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/293647,plain-sailing-for-round-the-world-australian.html Sydney - Australian teenager Jessica Watson said Saturday that loneliness was not an issue as she passed the two-week mark in her bid to become the youngest person to sail solo and unaided around the world. Jessica, 16, set sail from Sydney on Octobe... Australasia,World Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:04:23 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293647,plain-sailing-for-round-the-world-australian.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293602,austrian-shop-staff-dreaming-of-a-quiet-christmas.html Vienna - Austrian retail workers face additional stress from Christmas songs blaring in shops, their union said Friday, and urged employers to keep the music down in the coming weeks. With pressure building up as business becomes hectic in the time l... Australasia,World Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:22:15 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293602,austrian-shop-staff-dreaming-of-a-quiet-christmas.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293503,new-zealands-novice-premier-hogs-the-polls-one-year-on.html Wellington - One year after John Key became the most inexperienced politician to be sworn in as prime minister of New Zealand, he is still soaring in the opinion polls - despite the apparent death wishes of some of h... Australasia,World Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:46:18 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293503,new-zealands-novice-premier-hogs-the-polls-one-year-on.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293499,german-red-cross-worker-shot-in-indonesias-aceh.html Jakarta - A German Red Cross worker was shot and injured by an unknown assailant in Indonesia's Aceh province, the state Antara news agency reported Friday. The Jakarta-based Red Cross official was in a car with three other people Thursday when a man... Australasia,World Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:22:26 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293499,german-red-cross-worker-shot-in-indonesias-aceh.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293468,new-zealand-police-find-doll-in-babys-grave.html Wellington - New Zealand police found a doll when they exhumed a casket from a cemetery while investigating the reported death of a baby, a newspaper reported on Friday. A 33-year-old woman later confessed to staging a funeral to avoid admitting to h... Australasia,World Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:16:35 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293468,new-zealand-police-find-doll-in-babys-grave.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293320,australia-says-no-more-troops-for-afghanistan.html Sydney - Australia told its ally the United States Thursday that it would not increase the size of it military deployment to Afghanistan. Defence Minister John Faulkner told senior US officials in Washington that Australia would not be adding to the ... Australasia,World Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:40:22 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293320,australia-says-no-more-troops-for-afghanistan.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293309,new-zealands-oldest-immigrant-dies-at-104.html Wellington - New Zealand's oldest immigrant, Eric King-Turner, has died at the age of 104, news reports said on Thursday. He was also said to be Britain's oldest emigrant when he moved across the world with his New Zealand-born wife, Doris, early las... Australasia,World Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:10:49 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293309,new-zealands-oldest-immigrant-dies-at-104.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293142,new-zealand-australia-reciprocate-expelling-fiji-diplomats--summary.html Wellington - New Zealand and Australia on Wednesday ordered Fiji's top diplomats to leave in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsions of their envoys by the island nation's military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama the previous day. T... Australasia,World Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:04:27 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293142,new-zealand-australia-reciprocate-expelling-fiji-diplomats--summary.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293126,qantas-pilots-suspended-after-forgetting-to-lower-landing-gear.html Sydney Two Qantas pilots were suspended Wednesday after forgetting to lower landing gear as they came in to land at busy Sydney airport. The Boeing 767 was just 700 feet above the ground when alarms went off alerting the pilots the landing gear had n... Australasia,World Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:22:20 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293126,qantas-pilots-suspended-after-forgetting-to-lower-landing-gear.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293115,pacific-tit-for-tat-on-cards-after-fiji-expels-diplomats.html Wellington - Relations between Fiji's military government and its biggest South Pacific neighbours Australia and New Zealand were poised to worsen Wednesday after the island state expelled their senior diplomats. New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray M... Australasia,World Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:22:23 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293115,pacific-tit-for-tat-on-cards-after-fiji-expels-diplomats.