Page 20 - Australia

Australian regulator looking at MDH, Everest spices for possible recall

Earlier, some MDH and Everest spice mixes were recalled in Singapore, while Hong Kong suspended their sales over high levels of ethylene oxide

Enough is enough: Australia unites against gender violence, demands action

Protests have swept across Australia in response to a surge in recent instances of violence against women, with demonstrators advocating for the declaration of gender-based violence as a national emer

Teens plotted to buy guns, attack Jews after Sydney bishop was stabbed

Four teenagers plotted to buy guns and attack Jewish people days after a bishop was stabbed in a Sydney church, according to police documents cited in news reports on Monday. Five teens, aged 14 to 17, were charged in a Sydney court on Thursday last week with a range of offenses including conspiring to engage in or planning a terrorist act. Police alleged they all adhered to a religiously motivated, violent extremist ideology and were part of a network that included a 16-year-old boy charged with stabbing Assyrian Orthodox Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel on April 15 as a church service was being streamed online. According to a police fact sheet tendered to the Sydney Children's Court, two of the defendants charged last week discussed buying guns on April 19, the same day the bishop's alleged attacker was charged, News Corp Australia newspapers reported. Gun ownership is heavily restricted in Australia under tough national laws, but there is a black market for firearms in Sydney. Four of

Australian PM describes domestic violence as a 'national crisis'

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday described domestic violence as a national crisis after thousands rallied around the country against violence toward women. Thousands protested in cities around Australia on Sunday to draw attention to the deaths of 27 women so far this year allegedly caused by acts of gender-based violence in a population of 27 million. Albanese said on Monday the rallies were a call to action for all levels of Australian government to do more to prevent gender-based violence. "Quite clearly, we need to do more. It's not enough to just have empathy, Albanese told Nine Network television. "The fact that... a woman dies every four days on average at the hand of a partner is just a national crisis, he added. There were 17 rallies held across Australia over the weekend, with an estimated 15,000 people demonstrating in the city of Melbourne. Albanese said he will host a meeting or Australian state and territory leaders on Wednesday to discuss a ...

Musk slams Australian court over 'censorship' of alleged X terror posts

The pushback by the world's third-richest person sets up a new front in the battle between the world's largest internet platforms and countries and nonprofits

Elon Musk loses Australia court hearing over Sydney knife attack posts

In a hearing Monday night in Sydney, the Federal Court of Australia ordered X must hide all recordings of a terrorist attack at a church in the city on April 15 until Wednesday

Australia condemns X's fight against removal of Sydney attack images

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticised the broadcast of violent images and said some social media content exacerbated the pain of many people

Woodside Energy revenue falls from prior quarter on lower LNG, oil prices

Australia's largest LNG exporter said production from its Bass Strait project in Victoria and Pyrenees and Pluto LNG projects in Western Australia fell in the first quarter

Six victims die in Sydney stabbing, attacker shot, say police officials

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese extended condolences to those affected via a post on X

Australian prosecutors drop billionaire Andrew Forrest's case against Meta

He had pursued the lawsuit under Australian laws that allow an individual to criminally prosecute a foreign corporation with the consent of the attorney general

After Australia, New Zealand tightens work visa rules for immigrants

New Zealand aims to introduce several measures, such as an English language requirement for low-skilled jobs and a minimum skills and work experience threshold for most employer work visas

'Huge opportunities to enhance Australia, India collab in skills training'

There are huge opportunities to further enhance collaboration between India and Australia in the skills training area in sectors such as digital technology, renewable energy and infrastructure, High Commissioner of Australia to India Philip Green said on Monday. He said Australia's skill training is globally competitive and its training courses are developed in consultation with the industry. "We would like to be a bigger part of India's journey as it goes to fill its skills demand which is so massive over the next decade," Green said here at the Australia-India Skills Partnership Summit. India is the fifth largest economy in the world and is growing at 8 per cent per annum and that makes it the fastest growing large economy on the planet. "Every country in the world will be interested in India at this moment," he said, adding that the economies of the two countries are highly complementary. "We have many of the skills and attributes, metals and minerals and energy that India woul

Commonwealth Games Federation to announce new 2026 host next month

The Commonwealth Games Federation plans to announce a new host for its 2026 event next month, saying it has multiple proposals to replace Australia's Victoria state. The CGF on Monday said it was keeping the proposals confidential. Victoria state lawmakers last July withdrew from plans to host the 2026 Games in three regional hubs, citing escalating costs. Significant progress has been made and we are excited by the early concepts, which aim to reset and reframe the Games, the CGF said in a statement following its April meeting. We are working collaboratively with the relevant (members) to undertake further detailed assessments, and aim to announce the 2026 Commonwealth Games host in May. Victoria state agreed to a compensation package with the Commonwealth Games Federation, which will help offset costs for the next hosts. Australia's Gold Coast, which held the 2018 Commonwealth Games, was flagged as a potential host for 2026 but couldn't get state or federal funding. The CGF said

Oz Navy delegation visits WNC; discuss interoperability, challenges

A Royal Australian Navy delegation visited the Indian Navy's Western Naval Command (WNC) and discussed matters of mutual interest and interoperability, which will further strengthen the bilateral ties between the two navies, an official release said. The five-member delegation was briefed on the activities of the Indian Navy's Western Fleet in the backdrop of the security situation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, it said. During its visit on Friday, the delegation also took a tour of an indigenously built destroyer and a submarine at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. The delegation was briefed on the capabilities of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited when it visited the facility and was informed about its ongoing projects for the Indian Navy. A five-member delegation of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), led by Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, AO, Chief of RAN, visited Headquarters, Western Naval Command, Mumbai on April 5. The delegation interacted with Vice Admiral Sanjay J Singh, Flag Office

US, Japan, Oz and Philippines to stage military drills in S China Sea

The United States, Japan, Australia and the Philippines will hold their first joint naval exercises, including anti-submarine warfare training, in a show of force Sunday in the South China Sea where Beijing's aggressive actions to assert its territorial claims have caused alarm. The four treaty allies and security partners are holding the exercises to safeguard the rule of law that is the foundation for a peaceful and stable Indo-Pacific region and uphold freedom of navigation and overflight, they said in a joint statement issued by their defence chiefs Saturday. China was not mentioned by name in the statement, but the four countries reaffirmed their stance that a 2016 international arbitration ruling, which invalidated China's expansive claims on historical grounds, was final and legally binding. China has refused to participate in the arbitration, rejected the ruling and continues to defy it. The Philippines brought its disputes with China to international arbitration in 2013 aft

Australia should prepare for 'megadroughts' lasting 20 years, shows study

The study showed that megadroughts of 20 years or more were a natural feature of the Australian hydroclimate

Global life expectancy up 6.2 years between 1990-2021, shows Lancet report

In India, the life expectancy has increased by eight years in the past three decades

Australia outraged by death of aid worker in Israeli airstrike, says PM

The strike killed citizens of Australia, Britain and Poland as well as Palestinians and a dual citizen of the US and Canada

China can be a democracy, says former Australian PM Scott Morrison

Morrison, who led Australia from 2018 to 2022, said the Chinese people care just as much about freedom as we do but sadly in mainland China they don't have the opportunity for it

China lifts tariffs on Australian wine, ends three years of punitive levies

Ties have improved significantly since last year, leading China to steadily lifting trade hurdles on Australian goods, including barley and coal