Tag: Australia

Australia, Philippines negotiating asylum seeker transfer deal

Australia is negotiating a deal with the Philippines to transfer asylum seekers being held indefinitely in controversial detention centres on remote, impoverished islands, Australia’s immigration minister said on Friday (October 9). Asylum seekers have long been a contentious political issue in Australia, although it has never received anywhere near the number of refugees currently flooding into Europe as they flee conflict in the Middle East and North Africa. Successive Australian governments have vowed to stop […]

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Australian PM’s new cabinet sees first female defense minister

Australia on Monday (September 21) swore in its first female defense minister, Senator Marise Payne, who will oversee open-ended military engagements in two countries and some of the country’s most important defense contracts in a generation. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week ousted long-time rival Tony Abbott as leader of their ruling Liberal Party, citing a chaotic management style and dismal poll numbers. Turnbull’s cabinet which was sworn in on Monday features five women, more […]

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Mixed opinions in Australia after Malcom Turnbull topples Prime Minister Tony Abbott

(Reuters) — Australia woke on Tuesday (September 15) to the news that the ruling Liberal Party voted to oust Tony Abbott as prime minister in favour of Malcolm Turnbull, a multi-millionaire former tech entrepreneur who is hugely popular with the electorate. Abbott was deposed late on Monday (September 14) following months of opinion polls that showed his popularity with the public near rock bottom as Australia’s $1.5 trillion economy struggles to cope with the end […]

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Turnbull topples Abbott, to become Australia’s fifth PM in eight years

(Reuters) — Australia will have its fifth prime minister in eight years after the ruling Liberal Party on Monday (September 14) voted out Tony Abbott in favour of longtime rival Malcolm Turnbull, following months of infighting and crumbling voter support. Turnbull, a multi-millionaire former tech entrepreneur, won a secret party vote by 54 to 44, Liberal Party chief whip Scott Buchholz told reporters after the meeting in Canberra. Australia is set to hold elections before […]

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Bushfire continues to burn in Australia’s Blue Mountains

  (Reuters) — A bushfire fuelled by strong winds continued to burn in Australia’s Blue Mountains for a second day on Sunday (August 2). Hundreds of fire-fighters were battling the blaze, assisted by helicopters dropping water onto flames that cannot be easily reached by vehicles, local media said. Although no homes are directly threatened, a Watch and Act alert has been issued for residents to monitor if these conditions change, Australian media reported. “Hopefully we […]

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Australia issues travel advisory regarding Philippines

JUNE 24 (Eagle News) — Australia warned its citizens traveling to the Philippines due to threats of terrorism. The travel advisory added that Australian citizens should avoid Central and Western Mindanao. (Canberra, Australia) (Eagle News Service Jay Paul Carlos, Jericho Morales, MRFaith Bonalos)

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Graffiti Catcher

(Reuters) Sydney is deploying a high-tech system that literally sniffs out vandals on its rail network. The CEO of Sydney Trains, Howard Collins, calls the new system Mousetrap. “So our new operation, Mousetrap, is what it says it does. It detects, covertly, people vandalising our trains,” he said. When a graffiti attack is taking place, a sensor in the carriage acts like an electronic nose, detecting the presence of paint fumes. An alarm is sent […]

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Australia’s Abbott confident officials acted within the law on asylum seekers’ issue

JUNE 16 (Reuters) — Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott said on Tuesday (June 16) he was confident Australian agencies acted “within the law” as calls grew for an inquiry into reports that officials paid people smugglers thousands of dollars to turn the their boat carrying asylum seekers back to Indonesia. “I am absolutely confident that at all times Australian agencies have acted within the law,” Abbott said. “Does that mean that that did happen?,” asked […]

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Ambulances carrying bodies of executed drug convicts leave Indonesian prison island

APRIL 29 (Reuters) — Ambulances carrying the remains of executed drug convicts left the Indonesian prison island of Nusakambangan on Wednesday (April 29). The eight people, including nationals of Australia, Nigeria, Brazil and Indonesia, were executed by firing squad after midnight. But a Filipina who was on the same execution list was not executed as part of the group. A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said it had delayed the execution of Mary Jane […]

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Australia recalls ambassador to Indonesia after executions

APRIL 29 (Reuters) — Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday (April 29) he was recalling the nation’s ambassador to Indonesia in protest against the execution of two Australian drug smugglers. Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were executed by firing squad along with six other drug convicts from several countries shortly after midnight on Wednesday, local media said. “These executions are both cruel and unnecessary. Cruel because both Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran spent some […]

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Mary Jane Veloso spared from execution; eight others executed as scheduled

Eight drug convicts were executed by an Indonesian firing squad early on Wednesday but a Filipina who was on death row with the Australians, Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian was unexpectedly not among them, local media reports said. The execution of Mary Jane Veloso by an Indonesian firing squad was delayed at the last minute after one of her recruiters surrendered to police in the Philippines, the attorney general’s spokesman said on Wednesday. “The execution […]

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Families of nine facing death row emotional as midnight execution by firing squad set

NINE drug traffickers held emotional farewell meetings with their families at an Indonesian prison on Tuesday, after Jakarta rejected last-ditch pleas from around the world for clemency and ordered their mass execution to proceed within hours. “I won’t see him again,” said Raji Sukumaran, the mother of an Australian who will go before a firing squad along with a fellow countryman and convicts from Nigeria, Brazil, the Philippines and Indonesia. “They’re going to take him […]

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