Sydney - Russia's incursion into neighbouring Georgia had prompted Australia to think twice about shipping uranium under a deal negotiated last year by the former conservative government, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Thursday.

Under a deal yet to be ratified, Australia agreed to sell Moscow uranium as long as it was used for power generation rather than for making nuclear weapons.

Sydney - Australian shares ga

Sydney - HIV infection rates have crept up in Australia because funding for spreading the safe-sex message has fallen, a report released Wednesday said.

There were 27,331 HIV cases and 10,230 cases of full-blown AIDS reported in the year to December 2007 - a 50-per-cent increase on the rate eight years earlier, the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research report said.

While homosexual men still account for the bulk of new cases, the incidence among heterosexual men is rising. One reason given is that cashed-up miners in Western Australia and in Queensland on the opposite coast are holidaying abroad and returning with infections picked up in Asia.

Sydney - Australia's strong economy and sound banking system are well-cushioned against shocks from the US financial meltdown, market analysts said Wednesday.

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens said Australia would weather the global financial storm.

"The corporate sector is quite liquid and profitability is generally pretty good too. As we see it, the corporate balance sheet of corporate Australia is very strong," Stevens said.

"There are some entities with high leverage and complexity and those entities are under pressure at the moment. We all know who they are."

Canberra, September 17: A team comprising of Australian and US researchers has discovered a new species of Pacific Iguana in the Fijian archipelago.

According to a report by ABC News, the team has shown that there are three living species of Brachylophus iguanas, not two as indicated in current taxonomy.

The new species is named ‘Brachylophus bulabula’, after the Fijian word for ‘hello’.

Sydney  - Malcolm Turnbull, elected Tuesday as the leader of Australia's opposition Liberal Party, is the conservative politician from central casting: well-groomed, well-educated, well-connected and, well, rich.

He's the wealthiest member of the Canberra Parliament, thanks to a career in business that saw him start information-technology companies and rise to the top at the local arm of the US-based brokerage Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

His years as a master of the corporate universe came after a spell in journalism and as a lawyer.

Turnbull, elected to Parliament in 2004, was environment minister when John Howard unsuccessfully sought a fifth election victory in November.