Emergency alerts issued for several major fires with weather conditions expected to fan flames
Lives and homes remained under threat as fires near Victorian towns worsened, with weather conditions expected to fan the flames.
Emergency alerts were issued for several major fires burning across the state.
Continue reading...Authorities say Chinese-born writer refused to see legal team but secretive process means claim can not be verified
Two lawyers hired by the wife of an Australian detained in Beijing for suspected espionage have said they were denied access to him by Chinese authorities, who said the detainee had not agreed to their appointment.
Yang Hengjun, a 53-year-old Chinese-born writer, was detained in the southern city of Guangzhou while waiting for a transfer to Shanghai in January. He had flown in from New York.
Continue reading...Residents urged to seek higher ground as water surges at 2,000 cubic metres a minute from Ross river dam
Residents in the Queensland city of Townsville – where up to 500 homes are already under water – were urged to seek higher ground on Sunday as heavy downpours forced the floodgates to the city’s swollen Ross river dam to be completely opened.
A heavy deluge of rain on Sunday pushed dam levels to almost 250% capacity with authorities having to open the floodgates, almost doubling the amount of water flowing out of the catchment.
Continue reading...Man allegedly claiming to have bomb is in custody after Queensland airport evacuated
A man is in police custody after allegedly claiming to have a bomb at Brisbane international airport.
He is accused of walking into the airport on Saturday holding a metal box with exposed wiring, the Courier-Mail reported. It is also believed a knife was produced.
Continue reading...There are several more days to go in this flood event, Bureau of Meteorology warns
Queensland authorities have said the state’s north was entering “unprecedented territory” as monsoon rains battered the city of Townsville, setting record flood levels and destroying homes.
As the natural disaster entered its four day, the state emergency service confirmed on Saturday that 80 people had been rescued. It was too early to quantify the damage to homes, although some media reports said at least 50 homes had been affected so far.
Continue reading...Thai authorities order al-Araibi to appear in court as refugee’s supporters say Fifa and IOC must threaten sanctions
The extradition hearing for Hakeem al-Araibi has been forwarded to the Thai courts as advocates call for Fifa and the International Olympic Committee to threaten sanctions against Thailand and Bahrain, including suspending their memberships, over the continued detention of al-Araibi.
On Friday Nadthasiri Bergman, al-Araibi’s lawyer, said prosecutors had submitted an official request to the criminal court over Bahrain’s request to extradite al-Araibi.
Continue reading...Bureau of Meteorology expecting rainfall totals of up to 400mm per day for multiple days
Residents in northern Queensland have been warned to prepare for more downpours and flooding over the weekend and into next week amid a monsoon that has dumped more than 1.2 metres of rain in some places.
A huge swath of the state stretching 850km from Daintree in far north Queensland to Mackay in the southern end of the tropical belt has been designated as a flood watch zone. The area includes the Great Barrier Reef tourist centre of Cairns as well as parts of Cape York peninsula in the far north.
Continue reading...Up to 100 more homes face flooding after mayor orders high-risk plan to open floodgates on the Ross River dam
One hundred homes could be flooded in Townsville after the city’s mayor sanctioned the high-risk release of dam water to save the area from more widespread inundation following more than 1.1 metres of rain.
Announcing the emergency measure for the Ross River dam on Friday, the mayor Jenny Hill said there were no guarantees the plan would work. Between 90 and 100 homes downstream from the dam were being evacuated, she added.
Continue reading...Christopher Pyne says the deaths, which occurred during operations between Iraqi and allied forces, are ‘deeply regrettable’
Australian Defence Force officials have admitted between six and 18 civilians were killed in a Mosul airstrike involving Australian jets, but said they could not determine if Australian or allied missiles caused the deaths.
The defence minister, Christopher Pyne, described the deaths as “deeply regrettable” but said the 12-month investigation into the strike on 13 June 2017 could not come to a conclusion over who was at fault.
Continue reading...Growing number of people also find it difficult to understand what they are covered for
The number of people who believe private health insurance is essential has declined since five years ago, while more people agree that it is difficult to understand what is covered by their policies.
The findings are from in-depth, face-to-face interviews with more than 50,000 Australians in a year conducted by Roy Morgan researchers. The latest results are based on the 12 months to October 2018.
