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Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the final status of Jerusalem should be decided between Israel and the Palestinians through talks. Australia dropped its recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, sparking a diplomatic spat between the two U.S. allies over the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The decision by Australia’s center-left government, which came to power after an election in May, reverses a 2018 move by the previous center-right government to recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Australia’s Embassy is still in Tel Aviv.

☆ Australian Casino Operator Hit With $62 Million Fine in Reckoning for Gambling Industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Mike Cherney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SYDNEY—An Australian regulator hit one of the country’s main casino operators with a record fine, as authorities increase scrutiny of an industry that has faced questions over how it attracts international high-rollers, particularly from China. Star Entertainment Group which runs a large casino in Sydney, was fined 100 million Australian dollars, equivalent to $62 million, by the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission on Monday. The regulator also suspended Star’s license to operate the Sydney casino, though it will remain open under a government-appointed manager.

☆ U.S. to Expand Diplomatic, Defense Footprint in the Pacific
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Mike Cherney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SYDNEY—A new U.S. strategy for the Pacific will involve a bigger diplomatic and security footprint, help island nations respond to climate change and focus on economic prosperity, according to a preview released shortly before Pacific leaders planned to meet President Biden in Washington. The two-day meeting, billed by the U.S. as a summit involving leaders and representatives from more than a dozen Pacific island nations and territories, starts Wednesday. It caps months of intense U.S. diplomacy in the region, which has emerged as a hot spot in the great-power rivalry between the U.S. and China.

☆ Indigenous Australian Clan Scores Landmark Legal Win Against Santos Energy Project
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Mike Cherney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Barossa gas field is about 85 miles off the coast of the Tiwi Islands. SYDNEY—An indigenous clan on remote islands in northern Australia scored a legal victory against energy giant Santos Ltd., in a case that could have a wide-ranging impact on how resource companies handle relations with traditional landowners. On Wednesday, an Australian judge threw out a regulator’s approval of Santos’s environmental plan to drill for natural gas in the Barossa gas field, about 85 miles off the coast of the Tiwi Islands near Darwin. The case was brought by Dennis Tipakalippa, an indigenous leader on the islands who argued the regulator shouldn’t have approved the drilling because Santos didn’t properly consult his clan on its impact.

☆ Chinese Port Lease Near U.S. Troops’ Australian Training Ground Draws Fresh Scrutiny
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Mike Cherney | Photographs Nicholas Gouldhurst For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

DARWIN, Australia—U.S. Marines use the commercial port in this northern Australian city to unload aircraft and other supplies for nearby training. But at the port gate, vehicles pass underneath a sign in Chinese. The sign, which says Landbridge Darwin Port in Chinese characters, is a reminder of a long-simmering controversy: the 2015 decision by local authorities to lease the port to the Australian unit of China’s Landbridge Group. Now, with competition between the U.S. and China intensifying in the Indo-Pacific, the 99-year lease—which some former defense officials and analysts say gives China a potentially valuable foothold in a strategically important area—is under renewed scrutiny.

☆ Mexicans Can Cross U.S. Border to Get Paid for Plasma, Court Rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Mike Cherney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Immunoglobulin, which are antibodies found in plasma, are used to treat rare neurological and autoimmune disorders. SYDNEY—Pharmaceutical companies scored a legal victory that will again allow them to pay people who cross the border from Mexico for their blood plasma, giving a boost to U.S. supply of a critical ingredient needed for treating serious disorders. On Friday, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction that prevents border officials from enforcing a ban on paying for plasma donations from Mexicans who enter the U.S. on visitor visas. The injunction applies while the litigation is pending, and although the ruling isn’t final, the judge indicated the pharmaceutical companies have a strong case.

☆ A Nation Tries to Banish Jargon. Leveraging the Pivot Has Yet to Synergize.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Mike Cherney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

During a recent session of New Zealand’s parliament, government lawmaker Sarah Pallett rose to recite “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth, a poem that used literary language to describe going for a walk and seeing daffodils. “Good old Wordsworth,” Ms. Pallett said. “But that is the place for flowery, inaccessible language—in poetry and literature, and not in government legislation.”

EuropeInvestigators say they found signs of torture on some of the hundreds of bodies buried in a forest at the edge of Izyum, which was recaptured this month.

☆ Australia Charges Soldier Deployed to Afghanistan With War Crime
▼ + stars: | 2001-09-11 | by ( Mike Cherney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Australian troops were deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq to support the U.S. in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. SYDNEY—Australian authorities charged a former soldier who was deployed to Afghanistan with a war crime, the first prosecution of its kind in Australia, as the U.S. ally continues to grapple with the conduct of its military in the conflict. The 41-year-old man was arrested Monday morning, and he has been charged with murdering an Afghan man while deployed, police said. It is the first time a war crime charge of murder is being used against an Australian military member under Australian law, police said. The authorities didn’t specify exactly when the killing took place.

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