ROD MCGUIRK

Associated Press Writer
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Amnesty boss urges equality for poor Aborigines

Australia must abolish policies that discriminate against Aborigines in its quest to lift its indigenous population out of Third World poverty, the head of an international human rights group said Wednesday.

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Chinese vice premier visits Australia

Beijing is sending a top-level official to Australia this week for the first time since a series of rows sent relations plummeting between the Asian giant and one of its key suppliers of raw materials.

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UN food agency says 200 million more people hungry

Most of the developing world is paying more for food despite drops in commodity market prices during the global economic slowdown, with 200 million people joining the ranks of the hungry in the past two years, the U.N. World Food Program said Monday.

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Australia stays focussed on Afghan troop training

Australia does not want its forces to be in Afghanistan "a day longer than is necessary" and plans to hand over security to domestic forces it is training in a troubled southern province in three to five years, the defense minister said Wednesday.

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Leech leads Australian police to armed robber

A leech found at a crime scene eight years ago led Australian police to a man who admitted robbing an elderly woman in 2001, officials said Tuesday.

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Australian PM calls Indonesian leader on refugees

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd confirmed on Tuesday that he telephoned Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono about Australia's influx of asylum seekers before the Indonesian navy reportedly intercepted a boat load of 260 Sri Lankans bound for Australia at the weekend.

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Australia resettles boat explosion survivors

Australia will resettle 42 Afghan men who survived a boat explosion that killed five fellow asylum seekers in Australian waters in April, an official said on Monday.

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Prison guards demand right to complain online

A group of prison guards dubbed the Facebook Five has gone to an Australian court to fight for the right to complain about their boss on the Internet.

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Ex-politician named Australian ambassador to US

Australia appointed a former leader of the ruling Labor Party on Thursday as its next ambassador to the United States.

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Chevron says Gorgon gas field will go ahead

Energy giant Chevron announced on Monday that the Gorgon gas field, one of the world's largest, will be developed off northwest Australia with export contracts already signed with China, India, Japan and South Korea.

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Australia jobless rate steady at 5.8 pct in August

Australia's jobless rate remained steady at 5.8 percent for a third month in August despite a continuing shift from full-time to part-time employment due to the near-stagnant economy, figures showed Thursday.

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European stocks dip ahead of US market open

European stocks lost earlier gains ahead of expected losses on Wall Street on Thursday as enthusiasm over an upbeat Federal Reserve survey, which helped Asian markets rise, faded amid concerns that stocks are overvalued.

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Australia probes North Korean weapons shipment

Authorities are investigating whether Australian law was broken after an Australian-owned ship was seized in the United Arab Emirates carrying North Korean weapons bound for Iran, an official said Sunday.

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Australia to apologize for state care of children

Australia's government will follow its historic apology to Aborigines last year for past injustices with a similar apology to child immigrants and Australian-born children who suffered in state care during the last century, a Cabinet minister said Sunday.

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Australia debates whether Aboriginal policy racist

A U.N. expert's harsh criticism of Australia's Aboriginal policy reopened a national debate Friday on a decades-old issue: how best to help the country's original settlers and most disadvantaged minority.

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Australian military court ruled unconstitutional

Australia's highest court ruled Wednesday that the country's military justice system is unconstitutional because its judges are not independent of the military command — throwing into doubt 171 cases judged in the past two years.

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Traffic noise could be ruining sex lives of frogs

Traffic noise could be ruining the sex lives of urban frogs by drowning out the seductive croaks of amorous males, an Australian researcher said Friday.

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WHO seeks flu vaccine donations for poorer nations

The World Health Organization's flu chief urged drug makers on Saturday to donate swine flu vaccines to the world's poorest countries, which are more vulnerable in the fight against the pandemic.

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Australian Parliament sets renewable energy target

Australia's Parliament passed a law Thursday requiring that 20 percent of the country's electricity come from renewable sources such as the sun and wind by 2020, matching European standards and up from about 8 percent now.

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Australia says China canceled minister's visit

China canceled a senior minister's trip in anger at Australia's granting of a visa to an exiled Uighur activist in the latest sign that ties between the two countries are strained.

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Australian inquiry blames captain for WWII tragedy

A military inquiry on Wednesday blamed a navy captain's "errors of judgment" for one of Australia's worst maritime tragedies, in which 645 crew were lost when a cruiser was sunk by a German raider during World War II.

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Former Guantanamo Bay detainee weds in Australia

The first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be convicted under the U.S. military commission system was married over the weekend in a Christian wedding in Australia, his father said Monday.

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Rare twin wallabies spotted in Australia

A wild wallaby sighted in eastern Australia has a rare predicament for a marsupial mother — she is carrying twins in her pouch.

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Australia resists 'Buy Australian' union pressure

The government will not adopt a "Buy Australian" policy of giving preference to local firms when allocating multibillion dollar contracts because that would repeat the mistakes of the Great Depression, the prime minister said Sunday.

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3 more Chinese films pulled at Melbourne festival

Three more Chinese-language films have been pulled from an Australian film festival to protest the planned appearance of an exiled Uighur activist Beijing blames for inciting recent ethnic violence, organizers said Thursday.

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