Australia

  • As pandemic rages on, world economic recovery looks ever shakier

    As pandemic rages on, world economic recovery looks ever shakier

    Aug 05, 2020 13:42

    The world economic outlook has dimmed again, with still-rising coronavirus infections and the risk of renewed lockdowns increasing the chances that any rebound will reverse course. Over 17 million people have been infected worldwide by the coronavirus and more than two-thirds of a million people have died. That has forced governments to impose strict lockdown measures to curb the spread of the virus, keeping citizens at home and businesses closed and spurring recessions that aren’t over yet.

  • Ancient Australian rocks suggest earth's continents were shifting earlier than thought

    Ancient Australian rocks suggest earth's continents were shifting earlier than thought

    May 27, 2020 15:35

    Earth's continents are constantly on the move, it's a key feature of our planet, but that wasn't always the case. While some scientists think Earth's tectonic plates began pushing and pulling only a billion years ago, others think the whole process started nearly four billion years ago, when our planet was but an infant.

  • The Great Barrier Reef is suffering its most widespread bleaching ever recorded

    The Great Barrier Reef is suffering its most widespread bleaching ever recorded

    Apr 18, 2020 08:05

    Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing its third mass bleaching in just five years and it is the most widespread bleaching event ever recorded.

  • Rare natural phenomenon brings severe drought to Australia

    Rare natural phenomenon brings severe drought to Australia

    Mar 13, 2020 09:10

    The Indian Ocean Dipole refers to the difference in sea surface temperature on either side of the Indian Ocean, which alters rainfall patterns in Australia and other nations in the region. The dipole is a lesser-known relative of the Pacific Ocean’s El Niño. Climate drivers, such as the Indian Ocean Dipole, are an entirely natural phenomenon, but climate change is modifying the behavior of these climate modes.

  • Judge orders Assange held in glass box during extradition trial

    Judge orders Assange held in glass box during extradition trial

    Mar 04, 2020 14:33

    Rebecca Vincent, the U.K. Bureau Director for Reporters Without Borders, indicated the organization was “concerned by the UK court's decision to reject WikiLeaks Founder, Julian Assange’s request to leave the secure dock that he’s being held in at the back of this courtroom and to sit with his lawyers in the well of the court.”

  • ICC prosecutor says Australia’s offshore detention is ‘cruel, inhuman’

    ICC prosecutor says Australia’s offshore detention is ‘cruel, inhuman’

    Feb 18, 2020 22:52

    In a letter to the independent MP for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, the office of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor said conditions in the Australian-run camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island were dangerous and harsh, and an “environment rife with sporadic acts of physical and sexual violence committed by staff at the facilities.”

  • Australia's 'black summer' provides glimmer of hope for climate policy action

    Australia's 'black summer' provides glimmer of hope for climate policy action

    Feb 16, 2020 11:45

    The issue of climate change has plagued leaders of Australia for the past decade, contributing to the downfall of at least three prime ministers. As the world’s biggest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas and one of the world’s biggest carbon emitters per person, Australia has also come under fire from global climate activists and the United Nations for not taking more responsibility to curb global warming.

  • High Court rules aboriginal Australians not ‘aliens’, cannot be deported

    High Court rules aboriginal Australians not ‘aliens’, cannot be deported

    Feb 13, 2020 08:40

    In a four-to-three split decision the Australian High Court ruled that Aboriginal people with sufficient connection to traditional societies cannot be aliens, giving them a special status in Australian Constitutional law likely to have ramifications far beyond existing native title law.

  • Will a devastating bushfire season change Australia’s climate stance?

    Will a devastating bushfire season change Australia’s climate stance?

    Feb 12, 2020 20:12

    The 2019–20 fire season in Australia has been unprecedented. To date, an estimated 18 million hectares of fire has cut swathes through the bush – an area greater than that of the average European country and over five times the size of blazes in the Amazon. This reflects previous predictions of Australian science.

  • Australia’s marine animals are the fires’ unseen victims

    Australia’s marine animals are the fires’ unseen victims

    Feb 08, 2020 14:07

    As wildfires ravage Australia’s land and forests, so far killing an estimated one billion terrestrial animals, researchers worry marine and freshwater species will become invisible victims.