Australia & Oceania

Australia OKs extradition of accused Nazi criminal

AP - Thu Nov 12, 1:22 PM ET

ADELAIDE, Australia - The Australian government on Thursday approved the extradition of an alleged Nazi collaborator accused by Hungary of a World War II killing.

  • An East Timorese woman holds a portrait of her son who was killed in Santa Cruz massacre during a rally in Dili, East Timor, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009. Families in East Timor appealed Thursday to their own government and Indonesian authorities to help recover the bodies of dozens of loved ones still missing 18 years after Indonesian troops opened fire on pro-independence demonstrators in Santa Cruz cemetery on Nov. 12, 1991, killing hundreds. (AP Photo/Jordao Henrique)
    Candles and prayers for victims of Timor massacre AP - Thu Nov 12, 10:20 AM ET

    DILI, East Timor - Thousands of mourners lit candles, sang hymns and prayed in East Timor on Thursday, honoring the victims of a massacre of pro-independence demonstrators by Indonesian troops 18 years ago.

  • In this photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009, Australian explosive detection dog Sabi is photographed at Forward Operating Base Ripley in Tarin Kowt, Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. Sabi that disappeared during a fierce battle in Afghanistan between Australian troops and militant fighters has been found and returned to its unit after more than a year. Sabi was with a joint Australian-Afghan army patrol ambushed in restive Uruzgan province in September 2008, but there was no sign of Sabi after the battle that followed - until now. (AP Photo/Andrew Mearse, Pool)
    MIA dog found in Afghanistan after 14 months AP - Thu Nov 12, 8:03 AM ET

    SYDNEY - A bomb-sniffing dog that disappeared during a fierce battle in Afghanistan between Australian troops and militant fighters has been found and returned to its unit after more than a year.

  • US Marines in Helmand province in Afghanistan in July 2009. An Australian sniffer dog has been found alive and well nearly 14 months after going missing in an intense firefight in war-torn southern Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday.(AFP/File/Manpreet Romana)
    MIA sniffer dog survives 14-month Afghan ordeal AFP - Thu Nov 12, 4:34 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian sniffer dog has been found alive and well nearly 14 months after going missing in an intense firefight in war-torn southern Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday.

  • A giant reclaiming machine at Rio Tinto-owned Yandicoogina stockyard in Western Australia's Pilbara region. China has extended a probe into detained Rio Tinto mining executive Stern Hu by two months, Australian officials said Thursday who have also called for a quick resolution to the long-running case.(AFP/HO/Rio Tinto/File/Christian Sprogoe)
    China extends Rio Tinto probe 2 months: Australia AFP - Thu Nov 12, 3:59 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - China has extended an investigation of detained Rio Tinto mining executive Stern Hu by two months, Australian officials said Thursday, calling for a quick resolution to the long-running case.

  • This handout photo from the Australian Department of Defence shows Britain's last surviving World War I veteran, 108-year-old Claude Choules, sitting in his retirement home in Perth, Western Australia on November 9. Choules shunned Remembrance Day commemorations because he was against the glorification of war, his family was reported as saying.(AFP/HO/Australian Department Of Defence)
    Britain's last WWI veteran shuns Remembrance Day AFP - Wed Nov 11, 6:25 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Britain's last surviving World War I veteran shunned Remembrance Day commemorations Wednesday because he was against the glorification of war, his family was reported as saying.

  • A European Union NAVFOR picture shows boarding teams of the warship Bremen on their rigid inflatable boat (C) stopping two pirate attack skiffs in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia. Spain wants EU naval forces to blockade three Somali ports used to launch pirate attacks against ships in the Indian Ocean, Defence Minister Carme Chacon said Wednesday.(AFP/HO/File)
    Somali pirates hijack two more ships Reuters - Wed Nov 11, 12:51 PM ET

    MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates seized a Greek cargo ship and a Yemeni fishing boat in the latest attacks demonstrating their ability to evade international naval forces, gunmen and officials said on Wednesday.

  • Australian Environment minister Peter Garrett at the Culture ministry in Paris, June 2009. Australia has rejected plans to build a massive new dam, despite pleas it is needed to provide water to residents, because of its feared impact on endangered fish and turtles.(AFP/File/Miguel Medina)
    Australian dam project shelved to save fish, turtles AFP - Wed Nov 11, 4:45 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia on Wednesday rejected plans to build a massive new dam, despite pleas it is needed to provide water to residents, because of its feared impact on endangered fish and turtles.

  • A visitor to a gallery in Sydney looks at a portrait of Aboriginal child actor Brandon Walters. Aboriginal people can still expect to die up to 11.5 years earlier than other Australians and are twice as likely to die as infants, figures showed, despite government pledges to tackle their health problems.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood)
    Report shows 'tragic' health for Aborigines AFP - Wed Nov 11, 4:10 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Aborigines can still expect to die up to 11.5 years earlier than other Australians and are twice as likely to die as infants, figures showed, despite government pledges to tackle their health problems.

