A bright object that dazzled in the sky over Australia left people confused. Social media was abuzz with the pictures of the mystery fireball, with users claiming it was either a plane crashing into the ocean or a ‘meteor.’ A round object with a burning tail was spotted in the sky over Victoria, NSW, Tasmania and South Australia at about 9:45pm local time on Thursday night. Airservices Australia... 

Australia’s highest court has officially admitted the existence of a third “non-specific” gender, putting an end to years of legal battle for sexual equality by the activist, Norrie. From now on, not everyone on the koala continent will be forced to identify themselves as a man or woman when dealing with officials, and could describe themselves as gender neutral. “The High Court…... 

Star discovered to be the oldest ever found, by Dr. Stefan Keller with the SkyMapper telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia. Australian astronomers are positive they’ve discovered the most ancient star to date. Being practically three times older than our Sun, the old-timer star could serve as a prototype system to explore matter metamorphose in... 

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... 

Catastrophic weather systems known as ‘fire clouds’, sparked by heat from the raging bush blazes outside Sydney, could see south west Australia hit by devastating lightning storms. The dramatic cloud formations have already been seen over some burning parts of the New South Wales bush last week. But a merging of the biggest wild fires into one ‘mega blaze’ could see temperatures... 

Australians still in the path of forest fires 140 kilometres west of Sydney were told on Saturday it was too late to be evacuated and they should take whatever shelter they could find. Lithgow, at the foot of the Blue Mountains in the south-eastern region, had lost nearly 200 homes in the firestorm that swept through Thursday. The blaze is the latest of dozens in an emergency that Rural Fire Service... 

Julian Assange’s newly formed Australian WikiLeaks Party (WLP) announced that if elected, it will immediately introduce a national shield law to protect a reporter’s right not to reveal a source, as current state-based shield laws are “inadequate.” “Only a uniform shield law covering the whole Commonwealth is acceptable,” WLP spokespersons Cassie Findlay and Sam Castro said. “Government... 

Flood wreaked havoc on the state of Queensland, Australia, in January 2011. Thousands of people in eastern Australia have been cut off from their homes by floodwaters, following thunderstorms and tornados that wreaked havoc to the region. Flooding, caused by heavy rain and stiff winds, continues in Australia. The State Emergency Service (SES) said Sunday that around 20,000 people had been cut off across... 

A heat wave that has already caused devastating fires on the Island state of Tasmania, with 100 people still missing, has now moved to mainland Australia and is reaping havoc in New South Wales, as the heat wave looks to smash records. ­In some areas temperatures have shot up by as much as 20C in three hours and combined with 50 mph winds have created disastrous fire conditions. Right across Australia... 

A man walks past a Malaysian Islamic bank The government of the Australian state of New South Wales, home to the country’s financial capital Sydney, has put the introduction of the Islamic financial system on its agenda. A delegation, led by New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell and including financial services professionals will travel to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, to discuss regulatory... 

Koala populations in parts of the country face a ‘serious threat’ from urban expansion and climate change, government says. The Australian government has listed the koala as a threatened species in parts of the country for the first time, admitting that the species faces a “serious threat” from factors such as urban expansion and climate change. Koala populations in Queensland,... 

Australians build up a levee to prevent flood waters in the New South Wales town of Charleville on February 4, 2012. Nearly 9,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes in Australia’s flood-stricken south, where the military has joined emergency services to evacuate the residents. Days of heavy rain have caused flooding across three Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria... 

It is called Murray Valley encephalitis, it is very rare, it can infect humans, it is deadly and it has been found among chickens in Australia’s New South Wales State, in the first appearance since the 1970s. The population in the areas infected in this State and the State of Victoria is being warned to protect itself. Murray Valley encephalitis is more commonly found in north-western Australia... 

Rabbi Yosef Feldman ONE of the state’s most high profile Jewish leaders is fighting off calls for his resignation after he urged rabbis not to report allegations of child abuse to the police. Rabbi Yosef Feldman, president of the Rabbinical Council of NSW and based at the Southern Sydney Synagogue, has sparked outrage in a series of emails to other rabbis when he said it should be up to them... 

A student wearing a burka. Muslim women who refuse to remove their veils for police will face jail under new laws in Australia’s largest state. The New South Wales government has rushed through legislation allowing police to force the removal of head coverings to identify suspected criminals. The laws, among the toughest in the world involving Islamic female dress, follow the recent furore over a...