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SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) –A 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the Pacific island nation of Tonga on Tuesday, but there was no threat of a tsunami, officials said. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow undersea quake hit about 134 kilometers (83 miles) west of Neiafu, the country’s second-largest town. It said the temblor was not expected to have caused significant damage. The quake was not felt in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Crisis-hit Boeing faced fresh safety concerns Thursday, as the firm admitted cracks were found in up to 50 of its popular 737NG planes following worldwide inspections. Boeing had previously reported a problem with the model’s “pickle fork” — a part which helps bind the wing to the fuselage — prompting US regulators to order immediate inspections of aircraft that had seen heavy use. A company spokesperson on Thursday told AFP that […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — An English tourist had his foot bitten off by a shark while another was bitten during the attack in the Whitsunday Islands near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef on Tuesday, officials said. In the latest in a string of shark attacks in the tourist area, a 28-year-old man’s right foot was bitten off while a 22-year-old man suffered serious lacerations to his lower left leg, according to Mackay Base Hospital. The […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Police in part of Australia were given shoot-to-kill powers on Monday, to stop drivers who deliberately plough into pedestrians. Eight people have been killed and more than 45 injured in three such attacks in Melbourne, Victoria’s state capital and Australia’s second-biggest city, since 2017. Victoria Police said officers will be required to take “decisive action” in response to vehicle attacks — including ramming cars involved or shooting the driver. Deputy Commissioner […]
CAIRNS, Australia (AFP) — A man has died and a woman been left with serious injuries after they plunged up to five storeys from a jungle zipline in far northeastern Australia. The husband and wife from South Australia were harnessed together at the Jungle Surfing Canopy tours in the Daintree rainforest tourist hotspot in Queensland state on Tuesday when the incident occurred. A man in his fifties was pronounced dead at the scene, despite efforts […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — A massive fire at the Auckland venue being built to host the 2021 APEC forum raged for a second day on Wednesday, as New Zealand officials insisted the event would go ahead. The blaze broke out at the SkyCity convention centre construction site on Tuesday afternoon and was still blanketing the city with smoke a day later, despite the efforts of more than 100 firefighters. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — A huge fire at a construction site sent clouds of acrid black smoke billowing over Auckland on Tuesday, forcing large parts of the downtown area to be cordoned off as firefighters battled the blaze. The fire broke out on the roof of the SkyCity convention center site shortly after 1:10pm (0010 GMT) and quickly spread, Fire and Emergency NZ said. Office workers were warned to stay inside and turn off […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand will establish a team of investigators dedicated solely to tackling online extremism, as it moves to address failures exposed by the Christchurch mosques massacre, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday. Ardern has led global efforts to force technology firms to clamp down on extremist material since a lone gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers in March, streaming part of the atrocity on Facebook. But she said the attack, […]
KOKOPO, Papua New Guinea (AFP) — Papua New Guinea’s volatile Ulawun volcano erupted early Tuesday, sending a column of red lava shooting up into the sky and forcing the evacuation of recently returned residents. Mount Ulawan, situated on the remote Bismarck Archipelago chain, displaced between 7,000 and 13,000 people from their homes when it last erupted in June. Seismic activity started at midday on Monday before the volcano erupted at about 4:30am Tuesday, according to […]
by Holly ROBERTSON Agence France Presse MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Disgraced Cardinal George Pell lost his appeal against child sex abuse convictions Wednesday, prompting relief from victims who fought to bring one of the Catholic Church’s most powerful men to justice. A former Vatican treasurer, Pell had been trying to overturn the verdicts and six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys at a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s. The high-profile case pitted 78-year-old […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The ruling in Australian Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against his conviction on historical child sex abuse charges will be handed down on August 21, court officials announced Thursday. Pell, 78, the former Vatican number three, was sentenced in March to six years in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s. A three-judge panel of Victoria state’s Supreme Court has been deliberating his case since hearing his appeal […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A man stabbed a woman and attempted to stab several other people in central Sydney Tuesday before being pinned down by members of the public and detained by police, eyewitnesses and officials said. Images broadcast by Australian media showed the man jumping on the roof of a car brandishing a knife, appearing to shout “Allahu Akbar” and “shoot me”. Police said the woman was in a stable condition and there were […]
