Australia/Antarctica News

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian conservatives said Sunday they were hopeful of taking power in the country's wealthy, resource-rich west following a state election, but acknowledged the result still hung in the balance.

CANBERRA (AFP) - Lawyer, academic, women's activist and grandmother Quentin Bryce was sworn in as Australia's governor general Friday, the first woman to act as the British queen's representative Down Under.

SYDNEY (AFP) - The embattled premier of Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, was forced to resign Friday after his party withdrew support for him over a dramatic reshuffle of his cabinet.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's 25th governor-general was sworn into office as the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth on Friday, with republicans holding out little hope that Australia will abolish the job any time soon.

Corrects paragraph three to show school is west of Sydney.

SYDNEY, Australia - A former Roman Catholic priest already facing dozens of charges related to allegations of sexual abuse at an exclusive Australian boarding school has been charged with an additional 60 child sex offenses, police said Wednesday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - A former Catholic priest has been charged with 60 fresh offences relating to sex assaults on boys while he was working at a prestigious boarding school in the 1970s and 80s, reports said Wednesday.

SYDNEY, Australia - Australian troops clashed with Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan late Tuesday in fighting that left several insurgents dead and nine Australian soldiers wounded, the military said.

SYDNEY, Australia - Australian special forces in Afghanistan detained four suspected Taliban militants captured in April in pens sometimes used to hold dogs, the defense minister said Tuesday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's central bank cut interest rates Tuesday for the first time in over six-and-a-half years, pushing them down 25 basis points to seven percent amid signs of cooling economic growth.

SYDNEY (AFP) - An exclusive Australian school on Tuesday apologised for refusing to enrol a 12-year-old Sikh boy unless he discarded his turban and cut his hair to conform with the school's uniform regulations.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Rivers in Australia's most important farming region are in critical condition thanks to the long-running drought, with no sign of an end to the 'big dry,' officials said Tuesday.

SYDNEY, Australia - Australian actor Michael Pate, who appeared in more than 50 films and was a regular guest star on American TV shows in the 1950s and 60s, has died of respiratory failure at age 88, health officials said Tuesday.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A moderate magnitude-5.8 earthquake has struck deep underground in New Zealand's central North Island, but there have been no immediate reports of damage or injury.

BRISBANE, Australia - An Indian-born, American surgeon charged with manslaughter in connection with the deaths of three patients in Australia was ordered Monday to appear in court in February to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for a jury trial.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia on Sunday warned of a "high risk" of terror attacks on domestic and international flights in and to the United States, urging citizens to be vigilant while in the country.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian police have cleared an Indian doctor of involvement in failed bomb attacks in Britain last year after a bungled 14-month probe that is now the subject of a judicial inquiry.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Police in Australia have ended a long-running terrorism investigation into an Indian doctor, clearing him of any criminal offence in relation to a June 2007 attack on Britain's Glasgow airport.

SYDNEY, Australia - An Indian doctor jailed in Australia last year in a bungled terrorism case has officially been cleared, Australian police said Friday.

CANBERRA, Australia - An oxygen tank exploded and blew a car-sized hole in a Qantas jet last month, air safety officials said Friday, but investigators appear to be no closer to figuring out why.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian safety investigators Friday blamed an exploding oxygen bottle for a mid-air blast which blew a gaping hole in a Qantas jet last month, and said they could not rule out it happening again.

SYDNEY (AFP) - The Australian military Friday publicly cleared its troops of beating or humiliating prisoners detained in Afghanistan in April, saying the claims were likely the result of a cultural misunderstanding.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian air safety investigators on Friday blamed an oxygen bottle for a mid-air explosion which blew a minivan-size hole in the side of Qantas 747, but said they don't know why the bottle blew up.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian police said Wednesday they were investigating allegations that 13 former students were molested at a private Catholic boarding school for boys nearly 30 years ago.

SYDNEY (AFP) - East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao says he believes his country has turned the corner, and divisions in the military that triggered several years of civil unrest should not recur.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Mining giant Rio Tinto said Tuesday it had more than doubled first-half net profit to a record 6.91 billion US dollars (3.76 billion pounds) as it continues to fend off a hostile takeover bid by rival BHP Billiton.

SYDNEY (AFP) - National Foods, a unit of Japanese brewing giant Kirin, has acquired Australia's Dairy Farmers co-operative for 910 million Australian dollars (782 million US), the companies confirmed Tuesday.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A magnitude 5.9 earthquake rocked New Zealand's North Island region of Hawkes Bay, a geological agency reported early Tuesday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's gay capital Sydney came under attack from a rebel city councillor on Monday over its plans to create 'homophobia-free zones' in the heart of its bar and nightclub precinct.