Oceania News

Treasurer Joe Hockey has described his financial system inquiry as a "general health check" for a sector that served Australia well during the global financial crisis.

Hollywood star and UN refugee envoy Angelina Jolie has accepted an invitation to visit the small island of Nauru where Australia sends asylum-seekers for processing and resettlement, the government said Monday.

A mentally impaired Aboriginal woman who was held in a West Australian prison for 21 months has been arrested for the second time since her release.

American movie box office takings may be plummeting but New Zealanders are still flocking to the flicks, with top 20 takings remaining steady over the last two years.

Make-up artist Lee Howden said the disgraced entertainer groped her when he was in Christchurch for a TV show in the 1980s Rolf Harris faces a new sex abuse probe after a New Zealander claimed the pervert assaulted her almost 30 years ago.

A $300 million cash swap from roads to railways is at the heart of New Zealand First's transport policy for the election, including restoring the Gisborne-Napier line, and looking at extending the Wellington line to Levin and into Wairarapa.

After 40,000 nautical miles, almost 11 months, six continents and a few heart-stopping moments, Daniel Ho has finally joined an elite group of round-the-world sailors.

It was a school once, but there are no children here anymore. The lonely building on this remote Pacific island now contains only a punching bag that someone has strung from the classroom rafters, and a note scrawled on the chalkboard in Niuean: "Keep this place clean," it says, "so it stays beautiful."

New Senate crossbenchers will again be centre-stage this week when the government seeks their backing to repeal the carbon tax.

With no question off limits, Sir Michael Parkinson CBE explores the private and sometimes troubled world of Ian Thorpe OAM.

IF you live in the bush you'll die three years younger than if you live in the city because of poor access to healthcare.

THE children of murder victim Graziella Dailler are seeking a Coronial inquest into her death and want those who break domestic violence intervention orders to be electronically monitored.

When the illicit river of gold was discovered, it was believed to be one of Australia's largest tax fraud operations.

Old school: Kevin Donnelly's views have made him a favourite of the Abbott government and its education minister, Christopher Pyne.

The government will do everything it can to ensure Australians don't become radicalised overseas and bring their extremist views back home, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says.

Family members of a Russian man charged with hacking in the United States insist he is innocent and fear he will die in custody if he doesn't have his medication.

The next time there's a horrible news event, whether it's a missing plane, a natural disaster or a murder, you can bet someone is already plotting the fictionalised version.

The burden of relief for the uninsured should never again fall on taxpayers, the majority of whom have voluntarily taken out insurance.

Whether driven by idealism, necessity or greed, an increasing number of elderly Australians are supplementing their pensions with a spot of drug distribution.

The discovery of a split-second burst of radio waves by scientists using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico provides important new evidence of mysterious pulses that appear to come from deep in outer space.