Sydney - Nine of the 10 survivors from a pod of 80 whales that beached themselves near Margaret River on Australia's west coast earlier this week came ashore again Wednesday.

The long-finned pilot whales were spotted not far from Flinders Bay, where they were shepherded out to sea by a volunteer army of nature lovers a day earlier.

Two were already dead, one had been attacked by a shark and the remaining six were likely to be put down because they were in poor condition.

Sydney, Mar. 25 (ANI): Former Australian leg spinner Stuart MacGill has endorsed off-spinner Marcus North as the first-choice spinner against England and said specialist tweaker Bryce McGain was never in contention for the Ashes, even before his horrific debut against South Africa.

MacGill, who took 208 Test wickets for Australia, said he would stick with North given there was enough grunt in the pace attack.

Sydney, March 25 : Climate experts have uncovered a link between the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and the killer bushfires in Australia.

Found by Dr Wenju Cai and Tim Cowan, of CSIRO's Marine and Atmospheric Research, the link indicates that a weather pattern centred on the Indian Ocean may provide an early warning system for major bushfires in southern Australia.

According to a report by ABC News, 11 of 16 major bushfires in Victoria since 1950 have been preceded by what is known as a positive IOD event.

Sydney - The global financial crisis has done wonders for the dismal science of economics.

From Anchorage to Ankara the spooky talk about global warming has given way to debate on toxic debt and stimulus packages, job security and interest rates.

There's a fresh cast of characters in the news bulletins: out went the sports stars and fashion labels and in came Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Warren Buffett and Ben Bernanke.

Listen in on the conversations of commuters and be amazed at the discourse.

Sydney  - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had hoped that when the Group of 20 (G20) met in London in April, he would be among the few representing an economy still growing.

But the billions spent in November's stimulus package won't stop a second consecutive quarter of shrinkage that would qualify the Australian economy as being in a technical recession.

Sydney - Australian police promised more arrests Wednesday as a squad dedicated to breaking up motorcycle gangs rolled through major cities picking up suspects in a show of force.

The crackdown follows Sunday's outrage when a Hells Angels member was bludgeoned to death in front of horrified passengers at Sydney airport.

Fears of outright war between rival gangs were stoked by a double murder in Canberra on Tuesday. But police warned against immediately linking the killings to gang rivalry.