Australia

SYDNEY (Reuters) - China accused Australia of “petty tricks” on Wednesday in an intensifying dispute over Canberra’s push for an international inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak that could affect diplomatic and economic ties between the countries.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his proposed inquiry into how the coronavirus developed and spread would not be targeted at China but was needed given COVID-19 had killed more than 200,000 people and shut down much of the global economy.

21 April 2020; AFP: Cash-strapped Virgin Australia collapsed Tuesday, making it the largest carrier yet to buckle under the strain of the coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged the global airline industry.

In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Virgin said it planned to keep operating flights despite handing the keys to administrators.

SYDNEY, April 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) —Virgin Australia has confirmed it has entered voluntary administration – making it Australia’s first big corporate casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

The country’s second-largest carrier cut almost all flights last month following wide-spread travel bans.

It was already struggling with a long-term A$5bn debt.

The airline is now seeking new buyers and investors, after failing to get a loan from Australia’s government.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Global digital platforms Google and Facebook will be forced to pay for news content in Australia, the government said Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic causes a collapse in advertising revenue.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission would release in late July draft rules for the platforms to pay fair compensation for the journalistic content siphoned from news media.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia on Sunday added to growing pressure on China over its handling of the novel coronavirus, questioning its transparency and demanding an international investigation into the origins of the virus and how it spread.

The coronavirus is believed to have emerged in a market selling wildlife in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. It has spread around the world infecting some 2.3 million people and killing nearly 160,000 of them, according to Reuters calculations.

SYDNEY, Apr 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) – An inquiry into Australia’s recent deadly bush-fire, officially began on Thursday (today), with an online ceremonial meeting.

The fires of 2019-20, which became known as “Black Summer,” left around 33 people dead, over 3,000 homes destroyed, as well as, widespread devastation of local wildlife and habitat.

Chair of the inquiry, retired defence force chief, Mark Binskin, said, the purpose of the hearings was not to point fingers or apportion blame, but to deliver practical solutions to better handle disasters in the future.

SYDNEY, Apr 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) – An Australian man is sentenced to 15 years jail, over his involvement in a multi-million dollar shipment of methamphetamine in 2016, Australian Federal Police said today.

The drugs arrived in the country, concealed within a shipping container of timber — all up weighing 45.6 kilograms and carrying an estimated street value of 26.4 million Australian dollars (16.9 million U.S. dollars).

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) plane carrying aid to cyclone-struck Vanuatu turned around and returned home on Sunday as a Chinese plane with medical equipment was already on the airport’s tarmac, Vanuatu airport officials said.

The decision to return to Australia, some 2,000 km (1,240 miles) away was made despite being cleared by air traffic control to land and comes amid increasing rivalry between Australia’s and China’s aid programmes in the Pacific.

11 April 2020; AFP: More than 100 Australians and New Zealanders left Uruguay on a chartered flight after two weeks stranded aboard a virus-infected cruise ship, Montevideo's Carrasco airport said Saturday.

Of 217 people aboard the Greg Mortimer liner, 128 had tested positive for new coronavirus and had been blocked from docking.

Melbourne, Apr 11 (PTI) Hundreds of health workers in the state of South Australia will undergo a clinical trial to test whether an established tuberculosis vaccine can be used to reduce the severity of the novel coronavirus symptoms by providing a boost to the immune system.

According to the ABC science news, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) has been researching the effects of the vaccine known as the Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccine (BCG), for some time.