More than 1,000 people demonstrated on Saturday in Australia’s biggest cities of Sydney and Melbourne to protest against the government’s climate policies and the strategies it offered at a UN climate summit in Glasgow. Sydney’s first legal protest after a months-long COVID-19 lockdown saw about 1,000 people march in support …
Read More »Melbourne to ease world’s longest COVID-19 lockdowns as more get vaccinated
Melbourne, which has spent more time under COVID-19 lockdowns than any other city in the world, is set to lift its stay-at-home orders this week, officials said on Sunday. By Friday, when some curbs will be lifted, the Australian city of 5 million people will have been under six lockdowns …
Read More »Australia to ease international border COVID-19 restrictions from November
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday announced an 18-month ban on Australians traveling abroad will be lifted from next month, easing one of the toughest COVID-19 restrictions imposed globally. Reopening the international border for citizens and permanent residents will be linked to the establishment of home quarantine in Australia’s …
Read More »Australian police probe video of cop throwing man on floor reportedly leaving him ‘unconscious’ amid Melbourne protests
Australian police have launched an investigation into an incident allegedly involving heavy-handed policing after video footage of a violent confrontation in Melbourne was widely shared on social media this week. The 12-second clip, which began circulating Wednesday night, shows an unidentified man talking to a group of Victoria Police officers …
Read More »Sydney records deadliest day of COVID-19 pandemic, Melbourne lockdown extended
Australia’s biggest city of Sydney recorded its deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday as troops and police set up roadblocks to limit the movement of people, while Melbourne faced a nightly curfew and a further two weeks of lockdown. Sydney, which is in its eighth week of lockdown, …
Read More »Melbourne extends COVID lockdown; ‘no jab, no job’ in Sydney
Australia’s second-biggest city Melbourne will stay locked down for a second week after reporting 20 new COVID-19 cases as it struggles to stamp out infections caused by the highly infectious Delta variant of the pandemic. Melbourne had been due to exit the lockdown on Thursday, the sixth for its five …
Read More »Delta spreads in Sydney as Australia widens COVID-19 restrictions
Australian officials warned Sydney residents on Friday to brace for a surge in COVID-19 cases after the country’s largest city logged record infections for the second straight day despite a weeks-long lockdown to stamp out an outbreak of Delta variant. “Just based on the trend in the last few days …
Read More »Australia Tesla battery blaze under control after three days
A blaze at a massive Tesla battery site in Australia that started three days ago was brought under control on Monday, firefighters said. Emergency services were first called to the Victoria Big Battery project — built by French renewable energy firm Neoen using Tesla batteries — on Friday morning. A …
Read More »Australian state reports drop in new COVID-19 cases; lockdowns ease in some areas
Australia’s New South Wales state reported a fall in new daily coronavirus cases on Sunday, following two days of record 2021 infections, as officials implored Sydney residents to follow rules so they could end a lockdown next week. Australia’s most populous state recorded 16 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, data …
Read More »Sydney records first local COVID-19 case in more than a month
Australia’s most populous city Sydney has recorded its first locally acquired case of COVID-19 in more than a month, stoking concerns of a fresh wave of infections on Wednesday. New South Wales (NSW) state said it is not clear how the unnamed man in his 60s acquired the virus, but …
Read More »Australia’s COVID-19 hotspot logs four new local cases
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 …
Read More »Australia detects ‘highly transmissible’ COVID variant in Melbourne
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 …
Read More »Australia’s Victoria extends Melbourne COVID-19 lockdown for 2nd week
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 …
Read More »Australia’s Victoria state to enter COVID-19 lockdown after ‘highly-infectious’ outbreak
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 …
Read More »Australia’s second biggest city enters strict new coronavirus lockdown
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 …
Read More »State of disaster: Victoria goes into lockdown; Melbourne under curfew
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 …
Read More »Australia reports record spike in coronavirus cases, 14 deaths
Australia recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday with 14 deaths and more than 700 new infections mainly in Victoria state, where the government ordered all residents to wear face-coverings outside. The toll takes the country’s total fatalities from the novel coronavirus to 190, more than half …
Read More »Australia sends 1,000 army personnel to Victoria to fight Coronavirus
Australia is sending 1,000 army personnel to Victoria amid a surge in virus cases in the south-eastern state. This comes after Victoria has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases in recent days, with 33 infections reported overnight. Melbourne, the state capital, has been the only source of community transmissions in …
Read More »In Pictures: Defiant Australians protest racial injustice despite warnings
Tens of thousands of Australians defied government calls to stay at home Saturday by spilling onto the streets for Black Lives Matter protests in major towns and cities across the country. Marchers in Sydney, Melbourne and elsewhere rejected arguments from law enforcement and conservative leaders that mass protests could fuel …
Read More »Ex-Vatican treasurer Cardinal Pell acquitted of sex offenses, leaves prison
Australia’s highest court acquitted former Vatican treasurer George Pell on Tuesday of sexually assaulting two teenaged choirboys in the 1990s, freeing the 78-year-old cardinal after 404 days in jail. The Vatican welcomed the decision and praised Pell for having “waited for the truth to be ascertained”. In a statement, it …
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