Australia and New Zealand agreed on Saturday on a range of new measures to increase pressure on Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to respect human rights, including referring him to the International Criminal Court.
Cricket Australia acknowledged that the government had a right to impose sporting bans on other countries on Tuesday after officials revealed they were considering campaigning for Zimbabwe to be barred from international cricket. This follows a New Zealand request that Australia and Britain join it in lobbying the ICC to ban Zimbabwe.
Taking extra vitamin C does little to stop most people from catching a cold, according to a new survey, but it helps stop those exposed to extreme physical conditions from coming down with the sniffles. Soldiers and skiers are among those most likely to benefit from taking extra doses of the vitamin.
Australia is likely to join New Zealand and Britain in a call to ban Zimbabwe from international cricket because of human rights abuses by the Harare government, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Tuesday. Australia is not scheduled to play cricket this year in Zimbabwe.
Big Brother is watching Big Brother. Australian lawmakers have been tuning into a risqué late night edition of hit reality TV show Big Brother — and they don’t like what they’re seeing. The show features a group of contestants who are sealed off in a house where their every move and comments are caught on cameras and microphones dotted around their temporary home.
An Australian woman braved bites and scratches to bring the family cat back from the dead with the kiss of life. ”His breath wasn’t that bad — I’d do it again,” said mother of three Kelly Johns on Wednesday of the weekend drama at her home in Toowoomba, Queensland.
An 87-year-old Australian man fought off an intruder with his shoe after being attacked in his home, reports said on Tuesday. ”I took the bloody shoe off and thumped him,” semi-retired horse trainer Johnny Oswin was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.
Concerned that his pate is starting to resemble an old cricket pitch that’s devoid of turf, champion legspinner Shane Warne is undergoing replacement treatment to regenerate his peroxided blond locks. The notoriously image-conscious Warne discovered he was losing his hair during a recent trip to a hairdresser.
An Australian woman has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle 51 tropical fish into Australia concealed under her skirt, customs officials said on Monday. The 43-year-old woman drew the attention of customs officers intrigued by "flipping" noises coming from under her skirt, a customs spokesperson said.
An Australian mining company on Tuesday denied complicity in the massacre last year of more than 100 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Melbourne legal firm Slater and Gordon said it is considering civil action against Anvil Mining on behalf of three Congolese people affected by the massacre.
Samoan coach Michael Jones said on Tuesday the gap between rugby’s rich and poor nations is extending ever further and that he is dismayed over the official indifference to the plight of the sport in the Pacific Islands. Jones is preparing his team for Saturday’s one-off international with Australia in Sydney and is looking to show what Samoan rugby can offer the rugby world.
Queensland Reds and Wallabies fullback Chris Latham has won his fourth Australian Super 12 player of the year award despite his team’s dismal performance in the competition. Latham polled 11 votes to win the award, decided by match referees, one vote ahead of Brumbies flanker George Smith.
Not only is Australia ruling Test and one-day cricket but its cricketing culture is spreading throughout the world through its coaches. Greg Chappell and Tom Moody have recently taken to four the number of Australians coaching international teams.
Matt Henjak may own a Brumbies number-nine plate for his car but getting hold of the jumper to go with it sometime in the next two years was never a realistic proposition. Hence the 23-year-old’s far-from-unexpected signing with the fledgling Super 14 franchise for the Western Force on Monday.
Australia will not use trade sanctions to pressure Japan to abandon its plan to kill more whales in Antarctica. It will also not use force to keep Japanese whaling ships out the region, Prime Minister John Howard said on Tuesday. Japan wants its annual catch of minke whales raised and proposes to start taking humpback whales.
An Australian woman who stabbed her elderly mother 48 times with a kitchen knife because she complained her lamb chops were undercooked should be spared a jail sentence, the judge hearing the case said on Monday. Julie Smith (49) pleaded guilty to intentionally causing serious injury to her 71-year-old mother Barbara Smith last January in the Melbourne suburban home the two women shared.
