A French deckhand Monday admitted he was lucky to be alive after escaping with bite wounds when a crocodile latched onto his head in northern Australia.

Yoann Galeran, 29, had swum out from shore to retrieve a moored dinghy after dark at Nhulunbuy on Sunday when the two-metre (6.5 feet) saltwater croc attacked, grabbing him by the head and rolling him in the water.

Watching the solemn parade of special forces soldiers climb into their trucks, blessed by a priest, and drive into the grey Afghan night, Australian artist Ben Quilty wondered if they would ever return.

Quilty, winner of Australia's prestigious Archibald portrait prize, spent 24 days embedded with troops in Kandahar and Tarinkot as the nation's official war artist, sketching, photographing and filming life as a modern soldier.

Australians are smoking and drinking less than they were five years ago but are fatter and more anxious, according to a new survey profiling the nation's health launched Tuesday.

The Wellness Index, compiled by polling firm Roy Morgan Research and an initiative of health company Alere, has surveyed the well-being of 50,000 Australians since 2007 to paint a picture of lifestyle and disease.

Australia paid tribute on Monday to Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved thousands of Jews during World War II, by making him the country's first honorary citizen.

"The lives of those he rescued are Mr Wallenberg's greatest memorial and Australia is honored to have survivors he rescued living in Australia today," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in a statement.

Australia is to fire the opening salvoes in a legal battle before the United Nations' highest court in June aimed at stopping Japan's whaling research program in Antarctica.

"The International Court of Justice... will hold public hearings in the case concerning whaling in the Antarctic, Australia versus Japan, from Wednesday 26 June," the Hague-based ICJ said in a statement on Thursday.

Australia's central bank kept interest rates on hold at 3.0 percent Tuesday, saying global downside risks appeared to have eased but domestic pressures were lingering.

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens said there were a "number of indications that the substantial easing of monetary policy during late 2011 and 2012 is having an expansionary effect" but more time was needed.

An Australia-led study has identified a gene associated with a common form of epilepsy which could lead to earlier diagnosis, a researcher said Tuesday.

Melbourne University academic Ingrid Scheffer said a number of genes linked to epilepsy were known to scientists, but these related to rare families in which a large number of members had the condition.

Brett Holman's 85th-minute equalizer helped Australia save a 2-2 draw against Oman on Tuesday, and narrowly avoid a shocking upset in an Asian qualifier for the 2014 World Cup.

Holman's 25-yard strike capped a remarkable rally, after Australia had fallen 2-0 behind to Omani forward Abdul Mubarak's early strike and an own goal by Mile Jedinak just after half time.

Australia's main base in Afghanistan will close and most of its troops will be home by the end of the year, Defense Minister Stephen Smith said on Tuesday, admitting the mission had run too long.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, has decided to shut the base in Tarin Kot in Uruzgan province, and this means an end to Australia's main mission.

Two people died and two were seriously hurt after an asylum-seeker boat capsized off Australia Monday, but more than 90 were plucked to safety and taken ashore, officials said.

The boat was spotted by Australian customs 14 nautical miles northwest of the Australian territory of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.