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SENSITIVE details of US Secret Service agents and preparations for President Barack Obama's visit have been stored in an old van parked at a Canberra hotel. On the day the President arrives in Canberra, The Daily Telegraph can reveal timesheets detailing travel of US agents and officials have been left in the white Mazda parked at the rear of the Hyatt hotel. Roads will be closed today, guards were yesterday stationed at aviation fuel terminals at the airport and the President's attack-proof limousine, the Obamamobile, has already arrived in Canberra. Yet hire car drivers working on the President's visit have...

PLANS are still being made for US President Barack Obama's Australian visit in a few weeks' time, despite concerns he may have to cancel again. Mr Obama is grappling with the US's worst ever environmental disaster, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Efforts to block the spill have failed and the White House says it might leak until August. Mr Obama is due to visit Canberra and Sydney in mid-June, but there is speculation he may feel the pressure to stay at home and deal with the crisis. He had to cancel a previous Australian visit, in March, to rally...

The first five of 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets for the Royal Australian Air Force have arrived in Australia at its largest air force base, Amberley in Queensland. The F/A-18Fs are Canberra's first new combat aircraft in 25 years. Australia is the first export customer for the Super Hornet, having signed an A$2.9 billion ($2.6 billion) contract in 2007. The RAAF expects Super Hornet initial operating capability by December, says Steve "Zed" Roberton, officer in commander of Super Hornet Wing. The RAAF intends to use its Super Hornets as aircraft to fill the void between the retirement of its General...

The Australian government has decided to buy 14 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters now and not review its larger commitment for operational squadrons for another few years. After weeks of discussions, Canberra says it will put A$3.2 billion ($3 billion) into the U.S.-based Lockheed Martin program to start receiving aircraft in 2014 for testing and training. The aircraft will operate in the U.S. The spending also will buy infrastructure and support. In 2012, the government then plans to make a decision on whether to proceed with buying at least 72 F-35s to equip three Royal Australian Air Force operational squadron. Plans...

MILITARY bases and navy ships will be turned into virtual fortresses under plans to beef-up security in the wake of a major terrorist plot. Taxi drivers and other members of the public will be banned from entering military bases without getting high-level clearance after an urgent review found Australia's frontline defence facilities were among the least protected in the world. The top-secret review also found Australia's top defence brass would be vulnerable to a terrorist strike and recommended their leafy military showpiece, at Duntroon in Canberra, be turned into a secure compound. Among sweeping reforms, the review calls for bases...

THE remains of Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver have arrived on home soil after they set off to fight in Vietnam almost 40 years ago. They were ceremonially received by family, friends and current and former members of 2 Squadron after arriving at the RAAF Base Richmond, northwest of Sydney, at 10.40am today. Their final journey home, aboard a RAAF Hercules transport aircraft, came almost four decades after their Canberra bomber went missing over thick jungle on a hillside in remote Quang Nam province, near the border with Laos

AUSTRALIA'S last two servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam War have begun their final journey home. The remains of Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver, both lost in 1970, have been placed aboard a RAAF Hercules transport aircraft for the trip from Hanoi, Vietnam, back to Australia. Family members and former comrades of the RAAF's 2 Squadron observed the solemn ceremony at Noi Bai Airfield as their caskets were carried aboard the aircraft. The family members and former servicemen will accompany them on the journey home. Parliamentary secretary Dr Mike Kelly said the aircraft would fly...

THE Canberra leg of the Olympic torch relay has been declared a success, despite skirmishes between police and Chinese guards and clashes between protesters. Olympic swimming legend Ian Thorpe, flanked by dozens of police, took the torch to the finish line in Commonwealth Park and lit the community cauldron, which quickly went out. The Chinese torch attendants moved in to relight the cauldron with the Olympic flame. Thorpe looked slightly sheepish after the cauldron went out so soon after he lit with his torch. "It was very exciting ... it was incredible,'' Thorpe said after completing his first torch relay,...

Kalam to witness Canberra’s final flight Rahul Singh New Delhi, February 27, 2007 Once a formidable workhorse of the Indian Air Force, the Canberra bomber will soon become a relic of history. But before the air force phases out its longest-serving aircraft, the bomber will take to the skies for the last time from Chandigarh on March 7 as part of a 102-aircraft flypast planned for the President’s fleet review. The Canberra’s "final appearance" comes half a century after its induction in the IAF in 1957. The IAF plans to phase out the English bomber by the end of next...

SO it wasn't a political stunt. It isn't about Iraq. And the threat of Islamist terror right here is more real than many pretend. How real? If the police are right, they have saved scores of you from being blown up -- as people in Madrid and London were blown up. As NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney put it, the arrest yesterday of 17 Muslim men disrupted "the final stages of a large-scale terrorist attack". He said explosive material had already been collected. Yet only last week, Prime Minister John Howard was pilloried by many for having warned of an...