The New South Wales Waratahs have seized underdog status for next weekend’s Super 12 rugby final with Canterbury Crusaders, but coach Ewen McKenzie has warned that their season of firsts may not yet be over. The Crusaders are in their seventh Super 12 final in 10 seasons after obliterating the Wellington Hurricanes 47-7.
Winger Peter Hewat surpassed a scoring record as New South Wales rallied from a 10-point deficit and beat South Africa’s Bulls 23-13 on Saturday to reach the Super 12 final for the first time. ”We’re disappointed right now, but we gave it everything we had,” Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer said after the match.
A group of Australian police dogs will have to be retrained after it was discovered that they were sniffing out talcum powder rather than cocaine during training exercises, police said on Friday. An investigation is being carried out into how baby powder was used rather than the illicit drug, Victoria state police said.
Australia has more than its fair share of sharks, crocodiles, deadly spiders and jellyfish, and now residents of one town have been warned to beware a new hazard — the exploding toilet. The local sewerage authority will be cleaning the sewage mains with high-pressure jets.
Australian pop star Kylie Minogue has been diagnosed with breast cancer, prompting her to cancel her current Australian tour, her touring company said on Tuesday. Minogue had been due to arrive in Sydney from Melbourne on Tuesday to begin the Australian leg of her Showgirl tour, which started in the United Kingdom.
Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer is more than happy for the rugby community to start planning for a Super 12 final between New South Wales (NSW) and the Crusaders. The South African side slipped into Sydney on Monday for Saturday’s semifinal against NSW, with Meyer declaring his men ready to unlock the Waratahs’ iron-clad defence.
The Waratahs capped their best finish to date to a regular Super 12 season with a 25-20 win over the Blues, but looked to have squandered the chance of a home grand final after failing to score a bonus point on Friday. The Waratahs lacked their usual composure for much of the opening half.
The Australian foreign ministry apologised on Thursday for a travel advisory that warned that Australia’s western city of Perth is dangerous at this time of year. Travel-advice subscribers received an overnight advisory reading: "This is a message to let you know that Perth is dangerous at this time of year."
The Auckland Blues have spiced up their do-or-die joust with the Waratahs for a Super 12 rugby play-off spot with claims that the series front-runners have had a charmed run with referees at the breakdown. Auckland are one of three teams vying for the last playoff slot with South Africa’s Northern Bulls.
Children are more likely than adults to remain awake during surgery despite being anaesthetised, according to Australian researchers. In a two-year study, more than 850 children were questioned after being anaesthetised and 28 cases of suspected awareness were uncovered.
It was ugly, but after nine lean years, New South Wales will take it. The Waratahs registered their first-ever Super 12 rugby win over Queensland on Friday, downing the Reds 27-8 at Aussie Stadium. The victory assures the Waratahs of a home semifinal, a week before the competition proper comes to its conclusion.
Plans to expand Australia’s rugby player pool and make the Wallabies more internationally competitive have been having an unintended divisive effect with the formation of the Western Force. The Perth-based franchise will become Australia’s fourth team in next season’s expanded Super 14 competition.
An Australian mother fed up with cleaning up after her kids’ cat has taken matters into her own hands and built a device which teaches felines to use the toilet. Jo Lapidge of Sydney said on Wednesday that after watching the movie Meet the Fockers, in which a cat uses a toilet, she decided to train her own Burmese kitten to do likewise.
An Australian woman pleaded guilty in court on Wednesday to killing her boyfriend because he called a phone-sex hotline. Prosecutors told the Queensland Supreme Court that in October 2003, Amanda Jane Griffin woke at 2am to find her partner Michael Campbell on the phone.
In a fishy tale with a different ending, an Australian angler on Tuesday described how a 1,5m mackerel jumped into his boat, knocked him down and injured him — and then got away. Glen Hopper said he suffered bruised ribs and cuts to his face and arms when the mackerel flattened him.
Pit bull terriers are to be banned in Australia’s biggest states after a series of vicious dog attacks put people in hospital. New South Wales premier Bob Carr on Tuesday branded the breed ”killing machines on leashes” that should be exterminated.