Page 23 - Australia

Exports to Australia see upward trend, owing to duty concessions under ECTA

Government officials said that there has been an uptick in exports of products, where duty concessions have been given under the trade deal

Wild weather in Australian states of Queensland, Victoria leaves 9 dead

At least nine people have died in wild weather in the Australian eastern states of Queensland and Victoria, officials said on Wednesday. Three men were killed after a boat with 11 people aboard capsized in rough weather in Moreton Bay off the south Queensland coast on Tuesday, police said. Ambulances took the eight survivors to hospital in stable conditions. A 59-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree at the Queensland city of Gold Coast on Monday night. The body of a 9-year-old girl was found on Tuesday in the neighbouring city of Brisbane hours after she disappeared in a flooded stormwater drain. The bodies of a 40-year-old woman and a 46-year-old woman were found in the Mary River in the Queensland town of Gympie. They were among three women swept into the flooded river through a stormwayter drain on Tuesday. Another 46-year-old woman managed to save herself. Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll blamed extraordinarily difficult weather for the tragedies. It ha

Australia to send military personnel to protect cargo shipping in Red Sea

Australia will send 11 military personnel to support a US-led mission to protect cargo shipping in the Red Sea, but it will not send a warship or plane, the defense minister said Thursday. Defense Minister Richard Marles said Australia's military needs to keep focused on the Pacific region. The United States announced this week that several nations are creating a force to protect commercial shipping from attack by drones and ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. Marles said 11 military personnel will be sent in January to Operation Prosperity Guardian's headquarters in Bahrain, where five Australians are already posted. We won't be sending a ship or a plane, he told Sky News television. That said, we will be almost tripling our contribution to the combined maritime force. We need to be really clear around our strategic focus, and our strategic focus is our region: the northeast Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, the Pacific, Marles ...

IPL's hidden sticky wicket

The big bucks disguise structural fault lines

More than 300 rescued from floodwaters in northeast Australia: Officials

More than 300 people were rescued overnight from floodwaters in northeast Australia, with dozens of residents clinging to roofs, officials said on Monday. Cairns Airport was closed on Monday due to flooding and authorities were concerned that the city of 160,000 people will lose drinking water. While rain was easing in Cairns, severe weather warnings were in place in nearby Port Douglas, Daintree, Cooktown, Wujal Wujal and Hope Vale, with more rain forecast. Queensland state Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll described the flooding as absolutely devastating. Last night, we had an extraordinarily challenging, challenging evening, rescuing some 300 people, Carroll told reporters. There were no deaths or serious injuries, she said. All 300 residents would be evacuated by helicopter from the Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal, where nine adults and a 7-year-old child spent hours overnight on a hospital roof, officials said. A Category 2 tropical cyclone passed close by Wujal Wuja

Tropical cyclone Jasper weakens while still lashing northeastern Australia

The first tropical cyclone to hit Australia in the current season weakened to a low pressure system but continued to lash the northeast coast Thursday with flooding rain and left almost 40,000 homes and businesses without power. Cyclone Jasper crossed the Queensland state coast late Wednesday as a category 2 storm on a five-tier scale that whipped the sparsely populated region with winds of up to 140 kph (87 mph). The cyclone crossed near the Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal, 110 kilometers (68 miles) north of the city of Cairns, though many of its 300 residents evacuated before Jasper struck. Katrina Hewitt, who operates tourist accommodation at Wujal Wujal and did not evacuate, said the community was largely unscathed except for damaged trees. It looks amazing. No flooding, no breakages of buildings, Hewitt said. It was a big waiting game. We just didn't know what was going to happen, she said. Hewitt expected Wujal Wujal would be isolated for days by fallen trees blocking .

Australia has 'anxieties' over Canada, US charges of Indian links

Against the backdrop of the US' allegations of an Indian link to a failed assassination plot and Canada's charges relating to the killing of a Sikh separatist, Australia on Wednesday said it has "anxieties" over the matters but asserted that New Delhi and Canberra are capable of managing "differences" and "sensitive" issues. Australian High Commissioner Philip Green said the two sides discuss these issues "sensitively and carefully behind closed doors". At an interactive session, hosted by the Asia Society Policy Institute, the newly-appointed envoy said Australia's engagement with India on these issues is less as a "Five-Eyes" partner and more as a friend of India. The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence-sharing alliance comprising Australia, the US, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. "Australia's engagement with India on this issue is less as a Five-Eyes partner and more as a friend of India and a country that is respectful of India with which we have a mature relationship," Green .

Cyclone Jasper expected to intensify before it crosses Australian coast

Powerful winds began uprooting trees on the northeast Australian coast on Wednesday as Tropical Cyclone Jasper gathered strength while approaching the area. Jasper is forecast to intensify from a category 1 to category 2 storm on a 5-tier scale before it becomes the first cyclone of the current season to cross the Australian coast late on Wednesday, Queensland state Deputy Premier Steven Miles said. The cyclone is expected to cross the Queensland coast somewhere along a sparsely populated 200-kilometer (124-mile) stretch from the city of Cairns north to Hope Vale, an Aboriginal community of 1,000. Jasper is expected to lash the coast with winds of up to 140 kph (87 mph) as it crosses from the Coral Sea. This is a serious event and it has been some time since this part of the coast has seen a cyclone of this intensity, Miles told reporters in the state capital Brisbane. More than 90 people had left their homes for evacuation centres by Wednesday, Police Deputy Commissioner Shane ...

