Global Oddities

Seventy-one years later, Surrey, B.C., resident Noel Morrow has still got game and she plans to bring it when she competes at the 2009 Masters Games in Sydney, Australia.

Morrow, who is 90, was just a teenager when she helped Canada’s 4 x 110 women’s freestyle relay squad win gold in the pool at the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney.

She has entered four swimming events at the Masters Games, set for Oct. 10-18 in Australia.

Morrow, who also swam on Canada’s Olympic team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, is one of more than 100 former Olympians planning to compete in Sydney.

Her daughter, Carol Ann Wright, a former member of Canada’s Olympic diving team, convinced her hard-of-hearing mom to enter and will help Morrow by tapping her mother’s knee to let her know the starting pistol has been fired.

Wright says her mother has never been to a Masters meet outside Canada but the opportunity to visit Sydney seven decades after her finest hour was too great to resist.

Source: the Canadian Press, June 23, 2009

A zookeeper has been mauled to death by a white tiger in front of horrified tourists at a wildlife park in
The animal fatally mauled the man while he was cleaning an enclosure in Whangarei’s Zion Wildlife Park on North Island.
Despite the efforts of a second keeper and a rapid response from other wildlife park staff, the tiger would not let the park worker go.
He died at the scene.
Police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said the keeper had suffered serious injuries to his abdomen and lower legs.
The tiger was later destroyed by wildlife park staff.
Victim Support officers were called to the scene to help distressed park employees and visitors, including eight foreign tourists who witnessed the attack.
The park, located near the northern city of Whangarei, has 42 rare lions and tigers.
They are kept in large wire-cage enclosures, which include trees and grassy areas.
In February, park employee Demetri Price required surgery after he was attacked by a white tiger.
Scottish teenager Lisa Baxter was left scarred last year after she put her hands through a hole in the fence and was bitten by a white lion.
Authorities are investigating the latest incident.
Source: Sky news online, May 27, 2009

Two New Zealanders whose bank mistakenly deposited $6.1 million into their account took some of the money and ran, police said.
Authorities launched an international search for the couple, who operated a gas station in the northern city of Rotorua, and their Westpac Bank said Thursday it considered the money stolen.

The two applied to Westpac for a $6,000 overdraft, but 1,000 times that amount was paid into their account. The two then withdrew some of the money and disappeared, Detective Senior Sgt. David Harvey said.

Westpac conceded human error was responsible for making the couple accidental millionaires. Authorities did not release their identities.

Harvey said Interpol has been contacted for help, suggesting they may have fled abroad with the cash.

“We are currently conducting an investigation into the individuals that may have been involved in the withdrawal of that money,” Harvey said.

Westpac spokesman Craig Dowling said the bank had recovered some of the money but declined to give further details.

The bank said in a statement it was “pursuing vigorous criminal and civil action to recover the sum of money stolen.”

Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown said it is generally considered a criminal offense for people to spend money accidentally deposited into a bank account if they are aware that the cash is not theirs.

In her 15 years as ombudsman, Brown said she had been involved in 10 to 20 similar cases.

Source: AP, May 25, 2009

Australian police released Friday a shocking x-ray photo showing the skull of a murdered Chinese immigrant shot 34 times in the head and neck with a high-power nail gun.

The body of Chen Liu, 27, was found by two children last year in marshland in south Sydney, wrapped in a carpet and bound with electrical wire.

Detectives said the weapon used was a standard gas nail gun widely available and used in construction, firing nails up to 85mm (3.3 inches) long.

“In 36 years, I’ve never seen a murder of this nature,” Homicide Squad Superintendent Geoff Beresford told reporters.

Liu arrived in Australia in 2000 and was reported missing last year.

Source; Reuters, April 24, 2009

Australia’s Miss Universe contest was thrown into controversy on Thursday with doctors and dieticians complaining a leading finalist was “skin and bones” and dangerously malnourished.

Sydney model Stephanie Naumoska, 19, was one of 32 contestants from more than 7,000 hopefuls to make the glittering final at an event promoting “healthy, proportioned, bodies.”

“Bony or beautiful?” newspaper headlines said over photographs of a gaunt Naumoska posing in a red string bikini.

Health professionals said Naumoska, who is 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) tall and weighs just 49 kg (108 lbs), had a body mass index of just 15.1, well under the official 18 benchmark for malnutrition.

“She would be categorized as underweight and I would certainly want to be doing an assessment of her diet to make sure she doesn’t have some type of eating disorder,” dietician Melanie McGrice told local newspapers.

“She needs blood tests, diet analysis and an overall assessment.”

Pageant director Deborah Miller said brunette Naumoska, who was defeated in the final by 20-year-old television presenter and model Rachael Finch, had Macedonian heritage, which accounted for her extreme thinness.

“They have long, lithe bodies and small bones. It is their body type, just like Asian girls tend to be small,” Miller said.

But Australian Medical Association president Rosanna Capolingua, whose organization represents Australian doctors, said the contest should impose a minimum BMI cut-off of 20.

“The most unhealthy part about it, though, is the image it is showing other young women who may view this as normal, when clearly it s not,” Capolingua said.

While Naumoska refused to speak to media, nutritionist Susie Burrell told the Herald Sun newspaper there was no such thing as a Macedonian body type.

Eventual winner Finch will compete in the Miss Universe world finals in the Bahamas in August.

Source: Reuters, April 23, 2009

A startled Swiss immigrant and his family huddled under their blankets as a kangaroo bounced on top of them after bursting through a bedroom window, Australian media reported Monday.

