Western Australia has been stripped of hosting rights for the fifth Ashes Test after the state government hit an impasse with Cricket Australia over COVID-19 quarantine requirements. A new host for the match, which was to be held at Perth’s Optus Stadium on January 14-18, has not been announced. “We did everything we could in partnership with the WA government and WA Cricket to make it work under the current border and health arrangements, but unfortunately this was not possible,” Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said in a statement on Monday. “We are particularly disappointed for Western Australian cricket...
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This Week in Sports
Health
Third COVID-19 Omicron variant detected in Australia
The third case of new coronavirus strain Omicron has been detected in a traveller who arrived in the Northern Territory. Health authorities announced on Monday genomic sequencing confirmed a man who travelled from South Africa tested positive for the new variant. The man, aged in his 30s, is in quarantine at the Howard Springs Facility. He arrived in the NT on a repatriation flight “I’m not overly concerned (about the case),” Chief Health Officer Dr Charles Pain said. “We’ve dealt with variants all the way through this and we’ve managed those in exactly the way we’re doing now “In many...
Business
Visa launches crypto consulting services in push for mainstream adoption
Visa is launching new consulting and advisory services to help its clients navigate the world of cryptocurrencies. The payments processor said Wednesday its crypto advisory practice, housed within its consulting and analytics division, will offer advice to financial institutions, retailers and other firms on everything from rolling out crypto features to exploring non-fungible tokens. Visa named American bank UMB as a client that’s already using its crypto advisory services. Visa hopes its crypto consultancy can help further mainstream adoption of bitcoin and other digital currencies. Like rival Mastercard, the credit card giant sees cryptocurrencies as a key growth opportunity as...
Technology
What is Luna? Crypto token soars past Dogecoin and Shiba Inu
Cryptocurrencies are looking worse for the wear after a rampant sell-off this past weekend, but for Terraform’s shiny Luna coin, it was the best of times. It’s not just among the few tokens that haven’t lost value, but it’s charging full speed ahead after a monthslong bull run landed the coin in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, according to CoinGecko. Here’s what to know: WHAT IS LUNA? Luna coin, or LUNA, was created by Terraform Labs, a cryptocurrency company founded in 2018 by South Korean entrepreneurs Do Kwon and Daniel Shin. WHAT MAKES TERRAFORM SPECIAL? This year, the...