A well-known Australian climber given up for dead near the summit of Mount Everest may still be alive and rescuers are trying to reach him, a colleague said on Friday. Lincoln Hall (50) and one of Australia’s leading climbers, was reported by his Russian expedition leader earlier on Friday to have died on Thursday while descending from the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
The Wallabies will play a more forward-orientated game under new coach John Connolly, team vice-captain Nathan Sharpe said on Wednesday. Connolly has shown his intentions to restore order at the set pieces by appointing noted ”scrum doctor” Alec Evans as an assistant to forwards coach Michael Foley.
Wallabies winger Wendell Sailor on Monday requested that the ”B” sample of his drug test be analysed by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority in the hope the findings will clear his name. The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said the controversial NSW Waratahs winger had informed them of his decision, which had a deadline of late on Monday.
Australian football fans heading for the World Cup in Germany next month have been warned to avoid mocking references to the country’s World War II Nazi history. A travel advisory issued by the Foreign Affairs Department says acts such as making a Nazi salute will not be treated as a joke.
Laurie Fisher signed up to coach the ACT Brumbies for another two years on Wednesday, admitting the Super 14 side faced a challenging time with key players Steve Larkham and George Gregan reaching the end of their careers. ”It’s an important next couple of years as we come to the end of all our first time players,” said Fisher.
Australia’s new national coach on Tuesday brushed aside suggestions that an under-strength England team named for next month’s two-Test rugby tour Down Under will be a pushover for the Wallabies. John Connolly, who coached two English sides before taking over the Wallabies from Eddie Jones at the end of last season, said England’s depth was ”phenomenal” and not to be underrated.
Australian winger Wendell Sailor’s lucrative rugby union career will be finished if positive drug tests are confirmed, and he would also be barred from a return to rugby league. Sailor’s positive drug test could cost him more than Aus-million, media reports said on Monday.
The Australian government indicated on Sunday that it would consider taking back nuclear waste from countries that buy its uranium under a system known as "nuclear-fuel leasing". Prime Minister John Howard is expected to discuss the issue, which aims to limit the possibility of spent fuel being used in weapons, with United States President George Bush.
Australia is so desperate for soldiers that the middle-aged are now being recruited. ”Why can’t we have people who might be well into their 50s, where there’s a whole variety of tasks that might be undertaken that don’t involve flying planes or marching 20km with a backpack?” said Defence Minister Brendan Nelson.
Australia accused Japan and other pro-whaling nations on Thursday of recruiting poor countries to back their push for a resumption of commercial whaling at an international conference next month. Environment Minister Ian Campbell said he fears pro-whaling nations could get the numbers to push through their commercial goal at the next meeting of the International Whaling Commission.
New Zealand is not for sale, despite somebody in neighbouring Australia trying to offload the nation of four million to the highest online bidder. With a starting offer of just one cent, brisk bidding for the prime chunk of South Pacific real estate quickly boosted the price to Aus 000 before eBay pulled the plug on the auction this week.
Aboriginal flags will fly above Australian cricket venues on Friday as Australian cricket recognises the 138th anniversary of its first touring side to England, the 1868 aboriginal team, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Thursday. In what’s planned as an annual initiative, CA and most states and territories associations will fly the flag at their offices or grounds to honour the team.
Mark ”Chopper” Read, the notorious self-confessed Australian hit man whose criminal exploits have inspired books and a movie, has now lent his name to a board game. Using bullet-shaped counters, players cavort through the criminal underworld, visiting brothels, attacking fellow gangsters, evading the police and finally making their way to the island state of Tasmania.
Skinny-dipping is a hallowed part of Australian culture with five of six states setting aside certain beaches for nudists. The odd one out is Queensland, which used to call itself the ”sunshine state” but now, more implausibly, calls itself the ”smart state”.
Five-times champions Canterbury Crusaders are facing a Super 14 acid test against South Africa’s Northern Bulls on Friday in an encounter they must win to keep their title hopes on track. Buffeted by last weekend’s upset defeat to the Western Stormers, the champion New Zealand province suddenly find themselves with their season on the line.
Australian pace bowler Glenn McGrath intends not to heed the advice of his skipper Ricky Ponting and make his cricket comeback in the Champions Trophy one-day tournament in India in October. McGrath, the most successful Test fast bowler with 542 wickets, has not played a game of cricket since his wife Jane was rediagnosed with cancer on February 3.
