site.news_by_theme Australia

Australia confirmed Saturday that its diplomatic post in Washington had been preparing for Julian Assange's possible extradition to the US but played it down as "contingency planning".

• 19 августа 2012, 09:24

Australia's parliament has passed a law allowing it to transfer asylum-seekers arriving by boat to other countries, despite objections that refugees could be held indefinitely in remote camps.

• 17 августа 2012, 11:27

A boatload of asylum-seekers picked up by a Singaporean merchant vessel after a distress call were Thursday accused of acting like pirates after forcing the captain to take them to Australia.

• 16 августа 2012, 17:48

Australia said Thursday it has no plans to ban smoking after a key court ruling allowing cigarettes to be sold in plain packets, describing the health battle against tobacco as "one step at a time."

• 16 августа 2012, 16:00

A 90-year-old man accused of being a Nazi war criminal on Wednesday won his fight to stay in Australia, after the High Court blocked his extradition to Hungary.

• 16 августа 2012, 14:58

Some 23,000 cheap Chinese-made cars were Wednesday recalled in Australia after asbestos was found in their engines, with unions demanding to know how they came to be in the country.

• 15 августа 2012, 11:13

Plans to transfer asylum-seekers who arrive in Australia by boat to Pacific states won crucial support Tuesday, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard saying they could be processed offshore within a month.

• 14 августа 2012, 12:25

Australia should transfer asylum-seekers offshore to places such as Nauru and Papua New Guinea to deter boatpeople from risking their lives at sea.

• 13 августа 2012, 17:55

Australia rescued more than 200 asylum-seekers from a boat off Indonesia, officials said Friday, amid reports navy ships are literally cracking under the strain of responding to a flood of boatpeople.

• 10 августа 2012, 16:22

An Australian government jet carrying a medical team made a successful landing on an icy runway in Antarctica Thursday to rescue a sick scientist from the United States' McMurdo Station base.

• 10 августа 2012, 10:23

The questions arising from a new probe which says elite athletes who have to travel very long distances are nearly three times likelier to fall ill than when they play at home.

• 09 августа 2012, 16:59

Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has hit out at Facebook over its failure to immediately take down a page that stereotyped Aboriginal people as hopeless petrol-sniffing drunks.

• 09 августа 2012, 13:36

One of Australia's top police officers on Monday criticised violent video games that glorify rape and murder, after a spate of high-profile knifings by young people.

• 07 августа 2012, 10:00

A Qantas Airways pilot failed an alcohol test after being removed from the controls of a passenger flight just minutes before take-off over concerns she had been drinking.

• 06 августа 2012, 14:04

Two men from Hong Kong were on Friday handed lengthy jail terms in Australia after importing Aus$173 million (US$181 million) of cocaine hidden in lawnmowers.

• 04 августа 2012, 13:53

BHP Billiton on Friday said chief executive Marius Kloppers will forgo his annual bonus after the world's biggest miner was forced to write down the value of its US shale gas assets by US$2.84 billion.

• 03 августа 2012, 18:54

Female parrot finches can match their offspring's gender to prevailing living conditions, producing more sons in lean times, scientists in Australia said Wednesday.

• 02 августа 2012, 12:29

Australian police have seized half a billion dollars' worth of crystal methamphetamine and heroin after smashing a Hong Kong-linked international drugs syndicate.

• 31 июля 2012, 17:53

When Elaine Pearce left Sydney for the seaside peace of Old Bar 12 years ago she was assured her new house was a solid investment, with a century's worth of frontage to guard against erosion.

• 27 июля 2012, 17:31

Australia is set to become the world's biggest liquefied natural gas producer, with analysts predicting it will overtake Qatar by 2020 as it unlocks reserves that could last more than a century.

• 25 июля 2012, 13:58