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An Australian man missing in the hurricane-devastated US city of New Orleans has been found safe and well, in jail. Tourist Ashley McDonald, of Narre Warren in Melbourne's south-east, was arrested in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit last week but was but transferred out of the devastated city, his sister Jasmine Mutnansky said this morning. "They evacuated the prisoners and they were scattered all over...," He has turned up in Huntsville (in Alabama). "It's not the most classy ending, but I'm glad he's safe and sound and it's over," she said. A spokesman for the Australian Department of Foreign...

CANBERRA: The government should have ignored directives from the US State Department barring foreign consular representatives from hurricane devastated New Orleans and sent a rescue mission, Labor says. Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said today Australian troops on postings in the United States could have been sent to the disaster zone where up to 20 Australians remain unaccounted for. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today he is concerned in particular for the safety of two Australians who have not been heard from since the hurricane struck. Mr Beazley said the Australian representatives could have talked their way through as television news...

SENDING Australian troops into hurricane-devastated New Orleans without the permission of US authorities could have led to further chaos and possibly bloodshed, Prime Minister John Howard said today. Mr Howard has angrily rejected claims Australia should have sent officials into the disaster area – ignoring directives from the US. He said when a disaster of such magnitude occured, the only way it could be safely, fairly and efficiently was to leave it to the domestic authority to manage. "The idea that you could have the military personnel of a range of foreign countries operating independently within the United States to...

AUSTRALIAN diplomats should have ignored American orders and gone straight into New Orleans to rescue trapped Australians, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said today. Mr Beazley said the Government should have used its special relationship with the United States to get into the disaster zone after Hurricane Katrina struck last week. "I was defence minister for a few years," Mr Beazley said. "You've got your special mates in your equivalent defence forces in the United States. "You ring up your special mates and you jump on a chopper, that's what you do."

AUSTRALIAN survivors of Hurricane Katrina told last night of their dramatic escape from New Orleans and the unfolding civil disaster in city. The group, joyful at fleeing the nightmare of the Louisiana city, lauded one of its members as a hero. Bud Hopes, of Brisbane, was praised for saving dozens of tourists as the supposed safe haven of the city's Superdome became a hellhole. "I would have to say that Bud is solely responsible for our evacuation," Vanessa Cullington, 22, of Sydney, told the Sunday Herald Sun by mobile phone from a bus carrying 10 Australians to safety in Dallas,...

THE Opposition has ridiculed the Government's efforts to get diplomatic assistance to Australians stranded in the US hurricane disaster zone. An Australian consular official from Atlanta has now been given approval to enter the devastated city of New Orleans. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today the official had permission to stay just until sunset and would be concentrating on locating two missing Australians. But Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, said Mr Downer had achieved little. "I don't know what planet Mr Downer is on, but he's not on planet New Orleans," he said. "The bottom line is this –...

BRISBANE man Bud Hopes was lauded as a hero for helping save dozens of tourists as the supposed safe haven of the city's Superdome deteriorated into a hell-hole. "I would have to say that Bud is solely responsible for our evacuation," Sydney woman Vanessa Cullington, 22, told The Sunday Mail from a bus carrying 10 Aussies to safety in Dallas. "I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn't got out. It's so great to be free." Food and water were almost non-existent for the 25,000 people inside the stiflingly hot building which was filled with the stench...

SYDNEY (AFP) - The Australian government criticised a US ban on consular officials entering hurricane-stricken New Orleans Sunday, after being embarrassed when media crews rescued its stranded citizens while diplomats awaited access to the disaster zone. Officials in Canberra said 31 Australians had been evacuated from New Orleans in the past two days and another 40 were still believed to be trapped in the city. Some rescued Australians who were transported out of New Orleans by Australian news crews have criticised their government for doing nothing to help them, but Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Bruce Billson said efforts were...

Rape and murder inside dome of despair (3 September 2005, from AUSTRALIA) by Adam Harvey and Kim Sweetman 03sep05IT is a nightmare landscape of roaming gangs and random rapes. Desperate, hungry refugees are forced to huddle in hiding from armed thugs who have killed for what little food can be scavenged.This is how the richest nation on earth reacts to a disaster. More than 30,000 National Guards were sent in to New Orleans last night with orders to shoot to kill. Those who survived Hurricane Katrina inside the city's Superdome emerged yesterday from a second hell. "They're raping babies...

THE family of a Queensland couple stranded in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans and forced to sleep under a bridge for the past week said they have been rescued no thanks to the Australian Government. While Australian diplomats tried unsuccessfully to cut through American red tape to gain entry to the devastated region, a Channel 7 journalist did manage to find Tim and Joanne Miller and pluck them to safety. The couple from Rockhampton were holidaying in Miami when Hurricane Katrina hit and were told to go to New Orleans to avoid the path of the storm. They were stranded for five...

Ms Dalton said the family had received countless offers of assistance to shelter the Millers in the United States once they make it out of the hurricane-affected area. "The citizens of America are offering more than what the officials are. And so is the media. They seem to be offering far more than the consulates and embassies and officials," she said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two Australian couples caught in the lawless mayhem of hurricane-ravaged New Orleans have been rescued by an Australian TV crew. Both couples - Tim and Joanne Miller of Rockhampton and fellow Queenslanders Garry and Cynthia Jones - have...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - First the federal government took the buses they had hired to evacuate them. Then their hotels turned them out onto the desolate streets. They trudged for blocks to walk over a bridge, but officers wouldn't let them cross - and fired a few warning shots over their heads to convince them. And the night was coming down. Despairing, dozens of trapped tourists huddled on a downtown street corner and waited for dark. "I grew up in an upper-middle class family. Street life is foreign to me," said Larry Mitzel, 53, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. "I'm not sure...

AUSTRALIANS trapped in flood-ravaged New Orleans are in fear of their lives as the city descends into lawlessness. Tourists stranded in the US Gulf Coast city and sheltering in its huge Superdome sports stadium in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have told of shootings, rapes and looting, and are growing increasingly concerned for their safety. More than 50 Australians are believed to be trapped in New Orleans and surrounding areas. Brisbane man Peter McNeil said his 22-year-old son John was stranded in New Orleans but had now moved with other foreigners out of the Superdome for their own protection. Violence...