Australia’s oldest man and last remaining Australian to serve in WWI dies at 110

October 7th, 2009 Australian jobless rate posts surprising dropCANBERRA, Australia — Australia's unemployment rate surprisingly dropped to 5.7 percent in September, the government said Thursday, news that caused the Australian dollar to surge to a 14-month high. Economists had forecast a rise to 6 percent, but the Australian Bureau of Statistics said 40,600 new jobs were created last month.

September 13th, 2009 114-year-old NH woman becomes oldest AmericanMANCHESTER, N.H. — A 114-year-old New Hampshire woman who loves the Boston Red Sox, Hershey's Kisses and ice cream is believed to be the oldest American.

September 8th, 2009 Australian actor Ray Barrett dies at 82BRISBANE, Australia — Veteran Australian actor Ray Barrett, who became a star of British television in the 1960s, has died, his agent said Wednesday. He was 82. Barrett's last film role was as the character Ramsden in director Baz Luhrmann's movie "Australia," released last year.

June 19th, 2009 British WWI vet is now world's oldest manLONDON — Guinness World Records says 113-year-old British World War I veteran Henry Allingham is now the world's oldest man. The previous holder of the title, Tomoji Tanabe, died in his sleep in southern Japan earlier Friday.

June 19th, 2009 Official: World's oldest man dies at 113TOKYO — Tomoji Tanabe, the world's oldest man, died in his sleep at his home in southern Japan on Friday, a city official said. He was 113. "He died peacefully.

June 11th, 2009 Australian jobless rate at 7-year high 5.7 percentCANBERRA, Australia — Australia's unemployment rate rose to a seven-year high of 5.7 percent in May, government figures showed Thursday, reflecting job cuts at companies amid the slump. "We've always said we were not immune from the global recession," said Employment Minister Julia Gillard, which said the increase was in line with market expectations.

June 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Australia's universities have joined the Australian Government in condemning the recent attacks on Indian students living in Australia. Dr Glenn Withers, Chief Executive of Universities Australia, the peak body representing 38 of Australia's universities, expressed his sincere regret at the reports of attacks on Indian students studying in Australia.

May 20th, 2009 SYDNEY - Australian captain Ricky Ponting has publicly dared England skipper Andrew Strauss to stand up to an onslaught of pressure coming his way. Boldly declaring that Strauss would be Australia's No.1 target for the Ashes series, Ponting has begun a merciless psychological campaign that has been used successfully against previous opposition leaders.

May 3rd, 2009 SYDNEY - Australian euthanasia campaigner Phillip Nitschke was detained for several hours before being allowed entry to Britain to give 'suicide tutorials', news reports said Sunday. Nitschke, 61, told the Australian broadcaster ABC that he had been held at London's Heathrow Airport for nine hours before being given permission to stay in the country for seven days.

March 16th, 2009 SYDNEY - The Australian Navy intercepted a boat suspected of carrying 54 asylum-seekers off the coast of the Northern Territory, officials said Sunday. The passengers and crew were taken to the immigration detention centre on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Pacific Ocean.

February 27th, 2009 SYDNEY - Fifty fortunate applicants have come a step closer to the dream job of caretaker on a paradise island in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Nearly 35,000 people applied for the position with applicants from 200 countries led by 11,565 job seekers from the US, followed by Canada (2,791), Britain (2,262) and Australia (2,064).

February 15th, 2009 SYDNEY - Australian Skipper Ricky Ponting believes the cluttered international scheduling is a contributing factor to the debilitating run of the World Champions. The amount of international cricket played has taken a toll on the fitness of the Australian players.

February 7th, 2009 CANBERRA - The death toll in bushfires in Australia's Victoria state Sunday afternoon rose to 65, the police said. It has surpassed the worst death toll of 47 people in the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria.

January 13th, 2009 MELBOURNE - A spectator who flashed a laser torch to distract rookie South African fast bowler Wayne Parnell at the Gabba Tuesday night faces a fine of up to Australian $8,000 and potential jail time of up to three years. Cricket Australia (CA) Wednesday apologised to the South African team management over the laser scandal, which was clearly picked up by TV cameras when a green light flashed across Parnell as he dived at long-off to catch a skied shot from Australian batsman Michael Hussey.

January 2nd, 2009 LISBON - The world's oldest person, Maria de Jesus, died Friday at the age of 115 in a hospital in the Portuguese community of Corujo near the city of Tomar. She held the Guinness world record for just a month after the death of American Edna Parker.