Sydney, Aug 20 : High-school students in Australia will be able to use iPods, the Internet and mobile phones during exams under a plan revealed by a all girls’ college.

Presbyterian Ladies'' College at Croydon in Sydney said that it was redefining the "open book" exam concept, in which students are able to bring in reference books, to take into account new technology.

The school is trialling the use of the new media with 14 and 15-year-old English students but hopes to expand its use across all subjects by year-end.

Sydney (dpa) - An Outback town where males outnumber females five to one is in an uproar over the mayor's promise to Australia's not-so-pretty women that there's a mate for them in Mount Isa.

John Malony on Wednesday refused to withdraw his claim that the scarcity of women meant the "beauty-disadvantaged" should make a beeline for the dusty Queensland mining town.

Adding insult to injury, Malony refused to leave his office to meet a delegation of 100 single women outraged by his remarks, describing them as "beauty-disadvantaged themselves."

Sydney - Mercy requires that an orphaned whale calf that has touched the hearts of Australians be put down if the latest rescue attempt for 2-week-old Colin fails, marine scientists said Wednesday.

They said Colin has likely been rejected by its mother and has not fed since Friday.

Earlier this week the baby humpback was spotted nuzzling a yacht anchored off a Sydney beach. It apparently had mistaken the yacht for its mother and was hoping for a feed.

Colin stayed alongside when the yacht was towed out to sea. It was hoped that either its mother or another lactating female would respond to its calls.

Sydney - An Australian mining town short of women was in hot water Monday for claiming that even the "beauty-disadvantaged" could find mates.

Mayor John Molony was standing by his claim that because blokes outnumber women five to one in the Queensland town of Mount Isa, even ugly ducklings were thought attractive

Sydney, Aug 15 : It has been revealed that the secret documents on the basis of which former Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews had blindly relied to cancel Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef''s visa, actually contained no evidence of criminality or involvement in terrorism against the doctor. Instead, it simply established an association between Dr Haneef and his cousins Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed, who were allegedly responsible for the botched terror attacks in London and Glasgow last year.

The Australian Police had refused to publicly disclose the secret dossier, but according to several sources who had seen the document, it contained “no evidence” linking Dr Haneef to the terror attacks or any criminal activities.

Sydney - Tariffs on imported cars would be halved to 5 per cent if Prime Minister Kevin Rudd accepts the recommendations of a panel he appointed to study Australia's domestic automotive industry.

The budget for building a "green car" locally would double to 1 billion Australian dollars (880 million US dollars), Industry Minister Kim Carr said Friday when releasing the report.

"The Rudd Labor government firmly believes that there is every reason to be optimistic about the future of the nation's automotive industry if the right policy decisions are made now," Carr said.