Free Republic

Australia's state and federal governments must invest in training specialist emergency rescue crews to avert severe livestock and wildlife losses caused by climate change, a leading animal welfare campaigner says. The head of disaster rescue operations for the Boston-based International Fund for Animal Welfare, Dick Green, has told a national wildlife conference in Canberra, ''Your big three natural disasters here in Australia are bushfires, floods and wind storms and, as the world's climate changes, you're going to get more of them. You need to plan for that and be better prepared.'' He said the number of natural disasters across the...

Already pointed out the need to carry a camera with you at all times to catch amazing pictures. Now, here's one reason to always remember to carry a good videocamera. And survival kits and a GPS and armored suits and canned burgers and infrared goggles or a F-35 helmet. Unlike Lori Mehmen, however, these guys didn't take cover and just kept driving to this huge mother of all dust storms in Australia. Not as dangerous as a tornado, sure, but scary doesn't even start to describe it. WATCH: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a94_1216779982

SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- In what is often seen as one of the most intensely secular nations in the world, Australia received a wake-up call: the faith of the church on public display over the weeklong celebrations of World Youth Day. For young Catholics used to seeing a steady annual decline in figures such as Mass attendance -- now estimated at approximately 13 percent of Catholics nationally -- and feeling like the only young person in the local parish, the sight of an estimated 300,000 pilgrims from around the nation and overseas may well have provided a much-needed shot in...

"For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body; and we were all given to drink of one Spirit" (I Cor 12:13) How many of you have heard people from your own generation or older say something like this: "I believe in Jesus, but I don't need the Church." Or: "I'm a spiritual person, but I'm not religious." Here's the problem with those statements: Without Jesus, there's no Church. It's that simple. And it's also true the other way around: Without the Church, there's no way we can have a lasting, personal relationship with the true Jesus...

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Two young Chileans thought they were the object of a joke when they received e-mails saying they would ride the boat-a-cade that would take Benedict XVI to his World Youth Day arrival. Jorge Juárez and Ane Marie Kampp registered for a random drawing on the official World Youth Day page, without thinking seriously that that click would make possible an unforgettable adventure, reported the Chilean episcopal conference. Juárez said he has been serving the Church for years, but what he experienced in Sydney would make him deepen his faith. "I feel the responsibility to...

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI expressed his deep sorrow for the suffering of sexual abuse victims during his homily at Mass with Australian clergy. Departing from his prepared homily during the Saturday liturgy at St. Mary's Cathedral, the Pope said, "Indeed, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured, and I assure them that as their pastor, I too share in their suffering." The Pontiff's prepared speech addressed acknowledge "the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - At most outdoor festivals the longest queues are generally for the portable toilets and bar but at World Youth Day in Sydney, the Catholic Church's version of Woodstock, one of the biggest queues is for confessing sins. ADVERTISEMENT With some 300,000 young Catholic pilgrims attending WYD from July 15-20 the Church is staging the world's largest confessional, with more than 1,000 priests at anyone time hearing sins and dispensing penance at 250 locations. "The notion in Sydney was to decentralize the celebration of reconciliation (confession). The groups received reconciliation in over 250 locations throughout greater Sydney," said...

HOME owners could be forced to turn their houses green before they can sell them under a proposal before the State Government. Planning Minister Justin Madden yesterday refused to comment on the proposal. The Master Builders Association wants laws to make it compulsory for owners of all existing homes to meet minimal environmental standards before they are allowed to sell them. The changes will cost each homeowner hundreds of dollars but the MBA says buyers of newly built homes are already being forced to meet five-star standards and they shouldn't be the only ones bearing the burden of helping the...

HOMILY OF POPE BENEDICT XVI VIGIL OF THE XXIII WORLD YOUTH DAYRANDWICK RACECOURSESYDNEY19 JULY 2008 Dear Young People, Once again this evening we have heard Christ’s great promise – "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you". And we have heard his summons – "be my witnesses throughout the world" – (Acts 1:8). These were the very last words which Jesus spoke before his Ascension into heaven. How the Apostles felt upon hearing them, we can only imagine. But we do know that their deep love for Jesus, and their trust in his word, prompted...

SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- For some participants at World Youth Day, the joy of welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the World Youth Day celebration July 17 was dampened by the absence of a Chaldean Catholic delegation from Iraq. Salina Hasham, a World Youth Day employee, has been working for months trying to get the 170-member Iraqi delegation to Sydney. At first, it seemed the Australian government would not issue any visas to the group, Hasham said. Then 10 visas were granted and, finally, a total of 25 visas were approved. But as of July 17, she said, "they are stuck...

Sydney, Jul 18, 2008 / 09:36 am (CNA).- Spectacular scenes were played out across Sydney city’s landmarks, as part of the re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross for WYD. An audience of half a billion tuned in to watch the performance that involved around 80 performers and was played out by young people at six major venues. Over 270,000 international and local spectators also made their way to points around the city to watch the Stations of the Cross live and on big screen televisions. The first station held on the steps of St Mary’s Cathedral was attended...

IN a return to tradition, the Pope will tomorrow offer communion to kneeling Catholics, and preferably on the tongue rather than in the hand. The final World Youth Day mass at Sydney's Randwick racecourse will attract up to half a million worshippers and will be beamed to as many as a billion viewers around the world. A firm believer in the importance and beauty of liturgical traditions, the Pope will seek to set an example to a massive audience with his return to pre-1960s ritual. "The Holy Father has requested that those whom he gives communion to will kneel, and...

Excerpt - ABC South Asia correspondent Peter Lloyd has been arrested in Singapore and is likely to be charged with a number of drug-related offences later today. A statement from Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau says the 41-year-old was arrested in the course of a follow-up search after the arrest of another man, a 31-year-old Singaporean. Singapore police say Lloyd was arrested for possessing a small quantity of the drug 'ice', one improvised smoking pipe, and six syringes. Police say his urine tested positive for amphetamines and he is being investigated for trafficking a controlled drug. If convicted, Lloyd faces imprisonment...

Sydney, Jul 17, 2008 / 02:34 pm (CNA).- The “Vocations Expo,” which has given religious congregations a chance to showcase their charisms and apostolates to the young people attending World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney has been “a true success,” organizers have revealed.Diverse congregations, institutes and movements are reaching out to the thousands of young people that have flooded the vocations fair located at the Sydney Exhibition Center at Darling Harbor.  The vocations expo was opened on July 15 and will end on Sunday, July 20, at the close of WYD.According to Father Donai Pellonar, coordinator of the Vocations Expo,...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Thursday told a huge gathering of young people that they were inheriting a planet whose resources had been scarred and squandered to fuel insatiable consumption. His latest appeal to save the planet for future generations came in a address to some 150,000 youths in Sydney after he rode through the city's harbor standing on the outdoor deck of a white ferry as dozens of boats blew their horns. "Reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are also scars which mark the surface of our earth, erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world's mineral and...

p>SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 16, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils is praying for peace and harmony among all people of good will during the World Youth Day activities in Sydney. President Ikebal Patel sent out a statement this week in which he extended "sincere greetings to the Catholic community of Australia on behalf of the Muslims of Australia." He continued, "I take this opportunity on behalf of the Muslims of Australia to also extend our good wishes to all Australians of all faiths on this auspicious occasion of World Youth Day and pray for peace, harmony and goodwill...

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 16, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The archbishop of Sydney says that World Youth Day is helping to restore a key element for the life of the Church -- the sacrament of reconciliation. To this end, Cardinal George Pell has made sure the sacrament is readily available in the host city this week. Priests, who received with their accreditation a schedule for hearing confessions, are located throughout the city in real and makeshift confessionals. You see them under the trees of the Domain, around the waters of Darling Harbor and in the alcoves of every city church. Notre Dame University...

