Free Republic

Engine problems cripple Collins-class submarines THE navy's $6 billion Collins-class submarines face serious operational restrictions after being hit by a run of crippling mechanical problems and troubling maintenance issues. Some senior engineering experts now contend that the Swedish-supplied Hedemora diesel engines may have to be replaced - a major design and engineering job that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take years to complete. So serious are the problems that the Defence Materiel Organisation has put the Collins boats at the top of its list of "projects of concern" - the key equipment issues troubling Australia's Defence leaders....

Just how can the dragonfly perform its energetically-demanding aerial acrobatics—flying backwards or forwards, fast, slow or hovering—and remain airborne for such extended periods? The answer, in part, is that it...

AN ABC news presenter has apologised to a Coalition senator after she was caught on air pulling a face and twirling a finger to suggest he was crazy. ABC2's Virginia Trioli was shown making the gesture on ABC News Breakfast just moments after vision of Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce talking about the Government's proposed Emissions Trading Scheme to tackle climate change was aired. Trioli has told The Australian that she has apologised to the senator. "Yes, it was off-air and an uncharacteristically frustrated moment from me, and the senator was very gracious in accepting my apology. Lesson learned." Senator Joyce...

A MELBOURNE man who conducted a reign of terror against his ex-lover, including strangling her cat with a telephone cord, has been jailed for more than nine years. Paul Maher began his two-month crime spree after breaking up with Lynne Forehan and when tensions grew over his contact with their toddler. The County Court in Melbourne heard Maher, then 24, began harassing and threatening Ms Forehan and her family last year. The court was told he threw two Molotov cocktails at her parent's house where she was staying, setting the loungeroom alight. He also ransacked her North Melbourne flat and...

THERE are now 4,444,444 Queenslanders. The number was reached at about 4.44am (AEST) this morning. While many Chinese consider four to be an unlucky number, not so Queensland's chief numbers man, Treasurer Andrew Fraser. "Our population increased by a record 112,666 people, or 2.6 per cent, over the 12 months to 31 March," Mr Fraser said. "That's an average of 2167 new residents each week - the second highest growth rate of all states and territories and higher than Australia's overall growth rate." He said the population figure was calculated by the Office of Economic and Statistical Research population counter,...

A STUDENT remains in hospital with severe concussion after an end-of year muck-up party in a Melbourne park was raided by a group of masked men wielding baseball bats. The group of about 100 students from Mount Waverley Secondary College had gathered in Valley Reserve, near Waverley and Blackburn Roads in Mount Waverley, when a group of people "came out of nowhere" and attacked those celebrating with baseball bats, the Herald Sun reports. One student is now in hospital with a broken jaw. Mt Waverley Secondary College student "Tina" said up to 100 year 12 students had gathered at The...

YEAR six and seven students have been banned from mixed-sex consensual hugging at a primary school in South Australia for fear it would set a "bad example" to younger students. YEAR six and seven students have been banned from mixed-sex consensual hugging at a primary school in South Australia for fear it would set a "bad example" to younger students, AdelaideNow reports. Following complaints from parents at Largs Bay Primary School, the school has banned hugging and other displays of affection for "boyfriends or girlfriends" in the two senior grades. "Hugging is not banned (between friends) at Largs Bay Primary...

Complex machines often have lots of knobs provided for adjustment: think of a jumbo jet, a television set or a DVD player. With a radio set you can twiddle the knobs to tune a different station or increase the volume or adjust the tone. But you can twiddle the controls on your radio as much as you like, it won’t change into a TV set. The natural changes we see in living things are like twiddling the knobs on a complex machine: they can fine-tune the settings, but cannot create something completely new. For example, an enzyme in a bacterium...

Newsweek magazine recently published a commentary by atheist Richard Dawkins containing some of his arguments against “creationists.” Therein he admitted, “What would be evidence against evolution, and very strong evidence at that, would be the discovery of even a single fossil in the wrong geological stratum.”[1] Out of place fossils are actually common, despite Dawkins’ claims regarding the “massive numbers” of fossils documenting evolutionary history. ICR News has reported on several over the last 12 months [2,3,4,5,6] and another one has surfaced recently...

CROC hunter Steve Irwin's dream of opening an Aussie zoo in Las Vegas is to be realised, three years after his death. Nevada officials say plans for an Australia-themed zoo in desert gaming mecca are back on the agenda. Representatives for the Irwins met Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman last week to discuss resurrecting their proposal for a US Australia Zoo featuring crocodile wrestling. "It looks like a great project with a crocodile-type enclosure where they would wrestle with the crocodiles and feed the crocodiles and have a real educational component to it and we're going to continue those discussions,"...

