Page 17 - Australia

Australia mulling to outlaw vape sales outside pharmacies from next week

Australia plans to outlaw the sale of vapes outside pharmacies from next week under some of the world's toughest restrictions on electronic cigarettes, the health minister said on Monday. The government had reached a compromise with the minor Greens party to get the legislated restrictions through the Senate this week, Health Minister Mark Butler and the party said. Our world-leading laws will return vapes and e-cigarettes to what they were originally sold to the Australian community and to governments around the world as therapeutic products to help hardened smokers kick the habit, Butler said in a statement. From Monday next week, it will be unlawful to supply, manufacture, import or sell a vape outside a pharmacy in Australia, he said. The ban applies to all vapes regardless of whether they contain nicotine. There are currently no restrictions on what retail outlets can sell vapes. Many products do not disclose that they contain nicotine. The Greens had insisted on amendments t

Australia to make supermarket industry code mandatory, fines for violation

The supermarkets will face fines of up to 10 per cent of annual turnover for breaches of the code

India, Australia, and France pledge to work for rules-based Indo-Pacific

India, Australia and France have vowed to jointly work towards a free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific amid China's growing muscle-flexing in the region. The overall situation in the Indo-Pacific came up for detailed deliberations at the third 'India-France-Australia trilateral focal points' meeting that took place in Delhi on Wednesday. "The three sides reviewed the progress made under the three pillars of trilateral cooperation: maritime safety and security, marine and environmental cooperation, and multilateral engagement," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. It said the meeting identified new proposals for furthering the trilateral cooperation, including under the framework of the Indo Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) mechanisms. "India, Australia and France reaffirmed their commitment to advancing their shared values and working together towards a free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific," the MEA said

Marsh inspires the pack; not just captain but true leader: Marcus Stoinis

Mitchell Marsh is not just a captain but a true leader, Marcus Stoinis said eulogising his teammate but added that the current Australia group is easy to lead with everyone aware of their roles in specific situations. Marsh has been tasked with leading Australia to their second T20 World Cup title. "Mitchie is not a captain but a leader. The way he gets the groups together inspires it," fellow all-rounder Stoinis said on the 'Unplayable' podcast. "He's been a leader for a longtime in this group. He has captained in the past at a younger age as well." It is not just Stoinis that has lavished praise on the all-rounder, the rest of the team also speaks highly of the 'Bison'. Marsh has had a love hate relationship with the fans, who booed him when his performance dropped leading the all-rounder to claim "most of Australia hates me". But Marsh witnessed a resurgence last year and has now become a fan favourite. He made his way back into the Test team and starred in Australia's stunnin

Critical minerals, clean energy key focus as Chinese premier visits Aus

Perth is the capital of Western Australia state, which provided 39% of the world's iron ore last year. Iron ore is one of Australia's most lucrative exports

Chinese Premier Qiang, Oz PM Albanese agree to resolve differences amicably

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and senior ministers of both administrations met at Parliament House on Monday to discuss thorny issues, including lingering trade barriers, conflict between their militaries in international waters and China's desire to invest in critical minerals. Li, China's most senior leader after President Xi Jinping, arrived in the South Australian state capital of Adelaide on Saturday and the national capital of Canberra late Sunday in the first visit to the country by a Chinese premier in seven years. Li planned to underscore China's interest in buying a bigger stake in Australia's critical minerals sector, which is essential to the global transition to renewable energy sources, by visiting a Chinese-controlled lithium processing plant in Western Australia state Tuesday. Li visited New Zealand before Australia and is scheduled to stop in Malaysia before returning to China. Bilateral relations have improved markedly since

Chinese premier pledges more pandas; urges Australia to put aside issues

Chinese Premier Li Qiang's visit to Australia on Sunday focused on positive aspects of the bilateral relationship including shared giant pandas and a rebounding wine trade after he urged both countries to put aside their differences. China's most powerful leader after President Xi Jinping arrived late Saturday in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia state, which has produced most of the Australian wine entering China since crippling tariffs were lifted in March that had effectively ended a 1.2 billion Australian dollar (USD 790 million) a year trade since 2020. Li visited Adelaide Zoo, which has been home to China-born giant pandas Wang Wang and Fu Ni since 2009, before he was to have lunch at a restaurant at an Adelaide winery. He announced that the zoo would be loaned another two pandas after the pair are due to return to China in November, China's Xinhua News Agency reported. The pair are the only pandas in the Southern Hemisphere and failed to produce offspring in ...

Quad transformed from security dialogue into multifaceted tie-up: Report

The new report titled 'Quad: Diplomacy and Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific' assesses the Quad's achievements and potential amidst the ongoing geopolitical churn

Studying in Australia costs Rs 12-30 lakh/year: Key factors to consider

Planning your finances well is key to a stress-free studying experience in Australia

Adani Group's Australian coal port gets $333 million private credit loan

Billionaire Gautam Adani's ports-to-power group is one of India's largest thermal power producers with multiple coal-based plants in the nation

