Latrell Mitchell's "mad battle" with Will Chambers typified NSW's coming of age this time last year.

Mitchell, the game's hottest young talent, was just 20 years old when he made his Origin debut alongside 10 others rookies. Chambers, a player 10 years his senior, was the ultimate Queensland warrior.

When they met for the first time in the middle of the MCG, Mitchell did not take a backwards step.

Six weeks later, Mitchell had stamped himself as the game's best centre.

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He dominated Chambers at every turn and as NSW begin their preparations for next Wednesday's series opener, he told the Herald he intends to do the same again this year.

"If he’s on the right going up against me, that’s cool. It’s a mad battle. I love going up against Willy," Mitchell said. "He makes me a better player."

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Personal battles with his opposite number in the centres have driven Mitchell to lofty new heights in the 12 months since making his Origin debut.

He relishes the one-on-one nature playing in the centres provides, desperate to win the individual battle if it means his team will succeed.

Making the battles personal have occasionally pushed the hottest young talent in the game over the edge but more often than not, it brings out his very best football.

"If I’m opposite a centre, I want to dominate him," Mitchell said. "It’s about making sure that he knows if I’m on my game he needs to be on his game and vice versa. If they have a centre that is playing good, I want to make sure I’m on my game.

"I want to be defending well and then attacking them when I can. That’s why I like playing in the centres."

After a "long" 11 week stint to start the season, Mitchell arrives in NSW camp eager to leave the off-field distractions which have plagued his year to date at the door.

By his own admission, his form has been a touch patchy. Unstoppable one week, average the next.

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"It’s been a long 11 weeks of footy. Coming in here and taking things up another level, it’s going to be pretty good. I’m pretty keen," Mitchell said. "I’m in and out a bit, I think. I had a few average weeks at the start of the year and then I came into my own footy.

"But then I’ve gone back to square one a bit. I’m just trying to stay in the moment, that’s the key for me. Just enjoying it. Even though we have lost our last two, I have really enjoyed playing.

"I’ve had a lot of things going on. It’s been tough. But I really enjoy coming in here and enjoying that."

Mitchell admits there is something about the environment coach Brad Fittler creates which helps him thrive.

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Perhaps it is the no phone policy, a ploy to cultivate the bond held by all players involved.

"It’s really good to get away from that and get to know the boys," Mitchell said. "We leave them in our rooms. It’s a long walk [laughs] but it’s good. I like when Freddy gets the boys together and not having any phones is a really good thing."

Or perhaps it is simply the stage itself. Mitchell seems to save his best football for the matches where all eyes are on him. They were this time last year and they will be again next Wednesday.

"Last year we created something special," he said. "For the boys that have come in, they’re coming into an environment that’s pretty packed.

"We patched things up from the past and now we have to keep going now. We want to create more memories.

"I just want to go out there and play my footy and enjoy being in that arena again."

Islamabad: Rabia Kanwal's parents were sure her marriage to a wealthy Chinese Muslim she had just met would give her a comfortable future, far from the hardships of their lives in Pakistan. But she had a premonition.

"I was not excited," said Kanwal, 22, who lives in a poor neighbourhood in the city of Gujranwala, in the eastern province of Punjab. "I felt something bad was going to happen."

Arranged marriages are common in Pakistan, but this one was unusual. The groom, who said he was a rich poultry farmer, met Kanwal's family during a months-long stay on a tourist visa. He had to use a Chinese-Urdu translation app to communicate with them, but overall, he made a favourable impression.

Kanwal went through with the wedding. But upon moving to China with her new husband in February, she said, she was disappointed by what she found: He was a poor farmer, not a wealthy one. Far worse, he was not a Muslim. Within days, with the help of the Pakistani Embassy, she was back home and pursuing a divorce.

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Hers was a relatively happy ending, though. In recent weeks, Pakistan has been rocked by charges that at least 150 women were brought to China as brides under false pretences — not only lied to, but in some cases forced into prostitution. Others said they were made to work in bars and clubs, an unacceptable practice in Pakistan's conservative Muslim culture.

At the same time, Kanwal's story is not uncommon in China.

China has one of the most heavily skewed gender ratios in the world, with 106.3 men for every 100 women as of 2017, according to the World Bank. That tilt is a product of nearly three decades of strict enforcement of China's one-child policy and a preference for boys over girls — a combination that caused an untold number of forced abortions and female infanticides.

But the long-term human costs of this gender imbalance have only recently come into view — and they are having an impact far beyond China's borders.

As the boys of the one-child policy era have begun to reach marriage age, the demand for foreign brides like Kanwal has surged, even as the Chinese government has loosened birth restrictions.

The allegations of trafficking are a disturbing aspect of China's growing presence in Pakistan, a longtime ally drawn closer lately by expanding economic ties — including China's Belt and Road initiative.

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More Chinese are coming to Pakistan as labourers and investors. In the capital, Islamabad, shops and other businesses have begun catering specifically to them.

