Australia

Australia's new rules prioritise international student visa processing

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

Nathan McSweeney 'devastated' after being dropped from Australia squad

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,"

'With my kids I need some ', Virat Kohli loses control at Melbourne airport

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 announces $118 mn deal to enhance policing in Solomon Islands

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 .

Australia's net migration falls by 17%; Indians remain top immigrants

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

Australian state mulling protest ban at worship sites to check antisemitism

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

Cambridge Analytica lawsuit: Meta settles with Australia's privacy watchdog

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

Australia to tax digital platforms, search engines that don't pay for news

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 police launch operation, probe increased antisemitic attacks

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 defence chief Lloyd Austin observes joint drills with Japan, Australia

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 ...

Australian permanent residency: How to apply for National Innovation Visa

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

India, Australia assess progress in FTA talks, eye early agreement

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,

Young people in China evade video game ban, face growing troubles

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

Australia's new Skills in Demand visa offers path to permanent residency

The new visa allows most holders, including Indians, to work in Australia for up to four years, with a five-year option for Hong Kong passport holders

Australian synagogue fire deemed terrorism, boosting investigation efforts

Australian law enforcement authorities on Monday declared an arson attack on a synagogue last week a terrorist act in a decision that increases resources available to the investigation. Arson squad detectives have been investigating the blaze that extensively damaged the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on Friday. But the investigation was taken over on Monday by the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team which involves Victoria state Police and Australian Federal Police as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation's main domestic spy agency. The decision ... to transition the Adass Israel Synagogue fire attack to the Victorian Joint Counter-Terrorism Team is a crucial turning point in this investigation, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett told reporters. I want to thank Victoria Police investigators for the significant information they have gathered so far, which has helped lead us to believe that this is likely to be a politically ...

Australian lender ANZ names former HSBC wealth chief Nuno Matos as new CEO

Hong-Kong-based Matos has served in several of HSBC's largest regions, including Europe and Latin America, and was among the internal candidates vying to take over as CEO of HSBC

Australian PM blames antisemitism for arson that damaged synagogue

The suspected anti-Semitic arson attack, which left one worshipper injured, has been widely condemned by Jewish organisations

Australia banning social media for people under 16: All you need to know

It is an ambitious social experiment of our moment in history one that experts say could accomplish something that parents, schools and other governments have attempted with varying degrees of success: keeping kids off social media until they turn 16. Australia's new law, approved by its Parliament last week, is an attempt to swim against many tides of modern life formidable forces like technology, marketing, globalisation and, of course, the iron will of a teenager. And like efforts of the past to protect kids from things that parents believe they're not ready for, the nation's move is both ambitious and not exactly simple, particularly in a world where young people are often shaped, defined and judged by the online company they keep. The ban won't go into effect for another year. But how will Australia be able to enforce it? That's not clear, nor will it be easy. TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram have become so ingrained in young people's lives that going cold turkey will be ...

Adani investor GQG's shares down by 13% after analyst downgrades stock

Swiss bank UBS downgraded GQG's stock rating from 'buy' to 'neutral' on Monday and reduced its price target from A$3.30 to A$2.30

In scrutiny, you must find the courage to challenge the status quo: Adani

Adani acknowledged the scrutiny faced by his group in recent years, citing challenges such as the coal mine resistance in Australia and allegations of compliance issues in the US