The Northern Territory government announced its plan for Docker River, a town of 350 residents, where thirsty camels have been arriving daily for weeks because of drought conditions in the region.

"The community of Docker River is under siege by 6,000 marauding, wild camels," local government minister Rob Knight said in Alice Springs, 310 miles (500 kilometres) north-east of Docker.

"This is a very critical situation out there, it's very unusual and it needs ( Read more... )
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Anthony Sherna strangled Susanne Wild - his partner of 18 years - with a dressing gown cord in February 2008 after she woke their pet dog Hubble with her shouting.

He then buried her in their backyard in Tarneit, in south-west Melbourne, after enduring years of emotional abuse at her hands.

Forensic psychologist Jeffrey Cummins testified that Sherna suffered from depression and a chronic mood disorder. He compensated by becoming a workaholic and ( Read more... )
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It was September 1947, and the SS Asturias had just docked in Fremantle with 147 boys and girls, the first to arrive under a post-war plan to empty overflowing British orphanages and repopulate the former colonies with "good white stock". Humphreys and other boys were dispatched to Bindoon, an isolated institution 60 miles north of Perth, run by the Christian Brothers, a Catholic lay order.

The first shock was the desolate landscape; the second was the place itself, an abandoned farm property. ( Read more... )
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The Child Migrants Programme, which ended 40 years ago, sent poor children from the UK to a "better life" in Australia and elsewhere, but many were abused and ended up in institutions or as labourers on farms.

His apology came after it emerged Prime Minister Gordon Brown will issue an apology for the UK's role in the New Year.

Speaking to a gathering of 1,000 victims known as the "Forgotten Australians" at Parliament House in Canberra, Mr Rudd said: ( Read more... )
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Britain's Prime Minister is expected to stop short of an official apology, say Downing Street sources, but will indicate that talks will be held with groups representing the victims with a view to an official apology later.

Today's Canberra statement will be delivered to more than 7,000 child migrants who suffered widespread abuse and neglect in the 1950s and 1960s. Mr Rudd will also say sorry to more than 500,000 so-called "forgotten Australians", many of whom suffered similarly in state ( Read more... )
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King George Tupou V, who is 61, apparently saw the writing on the wall when his coronation had to be delayed for two years to allow pro-democracy riots to die down. He was finally crowned, with white ermine and a very English sort of crown, last year.

He succeeded his father, Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, who was not only hugely popular in his kingdom but attained a degree of fame far beyond it thanks to his huge size. He entered Guinness World Records as the heaviest monarch in the world.

The ( Read more... )
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Staff at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in Auckland were initially dubious when visitors came running to tell them there were baby sharks spilling from a wound in a female school shark's stomach - courtesy of a large bite by another shark.

But they found a female with a large gaping stomach wound and four babies swimming in the tank.

Kelly Tarlton's aquarist Fiona Davies said it was common for sharks to take chunks out of each other, even in ( Read more... )
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Her infant daughter, Stella, did not thrive, though. She was constantly getting infections, and her weight see-sawed. When the Queensland health department announced a blood screening survey for under-fives, Ms Hare took her along. She discovered Stella had a blood lead level of 13 micrograms per decilitre (mcg/dl), well above the World Health Organisation limit of 10mcg/dl.

"You could have blown me off the chair with a feather," says Ms Hare. "I was in shock. I would wake up crying in the ( Read more... )
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There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Friday's quake came as Indonesia is still recovering from another, more powerful earthquake on western Sumatra that killed more than 1,000 people last month.

The latest 6.0-magnitude quake was centered about nine miles southeast of Manokwari in West Papua province and had a depth of about 22 miles, the US Geological Survey said. It struck at about 8:15 pm local time (11:15GMT). The epicenter was about ( Read more... )
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The bushfire season has begun months early and the government has pledged financial aid for despairing farmers, already laden with debt after five straight years of drought. Some may earn no income at all this year, and there are fears that the suicide rate in the countryside, which is already high, will soar further.

The federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, said the countryside was facing a "rural recession".

