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Mike Sneesby appointed as new CEO of Nine

Mike Sneesby has been appointed the successor to Hugh Marks as new chief executive of Nine.

Mr Sneesby is the CEO of Nine's juggernaut streaming service Stan and will begin his new role from April 1.

READ MORE: Nine records positive half-yearly result

Nine Chairman Peter Costello said Mr Sneesby's extensive experience in growing digital ventures will see him well placed to guide Nine's transformation into a digitally-led business.

"The board and I have every confidence that, under Mike's leadership, Nine will be able to maintain the significant momentum it has built," Mr Costello said.

"Mike is well placed to continue to drive Nine's transformation as a digitally led business which is actively adapting to meet the contemporary media consumption habits of Australians."

READ MORE: Treasurer welcomes deals between Google and publishers

Nine CEO Hugh Marks.

In his comments to shareholders, Mr Costello paid tribute to outgoing CEO Marks, who is credited with transforming Nine from a legacy media business into a forward-facing venture following its merger with Fairfax.

"Through the combined strength that came from the Nine-Fairfax merger, our current market capitalisation has grown to just over $5 billion," Mr Costello said.

"This is a remarkable turn-around and Hugh has my sincere thanks and gratitude for his work. 

"His time as CEO has seen Nine make a number of key strategic decisions, which not only redefined Nine but changed the wider media landscape in Australia."

READ MORE: Google may shut off search function rather than pay for news content

Mr Sneesby said it would be the honour of his lifetime to lead Nine.

"I am honored to be entrusted with this important role, to be the custodian for many of Australia's most important, valuable and iconic media brands," Mr Sneesby said.

"I have worked alongside my colleagues at Nine for many years and I look forwarding to building our future together as we embrace the opportunities presented in the emerging and growing digital future.

"The Nine family is made up of journalists, technicians, producers and so many dedicated to their craft, it will be the honor of a lifetime to lead them."

Mr Marks will finish his term as Chief Executive Officer on March 31 and will remain available to assist with a handover to Mr Sneesby in the following months.

READ MORE: Treasurer hails 'world first' media forms forcing tech giants to pay for news

Who is Mike Sneesby? Nine's new CEO comes with extensive business experience

Mr Sneesby has a decorated career of turning digital ventures into business juggernauts.

He has been the CEO of Stan for almost eight years, growing the local streaming service to become the largest of its kind in Australia with 2.3 million subscribers.

To date Stan is second only to Netflix in the category.

Prior to his appointment at Stan he ran ecommerce group-buying platform Cudo, which was part owned by Microsoft and Nine.

He boasts extensive management experience both in Australia and abroad, having been Vice President of IPTV in Dubai.

Nine is the publisher of this website.

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Satellite images reveal North Korea's attempts to conceal weapons site

New satellite imagery obtained by CNN reveals North Korea has recently taken steps to conceal a facility US intelligence agencies believe is being used to store nuclear weapons, a move that could add to the growing sense of urgency from critics who argue the Biden administration needs to articulate a clear strategy on how it will deal with Kim Jong Un going forward.

The image, captured by Maxar on February 11 and analysed by experts at the Middlebury Institute, shows North Korea built new structures at its Yongdoktong site over the course of 2020 – an effort researchers say is likely intended to obscure a pair of underground tunnel entrances that lead to the facility where nuclear weapons are stored.

"Images released by Maxar show the pair of tunnel entrances as late as December 2019 and a new building-like structure visible by February 2021," according to Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, which specialises in open-source intelligence.

"Images released by Maxar show the pair of tunnel entrances as late as December 2019 and a new building-like structure visible by February 2021," according to Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, which specialises in open-source intelligence.

READ MORE: North Korean hackers stole more than $300 million to pay for nuclear weapons, says confidential UN report

Yongdoktong has been previously identified by US intelligence as a suspected North Korean nuclear weapons storage facility and is still believed to be used for that purpose, a US intelligence official told CNN.

New satellite images reveal North Korea took recent steps to conceal nuclear weapons site

The satellite images obtained by CNN reaffirm what has been widely known among US national security officials and experts for years: North Korea continues to actively develop nuclear weapons at sites around the country while taking further steps toward hiding the stockpile it has already accumulated.

The image, captured by Maxar on February 11 and analysed by experts at the Middlebury Institute, shows North Korea built new structures at its Yongdoktong site over the course of 2020

Recent construction at the site will certainly catch the attention of US intelligence agencies as they carefully monitor sites suspected to be part of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, according to two former intelligence officials and congressional lawmakers.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju watch a performance marking birth anniversary of Kim Jong Il, Pyongyang, North Korea.