Simply marvelous! Inhale the exuberant joy of this description of the impact of WYD pilgrims and you can see God is already mightily at work softening the hearts of Sydneysiders. "THE sun was just rising. It was around 6am and bloody cold on Sunday morning at the top of a hill in a suburban street in Sydney's Berowra Heights. That's when I first saw it. As I started off for a run, the chatter of two young women could be heard. Then, from the fog, they emerged. Bleary-eyed, no doubt from a rough night on the floor, and under-dressed...

Australian woman dies at age 108 after winning an international audience World's oldest blogger dies July 14: Olive Riley, considered the world's oldest blogger has died at the age of 108. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports. CANBERRA, Australia - An Australian woman renowned as the world's oldest blogger has died at the age of 108, with her last posting talking about her ailing health but also how she still sings a happy song every day. Olive Riley, of Woy Woy about 50 miles north of Sydney, began blogging in February last year, sharing stories from her life during the two world...

THE Pope was to leave his rural retreat by motorcade for central Sydney tonight ahead of his first official appearance tomorrow at World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations. The motorcade carrying Pope Benedict XVI was scheduled to leave the Opus Dei-run retreat at Kenthurst, on Sydney's northwestern outskirts, at 6pm (AEST). The 81-year-old has been resting at the Kenthurst Study Centre since arriving in Sydney from Rome on Sunday. The Pope was to be taken to St Mary's Cathedral House in central Sydney, where he will stay for the remainder of his time in the city. Tomorrow is the Pope's first...

AUSSIES who find themselves under threat are more likely to shoot at Muslims, especially if they're in a good mood, a study claims. Researchers at the University of New South Wales have found that Australians perceive Muslim-style headgear as a threat, even if they don't realise they hold any prejudice. The study, published in The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, involved 66 uni students playing a computer game in which different male and female figures appeared on a balcony. Some figures were wearing Muslim-style turbans or hijabs while others were bareheaded. Participants were asked to shoot at the targets carrying...

Friend and fellow blogger Dawn Eden, touring Australia for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the country for World Youth Day, reported on her site on Tuesday that she fell prey to the Down Under version of liberal media bias. "A Current Affair," a program on Sky Television that shares the same name and ilk with the Maury Povich program, interviewed Eden, an author and convert to Catholicism, for a segment they labeled "No Sex Pilgrims" (video available here). The Aussie tabloid television reporters who featured her seemed incredulous that anyone in this day and age would live chastely. ...[C]orrespondent Ben...

SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- In brilliant winter sunshine the old docklands at Barrangaroo became a moving sea of national flags unfurling above the heads of the 150,000 pilgrims who had come from different corners of the earth to celebrate one faith and liturgy. Among the flags was one from China: About 60 pilgrims from mainland China attended World Youth Day in Sydney. Among them were priests not registered with the Chinese government who, for the first time in their lives, wore the black and white collar that identifies them as a Catholic priest. The Chinese pilgrims said they were ecstatic...

Australia's iconic Tasmanian devils have started having sex at a younger age since the advent of a deadly disease which threatens to wipe out the species. Data collected before and after the cancer-causing disease appeared showed a 16-fold increase in early sexual behaviour. Scientists fear the disease, which causes facial tumours, could lead to the marsupial carnivore's extinction within 20 to 25 years. "We have found that devils are compensating for the disease by breeding early -- there is a 16-fold increase in the number breeding at the age of one year," The Tasmanian devil is restricted to the island...

p>SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Photos show Benedict XVI enjoying his days of rest Down Under -- praying, working and delighting in a classical music concert. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, told journalists that the Pope is "absolutely serene and resting." Some members of the Australian press had painted a bleak picture of the Pontiff's health, saying that the Holy Father was extremely exhausted after his flight of more than 20 hours. But the Vatican spokesman presented a video Monday afternoon, local time, showing the Pope praying and walking with his secretaries at the...

