Relief payments will be available to residents left devastated after a freak tornado ripped through homes and buildings in a Western Australian town. The 60-metre-wide tornado, with wind speeds of over 150 kilometres per hour, hit the Bunbury suburb of Withers about 4pm (6pm AEST) on Friday.Seven homes were deemed uninhabitable and about a hundred...

Heavy rains and torrents of cold lava and mud flowing down a volcano's slopes on Indonesia’s Sumatra island triggered flash floods that killed at least 15 people and injured several others, officials said on Sunday.Monsoon rains and a major mudslide from a cold lava flow on Mount Marapi caused a river to breach its banks and tear through mountainside...

The New South Wales Government is considering sweeping new laws aimed at better protecting women from domestic violence.The state cabinet will discuss urgent new reforms that could see bail refused for the most violent domestic abusers and bail made more difficult for those deemed high risk of reoffending while they await trial.The use of electronic...

Four people are in custody after police chased two allegedly stolen luxury cars through the streets of the Gold Coast. Police spotted and begun following a Maserati SUV after it was allegedly stolen from a Broadbeach Waters home at 1pm.The car mounted a median strip at Nerang, which officers used as an opportunity to swarm the vehicle and drag out...

Israeli forces were battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago, where Hamas has exploited a security vacuum to regroup.Israel has portrayed the southern Gaza city of Rafah as Hamas' last stronghold, saying it must invade in order to succeed...

Three men have been charged over an alleged cattle stealing and export operation that saw more than 300 cows valued at more than $250,000 taken from a remote part of Western Australia.Police allege a camp was set up at Louisa Downs Pastoral Aboriginal Corporation station near Broome.Earth moving machinery was allegedly used to create a road to the...