Australia

Stories 681 - 700 | << Prev   Next >>

Uproar Leads to Probe of 95-Year-Old 'Indiana Joan'

Some say Joan Howard's antiquities collection is illegal

(Newser) - Her collection of ancient artifacts, worth more than $750,000, includes a Roman dagger, Neolithic ax heads, a mummy mask, and a crucifix from the era of Jesus Christ—treasures unearthed in Egypt, Syria, Israel, and beyond. But her boasts about them have some red with anger rather than green...

Elon Musk Made Bold Promise, Fulfilled It

World's biggest lithium ion battery is installed in South Australia

(Newser) - Elon Musk promised to have the job done in 100 days or it's free . Well, it looks like Australia will be paying up. Tesla has completed installation of the world's biggest lithium ion battery in South Australia and will be turning it on next week, ahead of a...

Oldest Australian Human Returned to 42K-Year-Old Grave

The Mungo Man is home

(Newser) - The oldest human remains found in Australia were on Friday returned to the Outback desert that he roamed some 42,000 years ago in a ceremony celebrated by traditional owners, the AP reports. The ice age Aborigine was dubbed Mungo Man after the dry salt Lake Mungo where he was...

UN Diplomat Dies in Alleged Trust Game Gone Wrong

Australia's Julian Simpson fell from Manhattan balcony Wednesday

(Newser) - "Let's play the trust game" and "I will prove that you can trust me," Australia's second secretary to the United Nations reportedly told his friend as he leaned back over a railing, some 70 feet above a Manhattan street. The words were among the last...

2 Marriage Equality Bills at Odds in Australia

Critics say one would roll back protections for LGBT

(Newser) - Some 62% of registered voters supported gay marriage in an Australian postal survey that ensures Parliament will consider legalizing same-sex weddings this year, although the form any law would take and its allowances for religious objections sparked immediate debate, reports the AP . The conservative government promised to allow a bill...

Results of Australia's Survey on Same-Sex Marriage Are In

The country is overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage

(Newser) - Australians have overwhelmingly voted in favor of same-sex marriage, the New Zealand Herald reports. The results of a two-month-long, $93 million survey were released Wednesday morning: 61.6% in favor of legalization, 38.4% opposed. According to CNN , the "yes" side won every state and territory in the country....

Man Pulled Into Wood Chipper Dies 'Within Seconds'

His 'traumatized' friends couldn't save him

(Newser) - A man trying to do a favor for a family friend ended up dead in a tragic accident in Australia Sunday night that local authorities are calling one of the worst scenes they've come across. Emergency services were called to a rural property in Queensland, where they found the...

When Shark Came, Surfer Remembered a Trick

Charlie Fry punched it in the nose, escaped

(Newser) - A novice surfer mastered a pro's move on the first try: He punched a shark on the nose to escape its jaws, per the AP . The attack Monday afternoon off the Australian coast left Charlie Fry with superficial puncture wounds on his right shoulder and upper arm. Fry, a...

Facebook to Users: Send Us Your Nudes

Goal is to prevent revenge porn before it happens

(Newser) - Hoping to keep nude photos of yourself off of social media? Upload them to Facebook. While it might seem counterproductive, that's what the social media site is instructing users to do in Australia, where it's testing new "photo-matching technologies." The idea is that once Facebook has...

Want to Climb Uluru? Better Do It Soon

Climbing at sacred Anangu site will be banned in 2019

(Newser) - If your bucket list includes a trek up Australia's sacred monolith Uluru, you'd better get moving. The management board of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park—made up of eight indigenous members and four government officials, per the BBC —voted unanimously Wednesday to ban people from climbing the huge...

&#39;Idiots of the Century&#39; Swim Into Croc Trap
'Idiots of the Century'
Swim Into Croc Trap
in case you missed it
Oct 28, 2017 7:21 AM CDT

'Idiots of the Century' Swim Into Croc Trap

Australian authorities are 'gobsmacked'

(Newser) - Authorities in Australia say they're "gobsmacked" by the sheer stupidity of a group of men seen swimming to a crocodile trap in Queensland—and getting inside with the bait. The men were spotted getting into the mouth of the trap at the Port Douglas marina, close to where...

