Australia scored three tries and shut out a toothless Welsh team to win their rugby union international 31-0 in Brisbane on Saturday. Leading only 6-0 after a dour first half, the Wallabies cut loose in the second 40 minutes to demoralise a second-string Welsh outfit.
Jamaican police are to announce that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not murdered as they had initially stated, Britain’s Daily Mail said on Saturday. Citing a source close to the inquiry, the newspaper says Jamaican authorities will say they are no longer treating the death suspiciously.
An Australian hotel catering for homosexuals has won the right to ban heterosexuals from its bars so as to provide a safe and comfortable venue for gay men. The Victorian state civil and administrative tribunal ruled last week that the Peel Hotel in the southern city of Melbourne could exclude patrons based on their sexuality.
France named an inexperienced side on Wednesday for the first Test against New Zealand in Auckland on Saturday. Coach Bernard Laporte was denied the services of players from Toulouse, Biarritz, Clermont Auvergne and Stade Francais because of the conclusion of the French championship.
An Australian doctor on a trans-Pacific flight was upgraded to first class and given a bottle of vintage champagne after delivering a baby for a Brazilian who didn’t even know she was pregnant, news reports said on Sunday. The mid-air birth was even more remarkable because it brought together an eminent obstetrician with a complex breech birth.
An Australian <i>Star Wars</i> fan has been left regretting his brush with "the Force" after police arrested him for carrying a toy laser. The 32-year-old was walking through central Melbourne on Thursday when the pistol-shaped laser poking out of his backpack sparked a security scare at the city’s Crown Casino.
Bill Johnston, a member of Don Bradman’s 1948 ”Invincibles”, has died at the age of 85, Cricket Australia announced on May 25. Johnston was a versatile left-arm bowler who played 40 Tests for Australia between 1947 and 1955, capturing 160 wickets at an average of 23,91.
Huddled around a campfire in a community deemed unworthy of inclusion on Australia’s official maps, Aboriginal elder Dick Brown reflects on a vote that ended the practice of counting his people among Australia’s flora and fauna. "We thought that it would change for the better," Brown says without rancour when asked about the 40th anniversary of a landmark vote that recognised Aborigines as full Australian citizens for the first time.
Aborigine Jackie Huggins remembers when she was regarded as part of Australia’s native wildlife. As a young girl, Huggins was not counted as part of the Australian population. Back then Aborigines existed only under the country’s flora and fauna laws. On Sunday, Aborigines will celebrate the 40th anniversary of a 1967 vote that extended Australian citizenship to Aborigines.
Australians pay millions of dollars for an apartment overlooking famous Bondi Beach, but only the ”Bondi Caveman” enjoys the panoramic water view for free. Jhyimy Mhiyles has camped rough for the past five years on Bondi’s southern headland.
Australia’s most notorious outlaw Ned Kelly, dead for 126 years, is again eluding authorities. Kelly, who became a folk hero of Australia’s colonial past with his gangs’ daring bank robberies and police shoot-outs, was hanged for his crimes in 1880 and buried in a mass prison grave.
Former Wallabies’ coach Eddie Jones Monday parted company with Super 14 wooden spooners Queensland Reds by what Queensland Rugby said was ”mutual agreement”. Jones, who was axed as Wallabies coach in late 2005 after a series of poor results, offered his resignation to QRU chairperson Peter Lewis.
Samoa beat Fiji 8-3 in a low-scoring match in Apia on Sunday to win the opening game of this season’s expanded Pacific Nations Cup. Open-side flanker Alapasa Cordtz scored the only try of the match. His teammate, Gavin Williams, and Fiji fullback Taniela Rawaqa traded penalties.
George Gregan has been sacked as Wallabies captain for the 2007 international season, ending his record run as Australia’s longest-serving Test skipper. The 34-year-old scrumhalf was selected in a 30-man squad for Australia’s seven Tests leading up to this year’s World Cup, but not as captain.
All-rounder Shahid Afridi smashed 73 off just 34 balls to lead Pakistan to a five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first of three one-day internationals in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Pakistan, playing for the first time since their disappointing World Cup campaign and the mysterious death of their coach Bob Woolmer, reached their target of 236 with eight overs to spare.
