MELBOURNE, Australia — A 22-year-old female apprentice jockey who was recently married has died after falling from her horse during track work in the Australian state of Victoria.
Racing Victoria said Friday that the early-morning accident happened at the Cranbourne track, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Melbourne.
It said track work was canceled after the death of the jockey, Mikaela Claridge.
“Mikaela was dislodged from her horse while riding on the sand trails on the southern side of the Training Centre at approximately 4:35 a.m. She was attended to by the on-course paramedic but was tragically unable to be saved,” Racing Victoria said in a statement.
After injury interrupted her career, Claridge returned to riding in 2018 and won her first race in September. She had since won 28 more races, the most recent on July 11.
Mikaela ClaridgeGetty Images
Racing Victoria said a planned eight-race card at nearby Pakenham would not be held on Friday.
“The meeting has been abandoned in the interests of participant welfare and out of respect for the rider and her family,” Racing Victoria said.
Australian horse industry figures show 20 jockeys have been killed in the country since 2000, 17 of them during races and three during track work. In February, a Victoria state trainer died, also after falling from a horse during a training run.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The government agency that manages Australia's Great Barrier Reef has downgraded its outlook for the corals' condition from "poor" to "very poor" due to warming oceans.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's condition report, which is updated every five years, is the latest bad news for the 133,360 square miles of colorful coral network off the northeast Australian coast as climate change and coral bleaching take their toll.
The report issued Friday finds the greatest threat to the reef remains climate change. The other threats are associated with coastal development, land-based water runoff and human activity such as illegal fishing.
"Significant global action to address climate change is critical to slowing the deterioration of the reef's ecosystem and heritage values and supporting recovery," the report said. "Such actions will complement and greatly increase the effectiveness of local management actions in the Reef and its catchment."
The report is the agency's third and tracks continuing deterioration since the first in 2009. The deterioration in the reef's outlook mostly reflects the expanding area of coral killed or damaged by coral bleaching.
The report said the threats — which include the star-of-thorns starfish that prey on coral polyps — are "multiple, cumulative and increasing."
"The accumulation of impacts, through time and over an increasing area, is reducing its ability to recover from disturbances, with implications for reef-dependent communities and industries," the authority's chairman Ian Poiner said.
"The overall outlook for the Great Barrier Reef is very poor," he added.
A study of coral bleaching on the reef, published in the journal Nature in 2017, found 91% of the coral reef had been bleached at least once during three bleaching events of the past two decades, the most serious event occurring in 2016.
A fourth major bleaching struck later in 2017 after the Nature study was published.
The United Nations' World Heritage Committee expressed concern about bleaching in 2017 and the report Thursday could lead to the World Heritage-listed natural wonder being reclassified by UNESCO next year as "in danger."
Environment Minister Sussan Ley said she was not surprised by the downgrade in the reef's condition given the damage done by recent cyclones and latest bleaching events in successive years.
She said her government was "building resilience in this important global reef" and was keeping its Paris commitment to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030.
"I want to make the point that it's the best-managed reef in the world," she said.
Australian activists have managed to halt the midnight deportation of a Tamil asylum-seeker family as they were being flown out of the country.
An injunction, granted mid-air, paused the removal of Nadesalingam, Priya, and their two daughters to Sri Lanka.
The family's case has provoked national outcry since March last year, when authorities forcibly removed them from their home in Queensland.
Australia defended their expulsion on Friday, saying they were not refugees.
"They're not owed protection by our country," Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told local media outlets.
He said the family's asylum claim had been comprehensively assessed and rejected by immigration authorities. Successive legal appeals in recent times for the parents and eldest child have also failed.
The parents of the family, Nadesalingam and Priya, met and married in Australia after fleeing Sri Lanka's civil war. Two-year-old Tharunicaa and her four-year-old sister, Kopika, were both born in Australia.
Supporters say they risk persecution if they are returned to Sri Lanka due to their past political links.
