ROD MCGUIRK

Associated Press
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New wave of asylum seeker boats raises Aussie ire

The asylum seekers who head to Australia in rickety fishing boats are just a trickle in the global flow of refugees. But given the top-tier debate they have ignited in Australia, they might as well be an invading armada.

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Former Australia senator welcomes News Corp. probe

A former Australian senator said Friday that Rupert Murdoch's eldest son was present when a News Corp. executive allegedly offered him favorable newspaper coverage and "a special relationship" in return for voting against government legislation.

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WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Biting coverage for Obama

You won't find THAT policy in the U.S. health care law.

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Oz police probe suspected sabotage of Qantas jet

Australian police are investigating the suspected sabotage of the entertainment system on a Qantas Airways airliner during an ongoing bitter labor dispute between the airline and the aircraft maintenance union, officials said Wednesday.

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Former British colonies to consider axing gay laws

Leaders of former British Empire countries that continue to outlaw homosexuality will be asked next week to reverse their bans in a bid to reduce their disproportionately high HIV infection rates, an official said Tuesday.

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Qantas jet returns to Bangkok due to engine noise

A Sydney-bound Qantas Airways Boeing 747 jumbo jet returned to Bangkok due to an engine problem, the airline said Monday.

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Aussie PM says mining boom likely to be sustained

Australia's mining boom fueled by Chinese demand, which kept the economy out of recession during the global financial crisis, "is likely to be sustained for a very long period," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Tuesday.

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Australian economy grows 1.2 percent in April-June

Australia avoided recession with its economy growing 1.2 percent in the three months through June after shrinking in the previous quarter due to natural disasters at home and abroad, according to government figures Wednesday.

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EU official says region will avoid recession

The European Union will avoid slipping into recession and is doing all it can to tackle the region's debt problems, a top official said Monday.

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World Bank president warns of new danger zone

European governments need to restructure their economies to restore the confidence of financial markets as the global economy moves into a new danger zone, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Tuesday.

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New Australian law to make Muslims lift veils

Muslim women would have to remove veils and show their faces to police on request or risk a prison sentence under proposed new laws in Australia's most populous state that have drawn criticism as culturally insensitive.

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Australia military may scrap all gender barriers

Women fight for militaries around the world but rarely if ever are allowed to take the jobs most closely associated with soldiering — those focused on ground combat in close quarters and even hand to hand. That may be about to change in Australia.

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PM excludes gasoline from Aussie carbon tax plan

Prime Minister Julia Gillard softened the impact of her unpopular carbon tax plans on Sunday by promising it will not increase Australian gasoline prices.

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Tiger Airways Australia suspends all July flights

Tiger Airways domestic flights in Australia have been suspended through July and an executive is resigning amid a safety investigation, the airline said late Wednesday.

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Famed Australia ranch to be sold due to export ban

Australia's best-known Outback cattle ranch has been put on the market by an owner who on Wednesday blamed the country's ban on livestock exports to Indonesia for destroying her livelihood.

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Aborigine crisis: Some see 'no other way but jail'

Fabian Brown, known among Aborigines by his tribal name Jabangardi, is usually jobless, addicted to alcohol and has been in and out of prison since he was 17.

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Biggest 2 Australian telcos join broadband rollout

Australia's two largest telecommunications companies signed lucrative deals with the government to join the rollout of a fiber optic national broadband network that will be among the world's fastest.

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Telstra strikes $12B deal on Australian broadband

Telstra Corp., Australia's largest telecommunications company, reached an 11 billion Australian dollar ($12 billion) deal with the government Thursday to participate in the rollout of a fiber optic national broadband network that will be among the world's fastest.

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Australia's AG condemns surge in black prisoners

Australia's attorney general on Tuesday condemned as unacceptable the burgeoning number of young Aboriginal prisoners that a parliamentary report branded a "national crisis."

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Australia faces court challenge to Malaysia deal

A government plan to swap refugees with Malaysia will be challenged in Australia's highest court on the grounds that it will permanently separate a Kurdish refugee from his wife and 4-year-old son, a lawyer said Friday.

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Papua New Guinea leader's son faces murder charge

Police on Thursday were preparing to charge the son of Papua New Guinea's acting prime minister with murder after the body of a 29-year-old waitress was found at the family home.

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Papua New Guinea leader's son faces murder charge

Police were preparing to charge the son of Papua New Guinea's acting prime minister with murder Thursday after the body of a 29-year-old waitress was found at the family home.

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Rio Tinto brings forward $676M iron ore investment

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto said Wednesday it is accelerating its expansion of iron ore operations in northwest Australia by bringing forward a $676 million investment in port and rail construction as well as buying equipment.

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27th Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan

An official says an Australian soldier has been killed in an operation that destroyed a large cache of insurgent munitions in Afghanistan. The casualty is the 27th Australian death in the Afghan conflict and the fourth in two weeks.

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Australian PM faces toughest test on carbon tax

Australia's leader faces her toughest political test to date as she tries to sell the nation on a carbon tax that would lead to higher power prices while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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