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- World Youth Day is already bringing converts to the Catholic Church, and it hasn't even started yet. Sydney's Polish-Catholic community World Youth Day coordinator, 24-year-old Basia Slusarczyk, explained to ZENIT that her non-Catholic boyfriend is participating in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. His conversion was triggered by the experience of praying with her for the fruits of World Youth Day. "He is attending World Youth Day with me and I hope the week of events and the solidarity with so many Catholics from around the world will make him proud to be...

TV Schedule for World Youth Day 2008  Date ET PT GMT Program Name Description Tue 07/15/08 2:00 AM Mon 11 PM 6:00 WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008 ~ OPENING MASS WITH CARDINAL PELL (LIVE) (3 hrs) Presided over by Cardinal George Pell, this Mass formally celebrates the opening of WYD 2008. A much-anticipated feature of the Mass will be the arrival of the WYD Cross and Icon. Tue 07/15/08 12 PM 9 AM 16:00 Encore Tue 07/15/08 9 PM 6 PM 1:00 Encore Wed 07/16/08 12 AM Tues 9 PM 4:00 Encore           Thu 07/17/08 12:30...

More than 30 Indian youths have disappeared in New Zealand, where they were in transit to go to Sydney for World Youth Day, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Church said Monday. Lyndsay Freear told Radio New Zealand that a party of 220 Indian Catholics who arrived in Auckland a week ago were due to fly to Sydney Tuesday, but 32 of them had disappeared. All were billeted with church members in Auckland under a so-called Days in the Diocese programme before going to Australia, where Pope Benedict arrived Sunday for events associated with World Youth Day. Freear said all the...

AS one would expect of the leader of a billion Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI is a leading theologian, one of the major thinkers of our age.But he is also a sharpshooter - the kind of man who can explain complex ideas in simple ways, and then act decisively. People everywhere welcome his gifts. As a young Catholic studying in a modern university where relativism and other intellectual trends pushed against Christian truth, beauty and goodness- I often found Benedict to be speaking directly to those who wanted to push back. But even non-Catholics have something to learn from him. Benedict regularly describes,...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Australia on Sunday, saying he wants to use his visit to raise awareness about global warming and address the crisis of clergy sexual abuse. Benedict suggested to reporters on the flight from the Vatican that he would express regret about abuse by priests, though victims' groups are demanding he go further and make a direct formal apology. The clergy abuse scandal is a serious note in the pope's 10-day visit to Australia, his first, during which he will join the World Youth Day festival that has attracted more than 200,000 people. Benedict,...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Australia on Sunday, saying he wants to use his visit to raise awareness about global warming and address the crisis of clergy sexual abuse. Benedict suggested to reporters on the flight from the Vatican that he would express regret about abuse by priests, though victims' groups are demanding he go further and make a direct formal apology. The clergy abuse scandal is a serious note in the pope's 10-day visit to Australia, his first, during which he will join the World Youth Day festival that has attracted more than 200,000 people. Benedict,...

The study not only illustrates the link between body art, such as tattoos and intentional scarring, with cultural identity, but it also suggests that study of this imagery may help to unravel mysteries about where certain groups traveled in the past, what their values and rituals were, and how they related to other cultures... For the study, published in the latest issue of the journal Antiquity, Brady documented rock art drawings; images found on early turtle shell, stone and wood objects, such as bamboo tobacco pipes and drums; and images that were etched onto the human body through a process...

Young people have been flocking to Pope Benedict XVI since he began teaching in his twenties. As I write this, hundreds of thousands – from declared agnostics to metal heads to believing Catholics – are descending upon Sydney, Australia for World Youth Day 2008 ready to embrace Pope Benedict’s theme of Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” However, there is more to inspiration than some might think. For example, while an Olympic athlete probably wouldn’t be able to spring from his seat after a transatlantic flight;...

