(CNN) — The number of people missing after flash floods swept cars off roads in the eastern Australian city of Toowoomba rose to more than 70 on Monday, with eight people confirmed dead, police in the state of Queensland reported.

A man in Perth, Australia who had doused a house in petrol and was threatening to set it alight was himself set on fire when police shot him with a taser gun. The 44-year-old man had been having an argument with his sons when the police arrived to try...

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has delivered his last ditch play to the Copenhagen climate change conference in an address to the main session as an estimated 140 world leaders file into the meeting. As hopes of a solid outcome at the mega-talkfest cool as...

An armed robber has been caught after his DNA was matched with blood in a leech found at the scene of the crime. The extraordinary case of the leech that led to a conviction of a weapon-wielding crook is believed to be a world first - and now the...

The Tehrik-e-Nifaz-a-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM—- the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws), founded by Sufi Mohammad, a resident of the Malakand Division of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, came into existence in 1992...

A photo that seems to show Chinese paramilitary forces carrying monks’ robes provides conclusive evidence, those spreading it through e-mail claim, that the Chinese staged Tibet riots last month to justify a government crackdown. But the photo,...

The Australian government outlined plans to secure water supplies and repair ailing rivers on Tuesday, to protect the nation’s drought-hit food bowl, which produces about A$22 billion ($21 billion) worth of food exports.

The electoral system is close to breaking point and the mayoral and local elections on Thursday are vulnerable to large-scale fraud, Gordon Brown is warned today. Efforts to improve turnout by increasing postal voting have raised the risk of fraud and...

Dylan died in Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital on Friday after his life support system was turned off. He was taken to Middlemore Hospital on Tuesday night. Police said the death was suspicious and the cause was “unexplained...

MASSIVE production of biofuels is “a crime against humanity” because of its impact on global food prices, a UN official said today on German radio. “Producing biofuels today is a crime against humanity,” UN Special Rapporteur...