http://www.earthtimes.org The Earth Times online newspaper, serving the planet with world news and current affairs that matter en-us PHP/4.4.4 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205605,soldier-jailed-for-stealing-rocket-launchers.html Sydney - An Australian soldier was jailed Thursday for stealing and selling rocket launchers he must have known might end up being used by terrorists. Nine of the 10 rocket launchers sold on the black market remain missing five years after the crime ... Australasia,World Thu, 15 May 2008 08:22:04 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205605,soldier-jailed-for-stealing-rocket-launchers.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205570,australian-billionaire-donates-to-chinas-quake-victims.html Sydney - Australian iron ore mogul Andrew Forrest on Thursday donated part of the proceeds of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd's first shipment to China to quake victims there. Fortescue's maiden commercial shipment of 170,000 tons of iron ore left from th... Australasia,World Thu, 15 May 2008 05:48:02 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205570,australian-billionaire-donates-to-chinas-quake-victims.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205566,australian-minister-sets-appalling-example.html Sydney - A senior Australian politician who this week lost his drivers licence after a seventh speeding fine in 13 months sank further into disrepute Thursday when he called a press photographer two expletives after he was snapped cycling to work. Jo... Australasia,World Thu, 15 May 2008 04:47:01 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205566,australian-minister-sets-appalling-example.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205560,sheeps-bottoms-part-australias-wool-growers--feature.html Dubbo, Australia - It's taken five years for some Australian sheep farmers to accept that customers don't want lambs to have their backsides skinned so flies won't lay eggs there. Never mind that mulesing saves sheep from a painful death from flesh-e... Australasia,World Thu, 15 May 2008 03:57:05 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205560,sheeps-bottoms-part-australias-wool-growers--feature.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205555,tv-gives-australias-flying-doctors-global-glamour.html Dubbo, Australia - Australia's booming mining sector means doctors and pilots prepared to work in the Outback are paid very well. The 80-year-old Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) doesn't pay big money but it's good at enticing professionals with th... Australasia,World Thu, 15 May 2008 03:13:00 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205555,tv-gives-australias-flying-doctors-global-glamour.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205538,iraqi-christian-hit-daughter-for-dating-muslim-court-told.html Wellington - An Assyrian Christian Iraqi refugee appeared in court in New Zealand after hitting his 20-year-old daughter for going out with a Muslim, a newspaper reported Thursday. Ishak Ishak, 59, pleaded guilty to assaulting his daughter, and his l... Australasia,World Wed, 14 May 2008 23:54:03 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205538,iraqi-christian-hit-daughter-for-dating-muslim-court-told.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205531,new-zealand-police-probe-immigration-heads-credentials--summary.html Wellington - A high-flying New Zealand civil servant who resigned amid speculation that she had faked her academic qualifications did not have the doctorate from the London School of Economics that she claimed, according to media reports Thursday. Th... Australasia,World Wed, 14 May 2008 22:24:09 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205531,new-zealand-police-probe-immigration-heads-credentials--summary.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205469,austrian-neo-nazis-on-trial-for-recreating-hitler-youth.html Vienna - A group of five Austrian neo-Nazis is facing trial in Austria for having founded an organization similar to Hitler's youth movement. Three of the men are accused of having founded and led a national- socialist organization as well as having ... Australasia,World Wed, 14 May 2008 15:48:07 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205469,austrian-neo-nazis-on-trial-for-recreating-hitler-youth.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205420,amstetten-incest-victims-send-thanks-for-compassion.html Vienna - The victims in Austria's shocking incest case on Wednesday sent a first message to the public, thanking for the compassionate messages and support. In a hand-written message posted at a public notice board in Amstetten, Elisabeth Fritzl, 42,... Australasia,World Wed, 14 May 2008 13:30:05 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205420,amstetten-incest-victims-send-thanks-for-compassion.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205360,five-dead-in-austrian-family-axe-murder--summary.html Vienna - A 39-year old Austrian man is believed to have killed five members of his family, among them his 7-year-old daughter with an axe, authorities said on Wednesday. The man turned himself in during the early hours of Thursday in Vienna, telling ... Australasia,World Wed, 14 May 2008 10:28:04 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205360,five-dead-in-austrian-family-axe-murder--summary.