Australia

Chinese warships collect baby formula in Australia

Chinese warships that docked unexpectedly at an Australian port departed with a cargo of baby formula, local media discovered. The arrival of a trio of Chinese ships, including an amphibious assault vessel, set off alarm bells on Monday morning among Australian citizens who did not have advance notice of the visit and analysts who regarded it as a show of force. But ...

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Australia’s biggest meth bust: Drugs found hidden inside speakers

Australian authorities say they have seized the nation’s largest-ever haul of methamphetamine, an illicit drug known locally as ice. The drugs, with an estimated street value of A$1.2bn (£660m; $840m), were found hidden inside stereo speakers in a shipment at a Melbourne port. The consignment had come from Thailand, police said. No arrests have been made. Ice has been described ...

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China behind massive Australian National University hack, intelligence officials say

Intelligence officials believe China may have been behind a massive data breach which compromised the personal details of thousands of Australian National University students and staff. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that senior intelligence officials have pointed the finger at China as one of only a few countries capable of pulling off the hack, which compromised up to 19 years’ worth of personal ...

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Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions rise again, according to delayed Federal Government data

Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions have reached record highs in many sectors, continuing an upward trend that began in 2013, according to official Government figures released on Thursday. The Federal Government’s Quarterly Update of the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory for the three months to December 2018 shows emissions increased by 0.8 per cent seasonally adjusted, compared to the previous quarter. That ...

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LABOR’S SHADOW CABINET

LABOR’S SHADOW CABINET: • Anthony Albanese MP – Opposition Leader • Richard Marles MP – Deputy Opposition Leader, Defence • Senator Penny Wong – Opposition Leader in the Senate, Foreign Affairs • Senator Kristina Keneally, Deputy Opposition Leader in the Senate, Home Affairs, Immigration and Citizenship • Tony Burke MP – Industrial Relations, Arts • Bill Shorten MP – NDIS, ...

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Australia Cuts Rates for the First Time in Nearly Three Years

erocious weather has lashed a 600-mile stretch of coastline in eastern Australia prompting emergency warnings from the authorities as snow fell in subtropical Queensland. Residents near the town of Stanthorpe, 135 miles south-west of Brisbane, had a wintry surprise with the first significant snowfall in the state of Queensland since 2015. Forecasters said it was a “rare” event, which came just ...

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Top Australia university data breach extends back 19 years

The Australian National University (ANU) said it detected the breach two weeks ago and is working with security agencies to investigate further. ANU – which suffered a similar incident last year – said the hack was carried out by “a sophisticated operator”. The university said “significant amounts” of data had been affected. “We believe there was unauthorised access to significant ...

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Australian Police Raid Journalist’s Home Over Surveillance Article

YDNEY, Australia — The Australian authorities on Tuesday searched the home, computer and cellphone of a journalist who wrote an article last year detailing top-secret correspondence between government ministries over a plan to allow intelligence agencies to surveil Australian citizens. The journalist, Annika Smethurst, the political editor for The Sunday Telegraph of Sydney, which is one of Australia’s most-read newspapers, ...

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Gunman Kills 4 in Darwin, Australia

SYDNEY, Australia — The police said four people were shot and killed on Tuesday in Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, when a gunman went on a shooting spree in the city’s main business district. The Northern Territory police said at least one additional person had been wounded, and that a 45-year-old man had been arrested within an hour ...

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Car assembly revived in Australia thanks to appetite for US pick-ups

For the first time in almost 20 years, an Australian car assembly line will return to 24-hour production. The facility in Clayton, in Melbourne’s south-east, will produce close to 7000 vehicles this year, largely to keep up with unexpected and unprecedented demand for US pick-up trucks. While it’s not the same as Australia’s mass-production lines that pumped out more than ...

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