The family worked and lived in the small country town of Biloela for three years, before they were forcibly removed to detention centres last March. The dawn raid, carried out by a dozen officers, prompted a huge response from the community. A petition for their return has attracted more than 120,000 signatures.
In a dramatic development on Friday, a federal court extended an injunction that stops the government from deporting the youngest child before next Wednesday.
It is unclear whether the government will allow that reprieve to include the rest of the family, who have only been publicly identified by their first names.
"Given the circumstances, it would be a pretty inhumane thing to do to separate the family at this point," lawyer Carina Ford told reporters.
How was their deportation stopped mid-air?
Protesters rushed to Melbourne Airport on Thursday night, upon learning the family would be deported within hours.
Their plane took off at about 23:00 local time (12:00 GMT), but lawyers succeeded, during the flight, in securing a last-minute order preventing Dharuniga's deportation.
That injunction, ordered over the phone by a judge, forced the plane to land over 3,000 km (1,850 miles) away in Darwin, Australia's northernmost major city, at about 03:00 local time on Friday. Footage posted online shows the family being escorted from the plane by guards.
I urge the Prime Minister to intervene to offer compassion and grace to the Tamil family. He can save them from being deported. The two children must be so scared. It does no harm to allow them stay so they can get on with school and being young healthy kids. #hometobilo
Australia is to formally investigate foreign interference in its universities amid rising concerns about Chinese influence on campuses.
The push follows reports of students and staff "self-censoring" on sensitive political issues such as the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Universities had also increasingly been targeted by state-sponsored cyber attacks, the government said.
It announced an intelligence taskforce on Wednesday to combat such threats.
"Universities must act to protect the valuable information they hold where it is in the national interest to do so," Education Minister Dan Tehan said in a national address.
He linked efforts to tackle foreign interference to "broader" efforts to protect free speech and academic freedom on campuses.
Universities Australia, a representative group, welcomed the announcement but said a "careful balance" was needed.
"We must continue to safeguard our security without undermining the invaluable asset of our openness," Chair Prof Deborah Terry said on Wednesday.
Why is there concern now?
While the government did not name any countries on Wednesday, there have been recent concerns about China's alleged influence on campuses.
This was highlighted in recent weeks by violent clashes at a number of Australian universities between students supporting the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese students defending their government.
"We must... encourage an environment where disagreement does not involve verbal attacks or threats," Mr Tehan said on Wednesday.
"The sense that some students and staff at universities are self-censoring out of fear they will be shouted down or condemned for expressing sincerely held views and beliefs, or for challenging widely accepted ideas, should concern all of us," he said.
Australia's higher education sector has been criticised for being heavily financially reliant on international enrolments. Chinese students account for close to a third of international students in Australia.
What are the aims of the taskforce?
The government says its University Foreign Interference Taskforce - made up of intelligence agencies, education bureaucrats and university leaders - is aimed at strengthening the cyber defences of universities.
Just last month, the Australian National University confirmed it had been the target of a massive data hack, where the personal information of 200,000 students and staff was stolen.
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"According to the latest advice from the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the targeting of Australian universities continues to increase," Mr Tehan said on Wednesday.
He said the group would also develop safeguards to help universities protect their research and intellectual property, and to make foreign academic collaborations more "transparent".
What other actions have been taken?
Australia introduced new laws in 2017 that require foreign organisations to identify their state connections publicly on a government register.
The government is investigating the role of Confucius Institutes - Chinese language and cultural centres funded by the Chinese government- which are present on many campuses but not presently registered.
Concerns about the institutes also prompted the New South Wales state government last week to cancel the organisation's contracts to teach Chinese language programmes in its public schools. The decision has been criticised as "hysteria" by Chinese state media.
Two Australian universities have also announced reviews of its research and funding collaborations, following reports its researchers may have unwittingly collaborated with a Chinese-state owned military technology company accused of human rights abuses.
