Australia & Pacifics

SYDNEY, Feb 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The emergency department, in Western Australia (WA), issued warnings of two separate bushfires, in the state’s south-west and the capital of Perth.

The blaze in Perth, started in the suburb of Canning Mills and it has burned at least 96 hectares of land, so far.

The bushfire in WA’s south-west town Kirup, is also at emergency warning level, which is moving “slowly” in a north-western direction.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Australia’s government said Tuesday it will spend more than $1 billion on converting research ideas into commercial hits as it looks to improve the economy with an election looming.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a new program called Australia’s Economic Accelerator would focus on commercializing research in six areas: defense, space, minerals, food, medical products, and clean energy.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday she has tested negative for the coronavirus after coming into close contact with an infected person on a commercial flight.

Ardern had been isolating since late Saturday after the Jan. 22 exposure first came to light. She intends to continuing isolating through Tuesday to complete a 10-day health requirement. She has had no symptoms.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Aid flights from Australia, Japan and New Zealand carrying food, water, medical supplies and telecommunications equipment landed in Tonga over the weekend, as the Pacific nation grapples with the aftermath of an underwater volcanic eruption and tsunami.

The main airport runway has been cleared of ash spewed when the nearby Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted a week ago. The explosion also set off a Pacific-wide tsunami that smashed boats in New Zealand and caused an oil spill as far as Peru.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is postponing her wedding after announcing new COVID-19 restrictions Sunday following the discovery of nine cases of the omicron variant in a single family that flew to Auckland to attend a wedding.

The so-called “red setting” of the country’s pandemic response includes heightened measures such as required mask wearing and limits on gatherings. The restrictions will go into effect on Monday.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Three flights from Australia carrying food, water, medical supplies and telecommunications equipment landed in Tonga on Saturday, as the Pacific nation grapples with the aftermath of an underwater volcanic eruption and tsunami.

Planes from other nations, including New Zealand and Japan, have also brought sorely needed aid to the Tongan people, said Zed Seselja, Australian minister for international development and the Pacific.

WELLINGTON/SYDNEY, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Life-saving water supplies from a New Zealand navy ship were distributed across Tonga's main island on Friday, as other countries battled the logistics of delivering aid to one of the world's remotest communities.

Six days after the South Pacific archipelago was devastated by a volcanic eruption and tsunami that deposited a blanket of ash and polluted its water sources, the HMNZS Aotearoa docked in the capital, Nuku’alofa.

Wellington, Jan 20 (AP) New Zealand is among the few remaining countries to have avoided any outbreaks of the omicron variant but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday an outbreak was inevitable and the nation would tighten restrictions as soon as one was detected.

But she also said that New Zealand would not impose the lockdowns that it has used previously, including for the delta variant.

SYDNEY (AP) — Three of Tonga’s smaller islands suffered serious damage from tsunami waves, officials and the Red Cross said Wednesday, as a wider picture begins to emerge of the destruction caused by the eruption of an undersea volcano near the Pacific archipelago nation.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand and Australia were able to send military surveillance flights to Tonga on Monday to assess the damage a huge undersea volcanic eruption left in the Pacific island nation.

A towering ash cloud since Saturday’s eruption had prevented earlier flights. New Zealand hopes to send essential supplies, including much-needed drinking water, on a military transport plane Tuesday.