Oceania

Australian PM promises more COVID-19 shots to states as Sydney cluster grows

Australian states and territories will get more doses of COVID-19 vaccines soon, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, as authorities look to avoid further delays in an immunisation drive…

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Australia may list east coast koalas as endangered

Australia is considering listing koalas on the country's east coast as endangered, Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said on Friday in an emailed statement. Australia already classifies east coast…

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Sydney reinstates masks to contain Delta COVID-19 variant

Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) reverted on Friday to making the wearing of masks mandatory on public transport in Sydney, as a cluster of the highly-infectious coronavirus Delta variant expanded…

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Photo Story – Tamil asylum-seeker family reunites in Australia

Supporters of the Tamil asylum-seeker Murugappan family hold signs at Perth airport, in Perth, Western Australia, Australia, 15 June 2021 (issued 16 June 2021). Nades Murugappan and his Australian-born daughter…

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Australia recommends AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine only for people over 60

Australia will recommend AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines only for people aged 60 years and over, while Pfizer shots will be offered to others, Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Thursday. Australia…

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Pricey metals lure Australian thieves to strip cars of catalytic converters

Police in South Australia urged drivers on Wednesday to step up efforts to protect their cars, as thieves target the catalytic converters that scrub exhaust emissions, amid a surge in…

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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…

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Melbourne to end mandatory masks wearing outdoors, despite stubborn virus outbreak

Australia's second largest city will allow its five million residents to travel more than 25 kms (15 miles) from home and end mandatory masks wearing outdoors from Friday, despite the…

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Britain and Australia announce free trade deal, Johnson hail ‘new dawn’

Britain and Australia announced a trade deal on Tuesday that will eliminate tariffs and red tape, hailed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as "a new dawn" in the two…

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Australia’s top exporting state calls for reset in China ties

Australia's biggest exporting state on Tuesday urged Canberra to stop antagonising China, the country's top trade partner, in remarks that came amid escalating criticism of Beijing led by the United States, Australia's…

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Australia’s Victoria state expects further easing of COVID-19 curbs

Australia's Victoria state expects to announce further easing of COVID-19 restrictions this week, acting Premier James Merlino said on Sunday, as the state reported one new locally acquired infection for…

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Australia’s Victoria reports zero COVID-19 cases as lockdown ends

Australia's Victoria state reported zero locally acquired cases of COVID-19 for the first time in nearly three weeks on Friday as state capital Melbourne came out of a snap two-week…

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Two Australian states on COVID-19 alert after infected woman’s interstate travel

Two Australian states are on COVID-19 alert after an infected woman and her husband traveled from Victoria, a state in lockdown, through the states of New South Wales and into…

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Photo Story: Snowfall in New South Wales, Australia

People walk in Carrington Park during snowfall in Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia, 10 June 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/STEVEN SAPHORE

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Pandemic propels Auckland to top of EIU’s most liveable cities ranking

COVID-19 has shaken up the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual ranking of most liveable cities, propelling Auckland to first place, replacing Vienna, which crashed out of the top 10 as the…

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UPDATED: Australia’s Melbourne to exit COVID-19 lockdown but some restrictions remain

Australia's second largest city Melbourne will exit a COVID-19 hard lockdown as planned on Thursday night, Victoria state authorities said, although some restrictions on travel and gatherings would likely remain…

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Australian financial crime watchdog widens probe on casinos already reeling from COVID

Australia's anti-money-laundering agency on Monday widened a probe into due diligence at casinos to include the three biggest operators, ratcheting up pressure on a sector already struggling with the pandemic…

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Australia’s Victoria logs biggest rise in COVID-19 cases in a week

Australia's Victoria state on Monday reported its biggest rise in new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in nearly a week as authorities scramble to track the source of the highly infectious…

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New Zealand tackles ‘vaccine apartheid’ with ambitious APEC free-trade plan

New Zealand is pushing Asia-Pacific trade group APEC to remove all tariffs on COVID-19 vaccines and related medical products, but is facing opposition from some members who believe the plan…