The Pakistani government has cracked down on brokers said to have arranged the marriages, arresting at least two dozen Chinese citizens and Pakistanis earlier this month, and charging them with human trafficking. The raids followed an undercover operation that included attending an arranged marriage, Pakistani media reported.

The Chinese Embassy denied that Pakistani brides were being mistreated in China. But Human Rights Watch said last month that the trafficking allegations were "disturbingly similar" to past patterns in which women from other poor Asian countries — North Korea, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam — were brought to China as brides and subjected to abuse.

"Both Pakistan and China should take seriously increasing evidence that Pakistani women and girls are at risk of sexual slavery," the rights group's China director, Sophie Richardson, wrote on its website.

Pakistani investigators said men in China paid the brokers to arrange marriages with local women, staying in rented houses in Pakistan until the weddings were performed. The men covered the costs of the ceremonies and in some cases they paid the women's families the equivalent of thousands of dollars, investigators said.

None of that is illegal in Pakistan. The human trafficking charges come from the allegations that women were forced into prostitution or brought to China under false pretences. In some cases, investigators say, the men were provided with forged documents indicating that they were Muslim.

Other men sought out wives from Pakistan's Christian minority, many of whom are impoverished and subjected to discrimination, investigators said. But virtually all of the women, Christian and Muslim alike, were drawn by the hope of better economic prospects.

"My parents said that our neighbour's girls were happy in China, so I would be, too," Kanwal said.

She said she met her husband at the marriage broker's office in Islamabad, where there were many other Chinese men and Pakistani women. According to Kanwal, he told her family that he was Muslim and recited the first tenet of the Muslim faith, which every follower must know: "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet."

But Kanwal never saw him pray, even when they visited the famous Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.

In February after the wedding, they flew to Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region in western China. After a brief stopover there, they flew on to Henan province in central China.

Then, after a four-hour drive past fields of wheat and corn, they arrived at Dongzhang village in Shandong province, where she saw her husband's duck farm. It was not the sprawling operation of a wealthy man that she had envisioned, but a modest family farm where he lived with his parents and two brothers.

"They were not even Muslim and he had faked it all along," she said. "There weren't even proper washrooms in their house. I got agitated and started crying."

Her husband, Zhang Shuchen, 33, tells a different story.

Over a meal of cold-tossed pig liver and stir-fried tomato and egg near his family home in Dongzhang, the boyish farmer acknowledged that he had travelled to Pakistan late last year and paid around $US14,500 ($20,900) to a Chinese broker in the hopes of bringing home a Pakistani bride.

It was his first visit to Pakistan, he said, and the poverty there reminded him of China in the 1980s and '90s. When he first met Kanwal, he said, he liked her. But he said he was upfront with her that while he had converted to Islam on paper, he was not a true believer.

"I told her I wasn't a Muslim," Zhang said in an interview. He added that Kanwal had taught him the first principle of the Muslim faith.

Kanwal later stood by her insistence that she did not know Zhang was not Muslim and denied she had taught him the first principle.

Previously a logistics warehouse worker in southern China, Zhang said he now earned about $US2,900 a month farming ducks, far more than the $US180 or so that the average Chinese farmer made per month in 2018, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics.

Zhang's income could not be independently verified. But on a recent visit to the Zhang family home, a New York Times reporter found a newly built housing compound with multiple bedrooms and shiny tile floors.

Outside the family home, Zhang's mother, who is in her 60s, recalled being puzzled by Kanwal's reactions.

"She is religious, so when she came here I went out of my way not to give her any pork," she said. "I stir-fried chicken and made egg omelets for her. But no matter what I served her, she just refused to eat."

Kanwal said the family locked her in a room for two days, trying to pressure her to stay. (Zhang denied the accusation.) She managed to email the Pakistani Embassy, whose staff connected her through to the Chinese police, who took her away and made arrangements with the embassy for her return to Pakistan.

Her stay in China lasted eight days. She said it was "horrible and beyond words".

"I prayed daily for hours, asking God to take me safely back to my country, to my people," Kanwal said. This month, she filed for divorce at a family court in Gujranwala, saying in her application that Zhang forced her into "immoral activities" and that she "would prefer to die instead of living with him".

After news outlets in Pakistan reported the raids and the trafficking charges, the Chinese Embassy there said it supported the government's efforts to combat crime. But it denied that Pakistani wives in China had been forced into prostitution or that their organs had been harvested, allegations in some Pakistani news reports that investigators said had not been substantiated.

Around the same time that Kanwal returned to Pakistan, the local marriage agency that many local men in the Dongzhang area had consulted for help in finding Pakistani wives was shuttered. But according to Zhang and other villagers in Dongzhang, there are still a number of Pakistani women in the area. Two Pakistani wives in a neighbouring village are said to be pregnant.

"There are no girls here," said Zhang's mother, when asked why so many local men had gone to Pakistan to find wives. "We weren't allowed to have more children, so everyone wanted boys."

