Australia - Page 13

The French government is seething over Australia’s decision to drop a troubled multi-billion French submarine deal in favour of collaboration with Britain and America, describing it as “treason”. 

(AFP) – Officers used pepper spray and made over 200 arrests in Melbourne as several hundred protesters flouted stay-at-home orders and marched through an inner-city suburb.

Australia said Saturday it was noting with regret France’s recall of its ambassador over the surprise cancellation of a submarine contract in favour of a U.S. deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday ordered the recall of France’s ambassador to the United States, Philippe Etienne, to protest the Biden administration’s deal to provide nuclear submarines to Australia without French participation.

China said it was “highly irresponsible” for the U.S. and Britain to export nuclear technology. Morrison said Australia wants to boost peace.

Brexit leader Nigel Farage has praised the foundation of the new British, American, and Australian defence and security alliance, calling it a “big moment for the Anglosphere”.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision on Wednesday to help Australia acquire U.S. nuclear-powered submarines and thus abandon a previous agreement with Paris to purchase $40 billion worth of French-designed submarines was “a stab in the back,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday.

U.S. President Joe Biden appeared to forget who he was talking to Wednesday night when he addressed Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison as “that fella down under” during a virtual joint call outlining a new joint security pact for the Indo-Pacific region.

Australia’s Curtin University on Wednesday requested the retraction of a 2018 research study, partly funded by the Chinese government and conducted by a former Curtin faculty member, that helped the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) refine the facial-recognition software it employs to keep the oppressed Uyghur Muslims of Xinjiang province under surveillance.

Australia’s next submarine fleet will be nuclear-powered under an audacious plan revealed Wednesday that will see Canberra end a $90 billion program to build 12 French-designed boats.

U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to New York next week and personally deliver an address to world leaders at the United Nations, the White House confirmed Monday, as the administration seeks to draw a line under the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Australian Christian leaders in the state of New South Wales (NSW) say they do not attend to turn away unvaccinated churchgoers despite Canberra’s claimed mandate to do so.

A senior medical officer has let the cat out of the bag: Australia is sliding inexorably towards a ‘New World Order.’

Australia’s national carrier Qantas will ban unvaccinated travelers from international flights, CEO Alan Joyce reaffirmed this week.

Australia has now resorted to monitoring alcohol consumption and in some cases confiscating drinks in areas under strict lockdown.

Australia’s High Court ruled on Wednesday that media companies are liable for defamatory comments posted to their Facebook pages by readers, a decision that will further complicate the worldwide debate about whether social media platforms should have the same legal obligations as publishers.

In a ruling that will likely make it difficult for websites and users to allow free commenting in the country, the high court of Australia has ruled that creators are liable for comments made by other people underneath their content.

A United Nations demand for Australia to accept coal’s days are numbered was comprehensively rejected Monday with a lawmaker in Canberra promising the future of the vital export and job creator will be “decided by the Australian Government, not a foreign body.”

A man died after a shark attacked him in Australia, despite the efforts of surfers and others who tried to help, officials said Sunday.

Australia is developing an app that uses facial recognition and geolocation data to track its citizens, in part of the country’s draconian efforts to control coronavirus, with even the establishment leftist magazine the Atlantic branding the app “Orwellian.”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said that America, Britain, and Australia, among others, “must be held accountable” for the “suffering” caused by their “military interventions in sovereign states”, particularly Afghanistan.

Former NBA champion Andrew Bogut has claimed that he was approached to produce pro-lockdown propaganda in Australia.

Local government officials in Australia had dogs due to be rescued from a council pound shot dead, to stop shelter workers from going to pick them up during Covid. 

(AFP) — Hundreds were arrested after violent clashes between anti-lockdown protesters and police in Australia’s two largest cities Saturday as the country recorded its sharpest rise in daily Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began.

Australian citizens trying to reach evacuation transports are apparently being forcibly turned away by Taliban fighters encircling Kabul airport.

Australia announced Monday it is despatching an “air bridge” to Afghanistan designed to combine military, customs, immigration and consular staff to extract hundreds of people from the volatile capital Kabul.

Taliban officials said Sunday they have no plans to take the Afghanistan capital Kabul “by force” even as fighters began entering the besieged city and a host of nations including the U.S. began speeding up the evacuation of nationals, diplomats and local support staff.

(AFP) — Australia’s biggest city announced tighter Covid restrictions including heavier fines and tighter policing on Saturday as authorities battled to contain a Delta outbreak and said they were seeing the “most concerning day of the pandemic” so far.

Canberra ordered the entire Australian Capital Territory (ACT), home to over 431,000 people, into total lockdown Thursday for seven days to contain four new cases of the Chinese coronavirus, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

Hollywood star Russell Crowe is shooting his latest movie around Sydney, Australia, despite coronavirus lockdowns that are forcing millions of Australians to stay at home. The film shoot has prompted a harsh rebuke from Australian politician Gareth Ward, who called it a “total mockery” of public health orders.

Facebook took down a video of an Australian MP, George Christensen, speaking out in parliament against coronavirus lockdowns.

Three Australian lifestyle content publishers have reportedly accused social media giant Facebook of using their articles on its news service after refusing to negotiate licensing deals.

Australian state officials have declared athletes returning from the Tokyo Olympics will be required to quarantine for four weeks, with some being sent to remote outback camps for the duration.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australian special envoy and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott said a free trade agreement between his nation and India would signal the “democratic world’s tilt away from China.”

China’s state-run Global Times on Friday threw a fit over Australia’s News.com describing 14-year-old Olympic gold medalist diver Quan Hongchan as “pokerfaced.”

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne, went into a sixth lockdown on Thursday, with a state government leader blaming the nation’s slow COVID-19 vaccination rollout.