Water shortages facing Australia’s drought-hit prime agricultural area might be worse than expected, the government was told on Wednesday, as river towns braced for unprecedented restrictions on water use. Prime Minister John Howard in April urged Australians to pray for rain.
A survey of 45 of the world’s top cricketers say most players were not impressed by this year’s World Cup and have little faith in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) ability to govern the game. The survey found 56% of players were both not satisfied by the ICC’s ability to deliver World Cup events and lacked confidence in the ICC governing cricket.
Cricket Australia said on Tuesday its suggestion that a banned tour of Zimbabwe could proceed at a neutral venue was scrapped after the host nation’s top cricket official rejected the idea. ”We can now say definitely that the series will not be happening inside or outside Zimbabwe,” a spokesperson said.
The Australian government says it would be surprised if Zimbabwe accepted an offer to play Australia at a neutral venue after the ”humiliation” of being boycotted. The Australian government ordered the national team to cancel their scheduled three-match tour of Zimbabwe in September to protest against President Robert Mugabe’s regime.
Cricket Australia wants to play Zimbabwe at a neutral venue after the government on Sunday barred the team from three one-day international games. Prime Minister John Howard announced the ban on the tour, saying it would be an ”enormous propaganda boost” for the regime of Robert Mugabe.
Through wars, disasters and coups, foreign correspondent Kate Webb chronicled the turbulent birth of modern Asia, becoming a media legend who had the eerie experience of reading her own obituary. Webb, who died of cancer on May 13 at 64, covered many of Asia’s seminal events of the last four decades with a keen eye for the real story.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has ordered the country’s national cricket team to cancel their planned tour of Zimbabwe later this year. The Australian government had previously outlined its determination to scrap the tour in protest over Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s regime.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard called on Friday for international cricket authorities to take a stand against Zimbabwe as he compared the tactics of President Robert Mugabe to those of the World War II Nazis. The Australian government is considering legal action to prevent the country’s world champion cricket team from touring Zimbabwe in September.
An Australian cricket tour to Zimbabwe would be a propaganda victory for President Robert Mugabe’s regime, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Thursday. Downer said he would try to convince officials that Australia’s cricketers would be providing comfort to a ”pretty barbaric dictatorship”.
Test cricketer Vusi Sibanda has urged Cricket Australia to honour its commitment to Zimbabwe and play its scheduled three-match tour of the troubled Southern African nation in September. The Australian government and Cricket Australia are set to meet on Thursday to discuss the limited-overs tour with Prime Minister John Howard.
A tour of Zimbabwe by Australia’s World Cup-winning cricketers would be a propaganda coup for President Robert Mugabe and the team should not go, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Monday. Western governments have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe to protest Mugabe’s human rights record.
New Zealand lock Ali Williams has been dumped from Auckland’s Super 14 squad because off repeated bad behaviour, including drinking alcohol on the night before matches. The Auckland Blues released a statement on Monday announcing Williams had been sent home from South Africa after ”recent late night excursions”.
The Auckland Blues booked their place in the semifinals of the Super 14 rugby competition when they beat the Western Force 33-6 on Friday. Despite being early pace-setters this season, three consecutive losses had put the Blues’ semifinal chances in jeopardy.
The Australian government signalled on Friday that it is likely to call on the country’s world champion cricketers to cancel a planned tour of Zimbabwe this year. Prime Minister John Howard, a strong critic of the regime of President Robert Mugabe, said the government would pay fines of up to ,6-million, which could be imposed by the International Cricket Council.
A young Australian diplomat was mauled by lions at a wildlife park in Zimbabwe, but survived because her boyfriend scared the animals away, a report said on Sunday. Gemma Huggins (27) was visiting the lion and cheetah park outside Harare when a lion grabbed her by the head and shook her, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Crematoriums in Australia are installing super-size furnaces to deal with the super-size coffins needed to contain super-size corpses, news reports said on Sunday. More than half of all Australian men are overweight or obese and almost half of all women.
The ACT Brumbies kept their slim Super 14 semifinal hopes alive and prevented defending champions Canterbury Crusaders from booking a home play-off match with a 15-6 win on Saturday. Wallabies flyhalf Stephen Larkham kicked a dropped goal with three minutes left to clinch the Brumbies’ fourth straight win.