Australia on Friday avoided having the Great Barrier Reef listed as an endangered world heritage site by UNESCO, despite extensive climate change-fuelled damage to the ecosystem’s corals.
Holly Robertson
Covering Australia and the South Pacific for @AFP.
Australia to Take Ambassadors Snorkeling to Save Great Barrier Reef Status
Australia will take a group of ambassadors snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef Thursday in a last-minute lobbying effort to keep the World Heritage site off UNESCO’s endangered list.
From China to Queensland: The Extraordinary Life of Ballet Dancer Li Cunxin
Since Li Cunxin was plucked from rural China to join Madame Mao’s elite ballet school, through his exile in the US and now the pandemic, his life has been a reluctant pas de deux with politics.
Coronavirus ‘Can Survive for 28 Days on Surfaces’
The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 can survive on items such as banknotes and phones for up to 28 days in cool, dark conditions, according to a study by Australia’s national science agency.
Tasmanian Devils Released on Australian Mainland after 3,000 Years
Tasmanian devils have been released into the wild on Australia’s mainland 3,000 years after the feisty marsupials went extinct there, in what conservationists described Monday as a “historic” step.
Young Australian an Unlikely Target for China’s Fury
An Australian university student who has never visited China and has only a modest social media following would seem an unlikely target for the Chinese government.
The 1995 McDonald’s Burger that Never Decomposed Going Viral Once Again
A McDonald’s burger allegedly bought in 1995 and kept in an Australian shed for years has never decomposed, according to two men who now refer to the quarter-century Quarter Pounder as their “mate”.