Melbourne, Dec 28 : A report in the local Tasmanian paper about the sperm bank almost running dry has aroused a number of the state’s men to become donors.

According to the Sunday Tasmanian, because of fewer men donating and there being more demand from interstate women, the bank is fast depleting its supply.

The sperm bank is down to its last four donors and, for the first time in the program’s 35-year history, waiting lists will be introduced next month.

Melbourne, Dec 26 : Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif said that one day he will lift the lid on his darkest days that saw him tossed out of international cricket after testing positive for drugs in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Asif was banned for a year after he tested positive for banned substance Nandrolone while playing for Delhi Daredevils in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008. While returning to Pakistan, he was also detained in Dubai for 19 days after traces of opium were found in his pocket.

Melbourne, Dec 26 : Aussie rockers AC/DC may have to cancel a sold out concert in Austria over fears that their high-voltage rock and roll may have a dramatic impact on a colony of rare birds.

Some 80,000 tickets for the event at Wels airport in northern Austria were snapped up by eager fans in hours but the group has clashed with animal rights groups over concerns of a local bird species called the curlew.

According to Hans Uhl of BirdLife, the ground-nesting birds would be threatened by the loud music.

Melbourne, Dec 25 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting Friday said he would be fit in time for the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan starting here Saturday.

Ponting suffered a nasty hit on his elbow off Kemar Roach's bowling during the Perth Test against the West Indies.

On Christmas Day, he faced teammates Peter Siddle and Doug Bollinger during a gruelling net session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and said that he has a 'strong chance' to play.

Melbourne, Dec 25 : Australia's hope to bid for the 2018 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup received a boost with the government saying that it will control the key elements of the bid and establishing a taskforce to sort out problems that have dogged Australia's push to host the largest event in world sport

Minister for Sport Kate Ellis announced Thursday the formation of the taskforce, to be based within her department and staffed by key bureaucrats.

Melbourne, Dec 24 : Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson is ready to forgo Indian Premier League (IPL) for the third year in a row.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Mitchell, who is the International Cricket Council's cricketer of the year, would have been one of the most sought-after names at the third IPL auction on Jan 19 had he decided to nominate.

But Johnson's manager Sam Halvorsen said that the fast bowler will put country before cash by ignoring the lure of a six-figure payday in the IPL.

Melbourne, Dec 24 : Three Australian men of Sri Lankan origin have reportedly pleaded guilty to providing money to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The three men, Aruran Vinayagamoorthy and Sivarajah Yathavan from Melbourne, and Arumugam Rajeevan from New South Wales appeared at the Victorian Supreme Court via video link from Sydney, and pleaded guilty to an offence against the United Nations Charter Act, News. com. au reported.

Melbourne, Dec 24 : Alicia Molik's comeback effort during the last half of 2009, after reversing her retirement plans, resulted in a Christmas Eve wildcard entry into next month's Australian Open tennis.

Officials Thursday announced their holiday gifts, and are holding one final place for men and women into the main draw of the first Grand Slam of the season, which begins Jan 18.

"Alicia is a former world number eight who has done more than enough to earn this," said Fed Cup coach and selector David Taylor. "She was the form player in the domestic Pro Tour.

Melbourne, Dec 23 : An exasperated mum called in the police after her son refused to put down his gaming console.

Angela Mejia, 49, was tired of seeing her 14-year-old son sitting for hours and playing Grand Theft Auto, a game with a violent theme.

And she could bear it no more when she found her son, one of the four children that she's raising alone, stuck with the game at 2:30 a. m, in spite of having asked him to go to sleep hours ago.

Melbourne, Dec 23 - The jail sentence has been doubled for an Australian woman who drugged her 13-year-old daughter, removed her clothes and left her lying naked in bed so that she could be sexually assaulted by the woman's partner. Her photos were also taken on a mobile phone.

The woman known as 'MS' laughed as she mixed sleeping tablets with vodka and orange juice in 2006, in northern Victoria. Her partner, known as TDJ, filmed as MS made her daughter swallow the concoction, Australian news agency AAP reported.

Melbourne, Dec 21 : For Phillip Hughes, recall to the Australian squad for the Boxing Day Test is the best Christmas present.

The left-hander was named in the 13-man squad as cover for captain Ricky Ponting, who is still recovering from an elbow injury sustained in the third Test against the West Indies.