August 27, 2019 – Captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission on 21 August 2019, this image features a huge raft of pumice rock drifting in the Pacific Ocean. The pumice is believed to have come from an underwater volcano near Tonga, which erupted on 7 August.
The volcanic debris is full of holes and gas that make the rock light enough to float up to the sea surface. Covering a total area of around 150 sq km, this massive gathering of floating rocks has turned the ocean surface from its usual twinkling blue to a dull grey that almost looks like land.
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The raft is drifting towards Australia, and while it may be causing some problems for sailors, it could bring benefits to the Great Barrier Reef. There are millions of pieces of rock and each is a potential vehicle that offers a ride to small marine organisms such as algae, snails, barnacles and corals. If the raft eventually reaches Australia, the hope is that these hitch-hiking organisms could help replenish the Great Barrier Reef, which has been damaged by rising seawater temperatures.
Patty Mills went off to take down Team USA in front of a home crowd. (Photo by Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty Images)
With just a week left before the beginning of the FIBA World Cup, Team USA made the wrong kind of history against Australia on Saturday.
The Americans suffered a 98-94 exhibition loss to Australia in front of a massive crowd at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
Per The Washington Post’s Ben Golliver, it was Team USA’s first loss in 13 years. The Americans had previously been on a 78-game winning streak in major international exhibitions and competitions going back to the 2006 world championships.
Leading the way against a U.S. team publicly diminished by NBA star departures was San Antonio Spurs back-up guard Patty Mills, who dropped 30 points on his coach for eight NBA seasons in Gregg Popovich.
Among the other stars for Australia were Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles (15 points, seven assists) and former Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut (16 points, nine rebounds). The win is a reversal of the teams’ previous meeting on Thursday, when the Americans won 102-86.
Time to panic for Team USA?
It would take a catastrophe of epic proportions for Team USA to not be considered the favorite for a major international basketball tournament, but this was a development the team really didn’t need.
The prevailing narrative around the team for the last two months has been that no NBA stars want to play for the team. It still managed to keep All-Stars like Boston Celtics point guard Kemba Walker, Utah Jazz shooting guard Donovan Mitchell and Milwaukee Bucks small forward Khris Middleton, but that group doesn’t look so unbeatable without the likes of James Harden or Anthony Davis.
From the moment glittering Sydney Harbour appears on the horizon through the airplane window, this city captures the imagination like nowhere else. From the essential bridge climb to the best local brekkie, we’ve picked our highlights.
It may not be Australia’s capital, but multicultural Sydney is top of most Down Under bucket lists and the first stop on many visitors’ Australian itineraries. With its famous beaches, iconic landmarks like the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge set on one of the most beautiful harbors in the world, cool neighborhoods like Surry Hills, and delicious food, it’s really no wonder why. Here are a few of our favorite ways to enjoy Australia’s largest and most cosmopolitan city.
One of the most impressive things about Sydney is that there’s always another beach just around the corner. Bondi Beach, while beautiful, is often extremely crowded during the summer months. Fortunately, the golden sand of local favorites Tamarama, Bronte, and Coogee are all easily accessible via a 3.7-mile clifftop walk that winds its way past some of Sydney’s most stunning views.
Head down to the coast early to avoid the crowds (and the heat!) and treat yourself to breakfast afterward at the Little Kitchen, at the south end of Coogee Beach. Then, settle in for a day of swimming and sunbathing.
INSIDER TIPYou never know when the opportunity for a dip will present itself in Sydney, so make sure to stash your swimsuit in your daypack throughout your stay.
PHOTO: Hamilton Lund/ Destination NSW
Catch the Manly Ferry
While most people use the historic Manly Ferry to commute to and from the city center, for visitors it offers glorious views of the Harbour. The 30-minute route has been in operation since 1855 and offers the chance to escape to the laid-back Manly Beach for the day. Wander the Corso, a pedestrian strip lined with boutiques and cafes, then stop in for a local seafood lunch at the Herring Room.
