Global Pulse

标签： Oceania

大洋洲

  • Lach and load: Lachlan Galvin produces masterclass as the Bulldogs snap Penrith’s perfect start to the year

    Lach and load: Lachlan Galvin produces masterclass as the Bulldogs snap Penrith’s perfect start to the year

    In an NRL upset that echoes one of professional wrestling’s most iconic shocking results, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have brought Penrith Panthers’ historic undefeated season bid to a crashing halt, claiming a 32-16 victory at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Thursday night. The match was billed as a celebration for Panthers star halfback Nathan Cleary, who was set to mark his 200th NRL appearance, but the night quickly turned sour for the league-leading side. What made the result all the more remarkable is that the Bulldogs claimed the win without their injured captain Stephen Crichton, silencing widespread critics of the club and young playmaker Lachlan Galvin in one dominant 80-minute performance.

    Galvin entered the match under intense public and media scrutiny, with widespread questions raised over his attacking output and ability to compete at the top NRL level. But the young five-eighth delivered a career-defining performance that dominated the contest from the opening whistle. He finished the night with four line-break assists, constantly tearing apart Penrith’s vaunted left-edge defence, and built a devastating on-field combination with forward Jacob Preston that stepped up multiple gears when it mattered most. Galvin guided the Bulldogs to an early 16-0 lead, setting up Preston for a pivotal try with a perfectly weighted short ball before creating the match-clinching score for Sitili Tupouniua. Beyond his playmaking, he showed unprecedented defensive intensity, repeatedly crashing into tackles and displaying a kicking range and accuracy that had not been seen in his previous outings this season.

    Recalled winger Bronson Xerri, returning to the top flight after a spell in the NSW Cup, added to the Bulldogs’ standout performance by setting up the club’s second try, while coach Cameron Ciraldo will now see this upset as one of the signature wins of his tenure at Belmore. Penrith entered the contest on unprecedented form: they became the first NRL side in history to open a season with five straight 20-point-plus victories, fueling widespread discussion about whether they could become the first team in decades to finish a full regular season undefeated. That conversation has now been firmly put to rest. To make matters worse for the Panthers, star edge forward Liam Martin was forced to leave the match early with a left knee injury, and key playmakers Cleary and Isaah Yeo turned in uncharacteristically underwhelming performances, with the club’s legendary impenetrable defence shut out for a full 38 minutes in the second half.

    Panthers winger Tom Jenkins did notch one historic milestone on the night, scoring two tries to extend his run of consecutive doubles to six matches. That achievement levels the record set by South Sydney Rabbitohs legend Alex Johnston back in 2021, and pushes Jenkins’ season try total to an extraordinary 14. His second try was particularly impressive, a perfectly timed finish onto a pin-point cross-field kick from Cleary that will feature in NRL highlight reels all season.

    The match was not without its contentious moments, however. Teenage Panthers forward Casey McLean, a touted future Origin representative, faces an anxious wait for the NRL’s match charge sheet to drop on Friday after he was sin-binned for a high tackle on Bulldogs prop Max King. The Bunker reviewed the contact on replay, which saw McLean’s shoulder connect with King’s head, and ordered referee to send the player from the field for a 10-minute spell off the pitch after the completion of the next set. Bulldogs utility Kurt Mann was also placed on report for a similar high contact incident on Panthers forward Scott Sorensen, but escaped a sin-bin suspension during the match.

  • Alleged car thief’s escape goes to pot after prickly landing

    Alleged car thief’s escape goes to pot after prickly landing

    A chaotic police chase across suburban Brisbane has ended in an unlikely and painful mishap, after a 17-year-old suspect accused of a string of property and car theft crimes made a desperate escape attempt that landed him directly in a backyard filled with spiky cactuses.

    The incident unfolded when Queensland Police officers targeted two teenage suspects — a 17-year-old from Crestmead and a 16-year-old accomplice — linked to multiple criminal offenses across Brisbane’s southern suburbs. According to police statements, the pair are suspected of targeting nine separate properties across four local suburbs, carrying out a pattern of theft and trespassing.

    As officers moved in to apprehend the suspects, the 17-year-old attempted to outrun police, scrambling over a residential fence in a bid to hide in a neighboring private backyard. What the teen did not account for, however, was that the yard was home to a dense collection of cacti. He landed directly among the spiny plants, and ended up embedded with more than 30 sharp cactus barbs across his body.

