Wellington, Oct 6 (ANI): An extraordinary collection of ancient rock art have suggested that the people of northern Australia have been interacting with seafaring visitors from Asia and Europe for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years.

According to a report in The New Zealand Herald, the paintings were found in the Arnhem Land, which juts out into the Arafura Sea at the top of Australia.

Alongside ancient paintings of thylacines, a mammal long extinct on the mainland, are images documenting modern-day inventions - a car, a bicycle wheel, a biplane and a rifle, as well as portraits of a missionary and a sea captain.

Scientists documenting the rock art, spread across at least 100 sites in the remote Wellington Range, say it ranks among the world's finest.

It also appears to rewrite Australian history, undermining the widely held assumption that the continent was isolated and largely unvisited until the First Fleet arrived in 1788.

The paintings suggest that the people of northern Australia have been interacting with seafaring visitors from Asia and Europe for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years.

A team of scientists on an expedition to the Range recorded 81 images of ships, ranging from the vessels of Macassan traders from Sulawesi (now part of Indonesia) to dugout canoes, 19th-century British tall ships, 20th-century steamers and Japanese pearling luggers.

They even found paintings of a luxury cruise ship and a World War II destroyer.

The scientists surveying the paintings with the help of a local Aboriginal elder, Ronald Lamilami, say they represent possibly the longest continuous record in the world.

"This seems to have been a key location where people went back again and again, adding to the art over thousands of years and many hundreds of generations," said Professor Paul Tacon, an archaeologist from Griffith University in Queensland.

"Each time they went back, they added new imagery and new experiences to the growing history book that they were creating. Many Aboriginal people across northern Australia describe these sorts of sites as their history books, or libraries," he added.

Tacon's team, which travelled to Arnhem Land last month, was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the art.

In one rock shelter alone, they found 1500 paintings, comprising "more 'contact era' art and more varied imagery than any other site in the world", according to Tacon.

"This area is astounding. Every time we went out, we had a plan to survey a particular stretch of the range, but we could hardly move at all, because we were continually finding sites," he said.

"Over a few days, we found 100 previously undocumented sites, and we've only just scratched the surface," he added. (ANI)

New York, October 12 (ANI): Actress Debra Winger has said that the stories of her having a 'difficult' reputation are greatly exaggerated.

The 'Rachel Getting Married' star told 'CBS News Sunday Morning' that although she has been involved in punch-ups, she doesn't recall harming anyone as such.

"I didn't hurt anyone," the New York Post quoted her as saying.

"I didn't, you know, kill anyone, that I know of," she added.

However, on recalling an incident with 'Terms of Endearment' co-star Shirley MacLaine, the 53-year-old said: "There was no blood drawn.

"There might have been a scuffle. I don't remember.

"I mean, we were wild, you know. She's not a wilting violet. She's tough, too." (ANI)

Beijing/Islamabad, Oct.16 (ANI): Pakistan's long-deteriorating financial situation has prompted it to approach cash rich China for help in shoring up its economy.

According to a Washington Post report, With the global financial crisis draining coffers in the United States and Europe, the key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism is seeking help from an old friend newly flush with cash: China.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is in Beijing on a four-day state visit, and he is likely to seek between four to six billion dollars from China to tied over his country's economic crisis in the short term.

Pakistan's bid for Chinese cash underscores the potential of Beijing's 1.9 trillion dollars in foreign reserves, the largest in the world, to boost its global influence.

Islamabad is now seeking as much as three billion dollars in emergency assistance from China, as well as assistance from oil-rich Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to a senior Pakistani official.

Pakistan's central bank governor, Shashad Akhtar, is in Washington this week to review a draft plan for overhauling the country's finances with the International Monetary Fund, potentially paving the way for future aid.

U.S. military and intelligence officials fear that Pakistan's increasingly precarious economy will compound an already unstable political situation and undermine military cooperation.

Both al-Qaeda and the Taliban leadership are located in the rugged, economically depressed region along Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan.

The Bush administration and Congress have been shaping a long-term economic and military assistance package for Pakistan, but there is no indication the United States is able to step in with a short-term financial lifeline.

Pakistan is going to the Chinese now "because you go to the guys with the money," a senior International Monetary Fund official said. "And right now, the Chinese are the ones with the money."

Securing as much as $6 billion would buy the government the breathing room it needs, analysts say, to begin a desperately needed overhaul of its budget to sustain Pakistan's battered economy in the longer term.

Pakistan's financial problems go back at least a year, with current and past administrations borrowing from the central bank to sustain generous state subsidies on gasoline and diesel.

National reserves over the past year have fallen 67 percent to 8.3 billion dollars, leaving the country ill-prepared to deal with financial turbulence as more investors pulled out in recent weeks as the U.S. crisis spread globally.

That has fed two major fears. First, that Pakistan may not be able to secure the funds to avoid a debt default early next year. And second, that investor concern over its potential insolvency could grow into a panic in coming weeks, leading to a far broader capital pullout that could jeopardize the country's financial system.

Unprecedented inflation, political instability and the growing threat from Islamist insurgents have all had sharply negative affects on investor confidence, said Sakib Sherani, chief economist at ABN Amro Bank Pakistan.

To curb losses, Pakistan in recent weeks has set new rules on stock trading aimed at preventing even sharper sell-offs of Pakistani companies.

China and Pakistan have a long history of economic cooperation, based partly on decades of weapons sales, and a lifeline now, particularly so small a sum, would not be seen as unusual.

A last option might be seeking a lifeline from the IMF. (ANI)

Melbourne, August 30 (ANI): The South Australian State Government considers the Commonwealth Games to be a "B-grade sporting event", and thus has decided not to bid for it.

Opposition Leader Martin Hamilton-Smith recently said that the Liberals would bid for the 2018 Games if they were elected in 2010.

Sport Minister Michael Wright had not rule out a bid in response to Hamilton-Smith's commitment.

However, Foley has made it clear that the Government will not bid for the event.

"This Government will not be bidding for the 2018 Commonwealth Games," news.com.au quoted Acting Premier Kevin Foley as telling an SA Great lunch.

"There is a lot better ways to spend two billion dollars than on a bunch of sporting stadiums that will offer us a B-grade sporting event, for 10 days, when Australia can beat itself in the swimming pool," he said.

"I am not going to see this state with the two billion dollars of expenditure on sporting stadiums when the most pressing need for our state is economic infrastructure, social infrastructure, to underpin a significant economic boom in this state which will put enormous pressure on housing, education, hospitals, road and rail infrastructure," he added. (ANI)