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Analysis finds no safety improvement from red light cameras in Garden Grove and Los Alamitos, California. Red light cameras are disappearing from California. Once the state had more than a hundred cities using automated ticketing machines, but by now a greater number of jurisdictions have canceled their programs than have functional cameras. On Monday, the Los Alamitos city council decided to keep its cameras despite a new report showing the devices have not improved safety. Jay Beeber, Executive Director of Safer Streets LA, provided his analysis of the safety impact of photo enforcement use to the city councils in Los...

'Rugby, known mostly in America as the precursor to American football, is a beloved sport in many countries of the world, particularly in Australia and New Zealand. For many children in these countries, playing professional rugby alongside your sports heroes is a dream that most will sadly never realize. One 4-year-old, however, recently got the pro rugby memory of a lifetime. It happened at a charity game featuring all-star ex-players from New South Wales and Queensland in a match known as "Legends of League." Somehow, this bold kid managed to find his way on to the field (or pitch, as...

All public schools across New South Wales have now been banned from viewing a gay parenting documentary following the controversy over a girls high school's decision for every student to watch the film. NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli personally stepped in to stop Burwood Girls High School's special screening of Gayby Baby for all 1200 students during third and fourth periods this Friday after some parents are believed to have been upset by the decision to show the movie. Going one significant step further on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Piccoli enforced a state-wide ban preventing all public schools being able to...

Prison officers are refusing to deal with a Supermax prisoner after he was allowed to bend the strict rule of kneeling before any officers enter their cell. Milad Bin Ahmad-Shah al-Ahmadzai was told he could sit instead of kneel like all other maximum security prisoners which has incensed the officers who have since been instructed by the union not to move al-Ahmadzai unless he kneels,The Daily Telegraph reported. Meanwhile, commissioned officers have been brought into Goulburn prison to deal with the Muslim prisoner who is insisting on special treatment on the grounds of his religious beliefs. Corrective Services NSW told...

Theirs is the previously untold Australian side of the 'The Great Escape' - best mates who surfed together, flew RAF missions together and finally tunnelled out of Stalag Luft III prison camp together in the most daring breakout of the Second World War. The brief flight to freedom by 76 prisoners of war, in which Australians John Williams and Rusty Kierath played a pivotal part, was immortalised by Hollywood - although the film largely glossed over a key part played in the daring ploy by Australian captives. Now there's a book that reveals details of their role and events that...

The compulsory attendance for every student at a girl's high school to watch a gay parenting documentary instead of their scheduled classes has made the parents see red. As part of Wear it Purple day, all 1200 students at Burwood Girls High School, in Sydney's inner west, are required to watch a special screening of Gayby Baby during third and fourth periods this Friday, The Daily Telegraph reported. After the movie, the girls are encouraged to show off their purple outfits at a fashion parade under a rainbow flag, with the opportunity to win a prize for the most purple...

Good Families are Unfair? John Stonestreet | BreakPoint | Friday, August 21, 2015 Equality” is one of the watchwords of our time. It's invoked in nearly every political, ethical, and increasingly, social discussion. And lately, it's gone completely off the rails. Once upon a time, “equality” was the rallying cry of patriots and abolitionists—the good and true belief that “all men are created equal” in the sight of God, are equal in dignity and deserve equal rights before the law. But today, “equality” means something very different: It means sameness. And two philosophers recently profiled by Australia's ABC network have...

ATTACKING Captain Andrew Hastie is the last straw. How low will Labor’s media mates go to destroy the Abbott Government? Let me tell you about Hastie, the man the Melbourne Age smeared all over its front page on Saturday. Hastie served in the SAS, our elite force that has done so much heroic fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Two years ago, he led a platoon fighting Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan — one of his three tours there. He was in a helicopter, and some of his men were in a firefight on the ground. They won; the Talibani lost. But...

FIREFIGHTERS from Australia and New Zealand are off to help counterparts battle more than 100 wildfires burning across the United States. THE 71-strong contingent will head to Idaho from Sydney Airport on Sunday.

I don’t know how much lower The Age can go. This morning’s front-page hatchet job on the Liberals’ candidate in the Canning by-election is a disgrace. We know The Age is desperate to destroy the Abbott Government, and we know it now sees Canning as its big chance. If the Liberals lose, Abbott falls. Hence this attack on the Liberals’ candidate, once an officer in our elite SAS, risking his life to defend the likes of even Age journalists, safe at home to snipe: The former SAS soldier standing as the Liberal Party’s prize recruit in a key federal by-election...

