Australia & Pacifics

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Beijing was targeting its Pacific aid to new diplomatic allies Solomon Islands and Kiribati while Chinese financial support across the region continued to decline, the Lowy Institute reported Monday in its latest annual analysis of regional assistance.

China’s aid to the Pacific has fallen from a peak of $287 million in 2016 to $187 million in 2020 — the lowest level since 2008, when the Sydney-based international policy think tank began quantifying support for developing island nations in the Pacific.

CANBERRA, Oct 30 (NNN-AAP) – Australia’s Treasurer, said today that, he could not say with certainty, when the power prices would start to fall.

With the government facing pressure to offer cost of living relief, Jim Chalmers said, he would not “put a date” on when Australians could expect power prices to peak, but that they would “moderate in time.”

WELLINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spent an extra night Friday at the country's research station in Antarctica after the military aircraft she was meant to be travelling back to New Zealand on broke down.

Ardern has been in Antarctica meeting with the country's scientists and visiting the sites of historical importance while promoting the need for co-operation in the region.

CANBERRA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Seventeen Australian citizens left stranded in Syrian camps since the fall of the Islamic State (IS) have been repatriated by the federal government.

Minister for Home Affairs Clare O'Neil confirmed that four women and 13 children arrived safely in Australia on Saturday morning.

The group -- the wives and children of radicalized Australians who joined the IS -- lived in the al-Hol and al-Roj camps in northeastern Syria.

WELLINGTON, Oct 28 (NNN-XINHUA) – Burnout, depression and anxiety, are increasingly common among New Zealand doctors, which impair their ability to perform at home and at work, a common contributor to suicide risk, New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) said.

SYDNEY, Oct 25 (Reuters) - A former U.S. military pilot and flight instructor who worked in China was arrested in Australia and faces extradition to the United States, Australian court documents and company records show.

Australian Federal Police arrested Daniel Edmund Duggan, 54, on Friday in the rural town of Orange in New South Wales, and he appeared in court there on the same day, court records show and two police sources and his lawyer confirmed.

SYDNEY, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- About 100 people on board Coral Princess, the first large international cruiser to enter the waters of the state of Western Australia (WA) in two years, tested positive for COVID-19, local media reported.

The cruise ship, which has the capacity of carrying nearly 2,000 passengers, was scheduled to stop at several coastal regions of the state before returning to Sydney next month.

A WA Health spokesperson said the passengers and crew aboard the vessel had tested positive for COVID-19, the national broadcaster ABC news reported late on Monday.

CANBERRA, Oct 21 (NNN-AAP) – Flooding in Australia’s south-east will harm the country’s projected economic growth, the treasurer confirmed.

Ahead of handing down his first federal budget on Tuesday, Jim Chalmers, today said, modelling suggests, floods in Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria will wipe 0.25 percent off, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, in the final quarter of 2022.

Thousands of homes and businesses have been affected by the floods, with more rain expected over the weekend.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Farmers across New Zealand took to the streets on their tractors Thursday to protest government plans to tax cow burps and other greenhouse gas emissions, although the rallies were smaller than many had expected.

Lobby group Groundswell New Zealand helped organize more than 50 protests in towns and cities across the country, the biggest involving a few dozen vehicles.

SYDNEY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, one of the world's biggest investors, said it is factoring in the potential for a global recession and was prepared to stress-test its portfolio if need be.

GIC Chief Executive Lim Chow Kiat told Reuters in an interview that rising inflation poses a big risk and that central banks needed to get it under control to ensure global economic stability.