The New York Times

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei struck a defiant tone in the face of US sanctions that threaten his company's very survival.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, the billionaire founder of China's largest technology company conceded that Trump administration export curbs will cut into a two-year lead Huawei had painstakingly built over rivals like Ericsson and Nokia. But the company will either ramp up its own chip supply or find alternatives to keep its edge in smartphones and 5G.

The US on May 17 blacklisted Huawei – which it accuses of aiding Beijing in espionage – and cut it off from the US software and components it needs to make its products. The ban hamstrings the world's largest provider of networking gear and No.2 smartphone vendor, just as it was preparing to vault to the forefront of global technology.

The ban is rocking chipmakers from America to Europe as the global supply chain comes under threat. It could also disrupt the rollout of 5G wireless globally, undermining a standard that's touted as the foundation of everything from autonomous cars to robot surgery.

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Ren maintained Huawei had the capability to devise its own solutions – given time. It's been designing its own chips for years, which it now uses in many of its own smartphones. It's even developing its own operating software to run phones and servers. However, the CEO deflected questions about how quickly Huawei can ramp up those internal replacement endeavours. Failure could dent the fast-growing consumer business and even kill emergent efforts such as cloud servers.

"That depends on how fast our repairmen are able to fix the plane," said Ren, who appeared at ease in a white jacket over a pink shirt, making light of questions about his company's plight. "No matter what materials they use, be it metal, cloth or paper, the aim is to keep the plane in the sky."

Ren has gone from recluse to media maven in the span of months as he fights to save the $US100 billion ($144 billion) company he founded. The 74-year-old billionaire emerged from virtual seclusion after the arrest of eldest daughter and Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou as part of a broader probe of Huawei. He's since become a central figure in a US-Chinese conflict that's potentially the most important episode to shape world affairs since the collapse of the Soviet Union. As Ren said in January, when the world's biggest economies battle for dominion, nothing in their way will survive. His company is a "sesame seed" between twin great powers, he said.

"This may bring one of China's national champions to its knees,'' said Chris Lane, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

"If China shut down all the Apple plants, the US would get very upset. This is a similar kind of move."

Ren has had much to deal with of late. His company finds itself increasingly under fire, besieged by a US effort to get key allies to ban its equipment. The US assault helped crystallise fears about Huawei's growing clout in areas from wireless infrastructure and semiconductors to consumer gadgets.

Then came the blacklist. Huawei appears to have anticipated this possibility since at least mid-2018, when similar sanctions threatened to sink rival ZTE. Huawei's said to have stockpiled enough chips and other vital components to keep its business running at least three months.

"We have made some really good chips," said Ren, a legendary figure in his home country thanks to the way he built Huawei from scratch into a global powerhouse.

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"Being able to grow in the toughest battle environment, that just reflects how great we are."

Last week, Trump said Huawei could become part of a US-Chinese trade deal, stirring speculation it was a bargaining chip in sensitive negotiations. But Ren said he wasn't a politician. "It's a big joke," he scoffed. "How are we related to China-US trade?"

If Trump calls, "I will ignore him, then to whom can he negotiate with? If he calls me, I may not answer. But he doesn't have my number."

In fact, Ren pulled no punches in going after a man he labelled "a great president" just months prior. "I see his tweets and think it's laughable because they're self-contradictory," he quipped. "How did he become a master of the art of the deal?"

Beijing itself isn't without options. Some speculate China might retaliate against the ban of Huawei – which may widen to include some of its most promising AI firms – by in turn barring America's largest corporations from its own markets. Apple could relinquish nearly a third of its profit if China banned its products, Goldman Sachs analysts estimate.

Ren said he would object to any such move against his American rival.

"That will not happen, first of all. And second of all, if that happens, I'll be the first to protest," Ren said in the interview. "Apple is my teacher, it's in the lead. As a student, why go against my teacher? Never."

At the heart of Trump's campaign is suspicion that Huawei aids Beijing in espionage while spearheading China's ambitions to become a technology superpower. It's been accused for years of stealing intellectual property in lawsuits filed by American companies from Cisco and Motorola to T-Mobile. Critics say such theft helped Huawei vault into the upper echelons of technology – but Ren laughed off that premise.

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"I stole the American technologies from tomorrow. The US doesn't even have those technologies," he said. "We are ahead of the US If we were behind, there would be no need for Trump to strenuously attack us."

Ren's easy demeanour belies the way he's consistently shunned attention. The army engineer-turned-entrepreneur has this year turned in a command performance in the public spotlight, particularly for someone who's rarely spoken to foreign media since he created Huawei. The re-emergence of the reclusive CEO – who before January last spoke with foreign media in 2015 – underscores the depth of the attacks on Huawei, the largest symbol of China's growing technological might. Ren again waved off speculation his company is in any way beholden to the Communist Party, though he's declared his loyalty ultimately lies with the country's stocksruling body.

