May 5

ABC.net.au - East Timor's ruling coalition government has lost its majority, with a key partner switching sides to join the opposition.

The ASDT party was a key force in helping Xanana Gusmao's AMP Coalition win the numbers to form government at last year's elections.

But the party has now signed an agreement to side with the opposition Fretilin party - citing corruption and nepotism within the government.

Fretilin spokesman Jose Teixeira says the party is not planning to challenge for power, but hopes to force the government to an early election next year.

April 28

ABC.net.au - Resentment is reportedly growing in Solomon Islands over the presence of well-paid foreign soldiers, police and bureaucrats. An Aidwatch report has found the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) is pushing up prices for locals without contributing much to their incomes.
____________________________
Meanwhile the Solomon Islands Police Minister is in Australia for talks.

The Solomon Islands Police Minister Samuel Manetoali is in Australia to meet various senior officials involved with the deployment of personnel to the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, RAMSI.

So, New Zealand has signed a free trade deal with China.

Curiously enough when Bush threw a few sops in Australia's direction for supporting him in Iraq, NZ big business wailed and gnashed their teeth.

Now a far larger deal has been signed with China, and Big Business is curiously quiet.

It's a curious marriage, the entire population (not counting sheep) of NZ fits several times over into just the city of Beijing.

Almost nothing I buy ever comes from the US, almost every manufactured item comes from China.

A little of what I make can get into the US, it's a fairly hostile a market. Most goes elsewhen in the world.

Rohan Sullivan | Sydney | April 7

AP - Five teenagers brandishing baseball bats and machetes rampaged through a suburban school Monday and hit a teacher over the head, police said. Eighteen students were treated for minor injuries.

The drama unfolded as hundreds attended an assembly in an outdoor area of Merrylands High School. As the attackers moved in, teachers rushed the students back to class, where they sought refuge behind locked doors, under desks, even in a cupboard.

"I find it very difficult to believe the brazenness of how they entered the school," Police Detective Inspector Jim Stewart said. Such school violence is rare in Australia.

The teens, between the ages of 14 and 16, were arrested and likely would be charged with assault and other crimes, Stewart said.

Kathy Marks | Sydney | April 4

Independent - A woman grabbed by a crocodile as she stood on a riverbank in Australia's Northern Territory was rescued by her husband, who wrestled with the reptile and poked its eyes, forcing it to release her from its jaws.

The attack by the 8ft saltwater crocodile was the first ever in Litchfield National Park, south-west of Darwin, where the man-eating "salties" rarely venture. Wendy Petherick, 36, escaped with puncture wounds to both thighs and a severe cut to one finger, thanks to the prompt action of her husband, Norm Moreen.

Ms Petherick, who lives in Woolaning, a nearby Aboriginal community, was washing her face in shallow water on Wednesday when the crocodile lunged, seizing her by both legs and pulling her into the river. She tried to prise open its jaws as she shouted for her husband to help her.

Ray Lilley | Wellington, NZ

AP -

Scientists who conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of New Zealand's Antarctic waters were surprised by the size of some specimens found, including jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles and 2-foot-wide starfish.

A 2,000-mile journey through the Ross Sea that ended Thursday has also potentially turned up several new species, including as many as eight new mollusks.

It's "exciting when you come across a new species," said Chris Jones, a fisheries scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "All the fish people go nuts about that — but you have to take it with a grain of salt."

The finds must still be reviewed by experts to determine if they are in fact new, said Stu Hanchet, a fisheries scientist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

But beyond the discovery of new species, scientists said the survey, the most comprehensive to date in the Ross Sea, turned up other surprises.

Hanchet singled out the discovery of "fields" of sea lilies that stretched for hundreds of yards across the ocean floor.

March 12

BBC - A dolphin has come to the rescue of two whales which had become stranded on a beach in New Zealand.

Conservation officer Malcolm Smith told the BBC that he and a group of other people had tried in vain for an hour and a half to get the whales to sea.

The pygmy sperm whales had repeatedly beached, and both they and the humans were tired and set to give up, he said.

But then the dolphin appeared, communicated with the whales, and led them to safety.

The bottlenose dolphin, called Moko by local residents, is well known for playing with swimmers off Mahia beach on the east coast of the North Island.

"I don't speak whale and I don't speak dolphin," Mr Smith told the BBC, "but there was obviously something that went on because the two whales changed their attitude from being quite distressed to following the dolphin quite willingly and directly along the beach and straight out to sea."

He added: "The dolphin did what we had failed to do. It was all over in a matter of minutes."

Very cool

Eureka St|March 7|Australia NB:background blog here

Frank Brennan, a Jesuit priests writes:

In 1952, the Commonwealth Parliament passed the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act which made it an offence to enter, without government approval, a place used for a special defence undertaking. Such an undertaking was defined as one for the defence of Australia or 'some other country associated with Australia in resisting or preparing to resist international aggression'.

Just stumbled across New Zealand in the OECD a bunch of "compare countries" graphs set up by the NZ stats department using OECD stats.

A few "Huh? WTF!?" moments in it....