    During the course of the chase, the suspect also dropped a bag carrying 10 vehicle keys and a quantity of cannabis, which was recovered by investigating officers. Captured on official police body and scene footage, the teen can be seen lying prone on the ground next to a thick row of cacti as first responders from the police force attend to his injuries.

    Radio communications between officers captured the absurd nature of the incident, with a dispatcher asking if the suspect had only sustained light scratches to his legs, only for the on-scene officer to reply: “Yeah, you could say that, he’s got a large number of barbs.”

    Despite the painful encounter, the 17-year-old only suffered minor injuries from the cactus encounter. After receiving on-site medical attention from police, he was taken into police custody.

    Both teens have been formally charged over the alleged crime spree. The 17-year-old faces 11 criminal counts, including charges of attempted entry to a dwelling, possession of dangerous drugs, unlawful possession of suspected stolen property, and wilful damage. He is scheduled to appear before Brisbane Children’s Court on May 11.

    His 16-year-old co-accused was also taken into custody, facing 11 counts of attempted trespass alongside two additional charges. The younger suspect will make his first court appearance at Brisbane Children’s Court on April 20.

  • ‘Starting to bite’: Key union representing 25k NSW council workers calls for four-day work week in response to fuel crisis

    ‘Starting to bite’: Key union representing 25k NSW council workers calls for four-day work week in response to fuel crisis

    As global energy market volatility fueled by Middle East conflict sends Australian fuel costs spiraling, a major public sector union in New South Wales has launched a groundbreaking legal push to deliver relief to thousands of frontline council workers grappling with rapidly rising commuting expenses.

    The United Service Union (USU), which represents 25,000 local government employees across NSW, has submitted an application to the state’s Industrial Relations Commission, requesting emergency workplace measures to ease the financial burden placed on workers by the ongoing fuel crisis. Union leaders estimate that affected commuting workers are now paying an extra AU$50 to AU$100 per week to fill their vehicles, a cost that has stretched household budgets to breaking point for many.

    The union’s proposal asks the commission to greenlight a series of temporary, trigger-based adjustments that would activate once average weekly retail fuel prices climb above AU$2 per litre, and remain in place for an initial 12-month trial period. Under the plan, employers would be required to set default working-from-home arrangements for eligible roles. For staff who cannot perform their duties remotely, a four-day work week would be mandated. Additional measures include adjusting start and end times at worksites to cut down on commuting time and costs, and providing dedicated work transportation when practical.

    Daniel Papps, head of legal at the USU, explained that the policy targets two key benefits for both workers and the broader community. “Our members are telling us that the fuel crisis is really starting to bite,” Papps said. “By offering either home working or four-day working weeks it will help get more people off the road. This would save our members in the pocket, but would also help to conserve fuel for the people that need it the most.”

    The application held its first preliminary hearing before the Industrial Relations Commission on Thursday, where initial stakeholder discussions got underway. A follow-up hearing is scheduled for the following week to continue deliberations. Ahead of the court proceeding, the USU sent formal letters to all 128 local councils across NSW to outline the severe financial pressure skyrocketing fuel costs are placing on their workforce.

    In the letter, USU General Secretary Graeme Kelly emphasized the union’s commitment to a collaborative, mutually beneficial solution. “We recognise that councils are currently navigating significant operational pressures associated with fuel price increases and potential supply constraints,” Kelly wrote. “Our shared objective is to maintain service continuity while ensuring that employees are supported and able to continue working safely and sustainably. In this context, we are seeking a cooperative approach between councils and the USU to implement practical, temporary measures that support both operational resilience and workforce stability.”

    Papps added that the union remains open to negotiation: “We are hopeful we will be able to find a mutual position, but if we cannot we will be prepared to call for an order to be made. Our hope and desire is that we can come to a common sense conclusion.”

    Responding to the union’s application, a spokesperson for the NSW Local Government Association noted that there is no universal solution to address the current fuel crisis across all councils. “We understand the union’s position in wanting to advocate in the best interests of their members,” the spokesperson told the Australian Financial Review. “Councils across NSW are already managing the impact on their staff appropriately at this time.”

