Vast swaths of southeastern Australia are sweltering in a heat wave that’s pushed temperatures to close to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) and forced some residents to protect their properties as wildfires race through parts of rural Victoria.

By Scott Murdoch SYDNEY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares surged as much as 8.4% on Wednesday after the country's largest lender reported record first-half cash earnings on the back of market share gains in home loans,

The waves are massive, and I have no life jacket on. I just kept thinking, ‘Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,’” said Austin Appelbee.

Australia’s trade minister is set to travel to Brussels for talks with European Union officials to try and secure a free trade accord, which if signed would be the bloc’s third major agreement this year and bolster its efforts to stave off pressure from the Trump administration.

SYDNEY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A top Australian central banker said on Wednesday inflation was too high and policy makers were committed to doing whatever was necessary to bring it to heel. Speaking at a business lunch,

Australia is demanding criminal charges over a 2024 Israeli airstrike on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven people, including an Australian aid worker, the country's prime minister said

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SYDNEY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Two Chinese nationals are set to appear in court on Wednesday, after Australian police charged them with foreign interference on grounds of covertly collecting information about a Buddhist group,