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A man tries to hit police with a beer bottle at Cronulla Beach in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2005, after ethnic tensions erupted into running battles between police and a mob of thousands of youths, many chanting racial slurs. At least six people were arrested and several injured in alcohol-fueled fights at the beach. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

Bali, Tampa, 9/11: a potpourri of causes THE flashpoint for the race riot came when a teenager of so-called "Middle Eastern appearance" made his way defiantly through the car park heading for Cronulla beach. According to one witness, when the mob jeered him, the 17-year-old yelled back: it was his beach, too, and he had every right to swim there. The mob, freshly fuelled up on a cocktail of booze and racist propaganda from the Australia First movement, thought otherwise. A mob gave chase, screaming racial obscenities, hurling beer bottles and turning on police who tried to stop them. "They...

THE US no longer expects Australia to automatically support it in a conflict with China over the flashpoint of Taiwan, Bush administration officials have told Australian MPs. The message was delivered by US military, Pentagon and State Department officials to a delegation of visiting MPs, before John Howard delivered one of his strongest speeches in New York last week distinguishing Australia's approach to China from that of the US. Under the ANZUS treaty there has been an expectation that Australia would support the US in a conflict over Taiwan. But Foreign Minister Alexander Downer shocked the region with a speech...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building. Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woollen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together. When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria on Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet. "It sounded almost like a firecracker", Clewer told Australian...

The sweat-stained felt hats worn by Australian cowboys, as much a part of the Outback as kangaroos and sun-baked soil, may be heading for the history books. They fail modern industrial safety standards. It all stems from the death of a cowboy, who suffered massive head injuries after being trampled in a fall from a horse while mustering bulls in July 2001. His sole protection was the tattered hat provided him for shading from the sun. The New South Wales state government brought charges against the ranch owner, who employed 23-year-old Daniel Croker, convicting and fining the company $72,000 last...

Prime Minister John Howard's election victory would boost the confidence of US President George W Bush and his Republican Party, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. Mr Downer agreed Mr Bush, currently embroiled in a hard-fought campaign for re-election on November 2, had probably taken heart from Mr Howard's victory. But he said it was hard to believe the Australian election result would resonate in the US for more than a day or two. "I suppose it's much more a question just of a confidence boost for them," Mr Downer told the Nine network. "If the Australian government had lost the...

Drunken police raid US students LUKE MORFESSE - CRIME REPORTER A group of drunken off-duty police officers forced American students to kneel on the ground at their Fremantle dormitory while taunting and humiliating them about the United States involvement in Iraq. The incident is one of several being investigated by police internal affairs after a wild night in two of the port city's popular night spots involving seven WA police and two NSW officers. Some of the worst behaviour was inflicted on patrons at the Orient Hotel, where one of the officers vomited across the bar after the drunken group...

British-born man admits bomb plot By Nick Squires in Sydney (Filed: 29/05/2004) A British-born Muslim convert was convicted yesterday of plotting to bomb the Israeli embassy in Canberra. Convicted: Jack Roche Jack Roche, 50, who discussed the plot with Osama bin Laden at a camp in Afghanistan, had originally pleaded not guilty at Perth district court. But halfway through the trial his lawyers asked for the charge to be read out again and he replied: "Guilty". Roche, who was arrested in November 2002, is the first Australian citizen to be convicted of a terrorist offence and faces a maximum 25...

AN Australian trained with Spanish al-Qa'ida militants in a camp in war-torn Poso, central Sulawesi, according to intelligence reports. Security expert Ken Conboy told The Australian the terrorist training camp was set up in an abandoned Christian village about 10km east of Poso. There was some al-Qa'ida funding for the camp, he said, but he was unsure whether it was for food, transport or buildings. At least one photo exists of militants in the Poso camp. Mr Conboy said the Spanish militants abandoned the camp late in 2001. He speculated that the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US had...

<p>SYDNEY -- The makers of Kazaa, the peer-to-peer file sharing software, failed to quash a court order Thursday that allowed the music industry to raid its Sydney-based offices, prompting a furious response from its chief executive.</p> <p>In February, the music industry was granted an Anton Piller order, which grants copyright holders the rights of search and seizure, allowing it to raid 12 sites across Australia to seize documents and data. Sites raided included the offices of Sharman Networks, the home of its chief executive, several universities and other companies that were believed to be holding information relating to Kazaa.</p>

Qantas is resisting pressure to install new systems to defend its fleet against terrorist missile attacks, throwing the responsibility for protecting its aircraft back onto government. The airline's CEO, Geoff Dixon, rejected suggestions that it deploy expensive decoy systems against surface-to-air missiles, saying these would would cost nearly $700 million to protect the international fleet alone. Mr Dixon also questioned the effectiveness of the systems and said the best way to deal with the missile threat would be for governments in Australia and the region to identify potential launch sites near airports. His comments came after the Prime Minister, John...

