Australia

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday his government will take the "strongest action possible" if Russia has harmed an Australian who was taken prisoner while fighting for Ukraine. Video posted on social media in December showed Oscar Jenkins (32) dressed in military uniform with his hands bound being questioned and struck by a Russian interrogator. Australian authorities were seeking comment from Russia on reports that the Melbourne school teacher had been killed since he became a prisoner of war. Albanese said Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials were seeking "urgent clarification" of Jenkins' circumstances. "We call upon Russia to immediately confirm Oscar Jenkins' status. We remain gravely concerned," Albanese told reporters. "We will await the facts to come out. But if there has been any harm caused to Oscar Jenkins, that is absolutely reprehensible. And the Australian government will take the strongest action possible," Albane

Leading Australian University, Western Sydney University is set to open its campus in India, making it the third Australian university to have a campus in the country.In a post on X, Australian High Commissioner to India, Philip Green shared the announcement.He said, "Another Australian University is coming to India! Excited to see this announcement of @westernsydneyau planning to set up a campus in Greater Noida - this will be the third university campus in India & first in the state of #UttarPradesh."On its official website, Western Sydney University noted that it has been recognised as the world's best higher education institution in 2024 according to Times Higher Education Impact Rankings from 2,152 universities across 125 countries.Notably, the other two Australian universities in India are the University of Wollongong and Deakin which established campuses in the GIFT City, Gujarat.As per the official website of Deakin University, it was noted that it is the first ...

Three people were seriously injured and another three were missing after a seaplane crashed off an Australian tourist island, officials said Wednesday. Only one of the seven people aboard the Cessna 208 Caravan was rescued without injury after the crash during takeoff from Rottnest Island on Tuesday afternoon, police said. The plane owned by Swan River Seaplanes was returning to its base in Perth, the Western Australia state capital 30 kilometres east of Rottnest Island, which is also known by its Indigenous name Wadjemup. Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the aviation crash investigator, said specialist investigators were being sent to the scene. As reported to the ATSB, during take-off the floatplane collided with the water, before coming to rest partially submerged, the bureau's chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said in a statement on Wednesday. Greg Quin, a tourist who was vacationing on Rottnest, said he saw the plane crash. We were watching the seaplane take off and just

From January 1 unless exempt, foreign student visa applicants must provide a CoE at the time of lodging their application

India and other Quad member nations on Tuesday renewed their firm commitment to work towards a free and open Indo-Pacific that is peaceful, stable and prosperous. The foreign ministers of the member nations of the grouping made the pledge in a joint statement commemorating the 20th anniversary of Quad cooperation. The foreign ministers said the Quad will work together in responding to the future needs of the Indo-Pacific, an assertion that came against the backdrop of China's increasing muscle-flexing in the region. India, the US, Australia and Japan came together 20 years ago to extend assistance in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. The coalition is now known as Quad. "As four partners, we share a vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific that is peaceful, stable and prosperous, underpinned by effective regional institutions," the joint statement said. The Quad foreign ministers also talked about the centrality of 10-nation grouping Association of Southeast

The change ensures that both onshore and offshore applicants meet the same criteria for proof of intended study

India's exports to its trade agreement partner Australia rose 64.4 per cent year-on-year to USD 643.7 million in November on account of healthy growth in sectors such as textiles, chemicals and agricultural products, according to the commerce ministry data. However, the country's merchandise exports recorded a decline of 5.21 per cent year-on-year to USD 5.56 billion, the preliminary data showed. India and Australia implemented an interim trade pact -- Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) -- on December 29, 2022 and are now in negotiations to widen the scope of the pact. On the completion of two years of ECTA, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the agreement has brought with it increased market access for Indian exporters, expanded opportunities for MSMEs and farmers, and generated several employment avenues. It has also enabled growth in exports by 14 per cent in 2023-24; notable boost in IT/ITeS, business and travel services; and port-study work and work

The changes apply exclusively to offshore student visa applications for students currently outside Australia

Rookie Australia opener Nathan McSweeney admitted feeling "devastated" after being dropped for the last two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India but vowed to work hard to reclaim his spot in the national team. McSweeney was on Friday dropped by the national selectors, who handed a maiden call-up to teenage sensation Sam Kontas. "Yeah, I mean devastated, I get the dream come true and then didn't quite work the way I wanted," McSweeney told Channel 7. "But it's all part of it, and I'll get my head down and get back in the nets and work really hard and hopefully be ready to go for the next opportunity." The 25-year-old, who made his Test debut in the series-opener in Perth, struggled at the top with scores of 10, 0, 39, 10 not out, 9, and 4 in his six innings. He was dismissed by Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah four times during the series. "It's the game we're in. If you don't take an opportunity and you're not performing as well as you want to, your position's never safe,"

Virat Kohli was involved in a heated discussion with Australian media at the Melbourne Airport ahead of the boxing day test. He was unhappy with the cameraman filming his children