    If the court rules in the union’s favor, the decision would set a historic precedent for emergency workplace adjustments in response to cost-of-living crises, potentially opening the door for similar claims across other industries in Australia and beyond.

  • ‘Pure luck’: Dashcam captures terrifying moment police swerve to avoid alleged drunk driver on wrong side of road

    ‘Pure luck’: Dashcam captures terrifying moment police swerve to avoid alleged drunk driver on wrong side of road

    A routine Tuesday night patrol on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast turned into a potential tragedy when a heavily intoxicated driver careened down the wrong side of a major arterial road, forcing a police officer to execute a last-second evasive swerve to avoid a catastrophic head-on collision, newly released dashcam footage shows.

    The incident unfolded just before 9 p.m. on Frizzo Connection Road in Palmview, where the 26-year-old driver from Morayfield was operating a silver Honda Jazz hatchback northbound in the designated southbound travel lane, according to Queensland Police. Police allege the vehicle was traveling at speeds exceeding 100 km/h in a posted 60 km/h zone, leaving the oncoming marked police patrol car almost no time to react.

    Released police dashcam footage captures the harrowing sequence: the wrong-way vehicle comes hurtling into view around a bend in the dark, prompting the officer to immediately swerve off the roadway to avoid impact. The two vehicles narrowly miss a head-on crash, and the officer quickly pulls over the alleged driver on nearby Pignata Road to confront her.

    Body-worn and dashcam footage captured the immediate exchange after the stop, when the officer asked the woman to explain her dangerous actions. She simply replied, “I freaked out,” to which the officer responded, “You freaked out? You almost hit me head on.”

    Following the stop, police administered a breath test that returned a blood alcohol concentration of 0.204 percent, more than four times the maximum legal limit for driving in Queensland. In a startling exchange captured on footage after her arrest, the woman asked officers whether the Maroochydore Police Station offered free Wi-Fi, a request the attending officer confirmed.

    Maroochydore Sergeant Darren Nolan, a 38-year veteran of Queensland Police, described the incident as one of the most egregious cases of reckless driving he has ever encountered. “It is the most dangerous and reckless display of driving I have personally witnessed in my 38 years of policing,” Sergeant Nolan said in an official police statement. “It was just pure luck and fortune that no one was seriously injured or even worse, killed.”

    The 26-year-old woman has been formally charged with two offences: dangerous operation of a motor vehicle while impaired by an intoxicating substance, and driving under the influence of liquor. She is scheduled to make her first appearance at Maroochydore Magistrates Court on April 28.

  • Escaped wolf forces school closure in South Korea

    Escaped wolf forces school closure in South Korea

    A young male wolf that broke free from a South Korean theme park zoo remained unaccounted for on Thursday, forcing local education officials to shutter a nearby elementary school out of public safety concerns, as hundreds of emergency personnel continue a widespread manhunt for the animal.

    The escape unfolded Wednesday at a zoo located within a Daejeon theme park, a major metropolitan city roughly 150 kilometers south of the capital Seoul. Weighing approximately 30 kilograms, the 2024-born wolf escaped after digging under and damaging the zoo’s perimeter fence, according to officials from Daejeon Fire Headquarters. Local media has released public imagery showing the predator wandering openly along a public road in the area.

    In response to the breach, authorities assembled a joint search team of more than 300 people, drawing resources from local fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and military personnel. The operation hit an early setback Thursday, however, when ongoing heavy rain forced crews to retrieve deployed search drones, cutting off a key aerial surveillance tool for tracking the animal.

    Confirming the school closure, a spokesperson for the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education told Agence France-Presse that Daejeon Sanseong Elementary School suspended all classes Thursday in direct response to the escape. The decision comes as local communities remain on high alert for the loose wild animal.

    The incident marks the latest high-profile animal escape from a South Korean zoo in less than two years. In 2023, a male zebra named Sero captured global public attention after breaking out of a Seoul zoo and roaming through the city’s residential and commercial streets. That incident ended without harm to the zebra or the public, after Sero was cornered in a narrow alleyway, tranquilized safely, and returned uninjured to his enclosure.

