Australia

Australia defence chief pledges changes after damning Afghanistan war-crimes report

Australia's top military official said on Sunday the country's defence force must 'own' a recent report on soldiers committing crimes in Afghanistan and pledged changes to ensure that atrocities do…

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South Australia orders six-day statewide lockdown against fresh virus outbreak

South Australia announced a six-day lockdown of the state on Wednesday to stamp out a fresh coronavirus outbreak that has now expanded to 22 cases, warning the strain of virus…

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Judge considers dismissing charges in Australian media trial over Pell conviction

An Australian judge on Tuesday adjourned a trial of Australian journalists and media to consider whether to dismiss charges they breached a court suppression order on reporting of ex-Vatican treasurer…

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Australia’s economy on a ‘road to recovery’, says RBA’s Lowe

Australia's success in controlling the coronavirus has put the economy on a "road to recovery", the country's central bank governor said on Monday even as a new outbreak of COVID-19…

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Australia back on outbreak alert as state reports jump in virus cases

The Australian state of South Australia reported 14 new coronavirus cases on Monday, a dramatic increase from the previous day, prompting the country's other states to tighten internal borders and…

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Australia forecasts prolonged wildfire seasons, more droughts from climate change

Australia’s climate will continue to warm, resulting in prolonged wildfire seasons and less rain in the southeast and southwest that will lead to more frequent droughts, the country’s weather bureau…

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Australia may see first week of no local COVID-19 transmissions

Australia’s three most populous states on Saturday recorded at least a week with no local transmissions of the new coronavirus, boding well for the country’s recovery from the pandemic after…

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Australia scraps plans to allow foreign students back

Australia will not allow foreign students to return as Canberra prioritises the return of locals stuck overseas, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.Australia has since March closed its borders…

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Australian COVID-19 vaccine candidate produces antibody response in early tests

Early testing of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by an Australian university and CSL Ltd has shown it to be safe and produce an antibody response, Minister for Health Greg…

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Biden reassures U.S. allies in calls with leaders of Japan, S.Korea, Australia

In their first calls with Joe Biden since the U.S. election, the leaders of Japan, South Korea and Australia on Thursday reaffirmed plans to form close ties with the president-elect…

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Contempt charges dropped against three editors in Pell conviction reporting trial

Charges against three News Corp online editors were dropped on day four of a trial on allegations that media firms broke an Australia-wide court suppression order on reporting ex-Vatican treasurer…

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Australian police arrests 14 men on child abuse charges

Fourteen men including a former childcare worker have been charged with producing and sharing child-abuse material through an online network across Australia and overseas, Australian police said on Wednesday. The…

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‘One and Free’: prominent Australian lawmaker urges change to national anthem

Australia should change the lyrics of its national anthem to honour its indigenous people, the leader of the country's most populous state said on Wednesday, becoming one of the most…

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Australian media face trial over Cardinal Pell’s child sex abuse case reporting

A trial began on Monday alleging dozens of journalists, editors and media companies breached an Australia-wide court suppression order in reporting on ex-Vatican treasurer George Pell's child sex abuse conviction…

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Australia’s Victoria completes full week with no COVID-19 cases

Australia's Victoria state reported its seventh consecutive day of zero locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Friday, suggesting a three-month strict lockdown in the city of Melbourne has successfully contained a…

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Australian bookmaker pays out $17 million on Biden victory ahead of official result

An Australian bookmaker said on Thursday it has paid out A$23 million ($16.5 million) to people that had bet on Joe Biden becoming the next U.S. president though the official…

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Australia orders more COVID-19 vaccines for total of 135 mln doses

The Australian government has agreed to purchase two more COVID-19 vaccines in development, beefing up the country's prospective arsenal against the pandemic to 135 million doses as it aims to…

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Australia’s Victoria reports no COVID-19 cases for fifth straight day

Australia’s coronavirus hot spot of Victoria state on Wednesday reported zero COVID-19 cases for the fifth straight day as states began easing regional border restrictions, raising prospects of a faster…

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Australia Post boss resigns over luxury watches scandal

