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/ 11 January 2008
A bull swept into a raging river during floods in Australia earlier this week survived a 90km trip downstream before being rescued, his owners said on Friday. Barney, a two-year-old Brahmin bull, was washed away on Sunday morning by the rain-swollen Tweed River.
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/ 10 January 2008
India’s cricketers arrived in Canberra on Wednesday hoping to put the drama of the past week behind them and resume playing after being cleared to continue their troubled tour of Australia. The tour was suspended for two days when the Indian board ordered the players to remain in Sydney.
An internet video accusing Australians of opposing Japanese whaling because of racism while brutally killing animals such as kangaroos and dingoes drew sharp government criticism on Monday. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith announced that Australia would deploy a ship to gather evidence for possible legal action.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting has been urged to hold peace talks with Indian skipper Anil Kumble to try and resolve the escalating crisis between their teams. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland wants the rival captains to hold a private meeting to avert any threat of the tour being cancelled as tensions threaten to boil over.
Australia beat India by 122 runs in an amazing finish to the second test on Sunday to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and equal their own world record of 16 successive victories. Part-time spinner Michael Clarke captured three wickets in five deliveries to wrap up an incredible victory with just seven balls remaining after India looked to have done enough to salvage a draw.
Matthew Hayden scored his second century of the series on Saturday to equal Don Bradman’s career tally of 29 Test hundreds and provide Australia with a glimmer of hope of pressing ahead for victory over India in the second Test. The left-handed opener hit a stylish 123 to guide Australia to 282-4 at stumps in their second innings.
India spinner Harbhajan Singh faces a charge of racial abuse against Australian player Andrew Symonds under the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct, the ICC said on Saturday. The citing follows an alleged incident during Friday’s third day of the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Sachin Tendulkar provided a masterful demonstration of batting to give India an unexpected but fully deserved lead in the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday. Tendulkar defied Australia’s bowling attack for almost seven hours, striking 14 boundaries and a six to chalk up his 38th Test hundred.
World tennis number one Roger Federer said he was fresh and motivated ahead of this month’s Australian Open as he arrived in the country on Friday in pursuit of Pete Sampras’s record 14 Grand Slam titles. Federer (26) is favourite to complete an Australian Open hat-trick at Melbourne Park from January 14 to 27, which would take him to within one slam of Sampras’s benchmark tally.
VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid evoked memories of two of India’s greatest comebacks with a scintillating 175-run partnership in the second Test against Australia on Thursday. Laxman smashed 109 and Dravid a watchful 53 to guide the tourists out of immediate danger to 216-3 at stumps on the second day at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Oil prices dipped on Thursday, after leaping to a lifetime high of the day before, fuelled by expectations of thinning United States stockpiles, the falling dollar and geopolitical risks. US light crude for February delivery fell 32 cents to ,30 a barrel in Globex electronic trading by 5.24am GMT. US crude touched a barrel in the previous session.
Oil rose above on Wednesday, bolstered by expectations United States government data would show crude stocks falling for the seventh consecutive week, and as fresh violence in major oil exporter Nigeria revived supply concerns. US light crude for February delivery rose 46 cents to ,44 a barrel by 7.08am GMT, while London Brent crude rose 48 cents to ,33 a barrel.
Andrew Symonds smashed a breathtaking century in a record partnership with Brad Hogg to put Australia in control of the second Test against India on Wednesday. The powerful all-rounder demolished India’s bowling attack with an unbeaten 137 after Hogg made a vital 79 to steer Australia out of danger to 376-7 at stumps on the first day.
An Australian government plan to filter the internet on Wednesday drew criticism from privacy advocates who said it represented the start of state censorship. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, a member of the Labour team that ousted former prime minister John Howard in November, wants filters in place to shield children from online porn and violence.
Australian Skipper Ricky Ponting says there is more pressure on India to win Wednesday’s second cricket Test than on his team to equal the record of most consecutive Test victories. Ponting on Tuesday had the luxury of naming an unchanged 12 for the second match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
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/ 31 December 2007
Sydney staged a spectacular curtain-raiser to the New Year on Monday with a massive fireworks display watched by more than one million people lining the harbour of Australia’s largest city. Organisers had promised the traditional fireworks show this year would be ”artistically risky”.
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/ 31 December 2007
Several Australian players may withdraw from next year’s tour to Pakistan even if Cricket Australia’s security team gives a positive account after its February pre-tour inspection, according to reports on Monday. The assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and subsequent unrest have placed a question mark over the tour.
