SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian police have arrested a 48-year-old man for allegedly sending dozens of suspicious packages to embassies and consulates around the country, officials said Thursday. Federal police said the man was arrested at his home in rural Victoria state late Wednesday, hours after several consulates in Melbourne received the suspicious packages. They alleged that the man had sent 38 parcels in all to consulates and embassies in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. Police […]
Tag: Australia
Suspect packages sent to diplomatic missions in Australia
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Suspicious packages were sent to more than a dozen foreign embassies and consulates in major Australian cities on Wednesday in a seemingly orchestrated but scattershot campaign. Emergency services raced to a string of diplomatic facilities which had received packages containing suspected hazardous material, all within the space of a few hours. There was no obvious pattern to countries targeted, with consulates of the United States, China, Italy, India, Japan and New […]
Australian minister hints Saudi teen likely to get asylum
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Australia gave its strongest hint yet on Wednesday that an 18-year-old Saudi woman in Bangkok would be granted humanitarian asylum, despite efforts by Riyadh and her family to force her return home. Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun has documented her bid to flee her allegedly abusive family with minute-by-minute social media updates, intensifying the global spotlight on Saudi Arabia’s rights record. As public pressure heightened, an Australian minister appeared to go beyond Canberra’s […]
Australia warns citizens vs traveling to parts of Mindanao
(Eagle News)–Australia has asked its citizens not to travel to Central and Western Mindanao, including Zamboanga and Sulu. According to the advisory, Australians should also reconsider traveling to Eastern Mindanao. Australia issued the security advisory after the Cotabato mall bombing that killed at least two and injured several people. The attack took place on Dec. 31. Authorities said the Daulah Islamiyah could be linked to the attack.
Sydney to kick off global New Year parties with dazzling spectacle
by Glenda KWEK Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s largest city Sydney will put on its biggest-ever fireworks display to welcome the New Year and kick off a wave of celebrations for billions around the world. A record amount of pyrotechnics, as well as new fireworks effects and colours, will light up the harbor city’s skyline for 12 minutes and dazzle the more than 1.5 million spectators expected to crowd foreshores and parks. […]
Australia swelters in record-breaking heatwave
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s vast continent is sizzling through extreme heatwave conditions this week, with temperatures reaching record highs and emergency services on high alert for bush-fires. The mercury is up to 16 degree Celsius (29 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than usual for this time of the year for southern Australia, with numerous towns setting new December records, the Bureau of Meteorology said Friday. “Heatwave conditions are being experienced across large parts of the country,” […]
Australia recognizes west Jerusalem as capital of Israel
by Daniel DE CARTERET Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia now recognizes west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Saturday, but a contentious embassy shift from Tel Aviv will not occur until a peace settlement is achieved. Canberra became one of just a few governments around the world to follow US President Donald Trump’s lead and recognize the contested city as Israel’s capital, but Morrison also committed to recognizing […]
Severe tropical cyclone bears down on north Australia coast
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australians in the north east of the country are bracing for a severe tropical cyclone, with authorities warning of flash flooding and destructive winds. Cyclone Owen has been strengthening off the north coast of Queensland state, in warm waters in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and is expected to reach category four — defined as a severe tropical cyclone with very destructive winds — when it makes landfall early Saturday morning. […]
102-year-old great-granny becomes ‘oldest’ skydiver
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A 102-year-old great-grandmother is believed to have become the world’s oldest skydiver after plunging 14,000 feet (4,300 meters) through the South Australian sky. Centenarian adrenaline junkie Irene O’Shea said she “felt normal” after a 220 kilometer per hour (140 mph) dive that sent her cheeks flapping wildly. She completed her first skydive to mark her 100th birthday in 2016, but organizers claimed it was Sunday’s successful tandem dive at the age […]
Surviving bleached Barrier Reef coral ‘more resilient to heat’
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Corals on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef that survived bleaching from rising sea temperatures were more resistant to another bout of hot conditions the following year, scientists said Tuesday, a “silver lining” for the embattled ecosystem. The 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long UNESCO World Heritage-listed reef off Australia’s northeastern coast was hit by back-to-back bleaching in 2016 and 2017. Bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause corals to expel […]
Outgoing Australian ambassador Gorely makes her farewell courtesy call on INC leader
(Eagle News) — Outgoing Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, Her Excellency Amanda Gorely, visited the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) Central Office in Quezon City to make her farewell courtesy call on INC Executive Minister, Brother Eduardo V. Manalo, on Monday, December 10. Gorely said she was “delighted to pay a farewell courtesy call on Brother Eduardo Manalo.” It was the Australian ambassador’s second time to visit the INC Executive Minister. The first […]
Surfer severely mauled by shark in Australia
sA surfer was severely mauled by a shark off Australia’s east coast, officials said Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks in recent months. The 36-year-old was surfing near Scotts Head Beach some 490 kilometres (300 miles) north of Sydney in the morning when he was bitten, New South Wales state police said. “The man suffered a severe leg injury below his knee on his right leg,” a NSW Ambulance spokesman told AFP. “He […]
