POLITICS & POLICY

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 Jamaica has opened its first rare earths extraction plant, while Greenland has repealed its two-decades-old ban on uranium mining.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...

If you are wondering what Australian Prime Minister Tony Abott was doing over the weekend as Australia fights back the worst wildfires, you would be surprised that the head of the country was busy doing his work in the battlefield.

Confirming weeks of speculation, and planning to "reinvent" himself as an expert on Asia, former Foreign Minister Bob Carr said he will be resigning from this Senate post for a life in academics. He will be submitting his resignation on Thursday. Post-retirement, Mr Carr will take up two part-time academic positions. He will join the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre as a professorial fellow and also join the University of New South Wales as an adjunct professor.

Muslim sectarian antagonism was reported in the Holy City of Mecca in Saudi Arabia Oct. 16 when a group of Lebanese-Australian Sunni Muslims allegedly attacked men and threatened to rape women of an American Shiite Muslims group from Detroit.

Despite China's contentious reception of its iPhone 5C in Sept., Apple still holds favorably the country as a prime market. It has included China in the list of select markets that it intends to launch the iPad Air with on Nov. 1.

The Rural Fire Service’s investigation found out that Defence training exercise started State Mine fire at the Blue Mountains

The Thai government may begin charging foreigners up to 500-baht ($16.13) to enter the country starting from January next year, said authorities this week, in the hopes of attracting a better "quality" of holidaymakers and, at the same time, pay for tourists who seek treatment at local hospitals but can't afford the bill.

For over six decades, they courted the West as their closest allies, and now left in the cold; the Saudi’s are desperately attempting to flash the Arab card. Having rejected the UN Security Council seat, on high moral grounds, Saudi Arabia is attempting to break away from the U.S. and reaffirm its place in the Arab world.

A woman in New Zealand was told to find a full-time job after giving birth to her baby eight weeks after. The single parent failed to attend to her scheduled Work and Income appointment. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, 1,310 parents had their benefits cut in in the first three months after parents with children aged 6 and above were required to find part-time work after Sept. 2010. The number grew from 5,074 in 2011 and 6,418 in 2012.

It may be difficult to believe, but a team of Australian researchers from CSIRO has found that in dry conditions, eucalyptus trees, as they search for moisture, can actually point to miners the location of massive gold deposits just by looking at their leaves.