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BANGKOK (AP) - A large chunk of metal that could be from an aircraft washed ashore in southern Thailand, but Malaysian authorities on Sunday cautioned against speculation of a link to a Malaysia Airlines flight missing almost two years.

TOKYO/ SYDNEY--The competition for the contract to build Australia's next submarine fleet is narrowing to a race between Japan and France as a bid from Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) loses ground over technical concerns, multiple sources said. Australia is expected to decide the winner of the Australian $50 billion ($34.55 billion) project, one of the world's most lucrative defense contracts, within the next six months, ahead of a national election in which the deal and the jobs it will create is expected to be a key issue for the conservative government. TKMS is proposing to scale up its 2,000-ton...

Oldest hominid skull in Australia found near Bega Friday, 13 January 2006 THE endocast of a primitive hominid-like skull was recovered from among the rubble of a volcanic plug in the Bega district in May 2005 The find could suggest that a race of ancestral hominids had evolved in Australia from tree-dwelling primate ancestors by seven million years ago. This is well before our primate ancestors supposedly left the trees for a terrestrial existence in Africa around six million years ago! The fossil was discovered by noted prehistory researcher Rex Gilroy of Katoomba NSW, where he operates the 'Australian-Pacific Archaeological...

A breed of sea snake thought to be extinct for years was recently discovered off the west coast of Australia, another in a string of similar findings among species scientists believed were lost forever. It was the first time the species of snakes was seen in more than 15 years since disappearing from the Timor Sea, according to researchers at Australia's James Cook University who identified the snakes. The discovery of the Short Nose sea snake was confirmed after an Australia Parks and Wildlife officer sent a photo to researchers for identification, the university said. The study's lead author, Blanche...

A police operation cleared people from the area around the Sydney Opera House on Thursday afternoon and caused the cancellation of the Manly ferry service. Police confirmed the operation but no further information was immediately available. It is understood the operation was not related to terrorism. The 1.20pm ferry from Manly to Circular Quay had been cancelled due to the operation, according to a Department of Transport spokeswoman.

The White House says Australia's prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, will meet with President Barack Obama on Jan. 19 as he makes his first trip to Washington since being sworn in last September. The White House says the two leaders will highlight the wide scope of the U.S.-Australia alliance. They'll talk about a wide range of issues that include the conflicts with the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Australia has provided air power to the coalition efforts. ...

A SENIOR female Muslim navy officer has had her twitter account shut down after it posted tweets on Islamic terrorism that appear at odds with government policy. Captain Mona Shindy, the Chief of Navy’s strategic adviser on Islamic affairs, was believed to run the account @navyislamic which retweeted a counter-terrorism expert mocking Tony Abbott after the leadership coup. The social media account had also backed Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohamed’s controversial response to the Paris terrorist attacks, tweeting the hashtag #IStandWithTheMufti.

The Government said it would not change double jeopardy laws to open the way for a retrial of a prime suspect in the murders of 16-year-olds Colleen Walker-Craig and Clinton Speedy-Duroux, and four-year-old Evelyn Greenup. The children went missing from a road in Bowraville over a five month period in 1990 and 1991. In early 1991, the bodies of Evelyn and Clinton were found in bushland along the Congarinni Road on the outskirts of the town. Clothing belonging to Colleen Walker-Craig was found in the Nambucca River nearby, but her body has never been found. A man identified as the...

“Hundreds” of African invaders engaged in a widespread orgy of violence over the Christmas weekend in Melbourne, the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Victoria. According to local media reports—all of which deliberately failed to report on the race of the rioters—the incidents took place outside a train station in Melbourne’s southeast and outside a Carlton nightclub on Queensberry Street, North Melbourne.In addition, a further brawl took place later at a police station when groups of the arrested Africans went on a rampage, attacking each other and wounding two policemen in the process. The violence outside...

A MAN is dead and several people have been injured in a multi-vehicle crash and explosion in Footscray. Police say a truck and several cars collided before an explosion went off at the corner of Barkly and Gordon streets in Footscray. Two sets of powerlines are down and windows were blown out in nearby homes. The explosion spread debris over an area of about 100 metres along Barkly St east of Gordon St. Much of the debris is believed to have come from the truck. Some of the items include gas bottles and a sink Local residents say the impact...

