Australia and Oceania

“Collateral damage” from US-China trade spats hurting smaller countries, says Australian PM

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday warned that “collateral damage” from trade spats between China and the United States were hurting smaller countries and threatening the global economy. In an unusually public warning to allies in Washington, Morrison said the “world’s most important bilateral relationship –- the US-China relationship” had become “strained”. “Trade tensions have escalated. The collateral damage is spreading. The global trading system is under real pressure. […]

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Powerful 7.3 magnitude Indonesian quake felt in Australia

  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck remote eastern Indonesia on Monday, forcing people to flee office buildings as far away as the northern Australian city of Darwin, officials and reports said. The deep and powerful earthquake sent shockwaves around the region, with people on the tourist island of Bali as well as in East Timor reporting feeling the tremor. Indonesia was the epicentre of the Asian tsunami in 2004 that killed more […]

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Two Filipinos killed, three others injured after car, train crash in New Zealand

(Eagle News) — Two Filipinos were killed and three others were injured in a train and car accident in New Zealand on Wednesday, June 19. Ambassador to New Zealand Jesus Domingo did not reveal the identities of the dead and those injured in the incident in the Bay of Plenty along Pongakawa School Road near Te Puke town, but told Eagle News New Zealand bureau that they were carpenters who had just arrived in the country […]

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Magnitude 6.4 quake hits New Zealand

  (Eagle News) – A magnitude 6.4 quake struck New Zealand, with the epicenter traced at 140 kilometers northeast of L’Esperance Rock, Wednesday, 3 p.m. Manila time. According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake had a depth of 10 kilometers. The quake was around 909 kilometers from Ngunguru, Northland, New Zealand. It was recorded at 7:01 a.m. UTC time (Coordinated Universal Time). L’Esperance Rock is the southernmost islet in the Kermadec Islands, to […]

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Anger erupts with NZ mosque shooting suspect’s demeanor as lawyers enter “not guilty” plea for him

  THE lawyers of the man accused of shooting dead 51 Muslim worshippers in the Christchurch mosque attacks entered not guilty pleas for their client to charges of terrorism, multiple murder and attempted murder in a hearing attended by survivors of the March 15 attack. Brenton Tarrant’s barrister told Christchurch High Court his client was pleading not guilty to all charges, prompting anger from survivors and relatives of those killed in the March 15 attacks. […]

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Anger as Christchurch mosque accused pleads not guilty

by Chris FOLEY CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AFP) — The man accused of shooting dead 51 Muslim worshippers in the Christchurch mosque attacks in March smiled Friday as his lawyers entered not guilty pleas to multiple murder and terrorism charges. Brenton Tarrant’s barrister told Christchurch High Court his client was pleading “not guilty to all charges”, prompting anger from survivors and relatives of those killed in the March 15 attacks. The self-proclaimed white supremacist appeared in […]

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Disgraced Australian cardinal Pell faces new legal battle over failure to report abuse

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Disgraced Australian Cardinal George Pell is facing fresh legal woes after being named in a civil suit alleging he failed to protect victims of a priest he knew was abusing children. The civil case was filed in the Victoria state Supreme Court on Friday by a man who said he suffered abuse at the hands of Christian Brother Edward “Ted” Dowan when he was a student at a Melbourne college […]

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Chinese warships cause surprise in Sydney Harbour

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australians enjoying a sunny winter morning were shocked by the sight of three Chinese warships steaming into Sydney Harbour Monday, forcing the prime minister to reassure jittery residents. Amid heightened concern about Beijing’s growing clout and military muscle-flexing, the appearance of a Chinese flagged task group and around 700 sailors came as a surprise. It also came as Prime Minister Scott Morrison was away on a visit to the Solomon […]

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Chinese warships cause surprise in Sydney Harbour

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australians enjoying a sunny winter morning were surprised by the sight of three Chinese warships steaming into to Sydney Harbour Monday, forcing the prime minister to reassure jittery residents. Amid heightened concern about Beijing’s growing clout and military muscle flexing, the appearance of a Chinese flagged task group and around 700 sailors came as a surprise. “It may have been a surprise to others, but it certainly wasn’t a surprise to […]

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Fiery new Papua New Guinea PM questions vast Exxon, Total gas deal

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AFP) — Former finance minister James Marape was elected Papua New Guinea’s new prime minister Thursday and immediately issued a fiery nationalistic address that put foreign resource companies on notice. The former finance minister threatened foreign logging companies and vowed to “tweak” resource laws that underpin a recently inked $13 billion gas deal with Total and ExxonMobil. Hours after being elected, Marape told parliamentarians he does “not intend to chase […]

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‘Mega-strike’ shutters half of New Zealand public schools

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — More than half of New Zealand’s public schools closed their doors on Wednesday amid a mass walkout by teachers over pay and conditions. The ministry of education estimated that almost 60 percent of schools were closed as some 50,000 teachers staged a “mega-strike”. “We didn’t want to be on strike, but we did it for the future of education in Aotearoa (New Zealand),” the country’s largest education union, NZEI Te […]

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US marine dies in Australia training accident

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A United States marine has died in Australia after succumbing to injuries received during a training accident, the force’s commanding officer said Wednesday. Lance Corporal Hans Sandoval-Pereyra was injured during a vehicle accident during the drill on Saturday near the northern Australia regional hub of Darwin. He was airlifted to hospital but was unable to be saved. Thousands of marines have passed through the rotation in Darwin since 2012, in an […]

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