  • Three ways Orban gives himself an edge in Hungary’s vote

    Three ways Orban gives himself an edge in Hungary’s vote

    As Hungary prepares to hold its national parliamentary election this Sunday, long-serving nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban finds himself facing a surprisingly competitive challenge from opposition candidate Peter Magyar — but independent observers and international monitoring organizations have raised urgent alarms over a deeply skewed electoral landscape that heavily favors the incumbent. Over Orban’s 16 consecutive years in power, his ruling Fidesz-KNDP coalition has reshaped nearly every pillar of Hungary’s electoral and media ecosystem to entrench its hold on power, turning what should be a free democratic contest into a test of European democratic norms, analysts say.

    The first and most structurally significant advantage Orban holds stems from sweeping changes to Hungary’s electoral framework enacted after his coalition returned to power in 2010. Analysts note that even if the Fidesz-KNDP alliance loses the overall popular vote by a margin of three to four percentage points, the 2011 electoral overhaul and subsequent redrawing of constituency boundaries would still allow the ruling bloc to retain its parliamentary majority.

    Additional structural advantages come from specialized rules for ethnic minority representation and cross-border voting that disproportionately benefit Orban. Preferential mandates for ethnic minority groups require far fewer votes to secure a parliamentary seat, and representatives from both the German and Roma minority communities have a long history of aligning with the ruling coalition. Orban’s 2010 citizenship law granted simplified naturalization to ethnic Hungarians living in neighboring countries, most of whom hold favorable views of the policy and the prime minister, and these voters are eligible to cast mail-in ballots — a privilege not extended to Hungarian emigrants living further abroad, who tend to hold critical views of Orban’s nationalist government.

    Human rights groups have warned that outdated voter rolls and weak ballot security for mail-in voting create openings for irregularities, including the possibility of ballots being cast in the names of deceased voters. Concerns are further amplified by the fact that political parties allied with Orban oversee the collection of cross-border ballots in Romania and Serbia, leaving the process open to potential manipulation.

    A second core advantage comes from the ruling coalition’s near-total control of Hungary’s media landscape, a transformation overseen by business allies of Orban since 2010. Hundreds of independent media outlets have shuttered over the past 14 years, while remaining independent outlets have been acquired by pro-government oligarchs and converted into mouthpieces for Fidesz. Media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) estimates that 80 percent of Hungary’s print and broadcast media is controlled by business figures tied to the ruling coalition, and these pro-government outlets receive the vast majority of all state advertising spending.

    Critics point to stark data confirming the media’s pro-Orban bias: an 11-month study conducted in 2023 by the independent liberal think tank Republikon Institute found that 95 percent of all coverage of Orban on public television’s flagship news broadcast was positive, while challenger Peter Magyar was portrayed in a negative light 96 percent of the time. Orban’s government has repeatedly denied that it interferes with media editorial decisions.

    The third key advantage for the incumbent stems from widespread allegations that he has diverted taxpayer funds and state resources to power his re-election campaign, a practice the government defends as a legitimate duty to inform the public. In the lead-up to Sunday’s vote, Fidesz has accessed multiple official state mailing lists — including confidential records held by the national tax authority — to distribute campaign messaging directly to voters. The government has also run a massive taxpayer-funded media campaign promoting its anti-Ukraine policy positions, including opposition to Ukraine’s EU accession, with ubiquitous billboards featuring Orban’s image urging Hungarians to “stand together” with his government.

    Multiple state-owned enterprises, including national electricity distributor MVM, have also paid for out-of-home advertising that repeats Orban’s key campaign messaging on energy policy. A 2024 investigation by independent conservative Hungarian outlet Valasz Online found that the government has allocated millions of euros in public funding to dozens of local non-governmental organizations that have direct ties to Fidesz, many of which share office space with local ruling party chapters. Local media has documented that many of these NGOs have been distributing pro-Fidesz campaign pamphlets directly to voters during the election cycle.

    International monitors have been sounding the alarm over Orban’s undue electoral advantage for more than a decade. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) first documented that Fidesz held an “undue advantage” in the 2014 election, and has issued increasingly critical assessments of Hungarian electoral fairness in subsequent cycles. For this election, the OSCE has deployed a full-scale election observation mission — only the third time the organization has done so for an election in an EU member state, and the second consecutive full mission for Hungary.

    Orban has pushed back against all criticism, arguing that Hungary maintains a “very strong” democracy and that his government fully embraces political competition. Nonetheless, the array of advantages stacked against Magyar has led many democracy advocates to question whether the election can truly be considered free and fair, with results that will have far-reaching implications for the future of democratic governance within the European Union.