Vatican City, Jul 11, 2008 / 09:51 am (CNA).- Shepherd One, Pope Benedict XVI’s airplane will take off from Rome on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. bearing the Holy Father on his way to Australia for World Youth Day. The Pope’s ninth trip outside of Italy will begin with a three day vacation before he appears at World Youth Day, the largest gathering of youth Australia has ever seen. The flight from Rome will last 15 hours and 45 minutes and will arrive at Richmond airbase near Sydney at 3 p.m. local time on Sunday, July 13. Descending from the...

EAST Timor's Prime Minister is supporting a new law that would allow civilians to own guns, less than five months after illegally armed rebel soldiers tried to kill him and the President.

Gay groups say police are unnecessarily scrutinising them over activities planned for Sydney's World Youth Day, as civil libertarians rile at new police powers for this month's week-long event. Lapsed Catholic Luke Roberts is a homosexual activist and performer who goes by the stage name Pope Alice, a character best described as a celestial being of indeterminate gender. Along with Pope Benedict, Pope Alice will also be in Sydney during World Youth Day, hosting a "kiss-in" along Oxford Street in Darlinghurst. "I want to see Pope Alice express herself as a focal point for anybody - gays, lesbians, transgender, queers,...

AS if following the fashion and food fads of Uncle Sam was not enough, young Australians are increasingly adopting a US twang in their everyday speech. University of Queensland linguistics expert Roly Sussex said that as the most impressionable group in society, teenagers were very susceptible to imitating what they saw as being "snazzy or powerful". "It's called the prestige model," Professor Sussex said. "Prestige is a very powerful motive and they (teenagers) will go with the pronunciation that belongs to the most impressive context. "At the moment and this has been the case for some time now, that's American...

Adult stem cell research, for the pro-life community, is ethically superior to embryonic stem cell research because it doesn't involve the destruction of human life. Scientists at Griffith University in Australia are advancing the notion that its effectiveness is superior as well. The researchers published an article on Friday in the medical journal Stem Cells showing that the use of adult stem cells may be getting closer to a cure, or at least an effective treatment, for Parkinson's. Their new studies show adult stem cells from a patient's own nose could treat their condition. The paper showed the finding that...

A Briton living in Australia has agreed a bid of more than £192,000 after putting his "entire life" up for sale following a split from his wife. Ian Usher, 44, who left Darlington six years ago, included his house, car, job and friends in the online eBay auction, in an effort to make a fresh start. The lot attracted a peak offer of 399,300 Australian dollars (£192,276) when bids closed early on Sunday. Despite expecting higher bids, Mr Usher said he had "no regrets". At one point offers on the "life lot" rocketed to over two million Australian dollars (£1m)...

HIGH school teachers will be issued with emergency phones and new teachers will be trained to handle problem students under new school security measures. Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith told a Parliamentary Estimates hearing today it was part of the Government's $10 million plan, funded from 2007, to manage students' behaviour. Under the initiatives announced today: MOBILE phones will be provided to secondary teachers on yard duty so staff or police can be called immediately in the event of a security incident. THE Anti-Bullying Coalition will advise Government and non-government schools on the use of technology including mobile phones in violent...

Rape by gangs of immigrants is an assertion of dominance, and in that sense it is a political act. It says, “We are in charge here, and we do as we please with non-Muslims. No one may stop us; we operate with impunity.” There’s been a lot of talk here recently about the increased incidence of rapes, many of them committed by Muslim immigrants, in both Europe and Australia. We’ve highlighted the situation in Sweden, Norway, and Britain. Now it’s time to look at Belgium as well. If the Belgium government fails to prove such assertions wrong, then immigrant-dominated areas...

Ancient Australia not written in stone Has the life of Australia's Aborigines remained unchanged for 45,000 years? A new approach to archaeology challenges us to rethink prehistory. By Fran Molloy Some archaeologists argue that physical remnants such as this chert knife found in Djadjiling in WA give a more accurate view of life in ancient Australia than re-interpreting post-European contact history. (Source: Ho New/Reuters) Aboriginal people are thought to have inhabited the Australian continent for around 45,000 years before European contact, and are frequently cited as the oldest continuous living culture on Earth. However, written records of their lives exist...

