Tag: Australia

Chairman ousted as Australia’s public TV hit by politics scandal

  by Andrew Beatty Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s much-loved public broadcaster scrambled to safeguard its hard-won reputation for impartiality Thursday, forcing out a chairman accused of intervening in news coverage to please the government. Top executive Justin Milne told the ABC he would step down, after the institution’s board held crisis talks in Sydney and the government announced an inquiry into his actions. According to leaked emails, Milne unsuccessfully pressed for […]

Continue Reading →

Solo yachtsman stranded at sea rescued: Indian navy

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — A solo Indian yachtsman trapped in his bunk by a serious back injury thousands of kilometers (miles) from land was rescued Monday, an Indian navy official said. Abhilash Tomy, a competitor in the Golden Globe round-the-world race, was badly injured when his vessel was damaged in a storm on Friday 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) from western Australia. Race organizers said the 39-year-old Indian navy commander had been “incapacitated on his […]

Continue Reading →

Australia strawberry crisis now tastes a little sweeter for farmers

by Andrew BEATTY Agence France-Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s pins-in-punnets strawberry crisis prompted a spate of social-media driven hoaxes, but sites like Facebook and Twitter are also helping stir a revival in sales that has left some farmers struggling to meet resurgent demand. For almost two weeks, reports of pins and needles being found in fruit across Australia have delivered a gut punch to industry, set grocery-shoppers on edge and left police struggling to […]

Continue Reading →

Needle found in Australian strawberries sold in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — The Australian strawberry scare has spread to New Zealand with a supermarket chain announcing Sunday that needles were found in a box of the fruit sourced from the neighbouring country. The Countdown supermarket chain said it had taken a brand of Australian strawberries off the shelves after a sabotaged punnet — a plastic box — was sold in an Auckland store. The strawberries, from Western Australia state, were sold in […]

Continue Reading →

Strawberry sabotage akin to ‘terrorism’: Australia PM

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The tainting of supermarket strawberries with sewing needles is comparable to “terrorism”, Australia’s prime minister said Wednesday, as he demanded tougher sentencing in response to a nationwide scare. Urging Australians to make a strawberry pavlova this weekend to help struggling farmers, Scott Morrison demanded a change in the law to put the perpetrators behind bars for 15 years. “We’re not mucking about” said Morrison, after at least 20 pieces of fruit […]

Continue Reading →

Olivia Newton-John diagnosed with cancer for third time

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Olivia Newton-John, the Australian singer who found worldwide fame in the hit movie “Grease”, has revealed she has been diagnosed with cancer for the third time. The 69-year-old told Australian television broadcaster Channel Seven that doctors had discovered a tumour at the base of her spine. She has since undergone radiation treatment, and is also treating the disease with natural therapies such as the use of cannabis oil. “I’m still […]

Continue Reading →

Husband ‘kills wife, toddler children’ in Australia home

PERTH, Australia (AFP) — A 24-year-old man has been accused of killing his wife, three toddlers and mother-in-law with a blunt instrument and knives at their suburban family home, where he remained for several days before turning himself in, Australian police said Monday. Police charged Anthony Robert Harvey with the murders of his two-year-old twins Alice and Beatrix, his three-year-old daughter Charlotte and his 41-year-old wife Mara in the southwestern city of Perth. Harvey, who […]

Continue Reading →

Australia mints its most valuable coin ever

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia has minted a gold coin encrusted with rare pink diamonds worth Aus$2.48 million (US$1.8 million) to meet growing demand for high-end collectables from the ultra-rich. The two-kilogramme treasure, which depicts a sailing ship, a gold prospector and boab trees found in Western Australia, is considered legal tender and will be sold to the highest bidder. It is the most valuable coin ever made in Australia and is expected to be […]

Continue Reading →

Australia keeps rates on hold at record low

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP)–Weak inflation, sluggish wage growth and high levels of household debt saw Australia’s central bank keep interest rates on hold at a record low on Tuesday. The Reserve Bank of Australia slashed the cash rate from November 2011 to August 2016 to 1.50 percent to boost the economy as it transitioned away from a mining investment boom and it has not moved since. Most economists are not expecting the bank to lift them […]

Continue Reading →

Search after ‘illegal’ boat runs aground in croc-infested waters

  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 […]

Continue Reading →

Scott ‘Stop the boats’ Morrison: Australia’s latest PM

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. […]

Continue Reading →

Australia braces for new prime minister after bitter coup

  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 […]

Continue Reading →
1 … 49 50 51 52 53 … 79