The National Security Agency (NSA) snooping muddle seems to grow murkier by the day. Causing further embarrassment to the Obama administration, new revelations say that U.S. may have been listening into German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone calls for over a decade. Reports said President Barack Obama apologised to the German leader and told her he would have ended it had he known about it.
Protesting Russian action against the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise, an activist of the organisation, staged a two-hour protest inside a tent hanging from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, on Saturday. Reports said the Greenpeace activist who climbed atop the Eiffel Tower, unveiled a banner which read "Free the Arctic 30" and "Militants in prison, climate in danger.”
Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy for Syria, said Saturday that Iran should be invited to participate in the proposed Syria peace talks in Geneva, as reported in Iran's Press TV.
Former, ousted Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, on Friday said he feared that al Qaeda agents were plotting to kill him. Maldivian authorities are investigating the matter.
Australia will need to cut back carbon emissions further to bridge the gap between climate change commitments and what scientists believe is necessary. Ecofys, a European consultancy firm, has published a report that estimates Australia will need to reduce carbon emissions by at least 27 per cent by 2020. By 2030, the country will have to cut 82 per cent of carbon to honour its commitment to prevent global warming.
Following Australia’s stringent crackdown, people smugglers from Indonesia may use shipping containers to transport asylum seekers, in place of traditional fishing boats. Customers are also being told that New Zealand is a safer destination than Australia.
Chinese crackdown on Uighur Muslim, continues in the country’s restive Muslim-majority Xinjiang province, as security agencies arrested over 139 activists over the past few weeks on charges of promoting jihad online.
With over 200 Australian in Syria, several of them for aid work and some others fighting for the jihadist cause, former Foreign Minister Bob Carr has said the government should look at options to ban the return of Australian youth, participating in the fighting.
In an effort to garner support for its cause, the Palestinian Authority has sent letter to over 50 countries asking them to freeze business dealings and withdraw investments from Israeli settlement areas occupied since the 1967 war. In the latest diplomatic offensive, the Palestinian Authority has sent letter to countries in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia including South Africa, Australia, Japan and South Korea.
Democratic governance, land rights and demilitarisation will be key priority issues for the new government of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-dominated Northern Province, said its Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, on Friday. Mr Wigneswarn was addressing the first inaugural session of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) since the end of the military operation against Tamil separatist organisation the LTTE. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won the recent NPC polls with an impressive 30 out of 38 seats.
Next month’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from November 15 to 17, received another blow, on Saturday, when the country’s main Tamil party announced that it will boycott the Summit.
Kieron Bryan, a 29-year old, British video journalist from London, who is one of 30 people arrested on boat Arctic Sunrise by Russia authorities at an offshore oil drilling rig on 18 September, says he fears "losing years of his life" languishing in Russian prison.
Two monumental milestones had happened in the third week of October in the global commodities sector, namely uranium and rare earths. Jamaica has opened its first rare earths extraction plant, while Greenland has repealed its two-decades-old ban on uranium mining.
Saudi Arabian feminist defiance of an Islamic ban against driving seems to have gone off relatively peacefully Saturday with more than 60 women across the country claiming to have driven their cars. Al-Madina newspaper Sunday reported that authorities arrested 14 women for driving in Riyadh and the cities of Jeddah and Mecca and in the Eastern Province.
Upon Chinese request, Pakistan has banned three Islamic outfits allegedly carrying out insurgent activities in China's Muslim-majority Xinjiang province.
Britain has sounded the alarm bells to warn its residents to prepare for its worst storm in a decade, dubbed St Jude, a Stormageddon of its kind as described on social networks.
New Zealand is reportedly the easiest route for asylum seekers to take, according to people-smugglers who charge $17,000 per person. Reports said that people-smugglers in Indonesia are promising safe passage to New Zealand via shipping containers. The smugglers are looking for "customers" who want to take the "cruise ship" option. A news agency Australia has investigated the alleged asylum seeker cruise to New Zealand.
Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar traded in a narrow range on Friday night as it consolidated its position after its strong run through 0.9700 ast week.
Japan has been hit again by a 5.5 magnitude earthquake on Monday.
An Australian soldier stops an insider attack from an Afghan soldier
Tony Abbott Calls ALP ''wacko'' and ''embarrassing'' in his interview with The Washington Post
India may have the largest number of PhD degree holders in computer courses and it may be the provider of a large number of IT tasks globally through the business process outsourcing industry (BPO), but its top official is old school.
Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has criticised U.S. President Barack Obama for sending a wrong message to Asia when he cancelled his attendance to two regional summits in favour of his government's shutdown. Mr Obama has previously pledged to focus more on Asia but as the news of a US government shutdown was threatening to cripple government operations, he cancelled what was supposed to be a four-nation trip including two Asian summits.
Japan announced it has successfully test fired a space cannon specifically meant to shatter asteroids. The cannon, built by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), has been cleared for mission take-off in 2014.
In a press conference on Oct. 24, Air Marshal Mark Binskin finally apologized on behalf of the department as it acknowledged that military explosives training had started the State Mine Fire.
A disturbing report “The Neglected Genocide - Human Rights abuses against Papuans in the Central Highlands” revealed a connection with Australia
Canada has admitted it will fail meeting its carbon emissions target by 2020 due to the continued growth and development of its oil and gas sectors.
Prince George did not get but seven godparents. Kate Middleton and Prince William announced the name of those seven godparents who would be assisting them in bringing up the future England King.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has denied 25 years of climate change research and accused a UN executive secretary of the Framework Convention on Climate Change of "talking through her hat." Al Gore has criticised Tony Abbott for dismissing evidence provided by climate change scientists. He said in an interview on Oct. 23 that the Abbott government should not be misled by groups with special interests that also do not believe in climate change evidence.
As the New South Wales fire rages on, with some relief to firefighting efforts due to the weather conditions, Australian government’s climate change policy seems to have come under some intense fire. The United Nations (UN) climate chief Christiana Figueres in an interview with CNN, said that NSW bushfires were absolutely linked to climate change. She noted that the Tony Abbott government in Australia will end up paying a heavy political and economic price for walking away from Labor's commi...
