Australia's second-largest city Melbourne could possibly have the tallest building in the southern hemisphere after approval Monday for a new 388-meter (1,280 foot) apartment and hotel complex.

The Victorian state government said Australia 108 would become the world's 19th tallest building on completion and would be "an outstanding addition to Melbourne's skyline".

A man was charged with terrorism offences in Australia Thursday after a series of raids connected to a Melbourne Islamic center.

Riot police broke up week-long anti-capitalism protests in Sydney on Sunday, with demonstrators claiming they were forcibly evicted from their city campsite in violent dawn raids.

Police said 40 people were arrested after resisting orders to pack up their shelters outside the Reserve Bank of Australia, where they have been holding peaceful protests since last Saturday as part of the global "Occupy" movement.

Italian swimmer Filippo Magnini once ruled the pool in the 100 meter freestyle, but on Thursday he met his match dolphin-style.

The captain of the national swimming team raced a pair of dolphins — King, 19 years old, and Leah, nine-years old — at a specially arranged event in a swimming pool in Torvaianica, about 30 miles (50km) south of Rome.

Melbourne has edged out long-time front-runner Vancouver to be rated the world's most livable city, a worldwide survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit said Tuesday.

The Australian metropolis topped the Global Livability Survey's ranking of 140 cities worldwide, ahead of Canada's Vancouver which dominated the rankings for almost a decade but is now third behind the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Heavily-armed Australian police on Tuesday seized a "substantial" stockpile of explosives in a raid on a house north of Melbourne, but ruled out any religious or racial connections.

A 32-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possessing items used to make bombs after arson and explosives squad detectives, together with the Special Operations Group, executed a search warrant at the house in Castlemaine.

Two "extremely rare" gold medals awarded to Captain William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame will be auctioned in Melbourne this week in one of the most significant maritime history offerings in recent years.

"You'll never see the likes of the Bligh medals again. They're so historical," a spokesman for the auction house told Agence France Presse.

An Australian man who repeatedly pummeled his new wife, bit her face and tried to strangle her during the limousine ride to their wedding reception was jailed Friday for at least 15 months.

Adnan Rusanovski, 30, savaged his bride, Ferdi, in the back of a Melbourne limo last May in an attack the driver described as "worse than a boxing match", leaving the 28-year-old bruised and bloodied.

A woman miraculously survived Monday after her car plunged six stories from the top of a car park in Melbourne and became wedged between two buildings.

The driver, 41, was freed 40 minutes after her vehicle fell an estimated 30 meters (100 feet) and became stuck at ground level in a lane between the walls of the car park and another building.

An Australian schoolgirl had to cancel her 16th birthday party after her Facebook invitation went viral and close to 200,000 people said they would turn up at her house, reports said Tuesday.

The Sydney girl had wanted her schoolmates to attend, and the post -- which included her address -- said they could bring friends if they let her know, Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.