Its a tie: Australias Liberal,Labor emerge with 71 seats each CANBERRA: It could take more than a week to learn who will govern Australia after a cliffhanger election the closest in nearly 50 years. Prime Minister Julia Gillard,Australias first woman Prime Minister,said on Saturday she will remain the nations caretaker leader during the anxious days ahead as vote-counting continues. The Australian Electoral Commission website said early on Sunday that Centre-Left Labor and the conservative Liberal Party-led coalition each had 71 seats,meaning neither could achieve the 76-seat majority. Obviously this is too close to call, Gillard said in Melbourne. Liberal leader Tony Abbott said in Sydney he would begin negotiations with Independents. NRI fined for cutting trees in Britain London: An Indian-origin man who cut down protected trees in Leicestershire has been penalised with a fine of £1500 for contravening a tree preservation order. Narborough-based Chanda Chawla pleaded guilty at Leicester magistrates court to two charges of contravening a tree preservation order. Blaby District Council solicitor Joanne Devlin said the trees were cut down in the Narborough Conservation Area,reports said. Suicide jump kills UK singer during show BRUSSELS: The lead singer of a British pop trio climbed a telecommunications mast behind the main stage at a Belgian rock festival and leaped to his death in the parking lot below,police said on Saturday. Twenty-two-year-old Charles Haddon of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool died late on Friday during the Pukkelpop festival in Hasselt,a town in eastern Belgium. District attorney Marc Rubens said police were treating the death as a suicide. Egypt: Van Gogh painting stolen Cairo: A priceless Vincent Van Gogh painting has been stolen from a Cairo museum in a brazen daytime theft,Culture Minister Faruq Hosni said on Saturday. The painting,identified as Poppy Flowers by Hosni,was cut out of its frame in the Mahmoud Khalil museum after it opened in the morning,he said. Hosni said employees of the museum,which also has works by Monet,Renoir and Degas,were being questioned and that measures were being taken at airports and ports to prevent the stolen painting being smuggled abroad. Dutch teen sets sail on solo world trip PORTIMAO: A 14-year-old Dutch sailor departed from Portugal Saturday on her quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world solo,according to her manager. Peter Klarenbeek said Laura Dekker had set off despite almost windless conditions from a Portuguese port that he would not specify because she did not want to speak to the media. Klarenbeek said Laura was in a very good mood as she set off on her yearlong trip to circumnavigate the globe. Child protection authorities have questioned the wisdom of allowing a child to take on the risk of sailing the worlds oceans alone. Nikki Haley releases 10,000 pages of e-mail Washington: Ahead of her crucial November race for South Carolinas gubernatorial elections in which she is considered a frontrunner,Indian-American Republican candidate Nikki Haley has released her emails to clear the air over allegations that she had an extra-marital affair. When we got past the runoff,we wanted to go ahead and give what had been asked, she told reporters going through the emails. And so we turned around,we gave those e-mails. to go through 10,000 sheets of paper and protect and take out email addresses. it takes a long time, Haley said.
