Australia & Pacifics

SYDNEY, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Australia's two most populous states have outlined a further easing of COVID-19 restrictions, including on gyms, cinemas and music festivals, despite new cases still being recorded.

Officials in the state of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria said on Sunday that the COVID-19 shutdown would be progressively wrapped up over the coming months, giving local economies a chance to recover.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man has been sentenced to death in China, authorities said on Saturday, a development that could further escalate tensions between the two countries.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was providing consular assistance to the man, without identifying him.

Australian and Chinese media have identified the man as Cam Gillespie, arrested seven years ago on charges of drug trafficking in southern China.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s prime minister apologized on Friday to critics who accuse him of denying the country’s history of slavery, as a state government announced it will remove a former Belgian king’s name from a mountain range as part of a global re-examination of racial injustice.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended the legacy of British explorer James Cook, who in 1770 charted the site of the first British penal colony in Australia, which became present-day Sydney.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The New Zealand city of Hamilton on Friday removed a bronze statue of the British naval officer for whom it is named — a man who is accused of killing indigenous Maori people in the 1860s.

The removal by city authorities came a day after a Maori tribe asked for the statue be taken down and one Maori elder threatened to tear it down himself.

11 June 2020; AFP: Australia warned Thursday it would not be intimidated by attempts at economic "coercion" after China threatened to undermine the multi-billion dollar flow of Chinese tourists and students to the country.

Beijing has issued warnings in recent days that Chinese should avoid Australia due to concerns about racist incidents targeting ethnic Asians during the coronavirus pandemic.

The comments were the latest salvo in a long-brewing diplomatic dispute between Australia and its largest trading partner.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand has eradicated the coronavirus from its shores after health officials reported that the final person known to have contracted an infection had recovered.

WELLINGTON, June 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) – New Zealand reported no new case of COVID-19 for 16 consecutive days, said a statement by the Ministry of Health today.

The combined number of confirmed and probable cases stays at 1,504, of which 1,154 are confirmed, it said.

New Zealand currently has 1,481 people reported as having recovered from COVID-19, unchanged from Saturday. There is only one case remaining active in the country.

There is no hospital-level care. The death toll remained at 22. The total number of tests completed to date is 294,048, an increase of 2,054.

SYDNEY (AP) — A 60-year-old surfer was attacked and killed by a 3-meter (10-foot) great white shark off the coast of northern New South Wales state on Sunday, officials said.

The man received a bite to the back of his thigh and was brought to the shore by other surfers who had fought off the shark, a surf rescue group, Surf Life Saving NSW, said in a statement. The victim, from Tugun just over the state border in Queensland, received first aid on the shore but died on the beach.

SYDNEY (AP) — Police challenged whether a Black Lives Matter protest planned for Saturday in Australia’s largest city is too much of a virus risk, as demonstrators in the capital reminded the country that racial inequality is not a U.S. issue alone.

CANBERRA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called on Australians joining Black Lives Matter protests not to "import" racial tensions from the United States.

Thousands of people have marched in Australian cities to protest Aboriginal deaths in custody and wider abuse of indigenous Australians, according to The Australian report, after the anti-racism protests in the United States.

Morrison on Thursday acknowledged Australians' right to protest but said that progress was being made.