POLITICS & POLICY

A plane carrying five top government officials of Laos crashed over the weekend. A total of 16 died from the accident.

At least 44 have died from the worst floods that hit Serbia and Bosnia in more than a century over the weekend. Four days of heavy rainfall had triggered landslides forcing thousands to flee their homes as mud covered villages and roads. Rising flood waters are likewise threatening the power plants in the region.

Is North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un the victim of black propaganda by western media or is he a heartless leader who would not hesitate to kill - even relatives and loved ones - to hold on to power?

The deficit tax and other unpopular measures introduced by the Coalition government are proving to be the Julia Gillard moment of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The PM, who is only eight months in power, was the subject of the March in May protests held over the weekend.

After the Abbott government's budget revelations on May 13, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has declared in a speech that "Australia has been deceived." In an official response to the budget, Shorten told Parliament that the average Australian household will be earning $6,000 a year less by the 2016 election.

Pralhad Shirsath an Indian citizen whose wife Kranti Shirsath, was on board flight MH370 wrote a letter to world leaders implying that Malaysian government is hiding something about the missing MH370

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia “hardly spent anything” in the search for the missing MH370

Eight months after a magnitude 7.2 temblor, the Philippines' Central Visayas has been stricken anew with a major earthquake on Thursday early evening that measured magnitude 6.3.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has vowed on Thursday to block key measures of the 2014-15 federal budget proposed by the Coalition government. In opposing the document, Shorten pointed out because of some provisions such as the deficit tax, higher fuel excise and $7 co-pay per visit to the GP, it would take away about $120 a week from the average family budget for the next two years.

New Zealand Labour has asked Prime Minister John Key to admit that the country's spy agency has been trained by the U.S. National Security Agency to do mass surveillance. Documents published in a new book revealed that all agencies involved in the Five Eyes Network were trained to operate a sophisticated system that can sift through phone numbers, email addresses and online chat messages.

The conservative Abbott government has managed to get rid of Australia's last major program for renewable energy in its latest budget. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dumped the country's energy assistance program and several other climate and scientific research projects, according to budget data released last May 13.

A new NOAA-led study released by US researchers has presented a glimpse of potentially more droughts to countries near the Equator. It found global warming is pushing Pacific tropical cyclones away from the equator going toward the poles, potentially risking Japan and Korea peninsula and other regions with generally larger populations during cyclone season.

A plan to make Melbourne as Australia's smoke-free city was deemed "totally unworkable" and unreasonable by Premier Denis Napthine. He criticised a Melbournei councilor's proposal to impose a smoking ban in Melbourne.

Russia slowly severs the tie with the United States as it will suspend American GPS operations in Russia come June 1. In the same clause Russia will also stop supporting Washington in using Russian-made rocket engines for military satellite launches.

Iranian women are encouraged to remove their hijab and upload their photos on Facebook.

MP Clive Palmer was caught on camera on Wednesday dozing off in Parliament. He blamed Prime Minister Tony Abbott for boring him during the Question Time, causing him to take an unexpected and unplanned nap.

A migrant ship carrying at least 400 people sank 100 nautical miles south of the island of Lampedusa, in Southern Italy. At least 17 people died while 200 have been rescued, according to the Italian Navy.

Ordinarily, politicians' wives are seen as fashion icons that the public wouldn't mind seeing them in expensive dresses or gowns during state functions. Think Jacqueline Kennedy or Michelle Obama who are considered fashion icons and trendsetters of their time. However, that rule would not apply when the event is a budget announcement and the government is asking citizens to tighten its belt, only to find out the wife of the treasurer spent $750 on a designer's dress.

Critiques are pointing all fingers to Hillary Clinton as ‘culprit’ for Boko Haram’s kidnapping of Nigerian girls

People turned to the social media Twitter to express their thoughts in a form of protest after Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey delivered the first budget under the government of Prime Minister Tony Abbot on Tuesday night.

Australia may be exerting efforts to ban racism among its residents but these are not enough, at least for Australian of the Year and AFL legend Adam Goodes. For one, the country's very own prevailing constitution remains discriminatory against the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey delivered the first budget under the government of Prime Minister Tony Abbot on Tuesday night. The treasurer stated that the budget aimed to put a national effort to for the Australians to fix the budget together. So what does the budget means to an ordinary Australian citizen?

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey presented on Tuesday night the Coalition's first budget, acknowledging the document would be hugely unpopular among Aussies.

Killer Robots, or the fully autonomous lethal weapons, were reportedly in operation in some remote locations.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott may be abandoning his support for clean and renewable energy in Australia if the government is planning to cut the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) in the budget. ARENA chairman Greg Bourne has warned the Abbott government will be out "cleaning the decks" if the agency's remaining unallocated funds worth $1 billion were returned to consolidated.

The Weather Channel has issued an apology to Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns after an exchange of Tweets stemming from the Councilman's simple complaint of the channel's app.

Media all over the world apparently never cared until the terrorist group kidnapped the young girls.

Investigators from Brasilia's Audit Court in Brazil has revealed $275 million spike in construction of Brasilia's World Cup Mane Garrincha stadium.

In a bid to appease Coalition members, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott met on Monday with 200 Coalition staff and reminded them that he intends to keep his campaign promises. But he mentioned only repealing the carbon tax, fixing the budget, stopping the boats and building the roads of the 21st century.