AUSTRALIA

Thousands of residents of Australia's third-largest city evacuated homes on Wednesday as massive floods began to inundate the financial district, sparked panic buying of food and left authorities despairing for nearly 70 people missing.

UK recruitment consultancy Michael Page International Plc reported a 32 percent rise in fourth-quarter gross profit, as most of the growth came from permanent recruitment and said it was optimistic about its 2011 prospects.

An unwell Rafael Nadal lost 6-3 6-2 to Nikolay Davydenko in the Qatar Open semi-final, while Federer survived a second-set tie-breaker against Tsonga to book his place in the final.

An online survey conducted among 2,742 Canadian students shows a strong inclination among them to go for studies abroad.

India's will overtake the U.S. in forty years in terms of GDP at purchasing power parities (PPP) while China will sail past its financial and political rival as early as 2018, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report said on Friday.

Despite winning three matches by an innings to take the Ashes series 3-1, England skipper Andrew Strauss claims his side are yet to peak.

England's veteran cricketer Paul Collingwood has announced his retirement from Test cricket before the fourth day of the fifth Ashes test at Sydney

Food prices will continue to haunt the world in 2011, even as the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization warned of 'food price shock' on Wednesday.

With the U.S. market promising little growth in 2011, law firms are looking at emerging markets in Asia and South America for spurring their expansion.

Centuries from Alastair Cook and Ian Bell gave England every chance to take the series and at stumps on day three of the final Ashes test, England lead by 208 runs with three wickets remaining at the SCG.

Nine months after last hearing from the Mars rover Spirit, NASA is stepping up efforts to regain communications with the rover before spring ends in Mars' southern hemisphere in mid-March.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan laid out plans to revive the economy in 2011 in his New Year remarks. While his proposals may boost some sectors of the economy, they miss the point.

The huge floods sweeping across northeast Australia could have a significantly negative impact on the global steel industry.

Moon takes a bite out of the Sun, as the colloquial saying goes, during the start of the year 2011. This year's first partial solar eclipse will be seen on Tuesday, in view from much of Europe, North Africa and central Asia.

Australia's relief over the years of drought being finally broken by rain in December was short-lived as its states now brace for flooding which the government has described as biblical.

The devastating floods in Queensland Australia has driven up the prices of certain commodities, including coal, wheat and sugar. With warnings that the flood may not recede for weeks, the longer-term impact on commodity prices becomes a great concern.

Queensland in Australia, submerged in severe floods, became the first news of natural disaster in the New Year with 200,000 people and 22 towns affected. On Sunday, one woman drowned while crossing a causeway, while the Queensland Bureau of Meteorology has warned that another strong thunderstorm in the night.

Hope, despair, promises and more promises. World leaders have spelled out their intent, or say an 'action plan' for the coming year. Note them all, some merely possible, some probably intricate others perhaps a bunch of lies.

New Year celebrations have begun all round the World. Thousands of revelers in New Zealand welcomed 2011 with a bright display of fireworks illuminating the skies. Australians and tourists who flocked at the Sydney's harbor bridge were treated to the biggest fireworks since the millennium celebrations. A clear, warm day in Sydney cheered up the occasion.

The stars of motoring show 'Top Gear', one of the BBC's biggest selling programme brands around the world, have landed in a religious row for dressing up in burkas on the Boxing Day special.

England inflicted upon Australia one of their heaviest defeats with a margin of an innings and 157 runs to retain the Ashes on the fourth day of the fourth test at Melbourne.