Australia

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Surf's Down: Billabong Is Now Worth $0

Longtime Australia company has its worst year ever

(Newser) - Bust out the "wipeout" surfing analogies for Billabong: The Aussie surfwear brand had been valued at $3.5 billion as recently as 2007. Today? It is literally worthless. The 40-year-old company reported a net loss of $772 million for the fiscal year and wrote down the value of the...

Assange Sings, Dances, Dons Mullet in New Rap Video

Wikileaks founder spoofs '80s rock song in surreal cameo

(Newser) - Is it possible Julian Assange is suffering from a touch of cabin fever after being cooped up in an Ecuadorian embassy for over a year? The Wikileaks founder, who is running for a Senate seat in Australia's upcoming election, has appeared in a satirical rap video by online comedy...

Body Found After Croc Snatches Swimmer

Cops shoot 15-foot croc in Australian river

(Newser) - Police in Australia have recovered the body of a swimmer snatched from a river by a crocodile in front of horrified friends. The body of the 26-year-old was found near where he was last seen in the Mary River yesterday, and police shot a 16-foot saltwater croc believed to have...

3 Teens Charged in Oklahoma 'Boredom' Killing

2 face first-degree murder charges

(Newser) - Murder charges were filed today in the death of an Australian college student in Oklahoma, but police haven't changed the chilling motive: They say three teens decided to shoot 23-year-old Christopher Lane as he jogged along a road in Duncan because they were bored. Prosecutors charged 15-year-old James Francis...

Woman 'Dead' for 42 Minutes Brought Back to Life

Thanks to high-tech CPR machine

(Newser) - An Australian woman was brought back to life after being clinically dead for 42 minutes, the Herald Sun reports. Vanessa Tanasio, a 41-year-old mother of two, collapsed while getting her kids ready for school a week ago. She'd had a heart attack, and was declared clinically dead soon after...

Would-Be Pol Goofs on Islam, Branded 'Aussie Sarah Palin'

Stephanie Banister ends parliamentary campaign after 48 hours

(Newser) - Like many fledgling politicians, Stephanie Banister gave an interview with a couple of gaffes. And like a select few politicians of any experience level, her gaffes went viral. But in this case, the 27-year-old welder and Queensland parliamentary candidate's contention that Islam is a country, among other blunders, earned...

How Aussie McDonald's Pays $15 an Hour

And what we can learn from it: Jordan Weissmann

(Newser) - Stateside McDonald's workers want their pay hiked to $15 an hour —which should sound pretty familiar to Australians working at the same restaurant. The Aussie minimum wage is $14.50, and plenty of McDonald's staffers make more than that. On top of that, they've just scored...

Woman Accidentally Buys 2 Lotto Tickets, Wins Twice

Wins $900K due to forgetfulness

(Newser) - Buying a winning lottery ticket is luck most of us only dream of having. Accidentally buying a second ticket which is also a winner? That's just rubbing it in. An Australian woman managed this incredibly fortunate feat last weekend, winning a grand total of around $900,000 USD between...

In Training Snafu, US Jets 'Bomb' Great Barrier Reef

Jets were forced to jettison 4 bombs

(Newser) - US fighter jets running low on fuel dropped four bombs on Australia's Great Barrier Reef last week, reports the BBC , in a training mission gone wrong. The AV-8B Harriers were supposed to drop the bombs—two of which were disabled, while two were inert—on a bombing range on...

New Language Born in Outback Town

 New Language 
 Born in Outback Town 
in case you missed it
Jul 20, 2013 7:04 PM CDT

New Language Born in Outback Town

Nobody over 35 speaks Light Warlpiri

(Newser) - Linguists more accustomed to dealing with dying languages have been thrilled to witness the birth of an entire new language in one of Australia's most remote communities, the New York Times finds. Nobody over 35 speaks "Light Warlpiri," which is spoken only in Lajamanu, an isolated village...

Australians Unveil 'Shark-Proof' Wetsuits

Or so they hope

(Newser) - Australian researchers say they've come up with the first shark-proof wetsuits, reports the BBC . Divers and surfers might be a little disappointed to learn that the suits aren't made of some magical fiber that wards off sharp teeth—this is all about visual tricks. One has black and...

Missing American Sailors Presumed Sunk

No sign of schooner off New Zealand with 7 people aboard

(Newser) - Hope is fading for the six Americans and one Briton whose schooner went missing off New Zealand in nasty weather. Rescuers now think the 85-year-old wooden sailboat sank sometime after June 4, the last day authorities communicated with the vessel during a storm, reports the BBC . They're not giving...

Terminator Trilogy Coming, (Probably) With Schwarzenegger

1st of 3 to hit theaters in 2015

(Newser) - Paramount confirmed yesterday that a new Terminator trilogy is indeed in the works, reports AP . It isn't saying whether Arnold Schwarzenegger will be back in the lead role, but the star himself seems to have let that slip earlier this month, notes the BBC . "I'm very happy...

US Schooner Vanishes Off New Zealand

The last eerie call came in June 3

(Newser) - Six Americans and a Brit have vanished without a trace on the high seas between New Zealand and Australia, aboard the 70-foot vessel the Nina, CNN reports.The crew was last heard from on June 4 while battling rough conditions—68mph gusts and waves as high as 26 feet—about...

Aussie PM Defeated in Duel to the Political Death

Rudd defeats Gillard 57-45, takes back power again

(Newser) - The long struggle between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd for leadership of Australia's Labor Party—and subsequently Australia—is finally over, with Rudd defeating Gillard to take the reins once again. Rudd won a party caucus vote 57 to 45, after Gillard—who ousted Rudd as prime minister in...

Australia, Japan Take Whaling Brawl to the Hague

Legal battle in UN court could end annual hunt for good

(Newser) - Japan and Australia have begun battling it out in the UN's International Court of Justice over the former's annual whale hunt. Commercial whaling was banned in 1986, but Japan continues to kill minke and fin whales for what it argues is legitimate scientific research, reports the AP . "...

UN to Australia: You Have Year to Protect Barrier Reef

Will be listed as 'in danger' if government doesn't curb development, pollution

(Newser) - Australia's Great Barrier Reef may lose its world heritage status if the country doesn't clean up its act. UNESCO has postponed a decision to put the 133,000-square-mile coral reef system on its " World Heritage in Danger " list, giving the Australian and Queensland governments a year...

Cell Network Wiped Out by ... Beer Fridge

Engineers say motor's electric sparks caused blackout

(Newser) - Beer truly is the cause of (and solution to) all of life's problems. Or at least this problem: An Aussie telecom company investigating the cause of network blackouts near Melbourne tracked the disturbance to ... a bloke's beer fridge. Technicians believe electric sparks emitted from the fridge's motor...

'Neither' Now an Acceptable Gender in Australia

Person who doesn't identify as male or female wins court case

(Newser) - You don't have to be a man or a woman in Australia anymore if you don't want to be. An appeals court today ruled in favor of a Sydney activist who goes only by the first name Norrie, who identifies as "neuter," and who wants to...

For a Better Life, Head to...
 For a Better Life, Head to... 
May 28, 2013 12:41 PM CDT

For a Better Life, Head to...

...Australia, once again

(Newser) - If you're in search of a "better life," consider moving to Australia, which is ranked atop the Better Life Index for the third year running . The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development compiles the annual list by looking at areas including the economy, income levels, health, safety,...

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