Australia

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Teen Swims 4 Hours for Help as Mother, Siblings Hold On

Rescue helicopter then spots family miles off Western Australia

(Newser) - A teenager turned a family paddle outing in Western Australia into a survival story after swimming for hours through choppy water to get help. Police say the 13-year-old was kayaking with his mother, 47, and his younger brother, 12, and sister, 8, off Geographe Bay on Friday when strong winds...

Elena Rybakina Has Her 2nd Grand Slam Title

Kazakhstan player beats Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Australian Open

(Newser) - Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina won the Australian Open title with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory over top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus on Saturday that avenged her loss in the championship decider here in 2023. Four years ago Rybakina won the first set but lost the final in three. This time,...

Aussie Cyclist Prevails After the 'Most Australian Crash'

Jay Vine maintains the kangaroo is 'the most dangerous thing in Australia'

(Newser) - Australian Jay Vine didn't just fend off rivals to win the Tour Down Under cycling race—he also had to deal with a kangaroo. The 29-year-old was one of several riders who crashed Sunday after two large kangaroos bounded into the road on a fast section of the final...

Tickets to Aussie Open Are Hot—Literally

Continent sees record temp of 120 degrees Fahrenheit during extended heat wave

(Newser) - Parts of Australia sweltered in record temperatures on Tuesday as the country sweated through a prolonged heat wave. The rural towns of Hopetoun and Walpeup in Victoria state registered preliminary highs of 48.9 degrees Celsius, or 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which if confirmed overnight would top records set on the...

Australia Sees 4th Shark Attack in 3 Days

Surfer is latest victim of murky water attacks off New South Wales' east coast

(Newser) - A surfer had minor injuries from being bitten by a shark Tuesday in the fourth attack off the coast of Australia's most populous state in three days , per the AP . The shark attacked the man's surfboard at Point Plomer, 290 miles north of the New South Wales state...

Sydney Rattled by Back-to-Back Shark Attacks

12-year-old boy and adult man said to be in critical condition after separate incidents

(Newser) - A day of cliff-jumping at a popular Sydney swimming spot ended in tragedy Sunday when a 12-year-old boy was mauled by a shark and left fighting for his life. The child was with friends at Shark Beach in the affluent suburb of Vaucluse, leaping from a rock ledge about 20...

Police Probe Death of Woman Found Surrounded by Dingoes

Inspector says it's unclear if the animals caused fatal injuries or simply came upon the body

(Newser) - A backpacker's pre-dawn swim off Australia's K'gari island has ended in tragedy and a police investigation into a possible dingo attack. Queensland police say the body of a 19-year-old Canadian woman was discovered on a beach on K'gari (formerly Fraser Island) early Monday, surrounded by at...

Australia Shooting Hero Explains Why He Acted

It was instinct, says Ahmed al Ahmed: 'I don't want to see people killed in front of me'

(Newser) - The Sydney shopkeeper who tackled a gunman during the Bondi Beach mass shooting says he acted on instinct, driven by a simple goal: stop more people from being killed. In an interview with CBS News , Ahmed al Ahmed, a Syrian-born father of two, described grabbing 50-year-old Sajid Akram from behind...

Arson in Australia Intensifies Concerns About Antisemitism

Vehicle bearing Hanukkah greetings was burned in Melbourne

(Newser) - A car decked out with a "Happy Chanukah!" sign was set on fire in Melbourne before dawn on Christmas Day, prompting an arson investigation and fresh concern over antisemitism in Australia. Emergency crews were called to St Kilda East, a center of Jewish life in Melbourne, just before...

Australia Shooting Suspects Threw Bombs at Crowd: Cops

But the IEDs failed to detonate, police say

(Newser) - A man accused of killing 15 people at Sydney's Bondi Beach conducted firearms training in an area of New South Wales state outside of Sydney with his father, Australian police documents released on Monday allege. The men recorded a video about their justification for the meticulously planned attack, according...

