The government spent $78 million transporting asylum seekers last year. These figures highlight the cost of moving and deporting asylum seekers to and from Australia.

The figures from the Department of Home Affairs obtained under Freedom of Information laws shows this significant cost has declined from $97 million to $78 million  in the previous financial year.

Last financial year’s federal central budget set aside $17 million for natural disaster relief and $52 million to support the dairy industry.

An announcement is expected from the government today to aid the country's 2 million casual workers

In the new year, the government will attempt to implement laws to give all casual workers the right to request a move to full-time or part-time work after being in their role for 12 months continuously.

Employers would still be able to say no under this new law, but risk opening themselves up to legal action if they fail to provide reasonable business grounds for doing so.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a 100-euro per month increase in the minimum wage as of next year in response to the yellow vest riots.

Macron addressed the nation after three weeks of anti-government demonstrations by low-income workers which resulted in violence, looting as well as decline to France’s economy.

Research conducted in China has discovered 22 percent of Chinese urban housing is unoccupied, an amount that adds up to about 50 million empty houses.

Holiday homes and empty properties of migrants seeking work elsewhere are contributing factors to the empty homes but the market has been impacted most by increases in investment property purchases.

Vacant homes have put economic pressure on the Chinese housing market, with a drag on supply, increased housing prices, and young buyers becoming crowded out of the market.

The three-year long war between the Yemen government and the Houthi rebels may be turning a corner, as the United Nation facilitates the first face to face meeting between the two sides in Sweden.

An agreement has been struck to allow 6,000 prisoners, including several high ranking commanders, to be exchanged over the coming months.

The talks are one of many confidence-building measures aimed at ending the fighting that has killed more than 56,000 people.