Continue reading...Study reveals failure of legal protections to ensure women’s access to terminations
Victorian doctors who conscientiously object to abortion are breaking the law by failing to refer women on to practitioners who will perform the procedure, leading to some women having abortions later than necessary or having the baby despite wanting a termination.
This was the finding from a study led by associate professor Louise Keogh at the University of Melbourne, who examined whether mandatory referral, introduced in Victoria during abortion law reforms in 2008, was making healthcare more accessible to women.
Continue reading...Four fatalities recorded, with the US and Australia experiencing the most attacks
The number of shark attacks around the world fell by about one-quarter last year, with the US and Australia reporting the highest number of them.
There were four fatalities worldwide, in line with the long-term average of six, according to the annual release of the Florida-based International Shark Attack File.
Continue reading...Treasurer says climate change is real and Scott Morrison’s government takes emissions reduction ‘very seriously’
Josh Frydenberg has defended the Coalition’s record on climate change and says he will work hard to earn the trust of his constituents in the face of a challenge from long-time Liberal and now independent Oliver Yates.
Yates, a former Macquarie banker and head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, confirmed on Wednesday he would run in Kooyong at the coming federal election, declaring Frydenberg deserved to be challenged because of a lack of action on the environment.
Continue reading...UNHCHR wants access after Indonesian military crackdown in response to guerrilla attack
Indonesia has agreed in principle to allow the UN office of the human rights commissioner into West Papua amid continuing violence in the region.
The long-running low-level insurgency violently escalated late last year, after West Papuan guerrillas attacked a construction site in Nduga, killing at least 17 people they claimed were Indonesian military but who Jakarta insists were civilian workers.
Continue reading...I signed the agreement to resettle some of Australia’s refugees from Nauru and Manus Island in the US. I wanted to see how they are faring now
Two years ago, Australia’s then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called to congratulate Donald Trump on his inauguration, and to elicit the new president’s support for continuing an agreement between Australia and the US. Australia had stopped thousands of asylum seekers from reaching its shores and had arranged to detain them on islands in the South Pacific; the US had agreed to resettle some in America. The transcript of the phone conversation makes clear that the deal was a top priority for Turnbull and an unwelcome surprise for Trump, who called it “a rotten deal”.
Related: US believed Australia would take more refugees in exchange for Nauru and Manus deal
Continue reading...Commissioner to find $13bn plan to restore river took into account factors other than the environment’s needs when it set the amount of water needed to be bought back from irrigators
The Murray Darling Basin Plan is likely in breach of the commonwealth act that underpins it – the Water Act 2007, the South Australian royal commission into the plan is expected to find.
The report of the royal commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan is being handed to the state governor on Tuesday but it is up to the SA government when it is released.
Continue reading...• Al-Araibi has been detained in Thailand since November
• ‘We are clearly facing a human rights emergency’
Activists campaigning for the release of the Bahraini refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi, who has been detained in Thailand since November after an Interpol red notice was wrongly issued against him, say his plight has become an emergency.
The warnings came from Brendan Schwab of the World Players Association and the former Australia captain Craig Foster after news that Bahrain has formally submitted an extradition request for Al-Araibi’s return.
Continue reading...Studio 10 panellist accuses TV veteran of racism after she refers to rape during discussion about Invasion Day protests
The Studio 10 co-host Kerri-Anne Kennerley has been accused of racism by fellow panellist Yumi Stynes after the veteran presenter talked about sexual violence in Indigenous communities during a discussion about Invasion Day protests.
Kennerley attacked the motives of the protesters who want the date of Australia Day changed by implying they were ignoring the alleged rape of children and women in the “outback”.
Continue reading...Asian Football Confederation, which has come under fire for failing to call for the refugee footballer’s release, says its president was recused from overseeing the region 18 months ago
The Asian Football Confederation claims its president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, is not responsible for matters regarding the Thai detention of Hakeem al-Araibi because he was recused from overseeing the region 18 months ago out of conflict-of-interest concerns.
The new claim came in response to a call from the World Players Association for Salman to be disqualified from office if the refugee footballer was returned to Bahrain.
Continue reading...Ferry crossing in far-north Queensland closed after 500mm of rain in 24 hours pushed river to highest level in 118 years
Hundreds of people remain cut off after a deluge pushed far-north Queensland’s Daintree River to a record level.
The river peaked at close to 12.6 metres on Saturday night, breaking a record that stood for 118 years.
Continue reading...