Two news items were removed from CNNI's newscasts in September: on Malaysian orang asli (aborigines) and the Pope's return to the Vatican from Paris.

CNN: ASIA'S NO PUSHOVER

Australia's 500, 000 aborigines (about five times their number in 1901) comprise about 2.5% of Australia's 23m people.

ECONOMIST: More moves towards restitution for native Australians

The prime minister is not under attack only for his reverence for mateship, but also for his preamble's section on aborigines.

ECONOMIST: Australia��s constitution

Others capture a sense of the sacred in the middle of Australia's Outback, where Ayer's Rock -- or Uluru, as it's known to the Aborigines -- stands.

CNN: Spiritual destinations

It is applied in the Northern Territory, which is home to about an eighth of the country's 500, 000 or so aborigines.

ECONOMIST: A distinct society, perhaps becoming less so

Aborigines now comprise about 2% of Australia's population.

ECONOMIST: An apology but no compensation

Mr Latham's earlier pledges to make a formal apology to aborigines and to restart the debate on an Australian republic have barely featured in his campaign.

ECONOMIST: Labour's feisty leader takes the election down to the wire