POLITICS & POLICY

With the chance of the 2014 El Niño weather phenomenon still going, dairy and beef farmers in Australia have been advised to brace for potential impacts on the industry.

From an initial July impact forecast, the Australia's Bureau of Meteorology announced the El Niño weather phenomenon seemed to lag behind and might probably develop by September, even as it saw a deceleration in Pacific Ocean warming associated with the weather pattern.

SMS rates are expected to drop following a decision from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The New Zealand Greens has accused the government of further endangering the rare Maui "hobbit" dolphin by opening its habitat to oil exploration and drilling.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar traded to a fresh one-week low, following dovish comments by the Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday and offshore moves into the USD overnight.

Oklahoma meteorologist Danielle Dozier of local KOCO-TV just got on air and was about to deliver her live morning weather report when the walls of the studio around her rattled from an earthquake.

A provision in the proposed Coalition budget that broke then Opposition leader Tony Abbott's promise not to impose a new tax was approved in the Australian Senate on Tuesday.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is stretching his final effort to win a seat in the United Nations Security Council as he arrives in the U.S.

Prime Minister Tony Abbot told parliament Monday that the situation in Iraq can give birth to a terrorist state

American President Barack Obama has sent 275 armed forces personnel to Iraq to provide support and security for the U.S. personnel and the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The AUD sits perilously close to 0.9400, almost exactly where it went out at the end of last week.

A new Oxfam survey has revealed a great disparity between Australia's rich and poor. According to Oxfam's report "Still the Lucky Country?" the gap continues to grow as Australia's wealthiest were found to be not paying enough tax.

It is about time to know if Argentina manages to win the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. However, the South American nation lost another significant battle on Monday, June 16 when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Argentina’s plea to pay holdout hedge funds in accordance with its restructured debt offers.

Hillary Clinton called Canada as an “indispensable partner” of the United States on the world stage.

Australia's Trade Minister Andrew Robb has described U.S. President Barack Obama's climate change plan as having "no action associated with it." Robb said the president's bid to cut power-plant emissions in the U.S. lacks substance.

US-Iran alliance may happen soon as violence in Iraq escalate to uncontrollable level

Mass killings by Islamist militants were posted on Twitter; as military killed 279 in 24 hours; Bishop urged Aussies to leave Iraq ASAP

Scott Esk, a Tea Party candidate in Oklahoma for the 91st district in the state house, appears to be endorsing an Old Testament Biblical practice of stoning gay people to death.

Iraq Terror: US Defence Secretary confirmed flying carrier USS George HW Bush to Iraq as Prime Minister Tony Abbott vows to follow US’ decision on Iraq

Australia is expected to achieve less than a third of its target carbon emission cuts, according to research firm Reputex. The report may be a reflection of the country's climate change policy.

The advent of San Francisco-based Uber taxi app in European Union (EU) countries sparked massive strike across various cities such as London, Berlin, Paris, France, Barcelona and Madrid. Traditional taxi drivers mounted large-scale strikes across the various cities that commuters are beset with chaotic days of heavy traffic.

Racism and stereotyping have been the major contributing factors that led to the untimely death in 2008 of Brian Sinclair, an aboriginal man, at the emergency room at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. In fact, the failure of the medical staff to attend to the homeless, double-amputee was tantamount to homicide, the lawyer for the Sinclair family said during closing submissions at an inquest in Winnipeg.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has pledged as the "most dependable" friend of the U.S. in a meeting with Pres. Barack Obama.

As the world awaits for the potential impacts of a looming El Niño in the Pacific Ocean, countries around the Indonesian archipelago have been advised to brace for more devastating Indian Ocean weather events that could bring more and severe drought, bushfires and floods to affected countries, Australia included.

Canadian teachers in British Columbia are set go on a full-scale strike starting June 17 if the government and the BC Teachers' Federation do not settle to have a contract agreement by the weekend.

Individual shareholders of Japan's nuclear power plants want the government to review the country's current energy mix to rely less on nuclear energy, a report by the Asahi Shimbun said.

While most of the dangerous gases that had built up in the atmosphere over the years may have come from countries in the Earth's northern hemisphere, it is the countries however in the south that will bear the impact of the planet's global warming and climate change, a report released by ratings agency Standard & Poor's said.

After Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott expressed his intentions of seeking an alliance with "like-minded" nations to counter U.S. President Barack Obama's climate change agenda, the conservative climate and energy minister of the UK has rejected the idea.

About 15,000 union members and construction workers showed their dislike for the Abbott government's first federal budget by a protest on Thursday in Melbourne.