Bondi Suspects' Trip to Philippines Raises Questions

Father-son duo said to have barely left their Davao hotel over the course of a month

(Newser) - Investigators are tracing a quiet monthlong stay in the southern Philippines by the Bondi Beach attack suspects, asking whether the trip has any link to Sunday's alleged ISIS-inspired shooting in Sydney. Australian authorities say 24-year-old Naveed Akram and his 50-year-old father, Sajid, flew from Sydney to the Philippines on...

Australia Shooting Hero Gets a Big Reward

$1.5M raised for Ahmed al Ahmed—'the best of our country,' according to PM Anthony Albanese

(Newser) - Ahmed al Ahmed went out for coffee at Sydney's Bondi Beach and ended up at the center of one of Australia's worst hate attacks—but also a national outpouring of gratitude, per CBS News . The 44-year-old Syrian-Australian shop owner, a Muslim father of two, was filmed ducking between...

Surviving Bondi Suspect Hit With 59 Charges

Suspect Naveed Akram, 24, survived massacre that killed 15; other suspect, now dead, was his father

(Newser) - The lone surviving suspect in Sunday's Bondi Beach massacre is now facing a sweeping list of 59 charges, including 15 counts of murder and terrorism, New South Wales police say. Authorities allege 24-year-old Naveed Akram and his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration attended largely...

Couple Bravely Confronted Shooter—and Were First to Die

Dashcam video shows Boris and Sofia Gurman grappling with Sajid Akram at Bondi Beach

(Newser) - The bystander shot multiple times after wrestling a weapon from a gunman in Australia wasn't the only victim whose heroism was on display. Dashcam video from Sunday's Bondi Beach attack shows an older couple confronting a gunman and seizing his weapon moments before they were fatally shot, according...

Bondi Beach Mass Shooting Inspired by Islamic State: Police

Australian police say mass shooting was a terrorist act

(Newser) - A mass shooting in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach was "a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State," Australia's federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett said Tuesday. The suspects were a father and son, aged 50 and 24, authorities have...

A Day After Mass Shooting, Australia Eyes Its Gun Laws

Leaders weigh tighter licensing in wake of mass shooting involving legally-owned weapons

(Newser) - Australia is debating reforms to its gun laws—already among the strictest in the world—after Sunday's deadly mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach. The elder of the father-son shooting suspects had a license to own firearms, New South Wales police say. He allegedly owned six weapons, four...

Hero Who Disarmed Australia Shooter May Lose His Arm

Still, Sydney shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed 'doesn't regret what he did'

(Newser) - The man seen on video tackling a gunman during Sydney's Bondi Beach mass shooting has no regrets, though he's now at risk of losing his arm. Identified as Ahmed al Ahmed, a shop owner in his 40s who emigrated from Syria in 2006 and was granted Australian citizenship...

Australian Beach Massacre Leaves 11 Dead, 29 Wounded

At least two gunmen opened fire at Jewish event at Bondi Beach; one of the shooters is dead

(Newser) - A beach massacre at a Jewish event in Australia killed 11 people and wounded 29, reports the Guardian . Authorities are calling it a terrorist attack. Details were changing quickly, with the initial death toll among victims revised down from 12.
  • Police say at least two shooters opened fire Sunday at
...

Reddit Goes After Australia's Social Media Ban on Kids

Australian ban didn't stand for long without court challenges

(Newser) - Reddit on Friday filed a court challenge to Australia's world-first law that bans Australian children younger than 16 from holding accounts on the world's most popular social media platforms. California-based Reddit Inc.'s suit filed in the High Court follows a case filed last month by Sydney-based...

Aussie Lawmaker Finds Bull, Horse in His Living Room

'Note to self: The dogs can't be trusted with door security'

(Newser) - Australian lawmaker Andrew Mackay cut his dinner short when he discovered that his dogs had ushered a bull and a horse into his home. The Northern Territory politician says he and his fiancée were out to dinner in Darwin when he checked his pet camera and spotted what he...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
Most Read on Newser