Australia

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Too Beefy to Kill: Giant Steer Wins Reprieve

Australia's Knickers grew too big for the abattoir, will live out his life at pasture with quaint tiny cows

(Newser) - If you're going to be named after women's unmentionables, you'd better be big enough or mean enough to defend yourself. The former is the inadvertent case of Knickers, a Holstein-Friesian steer in Australia who saved himself from the slaughterhouse by simple virtue of being too huge for...

Pilot Glides Right Past Destination While Napping: Officials

Aussie authorities say plane missed its mark by 30 miles or so before pilot woke up, turned around

(Newser) - The plane's destination: King Island, Tasmania. Where the pilot ended up: not King Island, Tasmania—at least not at first—after officials say the pilot took a snooze and overshot the planned landing by 30 miles or so. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is citing the pilot's "...

It's the Only Animal That Poops Cubes. Mystery Now Solved?

Elastic intestines and a need for turf-marking may be the drivers behind wombats' odd feces shape

(Newser) - Poop comes in all shapes and sizes, but one kind of marsupial produces oddly symmetrical, six-sided feces that have had scientists scratching their heads. Patricia Yang, a mechanical engineering fellow at Georgia Tech, decided she needed to get to the bottom of why wombats expel poop cubes—the only known...

Pamela Anderson No Fan of Prime Minister's 'Lewd' Remark

She's not impressed with Australian PM Scott Morrison's reply to her Assange request

(Newser) - Pamela Anderson is criticizing Australia's prime minister for making "smutty, unnecessary comments about a woman voicing her political opinion." Appearing on Australia's 60 Minutes this month, the Baywatch star urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to bring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange back to his to native Australia;...

Australia Hit by Yet Another Beach Tragedy

Swimmer dies of heart attack after being stung by stingray

(Newser) - A swimmer in Australia has died of a heart attack after he was stung by a stingray, reports the AP . Police say the 42-year-old man went into cardiac arrest on Saturday at Lauderdale Beach, east of Hobart in Tasmania, after he suffered a puncture wound close to shore. "He...

Bad News for Homeless Guy Who Thwarted Terror Attack

Michael Rogers turned himself in on theft charges

(Newser) - A homeless Australian man who shot to fame after using a shopping trolley to help police thwart last week's militant attack in Melbourne has been charged over a series of burglaries, the AP reports. Michael Rogers was hailed as a hero and dubbed "Trolleyman" on social media after...

Homeless Guy Who Hit Terrorist: 'I'm No Hero'

Michael Rogers' weapon: a shopping cart

(Newser) - Michael Rogers, a hero? It's hard for him to believe. But many Australians are celebrating the man who helped police fight a knife-wielding terrorist in Melbourne, Australia's News Network reports. In fact, a crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $110,000 as of this writing for the so-called "...

Australia Strawberry Spiker 'Motivated by Spite'

50-year-old woman arrested after nationwide scare

(Newser) - A woman accused of spiking strawberries with sewing needles was motivated by "spite or revenge" over a workplace grievance, prosecutors in Australia say. My Ut Trinh, 50, was arrested Sunday after what police described as a "complex investigation" that began in September, the BBC reports. At a court...

Terror Suspect Dead After Melbourne Stabbing Spree

Friday attack on 3 being treated as terrorism

(Newser) - A knife-wielding man stabbed three people, one fatally, in Australia's second-largest city on Friday in an attack police linked to terrorism. The attack during the afternoon rush hour brought central Melbourne to a standstill, reports the AP . Hundreds of people watched from behind barricades as police tried to apprehend...

Search for Missing Boy in Outback Ends in Tragedy

Police believe 4 died when vehicle broke down

(Newser) - Tragedy in the Outback: The search for a missing 12-year-old by in a remote region of Australia's Northern Territory came to a sad end Thursday when a body was found just 400 feet from where three other people were earlier found dead near a broken-down vehicle, 9News reports. The...

Runaway Train Dramatically Derails After 57 Miles

Aussie freight train rolled away after driver got out to inspect an issue

(Newser) - The driver of a freight train in Western Australia got out to inspect an issue with one of its 268 wagons early Monday—and it kept going without him. The train, loaded with iron ore, hurtled across 57 miles of the remote Pilbara region before it was deliberately derailed from...

Shark Kills Tourist on Great Barrier Reef

It was 3rd attack in area in 7 weeks

(Newser) - A shark has killed a man in an island harbor on Australia's Great Barrier Reef where two tourists were mauled on consecutive days in September. The spate of attacks has left authorities struggling to explain an apparent escalation in danger in an internationally-renowned vacation destination, the AP reports. The...

His Friends Dared Him to Eat a Slug. He Died 8 Years Later

Sam Ballard contracted parasitic infection after challenge by pals in 2010

(Newser) - "In a single night, his life … changed forever." So says the host of an Australian TV show in her tribute column to Sam Ballard, a young man who took an ill-advised dare from his friends in 2010 and just died from complications related to that challenge. The...

Hubby's Help in Wife's Suicide Brings First-of-Its-Kind Ruling

Graham Morant sentenced to 10 years in prison in Australia

(Newser) - An Australian man who encouraged his wife's suicide has been handed up to 10 years in prison in what's reported to be a first-of-its-kind sentence. Graham Morant was last month convicted of counselling and aiding Jennifer Morant's November 2014 suicide, with Justice Peter Davis noting the devout...

Australia Seizes American Basketball Star's Pet Dog

He's the latest to run afoul of quarantine laws

(Newser) - An American basketball player who flew into Brisbane with his French bulldog placed inside his hand luggage has run afoul of Australia's quarantine laws. Brisbane Bullets recruit Lamar Patterson was briefly detained after landing in Brisbane on Thursday with his dog, Kobe. The 27-year-old Patterson, who played for the...

Australia to Child Sex Abuse Victims: 'We Say Sorry'

'Today as a nation we confront our failure to listen, to believe, and to provide justice'

(Newser) - Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivered a formal apology on Monday to Australia's victims of child sex abuse, saying the nation must acknowledge their long, painful journey and say sorry. His emotional speech delivered in Parliament before hundreds of survivors followed the conclusions of a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses...

Mom Acted as Human Shield for Baby During Crazy Storm

Queensland 23-year-old has now been nominated for a bravery award

(Newser) - An Australian mother who shielded her daughter from hail during a storm last week has now been nominated for a bravery award, ABC Australia reports. "She's one of the bravest people I've read of lately," said Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a press conference Sunday at...

Ignore That Cookie Monster Cat Email From State Dept.

US Embassy in Australia blames 'training error' for odd email blast

(Newser) - The US hasn't had an ambassador to Australia in place for two years, the longest stretch since WWII—which may explain why things are getting low-key chaotic Down Under at the American embassy. The BBC reports that an apology has been issued after a "training error" resulted in...

Croc Finds Wildlife Ranger Waist-Deep in Water

Australian police are investigating the fatal attack

(Newser) - A wildlife ranger was killed by a crocodile Friday in Australia's Northern Territory while gathering mussels with her family in a waterhole, police tell the AP . The indigenous woman was attacked in a remote area 28 miles southwest of the community of Yirrkala. The employment safety watchdog NT WorkSafe...

Man's Unusual Death in Australia: by Sea Snake

The 23-year-old Brit was working on a fishing trawler

(Newser) - A freak accident that claimed the life of a British man in Australia may be the first of its kind on record. The 23-year-old working on a fishing trawler off the Northern Territory was lifting a net onto the boat when he was bitten by a sea snake on Thursday....

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