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PERTH, Australia (AFP) — At least 71 homes have been destroyed in a bushfire raging out of control near Australia’s fourth-biggest city Perth, authorities said Wednesday, as they told residents to ignore a virus lockdown and evacuate threatened areas. The blaze has torn through large swathes of land in the Perth Hills and was moving towards more densely populated areas. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported so far. “To the people who have […]
PERTH, Australia (AFP) — A wildfire on the fringes of Australia’s fourth-largest city Perth has destroyed several homes and forced emergency evacuations, authorities said Tuesday, just days after the west coast city entered a coronavirus lockdown. Firefighters are battling the out-of-control bushfire on the city’s eastern fringes, where several properties are ablaze and several fields have been blackened. Smoke from the fires sent ash falling in the Perth city centre, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia on Monday demanded Myanmar’s army immediately release de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders, warning the military was “once again seeking to seize control” of the country. “We call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully,” foreign minister Marise Payne said in a statement. […]
BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — The Australian city of Brisbane has called a snap three-day lockdown after a worker at a quarantine hotel contracted the highly infectious UK strain of Covid-19. From Friday evening, more than two million residents in the Greater Brisbane area would have to stay at home, authorities said. “If we are going to stop the spread of this infectious strain, this UK strain, we must act immediately,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Under mounting pressure to speed up coronavirus vaccinations, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday said he would not take “unnecessary risks” and emulate Britain’s emergency drug approval. While vaccinations are already well underway in many countries, Australia’s pharmaceutical authority is not expected to rule on candidate drugs for around another month, and is aiming to administer the first doses by the end of March. Pressed about that seemingly sluggish timetable, […]
PERTH, Australia (AFP) — An out-of-control bushfire threatened lives and homes in Australia’s west coast city of Perth Monday, with locals told to shelter in place from toxic fumes. Residents in several suburbs south of Perth have been warned to be on watch as around 150 firefighters battled a blaze which has razed more than 230 hectares since Saturday. The local emergency department downgraded the fire from earlier “emergency” level, but warned there was still […]
by Helen ROWE with AFP bureaus From Sydney Harbour Bridge to the Acropolis, fireworks burst in skies above eerily deserted landmarks as the world ushered in the New Year with muted celebrations and said good riddance to a pandemic-ridden 2020. After a grinding year that has seen at least 1.7 million people die from Covid-19, fresh waves of infection have sparked renewed lockdowns and forced would-be revellers to extend their 2020 tradition of watching […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Plans to let thousands of frontline workers ring in the new year around Sydney Harbour were ditched Monday as authorities work to suppress a growing cluster of virus cases in Australia’s most populous city. Ordinarily, hundreds of thousands of eager partiers flock to vantage points for the midnight fireworks launched from the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Although allowing the usual hordes of revellers had been ruled out this year, officials had plans […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Parts of Sydney were heading into a fresh lockdown on Saturday as officials in Australia’s most populous city said they hoped the restrictions would be enough to control a growing outbreak in time for Christmas. As a cluster of cases on the city’s northern beaches grew to 38, residents were ordered to stay at home from late Saturday until midnight on Wednesday, other than for essential reasons. “We’re hoping that […]
BYRON BAY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s Byron Bay usually conjures images of bathers lounging on sunkissed shores, or blissed-out longboarders cruising along cyan-blue waves — but coastal erosion and lashing storms have reduced its seashore to a debris-strewn slither. The tourist hotspot’s main beach has been reduced to a thin strip by a sand-shifting phenomenon known as “headland bypassing”. Recent wild storms have then eroded it further. For more than six months, residents have watched […]
BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — Australian firefighters have managed to control a bushfire that burned more than half of the UNESCO world heritage-listed Fraser Island, around two months after a suspected illegal campfire sparked the blaze. The fire on the world’s largest sand island, off Australia’s east coast, destroyed large swathes of the isle’s forests before heavy downpours arrived over the weekend. “With the help of welcome rainfall and a massive response from crews, the fire […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Facebook and Google could be required to pay news outlets for their content in “world first” legislation set to be introduced to Australia’s parliament on Wednesday. In one of the most aggressive moves to check the power of the US digital giants, Canberra plans to compel the companies to pay media organisations when their platforms host their content or face millions of dollars in fines. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the […]
