Australia

Man arrested over Australian couple’s disappearance

Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, were last heard from on 20 March last year when they called a friend from their remote campsite in Victoria.

Despite one of the state's largest missing person investigations, there has been no trace of the hikers since.

On Tuesday, Victoria Police said they had arrested a 55-year-old man from Melbourne in connection with the case.

He is being questioned by police but has not been charged.

Investigators believe Mr Hill and Ms Clay went missing shortly after the call to their friend using a high-frequency radio.

Unvaccinated travellers banned from entering the Northern Territory

Only children under the age of 12, NT residents, a small number of essential personnel and people arriving on compassionate grounds will be able to access an exemption under some of the country's strictest rules, which will come into effect on Monday.

"Previously, arriving from a green zone you didn't have to be vaccinated," Chief Minister Michael Gunner said today.

"On Monday that route is closed."

Gunner said the small number of unvaccinated travellers would still need to isolate on arrival and get tested.

Australian man wrongly identified as abduction suspect sues TV station

In a missing child case that gripped the nation, Cleo Smith, 4, was rescued from a stranger's home on 3 November.

Police had charged Terence Kelly with her abduction.

But hours after his arrest, Seven wrongly published photos of Terrance Flowers, another Aboriginal man.

His lawyers said Seven had significantly injured his character and reputation by misrepresenting him as the main suspect.

As Papua New Guinea struggles with COVID, Australia must step up its ‘vaccine diplomacy’

Is the emergency assistance Australia offers enough in a country whose health infrastructure was already under siege before the pandemic?

An ancillary question is whether Canberra’s “vaccine diplomacy” in the Indo-Pacific is losing ground against an aggressive Chinese push to make available its Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines across the region.

Australia begins Covid-19 booster vaccination programme

Today marks the formal beginning of the booster program, but more than 173,000 boosters had already been administered in Australia as of Saturday.

The Pfizer vaccine is currently being offered for booster shots, even for people who were vaccinated with the AstraZeneca jab.

While the government's expert advisory group on vaccines said Pfizer was the preferred shot, AstraZeneca could be used as a booster for people who received it as their primary course, or if they had an adverse reaction to an mRNA vaccine.

‘Beast mode’: Aussies crush ‘absolutely horrendous’ side in all-time World Cup swing

Aaron Finch’s side had to win the match in Dubai first and foremost with gaining a significant net run rate boost an important, albeit secondary, mission to make the semi finals.

Australia completed both tasks with ease, rolling Bangladesh for just 73, with Adam Zampa taking a career-best 5-19, before chasing down the meagre total with a whopping 82 balls to spare and inside 36 minutes,

It was the fewest balls ever needed in a successful T20I chase by Australia, and comes off the back of the nation’s heaviest-ever defeat in terms of balls remaining (50 against England).

Aust To Keep Making AstraZeneca Doses

Australian Health Minister, Greg Hunt on Thursday rejected reports CSL would stop producing the vaccine in Melbourne this year, as coronavirus cases reached a new national daily record.

“CSL and AstraZeneca are on track to complete the full 50 million-dose production run in Australia and the 3.8 million supply from overseas,” he told reporters.

“Our expectation and our plan is that that program will be completed in full. All of those extra doses are being supplied to the region.”

MoU to grow agricultural trade between Pacific Island Countries and Australia

Signed 6 October by Australian Chief Plant Protection Officer, Gabrielle Vivian-Smith and DT Global Asia Pacific Managing Director, Frank Maiolo the MoU will strengthen the partnership between the department and DT Global through the Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access Program (PHAMA Plus) program.

The PHAMA Plus program is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the New Zealand Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Kylie Minogue confirms she is moving back to Australia

She told BBC Radio 2's Zoe Ball she "couldn't believe" the public reaction to the news.

But Minogue said she will "always" want to regularly visit the UK after she moves back to the country of her birth.

She said: "I've had friends call me, my friend at my local restaurant was like: 'Kylie, what do you mean? You can't go'."

"I said: 'I'm not really going. I've lived here for 30 years, I'm always going to be back."'

The 53-year-old said she does not think "too much will change" after her move as she will come back often.

Australia to end offshore processing in Papua New Guinea

The federal government is ending offshore processing in Papua New Guinea for asylum seekers detained after trying to reach Australia by boat.

The arrangement was set up in 2013 under the then-Labor government and authorised regional processing in PNG.

Under a timeline announced on Wednesday, processing in PNG will permanently end on 31 December.

As of July this year, there were 124 asylum seekers in PNG, of whom 88 have been found to be refugees.