  • An Australian territory became the first to legalise civil partnership ceremonies for same-sex couples, in a move supporters hoped would spark national momentum. Under the new laws, gay couples will be able to hold a legally recognised civil union ceremony in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), home to the nation's parliament.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood)
    Australian territory becomes first to legalise gay unions AFP - Wed Nov 11, 1:36 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian territory became the first to legalise civil partnership ceremonies for same-sex couples, in a move supporters hoped would spark national momentum.

  • A truck is loaded with iron ore at a Rio Tinto-owned mine in Western Australia's Pilbara region. The Anglo-Australian mining giant has said it is interested in collaborating with Chinalco, months after rejecting a massive cash injection from the state-owned Chinese firm.(AFP/HO/Rio Tinto/File/Christian Sprogoe)
    Rio wants to work with spurned Chinalco: chief AFP - Tue Nov 10, 3:29 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto said Tuesday it was interested in collaborating with Chinalco, months after rejecting a massive cash injection from the state-owned Chinese firm.

  • An Apple iPhone showing a picture of 1980s pop icon Rick Astley in Sydney on November 10. An Australian student sparked fears of a new era of computer viruses on Tuesday after creating a worm which infects Apple's iconic iPhone with pictures of the singer.(AFP/Torsten Blackwood)
    iPhone fear as 'Rick Astley' worm spreads AFP - Tue Nov 10, 3:09 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian student sparked fears of a new era of computer viruses on Tuesday after creating a worm which infects Apple's iconic iPhone with pictures of 1980s pop star Rick Astley.

  • 4 Australians face charges after auto 'body' wash AP - Tue Nov 10, 3:01 AM ET

    BRISBANE, Australia - It was just a routine car wash. Except there was no car — and no clothing.

  • Members of an elite Australian college linked to Sydney University have provoked outrage after it was revealed they had set up a "pro-rape" group on social networking site Facebook.(AFP/File/Loic Venance)
    Australian students 'pro-rape' Facebook scandal AFP - Tue Nov 10, 1:41 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Members of an elite Australian college linked to Sydney University provoked outrage Tuesday after it was revealed they had set up a "pro-rape" group on social networking site Facebook.

  • Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd takes a seat at the 4th East Asian Summit as part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit meetings, held in the southern beach resort of Cha-am October 25, 2009. REUTERS/Babara Walton/Pool
    Australians want PM to be tougher on boat people Reuters - Sun Nov 8, 7:50 PM ET

    CANBERRA (Reuters) - New opinion polls added pressure on Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Monday to take a tougher stand against asylum-seekers and end a standoff involving 78 boat-people picked up by an Australian ship off Indonesia.

  • A man spearfishing in South Australia was mauled in a shark attack Sunday, officials said as a report warned of several sightings of the deadly predators in the area.(AFP/File/Greg Wood)
    Australian spearfisher survives shark attack AFP - Sun Nov 8, 2:31 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - A man spearfishing in South Australia was mauled in a shark attack Sunday, officials said as a report warned of several sightings of the deadly predators in the area.

  • A cleaner cleans the main entrance of the Reserve Bank in Sydney. Withdrawing Australia's government stimulus now would interrupt the recovery underway, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Sunday as he warned the country was not immune to the risks to the global economy.(AFP/File/Greg Wood)
    Australia stimulus needed for recovery: Treasurer AFP - Sun Nov 8, 1:55 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Withdrawing Australia's government stimulus now would interrupt the recovery underway, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Sunday as he warned the country was not immune to the risks to the global economy.

  • A woman with a child in a pusher is seen struggling in rain and wind as she walks through Sydney centre, a few days ago. Australian authorities have declared a natural disaster along parts of the country's east coast as heavy floods cut the main road linking major cities, stranding thousands of people.(AFP/File/Greg Wood)
    Disaster declared in flood-hit Australia AFP - Sat Nov 7, 12:04 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian authorities declared a natural disaster along parts of the country's east coast as heavy floods cut the main road linking major cities, stranding thousands of people.

  • Sri Lankan asylum seekers stand on the lower deck of the Australian Customs and Immigration Fisheries Patrol vessel anchored off Indonesia's Riau Island of Tanjung Pinang, in October 2009. The leader of a boat of Sri Lankan asylum seekers held in Indonesia is a known people smuggler previously deported from Canada, the government said Friday, a charge he has strongly denied.(AFP/File/Roslan Rahman)
    Indonesia extends Australia refugee boat's stay AFP - Fri Nov 6, 1:28 AM ET

    JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia extended by a week on Friday a deadline for an Australian customs ship loaded with 78 protesting Sri Lankan asylum seekers to leave its territory.