US lawmakers aren't convinced. That's why the US Commerce Department cut off the flow of American technology – from chips to software and everything in-between.

An iconic figure in Chinese business circles, the billionaire remains a uniquely placed voice in a conflict that will help define the global landscape. Ren, who says he survived the chaos of the Cultural Revolution thanks in part to his much sought-after expertise in high-precision tools, remains a big believer that Huawei's technology will win the day.

His company today generates more sales than internet giants Alibaba and Tencent combined. In 2018, Huawei overtook Apple in smartphone sales, a triumph that burnished his tech credentials

His quotes adorn the walls of the food court at Huawei's sprawling campus on the outskirts of the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, and employees still speak of him in reverent tones. The company's 2018 report shows he has a 1.14 per cent stake, giving him a net worth of $US2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Ren, who survived Mao Zedong's great famine to found Huawei in 1987 with 21,000 yuan, said Huawei will do whatever it takes to survive. It will ignore the noise while doing its business the best it can. Meanwhile, the pressure is bound to take a toll. At one point during the interview, Ren's unflappable demeanor cracked – if only for a minute.

"The US has never bought products from us," he said, bristling. "Even if the US wants to buy our products in the future, I may not sell to them. There's no need for a negotiation."

Bloomberg

Cody Walker remembers jamming into the family Tarago with his family and making the 230km trip across the Queensland border to watch State of Origin at Lang Park.

"I used to go as a kid and sit on the hill, and that was the era when Bradley Clyde and Brad Fittler and all those guys were playing,'' Walker said.

"We'd get into the Tarago, the 'silver bullet', with Mum, Dad and my three older brothers. Sometimes Mum wouldn't go and it would be just us boys. It was a great time of year. We'd stay at one of our uncles' places in Brisbane and drive back the next day.''

Walker lived in Casino, in the state's far north, and always bled blue.

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Even when he represented the Queensland Residents in 2013 at ANZ Stadium in an Origin curtain-raiser, Walker quipped ''I wore blue underneath.''

Walker was one of the happiest and in-demand Blues players as the team gathered under sunny skies at North Bondi on Monday.

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The night before the 29-year-old told his new teammates about the long journey it had been to make it to the NRL and now State of Origin. Nathan Cleary, his new roommate, loved hearing the stories.

The pair who have been entrusted with guiding NSW around the field on June 5 only met for the first time on Sunday night.

Walker, who did not make his first-grade debut until he was 26, said that when Fittler called to tell him he'd made the team, the conversation lasted all of 30 seconds.

"He asked me if I was ready, how the body was and then said, 'I'll see you tonight','' Walker said.

"That was it. I could understand it because he had so many calls to make, and he was working with Nine. In that moment I wanted to speak to him for half an hour, just chat because I was so excited. This means the world to me.''

Walker is the poster boy for persistence, refusing to give up before finally achieving his childhood dream.

He knows his late mother Linda, who died of a heart attack last year, will be with him every step of the way at Suncorp Stadium next Wednesday. He has 'Mum', along with the names of his partner and two boys scribbled on his wrist every game.

"She would have been beaming,'' Walker said.

"I do feel she'll be watching over me somewhere. I want to keep making her proud. Obviously it's been a hard time in my life, it's still very raw and it feels like it happened yesterday.''

Cleary has a new respect for Walker after he spoke about his back story. The 21-year-old said he had only shaken hands with the South Sydney No.6 after a few NRL games.

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The Panthers halfback admitted he often thought he would be overlooked for the Blues, but was relieved when Fittler phoned to ask 'are you ready?' on Sunday morning.

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As for leading the Blues, especially with Walker being a newcomer to the big stage and experienced Penrith teammate James Maloney not being in the side to assist, Cleary told the Herald: "I definitely think I can. I will have to because I'm the halfback of the team.

"I'll have to do my job and do whatever I can for the team. Whatever Freddy wants me to do I'll do it.

"Cody has been in undeniable form. It's unfortunate for Jimmy [Maloney], but I'm sure he'll bounce back and will be in for a blinder [for Penrith] on Thursday.

"I've got that butterflies feeling again and I'm happy to be back in camp. Putting on the Blues jersey again for photos, it's an honour.''

If formlines are gold, and punters have one eye on the next outing, three runners fit the bill at today’s Newcastle meeting.

Promising local three-year-old Time Raid steps out in a good-quality BM70 over 1400m to close the seven-race card. The gelded son of Time Thief out of a mare by 1987 Golden Slipper winner Marauding has won twice and been placed three times in just seven starts, but his last run, over 1600m at Warwick Farm two weeks ago, had form bells ringing. He finished just two lengths behind high-class Fun Fact which went to Eagle Farm and ran them off their legs in the group 3 Grand Prix over 2200m.

