Nine dead in Australia after thunderstorms
Updated: 4pm (AEDT)Sydney, AustraliaReuters Nine people were killed in Australia after severe thunderstorms battered the country’s east over the Christmas holidays, authorities said on Wednesday, with tens of thousands of properties still without power. Wild weather lashed the states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland on 25th and 26th December bringing large hailstones and […]
Thousands urged to higher ground as Australia battles floods
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australian authorities on Sunday urged thousands of people in north Queensland state to move to higher ground because of the danger of flooding from torrential rains. Queensland authorities said major flooding was underway in some suburbs of Cairns, a tourist hub of around 170,000 people located around 1,700 kilometres north of state capital […]
In Australia, Queensland church projects receive almost $A500,000 in funding to address disadvantage
Brisbane, Australia Churches across Queensland have received almost $A500,000 in funding as part of a program aimed at reducing disadvantage and supporting vulnerable people. The $A10,000 to $A20,000 grants – made by Carinity, a non-profit outreach of Queensland Baptists under its Collaborative Community Projects program – are being used to fund 10 existing and eight […]
Australia flood crisis enters third week as heavy rains lash east
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Already-flooded towns across Australia’s east were on high alert on Monday after a weekend of heavy rains, with authorities warning a wild weather system could persist until later this week and trigger renewed riverbank bursts. Thousands of homes and farms over a wide swathe of New South Wales and Victoria, Australia’s two most […]
Great Barrier Reef hit by bleaching as UNESCO weighs “in danger” listing
Melbourne, Australia Reuters The Great Barrier Reef has been hit by bleaching due to heat stress, the Australian agency that manages the reef said on Friday, ahead of a visit by United Nations officials reviewing whether the reef should be listed as being “in danger”. Australia last year dodged an “in danger” listing for the reef, a […]
Essay: Crowdfunding disaster relief offers hope in desperate times. But who gets left behind?
As parts of the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland face devastating floods, MATTHEW WADE, a lecturer in social inquiry at La Trobe University in Victoria, looks – in an article published on The Conversation – at the rise of crowdfunding campaigns in response…
Sydney faces more rain as death toll from Australian floods rises
Melbourne, AustraliaReuters Sydney, Australia’s most populous city that has been drenched in rain for days, braced for more heavy downpours on Sunday as the death toll from flooding across the country’s east rose to 17. A wild weather system that dumped more than a year’s worth of rainfall over a week in southern Queensland and […]
People flee to rooftops as “weather bomb” submerges Australian towns
Updated: 5:20pm (AEDT)Sydney, AustraliaReuters Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate as heavy rains smashed Australia’s east coast on Monday, submerging towns and stranding residents on rooftops, with authorities warning of life-threatening flash floods. Nine people have been killed since the deluge began last Thursday, and rescue teams were searching on Monday for […]
In Australian state of Queensland, Christian school withdraws controversial contract seen as anti-gay and anti-gender diverse
Sydney, Australia Following widespread public condemnation, a Christian college in the Australian state of Queensland has withdrawn a controversial parental contract perceived as anti-gay and anti-gender diverse, and the headmaster has apologised. Citipointe Christian College in Brisbane on Friday asked parents to sign a contract agreeing to a range of conditions canvassing a range of […]
Australia COVID numbers hit a peak as Omicron outbreak strains domestic politics
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia recorded another record surge in COVID-19 infections on Tuesday as an outbreak of the highly infectious Omicron variant disrupted reopening of the economy, while state leaders argued over domestic border controls. The country reported 10,269 new cases of the coronavirus in the previous day, according to a Reuters calculation of state figures, […]