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Djokovic confirms he is leaving: "I cannot stay in Australia and participate in the Australian Open." In a statement released after his appeal was dismissed on Sunday, Novak Djokovic said he would cooperate with authorities in arranging his departure from the country and confirmed he would not be playing in the Australian Open. He said that while he was "extremely disappointed" in the judge's decision, "I respect the Court’s ruling and I'll cooperate with the relevant authorities in relation to my departure from Australia." He will now take time to rest and recuperate, he added, wishing good luck to fans,...

<p>MELBOURNE — Novak Djokovic faces deportation again after the Australian government revoked his visa for a second time. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said Friday he used his ministerial discretion to revoke the 34 year-old player’s visa on public interest grounds three days before the Australian Open is to begin.</p>

Tasmanian devils were born in mainland Australia for the first time in 3,000 years, wildlife charity Aussie Ark announced. The non-profit announced in an Instagram post Monday that seven Tasmanian devil joeys were born at Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary after the species died out in the country due to predators and disease. "We have been working tirelessly for the better part of 10 years to return devils to the wild of mainland Australia with the hope that they would establish a sustainable population," the Aussie Ark said. "We had been watching them from afar until it was time to step in...

Tasmanian devils must evolve to be less aggressive if they are to avoid becoming extinct, suggests new research. The study sheds new light on an infectious cancer threatening to wipe out the species' wild population, which only exists on the Australian island of Tasmania. The tumours caused by the devastating disease, known as devil facial tumour disease (DFTD), interfere with feeding and affected animals often starve to death. Rodrigo Hamede and his team at the University of Tasmania investigated the connection between the infection of DFTD, which is spread when one animal bites another, and the number of bites that...

Researchers believe they have identified the source of fatal tumours that threaten to wipe out the wild population of Tasmanian devils. Writing in Science, an international team of scientists suggest cells that protect nerves are the likely origin of devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). The disease is a transmissible cancer that is spread by physical contact, and quickly kills the animals. DFTD has caused the devil population to collapse by 60% in the past decade. "To look more closely at the tumours' origin, we sequenced the genes that are expressed in this devil cancer and compared them with other genes...

Australia's iconic Tasmanian devils have started having sex at a younger age since the advent of a deadly disease which threatens to wipe out the species. Data collected before and after the cancer-causing disease appeared showed a 16-fold increase in early sexual behaviour. Scientists fear the disease, which causes facial tumours, could lead to the marsupial carnivore's extinction within 20 to 25 years. "We have found that devils are compensating for the disease by breeding early -- there is a 16-fold increase in the number breeding at the age of one year," The Tasmanian devil is restricted to the island...

SYDNEY (AFP) - A mutant cancer which causes facial tumours on Australia's Tasmanian devil has brought the carnivorous marsupial to the brink of extinction, a leading researcher has said. Local populations of the animal, popularised as Taz by Warner Bros. in its Looney Tunes cartoons, have already been savaged by the mysterious disease which results in malignant facial tumours. Hamish McCallum, professor of wildlife research at the University of Tasmania's school of zoology, said the disease, which usually results in death six months after the appearance of the first lesions, could lead to the extinction of the species within a...

LAUNCESTON, Tasmania - Even by the brutish standards of Tasmanian devils, Rosie, Harry and Clyde have led a lamentable life. A year ago, when the three were each the size of a sesame seed, they wriggled out of their mother's birth canal and undulated their way to her pouch. There, each locked onto a teat and grew like gangbusters. But tragedy struck. Within months, their mother developed devil facial tumor disease - a mysterious malady that in the last three years has killed nearly half of all the world's devils, marsupials that are found only in Tasmania. Shortly after she...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A mysterious cancer is killing Australia's Tasmanian devils, whose spine-chilling screeches, dark color and reputed bad temper prompted early settlers to give them their chilling name, wildlife officials said on Thursday. The world's largest carnivorous marsupial is the size of a stocky small dog but has jaws as strong as a crocodile which allow it to eat up to half its body weight in 30 minutes. An adult can weigh up to 26 pounds. On Australia's southern island state of Tasmania -- the only place where you can find Tasmanian devils -- they are the dominant predator...