Heavy smoke has covered Australia’s largest city, Sydney, as scores of bushfires rage across the region. Strong winds brought smoke overnight from an inland blaze north of the city, pushing Sydney’s air quality to beyond “hazardous” levels, officials said. On social media, locals described waking up to hazy skies and the stench of smoke in […]

What would you do if your region was burning? Pack up your possessions and head for safety? Stay and help put the fires out? Or head into the bush with a packet of matches and start another fire? Amazingly, in the Australian bushfire season, some people do the latter. So the obvious question is – […]

A Kurdish-Iranian refugee and award-winning writer who was held by Australia for years at a detention center on a remote Pacific island arrived in New Zealand late Thursday, after becoming a cause célèbre for rights activists. The refugee, Behrouz Boochani, 35, who became a prominent voice for the hundreds of people exiled on Manus Island, […]

SYDNEY, Australia — Thousands of Australians have taken to the streets this week to protest the police killing of an Aboriginal teenager in a remote community, a case that has added fuel to long-simmering anger over the government’s behavior toward the country’s Indigenous people. On Wednesday, the police officer who fatally shot the 19-year-old man, […]

The Australian government has set new guidelines for universities to combat what has been described as unprecedented levels of foreign interference. Universities will have to name their research partners and financial donors. They will also be encouraged to strengthen cyber-security systems and protect sensitive research. There has been growing concern about China’s influence on Australian […]

Australian authorities have warned that massive bushfires raging in two states will continue to pose a threat, despite “catastrophic” conditions easing. About 150 fires are still burning in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland, feeding off tinder-dry conditions. Fifty houses were destroyed or damaged in NSW on Tuesday but no lives were lost, officials said. […]

Australia has issued a “catastrophic” fire warning across Sydney, the country’s largest city, as firefighters battle a rapidly worsening bushfire crisis. Wildfires have killed three people and destroyed more than 150 homes since Friday. There were still more than 80 fires burning across New South Wales yesterday, despite the efforts of more than 1,300 firefighters […]

Grace Millane messaged her friend to say “I click with him so well” about the man she was on a date with who allegedly strangled her hours later, a court in New Zealand has heard. Ms Millane’s friend, Ameena Ashcroft, said in a letter read to Auckland High Court that she “thought something was out […]

Australia’s women’s football team, the Matildas, have struck a historic deal which will see them earn equal pay and entitlements on many key measures. Football Federation Australia (FFA) said it means the top male and female players will be on the same pay scale. But the men are likely to keep earning more due to […]

An Australian man has died after being attacked by a shark at a popular tourist spot in Queensland. The location – Cid Harbour in the Whitsunday Islands – was also the scene of two non-fatal shark attacks in September. Police said the latest victim, 33, had been swimming with friends when the attack happened on […]