Early election looms as PM seeks to reform hostile Senate
CANBERRA – Federal parliament began a bitter final sitting day before a May budget, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull considering dissolving both houses of parliament and calling an early election…
MSDF training sub to visit Philippines; two escort ships to Vietnam
TOKYO – A Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (MSDF) submarine will visit the Philippines for the first time in 15 years, while two accompanying warships will visit Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay…
Frank Sinatra Jr, son of legendary actor and singer, dies
Frank Sinatra Jr., the son of famed singer and actor Frank Sinatra who carved out his own career as a singer and conductor, has died at age 72, his sister…
Australian submarines should be built entirely at home: Germany’s TKMS
SYDNEY – Australia’s new $50 billion submarine fleet should be built entirely within Australia, ThyssenKrupp AG’s shipbuilding unit said, making the German firm the first bidder to publicly endorse domestic…
Trump phenomenon ‘terrifying’: Christopher Pyne
SYDNEY – Federal Industry Minister Christopher Pyne has called Donald Trump’s campaign for the United States presidency “terrifying” and warned it risked casting the Republican Party into the wilderness if…
Australia, Indonesia renew push for trade deal amid warming ties
SYDNEY – Australia and Indonesia on Wednesday said they would formally resume long-stalled negotiations aimed at sealing a bilateral trade agreement between the often uneasy neighbours within 18 months. Australian…
Bus blast kills 15 government employees in northwest Pakistan
PESHAWAR – At least fifteen people have been killed when a bomb exploded on a bus carrying government officials in the northwest Pakistani frontier city of Peshawar, officials say. The…
Turnbull backs tough competition laws opposed by business lobby
SYDNEY – Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he will back a controversial change to the country’s competition laws that would reduce the power of big businesses to monopolise markets…
North Korea court sentences US student to 15 years hard labour- Xinhua
SEOUL – North Korea’s supreme court has sentenced American student Otto Warmbier to 15 years of hard labour for crimes against the state, China’s Xinhua news agency reports. Warmbier, a…
Cuba reports first case of Zika contracted in the country
HAVANA – Cuba’s Health Ministry has reported the first case of Zika contracted in the country, in a 21-year-old woman living in the central Havana capital and who had not…
