Australia - Page 17

The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, demanded an apology on Tuesday from the government of Australia for the latter taking offense to a falsified image, published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, depicting an Australian soldier beheading a child.

Twitter on Tuesday rejected Canberra’s calls to remove a Beijing official’s gruesome tweet targeting Australian troops, choosing instead to stand with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday demanded Beijing apologize after a top Chinese government spokesman posted a falsified image on Twitter on Sunday depicting an Australian soldier with his knife to a child’s throat, appearing to prepare to behead the child.

(AFP) — An Australian-British academic released after two years imprisoned in Iran on spying charges returned to Australia on Friday, local media reported.

Australia’s Qantas has become the first airline to insist all its passengers must be vaccinated against coronavirus.

Chinese state media on Thursday derided the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance for daring to criticize China’s ugly crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, spraying extra venom at Australia, which the state-run Global Times sneeringly dismissed as a “vassal of the U.S.”

South Australia imposed an extremely strict coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday, attracting international attention when residents complained they were denied permission to walk their dogs.

The Australian Defense Force (ADF) released a report on Thursday detailing the results of a four-year investigation into alleged abuses by Australian troops in Afghanistan. The report found 39 unlawful killings were committed between 2005 and 2016 by Australian special forces soldiers, 19 of whom will now face criminal investigation and the potential loss of military honors. 

The editor-in-chief of belligerent Chinese state propaganda outlet Global Times, Hu Xijin, dismissed half the world as living “by the law of the jungle” in a column Thursday meant to lift the spirits of Chinese communists.

U.S. President Trump would have “won in an absolute landslide” if it weren’t for the “Wuhan flu,” Australian state political leader Mark Latham said Thursday.

(AFP) — Australia’s elite special forces “unlawfully killed” 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners, including summary executions as part of initiation rituals, according to evidence in a searing military inquiry now being referred to a special war crimes prosecutor.

The navies of the U.S., Australia, India, and Japan began exercises on Tuesday in the Northern Arabian Sea, launching the second phase of a joint “Malabar 2020” naval drill viewed by observers as a regional deterrent to China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.

The new defense pact between Australia and Japan signed Tuesday in Tokyo has been dismissed as “dangerous” by Chinese state-owned media, which warns any resistance to Beijing is futile and will come at a heavy cost.

Chinese state media spent the weekend celebrating the announcement of a massive trade deal with 14 other Asia-Pacific nations — including key U.S. allies like Japan, South Korea, and Australia, but not the United States itself — as the “end of U.S. hegemony in the West Pacific.”

Australia will join Japan in a regional defense pact designed to bolster their standing against Beijing’s growing military power and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) on Thursday charged Melbourne resident and local Chinese community leader Duong Di Sanh with preparing to carry out a “foreign interference offense,” which carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison.

The annual Malabar naval exercise began on Tuesday, launching from the Indian port of Visakhapatnam on the Bay of Bengal. The Malabar wargame began in 1992 as a joint exercise between the U.S. and Indian navies. Japan joined in 2015, and this year marks the return of Australia after 13 years of absence, putting all four members of the “Quad” alliance against Chinese expansionism on the roster.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia has announced it will spend 500 million Australian dollars ($351 million) to secure COVID-19 vaccines for the Pacific and South-east Asia “as part of a shared recovery for our region from the pandemic.”

Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir bin Mohamad’s extraordinary diatribe that “Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people” has been removed from Facebook and Twitter.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday lectured U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about “sowing discord” between China and its neighbors.

The Australian government on Monday said it is “deeply concerned” at the “offensive, grossly inappropriate treatment” of female passengers on a Qatar Airways flight bound for Sydney, who were ordered to disembark in Doha before being subjected to a forced strip search and invasive medical examination.

A woman reportedly spent one week behind bars recently after having sex with a teenage boy at the Australian school where she used to work.

Australia’s national rugby team will not take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement after a unanimous vote by the players, insisting they were not interested in making political statements.

Four newborn babies have died in the Australian city of Adelaide in the past four weeks after they could not be airlifted to Melbourne for special treatment due to strict coronavirus travel restrictions.

Australian golf legend Greg Norman said Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump has a “good chance” of winning the election as millions of “quiet Americans” will happily back him and again prove the pollsters wrong.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Wednesday they are investigating reports that the Vatican transferred funds to Australia during the trial of former Vatican treasurer and Archbishop of Melbourne George Pell on sex abuse charges.

Australia announced that, for the first time since 2007, it will participate in the Malabar military exercises, joining India, Japan, and the United States in a large-scale naval drill designed to prepare for any potential Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The EU will not enter into a mutually beneficial deal with the UK in the post Brexit and talks have therefore failed, Boris Johnson said.

Bruce Springsteen will pack up and flee to Australia should Donald Trump win re-election in November, he warned Thursday during a virtual interview with Down Under media outlets.

Daryl Maguire, formerly a member of the state parliament of New South Wales in Australia, testified before a corruption inquest on Wednesday that he was handed envelopes filled with thousands of dollars in cash, right in his parliamentary office, as payment for helping Chinese nationals obtain fraudulent visas.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The premier of Australia’s Victoria state is stepping up his fight with members of the public who don’t comply with pandemic regulations, saying close contacts of those infected who refuse a test will have to spend 21 days in quarantine.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Tuesday in Tokyo of Beijing’s “malign activity in the region” as he began talks with his counterparts from Japan, Australia and India.

Boeing said on Monday it will design and develop military aircraft, including unmanned vehicles, in Australia — the first time in its 100 year history it has done so outside the United States.

60 Minutes is telling the story of Joe Biden sexual assault accuser Tara Reade, except it is the Australian version of the show.

U.S. President Donald Trump received his third nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize on Monday, with four Australian law professors citing the “Trump Doctrine” against endless foreign wars as reason for their support.

“We value rules that protect sovereignty, peace, and security, and curb the excessive use of power,” he said, addressing China’s illegal attempts to control as much as 90 percent of the South China Sea.