Australia announced on Friday it will pay for more police in Solomon Islands and create a police training center in the South Pacific island nation's capital Honiara, where Chinese law enforcement instructors are already based under a bilateral security pact with Beijing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia would spend 190 million Australian dollars (USD 118 million) over four years on funding and training new Royal Solomon Islands Police Force recruits with a package that would reduce any need for outside support. My government is proud to make a significant investment in the police force of the Solomon Islands to ensure that they can continue to take primary responsibility for security in the Solomons, Albanese told reporters in Australia's capital Canberra. Albanese and his Solomons counterpart Jeremiah Manele said in a joint statement on Friday the package would build an enduring security capability in the Solomons, thereby reducing its reliance on external partners .

India remained one of the top five countries of birth for overseas migrants in 2023-24, alongside China, Australia, the UK, and New Zealand

An Australian state government on Tuesday proposed new restrictions on protesters in response to rising antisemitism, including a ban on demonstrations outside places of worship. Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan proposed the new laws after arsonists damaged a Melbourne synagogue this month and protestors kept fearful worshippers trapped inside a Sydney synagogue for three hours a week earlier. That's not peaceful protest. It's menacing behaviour, Allan said. Antisemitism is a cancer and we must leave no stone unturned to fight the evil of antisemitism, to fight the evil of this racism in all of its forms and also to continue to work to help heal our multicultural community, to help build on that social cohesion and continue to support our strong, united Victoria, she added. The new laws would protect the right of people to gather and pray free from fear, harassment and intimidation, her office said in a statement. The proposed laws, which will be voted on by the state legislature ea

The breaches were first reported by the Guardian in early 2018, and Facebook received fines from regulators in the United States and the UK in 2019

The Australian government said Thursday it will tax large digital platforms and search engines unless they agree to share revenue with Australian news media organisations. The tax would apply from January 1 to tech companies that earn more than 250 million Australian dollars ($160 million) a year in revenue from Australia, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said. They include Meta, Google, Alphabet and ByteDance. The tax would be offset through money paid to Australian media organizations. The size of the tax is not clear. "The real objective ... is not to raise revenue -- we hope not to raise any revenue. The real objective is to incentivise agreement-making between platforms and news media businesses in Australia, Jones told reporters. The move comes after Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced that it would not renew three-year deals to pay Australian news publishers for their content. A previous government ...

Australian federal police launched a special operation to investigate an increase in antisemitic threats and violence since the war between Israel and Hamas began last year. Jewish leaders say prejudice against their community has reached unprecedented levels, with most incidents reported in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's largest cities where 85 per cent of the nation's Jewish population live. Almost 1,17,000 Jewish people live in Australia, according to the last census in 2021, or 0.46 per cent of the 25.4 million residents. The government says only Israel is home to more Holocaust survivors than Australia on a per capita basis. Here's a look at some of the main cases investigated by Special Operation Avalite: Dec. 11: Antisemitic graffiti attacks in the eastern Sydney suburb of Woollahra Police are looking for two male suspects, estimated to be aged between 15 and 20, seen running from Magney St in Woollahra when a car fire was reported at 1 am. Two cars including the one th

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin expressed confidence about enhanced military capabilities among the United States, Australia and Japan as he observed joint exercises Wednesday showcasing their closer cooperation as tensions grow in the region. Austin is in Japan to reaffirm the importance of their alliance and Washington's commitment to regional security. Austin noted as he observed the trilateral Yama Sakura 87 exercises held at the Japanese army's Camp Asaka on the outskirts of Tokyo that the necessary equipment, munitions and people are in place and these are the things that will guarantee success if we ever get challenged on the battlefield. Japan, under a security strategy introduced in 2022, is pursuing a rapid military buildup to increase its deterrence against growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia, and has bolstered defense cooperation, especially with the United States and Australia. On Tuesday, during talks with Japanese officials, Austin praised the ...

The NIV is a permanent residency visa for individuals who can demonstrate exceptional and outstanding achievements in eligible fields

Senior officials of India and Australia have reviewed the progress of talks on the proposed free trade agreement between the two countries, the commerce ministry said on Monday. The two countries had implemented an interim trade pact in December 2022 and now they are negotiating to widen the scope of the pact for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). "The three-day stocktake visit for the India-Australia CECA concluded in New Delhi on December 6," the ministry said. The stocktake discussions covered several critical areas of the agreement, including trade in goods, services, mobility, agri-tech cooperation, and more. "The discussions also centered on market access modalities that align with India's food security objectives," it said. Both parties evaluated the progress made so far and outlined a path forward for the early conclusion of the CECA. The Indian delegation was headed by Additional Secretary and Chief Negotiator, Department of Commerce, Rajesh Agrawal,

In China, strict regulations limit children under 18 to just one hour of online gaming on specified days