Jesus was not Palestinian, the Uniting Church of Australia said after an umbrella Jewish group objected to a news story that called Palestinians "the living descendants of Christ." The saga began when two Palestinian Arab members of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, which has links with the Uniting Church of Australia, wrote a story that appeared last Tuesday in the leftist political publication New Matilda.The article, which was penned by Samah Sabawi and Bassam Dally, stated: "An official delegation representing our country in Israel has added fuel to the flames of extremism abroad by applauding proven human rights violators and...

..."They (residents) were all prepared, putting their barbecues on, they were cooking away, and all of a sudden they could see the smoke coming over the hill," local resident Patrick Carey said. "They thought it was still four hours away according to what they'd heard. And then all of a sudden it was an hour away, and all of a sudden it was half-an-hour away. So, they just dropped everything, stopped cooking and hopped in their car."

Sydney (dpa) - Relatives of eight children slain in their beds one year ago gathered Sunday to plant eight blossoming frangipani trees in their memory. The stabbings of three sisters, ages 2, 11 and 12, their four brothers, ages 5, 6, 8 and 9, and their 14-year-old cousin still shocks the community of Manoora, a suburb of Cairns in tropical far north Australia. The mother of the children, Raina Thaiday, 38, was found by her 20-year-old son in the garden of 34 Murray Street that the morning covered in blood and suffering self-inflicted wounds. Within days she was charged with...

A Chinese state-owned newspaper has sent a thinly veiled threat to Australia after an RAAF plane was detected patrolling above the South China Sea. The ominous Global Times editorial appeared to warn Australia its planes could be shot down if they continue their surveillance flights of the region, reports ABC. The article comes after the pilot of an RAAF P-3 Orion aircraft patrolling above the area was detected telling the Chinese navy via radio communications they were 'exercising international freedom of navigation rights.'

A Chinese company has won the bid to operate the Port of Darwin under a 99-year lease deal worth $506 million, NT Chief Minister Adam Giles has announced. Mr. Giles announced the Port of Darwin will have a new operator under an agreement signed today with the Landbridge Group worth $506 million, in a deal he described as "a fantastic outcome for the Territory". ...

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has drawn outrage for claiming the Lindt cafe siege was not an act of terrorism, on the anniversary of Islamist-inspired gunman Man Haron Monis's 17-hour standoff in which two hostages died. "It wasn't a terrorist event," Ms Moore said yesterday. "This was a one-off, isolated event by a mentally ill man with a violent background who shouldn’t have been out on bail." NSW Deputy Premier and Police Minister Troy Grant told The Australian that Ms Moore's comments were "a shame". "I am offended on behalf of all police and emergency personnel who placed their lives...

The Australian Military has bolstered its military surveillance over the South China Sea amid mounting tensions surrounding ownership of the region. An RAAF P-3 Orion aircraft was detected patrolling the area by the BBC, who picked up an Australian official telling the Chinese navy via radio communications that the plane was 'exercising international freedom of navigation rights.' 'China navy China navy we are an Australian aircraft exercising international freedom of navigation rights, in international airspace in accordance with the international civil aviation convention, and the united nations convention of the law of the sea - over,' the message said. The...

How the mighty have fallen. A soldier, in uniform, with a pack and a clearly fake gun causes an entire section of Australian civilization to go into the "vapors".Throughout most of the rest of the world, there would hardly be a comment. Seeing soldiers on exercises is common and only slightly noteworthy.Notice that this soldier did nothing that was even remotely threatening, except exist. He did not fire blanks. He never pointed the crude, welded metal sections, vaguely resembling a rifle, at anyone. We (in the United States) would be in the same place if it were not for...

How the mighty have fallen. A soldier, in uniform, with a pack and a clearly fake gun causes an entire section of Australian civilization to go into the "vapors".Throughout most of the rest of the world, there would hardly be a comment. Seeing soldiers on exercises is common and only slightly noteworthy.Notice that this soldier did nothing that was even remotely threatening, except exist. He did not fire blanks. He never pointed the crude, welded metal sections, vaguely resembling a rifle, at anyone. We (in the United States) would be in the same place if it were not for...

A MAN who killed his neighbour’s intruder has been dubbed a hero and people have taken to social media to call for a bravery award. The 42-year-old rushed to help his neighbour who was being chased around her home by the intruder on Friday afternoon. Police believe the intruder previously lived in the house in Frankston Heights, Victoria. Witness Hilary Lennon told the Sunday Herald Sun the woman was screaming and was chased out of the house to her backyard, with the intruder following close behind. “The woman was very afraid and was screaming very loudly, she was frantic. Something...