POLITICS & POLICY

"Made in Australia." "Australia made." "Manufactured in Australia." "Australian owned." Just some of the food labels Aussies routinely encounter in the groceries and supermarkets. While some people may not even give a damn on these labels, but to Australian consumer group Choice, it is important that Aussies know exactly from where the food they just picked and will eat later, came from.

Australia, known for its huge minerals and metals resources, is seeking partners to develop the massive shale oil, believed to be worth more than $20 trillion, that one of its miners discovered in South Australia, which could essentially propel the country Down Under to become one of the most important global players in the oil sector.

After 19 years, U.S. military women soldiers wanting to engage in direct frontline combat as their ultimate service and sacrifice to their country will now become a reality as the Pentagon on Wednesday terminated its ban on women serving in front-line combat roles.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: Australian Dollar finds support on US dollar weakness as it shrugs off weaker local data.

Actual shipments of rare earths in 2012 by China reached only 16,265 metric tonnes, declining by 3.5 per cent versus a year ago, official data released by the China Customs Statistics Information Center on Tuesday showed.

Racing overtime, the World Wildlife Fund and the Australian Marine Conservation Society have merged together to create a conservation campaign, primarily geared towards political leaders, in a futile attempt to save the Great Barrier Reef from being delisted off its World Heritage status.

Talibans were not impressed with Prince Harry after the Royal family member compared his Afghanistan mission to playing video games. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that Prince Harry may have developed mental problems during his 20-week duty in Afghanistan.

If Prince Harry would have his way, assuming he had the tremendous freedom to go with it, he would always choose life as that of being an army soldier over that of being a British royal.

What could have been an otherwise pristine and silent coral reef has been turned into an overnight sensation after a Navy minesweeper vessel by no less than the world's economic giant unceremoniously damaged the protected marine area.

Stocks reversed earlier losses and looked to extend last week's multiyear highs, as investors monitored corporate earnings and the White House said President Barack Obama won't block a debt-ceiling extension. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 43 points, or 0.3%, to 13693 in midafternoon trading Tuesday, recovering from a morning drop of as much as 27 points

The Bill Clinton photobomb of Kelly Clarkson has gone viral across social networks. But there has been no proof of intention, or lack thereof, to ruin "a moment like this." The still image was grabbed from a video footage of President Barack Obama's inauguration on Monday. Meanwhile, the Obama couple and kids also have their own photobomb on Reddit.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has moved higher after the Bank of Japan announced further stimulus measures designed to further weaken the JPY in the future.

Although the final results are not yet out, Tuesday's Parliamentary election in Israel indicate that current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to win another term. Exit polls showed that his party, Likud-Beitenu, got 31 out of the 120 Knesset seats.

A mother, along with her four children who have been trapped overnight on a rooftop, have been rescued by a helicopter, as flash floods continue to strike northern Queensland as an aftermath of Cyclone Oswald.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard personally picked Olympic gold medal winner Nova Peris as Labor’s top Senate candidate for the Northern Territory, effectively sidestepping the ruling party’s internal section process.

Whether the crew onboard the USS Guardian deliberately ignored the "no navigation" warnings surrounding the area of the Philippines' Tubbataha Reef or it relied on wrong map navigational data, what's certain is that the U.S. government still ought to pay for the damages its Navy minesweeper caused on the World Heritage-listed coral reef.

A video quickly went viral that shows US First Lady Michelle Obama rolling her eyes at something that House Speaker John Boehner said to President Barack Obama during the inaugural luncheon on Monday. The audio could not be clearly heard to determine whether Michelle Obama’s eye roll was only a reaction to John Boehner’s joke.

After agreeing in principle in October 2012 to finally sell uranium to India, officials from Australia are expected to further intensify the nuclear partnership between the two countries in talks scheduled this coming March.

Like his first term inauguration rite in 2009, the Monday public oath of office swearing ceremony by U.S. President Barack Obama attracted hundreds of thousands of Americans. The timing and location of the second-term inaugural rite was not lost on meme makers.

U.S. markets were closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. day. European stocks nudged higher after Germany's central bank delivered an upbeat assessment of the country's economic outlook, but moves were muted with Wall Street closed for a public holiday.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has traded in a very narrow range overnight as US markets were closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

In a race to control and manage its worst yet smog pollution for the year 2013, China's lawmakers have targeted to slash the number of vehicles and close down factories during polluted days, as well as bar outdoor barbecue rituals. Residents, however, remain indifferent to the measures.

Followers of Pope Benedict XVI's Twitter account may well ought to take a crash course or two in the Latin language as the head of the Catholic faith has chosen to send Twitter messages in the old tongue of ancient Rome.

Nick Xenophon, independent Senator for South Australia, is bent to make online predators not only stopped in their tracks in luring young women into their traps, but also to be meted the full penalty of the law.

A total of five persons were injured in the 2013 Gun Shows held in the United States. Officials confirmed that the weapons accidentally went off last Saturday which caused the injury of three persons in North Carolina, one in Indiana and another one in Ohio.

A broad rise in U.S. stocks revved up in afternoon trading Thursday, following talk of additional central-bank stimulus from Japan and a pair of encouraging U.S. economic reports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 94 points, or 0.7%, to 13605. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added nine points, or 0.6%, to 1482.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has weakened slightly in Friday's night trade and opens up this morning around the 1.0500 level.

Reports said that single Australian mothers are turning to the flesh trade to pay their bills due to the recent cut in welfare payments by the Gillard government.

With only a mere handheld metal detector to use, an amateur Australian prospector has unearthed in Ballarat a huge gold nugget, believed to be weighing 5.5kg or 177 ounces, the value of which could reach a whopping A$300,000 ($315,000).