NEW material calling for a posthumous pardon for three Australian soldiers court-martialled in controversial circumstances more than 100 years ago during the Boer War will be presented to Federal Parliament today. Lieutenants Harry Harbord "Breaker" Morant, Peter Handcock and George Ramsdale Witton were convicted of murdering Boer prisoners, with Morant and Handcock executed for war crimes in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1902, despite a plea for court mercy. Witton was sentenced to life but was released two years later. But a petition based on an examination of the case by Navy Commander James Unkles, a Victorian lawyer with 30 years...

AUSTRALIANS could soon be paid for spotting crimes happening on the other side of the world. British company Internet Eyes will offer a reward of up to $1740 to people who detect shoplifting and other crimes on a network of UK security cameras. Subscribers will watch live footage over the internet on their home computers. The company believes the different time zones made Australia the ideal location for detecting night-time crime in the UK.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is expected to discuss Australia's policy on asylum seekers with Indonesian officials when he visits Jakarta on Tuesday. Mr Rudd is making the trip to attend the inauguration of the Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The Opposition has criticised Mr Rudd's decision to ask Indonesian authorities to stop a boatload of Sri Lankans reaching Australia last week. Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has told Channel Nine that Australia and Indonesia are cooperating well on people smuggling. "I don't want to give the impression that somehow nothing is happening now. "There is very close cooperation with Indonesia...

MELBOURNE, Australia — A 6-month-old baby has miraculously survived a train hitting his stroller, which rolled onto the tracks when his mother let go for an instant. The escape was captured on security camera footage that shows the red, three-wheeled stroller plunging off a station platform just as the commuter train pulls in, and the mother's panicked lunge to grab it. The train pushed the stroller about 130 feet (40 meters) along the tracks before it stopped, but it did not go under the train. The baby, who was strapped into the stroller, received only a bump on the head....

CCTV footage of a baby's miracle escape when a pram was slammed by a peak-hour train has been released. Witnesses at a suburban Melbourne station feared the worst but were stunned when the six-month-boy was hauled from the tracks with little more than a bump on his head. The near-miss happened at Ashburton station as a city-bound train pulled into the station just after 4pm yesterday. The baby was strapped into a three-wheeler pram that rolled forward and toppled on to the tracks. The pram was carried 30 metres as the desperate driver tried to pull up the 250-tonne train....

Islamists stockpiled explosive chemicals and weapons in plan to launch major attack to avenge wars in Iraq and Afghanistan The men, all from Sydney's south-west, were arrested in a series of raids on their homes in 2005. They were accused of conspiring between July 2004 and November 2005 to carry out a violent jihadist act, possibly targeting the then Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, to force the government into changing its policies on the Middle East. They spent months working to acquire chemicals, firearms, and bomb making equipment, the court heard. Materials found at the homes of some of...

This was a case like no other. Not only was it the longest criminal trial in Australian legal history, it was conducted under the tightest security and was almost derailed by one young woman. Each morning, the prison van would arrive at the court in a convoy under police escort. A busy Parramatta street was closed for a few minutes while the prison van sped down a steep driveway flanked by Extreme High Security Corrective Services Officers wearing flak jackets and armed with semi-automatic weapons. Inside, there was the usual baggage screening in the foyer, but up on Level Three...

Five Muslim men were Friday found guilty of plotting a violent jihadist attack in Australia using guns and explosives after the country's longest extremist trial. The men, who are facing possible life sentences after the 10-month trial, showed little reaction to the verdict. "They were motivated to pursue what they probably saw as a religious cause, that is that of jihad,"

FIVE Sydney men have been found guilty of conspiring to plan a terrorist attack using high-powered guns and homemade bombs designed to cause mass death and destruction on Australian soil. A Supreme Court jury took four weeks and three days to find Mohamed Ali Elomar, 44, Abdul Rakib Hasan, 40, Mohammed Omar Jamal, 25, Moustafa Cheikho, 32, and his uncle Khaled Cheikho, 36, guilty of conspiring to do acts in preparation for a terrorist act or acts. The Daily Telegraph reports the men, all from Sydney's south-west, were accused of stockpiling weapons and chemicals for use in the pursuit of...

