Australia

FEW COUNTRIES extend much hospitality to refugees or asylum seekers, but for sheer cruelty and cynicism, Australia's policy toward the destitute boatloads who head for its shores appears to be unmatched in the world. Last week, a United Nations investigator emerged from a desert detention center in a place called Woomera and said he was appalled by a system that insists on locking up children, the elderly, pregnant women and the handicapped. He saw what he labeled "collective depression syndrome" among inmates who have effectively been sentenced to mandatory, long-term, indefinite detention simply for setting foot in Australia.

From: Elqui Valley, Chile Price: $13 Serve with: Seafood, salads Find it at: i.m. Wine, 8180 Maple Lawn Blvd, Fulton, and other local wine shops Pedro Ximenez is a white wine grape varietal best known for its role in producing dessert wines in Spain's sherry region and in Australia. But this version from Chile shows it can also produce a compelling dry white table wine. The 2010 Falernia Pedro Ximenez Reserva shows a bright range of flavors: mint and other herbs, lime, grapefruit, pear and minerals.

THE HOUSING boom in Canberra, Australia, was great while it lasted. Prices soared and folks got rich, not least the real estate brokers. But lately Aussie real estate has cooled off. "Definitely," Canberra real estate agent Peta Barrett says on the phone. "The property market has dropped off a little bit, possibly by about 5 percent in the last 12 months," she says, and "everything's fairly flat" in the larger economy. We bring you this dispatch because Baltimore's economic future may be playing out in the land of Vegemite and platypi.

Marlee Paton, Loyola Sophomore, Seaholme, Australia, midfielder Paton's leadership on a freshman-laden offense proved critical to the Greyhounds running away with a 17-11 Big East victory over previously unbeaten and No. 6 Notre Dame on Sunday. A veteran of Australia's 2009 silver-medal World Cup team, Paton dished out a career-high four assists and scored one goal against the Fighting Irish, as the Greyhounds improved to 7-3 and jumped from No. 18 to No. 12 in the Inside Lacrosse media poll.

I am traveling to Australia in February. Do you know of any bicycle touring companies there, including Tasmania?Advances in cycle technology have brought cycling, both as a racing sport and as an active pastime, back to prominence in Australia over the past decade, according to the Australian Tourist Commission. Judging from the number of touring clubs, events and operators, Australia is something of a cyclist's nirvana.Victoria and New South Wales, with their larger populations and more extensive road networks, are the most active cycling states.

A desire to teach others about Jesus and Christianity has led Tom Harbin to pursue a missionary trip to Australia and Fiji this summer.The 15-year-old student at Carroll Christian Schools in Westminsterhopes to spend four weeks handing out literature on street corners and counseling students his age."This is definitely not a vacation, it's going to be work," said Tom, the son of Sue and Ed Harbin. "I just felt I wanted to talk to people about the Lord."The program, sponsored by Word of Life -- aone-year Bible college in Schroon Lake, N.Y., with teen-age religious programs in churches -- gathers students from across the United States and Canada to minister in foreign countries during the summer.

SYDNEY, Australia -- In a controversial decision, the Australian government has decided to respect the religious beliefs of a local aboriginal tribe and to deny permission to a mining group to dig for gold at Coronation Hill in the Northern Territory.The decision was attacked by the mining industry, which said mining companies would shift their investments out of Australia."It is a demonstration of inconsistency and uncertainty, adding great risk to an already high-risk investment," said Murray McMillan, assistant director of the Australian Mining Industry Council in Canberra.

SYDNEY, Australia - Prime Minister John Howard and his conservative coalition easily won re-election yesterday as voters endorsed his economic platform despite misgivings about his decision to send troops to Iraq. Labor Party leader Mark Latham, who pledged to bring most of Australia's 850 troops in Iraq home by Christmas, was unable to persuade voters to abandon Howard's ruling coalition, which has presided over 8 1/2 consecutive years of economic growth. "I am truly humbled by this extraordinary expression of confidence in the leadership of this great nation by the coalition," said a beaming Howard, 65, after winning his fourth term as prime minister.

HAVERFORD, Pa. -- The rain that finally broke the oppressive heat wave yesterday did nothing to extinguish the United States' chances of winning the first Leader/International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations' Under-19 World Championships.In the tournament opener, a blistering fast break sparked the United States to a 6-5 comeback victory over another early favorite, Australia, at Haverford College."This was a gigantic win," said attacker Tice Burke, who scored two goals in a second-half USA rally.

MANCHESTER, England -- It wasn't easy and it wasn't pretty, but it was a win yesterday for the U.S. men's lacrosse team, 14-12, over Australia in round-robin play at the World Lacrosse Championships."

