Australia braced for the second powerful cyclone to strike in two weeks as a major storm bore down on the country’s mineral-rich west coast, forcing a halt to some mining and oil drilling operations in the region. Cyclone Glenda was upgraded to the highest category-five tropical storm overnight but later weakened slightly to a category-four.
Martin Bryant, the millionaire loner who slaughtered 35 people at a scenic Australian spot in 1996, has fulfilled the prediction of psychologists and is settling into his 10th year in prison as a lifeless hulk. ”Martin is like a zombie,” his mother, Carleen Bryant, told The Bulletin magazine in a story published on Tuesday.
Australian authorities are beefing up the country’s fight against spam e-mail with a new code of practice for internet service providers and e-mail companies, officials said on Tuesday. The code of practice comes on top of an anti-spam law passed in 2004 that mandates fines of up to Aus,1-million ( 000) for people sending unsolicited e-mail.
A new study shows there is no justification for scientific whaling programmes under which thousands of the mammals have been killed in the name of research, Australia’s environment minister said on Tuesday. Ian Campbell said he would take the results of a 10-year research project in the oceans around Australia’s Antarctic Territory to the next International Whaling Commission meeting in June.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair caused a stir back home on Monday after suggesting he may have made a mistake by stating publicly that he would not stand for a fourth term in office. Blair’s remarks were made in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday sought to dispel views that he is an unquestioning ally of the United States and condemned growing anti-Americanism as a hindrance to closer global ties. Solving the world’s problems needed an "active foreign policy of engagement, not isolation" between countries, the British Labour Party leader told lawmakers.
Researchers conducted a test flight in the Australian Outback on Saturday of a supersonic jet intended to travel at speeds of up to 8 000kph. The ,42-million project was launched by researchers at the University of Queensland in the remote community of Woomera, about 500km north of the South Australian state capital, Adelaide.
The New South Wales (NSW) Waratahs smashed the Auckland Blues 43-9 to pick up a bonus point and move to the top of the Super 14 ladder here on Friday. The Waratahs leapt above the Canterbury Crusaders in their four-tries-to-nil thrashing of the inconsistent Blues to underline their claims to go one better than last year’s final loss to the Crusaders.
Australia has failed to make any significant progress over the past 30 years on improving the education of Aboriginal people, by far the country’s most disadvantaged group, according to a survey released on Friday. The survey of about 2 500 students in Western Australia state found that Aboriginal students started school at a disadvantage to non-Aboriginal children and the gap only widened during their years in the classroom.
South Africa’s golden duo of high-jump queen Anika Smit and 400m hurdles sensation LJ van Zyl spearheaded Team South Africa’s seven-medal haul at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne on Thursday. South Africa’s medal success on the eighth day of the 10-day event saw the country regain fifth spot on the medals table.
The head of the United Nations’s probe into illegal kickbacks paid to Iraq under the oil-for-food programme found the Australian government initially uncooperative and reticent to provide information. The Australian panel examining the discredited programme was told that Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had at first prevented the UN from interviewing government officials over the scandal.
Ivana Edwards’s friends and neighbours laughed when she and her husband built their steel-reinforced concrete house 20 years ago to withstand any weather that tropical northern Australia could throw at them. But as category-five Cyclone Larry arrived, she knew they had been right.
Shooter Diane Swanton won South Africa’s seventh gold of the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday but was pushed all the way to the women’s trap title by a heavily pregnant rival. The 25-year-old from Pretoria marked her Games debut with a score of 92, six better than Rebecca Madyson who took silver for Malta with 86.
Troops headed for cyclone-devastated north-east Australia on Tuesday as Prime Minister John Howard pledged quick aid for those left homeless or without power by the country’s worst storm in decades. Cyclone Larry hit the Queensland coast as a highest-level category-five storm on Monday, destroying hundreds of homes.
The most powerful cyclone to hit Australia in decades smashed into the country’s north-east coast on Monday, leaving hundreds homeless and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Packing winds up to 290kph Tropical Cyclone Larry tore roofs off houses, uprooted trees and terrified residents.
The Canterbury Crusaders are making a sterling early-season defence of their southern hemisphere rugby title. The Christchurch, New Zealand-based Crusaders, winners of the final Super 12 title last season, are perfect after six matches in the expanded Super 14, beating South Africa’s Cats 43-15 on Friday to open the sixth round.