“My initial thought when I was half awake was: it’s a lunatic ninja coming through the window,” Beat Ettlin told the national AAP news agency. “It seems about as likely as a kangaroo breaking in.”

The close encounter with the hopping marsupial began when Ettlin and his family were awoken early Sunday morning by their pet dog barking in the garden.

The kangaroo then crashed through a three metre high (nine foot high) window into the master bedroom and onto the bed holding Ettlin, his partner Verity Beman and their nine-year-old daughter Beatrix.

The family ducked under the blankets as the animal jumped on top of them before heading out the door.

Ettlin said when he heard his 10-year-old son Leighton screaming “There’s a roo in my room” he ran in and wrestled the two metre tall kangaroo into a headlock and dragged it down the hall and out the front door, AAP said.

The chef, originally from the Swiss city of Stans, was left wearing just his shredded underpants and with scratch marks on his leg and buttocks.

He described himself as “lucky”. His partner described him as “a hero”, saying she didn’t know many men who would take on a kangaroo.

The kangaroo vanished into a nearby reserve and the family reported the intrusion to police and wildlife authorities.

Source: AFP, Monday, March 9 2009

A bungling Australian car thief was nabbed after accidentally locking himself in the vehicle he was trying to steal, police said on Wednesday.

Police were called to a house in Adelaide after two thieves were heard trying to steal a car. On arrival they were surprised to find a 53-year old man hiding inside the vehicle.

“The man, while breaking into the car, had locked himself in the car and couldn’t get out,” South Australian police said, adding a second thief was found hiding in nearby bushes
Source: Reuters, February 24, 2009

A navy diver punched a shark as he was being attacked in Sydney Harbor on Wednesday, fending off the predator but suffering severe injuries to his right hand and leg.

The 31-year-old man was taking part in anti-terrorism training in waters around the Garden Island Naval Base, near the Sydney Opera House, when the shark attacked.

“The attack occurred very quickly. Our diver punched the shark, I believe, a couple of times. The shark then disappeared very quickly,” Australian Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Nigel Coates told reporters.

“It was all over, I’m told, in a few seconds.”

There have been at least four other shark attacks in Australia this summer, one of them fatal, sparking a global media frenzy of “Jaws” proportions. Last month, there were three attacks in just two days.

In the latest case, the diver was swimming on the water surface when the attack happened. He was treated on a navy boat, before being rushed ashore and to a nearby hospital for surgery.

Coates said the man was in a serious condition.

“The patient said he saw something big and grey underneath him just before the attack,” an ambulance spokesman said, adding the man had severe injuries to his right hand, buttocks and down to his knee on one leg.

Source: Reuters, Februray 11, 2009

An Australian gambler who lost millions in a A$1.4 billion ($909 million) gaming spree is suing one of the country’s largest casinos, claiming he was targeted by managers despite a known gambling addiction.

In a case which lawyers say could have implications stretching to China, gambling addict Harry Kakavas is suing Crown Casino in Melbourne for A$50 million damages after a mammoth 14-month baccarat binge in which he lost A$37 million.
At the time in 2007, property developer Kakavas had been barred from every casino in Australia.
But the Supreme Court in Victoria state was told that Crown’s management did not “give a monkey’s” about a prohibition in place since 2004, the Age newspaper said.
Supreme Court documents said Kakavas wore a concealed recorder that captured Crown managers allegedly attempting to lure him back to its riverside baccarat tables.
Crown is owned by Australian billionaire James Packer, who also operates Crown Macau and is developing a second casino project, The City of Dreams, in the Chinese territory. Last year the company reported profits of A$370 million.
“We have no intention of responding to the allegations made publicly. We are defending the action vigorously,” Crown spokesman Gary O’Neill told Reuters.
Crown Chief Executive Rowen Craigie and Chief Operating Officer John Williams face accusations of unconscionable conduct while in charge of Crown, which this month reported revenue from table games and gaming machines up 4 percent as Packer looks to expand in Macau.
Court documents in Melbourne alleged that emails detailed a Crown plan to lure back Kakavas after managers discovered he had lost millions of dollars gambling in Las Vegas.
If found guilty, Crown could be judged to have breached Australia’s Trade Practices Act, state gambling regulations and special laws covering the high-profile casino’s operation.
Source: Reuters, December 12, 2008

An Australian mayor who invited ugly women to move to his outback mining town, saying even they would find a man there, has won the top “award” for the most sexist public comment of the year.

Mayor John Moloney of remote Mount Isa was chosen by the volume of boos, jeers and stamping of feet that greeted his nomination at the annual women-only Ernie Awards in the New South Wales parliament on Thursday night.
Moloney won the Golden Ernie for telling a newspaper that his town, where men vastly outnumber women, was a place for “ugly ducklings to flourish into beautiful swans.”
He called on “beauty-disadvantaged” women to flock there, saying he often saw unattractive women in Mount Isa who looked like they were enjoying life in the northwestern Queensland town.
“Quite often you will see walking down the street a lass who is not so attractive with a wide smile on her face,” he said.
“Whether it is recollection of something previous or anticipation for the next evening, there is a degree of happiness.”
He later told national radio that obese women could even lose weight under the gaze of Mount Isa males.
“There’s a great incentive because there’s that much attention focused on them and they become interested in looking better — and in no time they just shed it.”
Confronted by a protest by scores of insulted Mount Isa women, he said: “The protesters are blaming me for their looks.”
An unrepentant Moloney told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Friday that news of his remarks had sparked interest in Mount Isa among women internationally.
“I had a lot of email responses from women around the world who wanted to come to Mount Isa and no doubt some of those people have come to Mount Isa and found the happiness they sought,” he said.

Source: AFP, Nov 21, 2008