  • Home where young Bowie dreamt of ‘fame’ to open to public

    Home where young Bowie dreamt of ‘fame’ to open to public

    Tucked away in the unassuming London suburb of Bromley, an ordinary 19th-century terraced cottage holds the quiet origins of one of the 20th century’s most revolutionary music icons. Number 4 Plaistow Grove, a modest home originally built for railway workers, is where David Bowie spent 13 of his most formative early years, and it will soon open its doors to the public as an immersive heritage site celebrating the star’s early creative journey.

    A small blue plaque beside the property’s weathered grey front door is the only current marker of its legendary history, reading simply: “David Bowie Singer and Talented Musician 1955-1968”. Bowie — born David Jones — moved to the home with his family in 1955 at the age of eight, and lived here until 1968. It was within these walls that the quiet schoolboy transformed into an ambitious artist set on global stardom, says Geoff Marsh, a renowned Bowie expert tapped to curate the restoration project.

    Bowie shared the home with his father Haywood, mother Peggy, and older half-brother Terry, who would become one of his earliest and most profound creative influences. Terry introduced the young Bowie to modern jazz, Beat literature and Buddhism, but a schizophrenia diagnosis in 1966 led to frequent stays in psychiatric care, removing him from the family home. Biographers have documented a strained, often emotionally distant relationship between Bowie and his mother Peggy, while his father offered far more consistent support — even purchasing the young artist’s first saxophone, which he kept in his small back bedroom. Haywood died at the home in 1969 at age 56, and Peggy moved out a year later.

    Now, the property has been purchased by the Heritage of London Trust, a leading UK heritage organization, which plans to fully restore the home to its 1963 layout, when Bowie was 16 years old. Organizers aim to welcome the first public visitors by the end of 2027. Just as Beatles fans have traveled for decades to explore the childhood Liverpool homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Bowie fans will soon be able to step directly into the environment that shaped the star’s earliest dreams.

    All modern additions to the home — including central heating, an extended modern kitchen-diner, a conservatory, and an upstairs bathroom — will be removed. In their place, the project will restore the home’s original coal fireplace, outdoor lavatory, compact original kitchen, and the small garden garage that once stood at the property’s rear. The home is located just steps from Sundridge Park railway station, which gave Bowie easy access to the music clubs and bohemian culture of London’s West End and Soho, providing an escape from the constrained expectations of 1950s suburban life.

    Marsh, who curated the groundbreaking 2013 *David Bowie Is* exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, notes that mid-century suburban culture pressured young people to stay in their place and avoid ambition — a convention Bowie rejected outright. “Music was his way out,” Marsh explained.

    The heart of the restored experience will be the small 9-foot by 10-foot back bedroom where Bowie’s creative path began. It was here that he wrote his first songs, endured five years of industry rejection before scoring his 1969 breakout hit *Space Oddity*, and retreated to escape family tensions and nurture his artistic dreams. In later life, Bowie reflected that the space had stayed with him throughout his career, even as he constantly reinvented his persona and ran from the constraints of his suburban upbringing.

    Alongside the original saxophone gifted by his father, the bedroom will display personal mementos from Bowie’s early years, including a print of Little Richard that a 10-year-old Bowie bought from a local Woolworths and pinned to his wall — an item he kept for his entire life. Friends who visited Bowie at the home recalled a quiet, austere atmosphere in the main house, but a palpable sense of excitement and possibility inside the teen’s bedroom, where the pair would play records and explore the American popular culture that captivated the young artist.

    Local residents who grew up alongside Bowie in Bromley have also shared memories of seeing the young artist walking the neighborhood in bold, experimental outfits assembled from second-hand and surplus finds on London’s trendy Carnaby Street. Even then, neighbors sensed there was something extraordinary about Bowie, and were convinced he would go on to change music forever.

    Nicola Stacey, director of the Heritage of London Trust, says that for fans, there will be no experience more moving than standing in the small room where Bowie’s legendary career first began: “nothing more powerful” than connecting with the moment a global icon first dared to dream of fame.

