POLITICS & POLICY

Australia's Melbourne's northeastern suburbs have been stricken by a minor 1.5 magnitude quake just before 7am (AEST) on Friday. Residents reported first hearing a loud explosion before feeling that the ground actually shook underneath.

Russia and China were angered by a US report naming the two countries as world’s worst fighter against human traffickers.

State as well as federal Australian governments ought to get their act together to coordinate and work on preventive measures and investments that could help mitigate the impact of post-natural disasters in the country. A white paper released on Thursday forecast the cost of post-Australian natural disasters will rise four times by 2050.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has fallen below USD 0.9200 overnight in an extremely volatile session which was essentially the sequel to Wednesday night's reaction to the FOMC meeting which prepared financial markets for the scaling back of quantitative easing.

The ruckus created by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard wearing a low cut top and showing cleavage has not died down. Instead, it started a trend in social networking, causing Facebook to be bombarded by photos mostly of Aussie woman showing the buxom side of their upper bodies.

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska expressed her support for same-sex marriage on Wednesday.

Gay or same-sex couples who got married in Canada but now want to divorce their partners may well heave a sigh of relief as the same-sex divorce bill is slowing clawing its way into the Canadian Parliament. On Tuesday night, Canada's House of Commons approved Bill C-32, a legislation that authenticates same-sex marriages under Canadian law while at the same time allowing non-resident gay or same-sex couples to divorce.

To date, there are 2,140 abuse complaints being investigated by the taskforce of the Australian Defence Force, some of these are fresh allegations implicating two Defence institutions, the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and the Navy's HMAS Leeuwin training base. Defence Minister Stephen Smith said they are now discovering that abuse in the ADF is actually more rampant and rooted than they thought.

Australia warned locals specially those residing in Victoria state of the escape from prison of two of its worst sex predators.

The same-sex marriage legislation gets a big boost from the South Australian Parliament as it supports the idea of allowing gay couples to marry. The upper house of SA Parliament passed a motion in approval of marriage equality laws in New Zealand. Labor MP Gerry Kendelaars introduced the same-sex marriage motion. It passed immediately with just one vote along with the support of two Liberal opposition members.

It's been two years since a devastating magnitude 9 earthquake hit Tōhoku, Japan in March 2011, of which a resulting tsunami erupted and seriously impacted the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Japan is now grappling after it found out that the groundwater at the nuclear plant contained above average levels of a radioactive substance called strontium-90.

Bundaberg, severely hit by massive floods brought by ex-tropical cyclone Oswald in early January, has recovered. On Wednesday, after more than five months forced suspended operations, one of Queensland's biggest sugar exporters was able to export the raw commodity again.

The Australian Defence Force may have a difficult time to eliminate a culture of sexism and bigotry. Analysts say it would take years for the ADF to become improve its perspective on women soldiers as another investigation was soon to begin for the alleged posting of abusive material online.

The U.S. Naval Academy filed on Wednesday rape charges against three Naval football players for the sexual assault of a female midshipman in April 2012. The incident happened at an off-campus house in Annapolis.

A day after the Climate Commission released a report urging a slowdown to extraction of fossil fuels due to the negative impact of the use of oil and coal on the environment and climate, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman accused shady agents of killing the state's coal industry.

Clive Palmer, Australia's mining billionaire who is daring Opposition leader Tony Abbott and Prime Minister Julia Gillard for the prime ministership in the Sept 14 election is not bold enough when it comes to question concerning the resource industry.

As Fed chief Ben Bernanke is about to step down from his post, a relatively unknown woman is expected to take his post.

Russia's Lower House of Parliament, or the Duma, has unanimously approved to support a bill that bans foreign gay, same-sex couples to adopt Russian orphans. The bill is also expanded to prohibit single foreign nationals from adopting as long as they came from a country where same-sex marriage is legal.

A double suicide bombing spree inside a Shiite mosque in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Tuesday has killed 31 and wounded 57 others.

Officials in the embassies of the Philippines located in Jordan, Kuwait and Syria have been alleged to have formed prostitution rings to sexually abuse female distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in exchange for their repatriation.

Australia was able to preserve the World Heritage Site status for its renowned Great Barrier Reef, but only for until 2014. And unless Canberra can present concrete ways and measures to satisfy UNESCO on how it plans to protect the reef, the World Heritage Site status could easily be changed and included into the body's list of endangered places next year.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The RBA minutes released yesterday leaves the door open to further cuts in interest rates.

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi has come under fire with his recent comment that legalising same sex marriage would only lead to calls for the legalisation of polygamous marriages as well.

Two more countries have taken a bold stand against genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), according to new reports.

The Minerals Council of Australia is not supporting the call by the Climate Commission for the resource industry to move away from coal as the commission pushes for a slowdown in mining of fossil fuels.

Girls Education rights advocate Malala Yousafzi condemned the bombing of a bus in Islamabad by a female suicide bomber

The Australian bond market drops after news that Federal Reserve will slow down on its bond buying spree.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has let interest rates remain the same amidst weak economic conditions. The mining industry remained weak following the job cuts and shutdown of Newcrest Mining's Brisbane offices. The RBA is open to reduce interest rates further if the weak mining industry begins to put a strain on the entire economy of Australia. Based on a tame inflation outlook, the central bank of Australia said it still has leeway to lower interest rates.

At least more than 50 people in northern India are feared dead after their homes were swept away by ravaging floods brought about by incessant heavy monsoon rains over the past days. The worst hit were the states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.