Lawmakers and key US allies are eagerly awaiting details about President Joe Biden's North Korea policy, which they expect will be announced publicly in the coming weeks when the administration has completed a policy review, according to multiple sources familiar with the internal discussions.

The clear evidence North Korea's nuclear program is continuing adds to the urgency of the situation, with critics arguing that a policy review that goes on for too long risks developments occurring that will further complicate achieving the administration's goal of denuclearise.

"No matter how comical the effort, North Korea continues to upgrade its nuclear weapons facilities and makes efforts to conceal them," Prof. Lewis said, referring to the fact that US intelligence agencies have been watching the site for years.

READ MORE: North Korea parades new submarine-launched nuclear missile

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Pentagon, citing intelligence matters, declined to comment.

The State Department did not respond to CNN's request for comment on the new imagery.

Biden mulls options as North Korea employs 'deception and denial'

Beyond stressing a commitment to work alongside regional allies, the Biden administration has said little about its plans for engaging with North Korea during its first weeks in office, with top officials only offering vague statements reaffirming the US commitment to "denuclearisation" but offering few specifics.

"The President's view is – without question that North Korea's nuclear ballistic missile and other proliferation related activities constitutes serious threat to the international peace and security of the world and undermine the global non-proliferation regime," said White House spokesperson Jen Psaki last month.

Republican Andy Kim and other former US officials told CNN that they hope the Biden administration moves quickly to engage with North Korea before they conduct another missile test or take other provocative steps later this year that may make diplomacy more difficult.

"I think there's an opportunity for us to really push on a number of fronts… and not just have everything live or die based off of denuclearisation.

"I think that if we go down that route again, we will be hit with the same problems that we've had time and time again.

"I do hope the Biden team takes a different tack this point," Kim, a Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees, told CNN in a recent interview.

Republican Adam Kinzinger, a Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he still believes the Biden administration should continue to work towards a "nuclear-free North Korea" but acknowledged there are no easy answers as far as how to pursue that goal.

"Deposing Kim Jong Un is not realistic right now and it shouldn't be our state of policy. Korean reunification is probably not very realistic, so how do we prevent a nuclear war from breaking out or North Korea from using their supposed of nuclear capability as a way for leverage," he told CNN.

The timing of the movements at Yongdoktong is noteworthy but requires some examination because North Korea's actions can never be taken at face value, said a former senior US intelligence official.

If North Korea is seeking to speed up engagement with the Biden administration and does not want to use a provocation like a missile test this move could be undertaken to catch the attention of the US.

Former intelligence officials say recent efforts to obscure the view of American spy satellites could be intended to remind the Biden administration that work on these programs continues even as the White House deliberates on a diplomatic path forward.

North Korea's tactic to try to use "deception and denial" is not something new, one former official explained. North Koreans are known to use the tactic to draw US attention to a matter, allow miscalculation, and deny that they are doing it.

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International border ban extended

International borders will remain closed for at least another three months despite more than 40,000 Australians who remain stranded across the globe due to COVID-19.

The latest extension means Australia's borders will have been closed to the world for 15 months.

Health Minister Greg Hunt yesterday confirmed the three month extension to the existing emergency period would be granted following advice from the Australian Health Protection Principle Committee (AHPPC) and the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly.

READ MORE: WA Premier's proposal for post-COVID border control sparks backlash

The plan stipulates the date for border reopening to June 17, 2021, however Australia could reopen sooner "if no longer needed".

An early reopening of international travel relies on a swift rollout of vaccination programs and are proven to be effective against new and emerging variants.

The announcement follows desperate calls from Australian airport operators to kick-start the pandemic-stricken aviation sector.

Last week, James Goodwin, Chief Executive of the Australian Airports Association, spoke with Today after Qantas announced that international flights would resume in October.

READ MORE: Protesters march on Parliament against Victoria's state of emergency

"We know that international travel is really necessary to get the sector and get the economy back on track," he said.

"What we really want to see is a phased reopening of those borders to rebuild confidence to travel. And we want to get people filling those aircraft and filling our airports."

Mr Goodwin said airports in Australia had been losing about $320 million every month through the pandemic and 25 per cent of the workforce had lost their jobs in the past 12 months.

READ MORE: 300,000 doses of COVID vaccines to roll out in next 10 days

International border closures are also impacting Australia's agriculture and food industry with the cost of fruit and vegetables set to increase as much as 30 per cent due to a shortage of overseas workers.

Despite a raft of incentives in place for Australians to work on farms in regional areas not enough people are taking them up with farmers calling for a quarantine system which could allow for larger numbers of international arrivals.