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NZ mine rescuers await final test
8:52PM UPDATED: RESCUE teams have not yet been cleared to enter a mine on New Zealand's South Island where 29 miners are trapped.
Parents of twins in bedside appeal
2:42PM UPDATE: Brad Norington in Denver, Colorado THE parents of the Australian twin sisters who shot themselves in Colorado appealed for privacy today from their surviving daughter's hospital bedside.
Stamp out corruption, PM tells Karzai
12:07PM JULIA Gillard has told Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai to stamp out the rampant corruption that has plagued the war-ravaged nation.
Hauritz dumped from Ashes squad
6:45PM DEVASTATED spinner Nathan Hauritz has buttoned his lips and declined to join an attack on selectors after being dropped from Australia’s Ashes squad.
Toxic waste clean-up order
Rory Callinan THE Port Macquarie company accused of dumping toxic waste on the banks of the town's river has been ordered to clean up the site.
Business with The Wall Street Journal
US in sweeping insider trading probe
![stock trader](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2010/06/28/1225885/285915-aus-bus-pix-stock-trader.jpg)
4:52PM Susan Pulliam, Michael Rothfeld, Jenny Strasburg and Gregory Zuckerman THE US is preparing insider-trading charges that could ensnare consultants, investment bankers, hedge- and mutual-fund traders and analysts.
Queensland raises $4.6bn from QR IPO
![QR National](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2010/11/19/1225956/370629-qr-national.jpg)
5:10PM Cynthia Koons THE Queensland government said today it raised $4.6 billion in gross proceeds from the initial public offering of its QR National railway.
$A in choppy session after China hike
![Australian dollar](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2010/10/16/1225939/476420-australian-dollar.jpg)
9:39AM Bradley Davis THE Australian dollar suffered a choppy New York session today after China announced economic tightening measures on its banks.
National Affairs
Stamp out corruption, PM tells Karzai
![Hamid Karzai](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2010/09/26/1225929/564730-hamid-karzai.jpg)
12:07PM JULIA Gillard has told Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai to stamp out the rampant corruption that has plagued the war-ravaged nation.
Unionists 'forced desal hirings'
![desalination plant, wonthaggi](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2010/11/19/1225956/868700-desalinationo-plant-wonthaggi.jpg)
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Hedley Thomas and Natasha Robinson UNIONISTS at Victoria's desalination plant have been using strong-arm tactics on job recruiters to force the hiring of preferred union members.
Republic? Brits and Kiwis will have it first
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://media.theaustralian.com.au/fw/bloggers/mumble.jpg)
2010-11-18
With talk of royal weddings the republic question arises. For a day or two. But Australia will not become a republic until it…
Latest Blogs
NATO agrees on missile shield
![Obama](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2010/03/19/1225842/622022-obama.gif)
12:24PM UPDATE: BARACK Obama and his NATO allies agreed to shield Europe's peoples from rogue rocket attacks with a screen of interceptor missiles.
Hauritz dumped from Ashes squad
![Nathan Hauritz](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2010/11/20/1225957/301166-nathan-hauritz.jpg)
6:45PM DEVASTATED spinner Nathan Hauritz has buttoned his lips and declined to join an attack on selectors after being dropped from Australia’s Ashes squad.
Gay marriage demands should be left on shelf
![Christopher Pearson](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2010/05/19/1225868/802743-christopher-pearson.jpg)
Christopher Pearson THE most obvious thing about arguments for same-sex marriage is their shallowness.
Executive Lifestyle
Santa Clive's $10m bash
![Clive Palmer](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2010/11/19/1225956/837365-clive-palmer.jpg)
Andrew Fraser CLIVE Palmer didn't need a red suit with white trimming to be Santa Claus at a park in Townsville last night
Cracker of a Diwali
![Illustration: Tom Jellett](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2010/11/18/1225955/777740-illustration-tom-jellett.jpg)
Susan Kurosawa THE burining of thousands of oil lamps during India's Diwali festival celebrates the return of Lord Rama from his 14-year exile and the vanquishing of the demon king Ravanaand.
NEHTA calls for GP software proposals
![doctor](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2010/11/02/1225946/939784-doctor.jpg)
Karen Dearne MEDICAL software-makers are being asked to help "finetune" the $467 million personally-controlled e-health record program.
Riding telco's wave of change
![Steven Vamos](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2010/03/12/1225840/074953-steven-vamos.jpg)
Damon Kitney THE Vamos household in Sydney boasts six flat-screen TVs, three Foxtel set-top boxes, a laptop, a PABX system and, of course, an iPad.
New framework for qualifications gets up
![Chris Evans](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2010/03/28/1225846/604208-chris-evans.jpg)
Bernard Lane A NEW qualifications framework for use by the new tertiary regulator was approved by education ministers today.
NBN heat is on and it'll keep rising
THE broadband network has become a make-or-break test for Gillard Labor.
Nationals deserve praise for vetoing police state
THANKFULLY, a draconian law backed by WA's Liberal government has been thwarted.
Engagement with Burma surest path to reform
THE international community must gently coax the regime towards democracy.
Britain's ritual farce requires royal revision
THE country is a disguised republic, says Philip Collins.
Seafood on course for extinction
THE nation's fisheries face catastrophic collapse unless we change attitudes to our favourite meals, says Tim Winton.
Some sceptics make it a habit to be wrong
NICK Minchin's views on climate change conform with a conservative strategy of sowing doubt.
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Bleak's cartoon gallery
![101120 leak](http://web.archive.org./web/20101120111720im_/http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2010/11/19/1225956/833443-101120-leak.jpg)
To order a Bill Leak cartoon send the details to leakcartoons@theaustralian.com.au
Mary Jo knows
WE had some fun with South Australian senator Mary Jo Fisher yesterday after her suggestion to her fellow swill chamberists that NBN stood for "nobody knows".
YOUR VOTE
Greens influence on Labor
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