Emerging four-year-old This Is So lines up for his second start in race four, a maiden over 1300m.
A gelded son of dual Cox Plate winner So You Think out of a Dehere mare, This Is So finished strongly on debut at Kembla under a big weight behind filly Invinciano, which then backed up to score in the Belle Of The South at Nowra on Sunday. Given that formline, and a pedigree that suggests he will eat up extra ground, This Is So looks primed today.

Completing the form-boosted triple treat, smart Randwick two-year-old Enforcement returns off two dominant trial wins in race five, a maiden over 900m.

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In fact, so impressive was his latest trial win at Hawkesbury over 1000m under a hold, that he left highly touted unraced colt Deadly Impact in his wake.

Few observers will need reminding Enforcement jumped a $4.80 favourite in December on debut when he finished down the track behind high-class sprinting pair Accession and Strasbourg, which ran the quinella in Saturday’s group 2 Sires’ Produce at Eagle Farm, the latter charging home to land one of the best wins of the day.

Supplied by Racing NSW

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There are some things I don’t quite get about Fleabag – like how a show about grief and guilt can be so damned funny, and how a story about failed relationships can be so uplifting. It’s a puzzle.

In its second season, Fleabag (Amazon Prime) picks up "371 days, 19 hours and 26 minutes" after the first ended. Our unnamed heroine (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) is still running a guinea-pig themed cafe but now it's thriving rather than failing. She has also sworn off getting smashed and using sex as a way of avoiding emotions. Or so she says.

That's not to say she's got everything under control; when we first see her, blood is streaming from her nose. She's in a bathroom, with another woman on the floor, also with a bloodied nose. And then Fleabag, because that's what we're meant to call her, turns to the camera and breaks the fourth wall and says: "This is a love story."

And so it is, over six beautifully weighted episodes that alternate from hilarious to heartbreaking and back again.

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Our heroine is still haunted by the death of her friend Boo (Jenny Rainsford), who walked into traffic after discovering her boyfriend had been cheating on her. She hasn't spoken to her sister Claire (Sian Clifford) since she revealed Claire's alcoholic husband Martin (Brett Gelman) had made a drunken pass, but the thaw is on, slightly. Even her emotionally constipated father (Bill Paterson) is trying to mend fences.

He's given her a voucher for a counselling session. Of course she's fine, she doesn't need that, so she takes it to the counsellor hoping to exchange it for cash. Before she knows it, she's in therapy.

"So why do you think your father suggested you come for counselling," the counsellor asks.

"I think because my mother died and he can't talk about it and my sister and I didn't speak for a year because she thinks I tried to sleep with her husband and because I spent most of my adult life using sex to deflect from the screaming void inside my empty heart," she says. And, to the camera: "I'm good at this."

Oh yes she is. Waller-Bridge, who also created Killing Eve, is merciless at self-excoriation. There's no self-pity here, but plenty of empathy. And gags galore.

"What's your favourite period film?" asks Kristin Scott Thomas in a delightful cameo.

"Carrie," she answers. Bloody funny.

When a hairdresser who's given Claire a cut she hates insists that "hair isn't everything", the sisters are aghast.

"Wow," says Fleabag. "Hair. Is. Everything. We wish it wasn't, so we could think about something else occasionally, but it is."

And to her sister she finally confesses the main point of the series. "I met someone."

"God, that's amazing," says Claire. "What does he do?"

"He's a priest."

Irishman Andrew Scott plays said priest (known only as Father or "the priest", in keeping with the fairytale-like naming conventions at play here) and he's wonderful. He's perfect for her too – apart from the small matter of the dog collar and the vow of celibacy, that is. Hell, he's so simpatico he even notices when she's breaking the fourth wall to address us, though he doesn't twig exactly what's going on.

The writing here is bitter, sweet, truthful and empathetic. The performances are brilliantly judged from top-notch actors who know exactly when to play it straight and when to go for the funny.

A special shout-out is in order for Olivia Colman, Oscar winner for The Favourite this year. As the Godmother to Fleabag and Claire and soon-to-be-wife to their father, she is the personification of middle-England hideousness lurking beneath a frosty smile and supercilious manners.

When Fleabag gives her a wedding present she thanks her, then says: "I'm going to open it over a bin." Beat. "So I've got somewhere to put the paper."

That moment, like everything else about Fleabag, is just about perfect.

Follow the author on Facebook at karlquinnjournalist and on Twitter @karlkwin

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Telstra demands a premium for Australia's first 5G smartphone but it's probably not worth paying top dollar for the handset if you won't see the full benefit for months or even years. That will depend very much on where you live and work.

On sale Tuesday, and exclusive to Telstra, the 256GB model Samsung S10 5G starts at $132 per month on a two-year plan, including handset payments.

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In return, you get unlimited calls and texts but only a measly 3GB of data.

Prices rise if you need more data or more on-board storage, up to a hefty $199 per month. Unless you're on this plan, you're paying an extra $15 to $36 per month for the benefit of 5G, compared to the 4G-capable Samsung S10+.

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Keep in mind, these prices are for mobile lease plans, where you don’t actually own the phone but you have the option to upgrade your handset after 12 months.

