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Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic was seen training at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park, Australia on January 11, 2022. The previous day the world No 1 player was released from detention after a court overturned his visa cancellation. Djokovic’s visa to enter Australia was cancelled following questions over th…
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Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic has been released from detention and his visa cancellation overturned by a Melbourne court on January 10, 2022. Djokovic was appealing against being barred from entering Australia because he did not get vaccinated. The tennis world No 1 claimed he was granted a medical exemption be…
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced a raft of fresh Covid-19 restrictions on January 5, 2022, as the city rushed to curb the spread of several Omicron variant clusters. The latest measures include reinstating a 6pm curfew on in-person dining, closing bars, clubs and karaoke establishments,…
Keepers at the Australian Reptile Park performed a dangerous nest raid in the alligator lagoon on December 27, 2021. Video showed the keepers jumping on an alligator before removing eggs from a nest to allow them to hatch safely. The reptile park welcomed 20 new male alligators in March 2021, making the year's annua…
Fireworks burst over Sydney, Dubai, Pyongyang, Bangkok, Goa, Taipei, Berlin, Madrid, Copenhagen and Moscow as the clock struck midnight and the world welcomed 2022 after another tumultuous and pandemic-ridden year capped by new restrictions and soaring case numbers.
A fire severely damaged the main entrance of Australia’s Old Parliament House in Canberra on December 30, 2021. Emergency services extinguished the fire and no injuries were reported. Police say the blaze was caused by protestors who have rallied at the heritage site for two weeks. An investigation is still under way.
More than 193kg (425lbs) of crystal methamphetamine were intercepted by Bangkok customs authorities on December 23, 2021. The drug haul, with an estimated street value of almost US$30 million, was hidden inside 15 Thai-made boxing punching bags. The shipment, which was bound for Australia, attracted attention from l…
David Shrimpton is a pastor with a pilot’s licence, who goes by the nickname “Padre Dave”. During the Christmas season, he flies to remote communities in the Australian outback to spread holiday cheer. From farmers, church-goers to non-believers and schoolchildren, Shrimpton is welcomed by the people he meets. Last …
As the US and European countries record hundreds of thousands of infections from the Omicron Covid-19 variant ahead of the holiday season, in the Asia-Pacific region, cases remain relatively low. Many countries have been taking varying approaches to battling the new Covid-19 variant. Data has shown that the AstraZen…
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Hong Kong prosecutors have lost an appeal against a magistrate’s decision in September 2020 clearing media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying of intimidating a reporter in 2017. Lai was accused of verbally threatening the reporter during a 2017 Victoria Park vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square crackdown. On appeal, the…
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Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was sentenced to another 13 months behind bars on December 13, 2021, while his seven co-defendants received jail time ranging from 4½ to 14 months for their respective roles in a banned 2020 Tiananmen Square vigil. The 74-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Dai…
Canada and Britain have joined Australia in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing initiated by the US, in response to alleged human rights abuses in China. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on December 8, 2021, that his government was “deeply troubled” by the allegations. But South Ko…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country is not concerned about China’s rising military capabilities. Putin made the remarks during an investment forum in Moscow on November 30, 2021. He also accused the Aukus military alliance, comprising the United State, Britain and Australia, of fuelling tensions toward…
Since the Omicron coronavirus variant was first identified in South Africa on November 24, 2021, the new strain is being detected in other places around the world. Hong Kong and Australia have reported three and two Omicron cases, respectively. The spread of the variant has prompted a number of Asian countries to ti…
Around 100 Australian police and soldiers arrived in the Solomon Islands on November 26, 2021, after days of rioting in the capital Honiara. An anti-government protest erupted on November 24, demanding that the Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, step down. But it quickly spiralled out of control, leaving three peopl…
A new coronavirus variant Omicron first identified in South Africa on November 24, 2021, has been named “a coronavirus variant of concern” by the World Health Organization (WHO). Since its discovery, it has been spreading around the world, including to locations in Asia, Europe and Australia. The new strain, also kn…
Millions of flame red crabs flooded Western Australia’s Christmas Island at the start of their annual migration. As the crabs left their homes to make their way to the ocean to breed, roads on the island were closed to ensure a safe journey. A crab bridge was specially built to help the creatures cross safely on wid…
Dozens of protests took place around the world on November 6, 2021, to demand more action from delegates attending the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. As the international summit headed into its second week, tens of thousands of protesters marched in the city in Scotland, joining groups who turned out…
