Australia & Pacifics

New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) India and Australia on Saturday signed an economic cooperation and trade agreement under which Canberra would provide duty free access in its market for over 95 per cent of Indian goods such as textiles, leather, jewellery and sports products.

Canberra, Apr 1 (AP) Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that Australia will send armoured Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy specifically asked for them while appealing to Australian lawmakers for more help in Ukraine's war against Russia.

Zelenskyy addressed the Australian Parliament on Thursday and asked for the Australian-made, four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Morrison told reporters the vehicles will be flown over on Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport planes.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Demoralized Russian soldiers in the Ukraine were refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their own equipment and had accidentally shot down their own aircraft, a U.K. intelligence chief said on Thursday.

Jeremy Fleming, who heads the GCHQ electronic spy agency, made the remarks at a speech in the Australian capital Canberra.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had apparently “massively misjudged” the invasion, he said.

Canberra, Mar 28 (AP) The Australian and New Zealand prime ministers on Monday voiced concerns about the potential for a Chinese military presence on the Solomon Islands.

A document leaked last week indicates that China could boost its military presence in the South Pacific island nation, including with ship visits.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had spoken to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern over the weekend about the development and planned to speak to his counterparts in Papua New Guinea and Fiji later on Monday.

CANBERRA, March 27 (Xinhua) -- An expert warned that Australia is set for a return of influenza in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases of influenza hit an all-time low in Australia in 2021 as a result of strict lockdowns and border closures that were implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

There were 598 confirmed cases in 2021 and zero deaths compared to 313,033 infections and 953 deaths prior to the pandemic in 2019.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Australia on Thursday accepted a longstanding New Zealand offer to resettle boat refugees it had sent to the remote island nation of Nauru.

Australia has faced harsh international criticism for the way it has treated boat refugees. It designed a policy of keeping them far from its shores to deter more of them from trying to make the voyage. But many critics say such policies violate human rights.

CANBERRA, Mar 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Voter support for the Australian government has fallen to a new low, a poll has found.

According to a survey, published by Australian National University (ANU) yesterday, the number of Australians who said they intend to vote for the governing coalition in the general election, fell to 32 percent in Jan.

It is the lowest figure recorded by the ANUPoll series, since it began in Jan, 2020, during the Black Summer bushfire crisis.

By comparison, 37 percent of voters said they would vote for the Labour.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s flagship airline said Wednesday it has started selling tickets for direct flights to and from New York, a new route that will take more than 17 hours southbound and be among the longest nonstop flights in the world.

Air New Zealand had intended to start the route from Auckland to John F. Kennedy International Airport in 2020 but then the pandemic hit. The first flights will now begin in September.

SUVA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) will continue to advocate against climate change in the Pacific region this year, said a UN official here on Monday.

According to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, Sanaka Samarasinha, UN resident coordinator to five South Pacific island nations including Fiji, said that the countries in the Pacific region are dealing with an existential crisis that is not caused by them.

March 20 (Reuters) - Australia has imposed an immediate ban on exports of alumina and aluminum ores, including bauxite, to Russia, the government said on Sunday as part of its ongoing sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

"Russia relies on Australia for nearly 20 percent of its alumina needs," the Australian government said in a joint statement from several ministries, including the prime minister's office. It added that the move will limit Russia's capacity to produce aluminium, which is a critical export for Russia.