Wow Australia

CDC says few people in U.S. over 50 hit by new flu

The new H1N1 flu virus appears to be fairly widespread in the United States and seems to be hitting mostly younger people, with very few cases reported in people over 50, U.S. health officials said on Sunday. "We think very few of the cases we have confirmed are in people over 50," the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Dr Anne Schuchat told reporters in a telephone briefing. "Whether this will pan out over the weeks ahead we don't know." The CDC reported 2...

Officials nab traveler with pigeons in his pants

SYDNEY - An Australian traveler was caught with two live pigeons stuffed in his pants following a trip to the Middle East, customs officials said Tuesday. The 23-year-old man was searched after authorities discovered two eggs in a vitamin container in his luggage, said Richard Janeczko, national investigations manager for the Customs Service. They found the pigeons wrapped in padded envelopes and held to each of the man's legs with a pair of tights, according to a statement released by the ag...

Australian girl, 4, thrown from bridge

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A four-year-old Australian girl died on Thursday after she was thrown off a bridge in Melbourne and landed in the Yarra River, 58 meters (174 feet) below, police said. A man stopped his 4WD car on the West Gate Bridge during peak hour, stepped out of the car carrying the girl and dropped her over the edge, a police spokesman told local media. "The child suffered fairly extensive injuries and the paramedics spent some time trying to resuscitate the child," said ambulance sp...

Asbestos victim wins fight with Ford Australia

ANTONINO Lo Presti had just been admitted to hospital on Christmas Eve when he learned he had finally won his landmark six-year asbestos compensation battle with the Ford Motor Company. From his bed in Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, the former mechanic found out Ford had dropped its appeal against the $840,000 payout he won in February. The father of three had made legal history when the Supreme Court ruled he developed the asbestosis that now cripples him while he worked for Ford,...

Fiji move unhelpful: Australia

Australia’s Government has branded as unhelpful and destructive a decision by Fiji's interim Government to expel Canberra's South Pacific Defence Adviser. The unnamed official had been in Suva on a visitor visa awaiting a decision by the interim Government on his long-term visa status. Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon told The Australian newspaper: "The interim (Fiji) Government has indicated that no visa will be granted. "This is an important position, not only in relati...

Shark horror: snorkeller dead, kayakers menaced

THIS is the horrifying moment when a giant shark menaced kayakers off Sydney yesterday. White pointers caused terror on opposite sides of Australia yesterday, with snorkeller Brian Guest killed as he swam with his son at a beach near Perth. Sydney paddlers Justin Stanger and Steve Kulscar were lucky to survive, with Mr Kulscar falling from his craft as the four-metre white pointer circled them about a kilometre off Long Reef. Fisherman Glenn Morgan was in a runabout nearby when he saw ...

Australia to maintain Iraq presence

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Australia says it will maintain its military presence in Iraq until at least the middle of next year. Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says he has welcomed an Iraqi parliamentary resolution authorizing foreign troops to remain in the Gulf nation until the end of July 2009. Fitzgibbon said Wednesday it would be up to Iraq to decide if Australian forces remain beyond that deadline. American troops can stay until the end of 2011 under a separate security agreement....

Japan whalers out of Australia-claimed area

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has said it achieved its aim of forcing Japan's whaling fleet out of Antarctic waters claimed by Australia. In a statement on its website (www.seashepherd.org), the U.S.-based group said its ship, the Steve Irwin, had forced the fleet into waters off the Ross Dependency, which is a New Zealand possession. Australia has declared an 'economic exclusion zone', known by the letters "EEZ," in waters off the coast of its Ant...

Aussies advised to avoid riot-hit Athens

Australians have been advised to avoid travel to Athens and several other areas of Greece amid riots in the country. The fatal police shooting of a teenager has sparked Greece's worst rioting in years, with gangs of youths rampaging through Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki at the weekend. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has not changed its overall level of travel advice for Greece, but it advises Australians to avoid central Athens and the tourist are...

Sydney Opera House architect dies

The Danish architect of the iconic Sydney Opera House, Jorn Utzon, has died at the age of 90, after suffering a heart attack. Mr Utzon, an award-winning architect, put "Denmark on the world map with his great talent," said Danish Culture Minister Carina Christensen. Having won a competition in 1957 to design the building, he left the project before it opened in 1973. Mr Utzon never visited the completed landmark, after disputes about costs. He had quarrelled with the Australian ...