POLITICS & POLICY

Athletes, an army captain, entertainers and artists, travel writers, a farmer and an animal rights activist made it to the list of Queen’s Birthday Honours List

The United States' wannabe first female president, Hillary Clinton, defended Australia's first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, in her new book titled Hard Choices.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is seeking an alliance among "like-minded" nations to thwart efforts to introduce carbon pricing and American President Barack Obama's move to push climate change through global forums like G20.

U.S.-based nuclear waste management company Kurion Inc announced on Monday it had been chosen by Tokyo Electric Power to treat the contaminated radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key revealed more than one Kiwi has been killed during the war in Syria. According to reports, one Kiwi is believed to be dead. Mr Key said there may be more casualties as a small group of New Zealanders continue to fight

China has literally moved to tearing down and flattening 700 mountains to provide land for its growing population.

Global warming this time has affected even the bodies of the dead from World War II. The foreign minister of the Marshall Islands disclosed over the weekend that rising sea water levels have washed the remains of Japanese World War II soldiers from their graves.

Spanish King Juan Carlos, who announced on Monday his plan to abdicate and pass on the crown to son Prince Felipe, may have started a possible "word war" with his British counterparts.

After U.S. Pres. Barack Obama's announcement of new major carbon pollution regulations, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has decided to take climate change off the G20 agenda.

A U.N. report released on Thursday said the continuing rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system is posing irreversible damages to the coral reefs in the world's smaller islands.

The New Zealand Greens has approved a formal policy on abortion. The ratification makes the Greens the only party in Parliament to have such a policy. The party will be legislating the decriminalisation of abortion and protect "the right to end a pregnancy."

New research of scientists from China's space weather laboratory has disclosed that the planet Earth's global warming status is influenced and exacerbated by the sun's solar activities.

It seems there is really no more stopping an El Niño 2014 occurrence. Latest updates released by weather experts from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the U.S.' NOAA point to an El Niño becoming established in the Pacific Ocean by August.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it would be “better not to argue with women” while speaking about former U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

What is it about military dictatorships that they use pretty and sexy women to help keep their leaders in power?

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull stressed on Thursday in an interview with 2GB radio host Alan Jones that he "support unreservedly and wholeheartedly every element in the Budget."

The search for Madeline McCann has taken a new twist this week as search dogs were sent out along with police officers to scour a patch of scrubland in the Algarve region in Portugal.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has officially declared the boats issue "resolved" with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

New Zealand's Internet Party is currently considering decriminalization of cannabis.

Residents in Latin America, especially Chile, Mexico and Guatemala, have been advised to brace for more rains even as weather bureau said tropical storm Boris has weakened.

The floods that deluged Bosnia in May, which claimed at least 44 lives, has unearthed wartime mass graves of Muslim Bosniak victims of the bloody 1992-1995 war in the country.

Even if Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is out of the country, former PM John Howard did not spare him from a rebuke for Mr Abbott's alleged heavy reliance on slogans and the belief that Aussies would support changes if they perceive these to be fundamentally fair.

Taliban authorities released a video of the handover of PoW Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.

Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott will attempt to mend the country's relationship with Indonesia in his 10-day trip, along with France, Canada and the U.S. as part of his itinerary.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of crippled Fukushima power plant, has started constructing a huge underground ice wall around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. This plan is seen to control and manage the production of toxic water at the complex devastated by a tsunami that was triggered by a magnitude 9 earthquake in March 2011.

A new study has revealed that global investors have less confidence in Australia, while the United States has extended its dominance as the nation with the most positive sentiment from investors. Consulting company AT Kearney closely monitors foreign investor sentiment and saw Australia dropping in the rankings.

On Wednesday, The Queen rode an Australian-design golden carriage for the opening of parliament

Drug authorities are one in warning Australia for an alarming drug epidemic that can hit Australia unprepared

On Sunday, Chinese-Australian artist Guo Jian was arrested in Beijing as part of China’s crackdown on Tiananmen protesters