Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden on Friday deepens his bid to cement US leadership of the Indo-Pacific against a rising China with the first in-person summit of the regional Quad group. Meeting in the White House, Biden and the leaders of Australia, India and Japan will discuss a Covid vaccines drive, regional infrastructure, climate […]
PARIS (Reuters) – France has cancelled a meeting between Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly and her British counterpart planned for this week after Australia scrapped a submarine order with Paris in favour of a deal with Washington and London, two sources familiar with the matter said. Parly personally took the decision to drop the bilateral […]
By Lidia Kelly and John Mair SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia defended its scrapping of a deal for French submarines on Sunday, saying the government had raised concerns to Paris for months, as a new deal with the United States and Britain continued to fuel a multinational diplomatic crisis. “I don’t regret the decision to put Australia’s […]
By Lidia Kelly and Gus Trompiz MELBOURNE/PARIS (Reuters) -Australia has made a “huge” diplomatic error by ditching a multi-billion-dollar order for French submarines in favour of an alternative deal with the United States and Britain, France’s envoy to Canberra said on Saturday. Canberra announced on Thursday it would scrap its 2016 deal with France’s Naval […]
Australians squirmed Thursday as US President Joe Biden thanked their prime minister for joining a major new defence alliance — but appeared to forget his name. Instead of being feted by name for his role in the US-Britain-Australia agreement, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was initially relegated to being “that fellow Down Under”. At a televised […]
New Zealand will not lift a decades-long ban on nuclear-powered vessels entering its waters in the wake of key ally Australia’s decision to develop a nuclear submarine fleet, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday. Ardern said her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison had briefed her on Canberra’s plan to develop nuclear-powered submarines with the help of […]
Brazilian athletes snagged the first track-and-field golds of the Tokyo Paralympics on Friday, as elsewhere defending champions Australia booked their spot in the wheelchair rugby semi-final. A total of 45 Paralympic golds are up for grabs on Friday, with a range of sports getting started, including archery, athletics and judo, which is being contested at […]
By Lidia Kelly MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Australian police clashed with hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters in Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday as officials reported the country’s highest ever single-day rise in COVID-19 cases. Mounted police used pepper spray in Melbourne to break up crowds surging toward police lines, while smaller groups of protesters were prevented from congregating […]
Nobody was watching Ahmed Hafnaoui in lane eight of the Olympic pool. All eyes were on the Tunisian teenager at the finish. Hafnaoui was the stunning winner of the 400-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Games on Sunday, beating a field of faster and older swimmers. The 18-year-old finished in 3 minutes, 43.26 seconds, punctuating his […]
After years of climate-worsened damage to its vibrant corals, Australia’s vast Great Barrier Reef could this week be added to UNESCO’s list of endangered World Heritage sites. Along with six other sites globally that are grappling with issues like ecological damage, overdevelopment, overtourism or security concerns, the reef’s fate is being considered at a meeting […]
Brisbane elected host city of 2032 Olympics by IOC – People gather in Brisbane following a vote announcement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Brisbane’s 2032 Summer Olympics bid. The Brisbane Games will be the third in Australia, following Melbourne 1956 and Sydney 2000. The 2024 Olympics are in Paris and the 2028 edition […]
Scientists have used CRISPR gene-editing technology to successfully block the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in infected human cells, according to research released Tuesday that could pave the way for Covid-19 treatments. Writing in the journal Nature Communications, researchers in Australia said the tool was effective against viral transmissions in lab tests, adding that they […]
By Renju Jose SYDNEY (Reuters) -Downtown Sydney and the city’s eastern suburbs, which include Bondi Beach, will go into a one week lockdown from midnight Friday as authorities struggle to contain a spike in the highly contagious Delta COVID-19 virus variant in the city. The Australian Medical Association (AMA), which represents doctors, said the move […]
From Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to the city of Budapest and the watery wonderland that is Venice, several beauty spots risk losing their treasured UN World Heritage status because of environmental damage, excess development or overtourism. In a draft report released ahead of a key meeting next month, the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization […]
What a difference a year makes in international diplomacy. A year ago, then-US President Donald Trump was obliged to abandon his plans for a G7 summit at the presidential retreat of Camp David outside Washington. Various excuses were advanced by participants, including the inadvisability of travelling across the world in the midst of a pandemic. […]
