Sydney - Two weeks after forest fires in Australia claimed 209 lives, razed 1,830 homes and left 7,500 homeless, profiteers were stalking the blackened region north of Melbourne.

"Overwhelmingly, we've seen the very best of human behaviour over the last couple of weeks but there are a few sharks out there," Victoria state Premier John Brumby said Friday. "There are a few vultures who have been trying to get in and snap up cheap property while people are vulnerable."

Sydney - Two weeks after forest fires in Australia claimed 209 lives, razed 1,830 homes and left 7,500 homeless, profiteers were stalking the blackened region north of Melbourne.

"Overwhelmingly, we've seen the very best of human behaviour over the last couple of weeks but there are a few sharks out there," Victoria state Premier John Brumby said Friday. "There are a few vultures who have been trying to get in and snap up cheap property while people are vulnerable."

Sydney, Feb. 20 : Former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh has backed incumbent Ricky Ponting's decision to pull out of the Indian Premier League 2009, describing it as "a smart move and a good decision".

Ponting, who is currently leading the Australian team in South Africa, opted for a two-week break with his wife and daughter rather than press ahead with the two-week stint for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Ponting said his country came first and there was no way he could give his all for Australia if he played in India.

Sydney  - Shark attacks on consecutive days in Sydney in February have not stopped James McIntosh from catching waves at his favourite break at Bondi Beach.

"I'm certainly not going to stop myself surfing," he said. "It's just one of those very rare things that happens."

Those are brave words indeed. McIntosh, first to the aid of a fellow Bondi surfer, fashioned a tourniquet from a leg rope to staunch bleeding from a shredded arm.

Sydney  - An Osama bin Laden impostor and someone claiming to work for the pope are among the 20,000 vying for the highly paid job of looking after a tropical island on the Great Barrier Reef, Australian tourism officials said Thursday.

Applications for the Hamilton Island sinecure are due this weekend.

The successful jobseeker gets a six-figure pay packet and rent- free luxury accommodation for six months in return for doing not much other than keeping a blog on lazy days feeding fish, plucking leaves out of the pool and fetching the mail.

Sydney, Feb 18 : Senior umpires, Daryl Harper and his South African colleague Rudi Koertzen, have embraced the move to allow players to challenge decisions, as Australian players prepare to exercise the right for the first time during the Test series against the Proteas.

The results of the trial will determine whether the review system is adopted permanently, although England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke has already indicated he does not want it used for the Ashes series.