Australia halts defence ties with Myanmar, redirects aid
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia has suspended its defence cooperation program with Myanmar, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said, amid an intensified crackdown by the country’s military on massive protests against last month’s coup. Australia will also redirect immediate humanitarian needs to Rohingyas and other ethnic minorities, Payne said in a statement late on Sunday. Australia’s Foreign […]
Australia evacuates more than 200 people from China as virus deaths rise
Sydney/Melbourne, AustraliaReuters Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne said 243 citizens and permanent residents evacuated Wuhan on Monday on an Australian government-chartered aircraft, fleeing the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak which has killed 361 people. The 243 people will be quarantined in a detention centre on a remote island in the Indian Ocean off Australia’s northwest […]
Australia says it will hold China accountable on human rights
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Canberra will hold China to account on issues such as human rights, insisting that staying quiet on sensitive issues is not in Australia’s national interests. Relations between Canberra and its most important trading partner have deteriorated in recent years amid accusations that China is meddling in Australian […]
Follow the money, says new global anti-slavery effort
Thomson Reuters Foundation The principality of Liechtenstein kicked off a campaign on Monday to enlist the global financial sector to fight modern slavery, flexing its role as a centre of world wealth management to tap the clout of banks, hedge funds and investors. The financially focused effort aims to fight money laundering by traffickers, promote […]
Refugees on Nauru plead for resettlement as regional leaders meet
Thomson Reuters Foundation Children detained by Australia on the Pacific island of Nauru are suffering mentally and some attempting suicide, according to human rights groups and refugees who appealed to a regional leaders meeting on Wednesday to resettle them elsewhere. Australia sends people intercepted at sea while trying to reach its shores to offshore centres […]