A gigantic dinosaur discovered in Australia’s outback has been identified as a new species and recognised as one of the largest to ever roam the Earth, according to palaeontologists. The Australotitan cooperensis, part of the titanosaur family that lived about 100 million years ago, has finally been named and described 15 years after its bones […]
An American subsidiary of Brazilian meat processor JBS told the US government that it has received a ransom demand in a cyberattack it believes originated in Russia, forcing some plants to cut production. JBS received the demand from “a criminal organization likely based in Russia” following the attack that has affected its operations in Australia […]
By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian blogger Yang Hengjun, facing trial in Beijing on espionage charges that he denies, asked the judge to exclude evidence obtained in interrogations where he says he was tortured, according to a message conveyed to family and friends. In his first comments since Thursday’s court hearing, which was closed to […]
Two ancient sandstone artifacts believed to have been stolen from Thailand during the Vietnam War are set to return from the United States Friday night, officials say. The temple support beams with their exquisite carvings of the Hindu deities Indra and Yama date back to the late 10th or 11th century and had been on […]
Defying election results and court rulings, Samoa’s veteran leader Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is determined to cling to power, convinced only divine intervention can end his 22-year rule of the Pacific island nation. Malielegaoi is not accustomed to losing — until recently the 76-year-old’s authority was virtually absolute in a devoutly Christian nation of 220,000 where […]
Australian Prime Minister Question Time in Canberra – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrives to attend House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House. Australia will close its embassy in Kabul this week as the country’s troops prepare to leave in line with the international withdrawal from Afghanistan, Canberra said Tuesday. – Lukas Coch/AAP/dpa Australia […]
Sean Paul kicks off his #TemperatureChallenge on TikTok as his classic hit went viral. It’s quite understandable why TikTok challenges have grown in popularity since the arrival of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Social distancing coupled with tight curfews has seemingly resulted in a resurfacing of just about everything, from old songs to dance moves. It […]
A French court on Monday dismissed a complaint from an elderly French-Vietnamese woman against a group of multinationals, including Monsanto, over the harm caused by the US use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The court in the Paris suburb of Evry ruled that it did not have the jurisdiction to judge a case […]
[Testo di "El Sendero" ft. Mishel Domenssain"] [Ritornello: Mishel Domenssain] Camina, guerrero, camina Por el sendero del dolor Y la alegria Camina, guerrero, camina Por el sendero del dolor Y la alegria Camina (Camina) [Strofa 1: Caparezza] Faccio un passo nella selva Senza briglie e senza sella Vado incontro alla mia libertà Già da come […]
By Colin Packham CANBERRA (Reuters) – An Australian court ordered mining magnate Clive Palmer to pay A$1.5 million ($1.2 million) in damages to Universal Music on Friday for breaching the copyright of Twisted Sister’s 1984 hit song “We’re Not Gonna Take It” in political advertising. The Federal Court heard that Palmer had refused to pay […]
By Sarah Mills LONDON (Reuters) – From Antarctica to Australia, a British composer has captured sounds of nature around the world and put them together in a seven-hour body of work released to mark Earth Day on Thursday. Ted White began collecting the recordings that range from caimans in the Amazon river to storms off […]
India will lock down its capital New Delhi for a week from Monday night to try and control a raging coronavirus outbreak, as the hard-hit United States passed a hopeful milestone of giving at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to half its adults. There was good news from Australia and New Zealand as well as […]
By Lidia Kelly MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia is no hurry to reopen its international borders and risk the country’s nearly coronavirus-free lifestyle, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday. Australia closed its borders to all non-citizens and non-residents in March 2020 and has been permitting only limited international arrivals in recent months, mainly its citizens […]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australians were celebrating Easter Sunday in a relatively unrestricted manner as the country reported no new locally acquired coronavirus cases. Queensland, the epicentre of a recent, small COVID-19 community outbreak, has had only one infection in the past three days. The state has the tightest restrictions on public gatherings. Elsewhere, Australians flocked […]
Jem Jenkins Jones was stuck at home in Wales for much of the past year amid pandemic lockdowns but managed to fulfill a promise to her 10-year-old daughter to see the northern lights from Iceland and South Africa’s game reserves — in virtual reality. “She was amazed,” she said, calling the VR travel experiences “a […]