Sydney  - Hollywood actor Nicole Kidman's hunky new love doesn't lose his life in the final scene of Australia after director Baz Luhrmann bowed to pressure from Twentieth Century Fox to give the big-budget movie a happy ending, news reports said Sunday.

Luhrmann, who is racing against time to ready the epic for worldwide release on November 26, had initially killed off Hugh Jackman's character, identified only as the Drover, just before the credits rolled.

But the money men at Fox insisted on changes that transform "an action-filled tragedy" into more of a weepy romance, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Sydney, Nov. 8 : The cricketing world no longer lives in fear of the baggy green.

If a report in the Sydney Morning Herald is to be believed, players wearing the Baggy Green still command respect from opposing teams and coaches, but the fear factor has diminished.

South African cricket team coach Mickey Arthur was quoted as saying that: “We are under no illusions as to what a good team they (Australians) are. There are one or two cracks in their make-up, and the spin bowling issue will remain with them for the going forward. But they are still a very good team.”

Sydney, Nov 7 : India must use its growing power in world cricket to keep the game on the right path rather than becoming obsessed with short-term issues like code-of-conduct hearings, Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland has said.

He said there was little the rest of the cricketing world could do to match India’s power, so Indian administrators needed to take greater responsibility for the game''s welfare.

Sydney - Farms are being bought up on Sydney's western fringes and turned into housing estates. Most locals don't like it.

Some of those upset at the encroachment of Australia's largest city on their traditional lands have legitimate concerns. The greenery is disappearing, the extra traffic is disruptive, the semblance of country life is lost.

Others just fear strangers. The new families often come from the suburbs where Muslim immigrants congregate - and bring with them demands for mosques and Islamic schools.

Sydney - Four Australian filmmakers faced a court appearance Thursday after they forgot to tell police that they were shooting a gunfight scene in a Melbourne street.

Fearful residents called in with reports of men with guns and the police despatched a heavily armed squad, which cordoned off the area.

A police spokesman said the four had been charged with causing a public nuisance over Wednesday's incident.