Disabled South African swimmer Natalie du Toit smashed the amputee world record in the 50m freestyle twice in a day at the Commonwealth Games on Friday. Du Toit broke her own record with a new best of 29,32 seconds in the morning semifinal and then smashed it again with 29,27 in winning the night final.
Olympic champions South Africa backed up their pre-Games taunts towards Australia on Thursday with a Commonwealth Games record swimming performance in the 4x100m men’s relay that ended the host nation’s 28-year stranglehold on the event.
Australian gamblers relearnt an old lesson along with the nation’s cricketers in this week’s record-breaking one-day international in Johannesburg: there’s no such thing as a certainty. Three punters lost Aus 000 (about R263 000) betting that South Africa could not beat Australia’s record one-day total of 434.
Disabled swimmer Natalie du Toit will carry the flag for the South African team at Wednesday’s Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, team officials said on Tuesday. Du Toit took the place of 800m runner Mbulaeni Mulaudzi after he spiked his right foot during the final of the World Indoors event in Moscow.
The tackling technique of Test forward Adrian Morley is again under scrutiny after he received a two-match National Rugby League ban for a high tackle in a club match last weekend. The Sydney Roosters had considered appealing the severity of Morley’s grade-three careless high tackle charge on South Sydney scrum-half Ben Walker but decided to accept a two-game ban.
Australia’s trade minister said on Sunday there have been ”no substantial breakthroughs” at a London meeting of ministers from six of the world’s largest commercial powers, and warned that an enormous amount of work is needed to break a deadlock in global trade talks by next month’s deadline.
The Wellington Hurricanes put a week of internal strife behind them to score two late tries to down the Western Stormers and stay in the hunt after Super 14 leaders and tournament favourites Canterbury Crusaders this weekend. Australia’s ACT Brumbies remain unbeaten with a tense 35-30 win over South Africa’s Coastal Sharks.
Mat Rogers scored a stepping, weaving try which Peter Hewat converted, before crossing for a try himself from the restart as the New South Wales Waratahs thrashed the Cats 50-3 on Friday in a Super 14 match. Rogers opened the scoring in the 6th minute when he stepped inside two defenders on his way to the try line.
The anti-drugs programme at Melbourne’s Commonwealth Games will be the toughest ever, with almost one in four athletes facing dope tests over the next fortnight, organisers said on Thursday. ”This is the most comprehensive programme we have ever had in place,” Games chief executive Mike Hooper said.
The oath-laden slogan of Australia’s new tourism campaign — ”So where the bloody hell are you?” — has been banned in Britain. The decision by Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority was announced in Australia on Thursday and will keep the Aus-million (-million) campaign off British television screens.
The ACT Brumbies are searching for more clinical finishing to realise maximum points against South Africa’s Coastal Sharks as they try to make up some ground on Super 14 rugby leaders Canterbury Crusaders this weekend. The innovative Brumbies will again have home-ground advantage against the 10th-placed Sharks.
Test cricket’s greatest wicket-taker Shane Warne has admitted his off-field antics with a series of women cost him not only his marriage but also a chance to captain Australia. In a candid interview with The Bulletin magazine, the spin wizard describes himself variously as ”an idiot” and ”a dickhead” for his well-publicised extra-marital sexual escapades.
Australia on Tuesday recalled three Ashes casualties in Damien Martyn, Michael Clarke and Michael Kasprowicz but snubbed fellow discard Jason Gillespie’s push for a ticket to South Africa. Selectors instead named Shaun Tait in a 14-man Test squad which had no room for batsman Brad Hodge and New South Wales quick Nathan Bracken.
Wallaby star Mat Rogers will make his first Super 14 start at flyhalf this weekend when the New South Wales Waratahs face off against South Africa’s Golden Cats in Sydney, the team announced on Tuesday. Rogers missed the opening three Super 14 rounds following the suicide of his father and former rugby league great Steve Rogers in January.
Star swimmer Ian Thorpe will skip the Commonwealth Games due to illness. Thorpe, a multiple Olympic and world championship gold medalist, has bronchitis and a viral infection. ”It is very frustrating, it is very disappointing that I cannot be part of the team competing in Melbourne,” a tired looking Thorpe said on Tuesday.
A record 4 500 athletes from 71 nations will compete in 16 sports in the biggest Commonwealth Games yet staged, getting underway in Melbourne next week. Fifty years after hosting the Olympic Games, Australia’s second-biggest city of 3,5-million people will host the fourth Commonwealth Games in Australia.