  • An angry man threw a boot at former Australian prime minister John Howard, seen here in 2007, during a debate at Cambridge University.(AFP/File/Greg Wood)
    Shoe thrown at former Australian PM in Cambridge AFP - Thu Nov 5, 6:52 AM ET

    LONDON (AFP) - An angry man threw a boot at former Australian prime minister John Howard during a debate at Cambridge University, the quick-thinking student who caught the shoe said on Thursday.

  • File photo of central Melbourne. Australian police have arrested a 49-year-old man in Melbourne over a stabbing rampage at a secure psychiatric hospital which left two patients dead, they said on Thursday.(AFP/File/Jean-Pierre Muller)
    Two dead in Australia psychiatric unit stabbing: police AFP - Thu Nov 5, 1:27 AM ET

    MELBOURNE (AFP) - Australian police laid murder charges against a 49-year-old male patient on Thursday over a stabbing rampage at a secure psychiatric hospital that left two people dead.

  • 2 patients killed at Aussie psychiatric hospital AP - Thu Nov 5, 12:56 AM ET

    MELBOURNE, Australia - A psychiatric patient was charged Thursday with two counts of murder in the overnight stabbing deaths of two men who were also patients at an Australian hospital.

  • Oil leaks from the Montara oil rig in the Timor Sea. Australia launched an inquiry on Thursday into a major oil spill off its coast which has been described as one of the country's worst environmental disasters.(AFP/WWF/Annabelle Sandes)
    Australia launches inquiry into major oil spill AFP - Thu Nov 5, 12:09 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia launched an inquiry on Thursday into a major oil spill off its coast which has been described as one of the country's worst environmental disasters.

  • In this November 2008 photo provided by The Australian National University, two male fiddler crabs fight on a beach on Inhaca Island, Mozambique. Researchers from The Australian National University in Canberra found that male fiddler crabs will happily defend a female neighbor against intruders, partly because the females will dole out sex in return, according to the Australian study published Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/The Australian National University, Tanya Detto)
    Study: Fiddler crabs exchange sex for survival AP - Wed Nov 4, 8:29 AM ET

    SYDNEY - In the world of fiddler crabs, the best form of protection for females is, apparently, having sex with the neighbors, according to an Australian study published Wednesday.

  • A man looks at a waxy substance found in water affected by the Montara oil rig leak in the Timor Sea. Monitoring the clean-up of a huge oil spill in pristine Australian waters could take as long as seven years, an official said on November 4 as environmentalists urged a wide-ranging inquiry into the disaster.(AFP/WWF/Kara Burns)
    Australian oil spill recovery plan could take 7 years AFP - Wed Nov 4, 3:00 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Monitoring the clean-up of a huge oil spill in pristine Australian waters could take as long as seven years, an official said Wednesday as environmentalists urged a wide-ranging inquiry into the disaster.

  • File photo shows a Qantas aircraft taking off from Sydney Airport. Two Australian pilots have been suspended for preparing to land a passenger plane without the correct landing gear, in what air safety investigators Wednesday labelled a "serious incident".(AFP/File/Greg Wood)
    Australian pilots suspended over landing gear miss AFP - Wed Nov 4, 1:19 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Two Australian pilots have been suspended for preparing to land a passenger plane without the correct landing gear, in what air safety investigators Wednesday labelled a "serious incident".

  • Map locating the area near Cocos Islands where a boat carrying 39 people sank November 1, with at least 12 people feared. Australia called off an air and sea search for survivors on Wednesday(AFP/Graphic)
    Australia ends search for boat survivors, 12 dead AFP - Tue Nov 3, 9:07 PM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia called off an air and sea search for survivors on Wednesday after a boat carrying unidentified Sri Lankans sank in remote seas far off its northwest, killing 12.

  • `Grave fears' for those missing in boat disaster AP - Mon Nov 2, 10:28 PM ET

    SYDNEY - Planes and ships searching a remote patch of the Indian Ocean found no signs Tuesday of additional survivors from the sinking of a suspected asylum-seeker boat. Eleven people were believed missing, while 27 were rescued.

  • Boat with 40 people sinks near remote Cocos Islands Reuters - Mon Nov 2, 2:02 AM ET

    SYDNEY (Reuters) - A boat carrying around 40 people, possibly asylum seekers, has sunk off the remote Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean, with 19 people rescued and aircraft searching for other survivors, Australian officials said on Monday.

  • Prince William at the Guildhall in London on October 9. Prince William will embark on his first official tour of the Commonwealth in January, visiting Australia and New Zealand to "get to know" the people, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Monday.(AFP/Pool/File/Chris Jackson)
    Prince William to visit New Zealand, Australia AFP - Mon Nov 2, 1:21 AM ET

    WELLINGTON (AFP) - Prince William will visit New Zealand early next year for his first official overseas trip, then travel to Australia as he steps up his royal duties, the countries' leaders said Monday.

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