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Australian media fined A$1.1m over Cardinal Pell trial reports

An Australian court on Friday ordered a dozen media firms to pay a total of A$1.1 million ($842,270) in fines for breaching a suppression order on reporting the conviction of…

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Australia’s Victoria detects Delta COVID-19 virus variant in latest outbreak

Australia's Victoria state authorities said on Friday genomic sequencing has detected for the first time the Delta COVID-19 virus variant among infections in the latest virus outbreak in state capital,…

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Australia’s Victoria posts lowest rise in daily COVID-19 cases in a week

Australia's second-most populous state, Victoria, reported its lowest rise in new COVID-19 cases in more than a week on Thursday, a day after authorities extended a snap lockdown in state…

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Australia’s economy booms to pre-pandemic levels as consumers, businesses spend

Australia's economy raced ahead last quarter as consumers and businesses spent with abandon, lifting output back above where it was last year when pandemic lockdowns tipped the country into its…

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Australia’s Victoria extends Melbourne COVID-19 lockdown for 2nd week

The Australian state of Victoria extended on Wednesday a snap coronavirus lockdown in its capital of Melbourne for a second week, as it scrambles to rein in a highly contagious…

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“Australia’s Greta Thunberg” steps up climate change activism

Leading thousands of protest marchers through central Sydney and joining a landmark class action lawsuit aren’t the usual activities for most 14-year-olds. But Australian student Izzy Raj-Seppings has abandoned more…

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Australia’s Victoria state reports 9 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases

Australia's second-most populous state Victoria on Tuesday reported nine new locally acquired COVID-19 cases as authorities grapple with an outbreak in state capital Melbourne with several thousands close contacts and more than…

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Australia’s carbon emissions drop 5% in 2020

Australia's carbon emissions fell by 5% in 2020 with growth in wind and solar energy, a hit to transport from coronavirus lockdowns, and a rise in carbon capture at the…

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Australia and New Zealand unite over China human rights issues

Australia and New Zealand on Monday expressed grave concerns over developments in Hong Kong and the human rights situation in the Xinjiang region of China, as the two nations sought…

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Australia’s Victoria COVID-19 cluster swells to 51, next few days ‘critical’

Australia's second-most populous state of Victoria, the epicentre of the country's latest coronavirus hotspot, reported 11 new cases of community transmission on Monday and authorities warned the situation could worsen…

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UPDATED: China, deportation policy set to challenge Australia-New Zealand talks

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrived in New Zealand on Sunday for high-level talks hours after the country's government chose to support Canberra in its dispute with China on barley…

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Australia’s Victoria logs 5 COVID-19 cases amid lockdown, vaccination demand surges

Australia's Victoria state reported five new local COVID-19 cases on Saturday amid a strict lockdown, as people rushed to vaccination centres, causing long lines and technological glitches. The infections bring…

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Australia’s Victoria state sees fewer new COVID-19 cases on first day of lockdown

Australia's Victoria state reported fewer new local COVID-19 cases on Friday, the first day of a one-week hard lockdown imposed to contain a highly-infectious outbreak which authorities said could become…

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Australia expects warmer, wetter winter; rules out El Niño event

Australia's winter will probably be warmer than average, particularly across its grain-growing eastern regions, with a hotter Indian Ocean likely to bring rain to some areas, the weather bureau said…

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Australia’s Victoria state to enter COVID-19 lockdown after fresh 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…

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New Zealand health systems hackers release patient details to the media

Hackers who targeted hospitals in New Zealand’s Waikato district have released what appears to be private patient information to media outlets, as health systems struggled to come back online more…

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Australian state has biggest one-day rise in COVID-19 cases in 7 months

Australia's second most populous state reported on Wednesday its biggest single-day rise in COVID-19 cases in more than seven months and warned the next 24 hours would be critical to…

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Masks, social restrictions return to Australia’s Melbourne after fresh outbreak

Australia's second largest city Melbourne reinstated COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday as authorities scrambled to find the missing link in a fresh outbreak that has grown to five cases. Home gatherings will be…