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293051,austrian-gets-7-years-in-prison-in-child-porn-network-case.html Vienna - An Austrian man was found guilty Tuesday of sexually abusing his stepdaughter. He received a seven-year prison term, one month after he and 21 others were arrested in an international crackdown on a child pornography network. Vienna's crimin... Australasia,World Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:34:32 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293051,austrian-gets-7-years-in-prison-in-child-porn-network-case.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293036,firefighters-succeed-in-using-mud-to-stop-oil-rig-fire.html Sydney - Firefighters put out a fire Tuesday on an oil and gas rig in the Timor Sea north of Australia after four attempts and pumping thousands of barrels of heavy mud into the well. The fire on the remote ocean rig raged for three days, sending fla... Australasia,World Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:46:27 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293036,firefighters-succeed-in-using-mud-to-stop-oil-rig-fire.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292979,fiji-expels-new-zealand-and-australian-diplomats--summary.html Wellington - Fiji's military ruler, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, ordered senior diplomats from New Zealand and Australia out of the country Tuesday, accusing them of waging a negative campaign against his government, which seized power in a bloodles... Australasia,World Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:16:34 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292979,fiji-expels-new-zealand-and-australian-diplomats--summary.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292970,fiji-expels-new-zealand-and-australian-diplomats.html Wellington - Fiji's military ruler Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama gave the senior diplomats of New Zealand and Australia 24 hours to leave the country on Tuesday and ordered his country's high commissioner in Canberra to return home. In a televised add... Australasia,World Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:04:30 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292970,fiji-expels-new-zealand-and-australian-diplomats.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292952,jet-lagged-driver-who-killed-three-escapes-severe-penalty.html Wellington - A jet-lagged driver who fell asleep at the wheel of a car which crashed killing his wife, granddaughter and cousin escaped a severe penalty when he pleaded guilty to careless driving causing death in a New Zealand court Tuesday. Defence ... Australasia,World Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:40:35 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292952,jet-lagged-driver-who-killed-three-escapes-severe-penalty.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292951,air-new-zealand-to-replace-boeing-737-300s-with-airbus-planes.html Wellington - Air New Zealand announced Tuesday that it was buying 14 new Airbus A320 jets to replace its fleet of 15 Boeing 737-300s on domestic routes, with an option to buy 11 more. The airline, which is 75.5-per-cent owned by the government, said ... Australasia,World Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:16:34 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292951,air-new-zealand-to-replace-boeing-737-300s-with-airbus-planes.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292943,firefighters-use-mud-to-battle-burning-oil-rig.html Sydney - Firefighters battled to put out a fire at an oil-and-gas rig in the Timor Sea north of Australia Tuesday by pumping thick mud into the well to plug the leak. The fire broke out Sunday with flames and smoke rising hundreds of metres into the ... Australasia,World Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:04:35 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292943,firefighters-use-mud-to-battle-burning-oil-rig.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292942,political-furore-over-drowned-refugees-in-australia.html Sydney - A heated debate broke out in Australia Tuesday over the government's refugee policy after a boat carrying 39 asylum seekers sank in the Indian Ocean with 12 feared drowned. Australian rescue planes and vessels raced to the remote site in the... Australasia,World Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:58:31 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292942,political-furore-over-drowned-refugees-in-australia.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292932,new-zealanders-divided-on-sending-troops-to-afghanistan.html Wellington - New Zealanders are divided on whether the government should have sent crack special forces troops back to the war in Afghanistan, according to a newspaper opinion poll published on Tuesday. The New Zealand Herald-DigiPoll survey showed t... Australasia,World Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:58:37 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292932,new-zealanders-divided-on-sending-troops-to-afghanistan.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292813,activists-protest-arrests-of-anti-corruption-commissioners.html Jakarta - Public support mounted Monday for two suspended deputy chiefs of an anti-corruption agency who were detained by the police for alleged involvement in a bribery case. Wearing black outfits or black ribbons tied on their arms, hundreds protes... Australasia,World Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:34:47 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292813,activists-protest-arrests-of-anti-corruption-commissioners.html