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Sony’s PlayStation 5 officially went on sale on November 12, 2020 in six markets including Japan, Australia and North America, with launches elsewhere on November 19. As the launch date for China has yet to be announced, Chinese scalpers were taking orders with the price up to four times the retail price.
Wheat exported from Australia is expected to join a list of goods banned by China, which has already halted imports of barley, sugar, red wine, timber, coal, lobster, copper ore and copper concentrates from the country. Starting from November 6, 2020, the items will be barred from China even if the goods were alread…
Dozens of swimmers in Sydney, Australia were filmed swimming near a large school of salmon, and seemingly unaware that sharks were also among the fish. Drone footage shot at the city’s Bondi Beach on October 23, 2020, showed the school of salmon and what were believed to be a pair of grey nurse sharks in the area fo…
Conservation group WWF Australia plans to use drones to distribute seeds in bushland areas devastated by recent fires, in a project that organisers hope will also double the population of koalas. Each day the aircraft will scatter about 40,000 seeds for plant species including Eucalyptus trees, which koalas depend o…
More than 35,000 koalas were killed in Australia’s 2020 bushfires. But even before the fires, the animals were already endangered in the nation's most populous state of New South Wales because of logging and urban sprawl.
The virus that causes Covid-19 can survive on plastic banknotes, phone screens and stainless steel for up to 28 days, according to a study published on October 7, 2020, by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific And Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
Pakistan has blocked the popular social media app TikTok which is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said on October 9, 2020, that it was receiving complaints against “immoral and indecent” content on the video-sharing platform. India has already blocked TikTok, which fac…
Professional surfer Matt Wilkinson encountered a shark at Sharpes Beach in southeastern Australia on October 7, 2020. Dramatic drone footage showed the creature swimming up behind him as he paddled through the waves on his surfboard.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls on key Asian allies to stand against the Chinese government’s “exploitation, corruption and coercion” in the Indo-Pacific as he held talks in Tokyo on October 6. Pompeo was speaking at the start of discussions with his Japanese, Indian and Australian counterparts -- the so-cal…
SCMP Chief News Editor Yonden Lhatoo calls out Australian authorities for using travel warnings to play politics rather than protect citizens.
China has banned two Australian academics from entering the country, after Australia revoked the visas of two Chinese scholars on national security grounds, Chinese state media has reported. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on September 24, 2020 that China had the sovereign right to decide which f…
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A rescue operation was under way after a mass whale stranding off Australia's southern island state of Tasmania on September 21, 2020. Around 270 whales were found trapped on two sandbars near the west coast town of Strahan. Scientists estimated dozens of the animals had already died. On September 22, a member of th…
With a ban on international travel enforced in Australia during the Covid-19 pandemic, some locals have chosen to join tours to catch a glimpse of the migrating humpback whales off the coastal town of Eden. The mammals return to Antarctica from the warmer waters off Australia each year from September.
China has accused Australian authorities of interrogating four Chinese journalists based in Australia on June 26, 2020, as well as raiding their residences. In a press conference on September 9, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian urged Australia to stop its “brutal and rude acts”. Zhao said th…
Australia’s last two accredited correspondents in mainland China have been rushed out of the country as diplomatic relations between the trading partners worsen. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Bill Birtles and Michael Smith from the Australian Financial Review landed in Sydney on September 8, 2020. They w…
A Hong Kong court on September 3, 2020, acquitted media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying of criminal intimidation. Prosecutors had alleged Lai, founder of the Apple Daily newspaper, intimidated a reporter from rival publication Oriental Daily. The reporter claimed the incident happened in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on June…
A waddle of penguins head to their burrows on Phillip Island in Australia, but this time they’re not being disturbed by swathes of eager tourists. With a state-wide lockdown being imposed in response to a resurgence in coronavirus cases, the flightless birds get to head home in peace without the overbearing stares o…
Hundreds of thousands of viewers tuned in online to watch penguins on Phillip Island in Australia waddle back to their burrows from the sea. Phillip Island Nature Parks is normally a popular tourist attraction but it remains closed to the public amid a state-wide coronavirus lockdown.
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The image of a Chinese junk with its distinctive, vibrant red sails floating in Victoria Harbour is a symbol of Hong Kong recognised around the world. But the boats traditionally used in Chinese waters since the Han dynasty (206BC-AD220) have all but disappeared. Only one authentic traditional sailing junk, the Dukl…
As Australia continues to battle a spike in coronavirus cases, the city of Melbourne put a curfew in place on August 2, 20210. The six-week curfew will require people to stay home from 8pm to 5am. Melbourne’s home state, Victoria, has seen a spike in new cases in recent weeks, with 671 new infections reported on Aug…
Many Australian citizens have found themselves unable to return home as stringent caps on international arrivals went into effect to halt the spread of Covid-19. The Australian government now limits the number of incoming passengers to just 4,000 per week, with most flights restricted to no more than about 30 people…
China has decided to suspend Hong Kong's extradition treaties with Canada, Australia, and the UK in response to similar suspensions by those countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin announced the move at a press conference on July 28, 2020.
