Wow Australia

Australia to maintain Iraq presence

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Australia says it will maintain its military presence in Iraq until at least the middle of next year. Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says he has welcomed an Iraqi parliamentary resolution authorizing foreign troops to remain in the Gulf nation until the end of July 2009. Fitzgibbon said Wednesday it would be up to Iraq to decide if Australian forces remain beyond that deadline. American troops can stay until the end of 2011 under a separate security agreement....

Josiah wins his third successive race in Australia

KUALA LUMPUR: Josiah Ng chose to race instead of taking a Christmas break and it paid off with a third successive win in the Latrobe Carnival in Tasmania yesterday. Josiah got the better of Australian national team rider Jason Niblett and his Melbourne-based Malaysian team-mate, Azizul Hasni Awang, in the keirin final. Another member of the Australian sprint team, Scott Sunderland, was placed fourth. The respective winners of the heats advanced to the final and Josiah was pleased to have ...

Clarke proves he has mettle to lead

IF there was ever any doubt that Michael Clarke would be Australia's next captain, he dispelled it with the most cool and calculating Test innings of his life at the MCG. Clarke has expensive tastes - buying fiancee Lara Bingle a $300,000 Aston Martin for Christmas - but he also has common sense in spades. His rise from Pup to Top Dog is assured after he provided the batting glue (88 off 208 balls) that stuck Australia's wonky top order together in the most important Test match of the year...

Hugh Jackman on Australia, marriage and religion – Times Online

Hugh Jackman has just been punched, squarely, in the nuts. His body crumples inwards, hands instinctively headed southwards to cup his groin from further attack, and his eyes, which for a brief moment cross in pain, begin to water. As he struggles to catch his breath, his face contorted in a grimace, he raises an outstretched palm to surrender. The great Aussie action hero has been vanquished, felled by something close to the wince-inducing blow that Jackman’s Wolverine delivered to the crot...

Uproar in Australia over plan to block Web sites

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — A proposed Internet filter dubbed the "Great Aussie Firewall" is promising to make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among democratic countries. Consumers, civil-rights activists, engineers, Internet providers and politicians from opposition parties are among the critics of a mandatory Internet filter that would block at least 1,300 Web sites prohibited by the government — mostly child pornography, excessive violence, instructions in crime or drug use...

Wild Oats XI wins record fourth Sydney-Hobart yachting race

HOBART, Australia (AFP) — Australian maxi yacht Wild Oats XI won the 64th Sydney to Hobart race for a record fourth time Sunday, just narrowly missing out on breaking its own race record time. The 30-metre maxi finished the 628-nautical mile race down the Australian eastern seaboard in one day 20 hours 34 minutes and 14 seconds. Wild Oats XI holds the race record of one day 18 hours 40 minutes 10 seconds set in its 2005 win. The record was under threat up until early Sunday when the pr...

Japan whalers out of Australia-claimed area

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has said it achieved its aim of forcing Japan's whaling fleet out of Antarctic waters claimed by Australia. In a statement on its website (www.seashepherd.org), the U.S.-based group said its ship, the Steve Irwin, had forced the fleet into waters off the Ross Dependency, which is a New Zealand possession. Australia has declared an 'economic exclusion zone', known by the letters "EEZ," in waters off the coast of its Ant...

3-D bowlers put Australia back in the picture

As Chris Read might solemnly swear, cricket is a game of three dimensions. But batting, bowling and fielding do not exist in isolation: rather they seep into each other on an individual and collective level. There is a school of thought, for example, that the highest run-scorers in Australia's history are Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, while on the second day at the MCG the reverse was true: as Australia took a firm grip on the second Test against South Africa, their greatest wicket-takers were ...

Historic port on the Darling River : Wilcannia

The image of Wilcannia that most travellers along the Barrier Highway have is of a town with a lot of Aborigines standing around in the main street. It is a very racist preconception but one which nearly everyone who has travelled through the town enunciates. Of course the image of the town is unfair and inaccurate. Sadly very few travellers get out of their cars, have a look around this historic town and talk to the local Aborigines, who are, almost without exception, very friendly and only...

Australia’s best home-grown holidays

Now is a great time for a 'staycation'. Lee Atkinson has some home-grown alternatives to going overseas. Travel trends come and travel trends go but the swan-diving Aussie dollar, economic uncertainty and restless political climate means the latest travel craze, the "staycation", is the best-value holiday around. A "staycation" is all about spending your hard-earned holiday time, and cash, at home. Purist staycationers will argue that to do it properly, you need to stay home - your suburb...