Chicago native Ben loves his country and is proud to be an American. Yet the longtime resident of Melbourne has just relinquished his U.S. citizenship. "This is not something I did lightly or happily, but I saw no other choice," says Ben, a businessman who became an Australian citizen two years ago. His words resonate with another American expatriate, John, a business owner based near Lausanne, Switzerland, who like Ben asked that his last name be withheld ...

Australian Open organizers have granted a wildcard to former world number one Justine Henin to play in the opening grand slam of 2010. The 27-year-old Henin announced last month that she was returning to competitive tennis, shortly after fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters capped her own comeback by triumphing in the U.S. Open. Henin will be relying on wild cards or enter qualifying to get places in the main draw of WTA Tour events until she can improve her ranking. ...

Three more men were charged Wednesday with conspiring to carry out a terrorist act on a military base, bringing the total to four, police in Victoria, Australia, said. Police arrested them early Tuesday while executing 19 search warrants in nine Melbourne neighborhoods as part of the investigation into a group suspected of having ties to Al-Shabaab, a Somali insurgent group with links to al Qaeda, authorities said. The three suspects charged Wednesday were a 26-year-old Carlton man, a 25-year-old Preston ...

Four suspects accused of planning to carry out a terrorist attack on a military base in Australia were arrested in early morning busts across Melbourne on Tuesday, authorities said.

Hackers repeatedly attacked the Web site of Australia's largest film festival Saturday, asking organizers to apologize to the Chinese people for planning to screen a documentary on an exiled Uyghur leader. The attacks were carried out on the opening day of the Melbourne International Film Festival -- in what organizers are calling the third phase of a "concerted campaign" to withdraw the film "The 10 Conditions of Love." The documentary examines the impact on the family of activist Rebiya Kadeer ...

Political tension over the deadly riots that struck northwest China has spilled into an unlikely venue: the Melbourne International Film Festival. Three Chinese directors announced they were pulling their works from the event to protest the inclusion of a documentary about a Uighur activist. The Uighurs are a Turkic speaking, largely Islamic minority group concentrated in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. On July 5 several hundred Uighurs went on a rampage in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi. The violence left 197 ...

Australia's reputation as the happy, go lucky country was turned on it's head in the late 1990s as the usually safe streets of the Victorian capital were transformed into a gangland war zone. Melbourne's "underbelly" of organized crime suddenly became very public. Men hungry for easy money, power and control of the state's lucrative illegal amphetamines trade were prepared to do whatever it took to be the boss of the underworld. It erupted between two families -- the Morans and ...

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called for calm Wednesday, assuring the Indian community that his country was still one of the safest study destinations in the world despite a series of attacks on Indian students in Sydney and Melbourne.

An apologetic Lewis Hamilton said he had made a "huge mistake" for misleading race stewards at the Australian Grand Prix but said he had been told to lie by McLaren sporting director Dave Ryan. Hamilton, who was stripped of third place in the season-opener, broke his media silence after Ryan was suspended by McLaren and sent home from the Malaysia where the second round of the championship takes place this weekend. Sunday's race in Melbourne finished under the safety car ...

World number two Roger Federer survived the loss of the second set to see off Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 5-7 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Masters Series event in Indian Wells. Federer was winning for the 12th time in 13 matches against Gonzalez to earn a clash with Fernando Verdasco of Spain. Verdasco, playing his first match since reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open, beat German Phillipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 3-6 6-1. He has been struggling with an ...