Australia

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Filing Cabinets' Keys Were Lost. Drilled Open, Secrets Emerged

Australia has a security mess on its hands

(Newser) - The Australian government on Wednesday launched an urgent investigation into the loss of thousands of classified documents that were sold with two second-hand filing cabinets, reports the AP . The cabinets were sold by a Canberra furniture shop at a discount price because they were locked and no one could find...

They Were Being Pounded by Waves. Then the Drone Came

'Little Ripper' helped save 2 teen boys in rough surf off Australia

(Newser) - In what the deputy premier of New South Wales is calling a "historic" rescue, two teens were saved from choppy surf thanks to a drone that dropped an inflatable safety device to them—all as it recorded the rescue. The BBC reports that Aussie lifeguards were still testing how...

Missing Teen Found After Father Hires Helicopter

Hunch may have saved Australian's life

(Newser) - The father of a teenager who spent 30 hours trapped in a car wreck in Australian woods says he followed his intuition by hiring a helicopter that found his seriously injured son. Samuel Lethbridge, 17, remained in a hospital in serious condition with multiple fractures two days after the crash....

US Tourist Dies After 'Foolish' Move in Australia

Police say he ran from companion on sweltering hike

(Newser) - A US tourist has died while hiking in what police call "a beautiful but harsh environment" in Central Australia. The 33-year-old California man and a 40-year-old companion were descending Mount Sonder on a 10-mile hike Wednesday when they became separated. A Northern Territory police superintendent tells ABC Australia the...

Girl Known for Australian Hat Ads Commits Suicide

Amy 'Dolly' Everett was 14

(Newser) - Featured in an ad campaign for Australian hat company Akubra when she was 8, Amy "Dolly" Everett was the face of the unmistakable outback hat, the BBC reports. Last week, at the age of 14, Dolly killed herself. "I know for some suicide is considered cowardly but I...

Australia Is So Hot That Bats Are 'Boiling'

Nation's extreme heat taking a toll on flying foxes

(Newser) - This is the other-side-of-the-world counterpoint to the bizarre sight of frozen iguanas in last week's deep freeze in the US: Hundreds of bats in Australia are essentially boiling to death in the nation's extreme heat . A conservation group near Sydney, where temperatures recently reached 117 degrees, says that...

Dying Woman's Advice for Living Touches Thousands

Holly Butcher wanted us to 'enjoy the bloody moment'

(Newser) - They're simple words of advice from a 27-year-old Australian woman, but they've touched thousands around the world. News.com.au reports on an emotional letter penned by Holly Butcher, who died Thursday, months after she was diagnosed with a terminal cancer. The note—which family members were instructed...

Sydney Just Had Its Hottest Day in 80 Years

It reached 117 degrees in Australia

(Newser) - Even as much of the United States remains in a deep freeze, temperatures on the other side of the world are reaching near-record highs. In Sydney, Australia, the thermometer topped out at 117.14 degrees Fahrenheit Sunday, falling just short of the record-setting 118 degrees that struck the city back...

A Mystery Powder Arrived in the Mail. It Almost Killed 9

Backpackers hospitalized Tuesday in Australia in state of 'agitated delirium'

(Newser) - Nine backpackers from four countries were sent to hospitals in Australia this week, including at least three who were on life support Wednesday, after snorting a white powder sent through the mail. Seven men and two women, ages 21 to 25, snorted a white powder they assumed was cocaine around...

7 Have Died in This Plane—in 2 Crashes

1996 incident preceded New Year's Eve crash near Sydney

(Newser) - When a seaplane crashed near Sydney on New Year's Eve, killing the pilot, a British businessman, and his four family members, it was, in a sense, deja vu. According to the Sydney Morning Herald , a pilot died when the same aircraft crashed in 1996 in Armidale, more than 250...

Compass Group CEO Dies in Plane Crash

Richard Cousins and his family were on vacation in Australia

(Newser) - A prominent British businessman and his family have been identified as victims of a seaplane crash in Australia, the AP reports. Officials said Monday that Compass Group CEO Richard Cousins, his fiancée and her daughter, and his two sons were killed. Australian pilot Gareth Morgan from the tour company...

Thousands Flee Australia Fireworks Mishap

Barge carrying pyrotechnics caught fire

(Newser) - New Year's Eve went off with more of a blast than expected for thousands of Australians as a fireworks display went badly wrong. A barge carrying fireworks at Terrigal Beach, New South Wales, caught fire soon after the display began, causing fireworks to go off at random, some of...

Vandals Smash 115M-Year-Old Dinosaur Footprint

Print was in one of the only known polar dinosaur sites

(Newser) - Some 115 million years ago in what is now South Australia, a theropod dinosaur left a footprint that remained through the ages until this month, when somebody deliberately smashed it. Officials say they were "disheartened" to discover the vandalism at the famous Flat Rocks site in Victoria state. "...

Behind California Drug Lord's Downfall: a Beheading Video

Owen Hanson sentenced to 21 years in prison for drug operation

(Newser) - Owen "O-Dog" Hanson played on the same championship-winning USC football team as future NFL stars Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, but he would ultimately take a very different career path. The 35-year-old California man was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to racketeering...

Australian Sub 'on Eternal Patrol Since 1914' Is Found

HMAS AE-1 found off Papua New Guinea's Duke of York Islands

(Newser) - Thirteenth time's the charm. The first Allied submarine lost in World War I, and Australia's first sub lost ever, has finally been found on the 13th search mission for a vessel that vanished more than a century ago. The HMAS AE-1 was spotted by an underwater drone in...

SUV Rams Crowd of Christmas Shoppers, Injures 19

Australian police say it was a deliberate act

(Newser) - In what Australian authorities are calling a deliberate "act of evil," an SUV plowed into Christmas shoppers on one of Melbourne's busiest streets Thursday afternoon, injuring at least 19 people. Authorities say at least a dozen people were hospitalized after the attack outside Flinders Street station, including...

Same-Sex Couples Tie the Knot in Australia

Two couples made history this weekend

(Newser) - Two female couples tied the knot in Australia's first same-sex weddings under new legislation allowing gay marriages, the AP reports. Jan. 9 had been expected to be the first possible date for same-sex weddings due to a four-week waiting period since the landmark law was passed, but the two...

Aussies Charge Guy With Trying to Hawk N. Korean Missile Tech

South Korean-born man was trying to raise cash on behalf of Pyongyang, cops say

(Newser) - Australia on Saturday arrested one of its own citizens and charged him with acting as an economic agent on behalf of North Korea in attempting to sell the Hermit Kingdom's missile technology, reports the New York Times . South Korean-born Chan Han Choi, 59, was "discussing the supply of...

Child Abuse Probe Attacks Catholic Priests' Celibacy

Australian commission slams 'catastrophic failures'

(Newser) - An Australian inquiry into child abuse on Friday recommended that the Catholic Church lift its demand of celibacy from clergy and that priests be prosecuted for failing to report evidence of pedophilia heard in the confessional. Australia's Royal Commission into Institution Responses to Child Sexual Abuse delivered its final...

Australia's Novel Move Against Pedophiles Gets Results

Man arrested at Sydney Airport a day after law went into effect

(Newser) - A law that Australia is hailing as the first of its kind went into effect Wednesday—and was immediately put to use. With an eye on the relative ease with which the country's convicted pedophiles have been able to travel throughout Southeast Asia, where children are typically more vulnerable...

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