The US Senate has overwhelmingly voted in favour of ending the three-day government shutdown.

The reopening of the government will be the end to a three-day stand-off between Democrats and Republicans over border security and immigration policies.

To end negotiations the parties agreed on a short-term spending package and protection for undocumented immigrants.

The Productivity Commission has recently discovered up to 50,000 children were either subject to or at risk of abuse and neglect in Australia last year.

The findings, which are equivalent to nine in every 1000 Australian children, have become part of a wider investigation into how effectively and efficiently such cases are handled.

The Commission found more than 54,000 children were under protection orders and one in five of these investigations took longer than 90 days to complete.

A new plan to install an underwater ‘super-cable’ for high-speed internet traffic is expected to bring faster internet speeds to Western Australia.

The new line, capable of transmitting data at near light speed, is expected to be 40 times more efficient than its 20-year-old predecessor, allowing for the simultaneous streaming of millions of movies.

Connecting Perth to Singapore, the installation of the new underwater cable will commence in March with an expected completion date of mid-2019.

Federal MP, Bob Katter, has questioned the spending of $34 million by the Rockhampton and Townsville councils on an airport to service the Adani coal mine.

Katter says there is an “unpleasant odour” to the deal, and the fact the councils are being asked to pay for the airport raises issues of the mine’s viability.

However, the Townsville council says the financial contribution to the airport will secure 900 jobs for the city as one of the mine’s fly-in, fly-out hubs.

5 people were reportedly killed as authorities crack down on banned protests against President Joseph Kabila.

Witness reports in the Democratic Republic of Congo said security forces fired live rounds and tear gas to disperse demonstrators demanding an end to Kabila's 17-year rule.

The weekend’s protests followed the latest round of deadly anti-government protests in December 2017.

The Indonesian Government admited orangutans will most likely be gone from the wild in 50 years, as the destruction of jungles and number of wildlife smugglers increases.

It was reported that at least three baby orangutans are being trafficked through Thailand to third nations, such as the Middle East each week, with predictions they could disappear even sooner due to a lack of political will in Indonesia.