Australia Launches First Air Strikes Inside Syria

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australia launches first air strikes inside syria

In September， the Australian government has confirmed it has launched its first air strikes inside Syria against targets of the so-called Islamic State （IS）.

Australia is part of an international military coalition targeting IS strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

Three air strikes were made on Sep 14， destroying an IS armoured personnel carrier and a crude oil collection point， the US said in a statement.

Australia’s air force has been bombing IS targets in Iraq for about 12 months.

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott earlier confirmed the Royal Australian Air Force （RAAF） would extend its action from Iraq into Syria at the request of the US， as he also announced that Australia would accept 12，000 Syrian refugees from persecuted minorities.

The UK， United Arab Emirates， Canada， and France were some of the other nations who took part in the most recent bombing raids， according to the statement issued by the US Central Command.

Fifteen air strikes were carried out in Iraq， using attack， bomber， fighter， fighter-attack and remotely piloted aircraft， it said.

Australia’s Defence Minister Kevin Andrews said two RAAF hornets identified the personnel carrier， hidden in an IS compound.

“One of the Hornets employed a precision guided weapon to destroy the target，” said Mr Andrews.

“This was done from a distance or height that preserved the safety of the Australian aircraft，” he said.

“We work within very strict rules of engagement， and those rules of engagement are to ensure as far as possible that we don’t have unwanted civilian casualties.”

1000 Multinationals Face Tax Squeeze under New Rules

The Turnbull government expects to raise “hundreds of millions of dollars” from 1000 multinational companies through new rules designed to extract more tax from profits made in Australia but accounted for overseas.

In what could be his last act as Treasurer， Joe Hockey made good on a budget promise， introducing to Parliament a bill altering existing tax laws to target companies suspected of avoiding their fair share of tax through complex offshore arrangements.

Companies found to be “cheating”the Australian Tax Office will be forced to pay back double what they owe plus interest.

Mr Hockey was immediately criticised by the opposition for not being able to put a specific figure on how much the measure will raise and tax experts warned that it could spark “retaliatory”laws by other governments to targetting Australian companies.

The Tax Office embedded staff in the offices of 30 high-risk multinationals to learn more about their tax structures but Mr Hockey said that the new law would cover 1000 companies with global revenues above $1 billion.

He said a number of multinationals have already come forward and are， he said， “prepared to restructure their businesses to pay their fair share of tax”.

“With the introduction of this legislation， we are sending a clear message that Australia has no tolerance for tax avoiders. If you are avoiding tax， the Australian Taxation Office will catch you，” Mr Hockey said.

Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan said the ATO’s task would be to understand the actual profits companies make in Australia but “backed out” of the country.

A Senate inquiry into tax avoidance has heard evidence that multinational tech companies such as Apple， Google and Microsoft make huge sales in Australia but report tiny taxable profit margins. Likewise， pharmaceutical companies are under pressure over their low profitability in high tax markets such as Australia.

The new rules appear to also apply to large Australian-owned multinationals such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto， which have been criticised for booking profits in low-tax jurisdictions such as Singapore where they have established“marketing hubs”.

Australia’s New PM： Malcolm Turnbull

Mr Turnbull， who was communications minister under Mr Abbott， is the fourth prime minister since 2013.

After taking the oath of office， Mr Turnbull attended his first Question Time in parliament as prime minister.

Mr Abbott said his removal was“tough” but promised not to undermine the new government.

In his first public comments since his removal by the Liberal party， Mr Abbott said it had been “a tough day， but when you join the game， you accept the rules”.

He said he was proud of what his government had achieved， while also taking swipes at party members who had leaked to the media and carried out “a sour， bitter character assassination”.

He did not say if he would remain on the backbench or eventually resign from politics.

Mr Abbott’s removal followed weeks of tumbling polls ratings and speculation about a challenge to his leadership.

In a move led by Mr Turnbull and his deputy and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop， Mr Abbott was voted out by the Liberal party by 54 votes to 44.

In his first Question Time session in parliament， Mr Turnbull paid tribute to Mr Abbott， and said these are “the most exciting times to be an Australian”.