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Consumer pricing is due later in the week, which will likely add $10 to all but the most expensive plans. Telstra is also simplifying its plans by the end of June, so better deals could be on the way.

If you've already bought the S10+ from Telstra, you can upgrade to the S10 5G for free. In return the 5G model also offers a slightly bigger screen and larger battery, plus an improved rear camera, although this bumps up the weight by another 23 grams.

Prices will rise even further as, after 12 months, Telstra intends to slug 5G customers an extra $15 per month if you're not on one of the two most expensive plans. At this point, on a 50GB plan, you'd be paying a hefty $51 per month for the privilege of being on 5G.

Buy before June 30, or trade up from an S10+, and you won't pay the 5G surcharge for the life of your plan. Getting in early will save you $180 on the second year of your contract, although Telstra could always decide to scrap the surcharge next year.

So is it worth making the leap to 5G today? Not unless Telstra's fledgling 5G network is set to reach where you live and/or work.

Right now 5G is available in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Launceston, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast – but only if you live within a few kilometres of the centre of town.

In Melbourne, it stretches from Carlton down to South Melbourne and from Port Melbourne across to Richmond – which admittedly is better than the earliest days for 4G. Sydney is a lot of hit and miss, apart from the CBD you've got patches around Mascot, Randwick and Mosman.

Across the country, Telstra's 5G footprint currently includes areas "where more than four million people live, work or pass through every day," says Telstra consumer executive Kevin Teoh.

It's hardly worth paying extra for 5G if you'll merely "pass through" the 5G coverage area for a few minutes each day and then fall back onto 4G with everyone else.

Over the next 12 months, Teoh expects Telstra's 5G coverage to "increase in area almost five-fold" and extend to at least 35 Australian cities.

If 5G coverage is unlikely to reach you in the next 12 months then you're better off waiting to see what next year's deals look like, when you'll have a wider choice of handsets and plans, plus perhaps even choice of mobile networks.

You always paying a premium for first-generation devices. Next year's 5G handsets could well be a little cheaper, while probably packing more grunt. There'll also be an improvement in battery life, and/or a reduction in bulk, once mobile processors have built-in 5G capabilities rather than relying on a standalone 5G chips.

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Opting for the S10 5G today also means missing out on support for the faster millimetre wave 5G bands, which Telstra doesn't use yet but will switch on in the next few years.

Holding off on a 5G handset could see you get faster speeds down the track. Telstra demonstrated speeds of 1200Mbps down and 64Mbps up at Monday's launch, but that's obviously going to drop once there are more 5G users in your area.

Considering you'll squeeze 50 to 100Mbps out of the 4GX network on a range of cheaper handsets and plans, across a far wider area of your city, you really need to be sure you’ll have access to 5G soon – and you’ll put that speed boost to good use – before taking the plunge.

Tommy Raudonikis isn’t a supporter of Scott Morrison’s side of politics but, like the Prime Minister, he certainly believes in miracles.

Two weeks ago, Tom’s medical condition was dire. He was in Gold Coast hospital with breathing problems; fighting against sleep, perhaps fearful his next slumber would be one from which he would never awake.

His devoted partner, Trish Brown, together with family and close friends, were so concerned that some feared he would not be around on Monday night when it was announced at The Star he had been inducted into the NSWRL True Blues Hall of Fame alongside another great halfback, Steve Mortimer.

Tommy was irritable, even rebellious and irrational, demanding to see the hospital superintendent at midnight.

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But when he told a bemused doctor that "I’m going to give myself an uppercut", it was obvious he knew he was being "hard work" and needed to go home. He was discharged last Tuesday but not before he was scanned for evidence of his cancer.

On Friday, Tom and Trish visited his oncologist for the results. Two months earlier, the three of us met the oncologist who informed us the cancer had returned. Tom was told he could have no more radiotherapy and surgery was impossible because the insidious cancer, like a poisonous vine on a tree, was too close to the carotid artery in his neck. His last resort was to be accepted for an immunotherapy trial which he began shortly afterwards.

The highlighted sections of Friday’s report, showing comparisons to the March 12 scans, read: "The mass has reduced in size significantly … the nodules in the left perivertebral muscles have almost completely resolved."

The doctor explained that the aim of the treatment was to stop the cancer growing, yet, miraculously, it had shrunk.

Tom and Trish both cried and he ate four chocolates, right there in the surgery. (Beer unavailable).

It is now the fourth time he has cheated death. He has endured testicular cancer; quadruple heart surgery and, a few years ago, cancer of his throat where he was given a one-in-three chance of surviving.

We should have known this man, all heart and hustle, would survive this. After all, it was close friend John Singleton who said of the earlier one in three odds battle: "I’d hate to be the other two bastards he has to beat to survive."

How could we forget the come-from-behind victories he inspired on the football field, including the NSW versus Queensland match in Brisbane in pre-Origin days when Mortimer was selected as halfback and Tom was a reserve?