For example...

* US has, by far, the largest GDP AND by far the largest _public_ expenditure as a portion of GDP on health... but really cruddy returns by every measure in the report. Huh!?

* NZ has too high an imprisonment rate, but the US is crazy off the scale. WTF!? Up with you guys?

* US has second highest attainment of upper secondary education....

Canberra | February 13

The Age - Emotional scenes greeted the historic parliamentary apology to the stolen generations on Wednesday, which many hope will usher in a new era in Aboriginal reconciliation.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ended more than a decade of waiting by Aborigines by asking MPs to formally say sorry for the pain and suffering inflicted on tens of thousands of indigenous people taken from their families.

Some in federal parliament's public gallery, including members of the stolen generations, wept as Mr Rudd delivered the formal apology - the first official business of the new Labor government.

Canberra | February 13

AFP - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered an historic apology in parliament on Wednesday to the Aboriginal people for injustices committed over two centuries of white settlement.

"We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," Rudd said.

The apology is being viewed as a watershed in Australia, with major television networks airing it live and crowds gathering around huge screens in major cities to witness the event.

February 11

ABC News.au - Reports from the East Timorese capital Dili say the country's President Jose Ramos Horta has been injured in a pre-dawn attack on his home.

The Associated Press news agency is reporting that fugitive rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed by return fire from presidential guards during the attack.

The extent of Mr Ramos Horta's injuries are unknown.

Reports say Australian troops have been called to the scene of the attack.

Rob Taylor | Canberra | February 8

Reuters - Australia ended on Friday its controversial policy of sending asylum seekers into often-lengthy detention on small Pacific island nations, with the last refugees leaving Nauru to live in Australia.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who won victory for centre-left Labor in November, fought the election on a pledge to end the heavily-criticised "Pacific Solution", introduced by the former conservative government in 2001 to turn back boatpeople after almost 5,000 arrived the year before.

"This is the end of a long and fairly painful chapter in Australian asylum policy and practice," said Richard Towle, the regional head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Former Prime Minister John Howard introduced the policy in late 2001, splitting the nation between critics and supporters, after a standoff involving 439 mostly-Afghan refugees blocked from landing in Australia by special forces soldiers.

Tim Johnston | Sidney | January 30

NYT - The new Australian government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will apologize for past mistreatment of the country’s Aboriginal minority when Parliament convenes next month, addressing an issue that has blighted race relations in Australia for years.

In a measure of the importance Mr. Rudd attaches to the issue, the apology will be the first item of business for the new government when Parliament first convenes on Feb. 13, Jenny Macklin, the federal minister for indigenous affairs, said Wednesday.

Ms. Macklin said she had consulted widely with Aboriginal leaders, but it was still not clear what form the apology would take. However, she said the government would not bow to longstanding demands for a fund to compensate those damaged by the policies of past governments.

Blaine Harden | Hagatna, Guam | January 25

WaPo - People on this faraway island -- a U.S. territory 7,824 miles west of Los Angeles -- delight in calling Guam the "tip of the spear" for its role defending U.S. interests in the Far East.

Although the island is typhoon-plagued and earthquake-prone, cursed with bad traffic, unable to cope with its own garbage and overrun with invasive tree snakes that have eaten nearly all the birds, the Guamanians aren't just blowing smoke.

The Pentagon has chosen Guam, a quirkily American place that marries the beauty of Bali with the banality of Kmart, as the prime location in the western Pacific for projecting U.S. military muscle.

Guam has served as an important U.S. military outpost since World War II. But now the sultry tropical island, about three times the size of the District of Columbia and with a population of 173,000, is set to become a rapid-response platform for problems ranging from pirates to terrorists to tsunamis, as well as a highly visible reminder to China that the United States is nearby and watching.

Canberra | January 24

Reuters - An Australian teenage girl has become the world's first known transplant patient to change blood groups and take on the immune system of her organ donor, doctors said on Friday, calling her a "one-in-six-billion miracle".

Demi-Lee Brennan, now 15, received a donor liver when she was 9 years old and her own liver failed.

"It's like my second chance at life," Brennan told local media, recounting how her body achieved what doctors said was the holy grail of transplant surgery. "It's kind of hard to believe."

Brennan's body changed blood group from O negative to O positive when she became ill while on drugs to avoid rejection of the organ by her body's immune system.

Her new liver's blood stem cells then invaded her body's bone marrow to take over her entire immune system, meaning the teen no longer needs anti-rejection drugs.

WOW!

Ray Lilley | Wellington, New Zealand | January 10

AP - The unassuming New Zealand beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers, died Friday. Sir Edmund Hilary was 88.

The lanky New Zealander devoted much of his life to aiding the mountain people of Nepal and took his fame in stride, preferring to be called Ed and considering himself an "ordinary person with ordinary qualities."

January 7

BBC - Thousands of people remain stranded by some of the worst flooding eastern Australia has seen in 20 years.

Parts of the country's most populous state, New South Wales, have been cut off by heavy rain and have been declared natural disaster zones.

