On the road to the property where seven people from the same family were killed on Friday in Australia’s worst mass shooting in decades, a small makeshift sign says, “Church open for prayer.”
In a community so small and tight-knit that some farms have just the first names of their owners painted on the driveway gates, it’s a small, silent reference to a trauma that the entire area is still struggling to grasp.
But there are other indications: the police vehicles blocking roads; and the community center in nearby Margaret River offering counseling with television news cameras clustering outside.
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The police investigating the deaths of seven members of a family in a suspected murder-suicide in Osmington, a quiet rural area 13 miles outside the town of Margaret River, Australia.
The question is often asked in the somber aftermath of a shooting massacre: how many deaths will it take before America changes its gun laws?
And while a political solution remains elusive, mass killings such as those in Charleston, Chattanooga and Lafayette continue with alarming frequency across the U.S. — a recent study found one occurs in America every two weeks.
But for Australia, a single massacre changed everything.
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Martin Bryant pleaded guilty to all 35 murders at Port Arthur. Reuters
Earth dialed the heat up in June, smashing warm temperature records for both the month and the first half of the year.
Off-the-charts heat is “getting to be a monthly thing,” said Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. June was the fourth month of 2015 that set a record, she said.
“There is almost no way that 2015 isn’t going to be the warmest on record,” she added.
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Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
It’s a disturbing thought, one that usually hits after an unexpected physical challenge. Maybe you’ve been unable to maintain your usual workout levels, or recovery is taking a lot longer than it used to. Perhaps fixes to the house are just a bit more difficult, or you can’t perform in the bedroom the way you used to.
What’s most startling about this realization is that you don’t normally “feel old” but, nevertheless, you know you don’t look or feel like the man you used to be.
A South Carolina girl kidnapped by her mother when she was just 10 months old has been found alive in Australia, 19 years after she went missing.
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Savanna Harris Todd, now 20 and living under the name Samantha Geldenhuys, appeared at her mother’s side in court Wednesday, holding a sign that said, “We love you, Mom,” according to the Australian.
Todd was living a “safe, healthy and otherwise living a normal life” in Queensland, U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said in a statement announcing the development Thursday.
Todd’s mother, Dorothy Lee Barnett, was charged with international parental kidnapping and two counts of false statements in a passport application after being captured on November 4 following a joint investigation by Australian federal police and the FBI.
A South Carolina court handed custody of Todd over to her father after determining that Barnett had bipolar disorder. But rather than give her child up, Barnett fled South Carolina in 1994 and spent the next two decades living under several aliases in South Africa, New Zealand, and finally, Australia.
The white yacht seized in Vanuatu had a secret under its worn parquet floor: brick after brick of South American cocaine.The find U.S. and Australian officials announced Friday was part of a collaboration with South Pacific governments to investigate smugglers’ use of yachts to move drugs across the ocean to Australia.
The 750 kilograms (1,650 pounds) of cocaine were found Monday in the capital, Port Vila, with the assistance of Vanuatu police, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service said in a statement.
Agents chiseled into the boat interior to expose the drugs in the yacht’s engine compartment. Video authorities released of the seizure showed dozens of bricks wrapped in dirty black plastic.
They estimated the drugs were worth 370 million Australian dollars ($330 million).
No arrests have yet been made. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Senior Attache David Cali said the investigation was ongoing, and he praised the joint operation in a statement.
“Organized crime syndicates should know that we are prepared, willing and able to combine our skills, resources and efforts to target them,” he said.
This film is believed to have never been seen before, only shots of the surrender were known.If you are a history buff you will enjoy this. General McArthur’s voice is a rarity in these old film clips
Japanese Surrender- Amazing Footage Sept 2, 1945.
This is a ‘must see’ for the WWII history buff or anyone interested in history.
Interesting the other signers to the document, from New Zealand/Australia to Europe/Russia.
This is an actual film made of the surrender ceremony of the Japanese to McArthur in Tokyo Bay in September 1945.
Actual voice of the General. Never been shown to the general public before.
We always saw the “stills” but never the film itself
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The police investigating the deaths of seven members of a family in a suspected murder-suicide in Osmington, a quiet rural area 13 miles outside the town of Margaret River, Australia.
Sheila the Sheep UnShorn
Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
James' World 2 