New Zealand removes final Covid restrictions
New Zealand’s government will lift all remaining COVID-19 requirements from midnight Tuesday, bringing an end to some of the toughest COVID-19 pandemic rules in the world more than three ...
Julian Assange case has ‘dragged on for too long’, Australia’s Wong says
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Saturday the long-running case of imprisoned Wikileaks founder Julian Assange had gone on too long and needs to be completed.
Assange, an ...
New Zealand shooter kills two on eve of Women’s Soccer World Cup
At least two people and an armed attacker were killed and five others wounded in a shooting in New Zealand’s largest city of Auckland on Thursday, hours ahead of ...
Driver charged after Australia’s worst bus accident in decades kills 10 wedding guests (Update)
A man was charged with dangerous driving on Monday after at least 10 wedding guests were killed when the bus they were travelling in crashed at a roundabout in Australia’s ...
Top Australian soldier loses war crimes defamation case
Members of an independent NASA panel studying UFOs, or what the U.S. government now terms UAP for “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” said in their first public meeting on Wednesday that ...
Japan puts missile defences on alert as North Korea warns of satellite launch (Updated)
Japan put its ballistic missile defences on alert on Monday and vowed to shoot down any projectile that threatens its territory, after North Korea notified it of a planned satellite ...
Most of Guam without power, water after Typhoon Mawar exits
Much of the U.S. Western Pacific territory of Guam was without power and water on Thursday after a typhoon packing ferocious winds and torrential rains battered the island but ...
95-year-old Australian grandmother tasered by police in critical condition
A 95-year-old grandmother who Australian police tasered at a retirement home is in critical condition as the homicide squad join a high-profile investigation into the incident, police said on Friday.
...
Tsunami threat passes in South Pacific after magnitude 7.7 quake off New Caledonia (Update)
The risk of tsunami waves across the South Pacific has passed and national warnings downgraded following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday southeast of the Loyalty Islands in the French territory ...
Platypus returns to Australian national park for first time in half a century
By James Redmayne
The platypus, a species unique to Australia, was reintroduced into the country’s oldest national park just south of Sydney on Friday in a landmark conservation project ...
Australian lawmakers meet US envoy to seek release of Assange
A cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers said on Tuesday they met U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, urging her to help drop the pending extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange ...
Japan earthquake of magnitude 6.5 injures some, damages buildings
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 struck on Friday off Japan’s western prefecture of Ishikawa, authorities said, as media reported some buildings had collapsed while people were injured.
Chief ...
Australia to ban recreational vaping in e-cigarette crackdown
Australia said on Tuesday it will ban recreational vaping and tighten other aspects of e-cigarette laws in the biggest crackdown on the tobacco industry in more than a decade to ...
Barry Humphries, creator of Dame Edna, dies at 89
Barry Humphries, the comedian best known for his character Dame Edna Everage who blossomed from an Australian suburban housewife into a self-described gigastar, died on Saturday. He was 89.
The Sydney ...
Australia braces for strongest cyclone in a decade
Australia‘s northwest region, home to the world’s largest iron ore export hub, braced on Thursday for the area’s most powerful tropical cyclone in a decade, as a ...
After Britian, New Zealand to ban TikTok on devices linked to parliament (Updated)
New Zealand said on Friday it would ban TikTok on devices with access to the country’s parliamentary network due to cybersecurity concerns, becoming the latest nation to limit the ...
International drug bust nets $677m of cocaine bound for Australia
A joint US and Australian law enforcement operation busted an international drug ring after intercepting 2.4 tonnes of cocaine aboard a vessel off the coast of South America that had been ...
New Zealand’s cyclone death toll at 11, thousands still missing
The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand climbed to 11 on Sunday as thousands of people remained missing a week after the storm struck the country’s North Island.
...
Magnitude 6.1 quake strikes off New Zealand coast
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck New Zealand near Wellington on Wednesday at a depth of 48 km (30 miles), government seismic monitor Geonet said.
The earthquake’s epicentre was 50 km from the town ...
New Zealand declares National State of Emergency as Cyclone Gabrielle causes havoc
New Zealand declared a national state of emergency for only the third time in its history on Tuesday as Cyclone Gabrielle caused widespread flooding, landslides and huge ocean swells, forcing ...
Girl killed in shark attack on Australia’s west coast
A 16-year-old girl died on Saturday after being mauled by a shark in a river in Western Australia’s state capital Perth after she jumped in the water to swim ...
Kyrgios assault charge dismissed despite guilty plea
A common assault charge against Nick Kyrgios was dismissed in a Canberra court on Friday, despite the tennis player earlier pleading guilty.
The charge related to a 2021 incident involving his ...
Australian Cardinal George Pell’s funeral sparks protests
Mourners and protesters faced off in Sydney on Thursday at the funeral service for Australian Cardinal George Pell, a former top Vatican official who was acquitted in 2020 of sexual abuse ...
Missing radioactive capsule found in Western Australia
Australian authorities on Wednesday found a radioactive capsule that was lost in the vast Outback after nearly a week-long search along a 1,400 km (870-mile) stretch of highway, an emergency services ...