AUSTRALIAN companies should be given five years to increase the number of women sitting on their boards before government legislation forces them to do it. Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick has outlined her vision to steer corporate Australia toward "the road to gender equality". Just 8.3 per cent of board members in the nation's top 200 companies are women - the same number as two years ago. Ms Broderick said yesterday it was time for radical action to change that. She wants Australia's corporate governance rules to be changed to require top companies to set three- and five-year targets...

BLOWING smoke rings as she lies back in bed with seven semi-naked dwarves tucked alongside, it's Snow White like you've never seen before. Now this risque version of the fairytale favourite, renamed "Ho White" to promote a local beer, has drawn the wrath of Disney. The Jamieson's Raspberry Ale campaign, launched by brewers The Foundry online this week, features an adults-only take on the fairytale character, with dwarves named Filthy, Smarmy and Randy replacing Sleepy, Happy and Doc.

The SPCA is calling out for any information that could help them find the person responsible for a shocking attack on a domestic cat in Christchurch. The cat was found by the side of the road with over a dozen large nails lodged in its head. “Definitely since I’ve started this has probably been the worst case that I’ve been involved in. I know there's other cases that have been as horrific but this one has definitely hit home,� says SPCA inspector Christoff Heyns. This could be one of the worst cases of animal cruelty New Zealand has ever seen....

A PHARMACIST in western NSW has banned the sale of condoms, the contraceptive and morning-after pill because it is against his beliefs as a Catholic. In a move that has angered health experts, Griffith pharmacist Trevor Dal Broi has refused to sell the oral contraceptive pill, the morning-after pill and condoms, referring customers to other chemists in the area. Mr Dal Broi, who runs the East Griffith Pharmacy, told The Sunday Telegraph he was strictly against the use of artificial contraception. "As a practising Catholic, it is my obligation to accept the official teaching of the Catholic Church against the...

A 10-year-old New Zealand girl has been honoured for recognising the approach of Samoa's deadly tsunami and running up and down a beach to warn people. Wellington schoolgirl Abby Wutzler has been presented with a certificate of commendation for her actions in warning of the approach of the tsunami on September 29. The honour was bestowed by New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence. The tsunami, triggered by a 8.0 magnitude earthquake, killed at least 143 people in Samoa, as well as 32 in American Samoa and nine in neighbouring Tonga. Abby was on the beach at the village of Lalomanu...

10/13/2009 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) -- The 379th Expeditionary Maintenace Squadron's fabrication flight doesn't design new aircraft or build new planes for tomorrow. But, the flight does make sure Air Force aircraft being used here today stay in the air. "The 379 EMXS fabrication flight repairs and maintains aircraft parts for all Air Force aircraft assigned to the base, as well as Navy, Royal Australian and British Royal Air Force aircraft," said Master Sgt. Jack Taylor, 379 EMXS fabrication flight aircraft structural maintainer, deployed from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. The more than 30-member shop performs maintenance on external sheet...

A piggy-back race with dwarfs dressed as jockeys has been slammed by critics as offensive and derogatory.

HEALTH - Blood oxygenation appears to be the key to surviving swine flu for patients suffering respiratory failure, new research shows. The observational study, carried out by New Zealand and Australian flu investigators between June 1 and August 31 this year, showed most patients who experienced respiratory failure after contracting swine flu survived if they were treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a type of life support that adds oxygen to the blood. The study focused on 68 patients with severe swine flu associated acute respiratory distress, who received ECMO in 15 intensive care units across New Zealand and Australia....

KEVIN Rudd and the architect of the Howard government's Pacific Solution, Philip Ruddock, yesterday clashed over whose administration was tougher on boatpeople, with Mr Ruddock claiming recent policy changes left Australia exposed to a "pipeline" of 10,000 unauthorised arrivals a year. As Coalition figures lined up yesterday to take advantage of the surge in boatpeople, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett slammed the decision to grant asylum to 42 Afghan men whose boat blew up following an act of sabotage. But the Coalition's criticism drew a counter-attack from the Prime Minister, who said yesterday the Howard government's tough rhetoric on asylum-seekers...

Experts are warning child care centres to drastically limit the amount of time children spend watching television or ban TV altogether. Research by the Royal Melbourne Children's Hospital suggests children under the age of two should not watch any TV at all. The researchers have now written guidelines for the Federal Government as part of the Get Up and Grow guidelines to reduce childhood obesity. They are designed specifically for child care centres but also provide some advice for parents. Statistics show that four-month-old infants watch on average 44 minutes of TV each day and children under the age of...

