Australia

SYDNEY, Nov 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australian officials granted approval today, for one of the world’s largest lithium-ion batteries, to be built in the State of Victoria, helping drive the region’s renewable energy push and COVID-19 recovery.

Expected to be roughly as large as a medium-sized football stadium, the Tesla type battery will be the largest in the country and help Victoria meet its renewable energy target of 25 percent by the end of 2020.

05 Nov 2020; MEMO: Austria’s chancellor has called for a European front in a “war on Islamism” after four people were killed in a terror attack in Vienna on Monday night.

Sebastian Kurz, 34, said he would seek to form a continent-wide alliance against political Islam at the next summit of European Union (EU) leaders later this month.

CANBERRA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Australia remains "on track" to have domestic borders open by Christmas, Health Minister Greg Hunt has revealed.

As of Monday afternoon, there had been 27,602 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, and the number of new cases in the last 24 hours is eight, according to the latest figures from the Australian government Department of Health.

Canberra, Nov 1 (AP/PTI) Australia has recorded no new locally transmitted coronavirus infection for the first time in five months.

In Melbourne, the capital of Victoria state, which had the highest number of cases in the country, residents were enjoying the first weekend of cafes, restaurants and pubs reopening to walk-in customers.

The city only has one mystery case without a known source. There are 61 active cases left across the state, down from 70 on Saturday.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An investigation into Australia’s catastrophic wildfire season on Friday recommended greater efforts to forecast the impacts of climate change on specific parts of the country, warning fire behavior was becoming more extreme.

The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements began in February while wildfires were ravaging vast swathes of the nation’s southeast in a fire season that is now known as Black Summer.

A Round Table meet on Human Rights in India was organised at the New South Wales Parliament in Sydney by members of the Australian Greens that included Federal Senator Janet Rice, New South Wales Member of Parliament David Shoebrodge and former Senator Lee Rhiannon, in collaboration with The Humanism Project, an Australian based human rights and political advocacy group.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The United States is expected to have resettled more than 1,100 refugees by early next year under a deal President Donald Trump reluctantly honored with Australia, an Australian official said on Monday.

President Barack Obama’s administration struck a deal in 2016 to accept up to 1,250 refugees from Iran, Bangladesh, Somalia and Myanmar whom Australia had banished to Pacific island camps.

Trump condemned the deal as “dumb” but agreed to honor the U.S. commitment, subject to “extreme vetting” of the refugees.

Melbourne, Oct 18 (AP/PTI) Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne, has loosened lockdown restrictions as new and active COVID-19 continue to decline.

From midnight Sunday, Melbourne residents will no longer face limits on the time they can spend away from their homes for education or recreation. Previous restrictions allowing Melburnians to travel only 5 kilometers (3 miles) from home will increase at midnight to 25 kilometers (15 miles).

SYDNEY, Oct 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Australia joined the Netherlands in slamming Russia’s decision to withdraw from consultations over its involvement in the 2014 downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, which killed 298 people, mostly Dutch and Australian citizens.

Since 2018, the three countries have held discussions aimed at uncovering the cause of the disaster, in which a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was hit by a Soviet-designed missile, killing all on board.

CANBERRA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called for a royal commission into the media domination of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Rudd, who served as PM between 2007 and 2010 and again for three months in 2013, has launched a petition urging the government to establish a royal commission to "ensure the strength and diversity of Australian news media."