Sydney - Australian soldiers who helped bring freedom to East Timor in 1999 also brought with them the cane toads that now plague the former Indonesian province, aid officials charged Tuesday.

"We don't know how to get them away, how to kill them," a Care International spokesman in Dili told Australia's ABC Radio.

"They should have thought about that," Simplicio Barbosa said, blaming the Australian military for the infestation.

The toxic toads were introduced to Australia from Hawaii in 1935, in a catastrophic attempt eradicate beetles that were savaging the cane crop in Queensland. They may have crossed the Timor Sea in military equipment shipped from Darwin to Dili.

Canberra, September 9 : Scientists are using new laser technology to improve the precision of telescopes, bringing the dream of watching the expansion of the universe in real time within reach.

According to a report by ABC News, the researchers, including Swinburne University astronomer Michael Murphy, have shown how a laser frequency comb can be used to calibrate an infra-red telescope, which will allow astronomers to more precisely measure features of distant galaxies and stars.

The comb was developed by co-author Theodor Hansch, of the Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics who is a joint winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physics for the technology.

Sydney - Australian Muslims said Tuesday that racism was behind a Sydney council's decision to approve plans for a Catholic school and reject a proposal to build an Islamic school.

The building projects are in the Sydney suburb of Camden, where five months ago the local council received 3,500 complaints about a plan to build an Islamic school and had to hire security guards to ensure order at meetings where the project was discussed.

Sydney, Sept. 8 : Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government should harness the nation''s clout as a uranium supplier and its diplomatic ties to Asia and the United States to push for a disarmament declaration by the region''s leaders, a former diplomat has said.

In Lowy Institute paper, former diplomat Rory Medcalf warns that the rise of nuclear energy in Asia combined with persistent national rivalries poses a growing long-term threat to Australia in the so-called "Asian century".

Sydney, Sept. 8 : Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty was reportedly grilled for three-and-a-half-hours on Monday with regard to evidence connected to the bungled investigation of Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef.

As he left the hearing, Keelty told reporters only that he had "cooperated fully with the inquiry" by retired NSW Supreme Court judge John Clarke.

Dr Haneef was arrested by federal police at Brisbane Airport in July last year in relation to an attack by Islamist militants in Britain.

The investigation slowly unravelled and Dr Haneef was eventually released without charge.

New Delhi, Sept. 8 : Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith will visit India from September 8 to September 12. This will be his first visit to India as his country''s Foreign Minister.

Speaking ahead of his visit, Smith said: "My visit reflects Australia’s intention to take India to the front line of its international relationships. In New Delhi, I will meet my counterpart, Minister of External Affairs, Mr Pranab Mukherjee. He and I will continue the broad-ranging and productive talks we had in June when I hosted Mr Mukherjee in Canberra for the fifth Australia-India Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue."