work on setting up a charity.
If we build walls around ourselves, how can we expect people to know about our faith, values and community?
Amar Singh
"So the more we can open our hearts and arms to each other, the better things will be. That's what I decided to do."
"I believe when we are helping anyone, they are on the same level as us."
Amar Singh loads parcels into a car for delivery to those impacted by COVID lockdowns in Sydney in 2021. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi
"We do all this to show all groups in the community that as Australian Sikhs, we are part of this great Australian community," he said.
We do all this to show all groups in the community that as Australian Sikhs, we are part of this great Australian community.
Amar Singh
"I never dreamed Turbans 4 Australia and I would be here where we are today."
"Mates helping mates."
Ricky Chanana. Image: Supplied
“After Amazon I knew I wanted to move to a local operation company,” Ricky Chanana told AdNews.
Chanana, former Twitch head of sales ANZ, left the Amazon-owned company last week after three years to join Sydney-based creative intelligence company JustEggs Digital as chief growth officer.
“For the past 18 years I have always worked in global organisations, so local business appealed to me because I want to be closer and have ownership over P/Ls and commercials," Chanana said.
“I also want to influence the product and people. And thirdly, which is the most important, I want to drive a company narrative quicker.
“To move and create products in big businesses takes years of time. In local business we can be very nimble and agile to create something locally for clients as soon as they ask for it and be ahead of the market.
“Obviously there's other great local businesses like Cartology, Nine, Seven, Are Media etc, which are doing fantastically despite the global thing of letting people go.
“But JustEggs felt the most right because they are a fantastic local operation with a nimble team of 18, who are on the cusp of the next level.
“Plus, I’ve known the CEO of JustEggs Nik Kontoulas for about 15 years. He’s a fantastic guy I used to work with.
“I had a quick catch up with Nik, where he was very honest about where the business was and where they wanted to go with someone like myself to take the brand to the next level.
“For Nik and I, it was like a match made in heaven.”
Particularly, Chanana was attracted to how involved Nik is as a leader in his business. Chanana spoke highly of the cultural initiatives Nik has introduced including taking the team to Hawaii to paying for unlimited staff coffees and giving his team free car parking during COVID.
“People is the biggest economic currency in this world, especially in media advertising," Chanana said.
“To hear a local business investing so much in their people was a huge pull for me.
“Taking the team on such initiatives - even taking a trip to Thailand in May this year - can be done on the fly and that is a refreshing change for me.”
However, his skills aquired in global business will continue to dictate his leadership in the local market, as Chanana’s main moto for when he enters the role will be think global, act local.
“I will look around at what is happening in other businesses globally. But then look at how we can create products and hire talent which resonates for our local customers," Chanana said.
“I’ve seen a lot of people join local businesses recently because there's that narrative of wanting to be part of a local organisation, but still feel a part of a bigger play.
“There's never been a better time to focus and be the custodian of a strong local business.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
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Sydney Airport has warned Australia’s carriers to unlock more capacity quickly or risk hampering the recovery of our tourism, education and export industries.
More than 3 million passengers passed through Sydney Airport in December, the first time since before the country shut its borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the airport’s traffic remains 20 per cent lower on the same time in 2019.
Passenger numbers continue to climb but Sydney Airport’s traffic remains 20 per cent lower on the same time in 2019.Credit:Brook Mitchell
The airport’s chief Geoff Culbert welcomed the milestone but said there is still a significant amount of work to be done to rebuild Australia’s travel industry.
“Our domestic terminals were bustling over the Christmas period as Australians travelled to see friends and family and explore this great country. The recovery is by no means over though, with 411,000 fewer domestic passengers in December 2022 than in December 2019.
International passenger traffic is still well behind pre-pandemic levels due to lower flight numbers.
There were 1,157,000 international passengers who passed through the airport in December 2022,
more than three times the number in December last year but still almost 30 per cent lower than 2019.
Culbert said he was encouraged by the rapid return of China’s biggest carriers and All Nippon Airways doubling its Sydney to Tokyo flights twice daily in March.
“Australia needs to unlock more capacity, and quickly, if we want to see a sustained recovery for our tourism, education, and export industries,” Culbert said.
China Southern, China Eastern and Xiamen Air have all operated passenger flights to Sydney Airport up to three times a week over the last three years and have committed to increasing these services. Air China has also announced its return to Australia, with flights commencing next month.
Next month, China Southern will be the first airline to return to daily services between China and Australia’s two biggest airports. Culbert expects more carriers to follow suit.
Air New Zealand is the only regional carrier which has returned to servicing the China route, with Qantas still only offering cargo services. Unlike Australia, New Zealand has not mandated a COVID-19 test on international arrivals from China.
Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert has called on airlines to boost capacity urgently.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
The Qantas Group’s domestic capacity hovers at about 85 per cent of pre-covid but is still lagging behind on international routes despite recently increasing services on the Queenstown and Fiji route and launching a new service to Soul.
International competitor Virgin Australia emerged from the pandemic after a brief stint in administration under new ownership. The carrier has refined its fleet and will add 13 additional aircraft this year and is preparing to launch direct services from Sydney to Vanuatu and Samoa.
After a bumpy year of operational performance across the aviation sector, Sydney Airport finished the year on a high, with more 95 per cent of domestic passengers clearing security in less than 10 minutes in December.
The airport blamed insufficient staffing levels for the major delays over peak periods of 2022 but says it’s now ready to cope with the influx of international travellers more flights in and out of the country will bring.
Melbourne Airport is looking to boost its workforce by more than 2000 to cope with an expected surge in international arrivals as China’s main airlines ramp up services. Melbourne Airport predicts China’s return to the region to boost the number of international passengers to 80 per cent of 2019 levels by March.
More than 2.5 million passengers passed through Melbourne airport in December, the highest monthly total since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in large part due to international airlines increasing capacity. The December figure is about 79 per cent of the 3.3 million who travelled over the same period in 2019.
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A ratepayers organisation says there's a concerning culture of control brewing in Victoria's local government sector.
In response to sordid stories of councillors behaving badly, 2020's Local Government Act brought a fresh emphasis on governance rules and councillor codes of conduct.
The move has also led to the introduction of written media policies in many of the state's 79 councils to clarify and codify what should be communicated to the media.
Under previous legislation, the mayor of a council has always been designated the "principal spokesperson" for council, but more extreme interpretations have since come into effect across the state.
But there's a growing concern from ratepayers and experts a "risk mitigation" approach is starving local debate and eroding the ability of councillors to represent the community.
Chris Eddy works as a consultant for local government after a 20-year stint in local government as a CEO and executive.
In recent years, he's also launched a podcast called Local Government New Roundup, which delves into the news and views of the sector.
"These policies are made and introduced to deal with real issues and to avoid problem issues occurring in the future," he said.
He said councils' media teams were balancing competing pressures of protecting staff from embarrassment, the council's reputation, and public expectations of transparency and accountability.
"What the act requires of the mayor of each council is for the mayor to be the principal spokesperson for that council; that's part of the legislated role of the mayor," Mr Eddy said.
"It's then down to each council to articulate in a policy what that actually means because there are exceptions to every rule."
But Mr Eddy said the mayor being spokesperson on every issue, especially where technical or emergency information was involved, had its pitfalls.
"The risk is whether the right information is being provided to the community, whether it's being provided in a timely fashion and particularly in an accurate fashion," Mr Eddy said.
Mr Eddy said the interpretations of the act are also open to the political influence of council voting blocs and dynamics.
"Often these policies have political elements involved, depending on the appetite or the position of the mayor and councillors," Mr Eddy said.
He said he expected the policies to be tested as the state goes into another council election term next year.
"Often, councillors want to have the opportunity to be out and about and seen to be connected to councils' news and events," he said.
"Expect to see after this year and into next year certain activities that test the boundaries of the media policies if they have them."
Ratepayers Victoria vice president Dean Hurlston said the power struggles between public servants and elected representatives were different to those seen in state and federal politics.
"The culture is that council staff joke regularly 'we're in control of this narrative, the councillors are to be stage-managed and controlled because they come and go," Mr Hurlston said.
While many of the written media policies do make provisions for councillors to voice their political opinions, all requests must be run through a central media team.
"What they seek to do is to control councillors and to control their behaviour, to shut down political debate and opposition to things that might be put forward," Mr Hurlston said.
Mr Hurlston was also concerned that, under the new act, councils with media policies in their councillor code of conduct could use any breaches against them in arbitration.
"It can be weaponised against councillors who hold dissenting or different views. That is really, really unacceptable," he said.
But because each policy is written differently, any test cases that are decided in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal may not apply to other council areas.
"It's really the tail wagging the dog … It is not for council staff to ever seek to limit or control what a councillor says in public," Mr Hurlston said.
"[Councils] do not want divisive politics, they do not want fantastic debate and really good differing points of view.
"What they want is to look like everybody's happy clappy, everybody's in agreement and no-one disagrees, [and] that does not get good outcomes for the community."
The Serbian government has asked Moscow to end its attempts to recruit Serbs to fight in Ukraine as part of the Wagner mercenary group, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
“Why do you, from Wagner, call anyone from Serbia when you know that it is against our laws?” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic asked rhetorically during a TV broadcast late on Monday.
Vucic was also critical of Russian websites and social media groups for publishing material in Serbian calling on Serbs to join Wagner, the controversial military group founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It's illegal under Serbian law for its citizens to fight in conflicts abroad.
On Tuesday, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency posted a video of two masked men at a weapons training range in the Kremlin-annexed parts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, identifying them as Serbian volunteers.
Serbian volunteers took part in fighting in eastern Ukraine alongside pro-Russian forces in 2014 and 2015, Reuters reported.
Vucic denied allegations that Wagner had a presence in Serbia.
Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic also warned Serbs against joining Russian forces in the war against Kyiv, adding in an interview with Radio Free Europe that “this will result in legal consequences.”
While Belgrade has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it has not joined the European Union in imposing sanctions on Moscow, despite its bid to join the bloc.
Russian independent media outlet Zvezda in the city of Perm consistently uses the word “war” in its coverage of the fighting in Ukraine — defying censorship laws that punish such direct language with crippling fines and even criminal prosecution.
Despite the risks, some of the outlet’s staff remain inside Russia.
But the small outlet has not survived the country’s wartime political crackdown unscathed: Zvezda’s website and its page on popular Russia social media network VKontakte were blocked in March, leading to a collapse in advertising revenue.
“We don’t have a proofreader, so readers sometimes point out grammatical errors,” Zvezda’s editor-in-chief Stepan Khlopov said in an interview with The Moscow Times.
“That’s ok. The truth is more precious!”
Almost 11 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered tanks into Ukraine, Russia’s regional media scene has become even more tightly controlled, with the authorities blocking or prosecuting those that violate wartime censorship laws. But a handful independent outlets survive — either in a much reduced form, or in exile.
Local media outlets are particularly vulnerable to financial pressure.
Even a relatively small fine can cause huge problems for publications already struggling to pay the bills, according to Sergei Lapenkov, the Russia-based head of the Alliance of Independent Regional Publishers (AIRP) that represents 36 independent Russian media outlets.
“For a regional news outlet, a fine of 1.5 million rubles ($22,000) is basically a death sentence,” said Lapenkov.
But the risks of jail sentences and political persecution are also very real.
Some local publishers chose to shut down preemptively, judging it unacceptable to ask their journalists to risk being sent to prison.
Perhaps the most prominent casualty was Yekaterinburg-based news website Znak.com, which closed down in March.
But other regional outlets have also shuttered, including Far East news agency Sakh.kom in December, Siberia’s UGRAPRO in March and ProVladimir, a publication based in the city of Vladimir near Moscow, in October.
“Working under these circumstances is difficult and dangerous,” Irina Samokhina, head of the Krestyanin publishing house, wrote in a June farewell letter to readers explaining the decision to shut down one of southern Russia’s most popular independent newspapers.
Krestyanin newspaper, which was set up by Samokhina’s father in 1991, had a weekly print run of 13,700 copies before it was closed.
“We are no longer able to give everyone the opportunity to express their point of view, we can’t publish our readers’ critical opinions about the government,” wrote Samokhina.
Like many of their better-funded national counterparts, some regional outlets have evacuated staff abroad and are attempting to continue their work from outside of the country.
These include prominent local outlets like Siberia’s Lyudi Baikala and northeast Russia’s Pskovskaya Gubernia.
Groza, an online student-run media outlet based in the city of Kazan in the republic of Tatarstan, decided to move most of its staff abroad for safety reasons, though some employees remain.
“In Tatarstan, we were the second ones in line [to be shut down] after Idel.Realii,” said Groza editor-in-chief Leonid Spirin, referring to a media project that is part of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty network.
“I thought they would definitely come for us sooner or later,” Spirin told The Moscow Times.
To gather news from abroad, most exiled regional outlets continue to rely on reporting from journalists inside Russia, according to Viktor Muchnik, editor-in-chief of regional media project Govorit NeMoskva that was launched in October.
Muchnik, the former head of independent channel TV2 in the Siberian city of Tomsk, left Russia in March after the channel was shut down.
Govorit NeMoskva, which is currently only available on social networks — on Telegram it has almost 15,000 subscribers — gathers regional news stories from all over Russia.
While always important, social media has become critical for exiled journalists to maintain access to audiences inside the country — especially if their websites have been blocked.
Muchnik maintains that living outside of Russia hasn’t negatively impacted the accuracy of the information that he and his team publish.
“Our media strength always was in a deep understanding of our region,” Muchnik told The Moscow Times.
“I don’t think this understanding has atrophied in the months spent abroad.”
No matter where regional media outlets end up, financing remains a constant headache.
Relocation abroad often means publications become dependent on unpredictable foreign grants. Meanwhile, those remaining in Russia suffer from plummeting advertising revenues and the rising paper, printing and distribution costs caused by wartime economic dislocation.
For Perm’s Zvezda, the war-related fall in advertising revenue meant they were forced to slash the size of their newsroom from 10 employees to just three.
“I told the team ‘No hard feelings but we cannot keep the same pay levels as before,’ and advised them to make a decision about their future,” said Zvezda’s Khlopov.
