Australia & Pacifics

6 December 2019; AFP: Several Australian bushfires have combined to form a "mega fire" that is burning out of control across a swathe of land north of Sydney, authorities said Friday, warning they cannot contain the blaze.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner, Rob Rogers said "there are probably more than eight fires in all" that have merged to form what has been dubbed a "mega fire" in an area of national park forest.

SYDNEY, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Several Australian bushfires have combined to form a “mega fire” that is burning out of control across a swathe of land north of Sydney, authorities said Friday, warning they cannot contain the blaze.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner, Rob Rogers said “there are probably more than eight fires in all” that have merged to form what has been dubbed a “mega fire” in an area of national park forest.

SAMOA, Dec 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Samoa began a two-day shutdown today (Thursday), as authorities embarked on an unprecedented mass vaccination campaign, to contain a deadly outbreak of measles that has killed 62 people, mostly small children, in the Pacific island nation.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police said on Wednesday they believe they have found the remains of a woman missing in the country’s remote outback for weeks.

“Police located the body, which is believed to be that Claire Hockridge during search efforts,” Northern Territory police said in an emailed statement.

Hockridge has been missing since she went hiking with two friends two weeks ago.

2 December 2019; AFP: Australia's foreign minister on Monday said the treatment of a writer detained in China was "unacceptable", as his lawyer reported he was being shackled and subjected to daily interrogation.

Yang Hengjun, an Australian citizen, has been detained in China since January and was recently charged with spying, which could bring a lengthy prison sentence.

SYDNEY, Dec 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australia clocked its driest spring in 120 years of recorded history, the country’s Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), revealed.

In its spring climate wrap-up, the BoM said, the majority of Australia received rainfall which was well below average, and that a number of recording stations, right across the country, observed their driest spring ever.

Spring 2019 was also Australia’s fifth hottest on record, with the highest temperature at 47.1 degrees Celsius, recorded in mid-Nov, in Western Australia.

SYDNEY (AP) — An Australian teacher held captive with an American colleague by the Taliban for more than three years believes U.S. special forces tried and failed six times to free them.

Timothy Weeks was released last month in a prisoner swap along with Kevin King, ending an ordeal that began with their abduction in 2016 outside the American University in Kabul, where they worked.

SUVA, Nov 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Samoa’s Ministry of Health confirmed today (Saturday), that two more deaths have been recorded in the island nation’s measles epidemic, in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 44, since the outbreak started in mid-Oct.

According to a government statement, all but four of the deaths are children under the age of four.

The Ministry of Health said, a total of 3,357 cases have been recorded to the Disease Surveillance Team so far, with 208 cases reported in the last 24 hours.

SYDNEY, Nov 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Tram drivers in the Australian city of Melbourne stopped work today (Thursday), demanding higher pay and more reliable work schedules.

The halt of the world’s largest tram network, forced thousands of passengers onto replacement buses, following an ongoing dispute between the workers’ union and private operator, Yarra Trams.

The action took place between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. local time, with passengers riding on a tram at 10:00 a.m. requested to disembark at the next stop.

SYDNEY, Nov 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australia’s first underwater hotel is set to open on the Great Barrier Reef in the coming days, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in one of the world’s most spectacular natural environments.

Situated about 40 nautical miles off Airlie Beach, at Hardy Reef’s reconstructed pontoon, that was badly damaged by Cyclone Debbi in 2017, the 10 million-Australian dollar (6.8-million-U.S. dollar) Reef suites facility has two rooms with glass floors, walls and ceilings.