Hughes, the New South Wales (NSW) opener, shone with the bat in the last two Sheffield Shield games which include a 122 against Victoria in Newcastle this week and 75 in the Blues' first innings against Queensland at the Gabba.

Melbourne, Dec 21 : Residents of Nimbin, a small town in New South Wales, have fired back at plans to give Australia''s pot-smoking capital a new face.

Local councillors have plans to erect billboards declaring Nimbin as a drug-free community.

"It''s a great shame Nimbin is known for drugs," the Daily telegraph quoted Lismore councillor Neil Marks, as saying.

He added: "Everyone knows Nimbin as where you go to get your drugs."

Melbourne, Dec 21 : Australian opener Phil Hughes makes a comeback to the Test side for the first Test against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from Dec 26.

The National Selection Panel (NSP) chaired by Andrew Hilditch Monday selected Hughes in the 13-member squad for the Boxing Day Test.

"Phillip Hughes has been added to a squad of 13 players for the Boxing Day Test match against Pakistan. While Ricky Ponting is expected to be fit for the Test, the NSP has picked a squad of 13 players for the match so there is adequate cover in the event that Ricky Ponting does not recover as quickly as is hoped," said Hilditch.

Melbourne, Dec 21 : Santa steered a rescue boat to save two lives at the Torquay beach in Victoria.

According to the Geelong Advertiser, two patrol members and Santa pulled out two boogie boarders from the waters at about 6.30pm, reports News. com. au.

The rescue call came when Santa had stepped onto an inflatable rescue boat with a sack-full of lollies for his grand beachfront entrance at the surf club''s Christmas Party.

Melbourne, Dec 21 : Tasmania’s government has appealed the state’s men to come forward and help the state’s fast depleting sperm stock.

According to the Sunday Tasmanian, the state had only four sperm donors left and for the first time in the program''s 35-year history women opting for In vitro fertilisation (IVF) will have to go on a waiting list.

Tasmania’s IVF director Bill Watkins pointed out that the shortage was a result of a reduction in the number of donating males and more interstate women using up the state''s supply.

Melbourne, Dec 21 : A black market in breast milk is booming as parents Down Under are desperate to feed their babies the natural elixir.

They are being charged up to 1000 dollars a litre on the Internet.

Breast milk provides antibodies that protect babies against diseases and is especially important for premature babies.

One of the mothers contacted the Gold Coast based Mother''s Milk Bank to ask what the real "going rate" was for breast milk after online sellers sought an exorbitant amount when she placed a web advert seeking human milk.

Melbourne, Dec 19 : US Open junior champion Bernard Tomic is now just a win away from earning the Australian Open wild card with a 7-6(4), 6-4 semi-final defeat of Kaden Hensel here Saturday.

The winner of the week-long showdown, which concludes Sunday, receives an entry into the Jan 17-31 opening Grand Slam of the season, where Tomic won a round 11 months ago.    

His finals opponent will be second seed Nick Lindahl, who booked a place over John Millman in three sets. "Today I played really well," said Tomic. "I knew I had to play good and return well.    

Melbourne, Dec 18 : Australia's Casey Dellacqua battled from a set and a break down to stay in the hunt for an Australian Open wild card Friday while fellow hopeful Alica Molik was bundled out of the playoff event.

Dellacqua narrowly averted an upset at the hands of Shannon Golds with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 result to reach a Saturday semi-finals.

Jessica Moore proved too strong for Molik, winning their quarter-final 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 just a month after the pair met at an Australian Pro Tour event in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

Melbourne, Dec 18 : A Victorian man who fathered four children by his daughter has pleaded guilty to 13 charges including incest.

The Victorian County Court heard the Gippsland man, aged in his sixties, sexually abused his daughter over thirty years, beginning in the 1970s, reports News. com. au.

The man - who cannot be named for legal reasons - appeared in the County Court via videolink, and will return to court for a plea hearing next year.

Melbourne, Dec 15 : A billboard of topless women in denim jeans has topped the list of the most complained about advertisements for 2009.

The ad, for fashion label GASP denim, which ran in Victoria only, received 250 complaints.

Despite the complaints, the case was still dismissed by the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB).

Denim had a bad rap in 2009, with another ad by Target also featuring prominently in the top 10 offenders.