Australia

CANBERRA, Mar 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australians will be offered 800,000 half-price airfares to regional tourism destinations, under the government’s plan to save the tourism and aviation sectors.

Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, today unveiled the 1.2-billion-Australian-dollar (927.8 million-U.S.-dollar) tourism and aviation rescue package, to prop-up the industries after the end of the JobKeeper wage subsidy programme at the end of Mar.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Ted Hui has arrived in Australia where his family will settle after the Australian government provided an exemption to its closed border policy and assistance with flights, he said on Tuesday.

A former Democratic party lawmaker, Hui left Hong Kong late last year after facing criminal charges over the 2019 pro-democracy protests.

CANBERRA, Mar 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) – A study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), identified bees as the country’s most dangerous, venomous animals.

The study, published by the AIHW’s National Injury Surveillance Unit, today, found that Australians are twice as likely to be hospitalised by a bee or wasp sting, than by any other animal, despite the nation being home to the deadliest snakes, spiders and marine animals in the world.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Exactly a year after New Zealand recorded its first coronavirus case, the biggest city of Auckland woke on Sunday to a second lockdown this month, as authorities try to rein in a cluster of the more contagious UK variant.

The seven-day lockdown of a population of nearly 2 million, announced late on Saturday by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, was prompted by the case of a person who had been infectious for a week but not in isolation.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Qantas Airways does not expect to resume international travel apart from New Zealand until late October after the Australian population is vaccinated for COVID-19, the airline’s chief executive said on Thursday.

The Sydney-based airline had been selling seats on international flights from July 1.

But there has been a huge surge in COVID-19 cases around the world since those July flights went on sale in early January, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said. There were also new coronavirus variants emerging.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Facebook said on Tuesday it will lift its ban on Australians sharing news after it struck a deal with Australia’s government on legislation that would make digital giants pay for journalism.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook confirmed that they have agreed on amendments to proposed legislation to require the social network and Google to pay for Australian news that they feature.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, calling the start of the nation’s vaccination programme a “massive step” that will enable it to return to normal.

Up to 4 million Australians are expected to be inoculated by March, with Morrison among a small group receiving the first round of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

CANBERRA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for curbing Facebook's influence, after the technology giant banned Australians from accessing some news content on the social media platform in response to the government's proposed media bargaining code.

The pages of health departments, governments, fire services and the Bureau of Meteorology were also wiped.

In a post on Facebook on Thursday, Morrison vowed that his government would not be "intimidated" by the move.

Canberra, Feb 19 (AP-PTI) Australia's prime minister on Friday urged Facebook to lift its blockade of Australian users and return to the negotiating table with news publishing businesses, warning that other countries would follow his government's example in making digital giants pay for journalism.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison described Facebook's move Thursday to prevent Australians accessing and sharing news as a threat.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Facebook announced Thursday it has blocked Australians from viewing and sharing news on the platform because of proposed laws in the country to make digital giants pay for journalism.

Australian publishers can continue to publish news content on Facebook, but links and posts can’t be viewed or shared by Australian audiences, the U.S.-based company said in a statement.

Australian users cannot share Australian or international news.

International users outside Australia also cannot share Australian news.