POLITICS & POLICY

Violent crimes in Canada in just the year 2009 alone had cost taxpayers a whopping $12.7 billion, a new Justice Canada report said on Sunday.

New Zealand ACT Party leader John Banks will be handing over the reins of leadership to Jamie Whyte on Feb 28. Mr Whyte is currently in the hot seat after making his controversial comments about incest and the implication it made on marriage. According to reports, his statements sounded like he was condoning incest.

British government says Australia is stalling amendment of royal succession laws

With the world now experiencing a slowing global warming, sceptics have started questioning the importance and necessity of the investments made into renewable energy by all member nations of planet Earth. But science bodies in the U.S. and UK assured the investments remain well in track as the warming hiatus is just temporary.

Canada has a population of 100,000 Shia Ismaili Muslims. This group must have been excited to welcome Aga Khan as its spiritual leader to the country.

Canadian store owner Eva Cooper was asked to write her Facebook posts in French as posting on Facebook in English apparently violated the language policy of the province, Quebec.

Australia's Climate Change Authority (CCA) has urged the government to triple its carbon emission reduction targets to combat increasing global temperatures.

The government of Ontario in Canada is seeking to legalise a bill that would ban the importation as well as spread of the invasive Asian Carp species, a kind of fish that reproduces rapidly and have been found to have infested U.S. waterways throughout the South and Midwest.

Speaking with BBC News, former prime minister spoke about sexism as global experience among female country leaders

The Australian Electoral Commission admits to more election errors

Japan has changed minds regarding its energy mix. While the former president has vowed to extinguish all nuclear power plants immediately after the March 2011 tsunami that crippled the Fukushima, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced he will reopen some of them, if not all.

Canada, the U.S. and Denmark, three of the five-member Arctic nations, want to impose a fishing moratorium in the region as the ice starts to melt, and fast.

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Liberal Leader who cracked jokes on Russia invading Ukraine, has claimed that he apologised for speaking “lightly” of a “real” issue.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is steady this morning after a night of mixed fortunes in financial markets.

Uganda risks losing cordial relations with the international community if President Yoweri Museveni does not repeal the anti-gay bill he signed into law on Monday.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is firmer today, rallying overnight as the appetite for riskier assets returned to the market.

Amnesty International has called on Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott to stop being a “baddie” and start becoming a “goodie.” The international human rights organisation said Australia’s refusal to accept more Syrian refugees reflects badly on the country’s reputation compared to other nations.

The minimum wage for New Zealand adult workers has been set at $14.25 per hour. It connotes an increase of 3.6 per cent of 50 cents over the previous $13.75. The new salary scheme will take effect on April 1.

Following the death of an Iranian asylum seeker Reza Kevati in the Australia-run detention centre in Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, an investigation has been launched to determine the truth about the violent riots. Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison is in the hot seat for his admission that most of the riots in Manus Island happened inside the asylum seeker detention facility and not outside as previously claimed.

Finance ministers and central bank governors discuss tax, reorienting and refinancing the International Monetary Fund and encouraging central banks to work with cooperation.

Back in September 2013 election, Senate positions in Western Australia were won by three Liberal Party members. But the position of the third Senator-elect Linda Reynolds was jeopardized. Zhenya Dio Wang of the Palmer United Party and Sen. Pratt won the final two seats.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key admitted he was "embarrassed" with the errors committed by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB). The spy agency's director Ian Fletcher has apologised to Mr Key for the wrong reporting of figures involving the number of warrants and other surveillance approvals in 2013.

China criticises Australia’s asylum seeker policy but Gillian Bird chose to be elusive

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar fell quickly after a disappointing flash manufacturing PMI number from China yesterday afternoon but has recovered to open the day around the .9000 level.

The PM will be introducing Cate McGregor, his college friend, who will be featured in ABC's Australian Story next week. Ms McGregor used to be Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm McGregor, an army officer and cricket expert whom Mr Abbott met during their student days.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar traded over .9000 again overnight before the release of the minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting which occurred late on Wednesday US time.

Canada closed the Kiev embassy while it threatened Ukraine that sanctions could be brought in against it.

Suspended Canadian senator Patrick Brazeau has got a new job. He is working in one of the strip clubs in Ottawa as a manager.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has emerged the most liked and trusted politician in a recent poll. According to a Fairfax Media-Ipsos survey, 59.3 per cent of Kiwis say they like Mr Key, while 58.7 per cent say they trusted him.