The opposition in Russia has been the target of a widespread crackdown by authorities in the wake of the high-profile sentencing of dissident Alexey Navalny in February. Navalny, who barely escaped an assassination attempt in August 2020, when he was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, spent five months in hospital in Germany. He was arrested on Jan. 17, 2021, after returning to Russia following his recovery, and placed on house arrest. On Feb. 2, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in a penal colony for violating terms of his probation. Navalny made a public appearance in an April 29…
Author: zenger.news
SYDNEY — A majority of Australians believe the age pension should be increased, with many fearing they won’t have enough money when they enter retirement. An Australian National University (ANU) survey of 3500 adults found more than seven out of 10 adults think the current age pension of AUD 944.30 ($727.87) per fortnight for a single person isn’t enough. The average age pension supported by respondents was AUD 1115 ($859.4) per fortnight. Well, over half of people (55.7 percent) who aren’t yet retired are worried they won’t have enough savings to live comfortably when they stop working. As per the analysis,…
SYDNEY — A new gas-fired power station in south-eastern Australian state New South Wales won’t get the tick of approval until the impact its emissions and pollutants have on air quality are assessed. The federal government last year gave the energy industry a deadline to come up with a proposal for a gas plant by the end of April. Energy Minister Angus Taylor has said that the government would build a gas project if the private sector does not. Government-owned Snowy Hydro has put a proposal forward to build a power station in Kurri Kurri where an aluminum smelter used to…
LONGREACH, Australia — Quarantine facilities in places such as Australia’s Christmas Island and regional Queensland are “good avenues” for the safe return of Australians stuck overseas, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says. Known far and wide for having a detention center, Australia’s Christmas Island became a quarantine hub back in February 2020, when two groups of Australians were evacuated from coronavirus’s epicenter, Wuhan in China. Her comments come as the federal government deflects criticism of its travel ban in response to a rapid escalation of Covid-19 cases in India. The National Cabinet of Australia added India to the country’s high-risk list on April…
An Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter uses a huge hose fire extinguisher to target a blaze on a dormant volcano. The wildfire took place in the vicinity of Burfell, Iceland. A video of the fire’s extinguishing operation was posted by the Icelandic Coast Guard on May 3. The Coast Guard’s helicopter was called to the scene by the Fire Brigade in Reykjavík, the capital. The helicopter crew prepared a special fire extinguisher in the Coast Guard’s hangar. Once at the location, the helicopter flew over the fire and used water from two lakes to fight the blaze. Six trips were needed…
MELBOURNE, Australia — The Victorian government has been criticized for announcing subsidies for people who buy new electric cars while also trying to introduce a new tax on such vehicles. Under the proposed tax, which is set to be debated in the lower house on May 4, electric and other zero-emission vehicle drivers will pay 2.5 cents for every kilometer (0.62 miles) traveled on Victorian roads from July 1. A 2.0 cent per kilometer (0.62 miles) charge will also apply to plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles. The tax is expected to raise AUD 30 million ($23.1 million) over four years and is forecast to…
Spanish confectioners have created a massive chocolate copy of Pablo Picasso’s famous 1937 anti-war painting “Guernica.” Around 1,102 pounds of chocolate were used to recreate the famous painting, which shows the suffering of people and animals during the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica on April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. The re-creation marks the 85th anniversary of the bombing by Francisco Franco‘s rebel Nationalist faction, aided by the Nazi Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria named Operation Rugen. The bombing campaign led to Franco capturing the Basque city of Bilbao and claiming victory in…
MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian-first academy for high-performing teachers is set to open in the South-eastern Australian state of Victoria in 2022. Acting Premier James Merlino on May 4 announced AUD 148.2 million ($114.43 million) from the upcoming state budget would go towards establishing the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership, a new statutory authority. From January 2022, the authority will deliver advanced professional development for the best teachers across government, Catholic and independent schools from a purpose-built facility in Melbourne’s Central Business District. Seven regional academies, located in Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Mildura, Moe, and Shepparton, will also be established by 2022. “Teaching…
CANBERRA, Australia — Researchers have debunked the popular theory that ancient humans were responsible for mass extinctions on islands. Archeologists and paleontologists from the Australian National University and Griffith University called together researchers from around the world to examine records spanning 2.6 million years, comparing when humans arrived in when species became extinct. They found there was little overlap between the two events, up until the last thousand years. “It doesn’t fit well with the usual blitzkrieg overkill impact expectation of human arrival,” Australian National University Professor Sue O’Connor told. For example, on the islands of Timor and Sulawesi, she could not…
LAHORE, Pakistan — India’s rival neighbors Pakistan and China have offered help to the South Asian nation in tackling the raging second wave of Covid-19. India is yet to respond. The cooperation comes even as a U.S.-based think tank has projected a war between India and Pakistan in the next five years. “India and Pakistan may stumble into a large-scale war neither side wants,” states the report, titled “Global Trends 2040”, published by the U.S. National Intelligence Council in April. India is going through one of the worst coronavirus situations globally. The country has been reporting over 350,000 daily cases for the past…