'FEROCIOUS ATTACK' LEAVES M'SIAN CONSULAR WORKER DEAD

-----------------------------------------------------

SYDNEY - A Malaysian consular employee was stabbed to death in a "ferocious attack" outside his Sydney home in a suspected road rage incident, officials said yesterday.

The 43-year-old man, who worked as a driver for the Malaysian consul-general, was beaten and stabbed in inner-city Leichhardt by two men late on Sunday despite an attempted intervention by a female passer-by.

"It was a ferocious attack, there's no doubt about that," said Detective Inspector Shane Woolbank.

The authorities said they were examining whether the attack stemmed from a road rage incident moments earlier involving a dark-coloured sedan, the police said.

Malaysian Consul-General Mohd Nasir Abu Hassan said the victim, a Malaysian who had recently become an Australian citizen, had worked as a driver for the consulate for three years.

"This is a very stressful time for all of us at the consulate," he told reporters.

"We got on very well with him and we were shocked when we heard this tragic news." AFP

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

----------

Whaling Banned, but not Diplomatic Ties...

Image via Wikipedia

'UNFORTUNATE, BUT OUR TIES ARE FINE'

------------------------------------

PERTH - Japan's Foreign Minister yesterday described Australia's threat of legal action against its controversial whaling activities as "unfortunate" but said he did not believe it would hurt ties.

"Should court action become a reality, then Japan will seek to represent its case to the IWC (International Whaling Commission) supporting the fact that its activities are legal and within the convention," said Mr Katsuya Okada on the second and final day of a visit to Australia.

Mr Okada, the first official from the new Japanese government to visit Australia, said however that the dispute should not affect relations between the two major trading partners.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last Friday bluntly warned Japan that it had until November to reduce its whale catch to zero, or face action in the International Court of Justice.

Australia, along with New Zealand, has consistently opposed Japan's killing of hundreds of whales each year, which it carries out via a loophole in an international moratorium that allows "lethal research".

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia remained hopeful of a diplomatic solution but he reiterated Mr Rudd's vow that Canberra would seek redress in the ICJ if talks failed.

Mr Smith said Canberra had decided to bring a proposal before the IWC to phase out whaling in the Great Southern Oceans over a reasonable period of time. The case would be taken to the IWC in the very near future as soon as today, he added.

Before Mr Okada left Tokyo, he had insisted that Japan's whaling activities were legal, carried out in public waters and in accordance with international conventions.

He and Mr Rudd had a "frank discussion on whaling" during their Saturday meeting in Sydney. AFP

From TODAY, Monday, 22-Feb-2010

----------

Related articles by Zemanta

• Australia threatens legal action over Japanese whaling (guardian.co.uk)
• Australia to Japan: Stop Whaling, or Else (time.com)
• Australia Threatens Legal Action in Bid to End Japan's Whaling (online.wsj.com)
• Whaling protester to be charged in Japan (ctv.ca)
• Australia To Japan: Stop All Whaling Or Face International Legal Challenge (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• Australia threatens Japan over whaling program (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Australia Threatens Japan Over Whaling (time.com)
• Japan May Press Charges Against Activist Who Boarded Whaler (businessweek.com)
• Japan set deadline to end whaling (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Japan ire over whale court threat (news.bbc.co.uk)

Singapore to launch new standard for hotel security

Image by publik16 via Flickr

Guarding against possible terrorist attacks? Perhaps.

All that I can say is that 'it is better to be safe than sorry.'

Read the story here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Officials Weigh New Detainee Site in U.S. (cbsnews.com)
• Australia police foil suicide attack on army base (nationalpost.com)
• Australian police 'foil terror plot' to storm Sydney army barracks (telegraph.co.uk)
• Homeland Chief Offers Shift in Tone, but Few Details (nytimes.com)
• High court revokes terror suspect control order (guardian.co.uk)
• Terror suspect accused of talking up jihad (msnbc.msn.com)
• US terror suspects hearing begins (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Four terror suspects detained in Australia (guardian.co.uk)
• Australia says it foiled suicide terror attack (ctv.ca)

Trapped in toilet for a week

MELBOURNE - An Australian woman was stuck in her toilet for a week before neighbours heard her cries for help, officials said yesterday.

The 67-year-old Queensland woman was found on Sunday, seven days after she became trapped, said the state community safety department.

A department spokesman said firefighters had trouble reaching the woman because she was so tightly wedged by the lavatory, with a foot stuck on either side.

"The lady was manoeuvred to one side to free her. The door swings inwards and she had her feet wedged on either side of the toilet," the spokesman said. "She was very dehydrated but she was conscious."

Mr Michael Hibberd, the neighbour who heard the woman's cries for help, said it was a reminder for people to check up on the elderly. "Not necessarily keep an eye on them 24/7 but just make a note of their movements and what not," he said. AFP

From TODAY, World – Thursday, 30-Jul-2009

Related articles by Zemanta

• Australian woman trapped for a week beside toilet (ctv.ca)
• Woman freed after being trapped on lavatory for a week (telegraph.co.uk)

Pilot buries helicopter crash survivor in sand

Image via Wikipedia

Updated 2 hours, 27 minutes ago

By Saeed Ahmed

CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Helicopter pilot buries injured passenger in sand to save him from hypothermia
• Pilot dragged him from crocodile-infested mudflats in Australia's Northern Territory
• Helicopter crashed as they flew in low over mudflats to look for the giant reptiles
• Passenger remains hospitalized Monday in serious but stable condition

Air ambulance workers attend to a man buried in sand following a helicopter crash.

