POLITICS & POLICY

Residents off Melbourne's northern suburbs have been advised to stay alert and calm as a fast moving 200 hectare out of control grassfire could pose an immediate threat to lives and homes in the Wollert area.

No less than Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, has gotten into the fray of allegations against virtual marketplace Amazon over employing neo-Nazi tactics against its foreign workers. Ms Merkel wants the online retailer to explain pronto.

Just when everyone was preparing to go to work or school, paramedics were blaring sirens and rushing to reach the Grocon Myer redevelopment site at Melbourne's CBD in hopes to revive and save a man who accidentally fell from a scaffolding 10 storeys high above the ground. But death was instant the minute he slammed on to the pavement.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened below 1.0300 this morning as markets on Friday night had a generally quiet session.

Stocks edged mostly lower as declines in Wal-Mart Stores and the energy sector offset firm readings on consumer confidence and New York manufacturing.

Malaysia detained and deported Australian independent Senator Nick Xenophon over the weekend. Authorities cited his being a security risk as the reason behind their action against the senator.

The Australian Capital Tourism (ACT) has asked 500 Humans to participate and show support with the 2013 Human Brochure campaign but the most important social media campaign reached approximately 4.2 million Humans in Australia.

If only the Earth can catch it, Asteroid 2012 DA14, which is expected to flyby the planet on Feb. 16 at 4:30am (AEDT), could have a variety of valuable resources, including metals such as iron and nickel, as well as water that can be utilised in space as rocket fuel, all worth a whopping US$195 billion.

How ironic that as the Philippines battles its sovereignty claims with China over portions of waters and islands at the South China Sea, local bookstore chains in the former had been unknowingly selling globes to schools, offices and homes that had already depicted China as the rightful owner of those highly contested territories.

Blue chips remained in the red mid-day, but gains in energy and consumer-staples sectors helped pull the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index to the flat line in a deal-heavy day.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened slightly higher, following a night in which the key news was the release of worse than expected Euro Zone GDP data, confirming the ongoing recession.

Sydney police arrested on Thursday Khoder Zahab, 42, at the family residence in Bankstown for the death of his father, Toufic Zahab, 69. Khoder allegedly killed his father and even beheaded him.

Shares of Alumina Ltd jumped as much as nine per cent on Thursday as China's largest state-owned investment company, Citic Group Corp, announced it will buy off a 13 per cent stake into the Australian alumina refiner.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: Australian Dollar bounces to two week high.

There are some single persons who despise the date February 14 or better known as Valentine’s Day. It’s either they bitterly witness how the couples publicly display their affection for each other or watch bouquets of roses as well as boxes of chocolates being delivered almost everywhere which has been pointed out in numerous “Forever Alone” memes.

German supermarket chain Aldi has plans of adding as many as 110 stores across South and West Australia as it boosts its 300-strong supermarkets portfolio all over Australia.

Australia got enmeshed in a nasty human rights violation scenario as 23 Indonesian minors prepare to file a civil suit against the federal government on allegations they were locked up in adult prisons where they suffered abuse.

A day after reports flew that Russia has become the world's biggest buyer of the safe haven yellow gold metal, the country's Gold Producers' Union said Vladimir Putin's turf is poised to become the world's third biggest gold producer by 2015.

Blue chips approached five-year highs Tuesday amid upbeat earnings reports and a rally in financial shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 62 points, or 0.5%, to 14034 in mid-afternoon trading, putting the benchmark on pace for its highest close since October 2007.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has appreciated against the Greenback overnight amid confusion over the G7's stance on the JPY's recent decline.

As the world ponders and debates the motive and sincerity of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, names of potential successors to become the 266th Pope have also cropped up. And this time it seems, the papacy is ripe to break traditions and give a non-European a chance to lead the Catholic Church struggling for relevance these days.

The world's reaction to his resignation as head of the Roman Catholic Church was nuclear bomb explosion epic proportions. Even non-believers of the secular religion were dumbfounded by Pope Benedict XVI's shocking statement on February 11, 2013, one that surely is already imprinted in world history.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirmed the success of its latest Landsat satellite launch on Monday, February 11, at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is the collaborative work between NASA and the United States Geological Survey aimed to carry on capturing images and recording data of the Earth's landscapes from outer space.

President Obama plans to use military drones in the skies over the United States to assassinate journalists, patriots and critics of his administration. That's the inescapable conclusion from the emerging pattern of evidence now publicly available -- keep reading for details.

One of the rarely cited advantages of having money is that you're less beholden to others who have it too.

Overall lack of supervision and an improper teacher-child ratio. Had these factors been properly filled up, the sex scandal that rocked the community and parents of children studying at the First Lutheran Church of Carson School in California may not have happened.

Declines in energy stocks helped push major benchmarks lower, a soft patch that follows the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index's longest stretch of weekly gains since August.

Australian dollar continues its losses arising from Asian markets closed for the Lunar new year holidays.

Organizers of the annual 'Cool Summer' music festival have been forced to cancel the event as bushfires continue in Victoria, particularly in the area around Mt Hotham where the local music festival was supposed to be held.