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The article discusses the relationship between press and politics in Australia, specifically the news organization News Corp.'s editorials against Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch, Rudd's Labor party, and his Liberal party opponent Tony Abbott are mentioned, as well as News Corp.'s market share in Australia in newspaper circulation.

Reports on Eastman Kodak Co.'s plan to shut down a plant in Coburg, Australia, that makes photographic paper at the end of November 2004. Number of jobs to be cut; Decline in demand for traditional photographic products; Company's shift of its focus to digital cameras and products as its traditional film business shrinks.

There are so many stories about the life and times of Steve Dunleavy, the longtime New York Post columnist and even longer-time Rupert Murdoch acolyte, that some, inevitably, have evolved over the years. Many of the tales involve copious amounts of alcohol. But not this one. It goes like this: As a young copyboy in Australia 55 years ago, Mr. Dunleavy was so hungry for a story that he popped the tires of his father's car at a murder scene. His father, a photographer at a rival paper, could not get to the post office to transmit photos, and Mr. Dunleavy, then about 15 years old, earned his paper a big scoop. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Paul Hogan told an Australian television program that he cannot afford to pay even 10 percent of the back taxes he is said to owe Australian officials, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Hogan, the star of the ''Crocodile Dundee'' movies, was born in Australia and is based in the United States. He has been unable to leave Australia since being served with a departure prohibition order this month by the Australian Taxation Office, which says he owes taxes on about $34 million in undisclosed income. Mr. Hogan, who was traveling to Sydney for his mother's funeral when the order was served, has denied using offshore bank accounts to hide his earnings. In an interview with the news program ''A Current Affair,'' Mr. Hogan said that he could not disclose the amount of the tax bill for legal reasons and added that he was not a flight risk. ''If I was a tax evader,'' Mr. Hogan said, ''which I'm not, I must be the dumbest one in the world, because they gave me five years' notice that they have seized every piece of paper that my tax advisers and lawyers and accountants have ever had. I kept coming back here.'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considers an Australian policy paper on sciences, which has announced almost a $150 million increase for research at universities and other non-governmental agencies, and sets out wide-ranging plans to increase support for research and development. Reversing previous government decisions to reduce spending and eliminate tax concessions; Establishment of three advanced-engineering centers; Commercializing defense-related research; Comments from Minister of Science Ross Free.