澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-08-20（在线收听）

Today's Newspoll indicates Labor's losing its lead over the Coalition. And it shows support for Labor and the Coalition split 50-50 on a two-party-preferred basis. But the Galaxy Poll tips Julia Gillard will scrape into power, with the number showing Labor has a lead of 52 to 48 per cent.

Australian Democrats candidate Darren Andrews has withdrawn from the campaign after admitting to attempting to procure a child for sex. He was standing for the seat of Sturt in Adelaide. Channel 7 revealed that he tried to meet a 15-year-old boy who turned out to be a police officer posing as a child on the Internet. The Democrats say Mr Andrews lied about not having a criminal record.

The last US combat brigade has left Iraq seven and a half years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein. About 50,000 US soldiers will remain in the country until the end of next year to train local forces and protect US interest there.

A growing number of Americans incorrectly believe that US President Barack Obama is Muslim. A survey of 3,000 Americans found almost 20 per cent thought he was a Muslim, that's up from 11 per cent last year. The poll was taken before Mr Obama defended developers' rights to build a controversial Islamic centre near the site of the September 11 attacks.

And police are appealing for the mother of a baby found dead in Sydney's inner west to come forward. A postmortem will be carried out on the baby girl, whose body was found yesterday in a shoebox behind an apartment in Strathfield. Police believe the infant was discarded on a pathway near the building.