Latest Australia News
2 sailors die in the stormy first night of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, organizers say
Two sailors on separate boats have died in boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the annual Sydney to Hobart race, adding to the event's long history of deaths at sea. The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney, which administers the yacht race, said...
NYC taxi driver was having a medical episode when he jumped the curb and hit people, police say
NEW YORK (AP) — A taxi driver whose car hit six pedestrians when he jumped a curb in a Manhattan shopping district on Christmas Day was having a medical episode at the time, New York City police said Thursday. Two of those hurt are Australians, according to that country's foreign...
Heat wave leads to warnings of potentially devastating wildfires in southern Australia
NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) — Communities and firefighters across Australia’s second-most populous state were preparing Thursday for potentially devastating wild fires as a heat wave fanned by erratic winds presented the worst fire conditions in several years. With temperatures in...
Australia approves extradition of former US Marine over alleged training of Chinese military pilots
NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) — Former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan will be extradited from Australia to the United States over allegations that he illegally trained Chinese aviators. Australia’s Attorney General Mark Dreyfus approved the extradition on Monday, ending the...
German Christmas market ramming is the latest attack to use vehicles as deadly weapons
LONDON (AP) — A car-ramming at a Christmas market in Germany, which police are treating as an attack, is the latest in a grim series of events in which vehicles have been used as deadly weapons. There have been a spate of such attacks over the past decade, some committed by groups...
'Gravy Day' is an Australian tradition inspired by an unlikely Christmas song by Paul Kelly
NEW YORK (AP) — To many Australians, Saturday is more than just Dec. 21. It's “Gravy Day,” all because of a lyric in one of the most unlikely Christmas songs ever written. “How to Make Gravy,” written by singer Paul Kelly, has become a holiday classic in Australia over the...
Australia announces $118 million deal to enhance policing in Solomon Islands
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia announced on Friday it will pay for more police in Solomon Islands and create a police training center in the South Pacific island nation’s capital Honiara, where Chinese law enforcement instructors are already based under a bilateral security pact with...
LA Zoo hatches first-ever perentie lizards, one of largest lizard species in the world
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two new baby lizards have hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo, the first of their species to be bred there, zoo officials said Thursday. Perentie lizards, or Varanus giganteus, are native to Australia and one of the world's largest lizards, dwarfed only by the Komodo...
Beshear says food company to create 925 jobs in Kentucky, adding to the state's economic momentum
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A food company has chosen Kentucky for a facility that will employ more than 900 people, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday, saying the project ranks as the fifth-largest jobs project since he took office. Kitchen Food Co., an Australia-founded premium...
Americans are getting paid to play the Ryder Cup. Now the pressure is on to win: Analysis
Bringing the Ryder Cup to notoriously nasty Bethpage Black already was cause for concern. Imagine the most passionate, patriotic event in golf played before a flag-waving crowd that once harassed Sergio Garcia so badly he pointed at them with the wrong finger. This could make the...
