Australia

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Aussie Stars Play New Venue: the Mailbox

Kidman, Crowe, Blanchett, Rush featured on 'legends' stamp collection

(Newser) - Australian movie stars Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, and Geoffrey Rush have been honored by their country with postage stamps in their likenesses, the Daily Telegraph reports. The actors have been named Australia Post’s 2009 Australian Legends, and each will have two stamps. “I’m going to...

Fishermen Rescued After 25 Days in a Floating Cooler

Men say rainwater and fish kept them alive

(Newser) - Aussie authorities are probing the story of a pair of Burmese fishermen found floating in an industrial-sized cooler, the Independent reports. The men were rescued after a customs aircraft spotting them waving frantically. They told officials they had been adrift for 25 days after their fishing boat sunk in heavy...

Once-Richest Aussie Dumps His Playthings

With fortune halved by downturn, James Packer selling $50M yacht, postpones pool

(Newser) - The recession is forcing one of Australia's richest men to cut back on the playboy life, the Sunday Telegraph reports. James Packer, son of media mogul Kerry Packer, is selling his $50 million yacht, halting the construction of a $3 million pool complex at his family home, and pushing back...

Aussies Are World's Rudest Employees

Americans, Britons most easily offended

(Newser) - Australian businesspeople are the rudest in the world—or so says a new study, Reuters reports. Aussies are more likely than their peers in other countries to curse, talk loudly, and take personal calls on the job—actions considered grave violations of workplace etiquette in nations like the US and...

Aussie 'Tough Love' Upends Aboriginal Society

Government push to stop alcoholism, violence erodes power of tribal elders

(Newser) - Australia's controversial "tough love" program is toppling the Aborigines' traditional social structure, the Wall Street Journal reports. The government's effort to tackle rampant violence, child abuse, and alcoholism among Aborigines by banning alcohol sales and supplying welfare payments in credit for food and other essentials instead of cash has...

Aussies Snap Over Shark Terror
 Aussies Snap Over Shark Terror 
Jan 13, 2009 5:04 AM CST

Aussies Snap Over Shark Terror

Series of attacks mars Australia's summer

(Newser) - A series of shark attacks in Australia has triggered a summer of terror and a national debate over whether it makes sense to continue to protect one of nature's most implacable predators. Three people were attacked in a single 48-hour period last month, reports Time. All that was found of...

Kidman Isn't 'Proud' of Job in Australia

(Newser) - Nicole Kidman “squirmed” through the Sydney premier of her movie, Australia, and fled the country soon after, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. “I can't look at this movie and be proud of what I've done,” the actress said. “It's just impossible for me to connect to...

Perv Robs Sex Shop, Gets Down With Dolls

Burglar fornicates with dolls in alleyway

(Newser) - Australian police are hunting for a pervert who has twice broken into a Queensland sex shop and had sex with blow-up dolls, the Cairns Post reports. Both times, the deviant smashed a hole in the wall to gain entry to Laneway Adult Shop, stole several sex dolls and copulated with...

On Green Menu: Roos &amp; Camels
 On Green Menu: Roos & Camels 
Jan 5, 2009 5:34 AM CST

On Green Menu: Roos & Camels

Studies say beef emits greenhouse gases

(Newser) - Australians are being advised to save the planet by eating kangaroos and camels. A study of Australia's 1 million wild camels, descendants of camels imported as pack animals, recommends that their numbers be culled by hunting them for food, AFP reports. A separate study suggests that kangaroos be farmed...

World Bids 2008 Good Riddance
 World Bids 2008 Good Riddance 
Dec 31, 2008 9:57 AM CST

World Bids 2008 Good Riddance

Revelers hope 2009 will bring better luck

(Newser) - Fireworks exploded over Sydney's shimmering harbor today, as the world's first major city to ring in 2009 celebrated the end of a rocky year with cheers, beers, and a sense of relief. "I'm looking forward to 2009," said a spectator. "Because it can't get much worse."...