If you’ve still got energy to burn, hike nearby North Head for sweeping vistas of the surrounding coastline, before cooling off at the tiny and picturesque Shelly Beach, just next door to Manly.
So you might be surprised to hear that Australia’s most popular cuisine is Chinese food and that’s because the Chinese community has long been a part of the country’s multicultural fabric. Starting in the early 1850s, thousands of Chinese immigrants flocked to Australia to try their luck on the recently discovered goldfields and they brought their traditional dishes with them, largely from Sichuan and Guangdong provinces. The dishes evolved to be more palatable to Australians and are now an essential part of the country’s culinary makeup.
Sydney’s bustling Chinatown comes alive on weekend mornings with the Cantonese tradition of yum cha, where diners are served from dozens of roaming trolleys bearing delights such as dumplings, roast duck, Singapore noodles, and steamed pork buns. (Tea is a must to accompany the feast.) In most places, the dishes you choose are tallied on a card at the table and tallied at the end of the meal. Locals flock to Nine Dragons for all-day service.
Italy also has a significant influence in Sydney, thanks to substantial post-war migration, and the neighborhoods of Leichardt, Five Dock, Balmain, and Haberfield are strongholds of pizza, pasta, and gelato.
Founded in Darlinghurst in 2002, Gelato Messina has gained a cult following across Australia for its out–of–this–world flavors that change weekly (popular flavors include baklava and matcha.) Made from milk from the Palumbo brothers’ own dairy farm, Gelato Messina takes its name from their parents’ hometown in Italy and continues the tradition with a modern twist.
PHOTO: The Bathers' Pavillion
Swim at Balmoral Beach
Balmoral Beach, tucked away in the northern side of the harbor, is sandy and protected from the waves that crash on the rest of the coastline, making it the perfect spot for a dip in this iconic harbor. There are also some shady trees behind the beach, so you’ll want to linger for the day.
North Sydney Olympic Pool is often overlooked in favor of the city’s beaches, but nothing compares to swimming laps in between the Harbor Bridge and the amusement rides of Luna Park. With both indoor and outdoor pools and a grassy upstairs sunbathing area, as well as a cafe, you won’t be able to resist a dip after a long day of sightseeing. Plus, entry to the pool is only $6.
INSIDER TIPParking is extremely limited, so catch the train or ferry to Milson’s Point for a hassle-free visit.
PHOTO: James Horan Photography PTY LTD
Recharge at the Royal Botanic Garden
With over 70 acres of lawns, trees, and planted gardens, the Royal Botanic Garden is an oasis of green in the heart of the city. Established in 1816, the Botanic Garden is the oldest scientific institution in the country, featuring rare native and exotic plants and a romantic rose garden.
INSIDER TIPSpot the Bridge (without the crowds) from Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, a sandstone bench hand carved by convicts in 1810 for the wife of the then-Governor of New South Wales, at the northern tip of the Garden.
For what is indisputably Sydney’s best view and the city’s top attraction, there’s only one place to be: on top of the Harbour Bridge. The Bridge Climb takes around three hours to scale the upper arch, with both day and night time options. For those on a budget (or with a fear of heights), the Bridge can also be walked free of charge via the stairs on Cumberland Street.
PHOTO: McCann Worldwide Ltd/ Destination NSW
Shop at the Historic Queen Victoria Building
Around the corner from bustling Pitt Street Mall, you’ll find the late-19th-century Queen Victoria Building (QVB) in all its Romanesque-Revival-style glory. The building hosts iconic Australian designers like Alannah Hill, Bally, SABA, R.M. Williams, and Camilla, in a space decked out with glamorous stained-glass shop fronts, chandeliers, ornate balconies, and parquet flooring. Even if you don’t want to shop Australia’s top labels, you’ll want to marvel the building itself.
