Sydney - Investors were told Thursday they were unlikely to get any of the 100 million Australian dollars (94 million US dollars) they paid for shares in failed fuel-technology firm Firepower.

"Business in Australia is over, the company will in all probability, 99-per-cent probability, be wound up tomorrow," administrator Geoffrey McDonald told reporters.

McDonald was appointed to see if the company - infamous for marketing a pill that when popped in the petrol tank could make cars go farther and faster - could be saved.

Melbourne, July 31: Hard to believe, but true! Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is a descendant of an 18th-century street urchin accused of "highway robbery" when she was 11 years old.

Rudd’s ancestor, Mary Wade, also escaped a death sentence for stripping another girl of her clothes in an outdoor toilet.

After her transportation to Australia, Mary Wade became a well-known figure in this country.

Canberra/Washington, July 30 : Australia’s Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has said that his country is ready to offer military advisers to Pakistan to help train security forces to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Fitzgibbon has called for an international effort to combat Taliban insurgents based in Pakistan''s tribal border areas, including economic and military aid in a television speech today.

Athens - An Australian tourist remained in a coma in a Greek hospital on Wednesday following an alleged beating by four nightclub bouncers on the popular Cycladic island of Mykonos, according to re

Sydney, July 30 : Tourists have voted the United States as the most popular tourist destination, knocking Australia and the United Kingdom to the second and the third position, respectively, says a new poll.

Since its debut in 2004, Australia has always come out on top of the Lonely Planet Travellers'''' Pulse Survey.

But this year, for the first time, the US collected 1509 of the 17,500 votes from 132 countries, followed by Australia with 1222.

The United Kingdom took out bronze (965 votes) while Italy (836 votes) and New Zealand (648 votes) rounded out the top five.

Melbourne, July 30 : Computer games have always been considered a waste of time, but now schools in Australia are looking at ways to use them to help kids learn.

Helen Stuckey from Australian Centre for the Moving Image said that the fun kids derive from playing a game could be applied to learning.

A study on what makes gaming so much of fun revealed a phenomenon called ‘flow’ - a feedback loop between the level of challenge and the level of skill.

"Flow happens not when you''re relaxed but when you''re actively involved in something that''s quite difficult in a task that stretches you and challenges your ability," The Daily Telegraph quoted her, as saying.