Reissa Su

Australian PM Julia Gillard takes a break from politics by posing for a major women's magazine. Her photo on the cover of Australian Women's Weekly shows her knitting with her beloved dog, Reuben. This is a welcome diversion for federal Labor who is currently battling a leadership crisis.

Mother and alleged murderer of Kiesha Weippeart appears in court today for the first day of her sentencing hearing. Kristi Abrahams recently pleaded guilty for the murder of her 6-year-old daughter, Kiesha last July 2010 in their Sydney home in Mt. Druitt. Her body was stuffed in a suitcase and left inside her bedroom for a few days. Abrahams and her husband, Kiesha's stepdad, allegedly went to a nearby bushland and burned the girl's body. They later buried her in a shallow grave.

Plans are in place to amend the Immigration Act to include harsher sentences for employers who violate the law. Minister of Immigration Michael Woodhouse says specific penalties concerning exploitation of migrants with temporary visas will be introduced soon.

Move over Nathan Tinkler. Australia has a new breed of billionaires. Enterprising geeks have quietly taken over the top spot of Australia's richest in Business Review Weekly Young Rich List . Coal magnate Nathan Tinkler is overshadowed by software engineers Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes in terms of net worth.

An independent comparison of banks in developed countries shows four of Australia's big banks generating big profits than other banks. National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and Westpac are hailed most profitable banks in the developed world.

Queensland hospitals were found to be positive of legionella after water samples were taken from the supply system due to deaths caused by Legionnaires' disease.

A new law will enable companies in Australia to respond to future health crises in less developed nations using the "TRIPS Protocol". Dr. Brendan Shaw, chief executive of Medicines Australia expressed support for the implementation of TRIPS Protocol.

The primary and intermediate teachers union in New Zealand has signed a deal with the government to give 800 expert teachers allowances worth $4 million. The union said the allowance will mark the beginning of performance pay.

Thirteen top Australian universities under 50 years have made it to the list of the world's best universities under 50. Queensland University of Technology ranked the highest among Australian universities as the top 26. The relatively "young" university went up several notches from top 40 in 2012 to top 26 this year's Times Higher Education list.

Instagram Video is finally here. The newest feature of Instagram was announced at an event in Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park on Thursday morning.

New Zealand's Telecom released information regarding the messaging service smartphone owners often use to keep in touch. Telecom mobile customers used Apple's iMessage service the most with 150,000 subscribers using it regularly. 140,000 customers preferred to use Facebook Messenger while 78,000 wants the free call and text service of Viber.

Six universities in Australia have recently topped the World University Rankings for 2012-2013. The highest-ranking Australian university is the University of Melbourne. Out of 400 universities, the University of Melbourne ranked 28th with an overall score of 77.9. It ranked 37th in the world rankings in 2012.

IBM Australia is looking to let go of 1,500 jobs in a move to send jobs offshore to New Zealand and Asia. Local jobs held by around 1,200 to 1,500 Australians are affected as their jobs have been found to be redundant. The figures are comparable with Ford's plans to cut 1,200 jobs when the company leaves Australia in 2016.

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.

ANZ Bank considers cutting 600 jobs and plans to send head office jobs to New Zealand or the Philippines as part of its cost-cutting measures.

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.

Screen Australia reveals the results of its report handled by the Bureau of Statistics. Data shows most sectors of the TV and film industry in Australia have grown despite the complaints of some industry players about tough times.

New data released by IDC research firm shows the steady decline of iPad's dominance in New Zealand and Australia markets. The latest statistics show that more customers prefer to buy tablets with Google's Android operating system like Google Nexus and Samsung Galaxy Note.

A storm is set to hit southern and central areas of New Zealand bringing strong winds, rain and snow. Weather reports say the storm will likely stay in the country for the next three days due to the unusual but powerful combination of weather systems.

Australians are one of the reasons why prices of homes are skyrocketing in New Zealand. A new research study shows Australians purchased more property in New Zealand than other foreigner.

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.

The lead contamination in Mount Isa was apparently caused by mining operations according to the results of a scientific study. Mining operations near the edge of the Queensland town runs day and night.

When Google announced another secret project called Project Loon on June 14, it was said that it was one of the most transformative Internet technologies of all time.

National Australia Bank (NAB) Chief Executive Cameron Clyne is not intimidated by Goldman Sachs economist's statement that Australia might have a 20 per cent chance of going into recession in 2014. The NAB chief executive is confident due to the low employment rate which will serve as a buffer against recession.

Kristi Anne Abrahams, a mother who was accused of murdering her six-year-old daughter, Kiesha Weippeart, pleaded guilty in court on the first day of her trial. The guilty plea marked the end of a three-year agony endured by relatives of the little girl.

Google is serious in fighting child pornography globally as it plans to create a global database of images relating to child abuse and porn. The Internet giant will also share the database with rival search engine companies in a stronger effort to eliminate child porn from the web.

A shark-like fossilized fish was discovered by scientists in the Kimberley region, West Australia. The prehistoric fish surprisingly had abdominal muscles.

The Great Barrier Reef of Australia may be listed as a UNESCO heritage site along with six other ancient sites in Syria. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation convened on Sunday for its annual gathering to decide which cultural treasure around the world deserves to be recognized as World Heritage site.

Finding love online might sound romantic but many Internet scams especially dating sites in the past year have cost Australians $93 million.