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Police in Australia have charged a man for drink driving in a motorized wheelchair after he was found to be six times over the legal alcohol limit, local media reported on Monday. Police in the tropical northern Queensland city of Cairns said the man had a blood alcohol reading of 0.31, and was so drunk he was asleep at the controls of his motorized wheelchair in a turning lane of a major highway. --snip-- Other motorists on the four-lane highway had to swerve to avoid the wheelchair, police said.

Australian warship tests new torpedo Jeanette Stephen An Australian warship has successfully test fired a new torpedo designed to track and attack submarines. The Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) has successfully test fired the new MU90 Lightweight Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Torpedo from HMAS Toowoomba. The test firing occurred at sea approximately 30 kilometres off Mandurah in Western Australia. “While the MU90 Lightweight Torpedo has been successfully tested in Europe, this Acceptance Test and Evaluation exercise represents the first time an MU90 Lightweight Torpedo has been fired from an Australian warship,” Mr Fitzgibbon said. Mr Fitzgibbon said the exercise was a milestone...

A forty-year-old speed camera operator in Victoria, Australia was frightened yesterday by a man armed with an ax. The operator parked on Wedge Road in Carrum Downs at around 7:30pm. After turning on the camera, he relaxed in the passenger's seat as the automated machinery proceeded to generate citations ready for mailing to the owners of passing vehicles. At 10:30pm, the operator was startled by the sight of an ax shattering the driver's side window of his vehicle. The axman poked his ax toward the operator a few times before leaving the scene. The operator was unharmed, only suffering a...

An American tourist was charged with murder yesterday for allegedly drowning his bride of 11 days on a scuba diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef during their honeymoon. Christina Mae Watson, 26, died while diving on a shipwreck near the northeastern Australian city of Townsville while her husband looked on. Daniel Watson, 31, of Birmingham, Alabama, had claimed during police interviews that his wife had panicked a few minutes into the dive. He said that as she thrashed around in the water, she grabbed hold of his mask and pushed it off his face. He later described seeing her,...

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) wants the Federal Government's drought policy to help prepare farmers for climate change. Yesterday, the Federal Government announced the detail of how it will review the policy, which has previously defined drought as a once in 20 or 25 year event. Exceptional Circumstances (EC) support and farm exit packages will be reviewed as part of an economic assessment of drought policy. The Government has also announced a panel will look at the social effect of drought, and the weather bureau and CSIRO will report on climate change. VFF president Simon Ramsay says farms need to...

Parents who smoke outside their house are still exposing their children to the harmful effects of passive smoking, an Australian study suggests. The study found that the levels of respirable suspended particles, including nicotine, were significantly higher in houses where smokers lived than in smoke-free homes - even if they only smoked outside. The findings appear in the latest issue of Indoor Air. Lead author of the study, Dr Krassi Rumchev of Curtin University of Technology, says the findings indicate that the level of passive smoking by children at home may be underestimated, as those whose parents smoked outside were...

Just four mid-sized beers will be classed as binge drinking under new national guidelines due out next month. The new minimum limit for a single drinking session follows a review by the National Health and Medical Research Council and will apply equally to men and women.

IN THE most private recesses of their minds, some Labor figures are thinking the unthinkable: could Kevin Rudd be a one-term prime minister, the first of the modern era? Rudd himself has warned that although the Government appears to have a healthy majority on paper, a good number of its seats are held by wafer-thin margins. But this is a mathematical assessment. What's driving the pessimism - albeit still nascent - in Labor ranks is the Prime Minister's style of political management, his apparently boundless appetite for "gesture politics'' and the increasingly fractured narrative it creates. Take last week's visit...