Australia

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Aussie Town Battling Insane 'Hairy Panic' Tumbleweed

Wangaratta residents blame a negligent farmer

(Newser) - Roof-high swarms of tumbleweed are attacking a town in Australia and "it's not funny anymore," a resident tells the BBC . For some time, residents of Wangaratta in rural Victoria have been forced to spend hours a day digging out homes and cars buried beneath a fast-growing tumbleweed...

World's Nuclear Waste Could Find Home in Australian Outback

Storage in South Australia could bring in $183B

(Newser) - If the world is looking for another dumping ground for its nuclear waste, it may soon find a willing volunteer in South Australia. A report by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission offered tentative findings that storing spent fuel rods—429,900 tons now being temporarily stored in areas around...

$900M in Meth Found in Bra Inserts

Australian police make huge bust

(Newser) - In one of the biggest drug busts in Australian history, law enforcement agencies discovered $1.26 billion Australian dollars ($900 million US) worth of methylamphetamine hidden in imported boxes of silicone bra inserts and art supplies, officials say. Four Hong Kong passport holders were arrested in Sydney last month over...

Backpackers Escape Horrific Kidnap-Assault on Remote Beach
 Backpackers 
 Escape Living 
 Nightmare on 
 Remote Beach 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Feb 14, 2016 10:29 AM CST

Backpackers Escape Living Nightmare on Remote Beach

Naked woman running for help had 'blood all over'

(Newser) - Two female backpackers have escaped a living nightmare near Adelaide, Australia. Police say a German and Brazilian, both in their 20s, met a man in a rural area of South Australia who drove them to a remote beach campsite in Coorong National Park on Tuesday, per 7 News and the...

Man Vows to Keep Potato-Only Diet for a Year

Andrew Taylor says he's already lost 30 pounds in 2016

(Newser) - A little over 40 days into 2016, Andrew Taylor has lost more than 30 pounds eating as much as he likes. The catch: He's only eating potatoes. The Australian man—who weighed 333 pounds at the start of the year—says he decided to go on a spud diet...

Two Birds Might Be Purposely Starting Wildfires in Australia

Which opens the possibility that humans weren't the first to tame fire

(Newser) - Two species of birds might be deliberately starting wildfires in Australia, the Tech Times reports. This might seem outlandish, but cultural geographer Mark Bonta tells Newsweek it's "standard knowledge" among the aboriginal community and firefighters in northern Australia. According to the Washington Post , birds of prey are known...

WWII Sweethearts Share a Squeeze—70 Years Later

Norwood Thomas, Joyce Morris will spend two weeks together in Australia

(Newser) - It was the hug he'd been waiting 70 years for. World War II vet Norwood Thomas, 93, greeted his wartime sweetheart Joyce Morris, 88, in person on Wednesday for the first time since their brief love affair in London in 1944, per NBC News . "This is about the...

Woman Attends Own Funeral, Shocks Husband Who Ordered Her Murder

He's been sentenced to 9 years

(Newser) - Noela Rukundo had been with her husband, Balenga Kalala, for 11 years when, last year, she flew from their home in Melbourne, Australia, to her native Burundi for her stepmother's funeral. While there, Kalala ordered gang members to have her killed. They abducted her and told her what they...

Aussie Horror: Driver Mows Down 17 Kangaroos

Authorities say tire tracks show it was deliberate

(Newser) - A strip of Australian highway was left strewn with injured and dead kangaroos Monday morning, and animal welfare officials are trying to find out who they say ran them down intentionally, the Guardian reports. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says a driver outside Brisbane purposely...

Study: Ancient Humans Made Giant Bird Go Extinct

The clue was in the eggs

(Newser) - About 50,000 years ago, giant megafauna—such as a "1,000-pound kangaroo" and "Volkswagen-sized tortoise"—roamed Australia, Phys.org reports. Those animals started disappearing around the same time the first humans set foot in the area, likely after arriving aboard boats from Indonesia. Now, for the...

Teen Allegedly Plotted Attack on Cops With Kangaroo Bomb

Aussie prosecutors say he was inspired by ISIS

(Newser) - April 25 is usually a day of solemn remembrance in Australia for those who've taken part in the country's wars, but this year's ceremonies may have come perilously close to being marred by a teen bent on terror. Prosecutors say 19-year-old Sevdet Besim plotted an attack to...

Brilliant Thieves Suck Bus Fuel— Er, No, Sewage

Mmmppfpfffpfpf

(Newser) - Turns out that stealing gas from a tour bus is more nuanced than one might think, as demonstrated by a would-be thief or set of thieves earlier this month in Australia. In what the Mirror refers to as a simple case of "mixing up poo and petrol," Laverton...

WWII Sweethearts to Reunite on Valentine's Day

Norwood Thomas hopes to give his wartime girlfriend a 'squeeze'

(Newser) - Norwood Thomas' reunion with his wartime girlfriend was incredible, but it came with one major drawback: "I can't take you in my arms and give you a squeeze," the 93-year-old World War II vet told Joyce Morris, 88, during a Skype call in November. "Well, we'...

MH370 Search Finds a Very Old Wreck

But not the one they were looking for: still no sign of Flight 370

(Newser) - The undersea search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has found a second 19th-century shipwreck deep in the Indian Ocean off the west Australian coast, officials say. A sonar search about 1,600 miles southwest of the Australian port of Fremantle found what appeared to be a man-made...

Lego Changes Policy on Using Bricks for Politics

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei can now get his Lego bricks in bulk

(Newser) - Whether it was a genuine change of heart, the #legosforweiwei hashtag, or other public backlash, the Lego Group is now OK sending piles of its famous bricks to the person who's been called "China's most dangerous man." The company had refused to sell in bulk to...

Starfish-Slaying Robot to Be Deployed Soon

The crown of thorns starfish is killing the Great Barrier Reef

(Newser) - The number of coral-plundering crown of thorns starfish could boom from some 12 million to 60 million over the next four years, the Brisbane Times reports, and for Australia's Great Barrier Reef that would be akin to "a locust plague devastating vegetation," says Glen Holmes, co-author of...

Nudists Save Sinking Boat at Yacht Race

Fans get unexpected twist at Australia's "Sydney to Hobart" race

(Newser) - Ah, a yacht race. Oh, we're taking on water—and being rescued by nudists. Such was the experience of yacht-racing fans whose small wooden boat began sinking near the popular "Sydney to Hobart" race on Boxing Day in Australia, the Telegraph reports. Once yachts departed to start the...

2 'Extinct' Snakes Found Swimming Happily

And they might be mating

(Newser) - Scientists feared the last of Australia's short-nosed sea snakes died about 15 years ago, which makes this new sighting doubly auspicious: A wildlife official snapped a photo of not one but two of the snakes swimming off the western coast—and they were making googly eyes at each other....

Lifeguard Didn't Know He Was Saving Heir to Throne

Nick Malcolm rescued Denmark's Prince Christian, 10, from perilous Aussie riptide

(Newser) - A lifeguard on Australia's Gold Coast saved a 10-year-old boy from rough waters Thursday, except it wasn't just any 10-year-old boy: It was Denmark's Prince Christian, on vacation with his family, 7 News Australia reports. The young heir to the throne was caught in a riptide at...

Mom Finds $9K Meant for ISIS in Son's Dirty Shorts: Prosecutor

Aussie youth to testify against 2 men allegedly trying to transfer money to militants

(Newser) - In a case that had even the judge and prosecutor making money-laundering puns, a young Australian has been granted immunity for testifying against two men allegedly trying to send money to ISIS, the Guardian reports. The unnamed youth's role in the suspected crime: At the supposed directive of 23-year-old...

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