INSIDER TIPComparing a place to Pitt Street is an Australian way of saying it’s as busy as Grand Central Station, so be prepared for the crowds if you visit the Central Business District (CBD) on weekends or evenings.
PHOTO: Nick-D (CC BY-SA 3.0)/Wikimedia Commons
See a Show at the Opera House
After a long, controversial, and expensive construction phase, the iconic Opera House finally opened in 1973 and has been one of the city’s top attractions since. Tucked under the unique sail design are multiple venues that host everything from rap to musical theatre. The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Dance Company, and the Australian Opera Company are all regulars, and with over 40 shows a week performed in total. Guided tours are also on offer.
PHOTO: Andrew Gregory/ Destination NSW
Bushwalk to the Beach
Ku–ring–gai Chase National Park is only 15 miles north of the Sydney city center but feels a whole world away with its rainforest, cliffs, mangroves, and hidden beaches. The park’s Aboriginal Heritage Walk is a classic three-mile, self-guided trail that takes in Red Hands Cave which contains Aboriginal art made over 2,000 years ago, as well as engravings made by the Guringai people. From the Resolute Picnic Area, you can hike a well-marked trail down to Resolute Beach–a secluded, sandy stretch with views of Barrenjoey Headland and Pittwater.
INSIDER TIPIf you are interested in finding out more about the Aboriginal community in Sydney, the inner-city suburb of Redfern is the place to visit. Redfern gave birth to Australia’s first Aboriginal-run health, legal, and children’s services in the 1970s, as well as the Aboriginal-managed housing public housing project known as the Block. Although gentrification has begun to change the neighborhood in recent years, it remains home to many prominent Aboriginal activists and artists. The recently restored 40 Thousand Years Mural, in front of the Redfern Railway Station, tells the story of Redfern’s long history.
Learn about the life and times of one of Australia’s most celebrated and controversial artists at the Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills. Born in 1939, Whiteley characterized the Australian avant-garde throughout the ’70s and ’80s, winning the nation’s most prestigious art prizes multiple times.
Part of the appeal was the man himself, whose studio and home is preserved as it was left when he died in 1992 of an alleged opiate overdose. Inside, you’ll find photographs, books, records, and notes, as well as paintings documenting Sydney landscapes and his time in London and New York, where he lived at the Hotel Chelsea and befriended Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan. The Studio is open to the public Friday to Sunday.
INSIDER TIPIf art is your thing, don’t miss the huge Museum of Contemporary Art in the Rocks and White Rabbit, an incredible, privately-owned collection of 21st-century Chinese art, in Chippendale.
PHOTO: Young Henrys
Say Cheers in a Boutique Brewery
Young Henry’s poured the pint that started the craft beer renaissance in Newtown. Since 2012, Young Henry’s classic Newtowner is an Aussie Pale Ale that is guaranteed to hit the spot. You can even tour the brewery itself, housed in a revamped industrial warehouse.
Newtown is also worth a visit as the city’s bohemian, student neighborhood, filled with indie booksellers, thrift stores, small bars, and street art. The suburb’s main thoroughfare, King Street, is a good place to start wandering.
Right outside Central Station, Surry Hills has working-class roots, but it has been on its way to becoming Sydney’s chicest postcode since gentrification began in the 1980s. Today, it is a foodie’s dream, with the buzzing restaurants and bars lining Crown Street. The best spots are tucked away down the side streets, like Japanese-themed bar Tokyo Bird. A couple of blocks away, middle-eastern restaurant and wine bar Nomad serves up sophisticated local produce. Catch an after-dinner show at the Belvoir Street Theatre to round out the night.
Take a walk on Darling Street in Balmain, east of the city center, for great coffee, gorgeous terrace houses, and harbor views. Darlinghurst, to the west, is the site of Sydney’s giant annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. Its queer, artsy character is reinforced by the presence of small art galleries like the Stanley Street Gallery and trendy nightlife venues like the Oxford Art Factory.
