Australia 'deeply troubled' by Chinese espionage case
Australia’s foreign minister said on Thursday her government was “deeply troubled” by the delays in China resolving espionage allegations against Chinese-Australian Yang Hengjun, while a supporter said the Chinese-born writer and blogger would remain detained until at least April. Foreign Minister Penny Wong raised the issue on the anniversary of Yang’s detention in 2019 when he arrived in southern China’s Guangzhou from New York with his wife and 14-year-old stepdaughter. Yang faced a closed trial on an espionage charge in Beijing in May 2021 and is still waiting for a verdict.
news.yahoo.comCorrection: Australia-Israel story
In a story published October 18, 2022, about Australia dropping its former recognition of west Jerusalem as Israel's capital, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government would again recognize Tel Aviv as the capital.
Australia drops recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital
Australia has reversed a previous government's recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the foreign minister said Tuesday. The center-left Labor Party government Cabinet agreed to again recognize Tel Aviv as the capital and reaffirmed that Jerusalem's status must be resolved in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.
news.yahoo.comIndian minister says Ukraine war serves no one's interests
India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Russia’s war on Ukraine “does not serve the interests of anybody,” but declined to say whether his government would support a United Nations General Assembly motion condemning Moscow’s annexation of Ukrainian territories. Jaishankar was speaking at a joint news conference Monday with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong after a bilateral meeting at Parliament House where the Ukraine war was discussed.
news.yahoo.comWhy US-China Competition Is Heating Up in the Pacific
Competition between the US and China is escalating in the Pacific, with both rushing to cement their influence. They have reached out to Pacific nations, offering loans, security aid and development assistance. The stakes rose in April when the Solomon Islands signed a security accord with the Chinese government, Beijing’s first such deal in the region. Since then Australia and China have ramped up diplomacy. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a rare eight-day trip to the region in May while
washingtonpost.comAustralia talks down prospect of having nuclear subs by 2030
Australia’s new defense minister on Wednesday talked down the prospect of Australia acquiring U.S. nuclear-powered submarines by the end of the decade, describing such a timetable as “optimistic in the extreme.” Defense Minister Richard Marles, whose party came to power at elections last month, said his priority was closing a naval capability gap that is expected to open when Australia’s aging fleet of six Collins-class diesel-electric submarines begins to retire from 2038. The United States and Britain have agreed to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology.
news.yahoo.comAlabama police say "hero" subdued gunman in deadly church shooting
Authorities called one man a "hero" after he was able to stop the gunman who opened fire at a church in Vestavia Hills, a Birmingham suburb, on Thursday. They shared updates about their investigation during a press conference Friday morning.
news.yahoo.comChina's foreign minister starts Pacific tour in the Solomons
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a 20-strong delegation have arrived in the Solomon Islands at the start of an eight-nation tour that comes amid growing concerns about Beijing’s military and financial ambitions in the South Pacific region.
Albanese elected Australia's leader in complex poll result
Australians awoke to a new prime minister in Anthony Albanese, the center-left Labor Party leader whose ascension to the nation’s top job from being raised in social housing by a single mother on a disability pension was said to reflect the country's changed fabric.
Australia's next prime minister came from humble beginnings
Australia's Prime Minister-elect Anthony Albanese is a politician molded by his humble start to life as the only child of a single mother who raised him on a pension in gritty inner-Sydney suburbia. The previous administration had stuck with the same commitment it made at the Paris Agreement in 2015: 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030.
news.yahoo.comAustralian prime minister stands by minister accused of rape
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media in Sydney, Monday, March 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday stood by an unidentified Cabinet minister against calls for him to step down over an allegation he raped a 16-year-old girl more than 30 years ago. The allegation was contained in an anonymous letter sent to the prime minister’s office and to three female lawmakers last week. The letter contained a statement from a complainant that detailed her allegation of a rape she said occurred in New South Wales state in 1988. Hammond and opposition Labor Party Sen. Penny Wong also received anonymous letters about the 1988 rape allegation.