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205324,new-zealand-police-investigate-immigration-heads-qualifications.html Wellington - New Zealand police launched an investigation into the background of the head of the country's Immigration Service on Wednesday after she resigned amid suggestions that she had faked her academic qualifications. Mary Anne Thompson, 53, wh... Australasia,World Wed, 14 May 2008 08:48:04 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205324,new-zealand-police-investigate-immigration-heads-qualifications.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205302,five-dead-in-austrian-family-axe-murder.html Vienna - A 39-year old Austrian man is believed to have killed five members of his family, among them his 7-year-old daughter, with an axe, authorities said on Wednesday. The man turned himself in during the early hours of Thursday in Vienna, telling... Australasia,World Wed, 14 May 2008 07:05:06 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205302,five-dead-in-austrian-family-axe-murder.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205273,interview-ramos-horta-looks-to-the-future-after-near-fatal-shooting.html Dili - Three months after a near-fatal assassination attempt, East Timor President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta is back in his office and full of plans. Still pale, Ramos-Horta lays out his work schedule from his home in the capita... Australasia,World Wed, 14 May 2008 04:31:00 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205273,interview-ramos-horta-looks-to-the-future-after-near-fatal-shooting.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204984,beer-prized-above-a-life-in-australia.html Sydney - An Australian motorist has been fined by police for strapping a seatbelt around a carton of beer rather than using it to secure the 5-year-old child in his car. I haven't ever seen something like this before, police officer Wayne Burnett s... Australasia,World Tue, 13 May 2008 06:14:06 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204984,beer-prized-above-a-life-in-australia.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204976,ashes-scattered-37-years-after-war-correspondents-first-death.html Wellington - The ashes of New Zealand-born war correspondent Kate Webb were scattered on Wellington Harbour Tuesday, 37 years after she first read her death notices in the world's newspapers. Webb, who was widely regarded as one of the most remarkabl... Australasia,World Tue, 13 May 2008 05:12:04 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204976,ashes-scattered-37-years-after-war-correspondents-first-death.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204760,new-zealand-jailers-red-faced-after-prisoners-classic-escape.html Wellington - A prisoner was on the run Monday after using a comic book trick to escape from one of the country's top security prisons - he tied bed sheets together and climbed over the wall. Guards inside noticed nothing amiss and police were alerted... Australasia,World Mon, 12 May 2008 09:36:02 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204760,new-zealand-jailers-red-faced-after-prisoners-classic-escape.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204715,big-banking-merger-touted-in-australia--summary.html Sydney - Westpac Banking Corporation, one of Australia's Big Four high street banks, has proposed a merger with fifth-placed St George Bank that would create Australia's largest financial services company. The banks placed their shares in a trading h... Australasia,World Mon, 12 May 2008 06:02:00 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204715,big-banking-merger-touted-in-australia--summary.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204692,big-banking-merger-touted-in-australia.html Sydney - Westpac Banking Corporation, one of Australia's Big Four high street banks, is in merger talks with fifth-placed St George Bank, and a marriage would create Australia's largest financial services company, Westpac said Monday. Shares of both ... Australasia,World Mon, 12 May 2008 00:35:04 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204692,big-banking-merger-touted-in-australia.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204610,australia-hikes-aid-for-myanmar.html Sydney - Australia, which initially pledged 3 million Australian dollars (2.8 million US dollars), increased the total to 25 million Australian dollars emergency aid to Myanmar Sunday in the wake of cyclone Nargis. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told... Australasia,World Sun, 11 May 2008 06:22:06 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204610,australia-hikes-aid-for-myanmar.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204520,scientology-loses-mr-moneybags.html Sydney - The Church of Scientology, whose most famous acolyte is film star Tom Cruise, has lost its richest member, news reports said Saturday. Billionaire business tycoon James Packer has dropped out of what some former members claim is a dangerous ... Australasia,World Sat, 10 May 2008 06:56:01 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/204520,scientology-loses-mr-moneybags.html