Aussie Vanishes in Shark's Jaws

Was longtime advocate of shark protection

(Newser) - A missing Australian snorkeler looks to have been the victim of a brutal shark attack, the Guardian reports. Bystanders saw a dorsal fin and a struggle before the water turned red and the man disappeared off western Australia; his tattered wetsuit surfaced later.  An aerial search later spotted a...

Dolphins' Hunting Tools Mostly Used by Females

Dolphin moms pass skills on to daughters; males do their own thing

(Newser) - Beside humans, few other animals use tools to get their everyday chores done. Even fewer of them are marine mammals, so researchers in Australia were surprised to catch bottlenose dolphins employing conical sponges to dig in the seafloor. Mostly female dolphins use the snout-protectors, and only if their mothers showed...

Aussies Elude Attempt to Serve Papers Via Facebook

Couple hid profile before attorney could act

(Newser) - The Australian debtors who were the object of a judge’s ruling that legal documents could be served via Facebook have remained one step ahead of the law, Ars Technica reports. After verifying the home-loan defaulters’ full names, birthdates, and “friend status” on their profile pages, an innovative attorney...

Congratulations, You've Been SuperServed!

Legal notifications on Facebook OK with Aussie supreme court

(Newser) - Australians can add legal judgments to the list of goodies their Facebook “friends” can send them. In what appears to be a global first, a Supreme Court judge today ruled that notices of default judgments—cases that don’t require defendants to appear—may be served on Facebook, the...

Dementia Patients Often Can't Detect Sarcasm

New tests could help with diagnoses

(Newser) - People suffering from dementia often can't pick up on sarcasm, a finding that could help with diagnoses and in improving patients' relations with caregivers, AFP reports. Australian researchers say patients under age 65 suffering from frontotemporal dementia, the second most common form of the disorder, were unable to detect sarcastic...

Four Christmases Tops for Week No. 2
 Four Christmases 
 Tops for Week No. 2 
BOX OFFICE ROUNDUP
Dec 7, 2008 3:06 PM CST

Four Christmases Tops for Week No. 2

Twilight sinks teeth into second place

(Newser) - Four Christmases stayed north of the competition on a typically slow post-Thanksgiving box office weekend with $18.2 million, Entertainment Weekly reports. Twilight ($13.2 million), Bolt ($9.7 million), Australia ($7 million), and Quantum of Solace ($6.6 million) rounded out the top five, but new release Punisher: War ...

British Airways in Merger Talks with Qantas

Shares soar 12% on news

(Newser) - British Airways is in talks with Australia's Qantas Airways about a potential merger, the firm said today, sending its shares soaring as it fueled expectations of consolidation in the hard-hit aviation industry. Already pursuing a revenue-sharing deal with American Airlines and Spain's Iberia SA, BA said it’s exploring a...

A Romantic, Jackman Is People's Sexiest

His 12-year marriage has easily kept its spark, actor says

(Newser) - Hugh Jackman, the 40-year-old actor starring in Australia with Nicole Kidman, has been declared 2008’s Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine—and by his wife of 12 years, who, when told of the honor, said, “‘I could've told them that years ago!" But she followed quickly,...

Toxic Toads Wiping Out Aussie Crocs
Toxic Toads Wiping Out Aussie Crocs
Nov 19, 2008 1:53 AM CST

Toxic Toads Wiping Out Aussie Crocs

Freshwater crocodiles munch on invaders with fatal results

(Newser) - Poisonous cane toads are proving more than a match for Australia's freshwater crocodiles, AFP reports. The toads are hopping their way into the crocs' northern Australia territory in huge numbers, killing off all who opt to make a meal of the invaders. Toad poisoning has already cut the numbers of...

Our Not-So-Distant Relatives: Kangaroos

Scientists decode marsupial's genome, find much in common with humans

(Newser) - The kangaroo genome has much in common with that of humans, the Telegraph reports. Scientists in Australia, under the auspices of the Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics, have completed mapping the marsupial’s genetic code. “There are a few differences, we have a few more of this, a...

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