News Archive

China has paid for its long-term air pollution with an unprecedented haze shrouding Beijing and sparking mass panic over the past three days. On January 12, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Centre (BMEMC) announced that the official measurements of PM2.5 fine particulates had reached 993 …

The Chinese media is fed up with censorship has been punished for advocating political reform. On January 4 the Beijing Communication Administration (BCA) shut down the official website of outspoken magazine, Yan Huang Chun Qiu (YHCQ). Before the denial of service, YHCQ had …

Keep it Tame, a national campaign targeting young people across Australia, is urging them to act safely and with respect when online. The Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre (YAWCRC) is aiming to change online behaviour amongst young people by teaching them …

Less than 48 hours after writing an article for MegaphoneOz criticising the English media’s reaction to Kate Middleton’s pregnancy, I find myself discussing the extraordinary behaviour of the Australian media as well. The British public is outraged at a prank call made by …

China’s anti-corruption drive through social media received its first triumph when a whistleblower leaked a Chongqing official’s sex photographs on Weibo, Chinese Twitter. Zhengfu Lei, the Party Secretary of the Beipei district in Chongqing, was dismissed on November 23, three days after …

Australia’s Got Talent’s  Matthew Shields shot to fame overnight for his creative Aboriginal dance style on the pole and his performances have encouraged men to get involved in the female-dominated pole dance. But not many people know he now has a dance partner. …

While tens of thousands of people headed to Cairns to chase the total solar eclipse on November 14, the Yolngu communities around Gurruwiling, East Arnhem Land, hosted a smaller but magnificent event. Gurruwiling, better known as the Arafura Swamp, is where the …

Australia’s Asian Century White Paper was welcomed as a great gift for China’s new president Xi Jinping in the Chinese media which also dubbed Australia a “Reform Vanguard” in the second Industrial Revolution led by Asia. The White Paper, which aims to …

Europe is united more than ever, in protest: Spain, Portugal, Greece and now Italy. Thousands of European workers, trade unions, pensioners and students moved to oppose all governments that support austere policies in response to the economic crisis, without “first depriving themselves …

GEOFF OSTLING IS often asked to name his favourite flower. The plants he likes best are big, fleshy flowers such as the hippeastrum, or showy, exuberant plants that pop with colour. As Geoff opens the front door of his Petersham home and …