THE United States has formally asked Australia to extend its air combat operations to hit Islamic State targets in Syria, but the government won't be rushing to make a decision. PRIME Minister Tony Abbott said it was a serious request and a response would be made in the next couple of weeks. He warned consolidation of a terrorist state in Eastern Syria and northern Iraq would be a catastrophe for the world. "It would be a disaster for Australia because what we have been seeing on an almost daily basis is the continued lure that this terrorist group, that this...

AUSTRALIA is considering a US request to launch air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria in an unprecedented departure from Australian foreign policy that could spark political division at home.

After its success in Ireland and then the United States, the movement to legalise same-sex marriage is now knocking on Australia's doors to the dismay of devoted Christians in the Land Down Under.Australian Archbishop Anthony Fisher revealed recently that "there are voices in our culture that no longer think marriage need be for life, or be open to children, or be exclusive, or be between man and wife."Addressing the faithful during the Annual Marriage Mass with Renewal of Vows at Saint Mary's Cathedral in Sydney last July 12, Fisher said those behind this movement "write off as benighted and bigoted...

Trent Lister, 29, bought his investment property in Norlane, Geelong with his partner and his mother, but what started as a long-term life plan has descended into a nightmare. Earlier this month, during a routine inspection of the property, Mr Lister arrived to find his property had been turned into a cannabis crop house by new tenants who had only been in the property for a few months. The home was left trashed, the electricity had been rewired, holes cut in floors and the roof, and cupboards removed. The bath was being used to send water to different parts of...

SYDNEY -- The abuse was meticulously catalogued. From 1950 to 2014, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society amassed some 5,000 files detailing sexual abuse of Australian children by 1,006 of its members, who believe only they -- the Jehovah's Witnesses -- proclaim the truth about God. Young girls were assaulted by neighbors. Teenagers were raped by their fathers. Victims were forced to pray with their abusers. When the children reached out for help, the church's obsession with secrecy and hostility to outsiders kicked in. Victims, ordered to keep quiet, were forced to confront their abusers in person. All complaints --...

The non-profit's chairperson Samantha Lee labelled Mr Howard 'an icon' for gun control. 'Mr Howard is an icon of the growing numbers of people who want gun controls to be tightened across Australia, despite the pressure from pro-shooting parties,' she said. She said any disruption to the September 8 event by pro-gun lobbyists 'would not be tolerated'.

COALITION frontbenchers who defy the agreed position to oppose gay marriage will be sacked, Tony Abbott says. The Prime Minister this morning said if maverick MP Warren Entsch’s cross-party bill to legalise same-sex marriage did come to a vote in the parliament, ministers and parliamentary secretaries who voted for it would be demoted. “It is nevertheless the standard position of our party that if a frontbencher cannot support the party’s policy, that person has to leave the frontbench,” Mr Abbott told ABC radio. Mr Entsch, who has pushed for marriage equality, says he believes several of his colleagues will cross...

NEW air force boss Air Marshal Gavin “Leo” Davies wants to revolutionise the relationship between the RAAF, defence companies and universities, with staff exchanges across the organisations. In his first major speech as the chief Air Marshal, Davies said that he was alarmed that Australia’s “adversaries” were not constrained (like we are) as they exploited both government and private sector technologies. Speaking at a Williams Foundation seminar, he said he wanted to see the RAAF’s “best and brightest” seconded to industry and academic organisations. “Our airmen and women can learn so much from our business partners who support our capability....

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has confirmed coalition MPs will not have a free vote on same-sex marriage, destroying any chance of the law being passed under this Parliament. He said roughly 60 MPs supported the existing position, while 30 called for a conscience vote after a marathon six-hour party room meeting. 'There was strong support for the existing position... that marriage is between a man and a woman,' Mr Abbott told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday night. Following the party room meeting, Mr Abbott conducted a press conference and said that of the 30 who said there should be a...

The almost-identical national flags of Australia and New Zealand are often mistaken for each other – distinguishable from each other only by the different colours of the stars. However, that could soon change after the New Zealand government released a list of the 40 favourite flag designs on Monday - and only one has incorporated the Union Jack. The public whittled down 10,292 options to pick their favourite 40, as Prime Minister John Key throws his support behind the campaign. Mr Key would like the flag to be changed to a more unique design, but some New Zealanders have reservations...