Australia & Pacifics

SYDNEY (AP) — Thousands of residents in Sydney suburbs were told to evacuate their homes on Sunday after heavy rains caused floodwaters to rise and rivers to overflow in what authorities called life-threatening emergencies.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for heavy rain and flash floods and winds of up to 90 kilometers (55 miles) per hour along the coast of Australia’s most populous city and other parts of New South Wales state.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government has declared that American far-right groups the Proud Boys and The Base are terrorist organizations.

The two groups join 18 others including the Islamic State group that have been given an official terrorist designation, making it illegal in New Zealand to fund, recruit or participate in the groups, and obligating authorities to take action against them.

SYDNEY, Jun 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – A report from researchers at a number of top Australian universities, warned of a return of La Nina for the third consecutive year, this spring, and has asked governments to prepare for further intense wet weather.

The report from the Australian Research Council (ARC), published today, showed that, while “double-dip” La Nina seasons, meaning two consecutive summers of La Nina, are not uncommon, the much rarer “triple dip” was becoming likely in modelling.

WELLINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) - The foreign minister of Tuvalu pulled out of the United Nations Ocean Conference opening in Portugal on Monday after China blocked the participation of three Taiwanese included in the tiny Pacific island nation's delegation list, according to Radio New Zealand.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, is not a member of the United Nations and its citizens are unable to attend U.N. events as representatives of Taiwan.

CANBERRA, Jun 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, confirmed he will meet with French President, Emmanuel Macron, in a bid to “reset” relations.

Albanese said last night that, he has accepted Macron’s invitation to visit France.

It comes weeks after Albanese announced his new government had agreed to pay French shipbuilder, Naval Group, around 830 million Australian dollars (about 573 million U.S. dollars) in compensation for a cancelled submarine contract.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia had fired the “first shot” in its deteriorating relations with China four years ago when the then-government banned Chinese-owned telecommunications giant Huawei from rolling out the country’s 5G network due to security concerns, a Chinese ambassador said on Friday.

Xiao Qian, China’s ambassador to Australia since January, gave a rare public address at University Technology Sydney that was repeatedly interrupted by human rights protesters holding signs that read “Free Tibet” and “Hong Kong independence.”

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday he will meet President Emmanuel Macron in France next week to reset a bilateral relationship that was damaged when the previous Australian government canceled a submarine contract.

Albanese said Macron had invited him to visit France while he is in Europe to attend a NATO summit in Spain.

“We do need to reset. We’ve already had very constructive discussions. We’ve brought to a close the arrangements that were in place over submarines,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

22 June 2022; MEMO: Two Saudi sisters, who fled the Kingdom five years ago, have been found dead in their apartment in Australia earlier this month.

According to the news outlet, Daily Mail Australia, the women – aged 23 and 24 – were found dead in their apartment in Sydney's Canterbury suburb on 7 June by police, who were conducting a welfare check after the two failed to pay their monthly rent and mail piled up at their front door.

22 June 2022; MEMO: International filmmakers have called on the Doc Edge Festival in New Zealand to expel Israel and drop the festival's partnership with the Embassy of apartheid Israel which commits systematic human rights violations against the Palestinians.

CANBERRA, June 18 (Xinhua/APP): Recordings of the eye could be used to detect neurodevelopmental disorders, an Australian research has found.

In a world-first study published on Friday, researchers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) and Flinders University revealed that recordings of the retina can detect signals for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).