Australia & Pacifics

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s defense minister said Tuesday a deal to buy nuclear-powered attack submarines from the United States was necessary to counter the biggest conventional military buildup in the region since World War II.

Australian officials said the deal will cost up to $245 billion over the next three decades and create 20,000 jobs. It comes at a time that China is rapidly building up its own military.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — As President Joe Biden prepares a final decision on the huge Willow oil project in Alaska, his administration announced he will prevent or limit oil drilling in 16 million acres in Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.

Plans announced Sunday night will bar drilling in nearly 3 million acres of the Beaufort Sea — closing it off from oil exploration — and limit drilling in more than 13 million acres in a vast swath of land known as the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Micronesia’s president accused China of “political warfare” in a letter to other national leaders and discussed switching diplomatic allegiance from China to Taiwan in exchange for $50 million.

President David Panuelo said China had been using nefarious tactics, including spying and offering bribes, in an effort to ensure that if it goes to war with Taiwan, Micronesia would be aligned with China rather than the United States, or would at least abstain from taking sides.

CANBERRA, Mar 10 (NNN-AAP) – Increasing climate hazards could pose a major threat to global coffee production, Australian scientists warned.

In a study published today, researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), found that, climate hazards increased, in all of the world’s top 12 coffee producing regions, between 1980 and 2020.

Due to climate change, hazards such as extremes in temperature and rainfall are now occurring in multiple regions.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wednesday he plans to meet with President Joe Biden in the United States following a trip to India this week, amid speculation the leaders will make an announcement about Australia’s plans to build nuclear-powered submarines.

Albanese gave few details of the U.S. trip, saying there would be further announcements about the arrangements. Albanese is visiting India through Saturday.

SYDNEY, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Leaders from multiple Pacific island countries are calling upon the Japanese government to immediately stop its plans for dumping nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean, a news agency of the International Press Syndicate Group has reported.

Papua New Guinea's Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources Jelta Wong said that there is little doubt that the nuclear wastewater will find its way into ecosystems and food chains to contaminate people and harm Pacific fisheries industries, according to a report published by InDepthNews on Monday.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A helicopter pilot told investigators he didn’t hear a pilot on the ground announce he was taking off before the fatal collision of their aircraft at an Australian theme park, according to the preliminary report released Tuesday.

The investigators said they haven’t ruled out the routine radio call being made by the other pilot, however, and plan to investigate further.

The two Sea World helicopters collided during scenic flights Jan. 2 at the tourist city of Gold Coast near Brisbane.

CANBERRA, Mar 3 (NNN-AAP) – Australia’s Agriculture Minister, has flagged an end to the country’s live sheep exports by sea.

Murray Watt, today appointed an independent panel to lead a six-month consultation process, on the steps to the shutdown.

“Phasing out live sheep exports by sea is a complex issue that will impact farmers, businesses, our trading partners, and the communities that participate in the trade,” he said.

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Australian police in the northeast city of Cairns charged Indian national Rajwinder Singh with murder Thursday, two years after Australia first applied for his extradition from India.

Singh, 38, has denied killing Toyah Cordingley, 24, as she walked her dog along Wangetti Beach north of Cairns in October 2018.

CANBERRA, Feb 27 (NNN-AAP) – The Australian government has announced an overhaul of its cyber security strategy, following a string of major data breaches.

Clare O’Neil, the Minister for Home Affairs, revealed the renewed strategy today, saying, the 2022 Optus and Medibank hacks exposed flaws in cyber laws.

A new national coordinator for cyber security will be appointed by the government, within the Department of Home Affairs, to lead the implementation of the strategy, with the government given more powers to intervene, following breaches.