Melbourne, Dec 15 : The asking price for an island owned by Aussie pop princess Kylie Minogue and her family has been reduced after the original price did not attract buyers.

The island, Beauciel, on Victoria''s French Island, has been put up or sale since February, and it had received some offers but not what Minogue and her family, who are co-owners, wanted.

The original asking price of 1.2 million dollars has now been dropped to between 950,000 dollars to 1,050,000 dollars, reports News. com. au.

Melbourne, Dec 15 : Aussie actress Naomi Watts and her partner American actor Liev

Melbourne, Dec. 15 : Former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje was so obsessed about beating Australia that not achieving that goal hurt.

Of all the South African players who tried and failed to beat Australia in eight Test series after the apartheid era, Cronje felt the disappointment more acutely than most.

According to cricket commentator Peter Roebuck, Cronje turned up at a barbecue in Brisbane ten years ago and revealed with some pride how he had promised not to touch a drop of alcohol on tour as part of his quest to beat Australia.

Melbourne - Jelena Dokic on Monday began the quest for an Australian Open wild card with an opening victory in the playoff event for the Grand Slam entry spot.

Dokic defeated teenager Sophie Letcher 6-3 6-0 as a long-awaited comeback looks like getting serious for former world number four Dokic.

Dokic, 25 and ranked 179, has still made only the first step during this week's competition at Melbourne Park for hopefuls seeking a place at the Grand Slam from next January 19.

The winner, a teenaged Wimbledon semi-finalist, credited her renewed fitness with seeing her through on a chilly spring day.

Melbourne, December 15 : More than 1.3 million Facebook users have decided to stay offline for 24 hours to protest against the social networking site's new layout.

`The Facebook Blackout - The 1st Blackout Episode 1', created by French resident Boris Kelevra, had come into emergence after limits were put on sending messages and poking, as amongst many other changes made to the layout.

"Administrators don''t care about what we think. But what will happen if we all decide to stay off of Facebook for one day?" News. com. au quoted Kelevra as writing on the group''s page in seven languages.

"Please invite all your friends in this group so that we could really make (this happen)," he added.

According to news. com. au, Bradman wore the cap as captain of the 1948 Invincibles Ashes tour of England and it was to have been sold with a letter written by Bradman himself confirming its authenticity.

Shortly before the auction, auctioneer Charles Leski of Charles Leski Auctions, said the cap was one of the most valuable items of sporting memorabilia ever offered for sale.

The cap was passed in without any bids at the reserve price of 450,000 dollars.

On Monday, Leski told the Nine Network he expected the cap to fetch more than 600,000 dollars.

Following the auction, Leski said there had been a private offer to buy the cap, but because the offer was less than reserve he would need to negotiate with the vendor.