Uganda Government issues Kanywataba petroleum exploration license to Armour Energy Limited Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Uganda has handed over the petroleum exploration license in the Kanywataba block in the Albertine area to an Australian company – Armour Energy Limited. Speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Energy offices in Kampala …
Read More »Australia expands cashless welfare card to tackle alcohol, drugs
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Australia will expand the roll-out of cashless welfare cards after a pilot scheme showed a sharp drop in problem alcohol, drug and gambling abuse, the country’s prime minister said Friday. The government introduced the debit card — touted as a world-first — last year to two …
Read More »Don’t report sex abuses revealed in confessional: Australia bishops
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Priests should not be forced to report child sexual abuse revealed in the confessional, top Australian Catholics said Tuesday, adding they would rather risk jail than break the sacramental seal. The comments follow a national inquiry set up by the government into institutional child sexual …
Read More »Climate change means more rain but less water in rural rivers: study
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Soaring temperatures driven by climate change are whipping up ever-more intense storms inundating cities with flash floods but leaving the countryside and crucial agricultural land parched, an Australian study has found. Researchers at Australia’s University of New South Wales (UNSW) found that while hotter weather sparked …
Read More »Sheepish Aussie deputy PM drops Kiwi citizenship
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Australia’s “accidental Kiwi” deputy prime minister renounced his New Zealand citizenship Tuesday amid sheep jokes, Hollywood taunts and conspiracy theories about a left-wing plot to topple Canberra’s conservative government. Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce revealed his New Zealand connection on Monday, sparking calls for him to stand …
Read More »Australia PM brushes off leaked Trump phone transcript
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Australia’s prime minister Friday sought to downplay an unflattering account of a controversial refugee swap deal which emerged in a leaked transcript of a bad-tempered phone call with US President Donald Trump. The Washington Post published the full details Thursday of private calls between Trump and …
Read More »Australia foils ‘terror plot’ to bring down airplane
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Australia has foiled an Islamist-inspired terrorist plot to bring down an aircraft with an improvised explosive device, authorities said Sunday, after four people were arrested in raids across Sydney. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the plot appeared to be “elaborate” rather than planned by a …
Read More »Cardinal Pell back in Australia to face abuse charges
Embed from Getty Images Sydney, Australia | AFP | Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell arrived back in Australia on Monday ahead of a court appearance later this month over historical sex abuse charges. The 76-year-old, a top advisor to Pope Francis, touched down in Sydney and was met …
Read More »Pope aide Pell charged with multiple child sex abuse in Australia
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Cardinal George Pell, one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican and Australia’s most senior Catholic, was Thursday charged with historical child sex offences, which he “strenuously denied”. Pell, the Vatican’s finance chief and the highest-ranking Catholic cleric to face such charges, had been …
Read More »CLAPPER: Watergate pales in comparison to Trump scandals
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Watergate pales in comparison to the scandals engulfing Donald Trump and the Russia connection, former top US intelligence official James Clapper said Wednesday ahead of a key Senate hearing in Washington. Clapper, who has worked in intelligence under every US leader from John F. Kennedy …
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