Scott Neuman

Australia's conservative government says it wants to effect radical spending cuts and tax increases aimed at nearly halving the fiscal deficit by 2016.

In a speech to Parliament, Treasurer Joe Hockney said Tuesday that "the age of entitlement is over."

The plan for the fiscal year starting July 1 is ...

Scientists have long worried about climate change-induced melting of the huge West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Now they say that not only is the disintegration of the ice already underway, but that it's likely unstoppable.

That means that in the coming centuries, global sea levels will rise by anywhere from 4 ...

A boat carrying migrants from North Africa sank off the coast of Libya on Monday, killing at least 14 people a day after dozens were drowned in a similar incident.

The sinkings are just the latest in a long series of such accidents amid an exodus of would-be illegal immigrants ...

A heated discussion between two pundit-journalists about the civil war in Syria turned into a uncivil exchange in the studio of Jordan's "Seven Stars" satellite channel.

Shaker al-Johari and Mohammad al-Jayousi were appearing on a news discussion program, when, according to The Associated Press, "the debate fell apart as ...

The next inmate in Oklahoma who is scheduled to die by lethal injection will get a six-month stay after the drug protocol in an execution last week went wrong.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals agreed Thursday to delay the execution of Charles Warner until an investigation of the ...

The House voted on Thursday to establish a new investigative committee to look into circumstances surrounding the attack two years ago on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the ambassador and three others.

Republicans accuse the White House of misleading the public about the nature of the ...

Vietnam's coast guard has released a video it says shows one of its vessels being deliberately rammed by a Chinese patrol craft near the disputed Paracel Islands. It comes on the same day that Beijing reiterated its right to drill for oil in the region of the South China Sea ...

A House committee on Thursday voted to issue a subpoena to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki over allegations of delays at VA hospitals that may have caused as many as 40 deaths of patients waiting for care.

In addition to calling Shinseki to testify, lawmakers also subpoenaed records from ...

Mobile messaging service Snapchat has agreed to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that it deceived customers by collecting their user information without permission.

Snapchat's mobile app promises users that video and photos will "disappear forever" soon after they're sent, thus insuring privacy and safeguarding against data ...

Colorado lawmakers have voted to create the a financial system for the state's burgeoning legal marijuana industry.

After Colorado legalized pot in 2013, it still had no financial mechanism for legal marijuana businesses. Washington has also approved the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes.

Just last week, the ...

Syrian rebels were retreating from the besieged city of Homs on Wednesday, surrendering the "capital of the revolution" to President Bashar Assad under a cease-fire that gave them safe passage to other insurgent-held areas of the country.

The governor of Homs, Talal al-Barazi, was quoted by the state news agency ...

House Republicans on Wednesday voted to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress for repeatedly refusing to answer questions about her alleged involvement in targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

The vote was 231 to 187, with all Republicans voting in favor of the measure and all ...

Chinese ships trying putting down an oil rig in disputed waters of the South China Sea have reportedly rammed Vietnamese vessels in recent days, as the Philippines says it's seized a Chinese fishing boat and its crew of 11 for poaching endangered sea turtles.

"On May 4, Chinese ships intentionally ...

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki tells NPR that he's determined to get to the bottom of allegations that veterans may have died at a Phoenix VA hospital while waiting for care.

The accusations of extended delays in providing health care at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system surfaced last ...

Farley Mowat, the Canadian author of the nature classic Never Cry Wolf, has died at age 92, Canadian media report.

The Star quotes Mowat's brother, John, as saying the acclaimed writer and environmentalist died Tuesday, just a few days shy of his 93rd birthday.

The Globe and Mail ...

A week after the NBA banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the league for life for racist remarks he made, the league announced that the team's president is taking an indefinite leave of absence.

Andy Roeser's leave is effective immediately and will "provide an opportunity for a ...

Four acrobats injured during a circus performance over the weekend in Rhode Island are listed in serious condition, the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey says. Four others are in good condition, and one has already been released from the hospital.

Feld Entertainment Inc., the ...

The diminutive Galapagos finches had a problem: The larvae of a parasitic nest fly were killing off their hatchlings.

A scientist, with the help of crowdfunding, had a solution: offer the birds insecticide-laced nest-building material.

It worked.

According to a study published in Current Biology, the birds — really ...

The U.S. Geological Survey says the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma has gone up dramatically in recent months and that the surge in seismic activity has increased the danger of a damaging quake in the central part of the state.

The USGS and Oklahoma Geological Survey issued a joint ...

Jessica Cleaves, the female lead for the '70s soul-pop group The Friends of Distinction, died on Friday, one of the last voices from the Golden Age of Pop and Soul. The four Friends performed tightly-harmonized songs that referenced the looser, hipper culture that flourished in the late '60s and early ...