澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-05-11（在线收听）

The Treasurer Wayne Swan has chartered a course to put the budget back into surplus. He’s predicting a budget deficit of $49 billion this year, moving to a modest $3.5 billion surplus in two years’ time. There’s $22 billion worth of savings and more money to get people back to work and also more money for mental health. 

Software giant Microsoft is buying the Internet phone service company Skype. The $8 billion deal is the biggest in Microsoft’s 36-year history. It’ll give the company access to Skype’s 170 million users. The boards of both companies have already signed off on this deal. 

Bali Nine drug smuggler Scott Rush has won his appeal against a death sentence. Indonesia’s Supreme Court has voted two to one to commute his sentence to life in prison. The 25-year-old was arrested six years ago trying to smuggle heroin into Bali. 

The United Nations is calling for a pause in the fighting in Libya to help ease the growing humanitarian crisis there. Three quarters of a million people have fled the country since the uprising began. The UN says the situation is particularly dire in Misrata, where food and water are in short supply. 

And floodwaters in the US city of Memphis have peaked just below the 1937 record. The swollen Mississippi River reached just over 14.5 metres. Hundreds of people fled their homes and it will take weeks for the water to recede. Cities and towns further downstream are now bracing for the worst.