Sydney, July 25: The Aussie journalist Peter Lloyd who was arrested in Singapore on July 16 for selling drugs, has been slapped with three more drug charges related to possessing and consuming drugs.

The New Delhi-based foreign correspondent, working for ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), was released on bail on Wednesday.

The three fresh charges include one count of possessing utensils that carried traces of the veterinary drug ketamine. The other two new charges against Lloyd are methamphetamine consumption without authorisation, and possessing utensils that carried traces of methamphetamine, a charge sheet shows.

Sydney, July 25 : A Tibetan professor has said that China will not change its policies on Tibet, and added that Beijing will provide 170 billion yuan to Tibet during the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) to improve social life and infrastructure there.

Sydney - Australian shares tumbled Friday after losses on Wall Street and an announcement by National Australia Bank that it was increasing provision for debts linked to mortgage-backed securities in the United States.

The ASX 200 lost 3.3 per cent, falling 173 points to 4,970.

National Australia Bank shares fell 14 per cent and dragged down other financial stocks. ANZ plunged 9 per cent, Commonwealth Bank 6 per cent and Westpac 5 per cent.

National Australia Bank chief executive John Stewart said it was best to plan for the worst.

Sydney  - A 14-year-old Australian dived 20 metres from a bridge into an icy cold river to save a 70-year-old woman after he spotted a pile of clothes and read a suicide note, news reports said Wednesday.

Corey Warburton leapt from Grafton Bridge into the Clarence River when he spied the woman floating face down.

"I saw her move her hand towards her face and I kind of, without hesitation, ripped my shirt off and my shoes and dove in," Corey told a local television network. "I wasn't really feeling any emotion, or the cold or the water, because all I really wanted to do was get myself and the lady to safety."

Sydney - Apprentice mechanic Abraham Khouri rides to his Sydney workplace on a scooter rather than in his Honda Civic.

"It takes 80 dollars to fill the car with petrol but this is a two-stroke and we're talking just 15 dollars to get to work each week," said Khouri, one of a legion of converts sending two-wheelers flying out of Australian showrooms.

Motorcycle and scooter sales are rising at double the rate of four-wheeled vehicles, with over 64,000 sold in the first half of 2008. Sales were already up 18 per cent in 2007.

Soaring petrol prices, traffic congestion and perhaps a concern over climate change are driving the trend.

Sydney - A daredevil Australian couple will leap from a hot-air balloon at 12,000 metres in the hope of gliding safely back to earth using what skydivers call wingsuits, news reports said Monday.