April 18, 2013 The New Zealand Parliament voted to legalise same-sex marriage on Wednesday night, a move Australian campaigners said would encourage gay and lesbian couples to travel overseas to formalise their relationships.

April 18, 2013 Childless women who freeze their eggs in their early 30s are more than six times as likely as older women to be able to successfully use them, a fertility conference has heard.

April 18, 2013 Australians are increasingly split in their attitudes to drinking between binge drinkers and people who have quit alcohol entirely, a national survey has found.

April 18, 2013 Broadcaster Alan Jones was met with an online backlash after suggesting on national television that ''left-wing radical students'' were behind the Boston Marathon bombings and that Australia should reconsider its intake of foreign university students in response.

April 18, 2013 Drug abusing public servants and profiteering pharmacists have been warned to stop rorting a generous federal government insurance scheme.

April 18, 2013 A 17-year-old Jehovah's Witness suffering from a lethal form of blood cancer and refusing treatment threatened to rip the IV needle out of his arm if doctors attempted a blood transfusion.

April 18, 2013 The New Zealand Parliament voted to legalise same-sex marriage on Wednesday night, a move Australian campaigners said would encourage gay and lesbian couples to travel overseas to formalise their relationships.

April 18, 2013 The Gillard government is preparing to override Queensland's attempt to change British royal succession laws if the state does not fall into line with the federal approach at the Council of Australian Government's meeting this week.

April 18, 2013 State and territory police commissioners will be given the right to decide how money seized under proposed national gang laws is distributed.

April 18, 2013 People can be educated about the importance of eating sensible serving sizes - but their self-control will fly out the window the moment they are given a bulging plate of food.