The ANZ Bank has been approached to join a coalition of the willing to establish war-battered Iraq's first international bank. Leading the coalition is prominent US banking house JP Morgan, which has also put out feelers to other banks from the US, Britain, Spain and Poland. All these countries sent troops to fight alongside the US in the Iraq war, strongly suggesting the bank licence – should ANZ enlist – will represent the first spoils of the war for Australia. Banks from Germany, France and Russia have not been invited to join the venture. These countries were vocal opponents of...

Australia creates anti-terror force By Red Harrison BBC correspondent in Sydney Australia is to establish a special unit of military reserve forces to deal with what the government says is the growing threat of international terrorism. Training for the new force is expected to begin immediately. Units of the new special reserve force will be on guard around Australia within the next two weeks. Their tasks will range from anti-terrorist operations to protection duty at significant public events and at essential installations such as power stations, oil refineries, roads, bridges and important buildings like the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the...

<p>Global warming may increase deaths and injuries due to flooding in Australia by as much as 240 percent by 2020, and cause a huge jump in the number of Pacific islanders whose homes could be washed away, a new report said.</p>

Australia's relations with United Nations human rights committees have plummeted to new lows because of government recalcitrance on international law, according to a new report. A study by the left-wing think-tank, the Australia Institute, said the government's hard line on asylum seekers during the 2001 Tampa standoff had seen relations with UN human rights committees reach unprecedented lows. The Pacific Solution to process asylum seekers offshore in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, and failings with indigenous affairs, were damaging Australia's international reputation, the report said. "The government has had a stunning public relations success in side-lining human rights by exploiting...

Prime Minister John Howard was a good friend and "a man of steel" and ties between the US and Australia were at an all time high, US President George W Bush said. After a 20-hour stay by Mr Howard and his wife Janette at the Bush ranch in central Texas, the president described the prime minister as a good friend, a source of advice and a good Texan. Referring to Mr Howard's steadfast support for the US-led war in Iraq, Mr Bush said Mr Howard had exhibited behaviour that proved he was not only "a man of steel, but a...

CANBERRA — Australia, keen to protect its commercial interest in one of its largest wheat markets, will send a team of agricultural experts to work with Iraqi officials and a senior US nominee to rebuild Iraq’s agriculture sector. The Australian team will be led by Trevor Flugge, the former high-profile chairman of Australia’s monopoly wheat exporter AWB Ltd, and advise on agriculture reforms and food security issues, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said this week. “Mr Flugge will make an early visit to the region to assess conditions on the ground and to identify immediate priorities for Australian assistance,” Downer said...

The Prime Minister's comments over the Iraq war have drawn a sharp rebuke from the United States Embassy, which last night described them as "regrettable". That is strong criticism in diplomatic language. The offending statements were Helen Clark's expressed view at the weekend that the war would not have happened had Democrat Al Gore been elected president. In a subsequent press conference about the comments, she said the war did not appear to be going to plan. Political opponents have accused her of being anti-American, of further jeopardising a free-trade deal, and of making inappropriate comments about President's Bush's unsuccessful...

AUSTRALIAN troops preparing for war in the Persian Gulf fear an anti-war backlash at home reminiscent of the divisive protests during the Vietnam war. Members of the 2000-strong force stationed in the Gulf have been following the peace protests in Australia and hope the community retains its support for the troops about to fight in a war against Iraq. Squadron Leader Melanie, 31, a Newcastle-based logistics officer who has served 13 years in the RAAF, hopes the "ugly" mood targeting soldiers who fought in the Vietnam war will not be repeated. "People obviously feel strongly on both sides," she said....

Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia has escaped what appeared to be a bizarre kidnap attempt on a busy London Street, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported Friday.A man tried to bundle Imbruglia into the back of a black Range Rover as she left a charity event at the Nobu restaurant in West London late on Wednesday, the newspaper said in a front page story.A group of men described by the newspaper as minders rushed in and pulled Imbruglia from the back of the vehicle and the assailant drove off.The Daily Telegraph published a series of photos showing Imbruglia being hustled out of the...