Australia

Sydney -- 02 June 2008 -- Australian combat troops have begun leaving Iraq. Their departure fulfills an election promise by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who pledged to pull his country's out of Iraq by the middle of 2008. For Australia's 550 combat soldiers, the war in Iraq is over.

Australian Army Sgt. helps a wounded US Army soldier: Australian Regular Army Sgt. Tarese Heath cuts the boot off an U.S. Army Soldier with broken toes in the emergency department at Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq, on June 22, 2005. Photo by Pattie A. (CC)

They have begun leaving their base at Tallil, 300 kilometers south of Baghdad, where they have been helping to train Iraqi security forces.    » read more »

May 21, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) held a hearing this morning entitled, “Defense Trade Cooperation with the United Kingdom and Australia.” The Committee heard testimony from John C. Rood, Acting Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs at the State Department.

The full text of Sen. Biden’s opening statement from this morning’s hearing is below:

“Forty years ago, the Arms Export Control Act was enacted to fashion an orderly process for promoting U.S. arms sales while preventing the spread of advanced military technology and equipment to our enemies or to countries that might misuse those exports.    » read more »

March 31, 2008 -- Washington, DC -- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today to discuss U.S.-Australian relations and their shared commitment to sustaining and promoting the historic friendship between the two nations.
The Prime Minster and Senator Clinton also addressed matters of mutual concern to the United States and Australia, including Australia’s health care system, relations with China, and other issues relating to Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim.

Senator Hillary Clinton meets with Australian Prime Minister Kevin RuddThis was the first meeting between Clinton and Rudd since he became Australia’s 26th Prime Minister in December.    » read more »

March 31, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement on the visit of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to the United States:

"I would like to extend my sincere welcome to the Honorable Kevin Rudd, who is making his first trip to the United States as the newly elected Prime Minister of Australia. This is a historic visit during a time of transition for both our nations.    » read more »

March 28, 2008 -- PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for that rousing ovation.

Mr. Prime Minister, welcome. Sure glad you're here. And, Therese, thank you for joining us, as well. Laura and I are thrilled to welcome you here to the White House. And I appreciate the opportunity to visit with a leader of one of America's closest allies and friends. And one thing is for sure, that friendship will strengthen and endure under the leadership of Kevin Rudd.

President George W. Bush and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd shake hands: White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian    » read more »

29 March 2008 -- Australians switched off their lights for 60 minutes Saturday to mark "Earth Hour," a campaign by environmentalists to raise awareness about global warming. The event was started a year ago in Sydney by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The campaign has spread to major cities worldwide - from Dublin to Chicago and Bangkok to Manila - making Earth Hour 2008 a global movement.

Sydney's symbolic act of switching off some of its lights has caught on.

Tens of thousands of people have taken part in the event in Australia and across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand.

Environmentalists say more than 370 towns and cities across Asia, Europe and North America will also take part in Earth Hour this year.    » read more »

Number of tournament teams to expand through qualifying rounds in 2013

02/19/2008 -- World Baseball Classic, Inc. (WBCI) today announced the final eight teams that will be invited to participate in the 2009 World Baseball Classic next March, as endorsed by the tournament's Steering Committee.    » read more »

14 February 2008 -- Iron Maiden’s year has got off to a roaring start with the February 4th release of the band’s long-awaited DVD Live After Death smashing straight into the UK music DVD charts at Number One not only outpacing its nearest competitor by three to one, but outselling the rest of the Top 6 combined!    » read more »

Thursday, February 14, 2008 -- U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters today announced that the United States and Australia concluded a landmark Open-Skies aviation agreement that will eliminate restrictions on U.S.-Australia air services for the carriers of both countries. The agreement comes after three days of negotiations in Washington.    » read more »

13 February 2008 -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made a historic apology to the country's Aboriginal people for past mistreatment. Mr. Rudd said past policies of assimilation under which indigenous children were taken from their families were a 'stain on the nation's soul'.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has apologized to the 'Stolen Generations'.

These were Aboriginal children who were taken from their families in an attempt to dilute indigenous culture. They were the victims of an assimilation policy that began in 1910 and lasted into the early 1970s.    » read more »

12 February 2008 -- Australia is preparing to issue its first formal apology for past mistreatment of the country's Aboriginal people. The declaration by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will be the first act of the new government when the Australian parliament reopens in Canberra on February 13. It will acknowledge injustices suffered by Aborigines in the years after European colonization that began in the late 1700s.

It's been a long time coming but Australia is about to say sorry to its indigenous people.

February 13 will be a momentous day.    » read more »

AMITYVILLE, N.Y., Feb. 5, 2008 - Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC: NYSE) has begun production of major structural components for the first F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighter aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

On Feb. 5, GKN Aerospace-Monitor, a premier supplier to Northrop Grumman, began machining the first wing bulkhead, one of three titanium bulkheads that hold the F/A-18 wings in place. The government of Australia is purchasing 24 F/A-18F's from the United States in the first international procurement of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.    » read more »

28 January 2008 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith Monday stressed the enduring nature of the two countries' alliance despite Australia's decision to remove troops from Iraq by mid-year. Smith said Australia's troop and diplomatic commitment to Afghanistan will continue.

Smith is the highest-level Australian official to visit Washington since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's center-left government took power in November, ending 12 years of conservative rule by John Howard, a close ally and friend of President Bush.    » read more »

23 January 2008 -- Scientists say stalagmites, the mineral spears that rise from the floors of some caves, could help Australia prepare for drought. Researchers at a rainfall conference in Sydney say the cave formations have accurately recorded past rainfall patterns, and can help predict what the future holds.

The rainfall conference is looking at ways to manage increasingly scarce water resources on the world's driest inhabited continent.

Scientists believe one way is to study stalagmites, which hold the key to Australia's rainfall patterns over centuries.    » read more »

15 January 2008 -- Australia's foreign minister says Japan has agreed to free two anti-whaling activists being held aboard a Japanese whaling vessel in Antarctic waters.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told Australia's national radio early Wednesday that Japan has not yet handed the men back to their own ship.

Smith added that Australian police are investigating whether there had been any unlawful activity.    » read more »