Allcargo Logistics arm partners with ShipBob for freight services

ECU Worldwide, a wholly-owned global subsidiary of Allcargo Logistics, on Thursday said it has partnered with ShipBob to offer its ocean and air freight services to the latter's receiving hubs and fulfilment centres in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia. Under the collaboration, ECU Worldwide will become an integral part of FreightBob, an end-to-end managed freight and inventory distribution programme of ShipBob, through its network across over 180 countries, more than 2,400 direct trade lanes and door-to-door deliveries, Allcargo Logistics said. This would help ShipBob manage its e-commerce inventory for their merchants in over 50 markets, as a part of ECU Worldwide LCL (less-than-container load) offering, it stated. "Our new-age tech-driven booking platform ECU360 has redefined the global supply chain efficiency with convenient features, continued product innovation and a worldwide network. The association with ShipBob will help us further deepen our delivery capabilities acros

Australia expects China to lift ban on exports as they ease past 2020 row

Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell on Wednesday predicted the final obstacle for exports to China, Beijing's ban on live lobster imports, will be lifted soon after Chinese Premier Li Qiang visits the country. The return of lobsters to the Chinese market would be a milestone in the Australian government's ambition to stabilize bilateral relations since coming to power in 2022. China banned minister-to-minister communications with Australia and imposed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers in 2020 on Australian products including beef, barley, coal, wood and wine costing exporters 20 billion Australian dollars (USD 13 billion) a year. Bilateral relations plumbed new lows after a previous Australian government demanded an independent investigation into the causes of and China's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Farrell said Li becoming the first Chinese premier to visit Australia in seven years on Saturday would remove the final trade barrier on lobsters. I think ..

China's Premier Li Qiang to visit Australia this week, says PM Albanese

China is Australia's largest trading partner, with Australian resources and energy exports dominating trade flow

Activists should turn down heat: Australia PM after US consulate attack

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged activists on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian debate to turn the heat down after the US Consulate in Sydney was vandalised on Monday. CCTV footage showed a person wearing a dark hoodie using a small sledgehammer to smash nine holes in the reinforced glass windows of the building in North Sydney after 3 am, a police statement said. Two inverted red triangles, seen by many as a symbol of Palestinian resistance, were also painted on the front of the building. Albanese urged people to have respectful political debate and discourse. People are traumatised by what is going on in the Middle East, particularly those with relatives in either Israel or in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Albanese told reporters. And I just say, again, reiterate my call to turn the heat down and measures such as painting the US consulate do nothing to advance the cause of those who have committed what is, of course, a crime to damage property, Albanes

It certainly is about mindset: Ponting on India's global trophy drought

The all-conquering Australia under Ricky Ponting's leadership knew the art of peaking at the right time in global events and the two-time World Cup-winning captain reckons India will need to do the same besides overcoming some mental demons to win an elusive ICC trophy. Cricket's powerhouse India, who last won an ICC trophy in 2013, began their T20 World Cup campaign on an emphatic note in New York on Wednesday, beating Ireland by eight wickets. Speaking to PTI from New York, the 49-year-old Australian great said India are well-placed to end their barren run in ICC events and need to find a way to deal with the enormous pressure that comes with representing a cricket-crazy nation. "You've got to try and keep a clear mind where you can focus on the task at hand rather than thinking too far ahead or worrying about any sort of external pressures," said Ponting. "There's no doubting the talent (in India squad), but we also shouldn't forget that the World Cups are not easy to win. There

Australia orders Chinese investors to sell down stake in rare earths miner

Northern Minerals is developing the Browns Range heavy rare earths project in Western Australia, at a time when the sector has become increasingly strategic for its uses in green energy and defence

Battery maker Altmin in talks with Australia for lithium supplies

Altmin, India's only cathode active materials producer, currently sources lithium carbonate from Brazil and Bolivia

Fears of second landslide, disease outbreak loom in Papua New Guinea

Authorities fear a second landslide and a disease outbreak are looming at the scene of Papua New Guinea's mass-casualty disaster because of water streams and bodies trapped beneath the tons of debris that swept over a village, a United Nations official said Tuesday. A mass of boulders, earth and splintered trees devastated Yambali in the South Pacific nation's remote highlands when a limestone mountainside sheared away Friday. The blanket of debris has become more unstable with recent rain and streams trapped between the ground and rubble, said Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the International Organization for Migration's mission in Papua New Guinea. The UN agency has officials at the scene in Enga province helping shelter 1,600 displaced people. The agency estimates 670 villagers died, while Papua New Guinea's government has told the United Nations it thinks more than 2,000 people were buried. Five bodies had been retrieved from the rubble by Monday. We are hearing suggestions that anoth

2,000 feared dead in Papua New Guinea landslide, challenges for rescuers

The Papua New Guinea government said more than 2,000 people are believed to have been buried alive in a landslide in the South Pacific island nation, after the side of a mountain came down in the early hours of Friday morning when the village of Yambali was asleep. The settlement is located in a restive and remote area in the interior of the poor, rural nation off the northern coast of Australia, making search and rescue efforts complicated and hazardous. The government death toll is roughly triple the UN estimate of 670 killed. The remains of only six people had been recovered so far. In a letter seen by The Associated Press to the United Nations resident coordinator dated Sunday, the acting director of Papua New Guinea's National Disaster Center Luseta Laso Mana said the landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive and caused major destruction at Yambali village in the Enga province. Estimates of the casualties have varied widely since the disaster occurred, and it was not ...

Investing for ultra-rich: Family offices are booming in Australia's Perth

Since 2019, as the rich get richer, the number of family offices worldwide has more than tripled, to almost 4,600 last year, according to investment data provider Preqin Ltd