POLITICS & POLICY

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.

Students from third grade through junior high in Fukushima who are unable to attend school because of their parents' lost income and job opportunities when the nuclear power plant got crippled in 2011 may now be able to renew their education in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto.

James Roy, a senior analyst with the Shanghai-based China Market Research Group, told AFP that the price difference in China was understandable, given the different market positioning of Starbucks in the Chinese market.

In the US on Friday, the S&P500 surged to a new record high, presumably because there's not a lot to worry about. The Fed looks like maintaining its US$85 billion per month liquidity pump and the US government is without debt limit for a few more months at least. It's party time.

And how do you like that? Mr Market was right all along. He knew the fix was in. This is an economy - and a society - that depends on easy credit. No way were the politicians going to stop the credit from flowing. When they threatened to cut it off, Mr Market ignored them. Stock prices kept going up. Turned out, he was right again.