An American warship approached the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Friday to assert the nation's freedom of navigation in these international waters.

This was a strategic move by the Pentagon to counter the Chinese government's claim to the seas around the island chain- amidst Beijing's increasing military power that is seen as a growing threat.

The Chinese government’s claim states that it is "not permitted by international law" for other countries to make  "innocent passage" through the seas around this region.

US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to defend Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Sunday, as a response to an inflammatory tweet made by the "New York Times" regarding another sexual misconduct allegation.

The President staunchly refuted the allegations by claiming that the emerging evidence was another dishonest attempt by "Radical Left Democrats" at launching Kavanaugh's impeachment.

Queensland's Liberal National Party has lost its final legal bid to keep political donations less than $13,500 off the official register.

In Queensland, every donation to a political party exceeding $1000 has to be made public but under federal law only donations over $13,500 must be disclosed.

The former Newman government had raised the donation declaration threshold from $1000 to $12,400 in 2012, arguing it made the two thresholds consistent, but the Palaszczuk (PAL-uh-shay) government changed it back to $1000 in 2015.

The University of Queensland’s controversial plan to redevelop the UQ Union site may have hit a stumbling block as the Queensland Government makes the recommendation to heritage-list the Schonell Theatre. 

The Save the UQ Union Complex group, applied to heritage list the site as a “hub of Queensland democracy” in May, after the university released a $300 million redevelopment plan that included the demolition of the iconic theatre. 

A royal commission will hear stories of the abuse and neglect of people with disability that is still occurring today, say advocates who hope the long-overdue inquiry will finally bring about real change.

The royal commission will hold its first public sitting in Brisbane on Monday, kicking off a three-year inquiry into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability.

People With Disability Australia Chief Executive Jeff Smith expects it will be an emotional and difficult time.

A recent survey has found that Australian’s largely support big businesses standing up for social and environmental issues. 

The Committee for Economic Development surveyed 3000 people and found that at least four in every five respondents say corporate leaders should offer their opinion on issues that are being debated.  

The clash between democratic Hong Kong protesters and police authorities escalated severely at an unsanctioned rally on Sunday, with tear gas and water cannons targeting hard core protesters as they threw rocks and petrol bombs in an act of defiance.

A small group of hard core activists, also known as "braves", began this unsanctioned rally on Sunday by  attacking the main government complex within the city- triggering one of many rallies that have been ongoing now for the last 99 days.

Two major oil production locations in Saudi Arabia were attacked by drones controlled by Yemen's Iran-aligned rebel forces, in the early hours of the morning last Saturday. 

Approximately five million barrels per day of crude production was detrimentally affected, with Saudi Arabia having to close down half of its oil output or nearly five percent of the global oil supply as a result of the strike.