POLITICS & POLICY

Russia and Netherlands seem set on a diplomatic collision course on the recent detention of a ship used by Greenpeace International and its 30 crew members of various nationalities who attempted to stage a protest against the offshore ice-resistant fixed platform ‘Prirazlomnaya’ in the Barents Sea. Netherlands has approached the United Nations-backed International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, requesting provisional measures - for the Greenpeace International ship, ‘”Arctic Sunrise” which fi...

Aggressive firefighting strategy seems to be yielding “positive results” in the raging inferno that have enveloped Blue Mountains of New South Wales (NSW). The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) had started backburning in an effort to contain the spread of the fire front.

Chinese customs officials have finally given clearance to Rio Tinto to ship out its copper concentrate products from its massive Oyu Tolgoi mine to target customers in China.

India and Russia, on Monday, reaffirmed their strong bilateral relations and pledged to “resolve all outstanding issues” related to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu. Russia has been opposing the liability clauses which India is seeking to apply to nuclear power plants under its new Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act.

Japan is now in a frenzy to hunt and rescue more survivor's from last week's Typhoon Wipha amidst warnings of another potentially disastrous strong Typhoon Francisco could strike the country in a few days.

Kate Middleton and Prince William are reportedly planning an informal tea party for Prince George's christening. The tea party will be held at Kensington Palace before the auspicious ceremony. This event highlights the baby's formal welcome to the royal family.

Ahead of the Czech Republic's Parliamentary elections this week wherein the Communist Party is tipped to win and return to power almost 25 years after their ouster, a local sculptor expressed his anti-communist sentiments through a controversial art piece.

HMAs Melbourne intercepted suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia

Christine Forster, the lesbian sister of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, is engaged to her girlfriend Virginia Eduards. She popped the question in March on a trip to Broken Hill.

China's desire to curb the country's production of air pollution and clean the environment will be beneficial to many of its gas distributors. China Gas Holdings Ltd, the country's biggest distributor by a number of networks, said China's reduced coal consumption plan will help boost earnings by 2020 to about five-fold over the current figures.

Hyman Minsky was an economist who pioneered analysis of debt bubbles. Charles Ponzi was an Italian businessman turned con-artist in the US. Barack Obama is a 'community organiser', also turned con artist in the US. The US debt ceiling debacle is the story of what you get when all three go into the opium business together...

U.S. banking giant JP Morgan Chase will reportedly pay $13 billion to end federal and state investigations into mortgage-backed securities it sold before the financial crisis, marking the largest civil penalty ever levied onto a U.S. company and wiping out more than half of the bank's 2012 profits.

If you thought Fortescue Metals Twiggy Forrest's bank account could fill up fast, check out the People's Bank of China. Data revealed this week that China's foreign exchange reserves increased $US160 billion to hit US$3.7 trillion. That's some serious money.

More than 100 people residing in Edmonton in Canada's rural area of Alberta have been forced to evacuate after 13 cars owned by the Canadian National Railway Co (CNR) derailed on early Saturday morning. No injuries were reported. Two cars, which form part of a trainload carrying crude and liquefied petroleum gas, remain on fire.

The number of billionaires from Canada has grown by 33 per cent from a decade ago, according to the latest global wealth report by Credit Suisse. Retaining this number, however, is an altogether different story for the country.

Mapping Social Cohesion report reveals that Aussies racism is higher within the past seven years; Immigration minister Scott Morrison wants asylum seekers to be called as “illegal”

Citizenship and Immigration Canada reports that Canadian immigration programmes reached a record high in 2012.

There are a few people in New Zealand who still don't know who Bevan Chuang is. The woman at the centre of Len Brown's sex scandal is hitting the headlines since she revealed her two-year affair with the incumbent Auckland mayor on Tuesday. But even before her explosive expose, the 32-year-old Hong Kong-born Ms Chuang was no stranger to controversy.

It is not just former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who has cast a moist eye on the seat currently occupied by U.S. President Barack Obama. Also interest in running for the presidency is action star and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia have been elected to serve on the United Nations Security Council for a two year term beginning Jan 1, 2014. The UN General Assembly, elected the five countries as as non-permanent members to the Security Council on Thursday. These countries will replace Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo, whose terms will conclude by the end of the year.

With the election of Chad and Saudi Arabia for the two-year term to the all powerful United Nations Security Council (UNSC), human rights groups fear that getting a unanimous Security Council agreement to act against rogue nations and rights abusers may become even more difficult

Postmedia News noted Canada is likely to lift visas for Czech travelers to the country in the coming weeks.

The raid by the U.S. military to capture Osama Bin Laden is “one big lie”, according to Seymour Hersh.

Even NASA is all set for the Halloween. With all the haunted hotels, restaurants and other places featured worldwide, currently there is the Launch Complex-34 for the space agency.

She had nothing to gain and a lot to lose, so why did Bevan Chuang go public with her illicit affair with married with children Auckland mayor Len Brown? The 32-year-old woman at the centre of the incumbent mayor's sex scandal has revealed that she was pressured to expose the affair by his rival John Palino's election campaign team.

Scientists and amateur astronomers expect the fast approaching 2013 Comet ISON to shine brightly and become visible through telescopes by the end of October which refutes initial reports regarding the fizzling out of the “Comet of the Century.” The amateur astronomers were able to spot and capture images of the approaching comet with the use of professional telescope lens.

Embattled Auckland Mayor Len Brown’s extramarital affair is endangering his mayoral position and the trust of his constituents, but there’s one thing he can count on: his daughters’ support.

Climate change brought by global warming will greatly affect the world's oceans and the effects will dramatically be felt by 2100.

Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO), operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, has again released highly radioactive water into the ocean, as Typhoon Wipha dropped heavy rainwater onto the plant.