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Foreign

Australia braces for record-breaking summer as bushfires intensify

Prediction

Sydney, Nov. 28, 2019 (dpa/NAN) Australia will have a drier and hotter December and January that will challenge records set last summer, the Bureau of Meteorology has predicted.

Andrew Watkins, the bureau’s head of long-range forecasts made this known on Thursday.

Spring’s long spell of hot dry weather was likely to continue into 2020, according to the bureau’s summer outlook.
“We’ve already seen significant bushfire activity during spring, and the outlook for drier and warmer than average conditions will maintain that heightened risk over the coming months,” he said.
Heatwaves are more likely across the continent, and in the north of the country the monsoon season is likely to be delayed until mid-January.
Last summer broke heat records with temperatures reaching almost 50 degrees centigrade in some areas, and was an average 1.28 degrees above the previous record summer heat set in 2013.
Firefighters are currently battling more than 160 bushfires across the state of New South Wales (NSW) as lightning from thunderstorms whipped across the region on Wednesday.
A hundred fires were sparked by lightning in just two hours, the NSW Rural Fire Service reported.
During the spring fires, six people died, more than 600 homes were destroyed, 1.6 million hectares of bushland was razed and an estimated 350 koalas were killed.
Worse is expected in the summer season which starts on Sunday. (dpa/NAN)
YEE
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(Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

Foreign

Nauru detained refugee children to be moved to Australia

Nauru detained refugee children to be moved to Australia
Children
Canberra, Nov. 1, 2018 (Xinhua/NAN) Refugee children being detained indefinitely on the Pacific island in Nauru by Australia are to be moved to Australia by ending of 2018, George Brandis, former Attorney-General and High Commissioner to Britain, said on Thursday.
“There are hardly children on Nauru and in New Guinea and we expect that by the end of this year there will be none.
“In any event, this is a problem that’s largely gone awry,” he said.
According to the Department of Home Affairs, there are 40 children still in detention on the island, all of who will find new homes in Australia within two months.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday that he was working on moving the children without “showboating about it”.
“Children have been transferred off Nauru, that’s been happening for some time.
“It’s being done in accordance with our policies, our existing policies,” he said in a regular appearance on Macquarie Media radio.
The detention facility on Nauru has been used to detain asylum seekers who attempted to come to Australia by boat since 2012.
At that time 46 children have been born to asylum seekers being held on the island and 244 minors have already been resettled in Australia.
The government has come under pressure to accelerate the process from independent Members of Parliament (MPs) who hold the balance of power in parliament and the opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP).
A poll conducted by Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper in late October revealed that more than 80 per cent of Australians were in favour of resettling the children on Nauru after the Australian Medical Association (AMA) declared the situation a “medical emergency”.
New Zealand has offered to resettle 150 adult asylum seekers on Nauru but Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton have said they would only accept the offer if those refugees are banned from ever entering Australia on any grounds.
Shayne Neumann, the ALP’s immigration spokesperson, welcomed the news but said it was “up to Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton to ensure children are actually removed from Nauru”.
“Let’s not forget, this news is completely opposite to what the government has been saying was possible, and they are still continuing to fight medical transfer cases in the courts,” Neumann said, referring to the government’s opposition to allowing adult asylum seekers into Australia for medical treatment.
“Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton need to tell Australians what the long-term plan is for these kids.
“They can start by accepting New Zealand’s offer to resettle eligible refugees.”
Gillian Triggs, former president of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), described it as “remarkably good news”, but said more had to be done for adult detainees.
He told Australian Broadcasting Corporation on radio that political events and community approaches have quite simply forced the government’s hand.
“I think we can say it’s remarkably good news that these children will now have access to proper medical care in Australia.
“The same arguments apply to their parents, to their grandparents.
“But especially to these young men who are (at the Manus Island detention centre) for the most part, they are in utter despair with very similar medical indications,” Triggs said. (Xinhua/NAN)
OYE/MST
Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

General news

Nigeria seeks collaboration with Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority

Nigeria seeks collaboration with Australian anti-doping Authority

Collaboration

By Debo Oshundun

Lagos, April 12, 2018 (NAN) The Ministry of Youth and Sports has called for collaboration with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority to ensure a firm anti-doping structure in Nigeria.

Solomon Dalong, Minister of Youth and Sports, Nigeria, made the call during a visit to the Operation Centre of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority in Gold Coast, Australia.

A statement issued on Thursday by Nneka Anibeze, the Special Assistant to the minister on media, said that Dalong led a five-man delegation to the centre to seek partnership between the two countries’ anti-doping agencies.

“We are grateful for your magnanimity in enabling us to visit this magnificent anti-doping centre.

“We will appreciate collaboration with Australia and any other assistance from your country to ensure a dope free society.

“We wish to emulate the organisational structure of Australia Sports Anti-doping Authority (ASADA) which will be used as a benchmark for the establishment of a legislatively backed anti-doping agency in Nigeria,’’ Dalong is quoted as saying.

