Australia, Asia | featured news

Sydney's skyline erupted with tons of exploding fireworks as revelers cheered in the new year from the city's crammed harbor in the world's first major celebration for 2013.

Tony Clift's family has plowed the rich black soil of Australia's Liverpool Plains for six generations. The thought of selling never crossed his mind — until a Chinese company came to town. Shenhua Watermark Coal offered to buy farms at unheard-of prices. The decision wasn't easy, Clift says. His pioneer ancestors settled the land in 1832. But farming is a business nowadays, and selling his 6,500 acres (2,600 hectares) made business sense.

China's Yu Wenxia has been crowned the 2012 Miss World. This is the second time Miss China has been awarded the title. The last time was in 2007 when Zhang Zilin took the honor. The first runner-up is Sophie Elizabeth Moulds of Wales and the second runner-up is Jessica Michelle Kahawaty of Australia.

U.S. military efforts to strengthen its presence in Asia are not aimed at countering China, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday, ahead of talks on deepening defense ties with regional ally Australia.

On March 9, three terrorist suspects were killed by Indonesian police during a raid in Jakarta. Forensic experts carefully examined their bodies but kept their conclusions from the public until ...

India condemned the fatal stabbing of an Indian student in Australia and warned that the attack, which was the latest in a series of assaults, could put bilateral ties under strain. The 21-year-old student was killed over the weekend in the ...

A 50 billion Australian dollar ($41 billion) deal for China to buy Australian natural gas shows current diplomatic tensions between the two countries will not trump their commercial interests, officials said Wednesday.

Investors on Friday firmly endorsed an Australian dollars 3.5 billion plan for Yanzhou Coal to buy Felix Resources Ltd. in what would be China's biggest investment yet in the Australian minerals sector.

The Anglo-Australian mining giant rejected Chinese allegations that its employees detained in Shanghai were involved in bribery and stealing state secrets.