- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- NBA fines Minnesota guard Edwards $75,000 for outburst
- Haitians massacred for practicing voodoo were abducted, hacked to death: UN
- Inter beat Como to keep in touch with leaders Atalanta
- Mixed day for global stocks as market hopes for 'Santa Claus rally'
- Man Utd boss Amorim questions 'choices' of Rashford's entourage
- Trump's TikTok love raises stakes in battle over app's fate
- Is he serious? Trump stirs unease with Panama, Greenland ploys
- England captain Stokes to miss three months with torn hamstring
- Support grows for Blake Lively over smear campaign claim
- Canada records 50,000 opioid overdose deaths since 2016
- Jordanian, Qatari envoys hold talks with Syria's new leader
- France's second woman premier makes surprise frontline return
- France's Macron announces fourth government of the year
- Netanyahu tells Israel parliament 'some progress' on Gaza hostage deal
- Guatemalan authorities recover minors taken by sect members
- Germany's far-right AfD holds march after Christmas market attack
- European, US markets wobble awaiting Santa rally
- Serie A basement club Monza fire coach Nesta
- Mozambique top court confirms ruling party disputed win
- Biden commutes almost all federal death sentences
- Syrian medics say were coerced into false chemical attack testimony
- NASA solar probe to make its closest ever pass of Sun
- France's new government to be announced Monday evening: Elysee
- London toy 'shop' window where nothing is for sale
- Volkswagen boss hails cost-cutting deal but shares fall
- Accused killer of US insurance CEO pleads not guilty to 'terrorist' murder
- Global stock markets mostly higher
- Not for sale. Greenland shrugs off Trump's new push
- Sweden says China blocked prosecutors' probe of ship linked to cut cables
- Acid complicates search after deadly Brazil bridge collapse
- Norwegian Haugan dazzles in men's World Cup slalom win
- Arsenal's Saka out for 'many weeks' with hamstring injury
- Mali singer Traore child custody case postponed
- France mourns Mayotte victims amid uncertainy over government
- UK economy stagnant in third quarter in fresh setback
- Sweden says China denied request for prosecutors to probe ship linked to cut undersea cables
- African players in Europe: Salah leads Golden Boot race after brace
- Global stock markets edge higher as US inflation eases rate fears
- German far-right AfD to march in city hit by Christmas market attack
- Ireland centre Henshaw signs IRFU contract extension
- Bangladesh launches $5bn graft probe into Hasina's family
- US probes China chip industry on 'anticompetitive' concerns
- Biden commutes sentences for 37 of 40 federal death row inmates
- Clock ticks down on France government nomination
- 'Devastated' Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
'Fortress Australia' re-opens to tourists after two-year Covid closure
Australia reopened its borders to vaccinated tourists Monday, nearly two years after the continent nation imposed some of the world's strictest Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The country closed its borders to almost everyone except citizens and residents in March 2020 in an attempt to slow surging Covid-19 case numbers.
The travel ban -- which also barred citizens from going overseas without an exemption and imposed a strict cap on international arrivals -- earned the country the nickname "Fortress Australia".
There were jubilant scenes at the country's two major international airports in Sydney and Melbourne Monday as family and friends finally embraced at arrivals after years apart.
Bernie Edmonds was emotional as he hugged his eight-year-old granddaughter, Charlotte, who had just landed in Sydney.
"It's great to have her back," he said. "She's got to go again but we'll get her back again."
Fellow Sydneysider Jody Tuchin was excited to pick up her best friend, who she had not seen since 2018.
"He made it back just in time for my wedding in four days," she told AFP.
Meanwhile, Qantas pilot Paul Grant said it was "nice to have passengers back on again".
A Qantas flight from Los Angeles was the first to touch down in Sydney at6:20 am (1920 GMT) followed by arrivals from Tokyo, Vancouver and Singapore.
"It's fair to say we've all been waiting a long time to welcome visitors back to Australia," Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said.
The national carrier expects to bring more than 14,000 passengers into Australia this week -- the start of what many believe will be a long, slow recovery for a tourism sector devastated by the pandemic.
"I think we're going to see a very, very strong rebound," Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said at Sydney airport, wearing a t-shirt with the words: "Welcome Back".
Attracting tourists from China, previously Australia's biggest market, would be difficult while Beijing enforces a zero-Covid policy, Tehan admitted.
"But as soon as that changes, Tourism Australia have been doing a lot of work to make sure that we will be ready to encourage those Chinese visitors to come."
The Australian government has launched a AUS$40 million ($28.7 million) advertising campaign to lure tourists back, but only 56 international flights are scheduled to land in Australia in the 24 hours after the re-opening -- far below pre-pandemic levels.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had "no doubt" traveller numbers will scale up in time.
- 'Fortress Australia' -
Every month under "Fortress Australia" has cost businesses an estimated AUS$3.6 billion, according to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with tourism particularly hard hit.
Tony Walker, managing director of Quicksilver Group, which operates cruises, diving excursions and resorts across the Great Barrier Reef, told AFP he was "very excited about being able to re-open".
International tourists "make up around 70 percent" of business for tourism operators on the reef, Walker said, making the two-year border closure "incredibly difficult".
During the pandemic, his company had to reduce its employees from 650 to the 300 it has today.
Key to Australia's reopening is a government requirement that all overseas visitors must be fully vaccinated.
At Sydney Airport, American tourist Robert Landis said this had not dissuaded him from travelling Down Under.
"I've just been looking for any opportunity to get down here," he said.
However, the Australian Tourism Export Council warned this week that "there are worrying signs consumers are wary of travelling" to Australia, with "confusion over our various state travel restrictions and concern about snap border closures" a key issue.
- No west just yet -
Western Australia will not re-open to international travellers on Monday, holding off until March 3.
Until recently, the state had pursued a strict Covid-zero policy, cutting itself off from the rest of the country.
The decision sparked lawsuits -- and the observation that it was easier for Australians to travel to Paris than Perth -- but proved popular with West Australians.
Ch.Kahalev--AMWN