International housewife superstar Dame Edna Everage issued a tongue-in-cheek rebuttal on Thursday of a claim her alter ego and creator punched a photographer. Australian actor Barry Humphries, who has played the purple-haired character since the 1950s, hit out at a freelance celebrity photographer in Sydney on Wednesday.
Australia have been counting down the days for a rematch with New Zealand after their ignominious 24-0 wipeout in last November’s Tri-Nations rugby league final. The chance to atone for their worst international defeat to the Kiwis comes at Brisbane’s Lang Park Friday in the annual Anzac Test match between rugby league’s two top teams.
Cricket Australia on Friday opened a state-of-the-art facility that its Test team will use as a base while fine-tuning plans to regain the Ashes from England. The new Centre of Excellence in Brisbane includes a video analysis room, a top-class gymnasium and integrated sports science facilities.
A hugely destructive cyclone described as a ”perfect” storm bore down on Monday on the isolated northern Australian city of Darwin, devastated by a killer cyclone in 1974. Packing winds of up to 350kph, Tropical Cyclone Monica was moving relentlessly towards Darwin as it turned towards the coast from the Arafura Sea, the government’s weather bureau said.
Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has labelled the increasingly hectic international Test schedule ”unacceptable” and has demanded more recovery time between matches. Ponting’s side completed a 2-0 series clean sweep against Bangladesh on Thursday but only after the Test minnows came close to a shock win in the first match against an out-of-sorts Australia.
Australia’s inspirational playmaker Stephen Larkham was ruled out of rugby for four to six weeks on Tuesday in a dent to the ACT Brumbies Super 14 hopes and the Wallabies’ Test preparations. The five-eighth said a scan had revealed he had suffered a grade two hamstring tear in the Brumbies’ loss to the Waratahs last Saturday.
Wallabies lock Hugh McMeniman will miss Australia’s midyear rugby internationals, including the Tri-Nations series against New Zealand and South Africa, because of a shoulder injury. McMeniman (22) said on Wednesday he will undergo surgery to repair the injury and related nerve damage, and will not be available for international selection.
Australia on Tuesday rushed Nathan Bracken and Daniel Cullen into their squad for the second Test in Bangladesh as the world champions faced an embarrassing loss against the sport’s minnows. Cricket Australia announced that left-arm paceman Bracken and uncapped spinner Cullen would join the team ahead of the second Test on concerns that injuries would force changes in the present team.
Australian opener Justin Langer on Thursday dismissed fears a concussion suffered in South Africa could end his Test career, likening the injury to a ”massive hangover”. Langer arrived back in Perth to rest after being concussed by a Makhaya Ntini screamer at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
The long-time chairperson of Australia’s national cricket selectors, Trevor Hohns, announced his resignation on Tuesday after coming under increasing criticism over a series of controversial team choices. Cricket Australia said Hohns was quitting after a decade as chairperson of the selectors’ panel to devote more time to his business interests.
Cheetahs scrumhalf Falie Oelschig was suspended for one week on Monday after being found guilty of striking during the South African side’s Super 14 loss to the New South Wales Waratahs, the Australian Rugby Union announced. Oelschig faced the judicial committee of Sanzar, the body that oversees the Super 14 tournament, in Sydney.
New South Wales Waratahs fullback Peter Hewat scored a try among 21 points on Friday as the Waratahs beat South Africa’s Cheetahs 26-3 to consolidate their lead in the Super 14. Hewat kept a perfect kicking record for the second match in a row, landing two conversions and four penalties to take his individual points tally for the season to 132.
Australia on Friday warned of a possible terrorist attack against Western interests in Indonesia this weekend, in an updated travel advisory issued by the Foreign Affairs Department in Canberra. The advisory urged Australians against travelling to Indonesia, including the resort island of Bali, ”due to the very high threat of terrorist attack”.
A severe tropical cyclone packing winds of up to 250kph slammed into a major oil and mining region of western Australia on Thursday but missed the area’s main population centres. Cyclone Glenda hit land about 4pm local time in cattle-grazing territory in the Pilbara region about 200km south-west of the massive oil- and ore-shipping centre of Karratha.
A severe tropical cyclone packing winds of up to 235kph battered a major oil and mining region of Western Australia on Thursday, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents and the lock-down of key industries. Emergency officials said torrential rains and a storm sea surge of up to 10m driven by Cyclone Glenda would bring widespread flooding to the region.
Marine scientists from around the world met in Australia on Wednesday to set up a digital sensor network that can monitor endangered coral reefs around the globe. The meeting in the northeastern city of Townsville is due to launch a pilot monitoring system that will cover 400km of the nearby Great Barrier Reef, organisers said.