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SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Deposed Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull officially resigned from parliament Friday, sparking a by-election for his Sydney seat that could threaten the government’s slim one-seat majority. Moderate Turnbull, 63, was ousted a week ago in a Liberal party coup driven by a hardline conservative faction and he indicated at the time he would not move to the backbench. New Prime Minister Scott Morrison paid tribute to his “legacy of great achievement”. […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — Amnesty International joined 80 other NGOs on Thursday in urging Pacific leaders demand the closure of an Australian-funded immigration detention camp on Nauru when they meet in the tiny island nation next week. The 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) will hold its annual summit in Nauru from September 3-6, with delegates meeting just a few kilometres from the camp dubbed “Australia’s Guantanamo”. It houses asylum-seekers who have tried to reach […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Small tsunami waves lapped New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu Wednesday after a strong earthquake in the Pacific Ocean, but the threat passed without any damage reported. After the 7.1 magnitude quake struck off the eastern coast of New Caledonia, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said “waves reaching 0.3 to 1 metre above the tide level” were possible. But only minor sea level fluctuations were recorded and the warning was soon called off. Despite […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the eastern coast of New Caledonia on Wednesday and generated small tsunami waves, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage. The tremor hit at a depth of 27 kilometers (16 miles) in the southern Pacific Ocean, some 231 kilometers from the nearest town Tadine in the lightly populated Loyalty Islands, the US Geological Survey said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said “small […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Dozens of foreigners were believed to be on the run Monday in an Australian mangrove rainforest after their suspected illegal fishing boat ran aground in crocodile-infested waters. The Australian Border Force said a “number of potential unlawful non-citizens” were located, but did not reveal their country of origin or whether they were fishermen or asylum-seekers. Locals they saw people fleeing into the forest after their vessel ran aground near Daintree River […]
by Glenda KWEK Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Evangelical Christian Scott Morrison, who emerged as prime minister after a bun fight in Australia’s ruling party Friday, is an ambitious man who has always dreamed of the top job. Behind the scenes of a battle for the leadership of the Liberal party that erupted this week between ousted Malcolm Turnbull and right-wing former policeman Peter Dutton, Morrison was quietly canvassing support among his colleagues. […]
by Martin Parry Agence France-Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia was bracing for yet another change of prime minister Friday after a revolt against Malcolm Turnbull by hardline conservatives in his Liberal party, with his near three-year reign hanging by a thread. Former home affairs minister Peter Dutton, an ex-police officer and right-winger, has been the stalking horse seeking to unseat Turnbull after a party backlash against his more moderate approach to politics. Turnbull survived […]
by Martin Parry Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s tenuous grip on power was under intense pressure Thursday with the man who wants his job launching a second leadership challenge in a week and senior ministers defecting. Former home affairs minister Peter Dutton, an ex-police officer and right-wing conservative, said he was confident he now had the numbers to unseat Turnbull, considered a moderate. “Earlier this morning I […]
by Martin PARRY Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — At least 10 ministers have offered their resignations as a leadership crisis in Australian politics deepened Wednesday with another challenge against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull appearing inevitable. The embattled leader narrowly survived a move to unseat him by his populist Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on Tuesday with a Liberal party ballot voting 48-35 in his favour. It came to a head after months of […]
A 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Wednesday morning, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued. The quake struck at a moderate depth of 30 kilometres (19 miles) with the epicentre just off the northern tip of Vanuatu’s sparsely-populated Ambrym island. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami risk. “Shaking would have been felt throughout the whole of Vanuatu,” Geoscience Australia senior seismologist […]
by Martin PARRY Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A former Australian archbishop convicted of concealing abuse by a notorious paedophile priest in the 1970s was confronted by enraged victims outside a courthouse Tuesday after a judge spared him jail and ordered he serve his sentence at home. Philip Wilson became one of the highest-ranked church officials convicted of covering up child sex abuse when he was found guilty in May of concealing crimes […]
(Eagle News) — A magnitude 4.3 quake struck Norseman in Western Australia’s Goldfields Esperance region, 726 kilometers east of Perth midnight of August 9 (Australia time) Local news reports in Australia said this was not unusual since the same area also experienced a magnitude 4.7 quake two years ago. There is no tsunami threat to Australia said the country’s Bureau of Meteorology. The United States Geological Survey recorded the quake as having a magnitude […]
