Australia

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Astronomers Spot Oldest Star Yet

13.6B-year-old star is in our galaxy

(Newser) - At 13.6 billion years old, a star spotted by Australian astronomers is the oldest yet found, they say. It's about 6,000 light years away from our planet—which is fairly close, the Wall Street Journal reports, and it's in our Milky Way galaxy. How do the...

Plan OKed to Dredge, Dump in Great Barrier Reef Park

Environmental groups warn of dangers

(Newser) - The authority in charge of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park has given the final approval to a plan to dump millions of tons of dredging spoils into the park's waters, despite howls of protest from environmental groups and scientists. The dredging is part of a plan to...

Missing Man Survived for Month on Butterflies

Stephen Currie found 30 pounds lighter after month in Australia bush

(Newser) - Stephen Currie has a fairly delicate creature to thank in part for his survival, having been stranded for a month in the Australian bush amid 100-degree temps. Three weeks after police gave up the search for the man who went missing Dec. 29 in northern Queensland, Currie, 40, was found...

Crocodile Snatches 12-Year-Old

Increasing calls for a cull in Australia

(Newser) - A teen swimming with a group of friends in Australia's Kakadu National Park yesterday was attacked by a crocodile and escaped—only to have the croc move on to one of his friends, a 12-year-old now believed dead. The Telegraph reports that if the younger boy was indeed taken...

Cull Begins: Australia Lures, Kills 1st Shark

Conservation groups slam 'waste of life'

(Newser) - The first shark has been killed off Western Australia under a controversial new policy aimed at protecting swimmers from attacks. A large tiger shark attracted by a baited line was shot in the head several times and its body was dumped at sea, reports the Western Australian . Thousands of people...

Kangaroo Drawing Could Rewrite Australia's History

It possibly indicates the Portuguese got there first

(Newser) - A tiny prayer book could upend the conventional wisdom about the European discovery of Australia. New York City's Les Enluminures gallery recently acquired a medieval Portuguese manuscript that appears to contain a drawing of a kangaroo curled into the letter "D." The manuscript, which provides text and...

100K Dead Bats Drop From Sky in Australia
 100K Dead Bats 
 Drop From Sky 
 in Australia 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 12, 2014 7:35 AM CST

100K Dead Bats Drop From Sky in Australia

Heat overtakes 'flying foxes'

(Newser) - As the US emerged from that whole "polar vortex," Australia saw an intense heatwave last weekend—leading to the deaths of 100,000 bats, many of which reportedly dropped from the sky. In one video that went viral, a man filmed what he estimated to be more than...

Australian War on Shark Attacks Sparks Uproar

Scuba divers fear plan could actually increase danger

(Newser) - Six people have been killed by sharks in Western Australia over the past two years, meaning that when it comes to shark attacks, the state is the deadliest place on Earth. Now, officials are trying to do something about it: They're set to install 72 baited hooks attached to...

Rescuers Save Naked Man— From Appliance

With the help of olive oil as lubricant

(Newser) - A game of hide-and-seek turned out to be not so fun for an Australian man this weekend when police, firefighters, paramedics, and a search-and-rescue team were called in to help with his, um, extraction. The man—naked, we might add—had decided to surprise his girlfriend by hiding in a...

US Joins in Antarctic Ship Rescue Effort

Coast Guard cutter to aid Russian, Chinese ships

(Newser) - First a Russian ship got trapped in Antarctic ice; then a Chinese ship got stuck trying to rescue it. Finally, passengers on the MV Akademik Shokalskiy were rescued late this week via helicopter while crew members remained. The saga continues amid concerns about the Chinese vessel : Now the US Coast...

It&#39;s 2014 Somewhere

 It's 2014 Somewhere 
Happy New Year
Dec 31, 2013 3:22 PM CST

It's 2014 Somewhere

Images of celebrations from around the world

(Newser) - It's that time of year again: Time for Australia and New Zealand to steal everybody else's thunder. Auckland has already rung in 2014, and Sydney has lit up the sky with its annual much-heralded firework extravaganza. In most of the rest of the world, everyone's still just...

Ancient 'Diamonds' Aren't Exactly Diamonds

They're just bits of diamond polishing paste, researchers find

(Newser) - Back in 2007, a team of researchers said they'd found 4.3-billion-year-old diamonds inside zircon crystals taken from Australia's Jack Hills. But those researchers had used a grinding paste made of synthetic diamonds to polish the zircons in preparation for lab tests ... and now a different team of...

Future Painkiller: Scorpion Venom?

Study sees potential applications as it can locate human pain receptors

(Newser) - Scorpion venom could someday turn from threat to therapy. Researchers in Australia are investigating the chemical properties of the stuff after collecting 1,500 of the poisonous critters and extracting their venom. "Because they have been isolated in Australia for so long, their venom is very different to the...

You Can Avoid Sharks by Their ... Tweets?

Australian scientists attach transmitters to sharks to warn surfers

(Newser) - It's getting harder and harder for a shark to sneak up on people these days. As if the whole fin-sticking-out-of-the-water problem wasn't bad enough, now you might accidentally tweet your location, too. Scientists in Western Australia have attached transmitters to more than 320 sharks; the transmitters automatically tweet...

Marine Dies on Vacation Wife Won on Ellen

Brandon McGraw dead in Australian skydiving accident

(Newser) - A Marine and his wife were in Australia last week on a trip they won on Ellen DeGeneres' show in January, but it ended in tragedy when the Marine was killed in a skydiving accident. Cherilyn McGraw made a tandem jump in Euroa, north of Melbourne, on Saturday, but husband...

Great Train Robber Dead at 84
 Great Train 
 Robber 
 Dead at 84 
obituary
Dec 18, 2013 6:35 AM CST

Great Train Robber Dead at 84

Ronnie Biggs evaded authorities for decades

(Newser) - A British criminal who soared to fame after helping to rob a train of more than $7 million has died at 84 of unspecified causes. Ronnie Biggs made his name with the Great Train Robbery of 1963, though he actually spent most of the heist in a nearby car. After...

Last Aussie Combat Troops Leave Afghanistan

400 trainers will stay on

(Newser) - Australia has called time on its longest-ever overseas military deployment after 12 years, 40 deaths, and 261 serious injuries. The final Australian combat troops left their base in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province today, though around 400 Australians will still serve in advisory roles across the nation, the Australian reports. Some...

A Dozen Children Seized From Incest Family 'Cult'

Children lived in filth, can barely speak, are deformed

(Newser) - Kimberly Colt is only 13 years old, but she's already had sexual contact with her uncle Dwayne—who is 9—while her aunt Carmen, 8, watched. She can't read or write, because she can barely see or hear, and she doesn't know how to clean her teeth,...

Australia Strikes Down Gay Marriage, After 5 Days

Top court annuls dozens of marriages

(Newser) - Australia's highest court has struck down the country's first law allowing same-sex marriages less than a week after the first weddings took place. The court sided with the federal government, which argued that Australian Capital Territory's law was invalid and having different marriage laws in different states...

Teen Killed by Shark While Body-Boarding

In Australia's 2nd deadly attack this month

(Newser) - A teenager was killed today after being attacked by a shark off Australia's east coast in the second deadly attack this month, police said. Zach Young, 19, was body boarding with three friends about 330 feet offshore at Riecks Point, near the northern New South Wales city of Coffs...

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