POLITICS & POLICY

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.

Bruce Wilson, an ex-boyfriend of erstwhile Prime Minister Julia Gillard and a former union official, hit a photographer on Monday outside the royal commission where there is an ongoing investigation into union corruption.

Sarah Bajc, girlfriend of IBM Malaysia employee Philip Wood, receives death threats from a Chinese number.

Speaking with Mashable, CNN explains why it has such an “obsession” with MH370 coverage

Speaking with Popular Mechanics Magazine, John Goglia, former member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said all decisions made by the Australian team were the right thing to do.

Australia will be allotting A$82 billion ($77 billion) into a road infrastructure plan in a bid to encourage investment into its fizzling economy spurred by a fading mining boom.

Controversial Canadian politician Rob Ford has been confirmed to be in rehab for a residential treatment programme for substance abuse.

As part of the Abbott government's cost-cutting measures to be announced this week in the budget, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) will axe 3,000 jobs, reports said.

Besides suffering a drastic reduction in its approval rating because of its planned deficit tax, the Abbott government is not only losing the trust of voters and ordinary Australians, but even corporate Australia.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has described Prime Minister Tony Abbott's asylum seeker policy a failure as boats continue to arrive. On May 5, two groups of asylum seekers were turned back which has added pressure to the already strained relationship between Australia and Indonesia.

Tom Kludt has observed CNN "has gotten a bit carried away with the somewhere else" and conspiracy theories surrounding the disappearance of the Malaysian aircraft.

Federal Communications Commission has received massive opposition from over 100 leading Internet companies over the proposed net neutrality plan, which is aimed at regulating the online providers' management of Web traffic.