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SYDNEY, Jan 23, 2024 (AFP) – Taiwanese diplomats on Tuesday said they were confident of retaining “a strong bond” with key partner Tuvalu as speculation mounted that the Pacific micronation could soon switch its allegiance to Beijing. The dwindling list of countries that officially recognize Taiwan shrunk earlier this month when Nauru abruptly severed diplomatic ties in favor of Beijing. With Tuvalu heading to the polls on Friday, some Pacific watchers have questioned whether Beijing […]
SYDNEY, Jan 10, 2024 (AFP) – Elon Musk’s X has shed more than 1,000 staff globally from teams responsible for stopping abusive content online, according to new figures released Thursday by Australia’s online watchdog. Australia’s eSafety Commission said these “deep cuts” and the reinstatement of thousands of banned accounts had created a “perfect storm” for the spread of harmful content. The regulator has in recent months zeroed in on X — formerly known as Twitter […]
PORT MORESBY, Jan 11, 2024 (AFP) – Papua New Guinea’s prime minister pledged to crack down on “lawlessness” Thursday, following riots in which 15 people were killed as angry crowds torched buildings and ransacked shops. Violence erupted in the capital Port Moresby on Wednesday evening after a group of soldiers, police officers and prison guards launched protests against the government. Within hours riots had also taken root in the city of Lae, some 300 kilometres […]
By Grégory PLESSE SYDNEY, Dec 30, 2023 (AFP) – Three years after steep Chinese tariffs halted imports of Australian barley as tensions between the two countries ratcheted higher, the grain is once again flowing freely. Barley is not only used to brew beer but to feed pigs, and China was Australia’s leading market, taking 50 percent of its barley exports. China has imported 314,000 tonnes of Australian barley worth 139 million Australian dollars (around $94 […]
WASHINGTON, Dec 30, 2023 (AFP) – In the middle of the Pacific ocean, an abandoned US airfield once key to dropping the nuclear bomb on Japan — and nearly lost to history amid encroaching forest — is being revived. But as the Americans hack away at the jungle overgrowth at Tinian island airfield and other old, World War II-era bases across the region, it won’t be with Japan on their mind. Rather, it’s Beijing’s growing […]
SYDNEY, Dec 27, 2023 (AFP) – Nine people have died after Christmas storms pounded Australia’s eastern seaboard, authorities said Wednesday, including two women who were washed through a stormwater drain. Thunderstorms and destructive winds have in recent days battered the Australian states of Victoria and Queensland — capsizing boats, sparking flash floods, and tearing down concrete powerlines. The government weather bureau has warned that coastal regions in Queensland were still at risk of “dangerous” storms, […]
SYDNEY, Dec 26, 2023 (AFP) – Thunderstorms and strong winds cut power to 110,000 homes in eastern Australia and toppled a tree that killed one woman, officials said Tuesday. People lost electricity as the storm wrought “catastrophic” damage, downing power lines in Queensland’s capital Brisbane and the Gold Coast area, energy company Energex said. “There is no easy way to say this but some customers will not have power for days — we’re looking at […]
CAIRNS, Australia, Dec 18, 2023 (AFP) – Stranded residents sheltered on a hospital roof as flash floods swamped northeastern Australia on Monday, with raging waters severing roads and flushing crocodiles into towns. Rescue teams evacuated more than 300 people overnight, police said, and military helicopters were dispatched to help inundated areas cut off by the floods. Damage was reported along an expanse of coastline that stretched about 400 kilometres (250 miles) across northern Queensland. With […]
SYDNEY, Dec 17, 2023 (AFP) – Near-record rain levels in north Queensland have caused “life-threatening” flooding, Australian authorities said Sunday, forcing the closure of Cairns airport. Emergency services said major flooding had particularly hit the northeastern city of Cairns, a tourist hub and gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. The region’s rivers were already saturated after a tropical cyclone battered the region this week, submerging highways and uprooting trees. Amid the wild weather, a 10-year-old […]
CAIRNS, Australia, Dec 13, 2023 (AFP) – Disaster-response teams fanned out across northeastern Australia on Thursday, counting the cost of a tropical cyclone that flooded major highways, uprooted trees, and left 40,000 without power. Coastal regions were battered by damaging winds and swamped by flooded rivers as Tropical Cyclone Jasper barrelled in off the Coral Sea on Wednesday evening. Although the storm was running out of steam by Thursday morning, government meteorologists warned it was […]
SYDNEY, Dec 14, 2023 (AFP) – An Australian mother jailed for 20 years over the killing of her four children was acquitted on Thursday, after scientific breakthroughs helped clear her name. Kathleen Folbigg was imprisoned in 2003 after she was convicted of killing her children, who died suddenly and without explanation between 1989 and 1999. Once dubbed “Australia’s worst female serial killer”, Folbigg doggedly fought for more than two decades to prove her innocence, and […]
SYDNEY, Dec 13, 2023 (AFP) – A tropical cyclone was building strength as it rolled towards northeastern Australia Wednesday, with authorities warning “life-threatening” floods could swamp coastal regions for days. Tropical Cyclone Jasper was expected to make landfall around 6:00 pm local time on Wednesday (0800 GMT), but forecasters said gale-force winds were already pummelling some towns. Some 8,000 homes are already without power, the Queensland state government said, while police have started closing major […]