A four-year-old Australian girl has been found alive and well 18 days after she was abducted from a remote campsite. Police in Western Australia said Cleo Smith was discovered on November 3, 2021, alone in a locked house in the coastal town of Carnarvon, about an hour’s drive from where she was taken on October 16. …
The USS Connecticut, a Seawolf-class American submarine, collided with an underwater object in the South China Sea on October 2, 2021, while conducting routine operations. Officials say there were no life-threatening injuries and that the submarine was able to return to a US naval base in Guam under its own power. H…
A note to all drone pilots out there: don’t fly too close to crocodiles. Camera operator Dane Hirst was flying his drone at Crocodylus Park in Australia filming the reptiles. Just as Hirst lined up his shot one of the crocodiles leapt out and snapped the low-flying drone. The device was found two weeks later by park…
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The Australian city of Melbourne continued to be racked by protests on September 22, 2021. For the third straight day, demonstrators marched in the capital of the southeastern state of Victoria to oppose Covid-19 lockdowns and mandatory vaccine rules in the construction industry. Riot police and mounted units later …
Colourful lanterns are lighting up Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. The displays, which include a six-metre (20ft) high merry-go-round lantern and animal installations, will illuminate nightly from 6.30-11pm until September 22, 2021. Celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month in th…
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Thousands of protesters marched on the streets of major Australian cities over strict lockdown rules on August 21, 2021. In Melbourne, police used pepper spray to break up what they described as a “violent and unlawful protest”, with more than 200 people arrested. Lockdown has been extended across the country to con…
The Australian government gave provisional approval for the use of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine on August 9, 2021, with the first million doses expected to arrive in September. With only 22 per cent of its population fully vaccinated, Australia’s vaccination rate is currently ranked one of the lowest among Organisatio…
Australia and the US have swept up in the pool on the final day of swimming in Tokyo, with China missing out on a podium finish. Medal hopes for the Hong Kong fencing team are over with the men’s foil losing to Russia in the quarter-finals. Cheung Ka-long had already won gold in the individual foil, but he couldn't …
Siobhan Haughey has made history by securing Hong Kong’s first-ever Olympic medal in swimming. The 23-year-old won silver in the women’s 200m freestyle final on Day 5 of the Tokyo 2020 Games, beaten only by Australian superstar swimmer Ariarne Titmus. It comes just days after fencer Cheung Ka-long won the gold in th…
Hong Kong athlete Siobhan Haughey made history on July 28, 2021, with her silver medal win in the women’s 200m freestyle swimming final at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The 23-year-old, the daughter of a Hong Kong mother and Irish father, was the first swimmer from the city to compete in an Olympic final. Though she was …
Officials in “zero-Covid” economies such as Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand have resisted being drawn on specifics about when their communities can return to pre-pandemic life. But Roberto Bruzzone, co-director of the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole, warns that eliminating Covid-19 is an unrealistic goal. The infecti…
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Hundreds of Hongkongers are believed to have fled the city to avoid prosecution for their roles in months of anti-government protests. Two years after the unrest started in 2019, many are seeking asylum in Western countries, including Australia, Britain and the United States. Among the activists now in the US is a 2…
At a concession stand at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Adelaide Avila was pingponging between pouring beers, wiping down counters and taking out the trash. Her Los Angeles Lakers were playing their hometown rival, the Clippers, but Avila was working too hard to follow the March 2019 game.
Though annual July 1 rallies were banned by police, citing pandemic restrictions, a flag-raising ceremony went ahead in the morning of July 1, 2021, to mark the 24th anniversary of former colony Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty. Police said they will deploy about 10,000 officers across the city, have made c…
China and Australia seem to have something of a love-hate relationship. On one hand, three-quarters of Australians say they distrust the Chinese government. But on the other hand, almost as many think Australia should continue to make itself an attractive destination for Chinese tourists.
The highly transmissible Delta coronavirus variant is exposing the vulnerability of economies with low vaccination rates, such as Australia and Hong Kong. Catherine Bennett, public health expert and epidemiologist at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, explains how infectious the variant is and how it could f…
Canada’s ambassador to the UN Leslie Norton read out a joint statement on June 22, 2021, calling on China to give the United Nation access to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The statement was delivered to the UN Human Rights Council on behalf of more than 40 countries including Australia, Britain, France, Germ…
The Gippsland region in Victoria, Australia, is covered in spider webs. Recent flooding forced millions of spiders to seek higher ground on road signs and trees. The phenomenon happens semi-regularly in Victoria during the rainy season.
