Tag Archives: Australia

Law enforcement agencies say they’ve arrested hundreds of criminals across the world in a three-year operation using an FBI-designed app. Since 2018, Australia, New Zealand, and the FBI have used an encrypted app, ANOM, to keep track of organised crime. It has led to drug trade arrests in 18 countries …

Australia’s second-most populous state Victoria on Sunday reported two new locally acquired COVID-19 cases, with the low number raising hopes that a hard lockdown in the state’s capital Melbourne will be eased on June 10. Two other new cases were reported on Sunday by an aged care home, but the …

Australian authorities in the southeastern state of Victoria have detected a “highly transmissible” variant of the deadly coronavirus, stoking concerns of a major spike in cases. Authorities in Victoria said on Friday that the Delta COVID-19 virus variant has for the first time been detected through genomic sequencing among infections …

The French Pacific island of New Caledonia, which rejected independence in two previous referendums, will have a third and final vote on Dec. 12, France’s overseas territories minister said on Wednesday. The referendum would be followed by a two-year transition period to allow Paris to clarify its relations with New …

Australia’s Victoria state on Wednesday extended a snap COVID-19 lockdown for a second week in Melbourne in a bid to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious virus strain first detected in India but will ease some restrictions in other regions. Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, was plunged into lockdown …

The leaders of Australia and New Zealand are holding their first face-to-face meeting since the coronavirus outbreak prompted both countries to close their borders. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrived in the tourist resort of Queenstown for an overnight visit on Sunday. He greeted his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern …

Australia’s second-most populous state of Victoria will enter a one-week COVID-19 lockdown forcing its near seven million residents to remain home except for essential business as authorities struggle to contain a highly infectious outbreak. “We’re dealing with a highly infectious strain of the virus, a variant of concern, which is …

Scientists hope the scrappy predators’ reintroduction can balance ecosystems ravaged by invasive species. Tasmanian devils have been born in the wild on Australia’s mainland 3,000 years after the marsupials disappeared from the continent, conservation groups said Tuesday, raising hopes that a major rewilding effort could succeed. Aussie Ark and a …

Australia expects to receive 2 million doses a week of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine from October, Minister for Health Greg Hunt told the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) on Sunday. Australia has ordered 40 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, which Canberra intends to use to inoculate its population under the age …

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pointed to strong trade with China as evidence of a valuable relationship despite Chinese criticism, as Australia’s main opposition party accused him of using alarmist rhetoric for domestic gains. Bilateral ties have sunk to their lowest point in decades, and China has in recent …

Australia’s most populous state recorded no new COVID-19 infections for a third straight day on Sunday but extended raised social distancing and mask-wearing rules by a week as the authorities hunted for the source of a small outbreak. After a Sydney couple tested positive to the coronavirus last week, ending …

New Zealand will lift its partial suspension of a “travel bubble” with Australia from midnight on Sunday as fears of a COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney eased. New Zealand had blocked travel to and from New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, on Thursday after a couple in Sydney with no …

Australia will lift a ban on its citizens returning from COVID-ravaged India next week, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, as state officials reported that an outbreak in Sydney appeared to be contained. Morrison stood by his decision to impose a biosecurity order last month barring all travel …

The Maldives speaker of parliament and former president, Mohamed Nasheed, was in critical care on Friday after being severely wounded in a bomb blast outside his home, hospital authorities said, in what police are treating as a terrorist attack. Nobody has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s explosion in the capital Malé …

The prime minister postponed the country’s general election on Monday by a month to Oct. 17 as the city of Auckland remains in lockdown due to a new outbreak of the coronavirus. Jacinda Ardern has been under pressure to put off the polls as political parties said it was impossible …

New Zealand on Sunday marked 100 days without any newly reported cases of local transmission of the coronavirus, a major milestone as the pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world — including neighboring Australia, where recent outbreaks have led to new lockdown measures in Melbourne and broader Victoria State. …

Australia’s second-biggest city Melbourne began the first day of a six-week total lockdown on Thursday with the closure of most shops and businesses raising new fears of food shortages, as authorities battle a second wave of coronavirus infections. Shops were shut and streets were deserted in the city of about …

Some Australian residents of the city of Newcastle, 163 km (101 miles) north of Sydney, have called for a large ammonium nitrate plant, stockpiling up to four times the amount reportedly detonated in Lebanon, to be relocated. Lebanese authorities have blamed a huge stockpile of the highly explosive material stored …

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said there was no evidence that Chinese-owned TikTok had abused the data of its hundreds of millions of users. “We have had a good look at this, and there is no evidence for us to suggest…that there is any misuse of any people’s data,” …

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced a state of disaster has been declared from 6pm on Sunday in addition to the state of emergency. Andrews announced 671 new cases of Covid-19 and seven deaths along with the new stage four restrictions. Metropolitan Melbourne has been put under a curfew from …