The boss of Australia Post has resigned after authorising a A$20,000 (£10,500; $14,000) gift of luxury watches to four employees as a work reward. Christine Holgate, chief executive of the…

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Australia’s central bank launches digital currency project

Australia’s central bank on Monday said it was launching a project to explore the potential use and implications of a wholesale form of central bank digital currency (CBDC) using distributed…

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Australian banks complain they have too much money, more may be on the way

Australia's banking system has more money than it can use, a challenge that will likely grow next week with the central bank widely expected to trim interest rates to near…

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Photo Story: Eating out in Melbourne in times of the Coronavirus

People enjoy outdoor dining at a Shopping mall in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Further coronavirus restrictions were eased in metropolitan Melbourne with restaurants and hotels reopening for business as cases of…

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Australia has no local case 1st time in five months

Australia recorded no new daily coronavirus community infections on Sunday for the first time in nearly five months, health officials said, paving the way for further easing of social distancing…

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Australia’s Labor Party on track to win Queensland vote

The Labor Party in Australia's Queensland state was on track on Saturday to retain power in an election overshadowed by COVID-19, with voters approving the strict measures that put the…

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Melbourne opens dining, shopping as coronavirus lockdown lifted

Melbourne's shops, restaurants and hotels opened for business on Wednesday after a four month coronavirus lockdown, with happy customers enjoying alfresco eating in the spring sunshine and shopkeepers hoping for…

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Victoria registers no new cases of coronavirus for first time in seven months

The Australian State of Victoria has recorded another day of no new coronavirus cases for the first time in more than seven months. This figure reflects a downward trend, particularly…

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Australia’s Victoria state reports zero daily cases of Covid-19 for first time in four months

Australia’s Victoria state said on Monday it had gone 24 hours without detecting any new COVID-19 cases, a milestone last achieved four months ago, raising hopes that a stringent lockdown…

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59-year-old critical after shark attack in Great Barrier Reef

A 59-year-old man is in critical condition after a shark attacked him on Sunday at Australia's Great Barrier Reef, near the north Queensland city of Townsville, rescuers said. Paramedics airlifted…

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Australia’s Victoria State delays easing of lockdown

Victoria state, Australia's COVID-19 epicentre, on Sunday delayed an expected announcement on the easing of lockdown restrictions due to an outbreak in Melbourne, prompting warnings that residents were at a…

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Australia may have recorded first case of Covid-19 re-infection

A case of Covid-19 in Victoria is being treated as a rare case of reinfection, the first case classified as such in Australia. Reinfection with Covid-19 is rare, with only…

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Child in Melbourne hospital test positive for coronavirus

A child receiving treatment in the oncology ward at the Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne has tested positive for coronavirus. The Australian state of Victoria, which has been under one…

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Melbourne to ease coronavirus restrictions

Signage directing people to wear fitted face masks is seen outside of the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, Australia, 18 October 2020. According to media reports, restrictions in place to…

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New Australia and New Zealand trans-Tasman travel bubble opens

On Friday, Australia's border rules have been relaxed as the country established a trans-Tasman travel bubble with New Zealand. Hundreds of New Zealand plane passengers started arriving in Sydney on…

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Australian state of New South Wales to ease Covid-19 restrictions

Australia’s most populous state announced that it will ease restrictions despite reporting the biggest one-day jump in new Covid-19 cases in six weeks. New South Wales said that from this…

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Australia Victoria’s State of Emergency and Disaster extend by four weeks

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that he has extended the State of Emergency and the State of Disaster by another four weeks. "I've just signed paperwork to extend the…

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Australia reports no COVID-19 deaths for third day

Australia recorded no coronavirus deaths for a third straight day on Saturday, but it’s hotspot city of Melbourne faced a prolonged lockdown as new infections stayed stubbornly above the target…

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Australia records second day without Covid-19 death for first time in three months

Australia reported its second straight day without any Covid-19 deaths on Friday, the longest stretch without any fatalities from the virus in three months.Australian states and territories reported 16 cases…

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Australia immigration law ‘to require English test’

