Australia

Australian authorities have said 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers in Indonesia will not be taken to Australia, their intended destination. The ethnic Tamil asylum seekers have spent 10 days on an Australian customs ship in Indonesian waters. Indonesia agreed last week to take the group to have their claims examined, but local officials are refusing to allow the Australian vessel to dock. Australia has been faced with a sharp increase in asylum seekers this year. On Oct. 27, an Indonesian provincial governor stopped the Australian customs vessel Oceanic Viking from docking on Bintan Island, near Singapore. He said the island was not a "dumping ground" for refugees. (BBC)