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A fire is burning out of control in the lower Blue Mountains west of Sydney, causing a significant amount of smoke near the M4 motorway.

The WA Liberal Treasurer Troy Buswell has criticised comments made by Barnaby Joyce calling for a total ban on Chinese sovereign investment in Australia.

After 22 years with a distinctive moustache, the Northern Territory politician Warren Snowdon has shaved his top lip.

A big Ethiopian star will be among the artists headlining the 2010 world music event in Adelaide.

China's industrial output grew 19.2 per cent over the year to November, according to official Chinese figures.

Passionate atheists in New Zealand are copping abuse for their plan to put giant stickers on the sides of buses advising people to stop worrying because there is probably no God.

The Australian Privacy Commissioner has launched a formal investigation into a depression website called Depression Services.

NRL boss David Gallop says the financial viability of clubs would be his major concern if Australia hosted soccer's World Cup.

The Victorian Coroner has ruled that child killer Derek Percy will not be compelled to give evidence at an inquest into the disappearance of Linda Stilwell 41 years ago.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has launched the first Australian-built hybrid car at Toyota's plant at Altona, west of Melbourne.

A Melbourne court has been told four people charged with the murder of crime figure, Des Moran need to know whether DNA evidence will be used against them.

Police say a bikie gang member is one of two men charged over the manufacture of sub-machine guns in western Sydney.

A man who murdered his ex-wife and her one-year-old son using a screwdriver with a blade attached has been sentenced to nearly three decades in jail.

A young Australian climate change activist says she is expecting things to turn violent in Copenhagen, with thousands of protesters vowing to take over the United Nations meeting next week.

The Productivity Commission has found Australia's hospitals are running about 20 per cent below best practice.

brA Roman sarcophagus panel that once belonged to French writer Emile Zola has sold for well over its estimated value, going for $US1.5 million ($1.63 million), auction house Sotheby's said.

The makers of Maltesers have lost an appeal against a trademark infringement case involving a rival product.

New South Wales Police have been denied an interim order to ban convicted paedophile Dennis Ferguson from public places.

The immigration detention centre at Christmas Island has run out of regular beds following the arrival of another boat of asylum seekers.

Wallabies and Queensland Reds player Quade Cooper has appeared in a Gold Coast court on a charge of burglary.