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Stunning video shows 'firenado' burn across Australia CNN
Peter O’Halloran had decided to go out snorkelling in the popular holiday spot of Exmouth on Australia’s Western coast. He was about 400 metres from the Exmouth marina when the terrifying attack happened. The shark’s razor sharp teeth ripped through the flesh on Mr O’Halloran’s arm, before swimming off.
Mr O’Halloran was flown to Perth for treatment and was operated on by surgeons.
Fortunately the injuries were not life threatening and the intrepid snorkeler is expected to make a full recovery.
Mr O’Halloran displayed his injuries to journalists.
Showing the media an X-ray of his wounds, he said: “It goes right through the meat.
“They said there was a bit of bone missing. That’s right through the top, through all the meat there.”
When asked whether it was painful, he cooly replied: “Nah, not a problem.”
The 57-year-old has been swimming in the Exmouth waters for many years and admitted that the thought of being attacked by sharks was always in the back of his mind.
Investigators are still trying to work out which type of shark attacked the swimmer.
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A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman said: “It is unknown what caused the laceration to his foot, the patient reports he was struck in the chest by the shark but not bitten.
“It is understood the patient did make his own way home and then he and his partner began to drive towards Bundaberg Base Hospital.”
This latest incident adds fuel to the fire of those concerned over the safety of swimmers in the popular tourist region.
Fishermen working for local authorities have caught 22 sharks in waters around the Great Barrier Reef in culls over the past few years, including a massive 11.5ft tiger shark.
However, the state government abandoned its catch-and-kill policy last September, after it lost a Federal Court appeal to use bait hooks to catch the sharks.
A Humane Society challenge to the baiting was upheld and an appeal against the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was turned down.
Queensland’s state government had organised the culls, so as to protect swimmers at 27 beaches within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
The state’s premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said after the ruling that: “We fought this in the courts because we simply believe that human life must be prioritised over the lives of sharks.
“The decision effectively means that the programme would become a catch-and-release programme within the marine park.”
SYDNEY, Australia — Flying into Sydney usually brings stunning views of rocky cliffs and crystal waters, but when Anna Funder looked out the window before landing this week, she saw only tragedy.
Thick gray smoke blanketed the skyline and the coast, stretching for miles from the fire front at the southwestern edge of the city, where dried-out forests have been burning for weeks.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Ms. Funder, an award-winning Australian novelist known for stories of cruelty and resistance. “It was this huge and terrible seam of white smoke coming up from the ground beyond which the rest of the continent — where I was headed, where my home is — was invisible.
“It was as if the country were being devoured by a chemical reaction.”
Sydney, nicknamed the “Emerald City” for its subtropical beauty, is struggling with a summer of choking smoke. Bush fires raging to the north, south and west since early November have pushed smoke and ash not just into neighborhoods abutting the blazes, but all the way to coastal suburbs more than 50 miles away.
All of us who live here can taste the fire and feel it in our throats. Asthmatics are showing up in emergency rooms in greater numbers. Schools are canceling sports and recess. In houses built to be open to the elements, people are taping their windows shut; there have even been reports of fire alarms in office buildings set off by the smoke from miles away.
And the impact of this year’s wildfire season, which began much earlier than usual, goes beyond the physical. Rising levels of angst and anger are emerging all over Sydney, spreading like the haze.
As many here see it, Australia’s conservative government, in refusing to address the threat of climate change, is favoring the country’s powerful fossil fuel industry over its largest city, as well as the rural areas where fires have already destroyed hundreds of homes.
Psychologists describe a creeping sense of impotence and dread.
“The stress based on the fact that thick smoke can accelerate pre-existing cardiovascular conditions is one thing,” said Frans Verstraten, who holds the McCaughey Chair of Psychology at the University of Sydney. “But the other kind of stress, based on the realization that there is not much we can do — helplessness; the realization that you can’t do anything about it — makes it worse.”
On social media, the sharing of images of #sydneysmoke in its many shades, from orange to gray, has become a regular feature of people’s morning routines.
Others have taken to posting photos of burned leaves that show up far from the fires, or of the darkened sun, looking as toxic and red as the blazes themselves.
In diagnostic detail, they have described how it feels to deal with the extended reach of the infernos, which are large enough to be seen from space — and are even turning glaciers in New Zealand pink.
State officials have warned of the dangers. The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage said that “our network has recorded some of the highest air pollution ever seen” in the state.
