world
NewsAustralian Associated PressNZ PM Ardern isolates after COVID exposure
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has gone into self-isolation until Tuesday after being deemed a close contact of a person who tested positive for COVID-19, the government says.The exposure took place on January 22 during a flight to Auckland from the town of Kerikeri, the government said in a statement on Saturday, adding that the result of whole genome sequencing was expected the following day.
NewsAustralian Associated PressRejected by NZ, reporter turns to Taliban
A pregnant New Zealand journalist says she turned to the Taliban for help and is now stranded in Afghanistan after her home country prevented her from returning due to a bottleneck of people in its coronavirus quarantine system.In a column published in The New Zealand Herald on Saturday, Charlotte Bellis said it was "brutally ironic" that she'd once questioned the Taliban about their treatment of women and she was now asking the same questions of her own government.
NewsAustralian Associated PressThird COVID wave looms in Indonesia
Indonesia is bracing for a third wave of COVID-19 infections as the highly transmissible Omicron variant drives a surge in new cases, health authorities and experts say.The country reported 9905 new infections and seven deaths on Friday in the latest 24-hour period.
NewsAustralian Associated PressLithuania plans cameras on Belarus border
Lithuania plans to install surveillance cameras along the entire length of its border with Belarus, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte says.The project will cost about 40 million euros ($A64 million).
NewsAustralian Associated PressAustralia wants in on China-EU trade row
Australia will seek to be included in consultations about a trade dispute between the European Union and China launched by the EU at the World Trade Organisation, Trade Minister Dan Tehan says.Thursday's EU challenge accuses China of discriminatory trade practices against Lithuania, saying they threatened the integrity of the single market.
NewsAustralian Associated PressJoni Mitchell joins protest over Spotify
Joni Mitchell says she is seeking to remove all of her music from Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young, who ignited a protest against the streaming service for airing a podcast that featured a figure who has spread misinformation about the coronavirus.Mitchell, who like Young is a California-based songwriter who had much of her success in the 1970s, is the first prominent musician to join Young's effort.
NewsAustralian Associated PressUS East Coast prepares for blizzard
Residents of New York and New England have hunkered down for a fierce Nor'easter bringing high winds, deep cold and up to 60cm of snow, a blizzard predicted to be one of the worst in recent memory.Forecasts of a potentially brutal storm, which moved up the East Coast after forming in the Atlantic Ocean off the Carolinas, had prompted airlines to cancel 5000 flights through the weekend and delay more than 8000.
NewsAustralian Associated PressUK police move to limit PM parties report
An inquiry into COVID-19 lockdown gatherings in Downing Street that might determine the future of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson could be further delayed after the police asked for the report to make only "minimal reference" to those events.Johnson, facing the gravest threat to his leadership over the alleged lockdown-busting parties at his residence and office at Number 10, has so far weathered growing calls to resign over the events, asking for MPs to wait for the report.
NewsAustralian Associated PressHK to compensate shops over hamster cull
The Hong Kong government says it will compensate pet shops trading in hamsters after ordering a cull on the rodents last week over fears they were spreading COVID-19.The city's Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said it would offer a one-off payment of up to HK$30,000 ($A5,519) to shops affected by the culling of all hamsters on sale and tracing of people who had recently purchased them.
NewsAustralian Associated PressUN rights chief may visit China's Xinjiang
The United Nations' human rights chief is talking with China for a potentially imminent trip to the Xinjiang region, her office says, in what could provide rare close-up foreign scrutiny of accusations of abuses against ethnic Uighurs.Michelle Bachelet has long sought access to investigate an issue that has soured relations between China and the US, bringing genocide accusations and a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Games.
NewsAustralian Associated PressSpain, Canada say Omicron has peaked
Health authorities in Spain and Canada say all indications point to the worst of the Omicron variant of coronavirus having passed while officials in Iceland prepare to relax pandemic restrictions.There are optimistic signs that Spain has passed the peak of its latest coronavirus wave, the health minister said on Friday.
NewsAustralian Associated PressUkraine president urges calm amid 'panic'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he cannot not rule out a full-blown war with Russia but has accused the United States and media of fuelling panic that weighed on the economy while there are "no tanks in the streets".He spoke after Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States and NATO had not addressed Russia's main security demands in the stand-off over Ukraine but that he was ready to keep talking.
ScienceAustralian Associated PressModels underestimated Tonga shockwave
The volcanic eruption in Tonga this month unleashed an atmospheric shockwave that radiated out at close to the speed of sound, pushing large waves across the Pacific to the shores of Japan and Peru, thousands of kilometres away.Forecasting models and warning systems, designed primarily to assess earthquake-triggered waves, did not account for the boosting effects of the shockwave.
