A scandal that threatened to bring down the Australian government eased today when police announced they would not charge a politician accused of misusing an official credit card to pay prostitutes.

Floodwaters in an inundated city on Australia’s north-eastern coast held steady below their predicted peak today as exhausted residents were warned they would face a long wait before the mud-soaked landscape dries out.

MILITARY flights rushed yesterday to restock an Australian city before it was cut off by floodwaters that have turned a huge swath of the outback into a lake, while police confirmed two more deaths in the crisis.

Rescuers were returning to treacherous seas today to hunt for any possible survivors after a wooden boat smuggling up to 100 asylum seekers smashed against the cliffs of Christmas Island, Australia, tossing people overboard and killing at least 28.

A conservative political leader rejected key demands from three independent politicians who are likely to decide which party forms Australia’s next government after indecisive elections.

Two eight-year-old boys in a young lifeguards training programme rescued a man who was struggling in the ocean off Australia’s east coast.

A pall of red dust blown in from the Outback clogged the skies over Sydney today, diverting international flights, disrupting public transport and prompting a spike in emergency calls from people suffering breathing difficulties.

A crocodile seen in an Australian swamp seconds before an 11-year-old girl disappeared is suspected of attacking and killing her, police said today.

The Australian federal government said today it will clear away hurdles that have stalled a nationwide fire alert telephone system, after thousands of people were caught off-guard by the deadliest wildfires in the country’s history.

Three houses and a golf club were destroyed today as extreme weather conditions in south east Australia fuelled wildfires and fear and crews battled scores of blazes.

Australia says it will only send additional troops to Afghanistan if its Nato allies also increase their contributions.

A 69-YEAR-OLD Australian man suspected of hacking his two grandchildren and wife to death with an axe and badly wounding his daughter was arrested yesterday.

Australia’s prime minister-elect today said he would pull his country’s combat troops out of Iraq by mid-2008 – setting a timetable for the withdrawal he has promised previously.

POLICE issued a murder and kidnapping warrant yesterday for the father of a three-year-old girl abandoned in Australia after her mother’s body was found stuffed in the boot of a car in New Zealand.

Australian police continue to suspect that an Indian doctor was part of the failed British bombing conspiracy last month despite a charge against him being dropped for lack of evidence, a government minister said.

Australia has told Iran that taking 15 British sailors and marines hostage could become “increasingly serious” if they were not released immediately, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.

Australia will not be reducing its forces in Iraq or setting a timetable for them to be withdrawn, the defence minister said yesterday, in response to news that Britain will bring 1,500 troops home in the next few weeks.

Australia’s most prominent Islamic cleric, widely condemned for suggesting that women who don’t wear head scarves invite rape, implied today he would not resign as long as the White House continues to influence the world.

A British dance music company today said it planned to turn jets from collapsed Australian airline, Ansett, into airborne night clubs.