In November, the department recorded 15 days of poor air quality, far beyond the monthly norm. On Monday, the levels of PM2.5, the most harmful form of pollutant, were 22 times the accepted safety level — the equivalent of smoking more than a pack of cigarettes a day. Pollution levels were expected to reach similar heights on Friday.
Even compared to the terrible fire seasons of 1994 and 2001, “this event,” state officials said, “is the longest and the most widespread in our records.”
With fires also raging in the state of Queensland, that means the pressure on Australia’s government is likely to intensify.
Climate protests have become more common. At rallies, longtime activists are increasingly being joined by newcomers like Emily Xu, a 13-year-old student who skipped school to attend a protest on Nov. 29 in downtown Sydney.
She and a handful of her friends, all in school uniforms, said it was their first rally, and that they had made the trek because the fires had suddenly made climate change’s threats more real for them.
“Before I was like, ‘Oh, if we don’t have coal we won’t make any money for our economy,’” said Ms. Xu. Now, she said, fires were approaching her house and her friends’ houses, making her less worried about the economy than about survival.
Ms. Funder, the novelist, said the failure to address climate change was especially hard for her three children, who are 10, 15 and 17, to understand.
“I can’t explain this to my children in a way that makes adults seem like sane, moral actors,” she said. “In this story, that’s not what we are. Although in every other way we try to look out for them and their future, in this story our failure is literally choking them, keeping them indoors at school.”
In some countries, such widespread environmental effects have led to changes in policy.
Activists angry about pollution in Mexico City pushed the government to impose tougher regulations for vehicle emissions. Many academics believe China’s quick pivot to renewables in recent years was a response to air pollution and citizens’ growing concerns about its impact.
In Australia, however — where the air in Sydney was ranked among the worst in the world last month — Prime Minister Scott Morrison has resisted.
“The response has been to double down on denialism,” said David Schlosberg, director of the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney.
Instead of addressing the public’s concerns, Mr. Morrison has suggested that some forms of protest should be outlawed, while refusing to meet with retired firefighters who have warned for months that more resources are desperately needed to battle the blazes.
On Friday, Mr. Morrison merely acknowledged that the haze in Sydney “has been very distressing to people.” He recommended downloading an app that tracks the fires.
Asked about a new report questioning Australia’s stewardship of the Great Barrier Reef, which is being killed by climate change, he repeated a false assertion that Australia’s carbon emissions are declining (scientists have shown that they are still rising).
Some critics are starting to wonder how long the government’s position can last.
“I really don’t see how this governmental attack on genuine concerns, coupled with a lack of action on both emissions and adaptation policies, can stand for much longer — especially in the face of increasing disasters and emergencies,” Mr. Schlosberg said.
At the very least, the smoky conditions are forcing everyone to question their assumptions about Sydney, where fresh air and ocean breezes are treated as a daily birthright.
At the top of Sydney Tower, the city’s tallest building, Chinese tourists said they were shocked by how little they could see.
In Hyde Park, a few blocks away, Julian deCseuz, 75, sat on a bench with a mask over his face. After a few hours of use, the white cotton was already a shade of dusty brown.
“Australia has always had a bush fire problem, but I’ve never seen it this bad,” he said. “I’ve been to Beijing and to Delhi, and it’s very similar conditions.”
Isabella Kwai contributed reporting.
Australia has controversially repealed a law which allowed sick refugees held offshore to be treated in the country.
The government's push to scrap the "medevac" law - passed by opposition MPs in February - has drawn criticism as cruel and inhumane.
But Prime Minister Scott Morrison argued the law had presented a "national security" risk.
At least 12 people have died under Australia's offshore detention policy.
Since 2013, the nation has sent asylum seekers arriving by boat to detention centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Canberra has defended the controversial policy by arguing that it stops deaths at sea and disrupts human trafficking.
It followed public outrage about the health crisis of detainees - including children - on the islands of Nauru and Manus Island (PNG). There were reports that children as young as 11 were attempting suicide.
That led to the passage of the medevac bill - the first time in decades that a government had lost a vote on its own legislation in the lower house.
Experts have repeatedly warned of inadequate medical facilities on the islands, while the UN has previously described the camp conditions as "inhumane".
The medevac law allowed for doctors to evacuate ill people to Australia for urgent medical treatment.
The government said as a result of the medevac law, 135 refugees were brought to the mainland for treatment this year.
It argued the law had been a "border protection" risk and was a "loophole" for refugee advocates to bring asylum seekers into Australia.