A 12-YEAR-OLD girl has been hailed a hero after she dragged her two-year-old brother from a burning car in an outback town. ..... The officers said the boy's sister had noticed the flames and quickly dragged him from the vehicle. Acting Senior Sergeant Jody Nobbs said the young boy had a "lucky escape". ..... Sgt Nobbs said the incident highlighted the need for children to be supervised at all times.

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer has taken aim at the Nobel Peace Prize committee over its decision to award the latest prize to US President Barack Obama. Mr Downer described the decision 'a farce' and said Mr Obama should have refused to accept the prize. "He has been in office for less than nine months when it is announced that he has won the prize, so they would have made the decision a few weeks ago I suppose. It does make the whole system a bit of a farce," he said. Mr Downer says it is a pity Mr Obama...

EVERY home would get a free energy efficiency makeover under a plan to green up Australia. The Australian Greens, who today issued their grand vision for the nation's future, say the makeover would save households up to $500 a year on power bills. All homes would be decked out with solar hot water heaters, shading, insulation and possibly double-glazed windows under the $22 billion plan. Central to the vision, which will form the basis of the Greens manifesto for the Federal election, is a new-look emissions trading scheme. The Government's ETS is struggling in the Senate with the Opposition unsure...

I teach history at one of Australia's leading independent secondary schools. As I'm teaching boys who are between 14 and 17 years old (with a few outliers on either side), and as the school is one that prides itself on teaching students to think for themselves (except perhaps when it concerns the teachings of the Roman Catholic church - OK, unfair - they are allowed to think about them, they just have to follow them anyway), I am not expected to keep my opinions to myself and provided I make it clear I am expressing my own opinion, not absolute...

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has hit out at the federal Government's decision to grant residency visas for 42 Afghan men who were aboard a boat that exploded near Ashmore Reef in April. The immigration department has revealed the men from the boat that was set alight on April 16 will be released into the community this week, ahead of a coronial inquest into the cause of the blaze that killed five of their fellow passengers. Police believe the fire was deliberately lit by one or more of the men on the boat, but do not have enough evidence to...

A FINAL act of quick thinking by yachtsman Andrew Short saved the life of his son before he perished in Saturday's disastrous sailing accident. The experienced sailor hurled a torch into the ocean after 19-year-old Nick Short was washed from the deck of the yacht, which had struck a rocky islet near Wollongong, south of Sydney. The light reached the teenager as he floundered in the swell, convinced his life was surely over, and later allowed him to attract the attention of a police rescue boat.

THE Australian Defence Force has declared it is not bound by civilian court and police orders banning soldiers from access to guns in cases of domestic violence. The military's position was exposed when it dismissed complaints by two ex-partners of an army cook, subject to domestic violence orders taken out separately by the women, that the soldier was receiving intensive weapons training associated with his deployment overseas. The army had been served with the court orders specifying the man must not possess a gun before it decided to give him firearms training. ADF regulations say state and territory court or...

An openly gay Jewish attorney has been nominated by Barack Obama as America’s new ambassador to New Zealand. David Huebner, 49, who is currently based in Shanghai, is Obama’s first gay appointment, and the third openly gay ambassador in American history. Obama’s nomination Wednesday of Huebner, who has also acted as general counsel for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, must be approved by Congress. A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, Huebner will also become the non-resident ambassador to Samoa, where homosexuality is illegal. Huebner is also on a list of Jewish leaders of the homosexual...

Australia is perhaps best-known for its beer drinkers, barbecues, crocodiles and sheilas, but don't let that fool you into underestimating the business savvy of those Aussies. The island from down under is leading the developed world in economic recovery, and investors are starting to take note. "We're in a much better neighbourhood than Canada," Brian Redican, a senior economist at Macquarie Bank in Sydney, says of Australia's trade relationships with the developing and emerging markets of the Asia-Pacific. Australia's trade with China has been key to keeping the economy growing, but Mr. Redican says quick economic management has also been...

HORRIFIED commuters watched a police officer pull out his gun and shoot dead an injured kangaroo on a roadside south of Brisbane. Devastated witnesses said they were sure the kangaroo could be saved and said they never would have called the police to Cusack Lane at Jimboomba if they knew of the fatal outcome. "He just put his earplugs in and shot the animal," said one man, who asked to remain anonymous. "There was no warning – but the poor animal could have been saved.

