Esther Tanquintic-Misa

A fourteen-year-old Australian with autism spectrum disorder has topped the Commonwealth Bank Australian Maths Challenge.

Latest findings from a study conducted by scientists at the University of Queensland in Brisbane showed slurry from farms in Australia had been contributing to the collapse of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef.

Four Australians, two from Victoria and one each from Queensland and New South Wales, capped their respective Tuesday nights in what seemed to be a page plucked from a fairytale book. Each knew their dreams had somehow been realized with a call informing them of their lottery winnings.

Now that the Melbourne Cup is over, Australians have turned their focus to the Oz Lotto's $100 million pot prize up for draw on Tuesday night.

Datuk Dr Looi Hoong Wah, a respected Malaysian nuclear physicist and consultant physician, has defended the beleaguered rare earths processing plant of Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp. in Kuantan, saying the allegations being spread by its opponents are fabricated lies that bear relations to the country's upcoming general election.

The integrity of the Melbourne Cup is now being questioned after champion jockey Damien Oliver reportedly confessed guilty to allegations that he placed an A$10,000 bet on a rival horse two years ago.

Apart from today's Melbourne Cup, another reason for jetsetters, kibitzers, stargazers and what nots to pack their bags and travel to Australia is the highly anticipated total solar eclipse on November 14, an hour after sunrise (afternoon of Tuesday, November 13, in the United States).

After being battered with more than 100,000 lightning strikes on the afternoon of Monday till midnight, emergency crews are racing overtime to restore power in most of South Australia, which have left tens of thousands without electricity, in time for the highly-anticipated Melbourne Cup today.

Job advertisements in Australia's Internet and newspapers continued to drop for a seventh straight month in October, latest monthly figures released by the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) showed on Monday. It was the country's lowest in more than two years since January 2010.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning as thunderstorms head toward Adelaide in South Australia.

Six young Australians with Islamic backgrounds will be able to travel to Malaysia, and vice versa, to hone their leadership skills as well as develop a stronger understanding of other cultures and faiths after Australian Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr signed a joint Australia-Malaysia cultural exchange programme with Malaysian counterpart, Anifah Aman, over the weekend.

Two years after 200 countries, during a United Nations climate conference in 2010, agreed to control their respective carbon emission contributions to below 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, much has yet to be really accomplished, much more acted and worked on, after a new analysis from (PricewaterhouseCoopers) PwC showed the annual rate of reduction of carbon emissions per unit of GDP has exceeded a critical threshold.

Australia, whose abundant metals and minerals resources helped propel it to become one of the stable economies to withstand any rollercoaster financial crisis in the past years, has been found to be unfortunately getting sicker because of the environmental hazards brought about by mining these very resources.

Chevron's plans to import labour for its Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has caught the ire of Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, which claimed Australia has more than enough competent local workers following the fallout of several mining projects of big global companies.

Dwindling sales of locally built car models plus a high Australian dollar have forced auto maker Holden to slash 170 positions from its Elizabeth, South Australia manufacturing factory.

Third quarter earnings of Newmont Mining, the world's second largest gold miner, fell 26 per cent as operating costs escalated. A production decline at its Indonesian and Australian/Pacific mines also contributed to the drop.

Australian athletes wanting to take that shot to become part of the delegation to the 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Rio de Janiero ought to sign up to a statutory declaration swearing they have no doping history, follow rules or risk that Olympic dream.

South Australia marked a historical milestone for Adelaide as it received its first direct commercial flight call from Dubai-based Emirates, effectively making the airline the first Gulf carrier to fly to South Australia.

Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp announced on Wednesday its idled rare earths processing plant facility in Malaysian has been fully completed, with the second phase expansion already underway at 69 per cent.

It won't be long enough when global miner BHP Billiton Ltd. eventually gets rid of most of its human workforce with the initial launch of its unmanned fleet of automated dump-trucks.

A vaccine for horses that is designed to contain the deadly Hendra virus has now been made available in Australia.

Effective in 2013, Australia begins with a faster processing of visa applications online touted to attract wealthy travelers from Asia especially those from China.

Lifting the ban in response to the forthcoming surge of global uranium demand is one thing. Now how to transport Queensland's uranium ore without disturbing and potentially destroying one of Australia's greatest and most sensitive environmental assets is another.

Toro Energy Limited, whose highly-controversial Wiluna uranium mine project in Western Australia has yet to receive final environmental approval from the Federal Government, has pricked the interest of a number of investors, including a major U.S. nuclear energy group.

The state government of West Australia has rejected requests by Fortescue Metals Group to delay the payment of some more than A$200 million in royalties as the iron ore miner pursues its ambitious expansion plans.

The Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) of Australia has approved the $225-million investment of Chinese firm Shandong Gold in gold miner Focus Minerals Ltd.

Australian steelmaker and iron ore miner Arrium Ltd has junked a modified and increased takeover bid from a group led by Noble Group Ltd and POSCO, among others, claiming the sweetened A$1.2 billion ($1.24 billion) still failed to properly value the company's worth.

In a move that caught Australian iron ore miner Western Desert Resources (WDR) off guard, its lone suitor Chinese company Meijin Energy Group has withdrawn its $435 million takeover bid into the Northern Territory-based company.

In a move that caught Australian iron ore miner Western Desert Resources (WDR) off guard, its lone suitor Chinese company Meijin Energy Group has withdrawn its $435 million takeover bid into the Northern Territory-based company.