(CNN) -- A pilot dragged his passenger to safety and buried him neck-deep in sand to protect him from hypothermia Sunday night after their helicopter crashed in crocodile-infested mudflats in Australia's Northern Territory.

"The pilot thought that in this remote location, nobody would find them. So he buried his friend to try and stop the hypothermia," said Ian Badham, director of CareFlight, the air ambulance service involved in the rescue.

The two friends had gone camping on a remote beach without road access, about 130 km (80 miles) from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin.

While leaving Sunday night, the pair decided to fly their two-seater helicopter over waters that are home to large crocodiles.

"It's an area known for its big saltwater crocodiles," Badham said. "Those things make alligators look like wussies."

The pilot later told rescuers that they flew in to take a closer look. The next thing he remembered was lying upside down in the mud with the wreckage of the helicopter on top of him, Badham said.

The man remained in a serious but stable condition on Monday.

The men, both in their 50s, were about 100 meters (328 feet) from the main beach. Finding his friend seriously hurt, the pilot dragged him back to shore, away from the crocodiles -- and buried him in sand up to his neck to prevent him from freezing to death.

Rescuers responded after the pilot used a satellite phone to alert them.

The friend remained hospitalized Monday in serious but stable condition, Badham said. He suffered head and chest injuries. He also fractured his arm and several ribs.

The pilot suffered minor injuries.

"It was the opinion of the (air-ambulance) doctor that the friend's injuries were grave and, quite likely, this man would not have survived the night," Badham said.

From CNN.com; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Australian helicopter crashes trying to get close to crocodile (news.bbc.co.uk)

Australia appeals sentence in honeymoon death

Posted: 18 June 2009 1600 hrs

The Great Barrier Reef

SYDNEY: An Australian state launched an appeal against an American man's "manifestly inadequate" 12-month jail term for the manslaughter of his wife during a honeymoon diving trip.

Bubble-wrap salesman David "Gabe" Watson was sentenced to four-and-a-half years on June 5 but under a plea bargain most of the term was suspended, a decision that caused outrage among friends and relatives of his late wife.

"I have formed the view that this sentence is manifestly inadequate and the state will therefore lodge an appeal against the sentence in the Queensland Court of Appeal," said Queensland Attorney-General Cameron Dick.

Dick added that his decision was made after "careful consideration and due deliberation." Queensland's Solicitor-General Walter Sofronoff will represent the state in the Court of Appeal.

Watson, 32, was on honeymoon with his new wife Tina when she drowned during a diving trip at a shipwreck off the Queensland city of Townsville, just 11 days after their wedding in the United States.

An instructor found novice diver Tina lying on the bottom of the ocean after Gabe, an experienced rescue diver, had surfaced. She never regained consciousness.

An inquest heard earlier that a fellow diver saw Gabe Watson bear-hugging his wife underwater before he re-surfaced while she sank to the ocean floor.

In mid-2008, coroner David Glasgow found it was likely Watson killed his wife by holding her underwater and turning off her air supply, adding he may have been seeking a large life insurance payout.

"Let's hope justice will now be served," said opposition justice spokesman Lawrence Springborg.

"The handling of this sad case has been absolutely deplorable," he added.

- AFP

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• That's It? Man Gets One Year for Wife's Death (abcnews.go.com)
• Man jailed in wife's scuba death (msnbc.msn.com)
• Man pleads guilty to wife's honeymoon dive death (ctv.ca)
• Appeal over 'honeymoon killer' sentence could be considered (telegraph.co.uk)
• Outrage over sentence in honeymoon drowning (msnbc.msn.com)
• US man killed wife on honeymoon (guardian.co.uk)
• Diver faces honeymoon murder charge (msnbc.msn.com)
• Honeymoon killer David Watson could face new trial in US (telegraph.co.uk)
• Husband Jailed For Honeymoon Scuba Death (news.sky.com)
• You: US scuba death man in Australia court (news.bbc.co.uk)

Police arrest 16 men over child-rape video download

So much for your being a voyeur, even a crime at that! Having no shame already?

----------

AUSTRALIA

Australian police arrested 16 men yesterday for downloading a video showing the rape of a girl believed to be an eight-year-old from Russia.

The arrests followed after German police identified more than 9,000 suspects worldwide believed to have viewed the video.

The rapist and victim are still unknown but the video's backdrop indicates Russia. AFP

From TODAYOnline.com; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• International Crackdown To Find Fugitives (news.sky.com)
• Is Rape Serious? (barbarany_9.blogspot.com)
• Tracking Sex Offenders With GPS Isn't A Bulletproof Solution (techdirt.com)
• voyeuristic violations: the witness and the deep blue sea (catatonickid.wordpress.com)
• Just another week of rapes (guardian.co.uk)
• India: Riot after 'rape' deaths (guardian.co.uk)