Nevertheless, many local editorial teams believe they have a duty to continue telling their readers — if not about what is happening on the frontlines — then at least about how the ongoing war in Ukraine is changing Russia.
Some believe their work prevents some Russians from falling for pro-Kremlin propaganda.
“A lot of those [regional] media are so close to and wanted by the people that an editor-in-chief of a local newspaper could have much more authority in a town than the mayor,” Lapenkov told The Moscow Times.
Lapenkov’s view was echoed by Govorit NeMoskva’s Muchnik, who believes regional journalism is not only important today, but will be instrumental for the process of “reassembling” a new, democratic Russia when the current regime ends.
“It is important to have a conversation now about local interests, how much taxes we are paying here and now, what we need and what our neighbors need,” said Muchnik.
“If anything is needed in the [Russian] media world today it is, in my opinion, local journalism.”
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Everybody appearing at Byron Bay Local Court, Tuesday, January 17 Courier Mail
In 2013, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) had reached 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time since the Pliocene Era (ca. 3 million years ago).
According to the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), "excess carbon dioxide" in our atmosphere will result in a global average temperature increase of between 1.5 and 2 °C by 2030.
This will significantly affect ecological systems worldwide, including species extinction, droughts, wildfires, extreme weather, and crop failures.
Aside from curbing emissions, these changes call for mitigation and adaptation strategies and climate monitoring. This is the purpose of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) 2 and 3 missions, twin satellites that make space-based observations of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere to understand the characteristics of climate change better.
Using the world's fifth-largest coal-fired power plant as a test case, a team of researchers used data from OCO 2 and 3 to detect and track changes in CO2 and quantify the emissions produced below.
The research was led by Ray Nassar, a senior researcher with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto (UofT). He was joined by researchers from ECCC, UofT, Colorado State University, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
The paper that describes their findings was published on 28 October 2022 in Frontiers in Remote Sensing.
Their findings demonstrate that space-based observations can be used to track CO2 emission changes at a local scale.
Launched in 2014, the OCO-2 satellite maps natural and anthropogenic CO2 emissions on regional and continental scales. This is done indirectly by measuring the intensity of sunlight reflected off Earth's surface and directly by measuring the amount of CO2 absorbed in the column of air between the surface and the satellite.
The OCO-2 satellite also has spectrometers calibrated to detect the specific signature of CO2 gas. Its companion (OCO-3) was built using OCO-2's spare parts and was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019.
This instrument includes a mapping mode that can make sweeping observations over entire areas, allowing researchers to use OCO-3 to create detailed mini-maps on the scale of major cities – where excess carbon emissions are concentrated.
Using data obtained during multiple overpasses between 2017 and 2022, the research team analyzed the emissions of the largest single-emissions source in Europe – the Belchatów Power Station in Poland.
From this, they detected changes in CO2 levels that were consistent with hourly fluctuations in the plant's electricity production.
The Belchatów Power Station has been in operation since 1988 and will remain open until the end of 2036 (according to the Polish government). It is currently the largest coal-fired power plant in the world (with a reported capacity of 5,102 megawatts).
It uses brown coal (lignite), which typically generates higher emissions per megawatt than hard coal (anthracite). Large facilities, such as power plants and oil refineries, account for about half of the global carbon emissions from fossil fuels.
Neither satellite was originally designed to detect emissions from specific individual facilities such as Belchatów.
In a NASA press release, OCO-3 mission project scientist Abhishek Chatterjee explained how this made their results a "pleasant surprise" and how he and his colleagues look forward to future research opportunities:
"As a community, we are refining the tools and techniques to be able to extract more information from the data than what we had originally planned. We are learning that we can actually understand a lot more about anthropogenic emissions than what we had previously expected. It is really exciting to think that we will get another five to six years of operations with OCO-3. We are seeing that making measurements at the right time and at the right scale is critical."
According to Nasser, most CO2 emissions reports are created from estimates or data collected at Earth's surface level. This consists of accounting for the mass of fossil fuels used, calculating the expected emissions, and generally doesn't involve atmospheric measurements.
Said Nasser: "The finer details about exactly when and where emissions occur are often not available. Providing a more detailed picture of carbon dioxide emissions could help to track the effectiveness of policies to reduce emissions. Our approach with OCO-2 and OCO-3 can be applied to more power plants or modified for carbon dioxide emissions from cities or countries."
In the future, climate scientists will benefit from the mapping mode of observations of OCO-3, which could serve as a "pathfinder" for next-generation satellite missions. NASA recently announced that mission operations with OCO-3 aboard the ISS will be extended for several more years.
The instrument will operate alongside another greenhouse gas observation mission, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT).
These and other efforts to monitor climate change and CO2 emissions in real time will prove invaluable to mitigation and adaptation efforts.
This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.
