Salesforce tower deal struck as Japanese rush for real estate
Odakyu Electric Railway Co has bought a stake in Salesforce Tower, Sydney's tallest office building, the latest example in a $6 billion wave of investment that has re-established Japanese companies as major players in Australia's property market.
The return that has brought some of Japan's biggest corporate names into Australian real estate, ranging from investments in premium office towers, to greenfield housing estates, CBD build-to-rent apartment blocks and construction firms.
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Sky News AU
6 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Australia should not ‘relinquish' biosecurity standards for US
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The Advertiser
6 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Japanese company's moon lander 'likely to have crashed'
Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position. Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position. Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position. Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position.
The Advertiser
6 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Australian detained in Iraq released after four years
An Australian man detained in an Iraqi prison for nearly four years has been released on bail. Engineer Robert Pether was granted conditional release after being detained on misrepresentation and fraud charges. Mr Pether was arrested following a dispute with the Iraqi government and his employer, a consulting firm working on headquarters for the country's central bank. He was sentenced in 2021 to five years in prison and fined millions of dollars. A United Nations report on arbitrary detention detailed allegations that Mr Pether was subject to extreme cold, humiliation, threats of death and forms of psychological abuse, including being shown a torture room. Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed Mr Pether's release. "I know the personal toll Mr Pether's detention has taken on him and his family and hope this news brings a measure of relief after years of distress," she said in a statement. "While Mr Pether remains subject to legal proceedings in Iraq, this is a positive development and follows persistent Australian government advocacy over many years. "His case has been raised with Iraqi authorities over 200 times, including at the highest level by the prime minister and myself." Mr Pether wrote a letter in 2024 expressing concern for his health. Senator Wong said officials would continue to press the case for the Australian in Iraq. "We will continue to support Mr Pether and his family and to advocate for Mr Pether's interests and wellbeing," she said. "I want to thank Australian officials for their tireless work on Mr Pether's case, including Australia's special envoy who travelled to Iraq in recent weeks to negotiate for this outcome." An Australian man detained in an Iraqi prison for nearly four years has been released on bail. Engineer Robert Pether was granted conditional release after being detained on misrepresentation and fraud charges. Mr Pether was arrested following a dispute with the Iraqi government and his employer, a consulting firm working on headquarters for the country's central bank. He was sentenced in 2021 to five years in prison and fined millions of dollars. A United Nations report on arbitrary detention detailed allegations that Mr Pether was subject to extreme cold, humiliation, threats of death and forms of psychological abuse, including being shown a torture room. Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed Mr Pether's release. "I know the personal toll Mr Pether's detention has taken on him and his family and hope this news brings a measure of relief after years of distress," she said in a statement. "While Mr Pether remains subject to legal proceedings in Iraq, this is a positive development and follows persistent Australian government advocacy over many years. "His case has been raised with Iraqi authorities over 200 times, including at the highest level by the prime minister and myself." Mr Pether wrote a letter in 2024 expressing concern for his health. Senator Wong said officials would continue to press the case for the Australian in Iraq. "We will continue to support Mr Pether and his family and to advocate for Mr Pether's interests and wellbeing," she said. "I want to thank Australian officials for their tireless work on Mr Pether's case, including Australia's special envoy who travelled to Iraq in recent weeks to negotiate for this outcome." An Australian man detained in an Iraqi prison for nearly four years has been released on bail. Engineer Robert Pether was granted conditional release after being detained on misrepresentation and fraud charges. Mr Pether was arrested following a dispute with the Iraqi government and his employer, a consulting firm working on headquarters for the country's central bank. He was sentenced in 2021 to five years in prison and fined millions of dollars. A United Nations report on arbitrary detention detailed allegations that Mr Pether was subject to extreme cold, humiliation, threats of death and forms of psychological abuse, including being shown a torture room. Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed Mr Pether's release. "I know the personal toll Mr Pether's detention has taken on him and his family and hope this news brings a measure of relief after years of distress," she said in a statement. "While Mr Pether remains subject to legal proceedings in Iraq, this is a positive development and follows persistent Australian government advocacy over many years. "His case has been raised with Iraqi authorities over 200 times, including at the highest level by the prime minister and myself." Mr Pether wrote a letter in 2024 expressing concern for his health. Senator Wong said officials would continue to press the case for the Australian in Iraq. "We will continue to support Mr Pether and his family and to advocate for Mr Pether's interests and wellbeing," she said. "I want to thank Australian officials for their tireless work on Mr Pether's case, including Australia's special envoy who travelled to Iraq in recent weeks to negotiate for this outcome." An Australian man detained in an Iraqi prison for nearly four years has been released on bail. Engineer Robert Pether was granted conditional release after being detained on misrepresentation and fraud charges. Mr Pether was arrested following a dispute with the Iraqi government and his employer, a consulting firm working on headquarters for the country's central bank. He was sentenced in 2021 to five years in prison and fined millions of dollars. A United Nations report on arbitrary detention detailed allegations that Mr Pether was subject to extreme cold, humiliation, threats of death and forms of psychological abuse, including being shown a torture room. Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed Mr Pether's release. "I know the personal toll Mr Pether's detention has taken on him and his family and hope this news brings a measure of relief after years of distress," she said in a statement. "While Mr Pether remains subject to legal proceedings in Iraq, this is a positive development and follows persistent Australian government advocacy over many years. "His case has been raised with Iraqi authorities over 200 times, including at the highest level by the prime minister and myself." Mr Pether wrote a letter in 2024 expressing concern for his health. Senator Wong said officials would continue to press the case for the Australian in Iraq. "We will continue to support Mr Pether and his family and to advocate for Mr Pether's interests and wellbeing," she said. "I want to thank Australian officials for their tireless work on Mr Pether's case, including Australia's special envoy who travelled to Iraq in recent weeks to negotiate for this outcome."
