WASHINGTON The discovery of scores of graves in people-smuggling camps in Malaysia is casting a shadow over President Barack Obama’s signature trade deal as U.S. lawmakers consider punishing trading partners that are soft on human trafficking. Just as Obam... More »
SYDNEY Macquarie Group Ltd (MQG.AX), Australia’s top investment bank, said it jointly bought the country’s largest owner of mobile telephone towers from a business owned by U.S. wireless infrastructure giant Crown Castle International Corp (CCI.N). The Macquar... More »
CANBERRA Australia on Tuesday proposed new legislation to tighten tax loopholes that the conservative government says have allowed around 30 of the world’s largest multinational companies to avoid paying taxes. Under the proposals, released as part of Australi... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank cut interest rates for the second time this year on Tuesday, seeking to buttress the economy against sliding mining investment while heading off a harmful increase in the local dollar. The currency did initially drop... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian stock markets retreated on Tuesday and the Australian dollar stumbled after the central bank cut interest rates for the second time in four months as the region’s growth falters in the face of slowing demand from China. Financial sp... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) agreed to buy smaller rival BG Group (BG.L) for 47 billion pounds ($70 billion) in the first major energy industry merger in more than a decade, closing the gap on market leader U.S. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) after a plu... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Sometimes it takes little more than five people to put together a $70 billion oil mega-merger. Shell’s purchase of smaller rival BG, the third largest oil and gas merger ever, was prompted by a phone call on a Sunday in the middle of March b... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – An Indonesian court rejected on Monday a last-ditch challenge by Australian drug convict Andrew Chan, who is facing execution by firing squad, a verdict the attorney general’s office said left him with no further legal avenues to avoid the ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar weakened across the board on Monday, after much weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data persuaded many in the market that the Federal Reserve is likely to wait until the second half of 2015 before raising interest rates. Friday’s close... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday announced a national security crackdown that could deny welfare payments to people seen as potential threats, strip the passports of those with dual nationality and curb travel overseas. Abbott... More »
ROCKHAMPTON, Australia (Reuters) – A powerful cyclone slammed into northeast Australia on Friday, destroying homes, upending trees, cutting power lines and causing flash floods, while a second storm severed communications to a northern island where heavy damag... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned Indonesia of the potential for diplomatic fallout if Jakarta goes ahead with the looming execution of two Australian citizens on death row for drugs charges. Indonesia has harsh penalties for ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott survived a challenge to his leadership on Monday after his ruling Liberal Party voted down a motion to unseat him after weeks of infighting, but the attempted revolt appears likely to weaken his grip on ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Embattled Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he will fight a challenge to his leadership at a party-room meeting next week after disgruntled government lawmakers on Friday sought to oust him following weeks of divisive speculation. A... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian court on Monday ordered bail revoked for the partner of a self-styled Sheikh who last week stormed a Sydney cafe at gunpoint, sparking a 16-hour hostage crisis that left three people dead, including the gunman. Amirah Droudis, ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Eight children have been killed and a woman who was mother to seven of them was injured in the northern Australian city of Cairns, police said on Friday, in what several media outlets reported was a mass stabbing. Australia is in a state of ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian police locked down the center of the country’s biggest city on Monday after an armed man walked into a downtown Sydney cafe, took hostages and forced them to display an Islamic flag, igniting fears of a jihadist attack. Police sai... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is nearing the end of his first full year in office hobbled by missteps and a souring economy that have plunged his approval ratings to historic lows, increasing speculation he may not survive to a secon... More »
BRISBANE Australia (Reuters) – A showdown between Western leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely at the G20 summit in Australia starting on Saturday, following fresh reports of Russian troops pouring into eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has accused Ru... More »
MONROVIA/FREETOWN (Reuters) – Australia became the first developed country on Tuesday to shut its borders to citizens of the countries worst-hit by the West African Ebola outbreak, a move those states said stigmatized healthy people and would make it harder to... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The children of refugees who fled Lebanon’s civil war for peaceful Australia in the 1970s form a majority of Australian militants fighting in the Middle East, according to about a dozen counter-terrorism officials, security experts and Musli... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian aircraft will join the U.S.-led coalition in air strikes against Islamic State insurgents in Iraq in an initial support role, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday, ahead of a final decision to undertake bombing missions. T... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Militants connected with radical group Islamic State were planning to behead a member of the public in Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Thursday, after hundreds of police raided homes in a sweeping counter-terrorism operation. A... More »
WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) – Washington said countries in the Middle East had offered to join air strikes against Islamic State militants and Australia said it would send troops, but Britain held back even after the group beheaded a British hostage and threat... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan and Australia are leaning towards a multibillion-dollar sale by Tokyo of a fleet of stealth submarines to Canberra’s military in a move that could rile an increasingly assertive China, people familiar with the talks said. An agreement i... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A joint Australian-Dutch probe team will renew efforts on Monday to gain access to the crash site of a Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine, Australian Federal Police said, after fierce fighting kept them away the previous day. Evidence cou... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia will send 100 additional police and some defense force personnel to Europe to join a planned Dutch-led international security force to secure the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash site, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Friday. ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – An index of Asian shares touched a fresh three-year high on Wednesday as some markets focused on company earnings more than geopolitical tensions while the Australian dollar spiked on stronger-than-expected inflation data. But a cautious mood... