POLITICS & POLICY

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) immediately issued a travel advisory after the Army Chief issued martial law across Thailand before dawn on Tuesday, May 20.

It is without doubt that the "boy child" El Niño has definitely stirred the whole world. While most dread its potential impact, some however gladly await its arrival. El Niño induces droughts in some parts of the world, while it could drench other nations.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott cancelled his visit to Victoria's Deakin University after there were reports that students geared up for a nationwide protest against the proposed changes in higher education.

It is not only among Australians that Prime Minister Tony Abbott's popularity has plummeted because of the proposed Coalition budget perceived as breaking some of the party's election promises.

Another hole has been punched into the argument of the Coalition that the proposed 2014-15 budget would be for the long-term benefit of Australia. In insisting that the Opposition's vow to block in Parliament the spending cuts would be bad for the country, Prime Minister Tony Abbott even cited an alleged threat from rating agency Standard & Poor's that the nation's AAA credit rating could be subject to a review.

Standard & Poor has warned Australia its AAA credit rating may be reviewed unless "significant cuts" were made in the budget.

ABC’s Four Corners program probe deeper to the conspiracy and scandal behind MH370

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has assured the public that any data shared with international intelligence agencies were legal. According to reports, Mr Key has confirmed that data gathered by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) may have been used to identify the targets for U.S. attacks using unmanned aircraft.

Brother-in-law of MH370 pilot captain Zaharie Ahmad Shar demands for the people backing insurance fraud and pilot suicide theory to prove it.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dismissed the results of the latest poll revealing a decline in public support due to the latest federal budget revelations. He said he is only doing his job and what's best for Australia. Mr Abbott said he was not out win a popularity contest.

It is the CIA that hijacked the missing Malaysian flight MH370, according to a former prime minister of Malaysia.

It is not only in the area of increasing taxes that many Australians believe Prime Minister Tony Abbott broke his election promises. The Opposition charged that he also violated his campaign vow not to force redundancies on government employees.

Swiss voters have overwhelmingly voted against a proposed hourly $US25 ($A27) minimum wage which could have been the highest minimum wage the world over.

The latest death toll to the Turkish coal mine incident at Soma was 301, after the last two body count on Saturday morning. Energy Prime Minister Taner Yildiz concluded that the rescue efforts are halted; losing hope to find the remaining 120 miners still trapped 4 km deep in the coal mine. Amidst grief and prolonged protests, one government official was seen kicking a protester.

Despite the flak that he and the Coalition is receiving over the proposed 2014-15 budget, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott insisted on Monday that he did not break his campaign promise.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) was awarded as the highest-ranking public sector advocating LGBTI

At least 25 people have been arrested in Turkey following the May 13 mining disaster in Soma that killed 301 people. Three people had been charged with manslaughter.

A plane carrying five top government officials of Laos crashed over the weekend. A total of 16 died from the accident.

At least 44 have died from the worst floods that hit Serbia and Bosnia in more than a century over the weekend. Four days of heavy rainfall had triggered landslides forcing thousands to flee their homes as mud covered villages and roads. Rising flood waters are likewise threatening the power plants in the region.

Is North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un the victim of black propaganda by western media or is he a heartless leader who would not hesitate to kill - even relatives and loved ones - to hold on to power?

The deficit tax and other unpopular measures introduced by the Coalition government are proving to be the Julia Gillard moment of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The PM, who is only eight months in power, was the subject of the March in May protests held over the weekend.

After the Abbott government's budget revelations on May 13, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has declared in a speech that "Australia has been deceived." In an official response to the budget, Shorten told Parliament that the average Australian household will be earning $6,000 a year less by the 2016 election.

Pralhad Shirsath an Indian citizen whose wife Kranti Shirsath, was on board flight MH370 wrote a letter to world leaders implying that Malaysian government is hiding something about the missing MH370

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia “hardly spent anything” in the search for the missing MH370

Eight months after a magnitude 7.2 temblor, the Philippines' Central Visayas has been stricken anew with a major earthquake on Thursday early evening that measured magnitude 6.3.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has vowed on Thursday to block key measures of the 2014-15 federal budget proposed by the Coalition government. In opposing the document, Shorten pointed out because of some provisions such as the deficit tax, higher fuel excise and $7 co-pay per visit to the GP, it would take away about $120 a week from the average family budget for the next two years.

New Zealand Labour has asked Prime Minister John Key to admit that the country's spy agency has been trained by the U.S. National Security Agency to do mass surveillance. Documents published in a new book revealed that all agencies involved in the Five Eyes Network were trained to operate a sophisticated system that can sift through phone numbers, email addresses and online chat messages.

The conservative Abbott government has managed to get rid of Australia's last major program for renewable energy in its latest budget. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dumped the country's energy assistance program and several other climate and scientific research projects, according to budget data released last May 13.

A new NOAA-led study released by US researchers has presented a glimpse of potentially more droughts to countries near the Equator. It found global warming is pushing Pacific tropical cyclones away from the equator going toward the poles, potentially risking Japan and Korea peninsula and other regions with generally larger populations during cyclone season.