australia

Australian duo Mike Hussey and Nathan Hauritz will not take part in the World Cup due to injury.

Spinner Hauritz dislocated his shoulder in the second one-day game against England on 21 January and batsman Hussey has suffered a ruptured hamstring.

Callum Ferguson and Jason Krejza have replaced them.

Captain Ricky Ponting, who is currently recovering from a broken finger, is confident to be fit for the tournament, which will be held in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

Left-footed parrots from Lucy Bickerton on Vimeo.

Parrots favour one claw over another, Australian researchers have shown.

Dr. Culum Brown, a researcher at Macquarie University, believes that parrots become either left or right-footed as a way to scrutinise food.

Gordon Brown has said sorry to the Cornish child migrants who were among thousands sent to Australia. He also offered them £6 million remuneration.

Rex Wade, of St. Columb, is one of thousands of child migrants who has received an apology from the Prime Minister.  Many suffered years of abuse.

At the age of 11 he was sent from his home in Camborne to start a new life in Tasmania.

Brown's apology

Brown's apology

A new police task force has been created to investigate the deadly wildfire arsonists in south-east Australia.

Nearly 200 people have died so far in the fires.  Authorities fear that figure could yet exceed 300.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the worst bushfires in Australian history amounted to ''mass murder''.

Victoria's Operation Phoenix is a 100 strong division set up to catch the arsonists, commonly referred to as "firebugs".

Sightings of three live crocodiles have been reported in an Australian town following widespread flooding.

It is believed the reptiles may have been washed out of nearby rivers along with snakes and other live animals.

One crocodile has already been injured after being hit by a car in the nearby Ingham area, prompting officials to issue a crocodile warning to all residents.

Almost two-thirds of the state of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone, following extreme storms and flooding, a consequence of ex-cyclone Ellie.