Australia tightens visa norms for international students, skilled workers

New measures to reduce intakes include higher scores on English proficiency tests and increased scrutiny on second visa applications to form extended stays

Australia's new migration policy unlikely to have adverse impact on Indians

Australia is undertaking futuristic reforms to its existing migration system with a greater scrutiny of antecedents of applicants but it will not have an adverse impact on the flow of Indian students and professionals into the country, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. In its new migration strategy, the Australian government outlined a vision with a policy roadmap containing several key "actions" and over 25 new policy commitments and areas for future reform. The people cited above said the new migration strategy will include greater scrutiny of English language proficiency. This migration strategy was unveiled on Monday following extensive consultation with key stakeholders with an aim to fix the existing immigration system. The broad aim of the overall strategy is to cut the annual immigration intake to around 2,50,000 in line with the number maintained during the pre-Covid time. According to reports, over 5,00,000 people came to Australia this year. The people ci

Australia plans to halve migrant intake, impose tougher tests for students

Australia on Monday said it would slash the annual migrant intake from a record high of 510,000 by 50 per cent within two years by imposing tougher tests on overseas students and turning away workers with low skills. The move could affect Indian students who are planning to go to Australia for higher studies. The Indian-born group recorded the largest increase in population in the country since 2012, according to a recent report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The new migration strategy will demand students pass a stronger English-language test and will require them to prove they are genuine students before they enter the country while making it harder for them to stay if they do not find jobs that help fix the nation's skills shortages, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Australia's net migration will be halved within two years in a dramatic move to slash the annual intake from a record high of 510,000 by imposing tougher tests on overseas students and turning away workers

Australian govt to announce its strategy for slowing immigration next week

"The new strategy we'll announce will bring immigration back to sustainable levels," he told reporters Saturday in Sydney

Italy road and airport operator Mundys explores India, Australia expansion

It has just acquired Autovia del Camino in northern Spain and won a tender to operate four new toll roads in Puerto Rico with a $2.85 billion bid

Australia unlikely to host 2026 Commonwealth Games as Gold Coast withdraws

Australia is unlikely to be able to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games and sports officials have called on the international federation to consider bids from other countries. Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips made the comments Monday after Gold Coast confirmed it had scrapped its plans to pick up the games after Victoria state withdrew as host in July. Phillips said while Australia hasn't entirely given up on hosting, the Commonwealth Games Federation should seriously consider other offers. We have indicated to (the CGF)... they would have our support in doing that, Phillips told the Australian Associated Press. It's our preference to host here and we will keep going while we think we have got options to explore. But if they have a better option, then they should seriously consider it. Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate announced Sunday that the city had scrapped its bid to host the Games after failing to secure support from state or federal governments. Gold Coast,

Indian cricket team register most wins in T20I format after beating Aus

India won the fourth game by 20 runs, restricting Australia to 154/7 in a chase of 175 runs. They not only won the five-match series 3-1 but also registered their 136th win in the format

US Navy, UK, Oz to test AI to help crews track Chinese subs in the Pacific

The three powers said they would deploy advanced artificial intelligence algorithms on multiple systems

Indian, Australian High Commission to UK co-host Indo-Pacific conference

The unique collaboration brought together leading experts from Australia, India, and the United Kingdom to address threats to regional security and enhance strategic stability

China warns Australia over naval operations in the South China Sea

A visiting Chinese official on Tuesday warned Australia to act with "great prudence" in deploying warships in the South China Sea after a recent confrontation between the two navies. Liu Jianchao, the Chinese Communist Party's international minister, gave the warning while speaking at a Sydney university during a trip that paves the way for President Xi Jinping's Australian visit, expected to take place next year. Bilateral relations had been improving recently, but took a downturn when Australia accused the Chinese destroyer CNS Ningbo of injuring Australian navy divers with sonar pulses in Japanese waters on November 14. Australia said China disregarded a safety warning to keep away from the Australian frigate HMAS Toowoomba. Liu reiterated China's position that the encounter happened outside Japanese territorial waters and that the Chinese warship caused no harm. We do urge the Australian government and also the military to act with great prudence in this area, Liu said at the .

Australia commits another $168 mn to monitor migrants freed from detention

The Australian government on Monday committed an additional 255 million Australian dollars (USD 168 million) in funding for police and other law enforcement officials to monitor 141 migrants freed when a court ruled their indefinite detention was unconstitutional. The new funding over two years reflects an increase in the workload of law enforcement officials due to government concerns of a heightened community risk posed by those released following a landmark High Court decision on November 8. That ruling said the government could no longer detain indefinitely foreigners who had been refused Australian visas, but could not be deported to their homelands and no third country would accept them. The migrants released due to the High Court ruling were mostly people with criminal records. The group also include people who failed visa character tests on other grounds and some who were challenging visas refusals through the courts. They include refugees and stateless people. Home Affairs

Indian-origin student in coma after being assaulted in Australia: Report

An Indian-origin student in Australia is in a medically induced coma after he was assaulted and a suspect has been taken into custody and charged with criminal assault, according to a media report. The student, who has not been identified, is in his 20s. He is pursuing a master's degree at the University of Tasmania. The incident took place on November 5 at a precinct in Tasmania and the victim had extra jural bleeding' that caused his brain to shift, Sydney-based Special Broadcasting Service reported. According to reports, his right lung collapsed and he had to undergo brain surgery, a procedure lasting several hours. Benjamin Dodge Collings, a 25-year-old resident of Lenah Valley, was taken into custody by police shortly after the event and charged with criminal code assault, an offence carrying a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison. Collings was granted a magistrate bail and is scheduled to return to court on December 4 to respond to the charges, including assault, providing