The Maroons were well ahead at half-time; Tommy replaced Turvey; ignited a brawl and the Blues came back to win. Even the first Origin match in 1980, when the NSW pack was weakened by withdrawals, Tommy, as captain, scored the final try in the 20-10 loss.

Ironically, Turvey was also inducted into the True Blues Hall of Fame at Monday night’s annual dinner, making them the 18th and 19th players to be so honoured.

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Turvey was given warning of Tommy’s fierce competitive spirit ahead of that game where he was replaced at half-time. The NSWRL management allocated them the same room in a Brisbane hotel. Turvey, seven years younger but awarded the No.7 jumper, claimed the double bed. Tommy began throwing Turvey’s clothing out the hotel window until Mortimer shifted his case to the single bed and said, "Would you like a cup of tea, Mr Raudonikis?"

Tommy played 24 games for NSW as well as 29 Tests for Australia between 1971 and 1980, including two as Kangaroo captain. Mortimer played in seven interstate matches from 1977 to 1981, and then nine Origins from 1982 to 1985.

That included the breakthrough 1985 series when NSW rolled back the Maroon tide and the Blues won the series for the first time. The images of Mortimer collapsing to his knees in tears in sheer relief, and then being chaired from the field by his teammates, remain two of most enduring in Origin history.

Tommy didn’t make it to last night’s dinner, with Trish saying, "It would take too much out of him. But he was keen to go right up until about three weeks ago when he had the big setback."

Like the Immortals concept, only playing records count towards induction into the Hall of Fame. But Tommy’s time as Blues coach for the 1997 and 1998 series fits the legend, immortalising the word "cattledog" forever after it became code for his players to break from a scrum and start a fight.

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Through a raspy voice, he passed on a message to coach Brad Fittler’s 2019 Blues who attended the dinner: "If I can beat cancer three times, you blokes should be able to beat Queensland in three games.

"If you need a miracle to win in Brisbane, remember they always work best when you have a go."

A takeover by Chinese regulators of a troubled lender with links to a missing tycoon jolted markets on Monday, lifting interbank financing costs for some smaller banks and raising worries about broader risks to the country's financial system.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) will take control of Inner Mongolia-based Baoshang Bank for a year from May 24, as it posed serious credit risks, the regulator and the central bank said on Friday, in a rare move to seize direct control of a bank.

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The seizing of Baoshang fanned concerns about indebted small banks across the country, pushing up yields on some negotiable certificates of deposit (NCD) issued by regional banks by more than 10 basis points on Monday, traders said.

"We recommend paying close attention to the impact on liquidity that could be triggered by this event," analysts at China Merchant Securities said in a note, referring to the Baoshang takeover.

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Selling pressure on Baoshang debt would not only affect the deposit yield curve, but could also lead to pressure on instruments from "Baoshang-like" city commercial banks that have not released financial results in several years and have significant interbank borrowings, they said.

The bank's own bonds were suspended from trading following the takeover, said an official at the China Foreign Exchange Trading System and National Interbank Funding Centre, China's interbank market trading platform.

The regulator's Beijing branch issued a notice on Monday asking banks not to try to grab clients from Baoshang, two banking sources with acknowledge of the matter said.

In Baotou, the regulator has made similar requirements, and warned of "severe punishment" of any breaches, a Baotou banking regulator told Reuters.

Financial crackdown

Baoshang, partly owned by Chinese financial group Tomorrow Holdings, has not published any annual reports since 2016, citing a plan to seek strategic investors.

Tomorrow has been in the process of divesting some assets since its chairman Xiao Jianhua was investigated more than two years ago amid a government crackdown on systemic risks posed by financial conglomerates. The billionaire has not been seen since 2017.

Baoshang Bank has 206 outstanding bonds worth a total of 73.83 billion yuan ($15.5 billion), according to Refinitiv data.

Baoshang's last filing on its assets and liabilities shows the bank had a total of 156.5 billion yuan of outstanding loans by the end of 2016, a 65 per cent jump from the end of 2014.

China's central bank said on Sunday that it would offer "timely and sufficient funds to ensure that (Baoshang Bank's) payment system is operating smoothly."

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) also said that it and the CBIRC would give more policy support to improve small- and mid-sized banks' corporate governance.

Chinese financial magazine Caixin, citing sources, reported on Monday that at least 70 per cent of interbank debts exceeding 50 million yuan owed by Baoshang Bank will be initially guaranteed by regulators.

The PBOC on Sunday said it would guarantee all principal and interest of corporate deposits and interbank liabilities below 50 million yuan, which analysts said helped to contain the market reaction.

"The reaction of the (interbank) capital market is relatively calm due to the guarantee offered to NCDs," said Dai Zhifeng, a banking analyst at Zhongtai Securities.

Traders said weakness in China's interbank market on Monday reflected broader concerns about the economy in the absence of clear signs for more policy stimulus.

