Australia | featured news

The solar storm that sparked so much debate this week got its second wind overnight, rewarding aurora aficionados from the Arctic to the Lower 48 to Australia. We're almost getting used to great views of the northern lights from places like Iceland (see above), Scandinavia and Russia — but last night's lights were visible from the top tier of the United States as well.

Australia's Qantas Airways said Wednesday it was temporarily grounding one of its A380 superjumbos after discovering dozens of hairline cracks in its wings during a maintenance inspection.

A newly discovered horse fly in Australia was so "bootylicious" with its golden-haired bum, there was only one name worthy of its beauty: Beyonce....

An Australian tourist bungee jumping in Africa plunged 365 feet (111 meters) into a river when her cord snapped, but she survived and managed to swim to safety with a broken collarbone and her legs tied together.

Australia's government approved on Friday SABMiller's A$11.5 billion ($11.2 billion) deal to acquire Foster's Group Ltd under foreign acquisitions laws, but imposed conditions requiring the company to keep brewing operations in Australia.

Australian police were looking for the owner of a suitcase "full of money" that was left at a restaurant on Tuesday. Ten Network television reported the luggage found at Cafe Marco in the Burwood district of Sydney contained about 1 million Australian dollars ($1 million) in $50 notes.

Qantas Airways could begin returning its grounded fleet to the skies as early a Monday after an Australian court intervened in a bitter labor dispute by ending strikes and canceling a staff lock out.

An Australian court temporarily bans the sale of Samsung Electronics' tablet computer in Australia.

A shark bit the legs off a bodyboarder at a popular surfing spot in western Australia on Sunday, killing the man, police said.

Scientists have found Earth's oldest fossils in Australia and say their microscopic discovery is convincing evidence that cells and bacteria were able to thrive in an oxygen-free world more than 3.4 billion years ago.