Chinese students in Australia have been targeted in “virtual kidnapping” scams, local police said. The students were forced to stage their own abductions after getting phone calls from fraudsters pretending to be Chinese officials. The scammers would then use the fake kidnapping photos or videos to obtain money from…
Coronavirus vaccine clinical trials under way around the world are showing promise with “robust immune responses” produced in humans, and those encouraging results are holding up despite mutations being found as the Covid-19 pandemic continues. But how soon can we realistically expect the shots to be proven safe and…
Australia will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to the city’s national security law, said Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The country will also give 10,000 Hongkongers on student and temporary visas a pathway to permanent residency.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced his government is suspending its extradition agreement with Hong Kong in light of China passing a national security law for the city. Morrison said on July 9, 2020, that Canberra decided to suspend the agreement because the measure Beijing imposed on Hong Kong “…
China’s new national security office in Hong Kong officially opened after the emblem of the People’s Republic of China was placed on the Metropark Hotel in the early hours of July 8, 2020. The building will serve as the temporary home for the office established under national security legislation the central governm…
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Canberra is "very actively" considering proposals to welcome in residents of Hong Kong after China's central government enacted a sweeping national security law for the city. Morrison was responding to a reporter's question about whether Australia would extend an offer o…
Gareth Evans, a former Australian foreign minister during the Hawke-Keating administration which was open to working with Asia, says there are so many areas where Australia and China can work together that it's important for the two countries to ease tensions and seek a calmer diplomatic approach. Evans spoke with t…
Koalas will be extinct in New South Wales by 2050 without urgent government intervention, a year-long parliamentary inquiry has said.
George Souris is a former member of the NSW Parliament, representing Upper Hunter for The Nationals. During his time with the Nationals he received a total of $13,000 in donations from The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) and was instrumental in signing the 2010 Memorandum of Understanding with ClubsNSW which aff…
Tai Kwun on Hong Kong's Hollywood Road is a popular arts and shopping hub that attracts tourists and locals alike. But the complex was once a place no one wanted to visit. It was the first prison in colonial Hong Kong, a complex that started with a few cells before it was expanded into a law and justice centre for t…
Australian Karm Gilespie was sentenced to death by a Chinese court for drug-smuggling charges on June 10, 2020. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on June 15, 2020, that the case has “nothing to do” with bilateral relations between Beijing and Canberra, despite concerns raised by Australia.
Scientists in Australia have captured aerial footage showing thousands of green turtles nesting on Raine Island in the Great Barrier Reef as part of a project that pioneered a new way of calculating the population of the sea creatures. The scientists said on June 9, 2020 that the drone footage captured in December l…
Anti-racism protests that started in the US after African-American George Floyd died in police custody on May 25, 2020, have been taking place in cities across Europe, Africa and Asia. Over the weekend starting June 6, thousands of people supporting the Black Lives Matter movement took to the streets in Australia, B…
Hong Kong marked the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown amid a police ban against the annual Victoria Park vigil because of Covid-19 social distancing restrictions. Thousands defied the ban and gathered in the park anyway, knocking down steel barriers and entering the football pitches. Elsewhere in t…
Asian Australian sisters were racially attacked in Sydney on March 30, 2020 during the Covid-19 crisis.
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Australian police filmed a kangaroo hopping through the empty streets of Adelaide in South Australia on April 19, 2020, while most people were indoors during a lockdown to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Australia is looking into relaxing restrictions on movement as the country saw a steady decrease of cases co…
A gigantic 46-metre (150ft) long organism called a siphonophore was discovered on March 16, 2020, during an expedition near the Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia. Scientists at the Schmidt Ocean Institute said they are still working to confirm the accuracy of their measurements, but they believe it is the longest …
Demand for rescue animals has soared in Australia as people stay at home during the Covid-19. Many are looking for cats and dogs to help them through the coronavirus shutdown.
Australia’s largest supermarket chain has been opening stores one hour earlier each day since March 17, 2020, providing extra shopping time for elderly and disabled customers. Waves of panic buying in the country have made it difficult for many people to buy daily essential items.
US President Donald Trump announced on March 11, 2020, that all travel from 26 European countries to the United States will be suspended for the next 30 days to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The suspension does not apply to travellers from the UK. Trump also promised to provide financial help for Covid-19 patien…
As the deadly coronavirus that causes Covid-19 continues to spread to more countries around the world, unsubstantiated rumours are amplifying fears about the disease and causing a wider round of panic buying of essential supplies. The latest rush is focused on toilet paper, and has been causing long queues and empty…
Baby grey-headed flying foxes recused from droughts and bushfires in New South Wales, Australia, try fruit at a rescue centre in Queensland.
Normally bustling Chinatowns around the world from London to Melbourne have fallen silent because of fears about the deadly novel coronavirus. Businesses in the districts are struggling to survive as customers associate them with the Covid-19 disease that originated on the Chinese mainland.
John Ma, a 20-year-old Australian student from the University of Queensland, describes how he is coping with a citywide lockdown in Wuhan, China. More than two weeks ago, authorities ordered the shut down to try and stop the spread of the novel coronavirus that was first discovered in the central Chinese city over a…