But some politicians and environmental groups say that sympathetic words ( Read more... )
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The report, published in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit on climate change in December, sent a shiver through a country where 80 per cent of the population lives on the coast. With more than 700,000 homes within two miles of the ocean and less than 20ft above sea level, rising seas ? together with more frequent storm surges and higher tides ? are a serious threat.

A parliamentary committee spent 18 months investigating the state of Australia's coastline, and MPs were shocked by what ( Read more... )
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Tens of thousands of people had registered for the ballot for the al fresco occasion, but only 6,000 were lucky enough to be chosen. Picnickers feasted on fresh croissants and platters of fruit, taking in the sound of honky-tonk piano and soaking up the views of the Opera House. ?It?s amazing to see the bridge in this perspective,? resident Don Fuchs said . ?Usually you sit in the car, you cross it, and that?s it.?

Jodi McKay, the tourism minister for New South Wales, ( Read more... )
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While few fault her energy and commitment to the job, it seems all is not well at Government House, her official residence in Canberra. A staggering 30 staff ? one third of the total ? have quit their jobs since she arrived in September last year.

Ms Bryce's official secretary, Stephen Brady, defended his boss when grilled about the exodus by a parliamentary budget committee this week. But one former employee told The Australian: "She is just a very difficult person to work for. She plays ( Read more... )
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"We want freedom or die," read the handwritten note smuggled out from Woomera, an immigration detention centre in the South Australian desert where three children were found yesterday to have joined about 70 adults who have sewn their lips together in a hunger strike by Afghan asylum-seekers.

Australia's Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, threatened to remove children at Woomera from their parents after the incident, which involved boys aged 12, 14, and 15. They were taken to hospital ( Read more... )
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According to reports, the incident involved a woman, but Auckland Police said a formal complaint had yet to be lodged.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has confirmed that the unnamed players are helping police with inquiries.

The alleged incident occurred in a private room while the team were staying at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland during the early hours of Sunday morning (local time) after England's 37-20 defeat to the All Blacks.

The RFU elite rugby director ( Read more... )
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During a 15-month spree at Crown, Mr Kakavas, a multimillionaire property dealer, turned over a total of A$1.5bn, betting up to A$300,000 a hand and ultimately losing A$20m. Now he is suing the casino ? which is owned by James Packer, son of the late Kerry, himself a legendary gambler ? claiming it lured him back to its tables despite knowing he was an addict.

The Victorian Supreme Court, expected to hand down judgment imminently, heard that the casino flew Mr Kakavas to and from his home ( Read more... )
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Extraordinary CCTV footage was released today of the youngster's brush with death in Melbourne, Australia.

It shows the boy's mother momentarily letting go of the buggy, which then rolls off the platform and on to the track - just as a train pulls into the platform.

The driver used the emergency brakes but the pushchair was still dragged about 60 yards along the rails.

When it stopped, a member of the public jumped on to the ( Read more... )
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A jury in Sydney deliberated for a month before finding the men guilty of conspiring to commit acts in preparation for a terrorist attack.

Each faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

During the trial, which began last November, prosecutor Richard Maidment told the New South Wales Supreme Court jury that the men planned to use explosive devices or firearms to commit "extreme violence" in a bid to force Australia's government to change its policy on Middle East ( Read more... )
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That innocence was about to end: in October, the group ? the last desert-dwelling Aborigines to make "first contact" with white Australians ? was found by patrol officers scouring the dump zone of a rocket test range. The remarkable encounter was filmed and photographed. But the footage did not come to light until recently and it is only now being widely viewed, thanks to a new documentary called Contact.

The grainy images capture a moment of great poignancy, when an ancient civilisation ( Read more... )
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Bowraville, nestling in lush hills on the New South Wales coast, is a town haunted by grief. The unsolved murders of three Aboriginal children in the early 1990s weigh heavy on the small community, as does racism so entrenched that the homegrown Ku Klux Klan is active in the surrounding area.

Now, nearly 15 years on, police have made a breakthrough, charging a local man with killing the youngest child, four-year-old Evelyn Greenup.

Evelyn's cousin, Colleen Walker, 16, vanished ( Read more... )
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