The annual UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting can be an exciting time for anyone who loves this planet's animals, plants and precious places.This year's meeting, which starts on Monday in Doha, Qatar, is shaping up to be very different story and it could actually prove quite an embarrassing affair for Australia. Firstly, the Australian Government is requesting that the World Heritage Committee remove World Heritage protection from ancient forests in Tasmania so that they can be logged.

Tony Abbott has revealed a secret and unlikely admiration for the world’s most powerful leader, describing Barack Obama as an “extraordinarily gifted man” and a potential friend to rival past ­presidents. But as the PM headed into his first official talks with the US President in Washington today, he pulled no punches in saying he would aggressively push for a historic strengthening of US-Australian relations.

Malaysia Airlines flight 370 (MH370) is presumed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, “about as close to nowhere as it’s possible to be, but . . . closer to Australia than anywhere else,” according to Australian prime minister Tony Abbott. In response, Australia’s formidable humanitarian assistance and disaster relief/search and rescue (HADR/SAR) machine has sprung into action.

YouTube temporarily suspended Australian prime minister Tony Abbott's account on Sunday after a message titled 'Delivering on Our Promises' was flagged by users. Though Google said in a statement that videos flagged by users are sometimes mistakenly taken down, many critics of Abbott's policies relished the removal, particularly for violating a policy against "spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content".

After declaring the nation “open for business,” Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has set a target of achieving free trade deals with China, Japan and South Korea within just 12 months. Can the recently elected leader succeed where his predecessors failed? Having stated at the APEC summit in Bali that he wished to swiftly conclude eight years of negotiations with China, Abbott told reporters at last week’s East Asian Summit in Brunei that he was adding the nation’s second and third-biggest trading partners to the target list.

Australia's new government-elect prepared for a tranfer of power Sunday, with policies to cut foreign aid and roll back greenhouse gas reduction measures in moves the new leaders say will help balance the nation's books. Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott also plans to visit Indonesia soon in part to discuss controversial plans to curb the number of asylum seekers reaching Australian shores in Indonesian fishing boats.