Australia Oz in the News
Bali police call in code breakers
Australian police code-breakers will be called in to help Indonesian police crack mobile phone passwords of the Bali nine ringleaders as authorities try to close in on the masterminds behind the heroin ring.
As Indonesian authorities continue their interrogations, a psychiatrist has called for one of the nine, 27-year-old Renae Lawrence, of Brisbane, to be placed on suicide watch. From Bali police call in code breakers
THE alleged leader of the so-called Bali nine is reported to have been planning a second delivery of drugs to Australia at the time of his arrest in Indonesia.
Myuran Sukumaran, 24, was arrested along …
Date: May 3rd, 2005 | No Comments
Stakes high in Corby saga
You can’t help but feel sympathy for Schapelle Corby, the 27-year-old Australian woman at the centre of a drugs trial in Bali.
Surely she cannot have been so stupid as to try to smuggle 4kg of marijuana into Bali, where it would sell for less than it does on the streets of Australia.
If she was indeed that stupid, she needs help, not jail time. Her defence claims she was the unwitting victim of a domestic drug-smuggling operation gone wrong, but from the little I know of drug rings, I would have thought they were more sophisticated than to bung dope with …
Date: April 29th, 2005 | 2 comments
Death threat against family of Bali accused - Police offer protection to father
ONE of the families of the nine Australians accused of drug smuggling in Bali has received a death threat since the group’s arrest.
The father of Matthew Norman, 18, of Quakers Hill, in Sydney’s north-west, said he was offered police protection for his family after another family received a death threat.
Michael Norman said he was unnerved by the news and wanted to ensure his family was safe, even if that meant moving house. From Death threat against family of Bali accused - Police offer protection to father
Date: April 26th, 2005 | No Comments
'That's No Camel, That's My Baggage!'
- A baggage handler wearing a camel suit taken from a passenger’s luggage has left Qantas Airways red-faced, with Australia’s national carrier investigating a potentially embarrassing security lapse.
Passenger David Cox complained after he saw a baggage handler driven across the Sydney airport tarmac Wednesday wearing the camel suit that had been packed into the baggage he had checked in only minutes earlier. From ‘That’s No Camel, That’s My Baggage!’
Ok great. Talk about confidence in the airline biz and security. A few years ago, in Minneapolis, MN, a new station caught a bunch of baggage handlers tossing …
Date: April 19th, 2005 | No Comments
Quiz show goes gangbusters in China
IT is the show that has millions of Chinese television viewers enthralled by Australia, boasts China’s version of Rove McManus as its host and it is all co-ordinated out of Queensland.
Sunshine Coast and Brisbane-based film television producer James Lingwood is the executive producer of a series of 52 episodes of World On Screen � an interactive quiz show that is broadcast to millions of Chinese each week.
The former documentary maker teamed up with China’s Hebei TV to make the series, in which three contestants are shown six, four-minute video presentations and are asked quiz questions based on the footage. …
Date: March 28th, 2005 | No Comments
Nine Australians arrested in Bali
Nine Australians have been arrested for reportedly trafficking heroin on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Five were detained at Bali’s airport, four of them with heroin strapped to their bodies as they were trying to board a flight, Australian police said.
The other four were arrested in a nearby hotel, where police also found a small quantity of drugs, as well as scales and other evidence.
Convicted drug smugglers can be sentenced to death in Indonesia. From Nine Australians arrested in Bali
While this goes on, the government denies exporting the death penalty
Date: April 30th, 2005 | No Comments
Aussies prey on tsunami kids
A CHILD rights group today demanded the passports of recidivist pedophiles be cancelled to stop them targeting children left defenceless by the Boxing Day tsunami.
The Child Wise group said cancelling passports of repeat offenders would end any chance for pedophiles to enter countries where thousands of children have been left orphaned.
About 20 convicted pedophiles trying to travel to Indonesia and Thailand following the tsunami have been stopped, caught by new rules introduced with a national child sex offender register.
Under the register, the offenders have to tell police if they plan to travel overseas.
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Some countries, including Indonesia and Thailand, ban convicted …
Date: April 27th, 2005 | No Comments
Teen mules 'agreed for $200 a condom'
A 15-YEAR-OLD McDonald’s worker and a 17-year-old trainee hairdresser caught with a $1million haul of drugs in a Hong Kong hotel had allegedly agreed to act as “mules” to carry the illicit cargo into Australia by swallowing heroin-filled condoms at $200 for each package. From Teen mules ‘agreed for $200 a condom’
Recent updates:
However, it emerged yesterday that Ms Diaz was backing out of the deal just before police raided the room the pair had shared for a week at the Imperial Hotel in the Tsim Sha Tsui backpacker district.
A prosecution source told The Weekend Australian: “Vo appeared …
Date: April 23rd, 2005 | No Comments
Outback death riddle gets the TV treatment
A documentary exploring the murder of Yorkshire backpacker Peter Falconio on a deserted Australian highway is to be broadcast next month.
Murder In The Outback attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the attack on Mr Falconio and his then fiancee Joanne Lees in 2001.
The police investigation has finally led to the forthcoming trial of Bradley John Murdoch, but has also created many lingering questions about the story of Joanne Lees, and thrown up assorted conspiracy theories concerning the missing man himself.
The murder captured worldwide attention. In July 2001, the trip of a lifetime for the engaged backpackers from Hepworth, near Holmfirth, …
Date: April 18th, 2005 | No Comments
Tsunami travel alerts costing us billions, say Thais
Thai authorities have criticised the Australian Government for warning travellers to stay away from Phuket and Krabi, where thousands of people died in the Boxing Day tsunami.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand says revenue losses have surpassed 30 billion baht (about $1 billion), saying that many travellers are too scared to return to these areas despite a fast recovery.
Speaking at a travel conference in Phuket, the president of Thai Airways International, Kanok Abhiradee, said the region was “cleaned up and ready for tourists” on December 27, but this message was slow to get out.
Asked if Australia was wrong to maintain its …
Date: March 23rd, 2005 | No Comments