Australia & Pacifics

2 March 2020; AFP: Australian summers are lengthening by a month or more while winters are getting shorter due to climate change, according to an analysis by a leading think tank released Monday.

The Australia Institute said large swathes of the country were experiencing an additional 31 days of summer temperatures each year compared to the 1950s.

While Sydney was just under the average with an extra 28 hot days a year, Melbourne added 38 warmer days since the middle of the 20th century.

SYDNEY, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Highly specialized drone technology has been brought in on an Australian island to assist starving koalas in the aftermath of the recent bushfire crisis.

Once a home to over 50,000 koalas, it's now estimated there are only 10,000 left on South Australia's Kangaroo Island, after wildfires tore through around 2,100 square kilometres of vegetation in January.

But while the flames are now extinguished, animal welfare groups are warning that one of Australia's most beloved creatures is now facing a new threat.

CANBERRA, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has been accused of making "racist" comments about Hinduism in the parliament.

Frydenberg made several references to Hinduism and other Indian religions in Parliament on Thursday while responding to the Opposition Labor Party's proposal to pursue a "wellbeing budget."

"They (Labor) are inspired by their spiritual leader, the member for Rankin," he said, referring to Labor's treasury spokesperson Jim Chalmers.

SYDNEY, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Australian state government of New South Wales (NSW) has told individuals and businesses to prepare for a possible COVID-19 pandemic, warning that the novel virus is likely to converge with the winter flu season in the coming months, placing extreme pressure on the state's healthcare system.

DILI, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The prime minister of East Timor has sent a letter of resignation to the president, he said on Tuesday, as the tiny Southeast Asian nation faces new political instability after the collapse of a coalition supporting him in parliament.

The prime minister has repeatedly failed to secure passage of a budget for 2020 after the largest party in his coalition, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) party of independence hero Xanana Gusmao, withdrew support.

SYDNEY, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- An Australian woman has been charged with encouraging an associate of hers to travel overseas in order to fight for the terrorist Islamic State (IS), with her crimes carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The 22-year-old woman was arrested by the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) on Tuesday following a lengthy investigation.

It is alleged that in 2016 she encouraged and attempted to facilitate an associate of hers in traveling to Syria and Iraq in order to fight for IS.

SYDNEY, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Despite record-breaking rainfall on Australia’s east coast in recent weeks, politicians warn that for most of New South Wales (NSW) state, severe drought conditions are far from over.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand has extended for eight days a ban on arrivals from mainland China, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday, carrying into its fourth week an effort to block exposure to the coronavirus.

Fears mounted that the outbreak would grow into a pandemic with disruptive and deadly consequences for the rest of the world following sharp rises in infections in Iran, Italy and South Korea.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's Christchurch held a grand memorial ceremony on Saturday in memory of the 185 victims spanning more than 20 nationalities, including 23 Chinese students, in the 2011 earthquake.

A 6.3-magnitude quake struck the city on Feb. 22, 2011. Then-Prime Minister John Key described the disaster as "New Zealand's darkest day."

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel, in black at the ceremony, acknowledged families who traveled from other parts of the world to attend the memorial.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia will spend A$1.1 billion ($725.9 million) to upgrade an airbase in the country’s tropical north, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, a development that increases Canberra’s military armory in the Pacific.

The base in the regional town of Katherine in Australia’s Northern Territory will be the home of the country’s new fleet of F-35 strike fighters once the upgrade is finished in 2027.

The development would also be used by U.S. troops, of whom there are 1,250 stationed in Australia’s north.