Sydney  - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's 42-billion-Australian-dollar (27-billion-US-dollar) spending programme was voted down in the upper house of the federal parliament on Thursday.

The opposition Liberal Party voted against the package and Labor failed to win the support of independent MPs it needed to get the legislation through both houses of parliament.

Rudd said the massive stimulus package would put the government deeply into debt but was necessary to stop the faltering economy from falling into recession.

Sydney  - Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto Ltd's plans to sell a 19-per-cent stake to China's state-backed aluminium group Chinalco for 20 billion US dollars to shore up its balance sheet would need government approval, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Thursday.

"Any deal would be examined by the Foreign Investment Review Board," Swan said. "They will be examined in the normal way within the guidelines that we put out at the beginning of last year."

Sydney, Feb. 11 : A research has found that Australia could be giving shelter to hundreds of war criminals from conflict zones as diverse as East Timor and Afghanistan.

According to the Daily Telegraph, there suspected war criminals could have entered as refugees or visitors from former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Rwanda, East Timor, Afghanistan, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Lebanon. Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Tibet, Nigeria. Chile, Iran, Iraq and India.

Washington, Feb 11 : Megan Gale has allegedly bagged a leading role in an upcoming Australian romantic comedy.

After production on director George Miller''s `Justice League Of America' was stalled last year, it was being claimed that Gale had been struggling to find work, but she seems to have bounced back to prove everybody wrong.

Gale is reportedly starring in the Peter Helliar-written film `I Love You Too', which begins filming in Melbourne.

"Megan is a very happy girl at the moment - I believe she''s got the role and it will be announced in the next few weeks,'''' Fox News quoted a source, as saying.

London, Feb 11 : Leonard Cohen has donated a whopping 90,000 pounds to help the victims of bushfires in Australia.

The singer is currently on tour across Australia and had his final concert on February 9 in Melbourne.

And according to his tour promoter, Michael Gudinski, the star believes that the contribution would go some way to aiding those in need.

Reports suggest that over 181 people have died and nearly 1,000 homes have been destroyed in the bushfires, which have ravaged the state of Victoria.

Melbourne, Feb 11 : Israeli model Bar Refaeli has posed almost half naked for the current cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit magazine.

Refaeli can be seen posing in a string bikini by Missoni and carefully pulling one of the thin straps down her hip, reports the Daily Telegraph.

This is the first time an Israeli model has made the front cover of the magazine, which will be out on February 11, and it is slated to reach a global audience of some 66 million readers, with 350 million being web page viewers.

Models all over have coveted to be on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, and Refaeli has been featured inside the issue for three years.