Australia & Pacifics

WELLINGTON, Dec 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) – New Zealand identified four more COVID-19 cases of Omicron variant, among recent international arrivals, taking the total in the country to eight, said New Zealand’s Ministry of Health, in a statement today.

All infected are isolated in the border quarantine facilities, said the statement, adding that, New Zealand reported 49 new cases of COVID-19.

Of the 49 new cases, 39 were community cases across New Zealand, and 10 were imported cases, said the ministry.

CANBERRA, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Democracy is not a one-size-fits-all product that has only one model or configuration for the whole world, a senior Chinese envoy in Australia has said in an article published on The Canberra Times on Wednesday.

"Whether a country is democratic or not should only be judged by its own people," Wang Xining, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Australia, said in the article titled "Why China's 'people's democracy' is a high-quality democracy."

SYDNEY (AP) — Christmas lights have been turned off and a candlelight vigil was held in the Australian town where five children died after falling from a bouncy castle that was lifted into the air by a gust of wind.

Three children were still in critical condition in the hospital and one child was discharged following the incident on Thursday in the island state of Tasmania. The dead included three boys and two girls aged 11 or 12.

SYDNEY (AP) — Four children died and four others were in critical condition after falling from a bouncy castle that was lifted 10 meters (33 feet) into the air by a gust of wind at a school on Australia’s island state of Tasmania on Thursday.

The school was holding a celebration to mark the end of the school year.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s government said Tuesday it plans to start making mRNA vaccines at home with a new plant that could produce up to 100 million doses each year.

The announcement came as coronavirus cases in Sydney and surrounding areas jumped, driven in part by the omicron variant.

The new factory would be built in Victoria state in a partnership between vaccine manufacturer Moderna and the federal and state governments. It is expected to open by 2024.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia and South Korea signed a $720 million defense deal Monday as South Korean President Moon Jae-in became the first foreign leader to visit Australia since the pandemic began.

Worth about 1 billion Australian dollars, the deal will see South Korean defense company Hanwha provide the Australian army with artillery weapons, supply vehicles and radars.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government believes it has come up with a unique plan to end tobacco smoking — a lifetime ban for those aged 14 or younger.

Under a new law the government announced Thursday and plans to pass next year, the minimum age to buy cigarettes would keep rising year after year.

That means, in theory at least, 65 years after the law takes effect, shoppers could still buy cigarettes — but only if they could prove they were at least 80 years old.

SYDNEY/BEIJING, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Australia and Britain will join the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, their prime ministers said on Wednesday, as other allies weighed similar moves to protest at China's human rights record.

The United States has said its government officials would boycott February's Beijing Olympics because of China's human rights "atrocities", just weeks after talks aimed at easing tense relations between the world's two largest economies. 

CANBERRA, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The opposition Labour Party is the favourite among voters, to win the next federal election in Australia, a poll found.

The latest Newspoll, which was published last night, found that 47 percent of voters expect Labour to form a government following the election, which is due to be held by May, 2022, compared to 37 percent, who expect the governing Coalition to remain in power.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Lawmakers in the Solomon Islands debated on Monday whether they still have confidence in the prime minister, after rioters last month set fire to buildings and looted stores in the capital.

China, meanwhile, said it was shipping in aid for its citizens caught up in the violence.

Many businesses remained closed in Honiara ahead of the vote over concerns that violence could erupt again, leading to an eerie calm.