Australia

SYDNEY, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Australia's regional tourism businesses are expecting a very busy and profitable four days as city visitors tour the countryside during the Easter break which begins on Friday.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) estimated tourists would generate more than 890 million Australian dollars (about 663.3 million U.S. dollars) for regional economies throughout the holiday.

SYDNEY, April 14. /TASS/: Australia’s government has imposed economic sanctions against 14 Russian companies and organizations over the situation in Ukraine, Australia’s Department of Home Affairs said on Thursday.

MELBOURNE, April 14 (Reuters) - Australia's most populous states will face blackout risks from 2025 if new power capacity is not built in time to replace the country's biggest coal-fired plant, due to be shut that year, the energy market operator said on Thursday.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) released an updated outlook for the electricity market to reflect a decision by Origin Energy (ORG.AX) in February to bring forward the closure of its Eraring power plant by seven years to 2025. 

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The son of a single mother who raised him on a pension, Anthony Albanese had a humble start to life for an aspiring Australian prime minister.

But despite his disadvantaged upbringing in public housing in Sydney, the man known since childhood as Albo has risen to the top of the center-left Australian Labor Party and is now only an election away from potentially realizing his ambition to lead the national government.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an election on May 21.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — In at least one sense, Scott Morrison is the most successful Australian prime minister in years.

He is the first to survive in office from one election to the next since 2007. That year, the government of Australia’s second-longest-serving Prime Minister John Howard was voted out after a reign of almost 12 years.

Between Howard and Morrison, there have been four prime ministers including Kevin Rudd who served twice during an extraordinary period of political instability in Australia.

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, 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.

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.