Sydney - Residents of Australia's biggest city woke up Saturday to the smell of smoke from forests set ablaze by arsonists making the most of the tinder-box conditions plaguing Sydney and other south-coast cities.

The fire in a national park north of the harbour city is just one of dozens in the south-east corner of the continent powered by record temperatures and strong winds.

Sydney is set to break an all-time record of three consecutive days of plus-40-degree-Celsius heat.

New Delhi, Feb 7: The armed forces are unhappy over the dilly dallying tactics of the government with regard to their demands on the Sixth Pay Commission.

The demands of men in uniform, which have been met partially after a long delay, suggest that the quest for equal status with the civilian arm has been brushed aside with disdain.

In wake of the Mumbai terror strikes and rising tension with our neighbours, the government needs to be firm in decision-making, and ensure the strength and morale of its armed forces remains intact.

"The self-pride of the armed forces is being subverted by narrow minded interests," said a senior army officer.

Sydney - Five helicopters joined the search for two scuba divers who went missing Friday on Australia's Great Barrier Reef off north Queensland.

A sample survey, conducted by the labour ministry, has found that about five lakh workers lost their jobs in the period from October to December 2008 under the impact of global slowdown. However, the figures by the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) present even gloomier picture of slowdown hit export sector due to slump in demand and tight financial conditions. The worst hit sectors include textiles, metals, gems and jewellery, automobile, transport and IT/BPO which contributes more than 65% of the country's GDP.
 

Sydney - A family's snapshot of an orphaned baby koala taking refuge from Australia's heat wave in a bucket of water made it into newspapers worldwide.

The tiny marsupial, dubbed Star, was vying Thursday in the celebrity stakes with another plucky koala photographed in South Australia that flagged down a bunch of cyclists and demanded a swig from their water bottles.

"Even though we had heard that native animals had been suffering in the heat-wave conditions of the last week in Adelaide, it came as a surprise to be stopped on the side of the road during a bike ride by a thirsty young koala," reporter and participant Tim Noonan told the national broadcaster ABC.

London, Feb 4: Tickets for Britain''s Glastonbury Festival have sold out, nearly five months before the event is slated to take place.

The sales were boosted by an early ticket scheme which opened last October.

The scheme enabled fans to secure tickets for the Somerset festival by paying a 50-pound reserve, instead of the full amount of 175pounds.

They then had to complete their full payment by February 1, reports the BBC.

Any cancelled or returned tickets will be re-sold on 5 April.