10 More Seconds and Great White May Have Gotten Her
She Was Kayaking,
Then a 'Big Bang'
Oct 23, 2017 10:15 AM CDT

She Was Kayaking, Then a 'Big Bang'

Sarah Williams, her dad recount frightening experience in Australia

(Newser) - It was "everything you picture in the Jaws movie," minus the bloody death. A 15-year-old Australian teen relates her harrowing encounter with what's believed to have been a great white shark on Sunday. ABC reports Sarah Williams was fishing for squid in a kayak off the Normanville...

Court: Unsent Text Message Is a Valid Will

It was found in man's drafts folder

(Newser) - A last will and textament? An Australian court has decided that a will found in the drafts folder of a dead man's phone is valid, even though it was never witnessed or even sent, the BBC reports. The man, a 55-year-old who killed himself a year ago, made it...

Crocodile Suspected of Killing Woman With Dementia

79-year-old woman wandered away from nursing home in Australia

(Newser) - Authorities in Australia were searching Friday for a crocodile suspected of killing a dementia patient who wandered from a nursing home, the AP reports. Human remains along with Anne Cameron's clothes and walking stick were found near a creek bank on Thursday two days after the 79-year-old woman wandered...

US Museum Will Stop Displaying Soldier's Skull

Australian soldier's skull will be returned and reunited with his body

(Newser) - Private Thomas Hurdis' death in October 1917 was a grisly one. The Australian soldier was shot in the face with lead bullets during the Battle of Passchendaele in France, blinding the 27-year-old and destroying parts of his jaw and sinuses. Philadelphia ophthalmologist WT Shoemaker tended to the soldier, who bled...

Teen Crushed, Killed While Lifting Weights

Gym rules say kids are supposed to be accompanied by an adult

(Newser) - An Australian teen who was crushed while lifting weights has died, the BBC reports. Ben Shaw, 15, was bench-pressing about 215 pounds at a Brisbane gym last Tuesday when the bar he was pumping slipped, pinning him and crushing his neck. The critically injured teen was rushed to a children'...

Blogger Who Made Fake Cancer Claims Finds Out Fate

Belle Gibson handed down $320K fine by Aussie judge

(Newser) - In March, Belle Gibson was found guilty of breaching consumer law with her false claims on how she'd beaten her supposed brain cancer. On Thursday, Melbourne's Federal Court of Australia handed down the fine the Aussie blogger will pay as a consequence: around $320,000, the BBC reports....

It Causes Gaping, Weeping Wounds, but We Don't Know How

Australian scientists are concerned by the rise of 'Mycobacterium ulcerans' infections

(Newser) - One of the least reassuring sentences you'll read this week: A flesh-eating bacterial infection that leads to "gaping, palm-sized ulcers" is on the rise, and experts have no idea how it's being spread. One of the more reassuring: It's happening in Victoria, Australia, so if you...

6 Women Accidentally Wear Identical Dresses to Wedding

'No we are NOT the bridesmaids'

(Newser) - Debbie Speranza was surprised when she met up with her cousin at a Sydney wedding reception recently and they were wearing the same dress. But both women were even more surprised when they kept bumping into other women also in the same dress—a total of six women at the...

SUV Picks Up Odd Hitchhiker
SUV Picks Up Odd Hitchhiker
Sep 17, 2017 8:03 AM CDT

SUV Picks Up Odd Hitchhiker

Australian koala goes for a ride in the wheel well of vehicle

(Newser) - For a stowaway who made a 10-mile journey squeezed in the wheel well, a koala was lucky to escape with just scratches. The driver of the four-wheel vehicle was unaware of the extra passenger until they arrived at their destination in the outskirts of Adelaide, Australia, and he heard some...

Stories 681 - 700 | << Prev   Next >>