The statement said that Darrel Jeffery, the Operations Centre Manager and Director of Investigations, Australia Sports Anti-doping Authority, promised to look into the request.

Jeffery, who gave an overview of the operations, organization, structure and functions of the center, said  the country’s Anti-Doping Agency was upgraded to Anti Doping Authority.

According to him, it is borne out of the need to increase the independence and responsibilities mandate of the organisation.

“We carry out doping control tests before, during and after the games which also includes intelligence report gathering and analysis.

“The centre also conducts education and outreach programs, recruitment, training and development of doping control officers and chaperones,’’ the statement quoted Jeffrey as saying.

The statement also said that Jeffery identified three major sports as being at high risk of doping.

“Based on international standard for testing and investigation, there are three sports considered high risk for doping.

“They are athletics, weightlifting and cycling.

“Selection of athletes to be tested is based on intelligence report, which includes athlete’s biological passport and partnerships with International Federations and other National Anti Doping Organisations,’’ Jeffrey is quoted as saying.(NAN)

DEB/VIV/YAZ

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Editing by Vivian Ihechu

 

Sport

Campbell sisters power Australia to swimming world record

Record

Gold Coast (Australia), April 5, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) Cate Campbell powered Australia to a world record in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Thursday.

The victory demonstrated that her year off to recover mentally from a disappointing Rio Olympics had worked wonders.

Campbell anchored the Australian quartet, which also included her sister Bronte, Shayna Jack and Emma McKeon, to clock three minutes, 30.05 seconds and beat their previous record of 3:30.65 from the Rio Olympics.

Canada finished second, with England third.

It was a satisfying return for Campbell, who had been a hot favourite to win gold in both the 50m and 100m freestyle at the Rio Games, but finished outside the medals in both.

Calling her 100m freestyle loss “the greatest choke in Olympic history”, she stepped away from competition in 2017 to refresh and returned at the Australian nationals last month.

“To come back from a year off and to be part of something where you’re the best in the world is a pretty special moment,” she told reporters.

“I’m going to make sure I stop and take a couple of breaths to take in how special this moment is because not many people get to experience it.

“This is the stuff of dreams and to have that in reality is something I’d never take for granted again.”

The Australians, who had won the title at the last six Games, were facing arguably their biggest threat in a Commonwealth final since they were beaten by England at the Victoria Games in 1994.

The Canadians had a strong back end to their team with Olympic 100m champion Penny Oleksiak swimming the third leg before handing over to Taylor Ruck, fresh from winning the 200 freestyle gold.

While Canada’s Alexia Zevnik had given her team a flying start, Bronte Campbell took over the race for the host nation.

McKeon, who had already swum two individual races, then got them within sight of the world record as she destroyed Oleksiak by 1.34 seconds on the third leg.

Cate Campbell, whose tempo seemed to increase with the decibels as the 10,000-strong crowd willed her to the world record, then produced a flying final leg of 51.00 seconds.

“It’s the first time I think I’ve heard the crowd while I’m swimming,” she added. “I could hear them roaring as I was coming down the last 25m.

“I thought, ‘someone must be doing something special here’ and I thought we were being caught, but it was us breaking the world record.

“I think that was really incredible.” (Reuters/NAN)

KIA/AFA

Edited by Felix Ajide

 

Education

Australian envoy donates to visually impaired students in Enugu

Australian envoy donates to visually impaired students in Enugu

NAN-HG-7

Donation

By Emmanuel Acha

Enugu, Feb. 17, 2017 (NAN) The Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Paul Lehmann, on Friday donated sets of computer to students of the School for the Visually Impaired in Enugu.

Lehmann, who disclosed this during a courtesy call on Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of the state, said he was in Enugu to explore business opportunities with the business community.

The envoy said that his short stay in the city had afforded him the opportunity to appreciate the alluring landscape and immense infrastructural development in the state.

He said that the business community in his country would be encouraged to explore commercial opportunities in the state.

Lehmann said that Nigeria and Australia had longstanding relationship which would be further strengthened through mutually beneficial economic cooperation.

The high commissioner said the prospect for the country and Australia to collaborate in the extractive sector was both enticing and huge.

Responding, Ugwuanyi said that the state was endowed with natural resources such as coal, oil and gas, and several other investment opportunities.

The governor said that his administration had taken steps to protect the interest of potential local and foreign investors in the state.

“We have continued to invest in areas as security, infrastructural development, environmental improvement, expansion and regularisation of social services, intellectual development and skill acquisition.

“All of these, we believe will help to sustain the enabling environment for business to flourish in the state,” he said.

Ugwuanyi said that the location of a free trade zone in the state as well as the presence of an international airport and his administration’s urbanisation initiative were investors’ delight.

The governor said that the state government had listed over 17 government-owned companies and enterprises for privatisation and commercialisation in order to boost the economy of the state.

Ugwuanyi appealed to the Australian government to assist the state to develop its agricultural potential, and its bid to provide improved water supply and healthcare for the people. (NAN)

EOA/MNA/MST

Edited by Maureen Atuonwu/Muhammad Suleiman Tola