AUSTRALIA

There are only a few more days left to ring in the New Year and if that is not incentive enough to go hunting for exotic travel destinations, consider that 2011 was the Year of Travel according to industry experts. Travel advisors at Virtuoso, a leading luxury travel network in the Americas, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, suggest the top seven destinations that ought to be visited in 2012.

A boat carrying illegal immigrants heading for Australia sank off the coast of East Java in Indonesia and over 300 people were missing with many feared dead, a senior emergency official said.

A unique deal to protect part of the annual bonus pool at UBS Australia expires within weeks, say sources with direct knowledge of the matter, raising the prospect that the business may lose some top talent should it not be renewed.

Ian Meldrum, Australia's top music journalist and a friend of singer Elton John is in critical condition after falling from a ladder while hanging Christmas decorations, doctors said on Friday.

Hong Kong was named the best city in the world for financial market development, beating out perennial front runners New York and London.

Keanu Reeves has secured financing and distribution for his directorial debut, the martial-arts film Man of Tai Chi.

At a depth of 12,461 feet, the company found more than 400 feet of natural gas roughly 180 miles offshore of Exmouth near the Carnarvon Basin in the northwest of Western Australia.

Children whose fathers smoked have at least a 15 percent higher risk of developing the most common form of childhood cancer, a new Australian study finds.

The Pakistan Senate has unanimously passed two bills, on Dec. 12, which awards strict punishments to those accused of throwing acid on women.

Asian shares fell into bear market territory for the year and commodities and the euro nursed stinging losses Thursday, after fears that Europe's debt crisis is still worsening prompted investors to dump riskier assets and huddle in the safety of the dollar and Treasuries.

There's still nothing official spinning in the Galaxy Nexus rumor Mill, but Verizon has launched a simulator on their Website that takes an in-depth look at the phone's features, which suggests the carrier is gearing up for an official release.

Morgan Stanley has returned $700 million to investors after its main real estate fund performed weaker than expected, reported the Wall Street Journal.

The occasional sheep seeks respite from a sun that has scorched rocks black in this semi-desert region that South Africa hopes will host the world's most powerful radio telescope.

The royal family will embark on a global tour next year as part of celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth's 60th year on the throne, Buckingham Palace announced on Wednesday.

The No Ball Games promotion is a game of skill, not chance.

Spending cuts proposed by a cash-strapped coalition government in London will likely also exacerbate the problem.

Canada is the first nation to exit the Kyoto treaty, which was adopted in 1997 as a coordinated international effort to battle global warming.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus, world's first smartphone to run on Android 4.0 aka. Ice Cream Sandwich, will hit Australia on Wednesday but there's no news from Verizon Wireless yet about the smartphone's U.S. launch date.

A simple new online music service will launch across Europe and North America this week aimed at the millions who like music but struggle with the technology to find and listen to it.

Country's most successful entertainer of 2011 turns 22 on Tuesday.

European shares rose on Tuesday, bouncing from a steep sell-off in the previous session, though strategists said investors would need to feel more confident about a resolution to the Eurozone crisis before the market could break out of a recent range.