Australia/Antarctica News

SYDNEY (AFP) - A top Islamic cleric's mockery of the convict ancestry of many white Australians met with a mixture of amusement and anger from the government.

SYDNEY, Australia - Australia's foreign minister said Friday the government will support any moves by President Bush to isolate Iran and Syria as part of a new strategy to win the war in Iraq.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Protesters demanded on Thursday that Australia's only Guantanamo Bay detainee be brought home immediately as human rights groups called for the camp on Cuba to be shut down on the fifth anniversary of its opening.

BRISBANE, Australia - Security was stepped up at an Aboriginal community in remote northern Australia on Wednesday after rioters attacked a police station and ransacked a shop.

DARWIN, Australia (AFP) - A truck driver found guilty of the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio in the Australian outback, had his appeal against his conviction and life sentence turned down.

SYDNEY (AFP) - A potentially violent showdown is looming in the icy waters of the Antarctic between shipborne activists and the Japanese whaling fleet, a conservationist warned Wednesday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Police reinforcements were flown into a remote Aboriginal community in Australia when hundreds of people rioted and attacked a police station and shops, police said.

ADELAIDE (Reuters Life!) - An Australian zoo has put a group of humans on display to raise awareness about primate conservation -- with the proviso that they don't get up to any monkey business.

DILI (AFP) - Hundreds of supporters of former home affairs minister Rogerio Lobato rallied in East Timor outside the court where he was due to go on trial on weapons distribution charges.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia may be the "lucky country" but its indigenous people are not so fortunate when it comes to longevity.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Canadian firefighters have arrived in Australia to assist locals battle fierce bushfires which have raged for more than a month and are still blazing out of control.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian authorities have confirmed that an Australian citizen had been arrested in Iraq for allegedly engaging in anti-coalition activities.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Southwestern Australia is preparing for the worst, as a once-in-a-generation super storm built to a crescendo, threatening to unleash destructive winds and forcing mining companies to halt operations.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian police have arrested a man for allegedly supplying five rocket launchers stolen from the military to a suspected terrorist for use in an attack in Sydney.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia and China have ratified a nuclear agreement clearing the way for the export of uranium to feed Beijing's giant nuclear power programme, Canberra has said.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's QBE Insurance Group has said it will acquire US property and casualty insurer Winterthur US Holdings Inc from France's AXA SA for 1.16 billion dollars.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's AGL Energy has said it has made a preliminary merger approach to Origin Energy, paving the way for a 14 billion dollar (11.2 billion US) deal that would create the country's largest gas and electricity supplier.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's southwest was bracing on Thursday for a destructive weather front that could link with remnants of a tropical cyclone to create a "perfect storm."

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Phil Glendenning has had guns jammed in his ribs, was jailed in Kabul and no longer wears the football jumper of his native Australia as he scours the globe to check the fate of asylum seekers his nation rejects.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Tropical Cyclone Isobel crossed the northwest Australian coast on Wednesday, causing little damage, but weather forecasters warned it may now link up with a deep depression inland to create a destructive "perfect storm."

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian oil and mining companies have shut down operations as communities battened down the hatches ahead of a "perfect storm" experts feared would bring destructive winds and flooding to the country's west.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Aborigines won a 10-year fight for control of World Heritage-listed rainforests in the center of Australia's wealthy east coast on Tuesday, sealing one of the country's biggest native land deals.

SYDNEY, Australia - An Aboriginal tribe has been granted joint management rights over several state and national parks under a deal that recognizes its traditional ownership of the land, officials said Tuesday.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - An Australian Aborigine tribe has been granted joint management rights over several state and national parks under a deal that recognizes its traditional ownership of the land, officials said Tuesday.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Summer in Australia wouldn't be complete without a trip to one of the country's famed beaches.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Prime Minister John Howard has warned that Australia needs to work hard to prevent South Pacific island nations falling into the hands of hostile groups causing instability.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A Thai court sentenced an Australian man to 34 years in prison on Thursday for murdering his Canadian wife a year ago.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian intelligence chiefs have boosted recruitment of Chinese-speaking spies but are struggling to attract Arabic speakers, reports say.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's devastating drought is far more likely to be part of a natural cycle than a result of the man-made greenhouse effect, an Australian climate scientist has said.