Australia & Pacifics

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A bus carrying a group of Chinese tourists crashed Wednesday near a popular New Zealand tourist town. Chinese officials say they’ve been told six tourists were killed, although police have yet to confirm a number.

Police said the bus rolled on a highway about 20 minutes north of the town of Rotorua.

Liang Zhi, a diplomat from the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand, told The Associated Press that they understand the bus was carrying the driver, a tour guide, and 23 tourists, most of them from the Sichuan province.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Some New Zealand gun owners are upset they’re being compelled to hand over their assault weapons for money. Others believe a government-imposed ban on certain semi-automatics following a March shooting massacre is the best way to combat gun violence. And The Associated Press has found at least one man may have tried to swindle hundreds of thousands of dollars from the system set up to compensate gun owners.

Melbourne, Aug 31 (AFP) A Tamil family of four -- including two Australian-born toddlers -- have been moved to a remote island off the coast of Indonesia, despite a court order blocking deportation, their lawyer said Saturday.

The family -- who are fighting to remain in Australia because they fear persecution in Sri Lanka -- were moved to Christmas Island detention facility overnight, lawyer Carina Ford said, speaking in Melbourne.

CANBERRA, Australia, Aug 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Australian government will invest 15 million Australian dollars (10.08 million U.S. dollars) in a network of fast-charging stations, for electric vehicles.

Angus Taylor, the Minister for Energy, announced today (Monday) that, the funding will be given to Evie Networks, a fast-charging start-up, from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (AREA).

New Delhi, Aug 23 (PTI) The Asia Pacific Group of the FATF, a global watchdog for terror financing and money laundering, has put Pakistan in a terror 'blacklist' for its failure to curb funnelling of funds to groups responsible for scores of attacks in India, officials here said on Friday.

While putting Pakistan in an 'Enhanced Expedited Follow Up List', the Financial Action Task Force's Asia Pacific Group also found that the country was non-compliant on 32 of 40 compliance parameters related to terror financing and money laundering, they said.

SYDNEY/DUBAI (Reuters) - Australia will join the United States in a security mission to protect merchant vessels traveling through key Middle East waterways after Iran seized a British-flagged vessel, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday.

Foremost among the areas to be patrolled is the Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran, through which about one-fifth of the world’s seaborne crude flows out of the Gulf.

CANBERRA, Australia, Aug 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, expressed sympathy for victims of child sexual abuse, after Cardinal George Pell lost his appeal, against sex abuse convictions.

Victoria’s Court of Appeal, on Wednesday (today), upheld Pell’s conviction on five charges.

Speaking shortly after the verdict was delivered, Morrison told reporters in Canberra that, Pell will be stripped of his Order of Australia honour, which he was awarded in 2005, for “service to the Catholic church.”

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Cardinal George Pell’s lawyers argued in his appeal that there were more than a dozen “solid obstacles” that should have prevented a jury from finding him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of molesting two choirboys.

CANBERRA, Australia, Aug 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack’s recent comments on climate change, was denounced by the opposition party as “ignorant.”

“These are ignorant comments from the acting prime minister, as he should know better,” said Richard Marles, opposition Australian Labour Party leader.

McCormack said, Pacific island nations will survive climate change, “because many of their workers come here to pick our fruits.”

15 August 2019; AFP: Officials in New Zealand apologised Thursday after the alleged Christchurch mosque gunman was allowed to send a letter from prison espousing "hateful" views that a supporter then shared online.

Australian Brenton Tarrant is in a maximum-security jail in Auckland awaiting trial for the murder of 51 Muslim worshippers on March 15 in the worst mass shooting in modern New Zealand history.