Long live the Queen
SYDNEY: Queen Elizabeth returned to the Sydney opera house to thank her loyal Australian subjects for her re-election as sovereign. About 500 die-hard republicans gathered outside Sydney's most famous landmark for a ``bye-bye Betty Barbeque'' as polls closed in Australia's constitutional referendum.

But within an hour it was clear that the `no' campaign had won, and Republicans would have to fight on to have the queen replaced by an Australian president.

Quickfix
ARKANSAS: An Arkansas high school student assigned an essay as punishment for bringing a straight razor to class was arrested after writing that the best way to handle a problem at school was to blow the place up, authorities said. The 16-year-old student, who will be charged with terroristic threatening, was ordered to undergo psychiatric testing, Sheriff Ron Webb of independence county said. ``He wrote that the best way to handle a problem at school was to blow up the building with the principal and the teachers and anyone else you were having a problem with inside,'' Webb said. ``it was the darnedest thing you've ever read.''

Stretching too far
PARIS: Australian airline Qantas decided a stretcher would be the best image to entice the French rugby team on board after their rugby World Cup final against Australia.

The airline took a half-page advertisement in French sports daily L'Equipe on the morning of the final in Cardiff, Wales, with a good luck message that belied a certainconfidence in the Australian team.

``The Australian airline wishes good luck to the blues (the French team colour) and reminds them that its first class is fitted with seats that recline 180 degrees,'' the advert said.

The only picture was a stretcher on a white background. Australia won 35-12.