NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe has visited Coffs Harbour as planning continues for the proposed Great Koala National Park, a major conservation project aimed at protecting one of Australia's most significant koala populations and more than 100 threatened species.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – More than 100,000 live cockroaches illegal to keep in Australia were confiscated from a single breeder in the country’s largest-ever seizure of exotic invertebrates, officials said Friday.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – An Australian state police force has worked to form a heavily armed rapid response team since gunmen killed 15 people and wounded three police officers armed only with handguns at a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December, a government inquiry heard Wednesday.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose for the fourth consecutive week to its highest level in a year, another setback for prospective homebuyers hoping for a break from elevated home loan borrowing costs.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. economy expanded at a sluggish 1.5% pace from April through June as rising imports weighed on growth, yet consumers continued to spend. And the Federal Reserve’s favored measure of inflation grew more slowly last month. But it remained above the central bank’s 2% target at a time when Americans are frustrated about the high cost of living ahead of the midterm elections, now less than 100 days away.
LONDON (AP) – The Bank of England kept its key interest rate on hold for the fifth time this year on Thursday after a bigger-than-expected drop in the inflation rate last month gave policymakers breathing space to assess the fallout from renewed fighting in Iran.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A Russian ballistic missile and drone barrage across Ukraine overnight killed at least 10 civilians, including children, and injured more than 50 others, officials said Thursday, and NATO scrambled its warplanes after one of the missiles crossed the country’s western border into Poland.
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump said Thursday he may pull acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time post to avoid making concessions to Senate Republicans demanding limits to a sweeping tax audit immunity deal benefiting the president and members of his family that Trump negotiated with his own Department of Justice.
BUNIA, Congo (AP) – Ebola has killed more than 1,500 people in eastern Congo in the fastest-growing outbreak of the disease, data released Thursday showed, marking a 50% increase in around a week as the emergency continues to outpace response efforts.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal officials involved in the prosecution of James Comey misled judges, submitted false statements and withheld key facts during the course of the investigation, according to new defense filings that seek the dismissal of a case charging the former FBI director with threatening President Donald Trump on social media.

















































































































































