Oceania News

The federal government has approved a giant Queensland coalmine that it says will generate as much as $300 billion for the economy, but which environmental groups say will contribute to a "carbon bomb" and risk causing significant damage to the Great Barrier Reef.

The Coast Guard has suspended the search for an Indiana man who went missing after he and his teenage son crashed their single-engine plane near Pago Pago Tuesday night.

NARACOORTE has its own Commonwealth Games medallist after Jess Trengove finished third in the women's marathon on Sunday night.

A young soldier killed in a firefight with Hamas gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip was born in New Zealand - and his family had planned to return here before he and his sister reached the age of military conscription in Israel.

Former Green MP Keith Locke is urging New Zealanders to demand information about the Kiwi killed in a drone strike overseas last year.

More than a week after a missile destroyed a Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 298 over eastern Ukraine, the crash site in territory controlled by pro-Russia separatists remains unsecured.

COOL, CALM AND COLLECTED: Commerce Commission chair Mark Berry gives every impression of enjoying the hefty weight of his work.

The group of 157 asylum seekers detained at sea for weeks on a Customs ship are yet to arrive on the Australian mainland, refugee advocates say.

A memorial service at sea will be held for a 17-year-old pilot from Indiana and his father, whose plane crashed during an around-the-world flight attempt.

A cocky New South Wales radio DJ-turned-conman has gone to ground a few days shy of his 21st birthday, after his latest scam left small businesses and young DJs thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott addresses the media on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Saturday.

THE parents of Fatima Dyczynski completed their pilgrimage of pain to the MH17 crash site last night, laying flowers atop plane debris.

The architect used several local contractors on the project, including Joseph Toy , president and CEO of Hospitality Advisors LLC. He assisted and provided advisory services on market and economic analyses.

New Zealanders want Maui's and Hector's dolphins protected, and are prepared to pay for it, according to a new report.

Dutch and Australian authorities put their troops on standby for deployment to secure the rebel-held crash site of Malaysian flight MH17 in east Ukraine, where fighting between the army and separatists Friday claimed over a dozen more lives.

Australia will transfer 157 Tamil asylum seekers it has been holding at sea for nearly a month to a mainland detention centre, a government source told Reuters on Friday, in a setback for Prime Minister Tony Abbott's tough refugee policies.

ON THE TRAIL: Conservative Party leader Colin Craig spoke to a full house at the Nelson Suburban Club last night.

Jakarta: Prime Minister Tony Abbott should travel to Jakarta to attend the inauguration of the new Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, in an attempt to forge a strong personal relationship to shore up fragile bilateral ties, one analyst has said.

To some, he is the leader of a marginal political party representing business interests.

It was a sombre mood at St Mary's Cathedral in Perth where hundreds gathered for a memorial held for the victims of the MH17 tragedy.