"[The] weak and bad medevac laws must be repealed in order to strengthen our national security again," said the government's Senate leader, Mathias Cormann.
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In opposing the repeal, opposition MPs said the government was "devoid of a heart".
"This will deny sick people treatment. It will deny sick people the opportunity to see a doctor," said Labor Senator Kristina Keneally.
Opinion polls had shown that 62% of voters supported the law.
It secured the support of a key independent lawmaker, Jacqui Lambie, to get the numbers in the Senate on Wednesday.
Ms Lambie argued the law "was not a national security threat", but said it gave too much discretion to doctors.
Opposition senators accused the government of "secrecy" in striking the last-minute deal.
"Members of the cabinet of Australia are coming in to vote on a deal they haven't even seen," said Penny Wong, the Labor opposition's Senate leader.
A Greens senator, Nick McKim, said the vote was "a dark day for the majority of Australians who support the medevac legislation".
Two people have now been found alive after spending almost two weeks lost in the vast Australian outback, police said Tuesday.
Phu Tran, 40, was discovered in Palmer Valley Station, a remote area near Alice Springs, according to a statement from Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services.
Tran had spent two weeks in rocky desert terrain with no food when he was found by a cattle farmer, police said. He had survived by boiling and drinking ground water using a jerrycan.
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"Two weeks’ survival is insane," a Northern Territories Police spokesperson told NBC News. "It doesn’t happen."
Tran was one of three people who went missing on Nov. 19 after they took a drive into the Outback with their dog, police said. Family members reported their disappearance after several days of no contact.
Tamra McBeath-Riley, 52, and the dog, Raya, were found alive on Monday after police discovered the group's car bogged down in a river bed during an aerial search of the area. The third person in the group, McBeath-Riley's partner Claire Hockridge, 46, is still missing.
“I took a wrong turn, basically and [the car] ended up being bogged,” McBeath-Riley told a press conference after her rescue. “We dug ourselves under the car during the day into the sand where it was a lot cooler. At night we could sleep in the car. We tried many times to try and get [the car] out, but we just ventured forth to try and find some shelter and water,” she added.
McBeath-Riley stayed close to the car, while Hockridge and Tran took a GPS-enabled device and compass and set off in the direction of a highway about 12 miles away, Pauline Vicary, Superintendent of Alice Springs Police Division told a press conference on Dec. 1.
Tran and Hockridge then each chose different routes to try and get help, and when Tran was found, he was alone.
"One wanted to go high and the other wanted to follow the fence line," a police spokesperson told NBC. "Sometimes the thinking is you go up high to see where you are, but also after 14 days, you don’t have rational thoughts."
Tran and McBeath-Riley have both received treatment for exposure at a local Alice Springs hospital. Search efforts for Hockridge continue.
Australia says the treatment endured by one of its citizens in criminal detention in China is "unacceptable".
Chinese-Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun has been held in Beijing since January. He has been accused of espionage - charges denied by him and the Australian government.
He now faces daily interrogations while being shackled, and has been increasingly isolated, Canberra said.
Australia has consistently lobbied Chinese authorities for his release.
But China's foreign ministry has told Australia to not interfere in the case, and to respect the nation's "judicial sovereignty".
On Monday, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she was "very concerned" about his condition, which was reported in a recent consulate visit.
Mr Yang, a former Chinese diplomat, has been allowed one visit from Australian officials per month.
But he has been barred from contact with his lawyers and his family for close to 11 months and has not been given any of their letters.
Supporters say his health has deteriorated in recent months. China formally charged him in August.
Mr Yang, a scholar and novelist based in New York, was detained when he travelled to China in January with his wife Yuan Ruijuan and her child.
Prior to the arrest he had maintained an active presence on Chinese social media.
Nicknamed "the democracy peddler", he maintained a blog on the country's current affairs and international relations. However, he had not been directly critical of Chinese authorities in recent years.
Beijing has held him for alleged "involvement in criminal activities endangering China's national security". Australia has called for clarification of the charges.
Australia has also repeatedly requested that he receive "basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment" during his detention.
His lawyers say his treatment has got worse as Chinese authorities attempt to extract a confession from him. His case must be brought before a court by March.
Canberra's rebuke comes as tensions remain heightened with Beijing.
Australia's political class was rocked last week by allegations of Chinese espionage and interference in domestic issues. China has strongly dismissed the claims as "imaginary fears".
