CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been accused of menacing and controlling behavior that drove a female member of the federal parliament out of the parliament. Former Liberal Member of Parliament Julia Banks quit the Liberal Party after a leadership coup against the former prime minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull in late 2018, sitting on the crossbench as an independent until an election the following year. Banks blames prime minister Morrison’s behavior for her decision to quit the party and leave politics. The former corporate lawyer said Morrison tried to portray her as a “weak petal” who had…
Author: zenger.news
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The trans-Tasman travel corridor between Oceania neighbors Australia and New Zealand opened in April after several months of anticipation before closing up again. When the bubble reopens in July, the New Zealand government will consider offering a lifeline home to Kiwis stranded in Australia’s southeastern state of New South Wales by the latest Covid-19 outbreak. On the morning of July 1, New Zealand allowed half of Australia to resume quarantine-free travel across the Tasman Sea. Residents of the states of Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory can all make their way across “the Ditch”…
MELBOURNE, Australia — From childhood immigrants to the heights of Australian business, Victor and Loti Smorgon’s legacy continues, as does a hereditary passion for the arts. The Ukrainian-born industrialist who called Melbourne home and built a fortune on paper, plastics, packaging, property, and steel, together with his wife were fierce champions of the arts. When the couple donated 154 of their own works to Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, it was in part because they wanted as many people as possible to share the viewing joy. The rationale continues. “We are large supporters of the arts and believe it benefits the…
CANBERRA, Australia — Australians are spending an average of AU$11 ($8.27) less each month on their phone bill but still only using around half of their data, a new survey has uncovered. The 1500-person survey from men’s lifestyle magazine EFTM found the average person was paying AU$49 ($36.85) a month, down from the AU$60 ($45.13) paid two years ago. The average person is paying for 40GB of data each month but still only using half of that data allowance. The survey comes a month after the competition regulator suggested millions of Australians would pay more for their mobile phone plans following price…
NEW DELHI — A week after announcing the musical love saga titled “Satyanarayan Ki Katha” starring Kartik Aaryan in the lead, the makers of the movie have decided to change the name of the film to avoid hurting religious sentiments. Taking cognizance of the concerns expressed by the audience against the title of the upcoming movie, director Sameer Vidwans issued a statement on his Twitter handle, saying that the makers have decided to change the name of the movie. “A title of the film is something that emerges organically through the creative process,” it said. “We have taken a decision to change the title…
CANBERRA, Australia — Conspiracy theories, complacency, and blood clotting concerns are driving low vaccination rates in Australian Indigenous communities. More than 96,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have received at least one dose of the vaccine. But the figure translates to little more than 10 percent of the national Indigenous population and in some remote communities, only a handful of people have received a jab. Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt is working with community leaders to boost vaccination rates through targeted advertising and door-knocking campaigns. Wyatt said reports of blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca jab had created fear and…
ADELAIDE, Australia — Adelaide oncologists and researchers will use AU$2.4 million ($1.81 million) in funding to work with families to understand and fight common and deadly childhood cancer. Two separate projects funded from the Federal government’s Medical Research Future Fund will address neuroblastoma, a solid tumor that accounts for 15 percent of all childhood cancer deaths. The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) is an AU$20 billion ($15.04 billion) long-term investment supporting Australian health and medical research. The fund aims to transform health and medical research and innovation to improve lives, build the economy and contribute to health system sustainability. One study…
NEW DELHI — Bollywood actor Ananya Panday, who is very active on social media and often treats her fans and followers to stunning pictures of her, on July 4 shared a post trying to recreate a “Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai moment” on the beach, but it did not go as expected. The “Student of the Year 2” actor took to her Instagram handle and shared a series of pictures in which she was seen wearing a short white dress with an oversized bomber jacket. In the first photo, Panday could be seen running on the sand, while in the next, she swept her…
The scientist in charge of testing Australia’s sewerage system to flush out Covid-19 traces admits the samples can be a little stinky. “You have to get the fresh stuff,” Dr. Daniel Deere of Australian water and sanitation consultancy service Water Futures said. There are about 1000 wastewater virus tests run every week across Australia — and despite the smell, they’re a valuable warning system for undetected cases. Deere said while sewage testing for other illnesses has been in place for decades, the pandemic is the first time this type of testing has been done on such a large scale and…
SYDNEY — As Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory emerge from snap lockdowns, all eyes are on efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak in New South Wales. More than 260 cases have been uncovered in the current New South Wales outbreak, which has seen millions of people subjected to a two-week lockdown. On July 3, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was too soon to know whether the stay-at-home orders would be extended, but “the next few days will be telling,” he said during an interaction. Gladys Berejiklian is an Australian politician serving as the 45th and current Premier of New South…