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Indonesia Delays Search for Survivors in Asylum Boat Sinking

Strong waves prevented Indonesian rescuers from continuing the search for survivors Saturday morning in a boat sinking that left at least 22 Australia-bound asylum-seekers, mostly children, dead and scores missing.

Some 120 asylum-seekers from Lebanon, Jordan and Yemen were believed to be on the boat that broke into pieces and sank off Indonesia on Friday in rough seas, with 28 plucked to safety and around 70 still unaccounted for, police said.

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Australian Navy Takes Asylum-Seekers back to Indonesia

The Australian navy has taken 44 asylum-seekers rescued at sea back to Indonesia, an official said Friday, days before Australia's new premier visits the country for talks on his controversial boatpeople policy.

However, the rescue was carried out under an existing agreement between Jakarta and Canberra and not in the framework of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's new tow-back policy.

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Dozens of Lebanese Illegal Migrants Drown, 18 Rescued while Trying to Sail from Indonesia to Australia

At least 60 Lebanese migrants drowned on Friday as they attempted to sail from Indonesia to Australia, reported Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

It said that no more than ten people survived the trip between the two countries and the corpses of the victims began to wash ashore on one of the Indonesian islands.

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200 Years of Australian Art on Show in London

A major exhibition of Australian art opens in London on Saturday, charting 200 years of extraordinary change through the country's relationship with its dramatic landscape.

Twelve rooms at the Royal Academy have been taken over for the show, which includes bark paintings, early colonial watercolors, heroic pioneer scenes and modern works.

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Abbott Sworn in as Australia's New Prime Minister

Tony Abbott was sworn in as Australia's new prime minister on Wednesday and immediately ordered the scrapping of the nation's carbon tax and the halting of asylum-seeker boats.

The 55-year-old conservative pledged to knuckle down immediately after the ceremony at Government House in Canberra where his Liberal/National government officially brought six years of Labor rule to a close.

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Australian PM under Fire after Naming One Woman in Cabinet

Australia's new Prime Minister Tony Abbott unveiled his incoming cabinet Monday, attracting immediate criticism for including only one woman.

Conservative Liberal leader Abbott was elected by an overwhelming majority on September 7, and in his first press conference since victory over the incumbent Labor Party named a widely-expected line-up.

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Third Porter Dies in PNG Following Attack on Trekkers

A third man has died from injuries suffered during a bloody ambush on foreign trekkers in Papua New Guinea which has rocked the tourism industry, police said Monday.

The man, a porter for the group of Australian and New Zealand hikers on the remote Black Cat track, sustained machete wounds in last week's violent assault and died in hospital in Lae, police spokesman Superintendent Dominic Kakas said.

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Losing Power Hits 'like a Fist', Says Australia's Gillard

Losing power was like being "hit by a fist", Australia's first female prime minister Julia Gillard said Saturday, recounting the pain of being dumped by her party.

Gillard made history in 2010 when she became the first woman to lead the country after ousting Kevin Rudd in a Labor party room coup, a move that shocked the nation, which had voted Rudd into power just three years before.

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Obama, New Australia PM Talk Military

President Barack Obama called for the full implementation of plans to station U.S. troops in Australia as he congratulated incoming prime minister Tony Abbott, the White House said Thursday.

Obama late Wednesday telephoned Abbott, whose conservative Liberal Party swept back to power Saturday after six years, as well as outgoing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a close ally of the U.S. leader.

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Dozens of Bushfires Flare in Australia

Dozens of bushfires erupted in Australia on Tuesday with six firefighters injured battling fierce infernos in western Sydney that destroyed two homes and which officials said could signal a difficult summer.

Some 60 fires flared in the country's most populous state of New South Wales, aided by temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) and gusting winds, with water-bombing helicopters being used to tackle the danger.

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