Thousands of people — costumed and glittered — are lining the streets of Sydney tonight for the 38th annual Mardi Gras parade. more than 12,000 people are marching down Oxford and Flinders Street with 175 floats including Muslims Against Homophobia, the People’s Republic of Mardi Gras and the NRL.Both Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten are in ...

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has tasked Agriculture Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq instead of Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to represent him at the Extraordinary Islamic Summit on Palestine end of this week, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday. “The invitation has been addressed to Salam and he is free to assign any of the ministers,” sources at the Grand Serail told the daily. ...

Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered North Korea’s nuclear arsenal to be readied for pre-emptive use at any time, in an expected escalation of military rhetoric following the U.N. Security Council’s adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang. The North’s nuclear warheads must be deployed “on standby so as to be fired at any moment,” Kim was quoted as saying by ...

Saudi Arabia’s U.N. ambassador said Friday there was no need for a U.N. Security Council resolution to address the dire humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is waging a military campaign. “We don’t think that a resolution is needed at this time,” Ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi told a news conference. His remarks came after the 15-member council expressed grave ...

World leaders hailed “real progress” in Syria on Friday, but fresh air strikes showed the fragility of the week-old truce and the opposition cast doubt on its attendance at talks next week in Geneva. Warplanes struck a key rebel bastion east of the Syrian capital for the first time since the fragile truce began last weekend, a monitor said. “Two ...

The Antarctic ship the Aurora Australis is expected to sail P&O operations manager Shaun Deshommes commended the crew “for their efforts and professionalism which they have demonstrated through this situation”. The task now is to check the hull which was damaged when the ship broke its harbour mooring and was stranded on rocks near Mawson Station. Mr Deshommes said underwater ...

Authorities in India investigating one of the wor The Pearls group of companies scammed 50 million Indians, many of them living in poverty, out of $10 billion. Former Australian fast bowler, Brett Lee, had been the face of one of the company’s advertising campaigns — although there is no suggestion that he knew of the claims of fraudulent dealing. But ...

A man has been charged after two men were allegedly punched in the head in Sydney CBD early this morning. Police have charged a 41-year-old man with assault over the alleged attacks on a 39-year-old man and a 51-year-old in front of a fast food outlet corner of Pitt Street and Park Street at about 12:30am today. Sydney City Police ...

The 18-metre tall condom was put onto the heritage-listed structure on Friday night in the lead up to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, to be held next month, by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) health promotion organisation ACON. The organisation’s chief executive Nicolas Parkhill said the Mardi Gras was a good time to remind people that ...

An Israeli security guard was “very seriously” wounded overnight in a suspected Palestinian attack in a West Bank settlement, police said on Friday. Police called to a shopping centre in the Maaleh Adumim settlement found “a 47-year-old man, a guard at the mall, lying on the ground with multiple stab wounds on his body,” a police statement said. “It appears ...