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South Korea's Hanwha Ocean has made a $649 million bid to take over Australian military shipbuilder Austal. However, Austal has expressed concerns about obtaining approval from both Australian and U.S. regulators due to its role in building vessels for the U.S. Navy. Australia is planning a costly military overhaul to prepare for regional threats, including a more assertive China, and is working with allies such as South Korea to expand its defense capabilities. The bid from Hanwha Ocean tests the Australian government's tolerance for allowing foreign ownership of key defense companies. [Extracted from the article]

Australia is planning to establish its first missile factory outside of the U.S. in order to produce Lockheed Martin's Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), which has been crucial in the Ukraine war. The U.S. has already sent thousands of these missiles to Ukraine. The Biden administration is seeking to develop multiple production lines for critical weapons in allied nations, but this has proven challenging. Australia's efforts to transform Building 215 into a production facility for missiles offer insight into how Washington's weapons strategy might unfold globally, but there have been delays in implementation. The plan is for Lockheed to ship semi-assembled missile parts to Australia for final assembly, and Australia aims to produce thousands of missiles annually by the end of the decade. However, finding skilled workers and developing new supply chains could be obstacles. Despite these challenges, U.S. officials are pleased with Australia's progress and emphasize the importance of precision munitions in the Indo-Pacific region. [Extracted from the article]

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of a midair incident on a Latam Airlines flight from Sydney to New Zealand, during which the Boeing 787 Dreamliner suddenly dropped, injuring around 50 passengers. The incident is being attributed to a "technical event" that caused strong movement on the plane, although specific details have not been provided. Air-safety investigators are focusing on the aircraft's software and power issues, and both Chile and New Zealand are involved in the investigation. The incident highlights the importance of keeping seat belts fastened during flights, and despite this incident, flying remains a safe mode of transportation. [Extracted from the article]

A Nation Tries to Impose Cat Curfews. Photo: Kelly Keen For the most part, American towns don't make cat owners lock 'em up, says Alley Cat Allies, a cat-advocacy organization in the U.S. It criticizes curfews as costly and hard to enforce. Its tips included how to cat-proof a backyard and how to make felines happy indoors, such as by playing music made for cats, providing plants for them to sniff and hiding their food so they have to search for it. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: wsjcorp; Airlines; Passenger Airlines; Air Transport; Transportation/Logistics; Financial Performance; Earnings; Earnings Projections; Corporate/Industrial News; Economic News EN wsjcorp Airlines Passenger Airlines Air Transport Transportation/Logistics Financial Performance Earnings Earnings Projections Corporate/Industrial News Economic News N.PAG N.PAG 1 02/28/23 20230225 NES 230225 Recovery takes hold as travelers take advantage of reopened borders Graph: One factor in airlines' return to profitability has been consumers' willingness to pay higher airfares. Another was some airlines' reliance on international routes, compared with places such as the U.S., where airlines were bolstered by domestic travel that wasn't affected by international border closures. [Extracted from the article]

Should Humans Be Worried? Scientists in Australia say some birds have figured out how to defeat efforts to keep them out of garbage bins, and now they appear to be teaching the others Cockatoos Are Getting Smarter. [Extracted from the article]

A Nation Tries to Banish Jargon. New Zealand lawmakers aim to reduce unwieldy sentences, incomprehensible acronyms and other government mumbo jumbo. [Extracted from the article]