General News

SYDNEY, Sept 25 (Reuters) - A surging tax-take has blessed Australia's centre-right government with the smallest budget deficit in a decade and the means to fund a host of voter...

WELLINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A New Zealand supermarket chain pulled a brand of Australian strawberries off its shelves after needles were found in punnets purchased from a store...

By Lidia Kelly MELBOURNE, Sept 24 (Reuters) - An Australian filmmaker arrived in Sydney on Sunday after a pardon by Cambodia's king released him from a six-year jail sentence for...

TOKYO, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Darwin in November in a first for a Japanese leader since the Japanese imperial army bombed the Australian...

By Colin Packham SYDNEY, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Australian doctors said on Thursday a "humanitarian emergency" is unfolding at an Australian-run detention centre in the Pacific and...

SYDNEY, Sept 19 (Reuters) - At least eight people at a publicly listed hotel in the Australian city of Sydney were hospitalised on Wednesday after breathing toxic gases flowing...

SYDNEY, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Australia's centre-right government remains on track for a heavy defeat at elections due by May 2019, an opinion poll showed on Monday, even though new...

(Repeats with no changes) By Lidia Kelly MELBOURNE, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Australia will begin a public inquiry, or Royal Commission, into the country's aged-care sector as a spike...

* NSW premier vows to shut down Defqon.1 festival * The dance, trance and techno festival an annual even since 2009 * Deaths reported in 2013 and 2015 on suspected drug overdose...

By Colin Packham SYDNEY, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's own party defied his wishes on Friday by nominating a former diplomat instead of a female...

(Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Florence is slowing as it advances upon the U.S. Southeast, promising “disaster” for residents near the Carolina coast. The storm, currently...

By Gabriella Borter Sept 11 (Reuters) - An Australian newspaper defended its cartoonist on Tuesday after publishing a caricature of Serena Williams having a temper tantrum at the...

* Australian government fractured after previous PM was ousted * Government unites in first session under new PM * Widely watched poll shows voters set to punish...

SYDNEY, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Australia's centre-right government returns to parliament on Monday for the first time since a divisive leadership battle and confronted with an opinion...

(This is a repeat of an item issued on Friday) * Australian PM to face parliament for first time as leader * Must heal fractured party as challenges mount * Morrison governs...

By Alison Bevege SYDNEY, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Australian police found up to five dead people including a woman and children on Sunday in a suburb of the western city of Perth, a...

By Alison Bevege SYDNEY, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Australia's ruling coalition is facing a major defeat in a state by-election after voters vented their frustration over recent...

By Alison Bevege SYDNEY, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Tall ships carrying climate change banners sailed into Australia's Sydney Harbour on Saturday launching a wave of protest across 95...

By Robin Pomeroy and Sarah Mills VENICE, Italy, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Jennifer Kent, who made her name with horror "The Babadook", returned on Thursday with a revenge thriller set in...

* Only one woman among 21 directors in main competition * "Babadook" director Jennifer Kent made "The Nightingale" * Man admits shouting "whore" at press screening (Adds Festival...

By Robin Pomeroy VENICE, Italy, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The organisers of the Venice Film Festival signed a pledge on Friday to work towards gender equality, hoping to mollify critics...

* 30 pct chance of exceeding average east coast rainfall* Dry weather expected in Western Australia* If forecast materialises, Australia faces tight wheat supplies (Adds details,...

SYDNEY, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Australia has signalled it is preparing to ban U.S. whistleblower Chelsea Manning from entering the country ahead of a scheduled speaking tour, the...

SYDNEY, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Dry weather will remain across Australia for at least the next three months, the country's meteorological bureau said on Thursday, intensifying a drought...

JAKARTA, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Australia's new prime minister is to visit Indonesia this week on his first overseas trip since being sworn in, Indonesia's foreign ministry said on...

SYDNEY, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Australia's outgoing prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday he would resign from parliament "not before too long" after being ousted in a...

CANBERRA, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Treasurer Scott Morrison will be Australia's new prime minister after winning a three-way battle for the leadership of the Liberal party on Friday,...

Scott Morrison has replaced Malcolm Turnbull as Australian Prime Minister. Morrison won a party room ballot with 45 votes, against Peter Dutton's 40. Julie Bishop was voted out in...

SYDNEY, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Peter Dutton, an Australian lawmaker whose challenge set off a leadership battle against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this week, can remain in...

* Senior ministers desert PM Turnbull, back rival* Second leadership vote could happen on Friday* Treasurer and Foreign Minister will stand - media* Parliament adjourned by...

CANBERRA, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stubbornly clung to power on Thursday, as senior ministers deserted him, saying he would hold a second...

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will hold a party room meeting at midday on Friday. He said he will stand aside if he receives a letter signed by the majority of his party...

(Corrects paragraph 3 to show Turnbull narrowly won Tuesday vote par three)CANBERRA, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Australia's embattled government moved to adjourn parliament on...

The federal parliament has voted to adjourn the House of Representatives until 10 September. The Government moved the motion to allow time for leadership issues to be resolved....

CANBERRA, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Embattled Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is unlikely to contest a second leadership ballot, making way for Treasurer Scott Morrison as a...