OCEANIA

Photo Credit: AP

SYDNEY (AP) — Australian national carrier Qantas is forecasting a loss of more than 1.1 billion Australian dollars (US$790 million) in July-December in what its chief executive, Alan Joyce, called one of the worst periods of the entire pandemic.

In a notice to the Australian Stock Exchange on Thursday, Qantas said the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is affecting international bookings after Australia finally began to ease entry restrictions.

The airline had seen a “significant drop in booking momentum due to the news of the Omicron variant and the additional quarantine restrictions imposed,” Joyce told the exchange.

“The news of the Omicron variant had a clear impact on people’s confidence to book international trips in particular. But we haven’t seen large numbers of cancellations,” he said.

Photo Credit: Aljazeera

Sydney, Australia – As residents in Australia’s second largest city flock to restaurants for dinner and drinks, Sarah Dennithorne is considering closing some of her pizzerias over the busy Christmas period.

Since Melbourne exited one of the world’s longest lockdowns in October, Dennithorne, who manages several branches of Sal’s Authentic New York Pizza, has struggled to fill vacancies in the kitchen and front of house.

Before the pandemic, she could easily receive 100 to 150 applications for every job. These days, she is lucky to get five.

“I’ve managed hospitality businesses in Melbourne for 20 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Dennithorne told Al Jazeera.

Australian states and territories on Friday begun imposing border restrictions after 28 COVID-19 cases were detected from a cluster on Sydney’s northern beaches, with fears the number of infections will rise.

“Everyone in greater Sydney needs to be on high alert,” New South Wales (NSW) state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told a news conference on Friday in announcing 10 new cases.

Health authorities fear the cluster may have spread to other areas of Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, as they have yet to determine the source of the infections.

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Papua, in eastern Indonesia on Thursday, US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The quake hit about 250km west of the town of Abepura in Papua province at 00:46 local time, at a depth of 12km, according to the US Geological Survey.

The quake was felt weakly in Abepura, but most people did not notice it.

"I was still awake at home, but I did not feel it all and none of my neighbours ran out of their home," Abepura resident Arul Firmansyah told AFP.

Policemen in Indonesia have fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators in central Jakarta, after supporters of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto began setting fire to buildings and vehicles and pelted officers with rocks and burning objects.

National Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said protests against the final results of last month's presidential election, which showed Prabowo losing to incumbent President Joko Widodo, turned violent late on Tuesday and continued into the early hours of Wednesday.