Australia will require foreign partners of existing residents to pass an English language test before gaining a permanent visa, its government says. The controversial immigration requirement, if approved by parliament,…

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US and Australia discuss China’s malign activity in region

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Australian counterpart, Marise Payne, discussed on Tuesday shared concern over China's "malign activity" in the region, a state department official said. Pompeo…

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Britain open to Aussie-style EU trade deal but Australia wants more

As Britain's negotiations with the European Union on a post-Brexit trade deal go down to the wire, Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his country could trade with the bloc on…

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Australia’s Bondi beach closed due to crowds

Sydney’s Bondi Beach was closed on Monday afternoon after as thousands of Sydneysiders flocked to the seaside to enjoy warm public holiday weather. The decision to close the beach came…

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Australia to spend more on jobs in budget based on COVID-19 vaccine

The Australian government said on Sunday it will earmark an additional A$1.2 billion ($859 million) in wage subsidies in the 2020/21 budget and that its frameworks assume that there will…

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Australia increasing police patrols

Police in Australia's coronavirus hotspot state of Victoria stepped up patrolling on Saturday as hundreds of people in the city of Melbourne breached stringent lockdown restrictions and flocked to beaches…

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Six months after shutting its borders, Australia’s to allow New Zealanders to enter

Australia will within weeks allow residents of New Zealand to enter the country without having to quarantine, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said on Friday, as Canberra seeks to revive…

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Australian job vacancies surge in the three months to August

Australian job vacancies surged in the three months to August, official data showed on Thursday, as the easing of coronavirus restrictions across much of the country spurred demand for labour.…

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Australian firm says its nasal spray reduced coronavirus growth in animal study

Australian biotech company Ena Respiratory said on Monday that a nasal spray it is developing to improve the human immune system to fight common cold and flu significantly reduced the…

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Australia’s virus hotspot sees 5 new cases, on track for Christmas opening

Australia's coronavirus hotspot Victoria recorded a single digit rise in new cases for the first time in three months on Monday and lifted some of the state's tough restrictions, as…

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Reports Cardinal Pell returning to Vatican

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ former finance minister, will soon return to the Vatican during an extraordinary economic scandal for the first time since he was cleared of child abuse…

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Victoria, Australia set to accelerate easing of restrictions

Victoria, Australia's second most populous state and the epicentre of the country's COVID-19 outbreak, will accelerate the easing of social distancing restrictions as infections slow to fewer than 20 cases…

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Australia says world needs to know origins of COVID-19

The world’s nations must do all they can to understand the origins of COVID-19, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday, comments that could worsen tensions with China. Addressing…

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Photo Story: Snowfall in Victoria, Australia

Residents sled in the snow near Greendale, Victoria, Australia, 25 September 2020. A cold front from Antarctica brought hail, thunderstorms, snowfall to New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria. Snow…

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Australia to overhaul bankruptcy laws to help firms over COVID-19

Australia on Thursday unveiled its biggest shakeup in bankruptcy laws in nearly three decades, allowing small businesses to trade while insolvent and take more control over debt restructuring, in a…

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Australia plans disposal of hundreds of stranded whale carcasses

Australian officials on Thursday began planning the grim task of disposing of almost 400 whale carcasses as hopes faded there would be many more survivors of one of the world’s…

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Photo Story: Photographic exhibition praises Victoria’s health workers

A man wearing a face mask walks past an outdoor photography exhibition on healthcare workers in Melbourne, Australia. The photographic project by Phoebe Powell aims to acknowledge the people working…

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Australia counts record 470 stranded whales as rescue continues

Rescuers were racing against the tide on Wednesday to free whales beached off the Australian coast, with more than half the estimated 470 mammals in the country’s biggest stranding on…

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Australia’s virus hotspot may speed up lifting curbs as cases fall

Australia's coronavirus hot spot of Victoria is considering easing curbs sooner than previously flagged, the state's premier said on Wednesday, as the two-week average of new infections in the city…

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Australian PM Morrison’s approval rating rises, poll shows

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s approval rating has risen slightly, a poll showed on Monday, as measures by the conservative government to tackle the coronavirus pandemic helped to maintain his…

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