2008-01-26

Australia will press on with plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq in June this year, although promises were made by the nation’s foreign minister that relations with the United States will not be affected by the move.
Foreign minister Stephen Smith said that the withdrawal will be conducted in an orderly fashion to minimise inconvenience [...]

2008-01-22

Monsoonal rains in Queensland, Australia have caused massive flooding over two thirds of the state, and led Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts to declare the town of Emerald a disaster zone.
The floods, which first hit the north part of the state a week ago, have since spread as far south as Charleville, where they have [...]

Monsoonal rains in Queensland, Australia have caused massive flooding over two thirds of the state, and led Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts to declare the town of Emerald a disaster zone.
The floods, which first hit the north part of the state a week ago, have since spread as far south as Charleville, where they have [...]

2008-01-21

Shearers lured to better paid jobs in booming mining sector, just as demand from China, which buys about 60 percent of Australian wool, is soaring

2008-01-14

Former Australian Treasurer Peter Costello has again created media speculation of a Liberal leadership challenge with reports claiming he is weighing up challenging for the leadership of the Liberal party against a position outside of politics with the Macquarie Bank.
Costello is reported to have told friends that opposition leader Dr Brendon Nelson will not last [...]

2008-01-13

Australia’s Opposition Party laid blame for recent interest rate increases at the feet of new federal treasurer Wayne Swan. Swan, in turn, criticized the banks, saying they risk being “judged very harshly” if they “try to take advantage of the U.S. sub-prime crisis by lifting interest rates excessively.”
Following the National Australia Bank (NAB) lifting its [...]

2008-01-02

South Australian Premier Mike Rann has said that David Hicks, a convicted terrorism supporter, should apologize unconditionally to the Australian public for his actions.
Hicks, who was released from Yatala Labour Prison in Adelaide, was expected to make an apology upon release, but his lawyer read a prepared statement instead. He spent six years at Guantanamo [...]

2007-12-26

The temperature in Perth, Western Australia reached 44.2�C (111�F) making it the hottest December day since records commenced, and the seventh hottest day ever recorded in Perth. This combined with the yesterday’s second hottest Christmas day of 40.7�C (105�F) and Monday’s 35.9�C (97�F) makes this the hottest three-day Christmas period since records began.
The temperatures have [...]

2007-12-10

An Australian judge has handed down sentences to nine males, who admitted raping a 10-year-old girl, each of which do not involve spending any time behind bars. Six of the offenders, who were minors at the time of the crime were placed on probation. The other three aged 17, 18 and 26 were given suspended [...]

2007-12-09

Police in Auckland, New Zealand were dispatched to two incidents, one at Television New Zealand and Greenstone Pictures in which envelopes containing notes saying “anthrax” and a white powdery substance were discovered.
The police, fire service and bomb disposal unit were called in with a device that can detect anthrax, and it was later determined that [...]

2007-12-03

Kevin Rudd has been sworn in as Australia’s new Prime Minister with an agenda of action on climate change and the repeal of unpopular industrial laws. The new Labor government has signed ratification document to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and also plans to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq by the middle of 2008.
The [...]

2007-11-10

Since author Norman Mailer has just died � and so close to Veteran�s Day — I must take this opportunity to put in a plug for his first novel, �The Naked and the Dead.� It is set on the Pacific front in World War II and centers on a group of American soldiers. They are [...]

Since author Norman Mailer has just died � and so close to Veteran�s Day — I must take this opportunity to put in a plug for his first novel, �The Naked and the Dead.� It is set on the Pacific front in World War II and centers on a group of American soldiers. They are [...]

2007-11-07

Bindeez beads, a children’s toy from Australia and manufactured by Moose Enterprise in Hong Kong, is being pulled off toy store shelves in the United Kingdom after traces of an illegal drug, which is converted into gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) when ingested, was found inside the toy. At least 20 million toys are effected.
So far at [...]

Six men were charged Monday with the attempted assassination of Commodore Frank Bainimarama, the commanding officer of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces and the interim Prime Minister of Fiji since January 5, 2007.
Police Commissioner Commodore Esala Teleni said Monday that sixteen people were being detained in connection to a plot to assassinate the Bainimarama [...]

2007-10-16

At the start of the election campaign, Australia’s conservative Prime Minister, John Howard, has promised $34 billion in personal income tax cuts over the next three years. That is on top of $31.5 billion announced in May, and $36.7 billion announced in 2006.
The new tax cuts are based on new projections for growth in the [...]

2007-10-14

The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard has announced that the Australian federal election will be held on November 24, 2007. Howard visited the Governor General of Australia Michael Jeffries earlier today and then announced the news.
Mr Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia for over 10 years now, said that the country’s “best years lie [...]

2007-09-12

Speaking on the ABC’s 7.30 report on Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, admitted that if he is re-elected at the forthcoming election he will not serve a full three-year term as Prime Minister.
The announcement follows a Liberal party meeting early on Wednesday where Mr Howard told his party that they needed to unite behind [...]

2007-09-07

According to the highest ranking police officer in New South Wales, the cast and crew of Australian TV show, The Chaser’s War on Everything could have been shot during a prank staged in Sydney where they breached APEC security.
The comedians staged a fake motorcade to gain access to the APEC restricted area in Sydney’s CBD. [...]

According to the highest ranking police officer in New South Wales, the cast and crew of Australian TV show, The Chaser’s War on Everything could have been shot during a prank staged in Sydney where they breached APEC security.
The comedians staged a fake motorcade to gain access to the APEC restricted area in Sydney’s CBD. [...]