Cal Ripken World Series D.R. pitcher throws no-no; Md. team out In one of the all-time best pitching performances seen at the Cal Ripken World Series, the Dominican Republic's Leudy Santana struck out 14 batters en route to a no-hitter in his team's 1-0 victory over Mexico in Friday's International semifinal matchup at Cal Sr.'s Yard. The performance was validation for Santana, who struck out 16 hitters in the Dominican team's earlier pool play contest with Mexico on Monday but lost when the reigning champs scored four runs on three hits in a 4-0 victory.

Facing its first real challenge at the Federation of International Lacrosse Under-19 Women's World Championships, the United States used a five-goal second-half run to come from behind and beat Australia, 14-11, for its fourth straight title Saturday in Hanover, Germany. Covie Stanwick (Notre Dame Prep) and Cortney Fotunato scored two goals each, and Jen Cook (McDonogh) added a free-position goal with about 10 minutes left to polish off the five-goal spurt and give the U.S. a 12-8 lead.

When the bad news arrived by email on April 12 — as so much of it does these days in the 21st-century equivalent of the dreaded Western Union telegram — this time it seemed almost unbelievable. Painfully unbelievable. Vincent Peter Ruehl was a popular, wisecracking newsroom colleague who had been a reporter for The Sunday Sun and The Evening Sun during the 1970s and 1980s, before moving to Australia in the late 1980s, where he went on to become a national celebrity in his adopted country through his humor columns and books.

The father of a 16-year-old St. Paul's School for Girls student who died in a boating accident in Australia said Wednesday he has not set a date for a funeral in Baltimore. "The body is still in Australia and will not return until next week. The burial will not be until late next week," said Timothy L. Mullin Jr., Cameron O'Neill-Mullin's father. The family resides in Lutherville. Mullin, an attorney with the firm of Miles and Stockbridge, said he was also planning a "life celebration" in her honor "in about a month.

The Australians were complaining Friday about the threadbare state of the Ruimsig Stadium field in the South African town of Roodepoort. The Americans, meanwhile, were sweating out an injury to starting striker Jozy Altidore. The two countries play each other at the stadium today in the final World Cup tuneup for both, but it is Altidore's situation that is the more troubling. The striker's right ankle was hurt during training Wednesday, and Friday evening U.S. Soccer still had him listed as "day-to-day."

Spring break is right around the corner, and the summer travel season is not far behind. You wouldn't know it by the number of ongoing airfare sales and bargain-basement ticket prices. Airlines have not been this desperate for passengers in a long time. That's good news for travelers - there are deals to be found right and left and every which way in between. If you've always wanted to visit England, Ireland, Russia, Australia or a host of other international spots, now is the time. Airfare prices for overseas travel seem to get better (or worse from the airline's point of view)

THE "Bye-Bye Betty Barbeque" outside the Sydney Opera House last Saturday night was a bust. As returns from the national referendum showed majorities throughout the country for retaining the British monarch as Australia's head of state, republicans had nothing to celebrate.It's mere symbol, of course. Australia has been independent under its own constitution since 1901. Its citizens carry Australian passports, spend Australian dollars and never sing, "Rule Britannia."The British monarch is titular head of state, in the person of her governor general, who is appointed by Australia's prime minister.

HAVERFORD, Pa. -- The United States Under-19 women's lacrosse team expected Australia to wilt in yesterday's 90-degree-plus heat and high humidity, but that never happened.While the weather played its part, the United States did not turn up enough heat of its own and Australia edged the Americans, 5-4, to win the first Leader/International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations' Under-19 World Championship at Haverford College.The Americans had hoped to wear down the Australians with a fast-paced game.

Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann calls them "banquets of cinema," visual and narrative feasts that offer audiences drama, romance, comedy and that sweeping feeling of being transported to another world. In other words: an epic. Creating an epic is not for the faint of heart or those with limited ambition, which is why the audacious Luhrmann - who reconceived the movie musical with Moulin Rouge! and the Shakespearean tragedy with Romeo + Juliet - deliberately aimed his latest film, Australia, to be on a, well, epic scale.

JORN UTZON, 90 Sydney Opera House architect Jorn Utzon, the Danish architect whose eye-catching, nautically inspired design for the Sydney Opera House in Australia overcame a series of controversies surrounding its budget and acoustics to become one of the most recognizable landmarks of the 20th century, died of a heart attack Saturday at his home in Copenhagen, Denmark, his son, Kim Utzon, told the Associated Press. Few architects have been as closely associated with a single building as Mr. Utzon was with the 1973 opera house, which emerges - part sailboat, part sea creature - from a site on the edge of Sydney Harbor.