The oldest part of the city, the Rocks, is surprisingly also one of the coolest. Featuring local artisanal clothing and homewares, alongside gourmet street food, the cobblestone streets of The Rocks come to life with market stalls every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Two pubs in The Rocks claim to be Sydney’s oldest, the Fortune of War and the Lord Nelson, so you may have to visit both to be sure you have indeed visited the eldest!
PHOTO: monofaction/Shutterstock
Feast on Seafood and Luxe Atmosphere
The Watson Bay Hotel is classic Sydney: slick, self-assured, and always sunny. With striped beach umbrellas and a Mediterranean-inspired long lunch menu, locals head to the Beach Club on weekends for oysters, tiger prawns, and soft-shell crab and kick on into the evening with a cocktail or two. The Hotel also has rooms with picture-perfect views, but those near the Beach Club can be noisy.
Sydneysiders are passionate about both Rugby Union and Rugby League (NRL). While the first is played in Europe and other Commonwealth countries, NRL is limited to Australia (with a handful of New Zealand teams thrown in.) That means you can see a live game in Sydney that you’ll never see anywhere else, so spend a day at ANZ Stadium and you will spend a day getting to know what locals really care about.
NFL is reasonably similar to American football, using the concept of a limited number of tackles (downs) and scoring touchdowns (tries). However, NRL is much faster paced; the ball can only be passed backward and no defensive tackles are permitted. The Roosters, Bulldogs, Sharks, Eels, and Rabbitohs represent various Sydney suburbs, with the best players coming together for the annual State of Origin series clash in June and July, where New South Wales (the Blues) takes on northern neighbor Queensland (the Maroons).
PHOTO: James Horan
Explore the Rambling Estate of Vaucluse House
As one of Sydney’s few 19th–century mansions still surrounded by its original grounds, Vaucluse House is a fascinating insight into the city’s past. When explorer, barrister, and politician William Charles Wentworth bought the house in 1827, it was a tiny cottage in the countryside. Over the next fifty years, the house and grounds were extended to cover most of the present-day suburb of Vaucluse and it has now been refurbished to the height of its glamor, complete with restored rosewood furniture and crimson satin curtains. The self-guided audio tour is essential.
Sydneysiders are an outdoors lot and always looking for a new excuse to spend time on the beach or the water. SUPing or Stand Up Paddleboarding is the latest fad. At Narrabeen Lakes in the northern suburbs, you can rent a stand-up paddleboard, take lessons, and even practice SUP yoga in a wildlife haven. It is also a popular location for bushwalking, water sports, and fishing.
Once you’ve had your fill of sand and surf, turn your attention westward and you’ll find the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains National Park right at the edge of the city. Named after the blue haze that hangs over the eucalyptus trees, the mountains are dotted with sandstone cliffs, waterfalls and gorges, as well as rare and threatened plants and animals.
The iconic Three Sisters lookout is a must, but more adventurous hikers should also check out the relatively short Round Walking Track or the longer National Pass, which takes in the glorious Wentworth Falls. Many trailheads can be reached by taxi from Katoomba train station or with local guides Blue Mountains Adventure Company or Tread Lightly Eco Tours.
PHOTO: Anna Kucera/ Destination NSW
Embrace Australia’s Favorite (and Most Controversial) Meal
Excellent coffee and smashed avocado on toast are now perhaps Australia’s most famous export after Crocodile Dundee. Avo toast is particularly politically charged in Sydney, where record-high property prices in 2017 kicked off a debate in the national media about whether Australian Millennials could afford to buy a house when they spend so much money on brunch.
Still, Sydneysiders can’t get enough, and ‘Gramming the hottest cafes is something of a competitive art form. On weekend mornings from around 9 am to midday, diners devour Eggs Benedict, French Toast, and classic bacon and egg rolls. The Grounds of Alexandria is an incredible setting for coffee and cake in the garden, while Little Jean manages to give brekky an upmarket sophistication.