Benchmark Chinese 10-year Treasury futures for September delivery, the most-traded contract, fell as much as 0.71 per cent to a low of 96.12.

Heavy borrower

NCDs are short-term debt instruments traded in China's interbank market, which are used by smaller banks to borrow from larger lenders, and which have in the past attracted regulatory scrutiny as they were used to fund speculative investments.

Reuters reported last year that interbank borrowings at Baoshang Bank, including NCD issuance, accounted for 48 per cent of its total liabilities at the end of the third quarter of 2017 – far exceeding a 33-per cent cap stipulated by the authorities.

While rare, regulatory takeovers aimed at cracking down on systemic financial risks are not unprecedented. The CBIRC took over Anbang Insurance Group in February 2018.

The takeover of Baoshang is not unexpected due to the risks it poses, Xing Wei, secretary of the Communist Party Committee at the Insurance Association of China, said at a forum on Saturday.

Xing cited a spot check five years ago in which he found that a Hangzhou-based small insurer had "colluded with" Baoshang. He did not elaborate.

At a Baoshang Bank branch in Beijing, customers had mixed reactions to the takeover.

Li Yan, whose parents had purchased a dozen short-term wealth management products at Baoshang, said bank staff had used the regulatory move as a selling point.

"They even comforted me with the possibility of Baoshang becoming a state-owned bank…they're daydreaming," she said, adding she would not let her parents invest in more Baoshang products.

An elderly client, who did not give his name, was more sanguine.

"Under the leadership of the Party, there will be no problem. The PBOC and CBIRC all promised that the takeover won't hurt the interests of normal people. I believe in the bank and will continue to put my money there," he said.

Reuters

Australian startup Morse Micro has secured almost $24 million in funding to take its 'HaLow' chips to the mass market as it looks to revolutionise Wi-Fi for the internet of things.

Investors include the private investment fund for Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, Skip Capital, headed by Kim Jackson, Blackbird Ventures, Ray Stata and Main Sequence Ventures’ CSIRO Innovation Fund, Right Click Capital, Uniseed, and the Clean Energy Innovation Fund.

Founders Andrew Terry and Michael De Nil launched the startup in 2016 after meeting at networking chip giant Broadcom developing the Wi-Fi chips that go into the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy.

"Wi-Fi has been around for a while and it is all about getting faster, but we saw an opportunity to really go after the internet of things market where you need a reliable connection and longer range with lower power," Mr De Nil said.

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The internet of things means everyday objects such as lights and alarm systems in the home or office will be internet enabled allowing them to send and receive data.

The pair said the Wi-Fi chips for phones have a powerful battery but they have to be recharged every night with little regard for power consumption.

"We saw an opportunity to design from scratch with low power which is low-cost," Mr Terry said.

Morse Micro's Wi-Fi HaLow chip has greater range and lower power consumption than conventional wi-fi and can connect more than 8000 devices to a single access point, with data rates of many megabits-per-second.

Mr De Nil said this has a huge range of applications in smart homes, retail signs and displays and sensor networks.

The pair started Morse Micro in August 2016 using $25,000 each in savings and were accepted into the Startmate accelerator by the end of that year which helped them raise an initial seed round of $450,000.

"It was a big leap of faith," Mr De Nil said. "We always thought it was going to be inevitable that we would be successful but in the early days we were not making any money and taking money out of our mortgages.  We didn’t draw a salary for half a year then the minimum wage afterwards."

However, they knew they were on to something and came up with a working prototype which enabled them to raise $4.5 million in 2017.

"We went out for months to the US fundraising there. We spent many night in the bars in Pao Alto cursing the VCs [venture capitalists] over there," Mr De Nil said.  "We were staying at Startuphouse which was like a hostel in San Francisco in the dodgiest neighbourhood there, we were sleeping in bunk beds for way too long."

Mr De Nil said the latest funding round was a much smoother process and the company would use the investment to take their Wi-Fi chips to the mass market, in the process increasing Morse Micro's staff from 24 to 54 people, mainly based in Sydney.

"We design chips and there is a lot of development work but now we need to turn the company around and manufacture them in high volumes with high reliability," he said.

"[The investors] are a good balance between people who have built massive companies themselves helping us out, and venture firms that lend a different perspective to the business."

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Morse Micro has the backing of Nick Crocker of Blackbird Ventures, who said the company was involved in  world-first innovation.

"I have been so impressed at the quality of the team they've recruited, the speed at which they've built the chip, the way the market has turned for them since the seed investment, and the quality of both their characters – resilient, high-integrity, brilliant."

Key employees at Morse Micro include two of the inventors of Wi-fi – Neil Weste and John O'Sullivan.

"Wi-Fi was invented over 20 years ago in Australia and over that time we have seen it go into every laptop, phone and tablet, and all of that came from people in Australia," Mr Terry said. "Today we are opening it up and expanding Wi-Fi so it can go into everything, every smoke alarm, every camera."

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