Page 3 - Australia

PM Modi, Australia's Albanese meet on sidelines of G20 Summit, discuss ties

During their meeting, PM Modi and PM Albanese noted that regular high-level engagements have added significant momentum to the relationship between India and Australia

Guam hosts Australia, India, Japan, US forces in Exercise Malabar 2025

This year marks the 29th iteration of the Malabar exercise, which began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the United States and India

Australia flags rising student visa fraud, warns universities on checks

Australia has issued a fresh Student Visa Integrity Alert after uncovering fake passports used to secure enrolments, misrepresentation of EL rules, and growing fraud in South Asian markets

Meta alerts young Australians to download data before social media ban

Technology giant Meta on Thursday began sending thousands of young Australians a two-week warning to download their digital histories and delete their accounts from Facebook, Instagram and Threads before a world-first social media ban on accounts of children younger than 16 takes effect. The Australian government announced two weeks ago that the three Meta platforms plus Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube must take reasonable steps to exclude Australian account holders younger than 16, beginning Dec. 10. California-based Meta on Thursday became the first of the targeted tech companies to outline how it will comply with the law. Meta contacted thousands of young account holders via SMS and email to warn that suspected children will start to be denied access to the platforms from Dec. 4. We will start notifying impacted teens today to give them the opportunity to save their contacts and memories, Meta said in a statement. Meta said young users could also use the notice period to update

Turkey wins bid to host COP31 in Antalya following agreement with Australia

Although a formal sign-off is still needed, Flasberth said there was no opposition within a group of countries needed to back the decision

Australian student platform NiviCap names Justin Langer as brand ambassador

India is the second-largest source of international students in Australia, with over 130,000 Indians enrolled or continuing studies this year

Australian inmate fights Vegemite ban, says denial violates his culture

A Victorian prisoner has taken the state to court over a long-standing Vegemite ban, arguing that stopping inmates from having the spread violates his cultural rights

Blackstone's AirTrunk targets India for its next data facility: CEO

Investors are pouring billions of dollars into artificial intelligence services like OpenAI's ChatGPT, and the data centers required to power them

Indian couple jailed for enslaving woman in Australia hit with new penalty

An Indian-origin couple currently serving jail terms in Australia for enslaving a woman for eight years has been slapped with a fresh penalty and ordered to forfeit the proceeds from the sale of their home, police said. Kandasamy Kannan, 61, and his wife, Kumuthini, 58, have had the "proceeds of the sale of their home forfeited and ordered to pay AUD 140,000 (approx USD 90,874) in combined penalties to the state", the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a press release on Friday. An Australian court in 2021 convicted Kannan and Kumuthini for enslaving a woman from India who had entered Australia on a tourist visa and sentenced them to six and eight years of imprisonment, respectively. AFP's Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) restrained the couple's house in Mount Waverley in 2016 after they were charged with slavery offences, the release said. The house was sold for AUD 1.4 million in 2016. After paying the mortgage and sale expenses, Kannan and Kumuthi's equity in t

Indian cinema shines brighter at box office Down Under with record run

Indian films are set to cross A$39 million at the Australian box office in 2025, outperforming local cinema and becoming the third-largest after the US and UK

Australia caps foreign student intake: What it means for Indian applicants

Australia has announced a 270,000 limit on new international student commencements for 2025 and directed universities to ensure domestic students form the majority.

Adani's Kutch Copper inks deal with Australia's Caravel minerals project

Initial capital expenditure for the project is estimated at $1.10 billion, with KCL granted first rights to participate in direct equity or project-level investments during the term of the agreement

India's clean-industry pipeline hampered by financing, other delays: Report

Some projects in India have already lined up buyers for clean energy and partial funding, but are still waiting for clear rules, permits and access to power transmission

Australia rolls out confidential support for immigrants with expired visas

Australia launches confidential online booking tool to help people with expired visas resolve their immigration status voluntarily and without enforcement pressure

Australia's Albanese, China's Li hold talks on minerals deal, jet incident

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he discussed Australia's critical-minerals deal with the United States and the hostile maneuvers of a Chinese warplane during a positive meeting on Monday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Albanese and China's second-most senior leader held a bilateral meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' summit. Once again, it was a positive meeting, Albanese told reporters of his seventh meeting with Li. This is a relationship that has improved; that is stabilising, Albanese added. China has removed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers since Albanese's center-left government was first elected in 2022. The barriers imposed in 2020 when Beijing banned minister-to-minister bilateral contacts had cost Australian exporters up to USD 13 billion a year. Albanese said he and Li had discussed the Australian leader's visit to the US last week during which he and US President Donald Trum

Two Australian women cricketers stalked, molested in Indore; accused held

Two Australian women cricketers, taking part in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, were allegedly stalked, and one of them was molested by a motorcycle-borne man in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, police said on Saturday. The police on Friday arrested the man involved in the incident that occurred on the Khajrana Road area on Thursday morning, an official said. Sub-Inspector Nidhi Raghuvanshi said that the two cricketers had stepped out of their hotel and were walking towards a caf when a man on a motorcycle started following them. He allegedly touched one of them inappropriately and rode off, she said. The duo contacted their team security officer, Danny Simmons, who coordinated with local security liaison officers and dispatched a vehicle for assistance. On getting information, Assistant Commissioner of Police Himani Mishra met the two players, recorded their statements and registered a first information report under section 74 (use of criminal force to outrage a woman's modesty) and 7

Australia launches First Nations mission to boost mining ties with India

Under the mission, a delegation including eight Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) companies, all of which are Australian First Nations-owned, will visit India

AUKUS pact will fuel arms race, raise nuclear proliferation risks: China

China on Tuesday criticised the renewal of the major nuclear-powered submarine pact, known as AUKUS (Australia, UK, US), saying it opposes bloc confrontation and anything that increases the risk of nuclear proliferation and exacerbates the arms race. Seen as an effort to counter China in the Asia Pacific, the three countries announced a historic security pact in 2021 under which Australia will be helped to build nuclear-powered submarines for the first time, using US technology. The pact will also cover artificial intelligence, cyber and quantum technologies. China has been vocal in its criticism, saying the AUKUS, together with the QUAD alliance between the US, India, Japan and Australia, was aimed at countering its rise. "China has made clear more than once its position on the so-called trilateral security partnership between the US, the UK and Australia designed to advance cooperation on nuclear submarines and other cutting-edge military technologies," Chinese Foreign Ministry .

Australia lifts ban on imports of unpeeled Indian prawn: Nara Lokesh

Australia has granted its first import approval for unpeeled Indian prawns, ending a years-long restriction and giving a major boost to India's seafood export sector

US, Australia sign agreement on critical-minerals as way to counter China

President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical-minerals deal at the White House on Monday as the US eyes the continent's rich rare-earth resources when China is imposing tougher rules on exporting its own critical minerals abroad. The two leaders described the agreement as a USD 8.5 billion deal between the allies. Trump said it had been negotiated over several months. In about a year from now we'll have so much critical mineral and rare earth that you won't know what to do with them," said Trump, a Republican, boasting about the deal. "They'll be worth USD 2. Albanese added that the agreement takes the US-Australia relationship to the next level. This month, Beijing announced that it will require foreign companies to get approval from the Chinese government to export magnets containing even trace amounts of rare-earth materials that originated from China or were produced with Chinese technology. The Trump administration says this gives Chin