“The future is one of great opportunities and that requires confidence and leadership and it will be lost if we embrace the politics of fear and scaremongering.”

He said policies would “change in the light of changed conditions”， but did not signal any immediate amendments to contentious issues including same sex marriage and climate policy.

Opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten said Mr Abbott had been “a formidable fighter” in office， and praised his“generous and personal” nature.

World’s Longest Continental Volcano Chain Discovered in Australia

Scientists have discovered the world’s longest chain of continental volcanoes， stretching 2，000km along eastern Australia.

Huge and ancient underwater volcanoes discovered off coast of Sydney.

The volcanic chain， which started its formation 33m years ago， runs from near the Whitsundays in Queensland to near Melbourne. It is nearly three times the length of the Yellowstone volcanic track in the US.

The volcanoes weren’t formed at the edge of tectonic plates， where most volcanoes occur. Instead， they came about from mantle plumes， which are upwellings of hot rock from around 3，000km below the Earth’s surface.

At around 130km underground， these plumes melt， breaching the outer layer of the Earth’s crust， called the lithosphere and creating visible volcanoes.

Scientists studied 15 of these volcanoes in a variety of ways， including analysis of the isotopes of the rocks and reconstructing the path of the volcano chain. The volcano chain has a notable gap in it of around 800km between the Queensland and New South Wales formations.

“Volcanoes in Queensland are im- pressive， they are very striking and you can see them from miles away，” said Dr Rhodri Davies of the Australian National University， who led the research， published in Nature.

“I don’t want to say those in Victoria and NSW are less impressive， but they are less striking. That’s because Earth’s strong rigid outer shell， not just the crust， the upper mantle， varies in thickness. The gap in the chain coincides with a thickness where the plume can’t melt， whereas in Queensland the plume can get to a shallower depth， meaning you get more impressive， larger volcanoes.”

A single， fixed plume of hot rock created the chain of volcanoes due to the gradual northwards movement of the Australian continent， at a rate of around 7cm a year.

The northernmost volcano was created at Cape Hillsborough 33m years ago， with the shift in the Australian plate resulting in the plume pushing through in Victoria around 9m years ago. Scientists have named the volcano chain Cosgrove after an extinct Victorian volcano.

Davies said the plume is now placed under the Bass Strait， which lies between Victoria and Tasmania. He added that the most recent volcanic eruption in Australia took place at Mount Gambier 5，000 years ago， in a separate volcanic formation.

“It is always nice to discover something like this，” Davies said. “We are getting much better at understanding volcanism in Australia. People don’t realise we have the most extensive volcanoes on Earth but there are still some individual provinces yet to explore.”

New Australian prime minister flags more women in Cabinet

Australia’s new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull flagged that more women would be included in his first Cabinet to be sworn in September.

“There is no greater enthusiast than me for seeing more women in positions of power and influence in Parliament， in ministries right across the country，”Turnbull told reporters in his first news conference as prime minister.

“I am very committed to that， but I am not going to say any more about the new ministerial arrangements，” he said.

Turnbull replaced his unpopular predecessor Tony Abbott in a surprise leadership vote of lawmakers in the ruling conservative Liberal Party.

Abbott was widely criticized for including only two women in his 19-member Cabinet， Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Health Minister Sussan Ley. Bishop was the only woman in Abbott’s first Cabinet sworn in in 2013.

Turnbull said there would be “some changes” in his Cabinet， but gave no indication of the scale. He declined to comment on the future of the government’s chief economic minister， Treasurer Joe Hockey.

In challenging Abbott’s leadership， Turnbull indirectly attacked Hockey with the criticism that “the government is not successful in providing the economic leadership that we need.”

The government’s popularity plunged in opinion polls and never recovered after Hockey revealed his first annual budget in May last year. That budget was widely criticized as unfair toward the poor.

Hockey revealed that he had had discussions about his future with Turnbull， suggesting he might accept another ministry.

Turnbull said he had spoken to Abbott since his ouster， but did not know whether the former prime minister intended to stay in Parliament.