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Photo Story – Frontline domestic and family violence workers demonstrate outside Parliament House in Canberra

Frontline domestic and family violence workers from Newcastle display on the lawn of Parliament House some 150 white dresses symbolizing the lives of women murdered in domestic violence, in Canberra,…

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Australia’s Victoria state investigates two likely COVID-19 positive cases

Australia’s second most populous state Victoria on Monday said it was investigating two suspected positive COVID-19 cases in Melbourne, which if confirmed would be the first community transmissions in the…

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Photo Story – School Strike 4 Life protest in Sydney

epaselect epa09216656 Students take part in the School Strike 4 Life protest in Sydney, Australia, 21 May 2021. Students across the country are striking in the name of climate action,…

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Facebook removes 110,000 pieces of Covid misinformation posted by Australian users

Facebook has removed more than 110,000 pieces of Covid-related misinformation generated by Australian accounts in the first year of the pandemic, the company has revealed. In February, Facebook, along with…

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Qantas accelerates cost-cutting as cash flow turns positive

Qantas Airways Ltd on Thursday announced fresh cost-cutting initiatives to help it weather the coronavirus crisis, and said debt had started to fall after it swung to a positive cash…

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Australian PM stands firm on border closure due to COVID-19, as industries plea for reopening

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday said it was still not safe to allow residents fully-vaccinated for COVID-19 to travel overseas, as industries hit hard by the pandemic press for…

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Britain embroiled in bitter international legal battle over who can produce manuka honey

Britain has become embroiled in a bitter international legal battle over who is entitled to produce manuka honey. The British honey manufacturer Rowse has instructed lawyers to fight an application…

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Australia sticks by plan to reopen border in mid-2022

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Sunday the government will stick to plans to start reopening the country only from mid-next year, as pressure mounts on the ruling conservatives to…

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Sydney casinos to ban cash after money laundering scandal

Sydney's only two casinos will make their gaming operations cashless in a bid to stamp out money laundering. Regulators said The Star and Crown Sydney, which is yet to be…

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New Zealand exploring quarantine-free travel with other countries

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday her government will explore more travel "bubbles" and lead trade delegations later this year to re-connect with a post-pandemic world after…

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Photo Story – Aje Resort 22 runway show in Sydney

A model walks the runway during the Aje Resort 22 runway show at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia, 11 May 2021. VIA EPA-EFE/JOEL CARRETT

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Four stabbed in New Zealand supermarket

our people were stabbed on Monday in a supermarket in Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island, police said after detaining the man believed to have been responsible. Prime Minister Jacinda…

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Australia’s New South Wales reports zero COVID-19 cases

Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state reported zero COVID-19 cases for a fourth straight day on Monday, but concerns about new infections remained as the missing link in a case…

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New Zealand to resume Australia “travel bubble” as Sydney COVID threat eases

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…

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Australia to reopen door to India, local COVID-19 cluster appears contained

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…

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UPDATED: COVID curbs reinstated in Sydney as Australian officials trace mystery case

Australian officials reinstated social distancing measures across greater Sydney on Thursday, as they scrambled to find missing tranmission links in a COVID-19 case connected to an Indian variant of the…

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UPDATED: New South Wales reports first COVID-19 case in more than a month

Australia's most populous state reported its first locally acquired coronavirus infection in more than a month on Wednesday, with health authorities working to track down the source and the variant…

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New Zealand PM Ardern plans summer wedding

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern plans to get married during summer but did not disclose the date, local media reported on Wednesday. Ardern told Coast Radio that she and…

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Australia defends decision to sanction travellers from COVID-ravaged India

Australia on Monday defended its decision to penalise its own citizens entering the country within two weeks of being in COVID-ravaged India, saying it had "strong, clear and absolute" belief…

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New Zealand’s Ardern says differences with China becoming harder to reconcile

Differences between New Zealand and its top trading partner China are becoming harder to reconcile as Beijing's role in the world grows and changes, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on…

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