Tag Archives: Australia

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the Australian chargé d’affaires to Tehran to protest meddlesome remarks by the country’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the fresh round of sanctions against Tehran. The Australian diplomat was summoned to the ministry on Wednesday in the absence of the country’s ambassador to Tehran to …

More than 120 firefighters battled a major blaze at a multi-level building in central Sydney today. Multiple calls to emergency services were received when flames started engulfing the seven-storey building on Randle Street just after 4pm, Fire and Rescue NSW said. Firefighters, from 30 fire trucks and multiple stations, had …

A survey has indicated that Canada and Australia would vote to become republics if referendums were held. Almost half of the overseas countries in which King Charles III is head of state would vote to become republics if given the opportunity, a new poll has found. The survey conducted by …

Australia’s tobacco tax will be increased by billions of dollars over the next four years as the government cracks down on smoking and vaping. Recreational vaping will be banned as the government seeks to prevent the next generation from becoming addicted to nicotine, Health Minister Mark Butler said Tuesday. The …

The Australian government has announced that military personnel who will stay in uniform after completing the three-year compulsory service will receive A$50,000 ($33,165), amid rising tensions between its ally the US and China. Referring to a retention problem, Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Tuesday the bonus comes as the …

Australia needs to spend more money on defense, make its own munitions and develop the ability to strike longer-range targets as China’s military buildup challenges regional security, according to a government-commissioned report released Monday. The Defense Strategic Review supports the so-called AUKUS partnership among Australia, the United States, and Britain, …

The moon’s shadow will sweep across the globe in Western Australia, East Timor and Indonesia. The moon will pass in front of the sun creating an eclipse for certain regions of the planet. But this eclipse will be a much rarer celestial event than most, as it will be a …

A tropical cyclone is expected to intensify to the most destructive category before it crosses the northwest Australian coast with winds gusting at more than 280 kph (170 mph), meteorologists said Thursday. Cyclones are common along the sparsely populated Pilbara coast of Western Australia state and fatalities are rare, but …

Heavy rain brought flash flooding to Australia’s largest city Sydney on Sunday, prompting rescues and residents to sandbag houses, as authorities warned of bad weather ahead. Emergency authorities received 50 calls for assistance, mostly for sandbagging of properties and help plugging leaking roofs, from residents in Sydney, the capital of …

Shares of Latitude Group Holdings (LFS.AX) slumped to their all-time low on Wednesday after the fintech firm unearthed further evidence of large-scale information theft affecting former and current customers across Australia and New Zealand. Latitude said it was attempting to identify the number of customers affected and the type of …

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet his Fiji counterpart in Suva on Wednesday to press Canberra’s message that its $245 billion nuclear powered submarine program does not violate its nuclear non-proliferation commitments. Australia is party to a nuclear-free zone treaty with 12 other South Pacific nations, including Fiji, in …

The construction of nuclear submarines in Australia, under the trilateral defense pact with the United States and the United Kingdom, will generate 20,000 jobs in Australia in the next 30 years, said the local media on Monday. The details about the employment generation came in a government analysis cited by …

Australia and India made significant progress in consolidating defense and security ties during talks the leaders of the two countries held Friday in New Delhi. “Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi and I discussed an increasingly uncertain global security environment and committed to strengthening the Australia-India defense and security partnership to address …

An Australian archaeologist and two Papua New Guinea researchers held for a week by 20 armed men in a remote part of the Pacific Island nation were released on Sunday, while their captors remain at large, a local official told Reuters. Professor Bryce Barker and doctoral student Teppsy Beni from …

Canberra pushes for joint patrols with the Philippines, as Manila and Washington discuss same The Philippines and Australia have agreed to formalize their “strategic” defense engagement through an annual meeting, their defense chiefs said Wednesday, as both countries look to counter Beijing’s growing military influence especially in the South China …

Military helicopters airlifted hundreds of people from communities cut off by “once in a century” floods in Australia’s northwest, official leading relief efforts said on Sunday, noting water covered some places “as far as the eye could see.” The crisis in the Kimberley — a sparsely populated area in Western …

The Pentagon wants a new hub for B-52s amid tensions with China The US military has devised a plan which would see nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bombers deployed in Australia on long-term rotational missions, and turn the country’s Northern Territory into a crucial military hub in Washington’s standoff with Beijing. That’s …

Medibank Private Ltd, Australia’s biggest health insurer, said on Wednesday a cyber hack had compromised the data of all of its nearly 4 million customers, as it warned of a A$25 million to A$35 million ($16 million to $22.3 million) hit to first-half earnings. It said on Wednesday that all …

Like something out of Jurassic Park, a Dallas-based genetics company announced Tuesday it is working to resurrect Australia’s extinct Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine, to slow biodiversity loss and climate change.

A senior minister has questioned the timing of Beijing’s security pact with the Solomon Islands Australia’s home affairs minister has accused China of attempting to interfere in an election set for next month, saying a recent security deal with a nearby Pacific nation suggested nefarious motives. In comments to a …