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/ 30 December 2007
Australian skipper Ricky Ponting says leg-spinner Brad Hogg will be a better and more confident bowler in Wednesday’s second cricket Test against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Hogg, singled out as a weakness by the Indian team before the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, responded with four match wickets.
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/ 28 December 2007
Police said on Friday they were waiting to question a man who had to be rescued by firefighters after he got stuck in the chimney of an Australian outback pub. Officers believe the man — too late to be making a Christmas delivery — may have been an incompetent burglar who got wedged into the tight spot as he tried to break into the premises.
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/ 21 December 2007
A Super 14 expansion side of Australians, Argentinians and Pacific Islanders playing out of Melbourne could be key to getting the Pumas into the southern hemisphere’s elite competitions, the Australian Rugby Union deputy chief executive Matt Carroll said on Friday.
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/ 18 December 2007
Wallaby fullback Chris Latham will move to English Premiership side Worcester later this year after rejecting an offer to remain in Australia, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said Tuesday. The ARU said it was disappointed at Latham’s decision to head to Europe on a three-year deal after the 2008 Tri-Nations series but respected it.
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/ 17 December 2007
Animal activists and pet shop owners on Monday called for a ban on a tiny fish tank designed to be hooked up to a music player such as an iPod and used as a speaker. The iPond, reportedly sold in some Australia pet stores complete with a Siamese fighting fish, is a miniature fish tank which holds about 650ml of water.
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/ 16 December 2007
Australian Craig Parry won his first Australian Open title at the age of 41 holding off a pack of challengers in steady rain at the Australian course in Sydney on Sunday. Parry called on all his experience in the miserable conditions to reel off a closing round of three-under par 69 to finish the tournament on 11-under 277.
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/ 15 December 2007
New Wallabies coach Robbie Deans says he arrives in the job with no ”historical baggage” to revive Australian rugby’s declining fortunes. The 48-year-old New Zealander, appointed on Friday for four years, is the first foreigner to coach the Wallabies, in a decision which has received almost universal acceptance within Australian rugby.
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/ 13 December 2007
Cricket Australia (CA) says the sport could attract a four-fold increase in television ratings by introducing day-night Test matches within the next decade. CA chief executive James Sutherland confirmed on Thursday reports that his organisation was preparing to defy 130 years of tradition by trialling day-night Tests.
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/ 10 December 2007
When Jhiymy Mhiyles arrived in Sydney homeless and broke during the 2000 Olympic Games, he decided he liked Bondi beach so much that he set up camp on the cliffs overlooking the famous stretch of sand. He’s stayed there ever since, enjoying million-dollar views from a surfside squat made of tarpaulins and rope.
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/ 9 December 2007
Unsuccessful All Blacks coaching candidate Robbie Deans has been granted a late interview for the vacant Wallabies job, the Australian Rugby Union said on Sunday. Deans, who missed out on the All Blacks position when the New Zealand Rugby Union decided to reappoint incumbent Graham Henry on Friday, had now asked to be considered for the Australian job.
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/ 8 December 2007
Australian coach John Dyson says he needs to sit down with the West Indian players and quickly discover why they are underachieving in world cricket, reports said on Saturday. The former Test opening batsman coach leaves Sydney for the Caribbean on Monday to take up his appointment as the new West Indies coach.
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/ 7 December 2007
China’s largest steel company BaoSteel called on Friday on the Australian government to intervene to prevent BHP Billiton from taking over rival miner Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto has rejected an unsolicited three-for-one scrip offer from the world’s biggest miner, saying it significantly undervalues its assets.
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/ 6 December 2007
Dutchman Pim Verbeek was unveiled on Thursday as the new coach of Australia, tasked with guiding them to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. Verbeek and Frenchman Phillippe Troussier had been the front-runners for the job since another Dutchman, Dick Advocaat, reneged on his contract three weeks ago.
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/ 4 December 2007
Next year’s Super 14 competition will trial several law changes designed to make the game faster and more exciting to watch. The decision to introduce the Experimental Law Variations was taken at a South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby Unions meeting in Sydney on Tuesday.
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/ 3 December 2007
Thieves who stole 16 metric tonnes of ham and bacon from a warehouse in Australia left behind a message taunting the business just weeks before the holiday season. ”Thanks … Merry Christmas,” the crooks daubed on a wall of the Zammit Ham and Bacon Curers warehouse in suburban Sydney as they made off with their haul.