CANBERRA (Herald-Tribune) -- Iran and the United States are now on a collision course. Despite warnings from America and Europe, Iran has resumed enriching uranium, with its new President, Mahmud Ahmedinejad, insisting it has a right to do so under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty for peaceful purposes. President George W. Bush has reacted by declaring all options open, including military action, which has drawn a stiff rebuke not only from Tehran, but also from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, one of America's allies. Israel is also reported to have plans for targeting Iran's nuclear facilities. But the use of force...

AN envelope found at the Indonesian embassy in Canberra today has tested positive for a biological agent. The embassy has been shut down and its 22 staff will remain in isolation for at least 48 hours after the envelope tested positive for an as-yet unidentified biological agent. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer condemned whoever had sent the package and said the incident would not help Corby's case. "Further analysis of the powder has tested positive as a biological agent so further testing will need to be carried out to find out what that substance actually is," Mr Downer told Parliament. "As...

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A top U.S. envoy piled pressure on Australia's opposition leader on Monday to reverse a promise to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq if he wins a close-run election expected within months. U.S. Ambassador to Australia, Tom Schieffer, stopped short of naming Labor leader Mark Latham, having previously been rebuked for interfering in Australian domestic politics, but said now was not the time to pull away from an important bilateral alliance. His comments come after a barrage of criticism from top U.S. officials of Latham's vow to bring the 850 Australian troops in and around Iraq home by...

A British-born Muslim convert convicted in Australia's first terrorism trial of plotting to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Canberra was sentenced to nine years in prison. Perth District Court judge Paul Healy said 50-year-old Jack Roche, originally from Hull, should serve four and a half years before becoming eligible for parole, although he backdated the term to start when Roche was taken into custody - meaning that Roche could be free in about three years. Prosecutor Ron Davies earlier described Roche's plot as an affront to Australian values, and called for a sentence approaching the 25-year maximum to serve as...

Canberra, Australia (CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush has been heckled by Australian parliamentarians during an address in which he thanked the nation for its support in the war on terror. Bush personally lauded Australian Prime Minister John Howard for his "exceptional courage" in committing Australian troops to the war in Iraq and said Australians were traditionally the "first step forward to fight" in a just cause.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Heckled inside and outside Australia's parliament, President Bush on Thursday defended the invasion of Iraq during a symbolic visit to thank Australia for its staunch support in the war on terror. Bush, wrapping up a six-nation Asian tour focused on security and trade, said the allies who had fought alongside each other in two world wars and Vietnam had a "special responsibility throughout the Pacific" to help keep peace. "In the war on terror, once again, we are at each other's side," Bush said, recalling the nightclub bombings in Bali last October that killed 202 people, including...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Crikey! George W. Bush came face to face with the Crocodile Hunter at a traditional Aussie barbie - or barbecue - lunch at Prime Minister John Howard's official residence. Steve Irwin, star of the "Crocodile Hunter" television show in which he regular wrestles huge reptiles, was among 70 guests at the daytime party for the visiting U.S. president. The meal started shrimps and scallops in a chili and coriander sauce followed by beef fillet and lamb cutlet with asparagus, baby rocket and tomato jus. Dessert was macadamia pavlova roulade with passionfruit ice cream. That's more...

US President George W Bush had a low-key arrival in Canberra as he touched down in his third country in a day. Mr Bush and his wife Laura were met by Prime Minister John Howard and his wife Janette, both of whom boarded the President's Air Force One 747 aircraft for a private welcome. The four then emerged together before meeting government officials at the foot of the stairs. The Australian visit marks the third country in a day for Mr Bush, who visited Singapore and the Indonesian island of Bali on his way to Australia. Despite the significance of...

Refugee escape game infuriates Canberra By Kathy Marks in Sydney 01 May 2003 The Australian government has ordered its arts council to explain why it gave A$25,000 (£9,700) of public funds to the makers of a computer video game that challenges players to escape from a virtual immigration detention centre. The game, Escape From Woomera, simulates conditions inside the camps where all asylum-seekers are held after entering Australia. Woomera, which was recently closed, was the most infamous of the centres. Players try to abscond by digging tunnels, scaling barbed wire fences or enlisting the help of refugee activists. Philip Ruddock,...

Canberra in panic as four die in 'worst bushfires ever' By Kathy Marks in Melbourne 20 January 2003 Thick smoke blanketed the Australian capital, Canberra, yesterday and a layer of ash coated the white Parliament building after forest fires raced into the city, killing four people and destroying 400 homes. Emergency services remained on high alert as authorities warned that hot, windy weather forecast for today could whip up flames that are still burning in bushland around the city. More than 1,000 people remained in evacuation centres, while others were allowed to return to the wreckage of their suburban homes....