  • ‘I don’t encourage what’s going on’: Shane Flanagan vows to fight on as pressure mounts on the winless Dragons

    ‘I don’t encourage what’s going on’: Shane Flanagan vows to fight on as pressure mounts on the winless Dragons

    The 2025 NRL season has started in nightmare fashion for the St George Illawarra Dragons, who head into Friday’s clash against Manly Sea Eagles still searching for their first victory. With a winless 0-5 record and growing calls for head coach Shane Flanagan to step down, the veteran mentor has remained unshaken, doubling down on his commitment to turning the club’s fortunes around.

    Last week’s humiliating 0-nil defeat to the North Queensland Cowboys left fans furious, with the home crowd booing the team off the pitch after a dismal attacking performance. That loss amplified the already intense pressure on Flanagan, who has been the target of constant scrutiny from fans and media alike over the past fortnight, coming just two weeks after Manly Sea Eagles terminated the contract of head coach Anthony Seibold. If Flanagan can lead his side to an upset win over Manly on home turf in Wollongong, it would immediately ease the heat on the embattled coach.

    Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Flanagan struck a defiant but pragmatic tone, saying he will not be distracted by speculation over his future. “I’ve never been through this experience, but I’ve just got to battle on. All I can do is my best, and that’s what I’m doing at the moment. I turn up to work every day, prepare the team the best we can and look after the staff as best I can. That’s all I can do,” he said.

    Flanagan emphasized that his priority remains the long-term stability of the Dragons organization, rather than his own job security. “I’m not worried about my future. I’ve got more important things to worry about at this stage of my career. I’ve got to worry about the club, and I value the stability, the team and the whole organisation, rather than self. If I do my job and we get through it, then that’s great. If we don’t, I can walk away and say I did my best.”

    The 2016 premiership-winning coach acknowledged that pressure is inherent to coaching in the NRL, but added that the intensity of recent criticism has been difficult to endure. “It’s the NRL. If you don’t win, it’s going to come. I can’t believe the way that we attack each other in this great game of ours. I love the game, I love the people I’ve met through it and I love the players that I’ve coached. I understand it (the pressure), but I don’t enjoy it and I don’t encourage what’s going on. I wouldn’t wish what’s going on with me over the last few weeks on anyone,” he said.

    For the pivotal Manly clash, Flanagan has made key positional adjustments to address the team’s ongoing attacking woes. Star captain Clint Gutherson will miss the game with a hamstring injury, while playmaker Kyle Flanagan – Shane Flanagan’s son – is set to return to the starting side after a scary head knock ruled him out of last week’s game. Flanagan rejected claims of nepotism around his son’s selection, saying the young halfback has earned his spot through consistent performance.

    “He’s our best halfback in the club and he competes hard. You can ask all our other coaches who have got some qualifications behind them, Mick Ennis and Dean Young and Willie Talau. I don’t go pick Kyle because of his surname. He’s got to do a job and he is within our top three or four players – competitive wise – week in, week out. He’s our best halfback in the club at the moment, so we pick him,” Flanagan said.

    Key recruit Daniel Atkinson, who struggled with a poor kicking performance against the Cowboys while filling in at halfback, has been shifted from halfback to five-eighth. Flanagan explained the change is designed to play to both players’ strengths: Kyle Flanagan will take charge of on-field organization, while Atkinson can focus on his strength: running the ball and generating attacking momentum.

    “As time’s gone on, we just feel that Kyle’s strength is to organise the team and get them around the park. Daniel’s probably felt a bit of pressure, especially last week with Kyle not there, to do both. His strength is his running game and his kicking (even though) he kicked a couple dead last week, but that was probably under pressure being on his own. It’ll take the pressure off Daniel and we’ll go back to Kyle’s strength about getting the team around the park. So I think it’s just a change in number, but it’s also a change in mindset,” Flanagan said.

    The Dragons have already been rocked this season by the sudden departures of star players Ben Hunt and Zac Lomax, departures that have disrupted the team’s structure and left gaps in the starting lineup. Flanagan noted that young development players have stepped up in their absence and shown promise for the future, but a win Friday is critical to turning around the club’s devastating start to the 2025 campaign.

  • You’re being watched: Japan battles online abuse of athletes

    You’re being watched: Japan battles online abuse of athletes

    As the 2025 Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya draw near, Japanese sports authorities are sending a clear message to internet trolls targeting competing athletes: all abusive activity will be closely monitored and acted upon. After decades of unaddressed harm to competitors across sports, Japan has finally launched a multi-pronged strategy to curb online harassment, a crisis that has devastated athletes’ mental health, impaired on-field performance, and forced many talented competitors to walk away from their careers entirely.

    Online abuse is not a uniquely Japanese problem: athletes across every sport and every region have faced dehumanizing, threatening comments on social media for years. But Japan’s response, coming later than many global initiatives, builds on lessons learned from major international events to create a structured framework for protection. At the 2025 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) ran its first large-scale social media monitoring program, testing the model ahead of the home Asian Games. Six staff based in Milan and 22 working from Tokyo conducted 24/7 checks for abusive content targeting Japanese athletes, combining manual reviews with AI-powered search tools to identify harmful posts. The team collaborated directly with major social platforms including Meta — owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp — and domestic tech giant LINE Yahoo to remove violating content. Across the course of the Games, the JOC requested the removal of nearly 2,000 abusive posts, successfully securing the takedown of approximately 600 of the most harmful entries.

    This successful test run has paved the way for expanded protection at the upcoming Asian Games. Not only will the JOC repeat its monitoring program for Japanese athletes, but event organizers are rolling out a broader initiative to protect competitors from all participating nations. For JOC officials, the pilot program at the Milan-Cortina Games provided invaluable insight into the scale and nature of online harassment targeting athletes. “We now understand what kinds of comments appear on a daily basis and how they upset athletes,” said JOC official Hirofumi Takeshita. “We’ve learned how much energy we need to devote to this.”

    JOC official Misa Chida, who participated in the Milan-Cortina monitoring effort, explained that even a single harsh comment can cause lasting harm. Many athletes respond by stepping back from social media entirely to avoid abuse — a choice that means they also miss out on the overwhelming majority of positive, supportive messages from fans. “Even a single negative comment can cut deeply,” Chida told AFP. “Athletes don’t want to see things like that, so a lot of them choose not to look at social media at all, and that means they miss the 99 percent of messages that are supportive. That’s a real shame.” Chida added that as more athletes and support staff become aware of these protection initiatives, it directly boosts competitors’ psychological safety, letting them focus on competition rather than fearing online harassment.

    Beyond in-house monitoring, Japan has added legal support for athletes facing abuse, a step that experts say fills a long-empty gap in the country’s sports ecosystem. Lawyer Shun Takahashi leads a seven-person legal group founded in 2024 specifically to support athletes targeted by online trolls. Takahashi notes that Japan was relatively slow to adopt formal protections compared to other nations, and many athletes face cultural barriers to speaking out about abuse. Many are raised with the expectation that they must always project strength, leading to fears that acknowledging the harm of harassment will lead coaches to see them as unfit to compete and bench them. Takahashi’s group serves as a confidential “safe haven” for athletes to seek support without risking their careers.

    One high-profile case the group supported underscores the severity of the abuse many athletes face: professional baseball player Taiki Sekine took legal action against online abusers last year after receiving threatening messages including “I hope your whole family dies in an accident”. Sekine has secured multiple civil settlements and filed criminal complaints against the worst offenders, a process that was simplified by the fact that all abusers in the case were based in Japan. Cross-border abuse cases remain far harder to prosecute, a persistent challenge for global anti-harassment efforts. Takahashi says that visible legal action carries a strong deterrent effect, particularly since most online trolls are teenagers or young adults who often underestimate the legal consequences of their actions. “It makes them realise the risk involved,” he explained.

    While Japan’s new proactive approach marks a major shift from years of inaction, stakeholders across the board agree that there is still a long way to go to fully solve the problem. During the Milan-Cortina monitoring program, less than a third of the posts the JOC requested to be removed were actually taken down by social media companies. Though Takeshita emphasized that tech platforms have been cooperative, he acknowledged that platform’s standards for what counts as offensive content often do not align with the JOC’s perspective. “Yes, there was a gap, but it was a gap that we were able to identify by actually doing this work,” he said. “That’s better than having an unidentified gap that never gets bridged. Now that we know where the differences lie, we can work to close them.”

    Japan’s effort joins a growing global movement to protect athletes from online abuse: the International Olympic Committee ran a multi-language monitoring program covering more than 35 languages at the 2024 Paris Games, and similar initiatives have been launched by governing bodies in football and tennis. As the Asian Games approach, Japan’s expanding framework sets a new example for regional event organizers, while highlighting ongoing work needed to align platform policies with athlete protection needs.