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s prime minister voiced deep concern on Monday that Russian-backed rebels remained in control of the crash site of a Malaysian airliner shot down over Ukraine, saying the site looked more like a “garden clean-up” than a forensic in... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Malaysia Airlines (MASM.KL ) Flight MH370 was most likely on autopilot when it crashed into the Indian Ocean further south than previously thought, Australian officials said on Thursday, as they charted the next phase of a so far fruitless s... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian stocks and the Australian dollar rose on Monday as upbeat news from China’s factory sector and fresh highs on Wall Street fuelled appetites for riskier assets, while crude oil held near nine-month highs as fighting in Iraq intensified. ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Government officials from Australia, China and Malaysia pledged on Monday not to give up searching for a Malaysia Airlines jetliner that disappeared almost two months ago, despite lingering questions about how to proceed and who will pay. No... More »
JAKARTA/PERTH (Reuters) – An Australian passenger mistook the cockpit door for the toilet, triggering Friday’s hijack scare on a Virgin Australia flight from Brisbane to the Indonesian holiday island of Bali, police said. Matt Lockley told Bali police after hi... More »
SYDNEY/PERTH, Australia (Reuters) – Australian officials said on Wednesday two new “ping” signals had been detected in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, boosting confidence after more than a month of fruitless searching for the missing jetliner. T... More »
PERTH (Reuters) – The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 resumed on Wednesday, even as senior Australian officials warned that bad weather and a lack of reliable information were seriously impeding efforts to locate the plane’s wreckage. Up to 10 ... More »
PERTH (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 had no time limit, despite the failure of an international operation to find any sign of the plane in three weeks of fruitless searching. A total... More »
PERTH/BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. equipment designed to detect black box signals arrived in Australia on Wednesday, as searchers stepped up efforts to find some trace of a Malaysian airliner thought to have crashed 18 days ago thousands of miles off course in the... More »
SYDNEY/PERTH (Reuters) – A Chinese military aircraft searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner spotted several “suspicious” floating objects on Monday in remote seas off Australia, raising hopes wreckage of the plane may soon be found. The latest si... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Australian Cate Blanchett won her second Oscar on Sunday for her role as a socialite who suffers a breakdown in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.” Blanchett, 44, was the favorite to win this year’s Oscar after sweeping awards season with pri... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian markets fell on Thursday after a survey of Chinese manufacturers proved surprisingly soft, while the Australian dollar weakened due to its role as a whipping boy when activity in the Asian giant disappoints. The flash Markit/HSBC Purch... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – When Toby Gilbert decided to emigrate last year, he did not choose Australia over Dublin for sunshine and sandy beaches. He just wanted a few more free hours to see his wife. Fed up with working punishing hours and barely seeing each other, ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Australian shares climbed to a five-year peak on Monday, drawing confidence from another record high on Wall Street as investors bet the Federal Reserve will put off winding back its cheap money policies until next year. Many analysts think t... More »
CANBERRA (Reuters) – It’s got guns for everyone and souped-up cars, as well as mechanical dinosaurs and a Titanic replica – welcome to the new dawn of Australian politics. Almost 15 million voters in sports-mad Australia chose conservative fitness fanatic Tony... More »
PRETORIA (Reuters) – South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday appealed to unions and companies in the gold industry to avoid an imminent strike that could seriously damage Africa’s largest economy, force mine closures and cost thousands of jobs. Gold mine... More »
(Reuters) – In the end, all it took was a workout session in the gym followed by conversation over breakfast at San Francisco’s Four Seasons hotel for Verizon Communications Inc’s Lowell McAdam and Vodafone Group Plc’s Vittorio Colao to bridge a $30 billion, 1... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Media companies, including the New York Times, Twitter and the Huffington Post, lost control of some of their websites Tuesday after hackers supporting the Syrian government breached the Australian Internet company that manages many m... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama spoke with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday about possible international responses to the Syrian crisis while his national security adviser discussed Syria and security with Israeli officials, the Whi... More »
CANBERRA (Reuters) – A bold gamble by Kevin Rudd to reclaim the leadership of Australia and launch national elections appears to be failing, with a poll on Monday showing his center-left Labor government is headed for a heavy defeat in a September ballot. A Ne... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Strong trade data from China eased concerns about the global economic outlook on Thursday, supporting European and Asian shares and giving the battered Australian dollar a boost. The better tone ended three days of steady falls in MSCI’s wor... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – European shares drew support from a steady improvement in the outlook for the euro zone economy on Tuesday as Australia cut interest rates to help its economy face the impact of slowing commodity demand from China. British and German industr... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Australia has told Britain it hopes it will remain part of the European Union, becoming the latest country to intervene in an emotive domestic debate that may culminate in a referendum to decide if Britain leaves the 28-nation bloc. Prime Mi... More »
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd rewarded backers who helped him reclaim power from Julia Gillard with places in the new ministry he announced on Monday, while a new poll showed a strong bounce for his Labor Party before national elect... More »
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Kevin Rudd was sworn in as Australian prime minister for the second time on Thursday, a day after toppling Julia Gillard and three months ahead of elections in which opinion polls show the ruling Labor Party faces a devastating defeat. Rud... More »
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard called a leadership showdown with rival Kevin Rudd on Wednesday, in a bold move that could see the ruling Labor Party dump a sitting prime minister less than three months before national elections. T... More »
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard hit out at critics of her record on Monday as speculation intensified of a fresh challenge to her leadership and opinion polls showed her divided Labor Party headed for a catastrophic September elec... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp boosted its share of Australia’s pay-TV market after shareholders in Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd voted in favor of a A$2 billion ($2.1 billion) takeover offer from News. The deal will double the stake of New... More »