There are similar problems further north in Queensland, which has also been battered by wild conditions.

The floods are easing now but officials have warned that many communities could be isolated for several days.

Food drops

Thunderstorms since late last week have dumped huge amounts of rain on Australia's east coast. Many rivers have been unable to cope and their banks have burst.

Phil Mercer | Sidney | December 31

BBC - Australia is planning tough new rules to protect children from online pornography and violence.

The new Labor government wants internet service providers to filter content to ensure households and schools do not receive "inappropriate" material.

Civil libertarians have condemned the plan as unnecessary, and say it will erode the freedom of the internet.

But telecommunications minister Stephen Conroy said more needed to be done to protect children.

Family-friendly

The Australian government's aim is to ensure that children only have access to family-friendly websites.

Justin McCurry | Tokyo | December 18

The Guardian - The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, today set his country on a diplomatic collision course with Japan with reports that he plans to send an armed vessel to monitor a controversial whaling expedition to the southern ocean.

Rudd's Labor government is negotiating with the cruise ship firm P&O to send a vessel equipped with machine guns and powerful cameras to track the Japanese fleet, the Sydney Morning Herald said.

The Japanese fleet left port for the Antarctic last month vowing to slaughter more than 1,000 whales in its biggest ever "scientific" hunt.

The hunters plan to kill 935 minke and 50 fin whales, but it is their intention to slaughter 50 humpbacks - a protected species since 1963 - that has most angered Australia, Britain and other anti-whaling nations.

Darwin | December 13

AP - A senior Australian lawmaker who was once handcuffed in his underpants to a pole during a drunken night in a Russian strip club said Wednesday that he had learned from the experience: "Always wear clean underwear."

Senator Nigel Scullion said he enjoyed his night out in 1998 in St. Petersburg where, as a professional fisherman, he led an Australian delegation at a global fishing conference. The escapade was first reported Tuesday, a week after the 51-year-old married senator was elected deputy leader of the conservative opposition National Party. He was first elected to the parliament in 2001.

Kevin Rudd is a man on a mission - a Liberal mission at that.

By all accounts, the transition of Australia's 65th ministry went smoothly over the nine days between the election and the swearing in ceremony -- his appointment of Julia Gillard as the first female deputy prime minister, his decision not to pledge allegiance to the Queen during the swearing-in ceremony, and his classy tribute to John Howard's record for economic management of the country.

Tony Koch | Dec 11

The Australian - Queenland's Child Safety Department knew that a 10-year-old girl had been gang-raped but did not report it to police, despite the girl also contracting a sexually transmitted disease from the encounter.

The child - who had been living in a Cairns foster home before the department decided to return her to Aurukun, in Cape York - has been diagnosed as "mildly intellectually impaired" and suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome, having been born to an alcohol-dependent mother.

When sentencing the nine juveniles for the gang rape carried out last year, Judge Bradley said: "All of you have pleaded guilty to having sex with a 10-year-old girl and (one of the juveniles) has pleaded guilty to having sex with another young girl as well.

The Australian yesterday revealed nine males who pleaded guilty to gang-raping the girl had escaped a prison term, with sentencing judge Sarah Bradley saying the child victim "probably agreed" to have sex with them.

"All of you have to understand that you cannot have sex with a girl under 16.

"If you do, you are breaking the law, and if you are found out, then you will be brought to court and could end up in jail.

"I accept that the girl involved, with respect to all of these matters, was not forced, and that she probably agreed to have sex with all of you."

Judge Bradley sentenced three men over the age of consent of 16 - aged 17, 18 and 26 - to six months' imprisonment, with the sentence suspended for 12 months.

Roby Alampay | Dec 1

Asia Times Online - There was supposed to be a wedding reception at the Manila Peninsula Thursday morning, the same date and setting for yet another bizarre episode of military adventurism in the Philippines.

The bride and groom were understandably dismayed, but what's a couple to do when a disgruntled senator and his former comrades in the military hold your hotel hostage? While the Peninsula's guests were casually herded out by the hotel staff, the newlyweds were graciously accommodated in another nearby hotel.

Life elsewhere in Makati, Manila's financial center, similarly went on. Even as 1,500 soldiers were ringing the hotel, work continued throughout the central business district. Brokers at the Philippine Stock Exchange less than a kilometer away heaved a sigh of relief that trades were winding down just as news of yet another "coup" finally broke on television.

Tim Johnston | Sydney | November 23

NYT - The center-right coalition of Prime Minister John Howard, who has been in power for 11 years and is one of the most stalwart supporters of President Bush in the Iraq war, faces a stiff challenge in Australia’s elections on Saturday, polls indicate.

The most substantial difference between Mr. Howard and Kevin Rudd, the leader of a resurgent opposition Labor Party, has been over Australia’s participation in the war. Mr. Rudd, who was a diplomat in Beijing, has promised to discuss a timetable to withdraw the 500 Australian troops in Iraq while remaining committed to the Anzus military pact, which ties Australia to New Zealand and the United States.

UPDATE Nov 24;

Australian election exit polls suggest landslide Labor win