Australia & Pacifics

SYDNEY, Australia, Aug 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) – More than 20,000 hospital workers in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) walked off the job today (Thursday), calling for better security measures, following a series of violent assaults on staff.

Health Services Union (HSU) NSW Secretary, Gerard Hayes, claimed that, around 40 hospital workers are assaulted every month, some severely.

WELLINGTON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- A 3.9-magnitude earthquake with a depth of 7 km hit New Zealand's Christchurch at 8:43 a.m. local time on Monday.

"Just another reminder that the Christchurch aftershock sequence is still ongoing," New Zealand's GeoNet said on its Twitter account.

It came after a magnitude 3.5 earthquake on Saturday night.

According to the GeoNet website, Over 4,000 people reported they felt the jolt just before 9 a.m.

19 July 2019; AFP: Canberra on Friday said it was "deeply disappointed" with the criminal detention of an Australian-Chinese writer in China, demanding Beijing release him if he is being held for "his political views".

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia had received confirmation Friday that Yang Henjun, held by Chinese authorities since January, had been transferred to criminal detention, apparently on national security grounds.

Sydney, Jul 17 (AFP/PTI) Australia's government on Wednesday called on China to allow an Australian child and his Uighur mother to leave the country, stepping up pressure on Beijing days after Canberra co-signed a letter denouncing its treatment of the Muslim minority.

China has rounded up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities into re-education camps in the tightly-controlled region of Xinjiang in the country's northwest.

Wellington, Jul 16 (AFP) New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday joined international condemnation of US President Donald Trump's xenophobic tweets about progressive Democrat congresswomen.

Ardern, the charismatic young leader who has been hailed as "the anti-Trump" by US media, said she proudly celebrated her country's diversity.

"Usually I don't get into other people's politics, but it will be clear to most people that I completely and utterly disagree with him," Ardern told Radio New Zealand.

WELLINGTON, July 16 (Xinhua)-- New Zealand announced on Tuesday a new digital platform which aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash announced details of the new Business Connect platform, which received 7.1 million New Zealand dollars over two years in Budget 2019.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Dozens of Christchurch gun owners on Saturday handed over their weapons in exchange for money, in the first of more than 250 planned buyback events around New Zealand after the government outlawed many types of semi-automatics.

Police said they paid more than 430,000 New Zealand dollars ($288,000) to 169 gun owners during the event. The money was paid directly into the bank accounts of gun owners.

SYDNEY, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Latest reports have placed the death toll of a tribal massacre in Papua New Guinea's Hela Province (PNG) at 23.

Local television station EMTV reported that in addition to the 16 people violently murdered on Monday, seven people including four men and three women were killed in related incidents on Sunday.

After hearing the shocking news of Monday's violence, PNG Prime Minister James Marape took to social media on Tuesday evening to offer his condolences to a nation in mourning.

NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga (AP) — The days unfold at a leisurely pace in Tonga, a South Pacific archipelago with no traffic lights or fast-food chains. Snuffling pigs roam dusty roads that wind through villages dotted with churches.

Yet even in this far-flung island kingdom there are signs that a battle for power and influence is heating up among much larger nations — and Tonga may end up paying the price.

CANBERRA, July 7 (Xinhua) -- A pilot and a passenger have been killed in a light plane crash in South Australia (SA), authorities have confirmed.

Emergency services were called to the site near a small airport in SA's far north on Saturday night.

Police confirmed that the 59-year-old male pilot and his 48-year-old female passenger, both from Queensland, were killed.