HealthAustralian Associated PressUK to start rolling out Pfizer virus pill
The United Kingdom will start rolling out Pfizer's COVID-19 pill to vulnerable people next month, the health ministry says, targeting the treatment at people with compromised immune systems for whom the vaccine can be less effective.The health ministry said that Pfizer's antiviral treatment Paxlovid, a combination of Pfizer's pill with an older antiviral ritonavir, will be made available to thousands of people from February 10.
NewsAustralian Associated PressVote for Italy's president fails again
Italy's search for a new president continues after a fifth round of voting delivered no winner.Maria Elisabetta Casellati, a confidante of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and incumbent president of the Senate, received the most votes: 382 of the 1009 parliamentarians and regional representatives backed her.
NewsAustralian Associated PressBiden visits bridge collapse, vows funding
US President Joe Biden has stopped to look at a Pittsburgh bridge that collapsed just hours before he arrived for a scheduled visit to the city.The collapse dramatically underscored the urgency of his drive to rebuild the United States' creaky infrastructure.
NewsAustralian Associated PressJapan to watch WHO director 'abuse' probe
The World Health Organisation says it is looking into allegations a regional director in Asia bullied staff, used racist language and leaked sensitive vaccine data to the Japanese government - accusations the official denies.Officials in Tokyo said on Friday they will watch the WHO's investigation into staff complaints over racism and abuse by Takeshi Kasai but denied the government inappropriately received sensitive vaccine information from him.
NewsAustralian Associated PressIsrael signs deal with Novavax for vaccine
Israel has signed a deal to buy five million COVID-19 vaccine doses from Novavax, the health ministry says.The vaccines are due to arrive in Israel in the coming months, pending regulatory approval.
ScienceAustralian Associated PressChina to strengthen space governance
China will strengthen its governance in space over the next five years to better protect its assets and interests, including the study of plans to build a near-earth object defence system and co-operation with other nations.China will also strengthen space traffic control, improve its space debris monitoring system, and build an integrated space-ground space climate monitoring system, according to a white paper published by the Chinese government on Friday.
NewsAustralian Associated PressNorth Korea confirms latest missile tests
North Korea says its two latest rounds of weapons tests this week were successful while vowing to bolster its nuclear "war deterrent" and speed up the development of more powerful warheads.It appeared North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not attend the tests on Tuesday and Thursday, which were detected by the militaries of neighbours South Korea and Japan.
NewsAustralian Associated PressBurkina Faso junta leader promises order
Burkina Faso's new military leader says he will bring security and order back to the conflict-ridden nation and unite the country, but warned that betrayal wouldn't be tolerated by the new regime.Lieutenant Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, leader of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration, spoke on Thursday evening in his first public address to the nation since seizing power from President Roch Marc Christian Kabore earlier this week.
PoliticsAustralian Associated PressHonduras welcomes first female president
Xiomara Castro has been sworn in as Honduras' first female president, with US Vice President Kamala Harris in attendance, as her government faces tests over a sharply divided Congress, rising debt and relations with China.Castro, flanked by her husband, former President Manuel Zelaya, and their children, was sworn in on Thursday at a packed open-air soccer stadium, her supporters dancing and shouting.
NewsAustralian Associated PressUK's Johnson waits on 'Partygate' report
Boris Johnson's wait for the findings of an official inquiry into lockdown-busting parties in No 10 and Whitehall continues, with the British prime minister insisting he was not responsible for any delay to the report.The highly anticipated document from senior civil servant Sue Gray could be pivotal for Johnson's future but it has yet to be submitted to No 10, with legal and human resources officials scrutinising it before it can be sent to Downing Street for publication.
NewsAustralian Associated PressSearch called off after US boat capsize
The US Coast Guard has called off a three-day search for 34 people lost at sea off Florida from a boat that capsized while engaged in what officials suspect was an attempt to smuggle migrants into the United States from the Bahamas.Round-the-clock search operations were halted at nightfall on Thursday, Coast Guard Petty Officer Jose Hernandez said, hours after US authorities reported recovering four more bodies, bringing the tally of confirmed fatalities to five.
NewsAustralian Associated PressUN urges G20 to lead on nature protection
The world's 20 richest countries should more than double their annual spending to protect and restore nature to $US285 billion ($A404 billion) by 2050, the United Nations and donors say, calling for private and overseas investments to be ramped up too.In a first joint report on finance for nature in the G20 countries, they estimated that spending by the bloc - which includes large emerging economies - was $US120 billion in 2020.