  • Bruce Lehrmann suffers crushing court blow as High Court knocks back appeal on Brittany Higgins defamation findings

    Bruce Lehrmann suffers crushing court blow as High Court knocks back appeal on Brittany Higgins defamation findings

    One of Australia’s most high-profile and polarizing legal sagas has reached its final conclusion, after the High Court of Australia formally rejected former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann’s last-ditch bid to overturn a devastating defamation ruling against him brought by Network 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson. In the wake of the court’s ruling, Brittany Higgins, the woman at the center of the original allegations, has called the decision a long-awaited end to a years-long period of trauma.

    The legal battle traces its origins back to 2019, when Higgins alleged that Lehrmann raped her inside the parliamentary office of their then-boss, Senator Linda Reynolds, following a night of social drinking. The allegations first entered the public spotlight in 2021, when Higgins gave an interview about her experience on Network 10’s flagship current affairs program *The Project*, hosted by Wilkinson. Lehrmann subsequently launched defamation proceedings against the outlet and Wilkinson, claiming the interview had destroyed his reputation.

    The first major ruling in the case came in the Federal Court, where Justice Michael Lee delivered a landmark verdict finding that on the balance of probabilities, Lehrmann had indeed raped Higgins. Lee wrote in his judgment that Lehrmann was “hellbent on having sex” with Higgins and did not consider whether she consented to the encounter. Lehrmann immediately launched an appeal to the Full Court of the Federal Court, but the three justices hearing the appeal not only upheld Lee’s original ruling but strengthened the findings against him: they concluded Lee should have explicitly found Lehrmann had “actual knowledge” that Higgins did not consent, and also reaffirmed the original ruling that Lehrmann lacked credibility as a witness.

    Undeterred, Lehrmann launched a final appeal to the High Court, arguing that Lee had improperly conducted independent research outside the scope of the trial and relied on non-legal academic material to reach his verdict. Lawyers for Network 10 pushed back against this claim, noting that Lee only referenced the academic work to contextualize legal arguments, and explicitly stated in his judgment that he would not rely on any information not entered as evidence in the trial. On Thursday, the High Court issued a brief, decisive ruling: “Special leave refused with costs.” The ruling marks the end of all appeal avenues available to Lehrmann.

    In a public statement issued immediately after the ruling, Higgins said the High Court’s decision brought “a measure of finality to a long and painful chapter.” She argued that Lehrmann had exploited Australia’s defamation laws to continue silencing her and the journalists who reported her experience, a tactic she said is far too common for survivors of sexual violence. “Defamation claims brought by perpetrators of violence against women retraumatise victim-survivors, who have already endured profound personal violation, and extend the harm we suffer,” she wrote. Higgins called for a national reckoning with Australia’s legal framework, urging reforms to better protect survivors who speak out, safeguard press freedom to report on sexual violence, and prevent the legal system from being misused as a tool of ongoing abuse. Moving forward, she said her focus will be on healing and continuing her advocacy for legal reform that treats survivors with dignity and protection.

    The ruling also carries severe financial consequences for Lehrmann. He has been ordered to cover all court costs incurred by Network 10 and Wilkinson throughout the entire proceedings, totaling an estimated AU$2.5 million: roughly AU$2 million from the original Federal Court trial, AU$500,000 from the Full Court appeal, and additional costs for the High Court application. Court records have previously established Lehrmann is currently an unemployed student, leaving him at high risk of bankruptcy. During earlier appeal proceedings, Lehrmann’s solicitor Zali Burrows told the court her client could not raise a AU$200,000 surety requested by Network 10, noting that “the only shot he’d probably ever have in making money is by going on OnlyFans or something silly like that”, arguing the media coverage of the case had left him effectively unemployable.

    This long-running legal saga has an additional prior chapter: Lehrmann previously faced a criminal trial for sexual assault charges in the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court, but those proceedings were dismissed after juror misconduct forced a mistrial. The charges were ultimately dropped entirely out of concern for Higgins’ mental health and wellbeing. Lehrmann has maintained his consistent denial of all allegations from the start, asserting no sexual contact occurred between him and Higgins on the night in question, and claiming the two separated immediately after entering the parliamentary office and did not interact again that evening.