Tag: Australia in world news

Acclaimed author Thomas Keneally says the federal government's treatment of asylum seekers makes Australia look like buffoons from the colonial era.

Human Rights Watch has slammed Australia's treatment of asylum seekers in its annual report.

Sydney Airport finished 2013 strongly with December recording a record high number of passengers passing through to help it achieve its busiest ever year.

Indonesia has warned Australia over a series of breaches of its territorial waters and demanded the government stop turning boats back.

Australian Greenpeace campaigner Colin Russell is expected to return home in a few days after Russia granted him an exit visa.

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd denies his plans to tour and debate global affairs mean he's angling for a tilt at the United Nations' top job.

Australian retirees are the world's most generous when it comes to leaving an inheritance, with the average bequeathing $500,000 (£273,000) to their heirs.

Tony Abbott believes Nelson Mandela was one of the truly great figures of the last century.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has given Indonesia assurances Australia will not spy on Jakarta anymore as she tries to repair the damage to bilateral ties.

The Government has defended raids by ASIO ahead on an international hearing on an oil and gas treaty with East Timor.

With demand for consular services rising and government budgets under pressure, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is encouraging people who get into trouble overseas to be more self-reliant.

After years of attempting to build a case against Julian Assange, it appears US prosecutors won't indict him for publishing confidential documents.

Protests have erupted in Jakarta as Prime Minister Tony Abbott responds to Indonesia's call to explain the tapping of the president's phone.

Protesters have warned Australians would be targeted unless Indonesia receives an apology over the phone tapping scandal.

Both are up there when it comes to the Best Student Cities in the World, but Sydney offers better quality of living, and is more affordable for students, compared to Melbourne.

Australia has been accused of betraying Indonesia amid an outbreak in nationalist rhetoric in the wake of fresh spying allegations.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is refusing to comment on allegations Australian spies targeted the mobile phone of Indonesia's president and his confidants.

The Australian government has pledged more than $10 million to assist rescue efforts in the Philippines after super Typhoon Haiyan hit the nation.

Australian actor Liam Hemsworth told Jay Leno how his mother, Leonie Hemsworth, was his sex education teacher in high school.

According to new statistics there are more Australians leaving Australia compared to overseas visitors arriving.

There is mounting pressure for Prime Minister Tony Abbott to call Vladimir Putin and obtain the release of an Australian Greenpeace activist being detained in a Russian prison.

The ballot to attend the 2015 dawn service at Gallipoli, marking 100 years since the campaign, has been delayed, and will now open in mid November.

People smugglers in Indonesia have formed a “super syndicate” as Australia’s new resettlement policy sees demand for their services from asylum seekers plummet.

Australian Federal Police are warning the public about a scam where consumers ‘win’ an all expenses paid holiday, unaware they are being used as drug mules.

The NSW Government are loving themselves at the moment, as Sydney is voted the second best city in the world, ahead of New York, Rome, Toronto and...Melbourne. Awkward.

Rolf Harris is likely to face trial in late April 2014 on 13 sex offences a London court has heard.

Aussie Hollywood movie stars Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth have ranked in the top 10 sexiest movie and television stars.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott seems to have toned down his tough talk on the asylum-seeker issue after meeting the Indonesian president.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he wants to get Australia’s relationship with Indonesia right, but the opposition believes there’s a big problem.

The Australian government is yet to seek the release of activists who have been detained in a Russian prison in relation to protests over Arctic drilling, despite calls for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to personally intervene.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says his government's policy to turn back asylum seeker boats to Indonesia will respect the country's sovereignty.

Australian Foreign minister Julie Bishop says the deaths of Ross Langdon and others in Kenya are a reminder that “we must do all we can to fight terrorism”.

An Australian architect who had lived and worked in the UK and his wife were among the victims of the attack on a Nairobi shopping centre.

PNG police and villagers are hunting bandits who attacked an Australian tourist trekking group on a track in the country’s north.

Tony Abbott’s government has been accused of pettiness after incoming foreign minister Julie Bishop axed a plum posting as Australia's next consul-general in New York for former Labor premier Steve Bracks.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has seized on Tony Abbott's baddies versus baddies comment on Syria to question his credentials to represent Australia internationally.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr has told a group of Perth business leaders that he believes that the al-Assad regime was responsible for a devastating chemical attack in Damascus last week, although he does not foresee a role for Australian troops in the conflict.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has likened the ever worsening civil war in Syria to past atrocities, warning the world would be judged for inaction.

There is a change coming in the solar power market.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called the alleged chemical attack on civilians in Damascus "repugnant" as France pledges armed intervention in the Syrian civil war.

Egyptian ambassador to Australia has defended military action against Muslim Brotherhood protesters, while Australian government has urged for restraint from all parties involved in the conflict.

Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus has claimed that information leaked by Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning did not expose government wrongdoing.

Reports suggest that convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby is close to being released from her Balinese prison on parole.

American actor Matt Damon has entered into Australia's asylum seeker debate while visiting Sydney to promote his new film Elysium.

A prominent former US diplomat has criticised Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's plan to relocate asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea, and has referred to the Australian defence budget as "paltry".

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's recently revealed reforms to asylum seeker policy would send gay refugees to Papua New Guinea despite the country's strict laws against homosexuality.

Labor and the coalition have continued the blame-game over asylum seeker boat arrivals, after another boat sank and claims of rape on Manus Island.

Declassified documents from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade show Australian diplomats are closely following the Bradley Manning case to monitor references to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.

BREAKING | A riot has broken out on Nauru, leading to around 300 asylum seekers escaping from the island's detention centre. This break-out comes in the aftermath of Australian PM Kevin Rudd's announcement of a new hard-line approach to boat people.

Prime Minister Rudd announces no asylum seekers arriving by boat will resettle in Australia under new deal with PNG.