Australia & Pacifics

CANBERRA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was not worried about the decision by European countries to suspend the use of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine.

Denmark, Norway and Iceland have all stopped the rollout of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine after it was linked to blood clots in recipients.

Addressing the concerns on Friday, Morrison, who is also the acting health minister, said he was confident in Australia's quality control measures.

CANBERRA, Mar 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australians will be offered 800,000 half-price airfares to regional tourism destinations, under the government’s plan to save the tourism and aviation sectors.

Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, today unveiled the 1.2-billion-Australian-dollar (927.8 million-U.S.-dollar) tourism and aviation rescue package, to prop-up the industries after the end of the JobKeeper wage subsidy programme at the end of Mar.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Ted Hui has arrived in Australia where his family will settle after the Australian government provided an exemption to its closed border policy and assistance with flights, he said on Tuesday.

A former Democratic party lawmaker, Hui left Hong Kong late last year after facing criminal charges over the 2019 pro-democracy protests.

Wellington, Mar 5 (AP-PTI) One of the strongest earthquakes to hit the South Pacific in modern history triggered tsunami warnings across the ocean and forced thousands of people in New Zealand to evacuate coastal areas Friday. Small tsunami waves were seen, but little damage was apparent hours later.

The magnitude 8.1 quake in the Kermadec Islands region about 1,000 kilometers from New Zealand was the largest in a series of tremors over several hours, including two earlier quakes that registered magnitude 7.4 and magnitude 7.3.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — One of the biggest earthquakes to hit the South Pacific in modern history forced thousands of people in New Zealand to evacuate and triggered tsunami warnings across the world Friday, but it did not appear to cause injuries or major damage because it struck in remote ocean.

The magnitude 8.1 quake was the largest in a series of tremors that hit the region over several hours, including two earlier quakes that registered magnitude 7.4 and magnitude 7.3.

CANBERRA, Mar 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) – A study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), identified bees as the country’s most dangerous, venomous animals.

The study, published by the AIHW’s National Injury Surveillance Unit, today, found that Australians are twice as likely to be hospitalised by a bee or wasp sting, than by any other animal, despite the nation being home to the deadliest snakes, spiders and marine animals in the world.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Exactly a year after New Zealand recorded its first coronavirus case, the biggest city of Auckland woke on Sunday to a second lockdown this month, as authorities try to rein in a cluster of the more contagious UK variant.

The seven-day lockdown of a population of nearly 2 million, announced late on Saturday by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, was prompted by the case of a person who had been infectious for a week but not in isolation.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Qantas Airways does not expect to resume international travel apart from New Zealand until late October after the Australian population is vaccinated for COVID-19, the airline’s chief executive said on Thursday.

The Sydney-based airline had been selling seats on international flights from July 1.

But there has been a huge surge in COVID-19 cases around the world since those July flights went on sale in early January, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said. There were also new coronavirus variants emerging.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Facebook said on Tuesday it will lift its ban on Australians sharing news after it struck a deal with Australia’s government on legislation that would make digital giants pay for journalism.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook confirmed that they have agreed on amendments to proposed legislation to require the social network and Google to pay for Australian news that they feature.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, calling the start of the nation’s vaccination programme a “massive step” that will enable it to return to normal.

Up to 4 million Australians are expected to be inoculated by March, with Morrison among a small group receiving the first round of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.