Flooded communities across eastern Australia could be under water for more than a week, with the clean-up bill expected to hit billions of dollars, officials said today.

The entire population of 300 people was flown out of a town in eastern Australia by military helicopter today as river levels continued to rise after days of pouring rain.

A surgeon dubbed “Dr Death” in Australia for a string of botched operations was sentenced today to seven years in prison for killing three patients and causing permanent harm to another.

Two Germans and a French tourist were killed when their minibus collided with a four-wheel-drive vehicle in north-eastern Australia, police said today.

ONE of his patient’s intestines spilled out of her stomach after surgery, another man’s wound unravelled three times. In more than 20 years as a nurse, Toni Hoffman had never seen a surgeon like Dr Jayant Patel.

AN INQUIRY into how an Indian-trained doctor was allowed to practice freely in Australia despite a 20-year history of negligence and botched operations in two US states is set to begin today.

A confession to the killing of British backpacker Caroline Stuttle, found written on a picnic table, was likely to be by her accused murderer, a jury was told today.

A prisoner told a jury today that the man who is accused of murdering British teenager Caroline Stuttle in Australia confessed to him in a cell.

The man accused of murdering British backpacker Caroline Stuttle admitted to police: “There was a fight and she went over the side,” an Australian court heard today

A man accused of murdering British backpacker Caroline Stuttle will face trial next month in Queensland.

A man accused of murdering a British backpacker who fell to her death from a bridge in eastern Australia, was due in court today for a hearing to establish if prosecutors have enough evidence to put him on trial.

An Australian police radio operator accused of ignoring a report of a woman’s scream the night British backpacker Caroline Stuttle was killed has been sacked, an official said today.

A MOTHER and daughter on holiday in Australia escaped unharmed from a 13-hour night-time ordeal in an Outback forest after they were abducted

The family of a British backpacker murdered in Australia appealed today for anyone with information on the case to come forward.

Australian police are planning mass voluntary DNA tests for thousands of young to middle-aged men in the eastern city of Bundaberg as part of their investigation into the murder of British backpacker Caroline Stuttle.

An Irish backpacker has been involved in an attempted attack in the Australian city of Perth.

The man seen shadowing teenage British backpacker Caroline Stuttle moments before her murder in an Australian town may have been involved in an incident in a shopping mall the morning after her death.

A teenage British backpacker screamed in terror during a struggle which ended when she plunged 30 feet to her death from an Australian bridge.

A British backpacker has been robbed and murdered in a small Australian town, police said today.

Robert Long, who was found guilty today of murder and arson by a jury in Brisbane, Australia, made little attempt to conceal his growing hatred of backpackers in the weeks leading up to the fire at a crowded Australian hostel that killed 15 young travellers.

A homeless fruit picker today pleaded not guilty to murder and arson charges linked to a devastating blaze that ripped through an Australian backpackers’ hostel, killing 15 tourists nearly two years ago.

The man accused of starting a fatal fire at an Australian youth hostel will face trial in January, a court has ruled.