When it comes to awarding US President Barack Obama with the Nobel Peace Prize, I'm with the Taliban! The terrorists think it stinks (Hamas does, too) and I believe he shouldn't have come within cooee of the purse. The Nobel for Medicine is awarded on results, not to a recent medical graduate who aspires to find a cancer cure. Nor is the prize for Literature handed to someone who has written the first paragraph of what they think will be a masterpiece. ..... Obama, on the other hand, is still dithering about whether to send more troops to Afghanistan (he...

DEPUTY Prime Minister Julia Gillard's broad Aussie accent has baffled US school children to the point of them asking her whether English is spoken Down Under. In Washington DC to discuss green jobs and education, Ms Gillard confessed she had puzzled American youngsters after talking to them for a few minutes. "I have visited two schools in Washington where the kids asked me, after listening to me, whether or not we spoke English in Australia," she told Macquarie Radio today.

BRITAIN has toppled the United States as the world's leading financial centre, according to the latest league table from the World Economic Forum (WEF). Financial capital: Australia has the world's number two financial centre, according to a new World Economic Forum ranking. But the gloss was tarnished as Britain scored worse than Nigeria, Panama and Bangladesh for financial stability. Britain was elevated from second to first place, while the US dropped to third place in the overall rankings, with both countries scoring less well than last year, as the financial crisis exposed their frailties. Australia rose nine rungs to second...

THE most entertaining entertainment story in the world yesterday was an oldie but a goodie: backward and racist Australians had been caught red-handed in a blackface race scandal, live on TV. The Nine Network on Wednesday night happily put five men in black-face makeup and fake Afros on TV. The skit was part of Hey, Hey It's Saturday's popular - and, as it turns out, aptly named - Red Faces talent show, and the story went global because the guest judge was Harry Connick Jr, a Louisiana crooner whose father was district attorney in the race-torn city of New Orleans...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Wednesday he planned to nominate an openly gay lawyer as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. If confirmed by the Senate, David Huebner would become the third openly gay ambassador in U.S. history and the first pick by this administration. In a statement released from the White House, Obama said he looked forward to working with Huebner and is confident he will represent the United States well in the Pacific region.

THE Bureau of Meteorology has issued a tsunami watch for the offshore waters of North Queensland. The BoM issued a tsunami watch for the Great Barrier Reef offshore water areas between Yeppoon and Bowen at 8.44am (AEST). The 7.8-magnitude quake hit the Santa Cruz islands in the South Pacific early today, seismologists said, and a tsunami warning has also been issued for Vanuatu and other nearby countries. BoM senior forecaster Geoff Doueal said the tsunami wasn't expected to make it past the Great Barrier Reef. "The reef pretty much kills this tsunami," he said. "So there is no real direct...

A MALE flight attendant is being investigated by Jetstar over allegations he contacted a teenage girl on Facebook using details from passenger records. The Jetstar attendant sent the 15-year-old girl several messages via the social media website after a flight from the Sunshine Coast to Melbourne last month, reports the ABC. The girl did not give him her name but within hours of the flight landing in Melbourne the man had added her to his Facebook page and sent her several friend requests, the girl's mother says. The woman, who was on the flight with the 15-year-old and another daughter,...

ABC comedy is again in trouble over taste after a new TV show featured star host John Safran acting out a sex scene to an image of US President Barack Obama. 'John Safran's Race Relations' shows the skit involving the presenter simulating a sex scene to an image of US President Barack Obama. The segment in the first episode of the show depicts Safran masturbating to President Obama inside a Palestinian sperm bank, and also encourages a Palestinian film crew member to do the same inside an Israeli sperm bank.

Anchiornis huxleyi: new four-winged feathered dino?...

The dollar dropped overnight Tuesday as the Reserve Bank of Australia hiked interest rates, the first G20 country to do so, putting added pressure on the low-yielding greenback. The rate hike comes at a time when U.S. interest rates are still ultra-low, making the dollar less attractive to investors. The RBA's move reinforces the impression the U.S. could lag behind other countries in raising rates as the world pulls out of the financial crisis. The RBA Tuesday raised interest rates for the first time since March 2008, becoming the first central bank from the Group of 20 to begin withdrawing...

SYDNEY — Australia's central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates by a quarter point Tuesday, the first major economy to increase the cost of borrowing amid signs its recovery from the global slump is gaining momentum. The Reserve Bank of Australia raised its cash rate to 3.25 percent from a 49-year low of 3 percent. Between September 2008 and April this year, the rate was slashed a total of four and a quarter percentage points as the financial crisis morphed into a global recession.