Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been lauded for defending his country, after drafting a code of behaviour for the hoards of asylum seekers that threatens to deport them for ‘irritating people, disturbing someone or spitting or swearing in public’. Australia’s tough stance over asylum seekers from Indonesia has soured relations between the two countries in recent months and this document... 

Vast quantities dredged sand and mud will be dumped right by Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef to create a multi-billion-dollar coal port – the world’s biggest. The authority watching over the UNESCO World Heritage site just gave the green light. What the dumping permit awarded by The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority does is allow two Indian firms and an Australian billionaire miner... 

Firefighters working to douse flames in Western Australia on Jan.13, 2013. At least one person has died and dozens of homes have been destroyed as an intense wildfire rages through Australia’s west coast. The fire has damaged and destroyed at least 40 houses in the city of Perth. Four people have also been reported missing in Parkerville, the village where the fire started. “It has been confirmed... 

An emergency warning has been issued in Western Australia due to a bushfire that continues to rage toward the city of Perth. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said on Monday that at least one person died in the flames that destroyed dozens of houses and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people in the suburbs of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia State. “It has been confirmed... 

All the passengers of the Russian ship Akademik Shokalsky, stuck in the Antarctic since Christmas Eve, have been rescued after a Chinese helicopter delivered them to an Australian icebreaker. A total of 52 scientists and tourists have been transported to the Aurora Australis vessel, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which has supervised the rescue operation. It was initially... 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) speaks to Tim Anderson, a senior lecturer in political economy at Sydney University, during a meeting with an Australian delegation in Damascus on Dec 23, 2013. A delegation from Australia’s WikiLeaks Party has traveled to Syria and met with a number of Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad. The delegation that included John Shipton, the father... 

An Australian rescue vessel trying to reach the Russian ship, MV Akademik Shokalskiy, trapped in Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve, is expected to arrive on Sunday after Chinese and French icebreakers failed to get through heavy sea ice. The Akademik Shokalskiy, with 74 scientists, tourists and crew members on board, has been on a privately-funded research expedition to Antarctica to retrace the footsteps... 

A team of Australian and American scientists has developed a new chemical compound with the ability of reversing aging process tested in animal. The newly found drug like a youth elixir targets and reverses muscle aging while it can build up muscle tone, reduce inflammation and give mice more energy. The drug that conjures up the story of David Fincher’s movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button... 

It appears that even employees of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s own publications don’t too much care for the cantankerous octogenarian — and they’re not half bad at puzzles, either. That’s at least the determination that many readers of Australia’s largest newspaper made this week after catching a curious secret message of sorts in the Sunday Telegraph. It took a few days for anyone to... 

Members of aboriginal communities in Australia have held a demonstration to protest government-proposed “councils” that would supervise their heritage sites. The protesters from rural areas assembled on Thursday in front of the Parliament House in Sydney to call on the government to abandon plans to establish the councils. They said the planned reforms are aimed at silencing their voice and limiting... 

Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to Australia after a top-secret document revealed that Australian spy agencies attempted to listen in on the personal phone calls of Indonesia’s president. New revelations by American whistleblower Edward Snowden showed that the Australian spy agencies targeted the mobile phones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and senior ministers and confidants. The... 

The CEO of one of the world’s foremost computer security firms says the Stuxnet worm that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities may have also infiltrated similar critical systems in Russia. If accurate, allegations that Stuxnet snuck its way into Russia could implicate the United States and Israel in an even broader act of cyberwar than previously reported. Since Stuxnet was discovered in 2010, the... 

An Australian soldier patrolling an area in Afghanistan. The Australian ambassador to Afghanistan says his government has offered to keep hundreds of troops in war-ravaged Afghanistan even after the 2014 deadline for the pullout of foreign forces. Jon Philp told reporters in Kabul on Wednesday that Canberra had made an offer to the Afghan government to keep between 100-400 troops in Afghanistan into... 

Wildfires threaten the suburbs of Australia’s largest city, Sydney, as an investigation finds out the fires were ignited by a military exercise. A fire service spokesman said late Wednesday that more than 1,500 Australian firefighters continue to battle the fire to keep flames from reaching the western suburbs of Sydney. A combination of high winds and temperatures have fueled fears the bushfires... 

Searching for gold may not be such a hopeless thing to do, if you know where to look. Apparently a local prospector in Ballarat, Australia knew where to look, as he has found a gold nugget weighing 5.5 kilograms, worth up to half a million dollars. The name of the lucky man, who discovered the precious nugget, is being kept secret, the Courier newspaper reports. Experts at the Ballarat Mining Exchange...