Oceania News

THE economy and lifestyles of the Geelong area will be smashed by Ford's decision to close production and cut 510 jobs by 2016.

Hazel Hawke, the ex-wife of Australia's longest serving prime minister Bob Hawke, has died after complications with dementia.

A worker leaves Ford's Broadmeadows assembly plant on Thursday. Ford is closing its Australian manufacturing operations in just over three years.

STATES show "scant regard for human health" by letting polluting projects with potentially deadly consequences to go ahead, doctors say.

Melbourne co-captain Jack Trengove insists the AFL's supplements scandal is not affecting his form but admits it has been an emotional strain for his parents.

Prabhdeep Srawn, 25, hasn't been heard from since parking his rental car May 13 in a village near an Australian national park.

THE loss of 1200 jobs at the Victorian operations of Ford is a watershed for Australian manufacturing, the Australian Industry Group says.

A 35-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to causing the death of a baby boy while he slept in his nursery in Perth's northern suburbs.

Police have charged Kevin James Corbett, 48, with murder over the stabbing death of a woman in Narrogin on May 18.

Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it is closing its two Australian auto plants and will cease production in the country in October 2016.

Dr Napthine met with Ford representatives yesterday and was told there was nothing either the Victorian or federal governments could do to change their decision, he said.

GINA Rinehart is still Australia's richest person with a net worth of $22.02 billion, according to the 2013 BRW Rich 200 list.

Origin of name: When Captain Cook navigated his way up the Waihou River, he renamed it Thames after the English waterway.

YOUNG, progressive Christians are being warned they risk voting for the ultra-conservative policies of the controversial Rev Fred Nile without realising at the coming Federal Election.

Roy Morgan Research If, as Winston Churchill once remarked, attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference, then Wellington, Auckland and the rest of New Zealand are diverse indeed.

Can you imagine taking off to live in a remote outreach 3000km away? Ann Sheehan explains how the red dirt 'got in their veins'. It was meant to be a six month sabbatical, but six years and 3000km later the Sheehan-Lee family is happier than ever.

China is on track to achieve its Millennium Development Goals by 2015, and to establish a moderately prosperous society by 2020, Shi Guohui, the Vice-Governor of Binxian County, in central China told a Pacific Islands delegation on May 10.

A BAN on live odds betting during sports broadcasts does not require commonwealth legislation, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill says.

Chinese visitors usually opted to book package deals or tours of New Zealand, with the Bay of Islands, Rotorua and Queenstown.

Australian miners are putting the brakes on spending, surprising experts who thought the resources bonanza would run for some time.