The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. The confluence of outlandish costumes, soulful folk ballads and an ode to the great American writer Edgar Allan Poe can only mean that Eurovision, the world’s largest, gaudiest and, perhaps, most eccentricContinue Reading
New Zealand said on Tuesday that it was pushing back a phased opening of its borders to the end of February, in another indication of how countries throughout the Asia Pacific region are scrambling to respond to the threat of the Omicron variant. New Zealand also postponed its plans toContinue Reading
A grave marker at Tamborine Mountain Cemetery in Queensland, Australia, bears the name John Vincent Damon. For years, until he died on Aug. 6, 2010, at 69, that’s how he was known to others, including his family. But his real name was William Leslie Arnold, and he had a secret,Continue Reading
Coronation Day Tomorrow, King Charles III will be crowned at Westminster Abbey. It will be the U.K.’s first coronation in 70 years. Charles has been king since his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died seven months ago. Since ascending the throne, he has worked to make the monarchy more accessible, forward-lookingContinue Reading
A mass shooting on Wednesday, in which eight students and a security guard were killed at a school in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, was a reminder that such attacks are far less common outside the United States. “Something like this has never been recorded in the history of Belgrade schools,” saidContinue Reading
The Australian government said it wanted to crack down on the use of e-cigarettes in an effort to “reduce smoking and stamp out vaping” in one of the most sweeping tobacco regulatory moves in the country in years. The proposal, announced on Tuesday, would ban all single-use, disposable vapes; stopContinue Reading
The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. When it was first announced in 2017 that Australia’s oldest power station, Liddell, would close, the news set off a political firestorm. On the heels of the abrupt closure of another coalContinue Reading
China does damage control China moved quickly yesterday to limit damage to its relations with Europe, after the Chinese ambassador to France questioned the sovereignty of post-Soviet nations like Ukraine. The comments by Lu Shaye, the ambassador, in a televised interview on Friday caused a diplomatic firestorm over the weekendContinue Reading
Bruce Haigh, an Australian diplomat who brushed aside the protocols of his profession to offer covert support to anti-apartheid figures in South Africa, including the banned newspaper editor depicted in the movie “Cry Freedom,” died on April 7 in Australia. He was 77. His sister, Christina Henderson, told Australian newsContinue Reading
The wreck of a Japanese ship that sank in 1942 after it was torpedoed by an American submarine has been found, the Australian government said on Saturday. The ship was carrying hundreds of prisoners of war, most of them Australian, who all died, and the discovery resolves a painful episodeContinue Reading