Australians angry at release of famed surgeon’s killer

October 14th, 2009 MELBOURNE - A majority of Australians taking part in a Lowy Institute's annual survey are wary about China acquiring superpower status, but much happier with the United States being a superpower under Barack Obama. The Lowy Institute's annual survey of the nation's views on a range of foreign policy issues has revealed that Australians' support for the US has rebounded to record highs with Obama's election.

October 13th, 2009 MELBOURNE - One in four Australian men secretly store phone numbers on their mobiles to hide them from their partners, a new research has revealed. The Microsoft survey of 1125 Australian mobile phone users also found that just 8 per cent of women owned up to the sneaky practice.

October 5th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Melbourne Police is investigating whether racist abuse was behind a brawl in which two angry Indian wrestlers put two Australians into hospital. Police have confirmed two men, aged 25 and 42, were assaulted and hit with sticks in a fight after joining a "mouthy" skateboarder who allegedly sparked the incident outside Meadowglen International Athletics Stadium in Epping on Sunday afternoon.

August 15th, 2009 LONDON - British surgeons have set a new transplant record by carrying out five operations in less than 24 hours. Surgeons Darius Mirza, Khalid Sharif, Paolo Muiesan and Simon Bramell along with a team of consultants hit a European first with the stomach, pancreas, bowel and liver transplants.

August 11th, 2009 MELBOURNE - At least nine Australians have been declared missing after the aircraft in which they were traveling disappeared in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday. The plane was scheduled to arrive at the small village of Efogi at 9.55 a.m.

August 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Police officials in Jilin have arrested a killer hiding in the mountains for 19 days, when he came out to have his favourite food. The man had killed his girlfriend and her lover.

August 5th, 2009 SYDNEY - Erin Burnett, an anchor on American financial news channel CNBC, has labeled Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd a serial killer on US TV, after the Aussie government's decision to spend 19 million dollars to cull feral camels in the outback. According to a report in the Age, a stern-faced Burnett said during a segment on CNBC, "There is a serial killer in Australia and we are going to put a picture up so we can see who it is." A large photo of Rudd was then shown.

July 20th, 2009 LONDON - A poll released on Monday by the Royal Commonwealth Society in London has found that more than three-quarters of Australians were far less attached to their membership of the Commonwealth than other developing countries, including India. Royal Commonwealth Society took the survey, after reviewing more than 6000 people who had gathered to mark the Commonwealth's 60th anniversary from seven Commonwealth member countries - Australia, Canada, Great Britain, India, Jamaica, Malaysia and South Africa.

July 9th, 2009 MELBOURNE - A new survey has revealed that Japanese tourists are the best in the world, and French the worst. The Japanese retained the top prize, with hoteliers worldwide naming them the world's best tourists, ahead of the British and Canadians.

June 24th, 2009 SYDNEY - Australians are in two minds about multiculturalism, and a long-term survey has found that nine out of 10 Australians believe that racial prejudice exists in the country. They believe cultural diversity is good for the country but they're worried that cultural differences will stop everyone from getting along.

June 22nd, 2009 SYDNEY - One in four Australians have caught their partners cheating on them through a text message, according to a new survey. The survey commissioned by Telstra's State of the Nation has found that four in 10 Aussies send up to seven text messages a day, while one in three use texts to tell others about major events like births or promotions.

May 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Sol Trujillo, former boss of telecommunications company Telstra, has said that being in Australia was like "stepping back in time" as it was a racist country. According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, after a four-year stint as Telstra CEO which earnt him about 31 million dollars, Trujillo has been quick to pour scorn on the Rudd Government since leaving Australia 10 days ago.

May 7th, 2009 MELBOURNE - The leader of Sydney's radical Middle Eastern street gang - Asesinoz MC - has accused Australians of racism. The 29-year-old, who calls himself Sam "The Assassin", defended the Parramatta-based gang's violent image in its YouTube videos and MySpace site.

May 6th, 2009 NEW YORK - The young woman, whose alleged affair with the band leader of the famed Brooklyn Steppers caused him to be booted, has denied having sex with him. The head of the famed Brooklyn Steppers marching band -- a group whose high-profile gigs peaked this year with a spot in President Barack Obama's inauguration, has been bounced for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old band member.

April 30th, 2009 Police to look into new Zodiac Killer claimSAN FRANCISCO — A Southern California woman said Wednesday that her late father was the infamous Zodiac killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay area four decades ago. San Francisco homicide investigators said they will check into the information from Deborah Perez, who said her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, killed at least two of the known victims 40 years ago.