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UPI
a day ago
- Science
- UPI
Gilmour Space launches Australian-made rocket
July 29 (UPI) -- Australian aerospace company Gilmour Space on Wednesday launched its Eris 1 rocket, which crashed shortly after taking off. The test flight of the rocket, which was intended to be the country's first to reach orbit in 50 years, follows multiple delays caused by weather conditions and technical setbacks. While the rocket launch fell well short of its goal, the company's leader still called the test a success. "Got off the Pad , I am happy," Adam Gilmour, the company's CEO said in a social media post. "Of course I would have liked more flight time but happy with this." A video of the launch posted online shows the rocket rising from a cloud of exhaust and remaining in the sky for a matter of seconds before it lost momentum and dropped back down. The Eris is the first Australian-made rocket to attempt to orbit the planet and was launched from a spaceport in Bowen, Queensland, according to the company's website. The launch drew spectators who cheered the home-grown company's attempt to put a rocket in space, according to the Australian Broadcasting Company. "If they're talking about more satellites going up, it would have to help Bowen's economy in the long term," resident Douglas Tawse told the broadcaster. Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland astrobiologist and astronomer, told the news outlet that the test by Gilmour Space demonstrated that the space industry had mature, moving beyond an era when only government agencies were able to launch rockets. "In the last decade or so, there has been very much an explosion in our use of space, and that's been because there has been a shift to commercial capacity to put things into orbit," he said.
Daily Record
07-07-2025
- Daily Record
'Hannibal Lecter' wife killed lover, cooked his head and served it with potatoes
Katherine Knight made history in Australia when she became the first woman to be sentenced to life imprisonment One woman, infamously labelled as Australia's "Hannibal Lecter" was characterised as a "horror movie in the making" after displaying chilling signs of violence before she stabbed her husband 37 times, decapitated him, and cooked his flesh with potatoes. Katherine Knight became the first woman to receive a life sentence without parole in Australia for her heinous acts. In a macabre incident that stunned the small town of Aberdeen, New South Wales, the mother-of-four perpetrated an atrocity. She murdered her partner John Price by stabbing him 37 times, decapitating him, boiling his head, and suspending his body from a meat hook. Following the murder on February 29, 2000, Knight concocted a gruesome meal using Price's cooked remains, which she plated with cabbage and gravy, intending to serve it to his children as they came home from school. Yet, this crime didn't occur without precedent. Former detective Luke Taylor spoke to about her inclination towards "violent" behaviour, which he attributed to "an abusive childhood", reports the Mirror US. "There were so many warning signs yet none were heeded," said Taylor. "She was a horror movie in the making," he added. The harrowing narrative wasn't unforeseen. Knight had a violent past; she had once stabbed Price during a dispute, leading him to file a restraining order against her. Despite this, the pair made up before the tragic day that ended in disaster. Knight alleges she endured horrific sexual abuse during her childhood at the hands of various men. She claimed she suffered sexual abuse by different family members throughout her youth, which laid the groundwork for her volatile relationships with men in later life. In Peter Lalor's book Blood Stains, Knight's formative years are exposed. She was recognised amongst her classmates for being a bully who once attacked a boy at school. Knight even attempted to strangle her first husband, David Kellett, on their wedding night and is reported to have smashed his skull with a frying pan. She also killed another partner's dog and attacked him with scissors. Alarmingly, Knight, a former slaughterhouse worker, was acknowledged by neighbour Rick Banyard as "a very proficient meatworker." It was their final argument before Price's death that made the father suspect he might be in grave danger. After a particularly fierce row, Price allegedly told his workmates that if he didn't turn up for work the following day, they should contact the police and come searching for him. Then, blood stains were discovered on Knight's front door. On the morning of March 1, 2000, neighbours rang the police after spotting the horrifying signs of violence. Arrested after police discovered her unconscious beside Price's body, her conviction came in 2001, and her appeal was rejected in 2006, according to the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC). "By the time I got to the scene, Katherine was leaving in an ambulance. She had taken some pills. Not enough to kill her, but they made her sleepy," former Sergeant Robert Wells shared with ABC. "I walked inside and saw the human skin pelt hanging up, completely intact in one piece. John Price's decapitated and skinned body was lying on the floor in the lounge room. We found his head, it had been boiled and cooked in a pot on the stove. There were a number of slices of rump, taken off his human rump, baked in the oven with some vegetables and put on plates, with the name of two of his children on them. "The last minutes of [Price's] life must have been a time of abject terror for him, as they were a time of utter enjoyment for her," Supreme Court Justice Barry O'Keefe stated during Knight's sentencing. Yet to those familiar with the couple, their relationship appeared utterly ordinary. "I think, basically, nobody sort of expected any significant drama at all, let alone the crime that became recorded as one of the worst pieces of history in Australia," he said.
Irish Daily Mirror
07-07-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
Woman dubbed 'Hannibal Lecter wife' stabs lover then cooks him for his kids
One woman, infamously known as Australia's "Hannibal Lecter" was labelled a "horror movie in the making" after displaying chilling signs of violence prior to stabbing her husband 37 times, beheading him and cooking his body parts with potatoes. Katherine Knight became notorious as the first woman in Australia to receive a life sentence without parole for her heinous actions. In a macabre incident that stunned the small town of Aberdeen, New South Wales, the mother-of-four carried out a barbaric crime. She murdered her partner John Price by stabbing him 37 times, decapitating him, boiling his head, and suspending his carcass from a meat hook. On February 29, 2000, following the murder, Knight concocted a gruesome meal using Price's cooked remains, which she plated with cabbage and gravy, intending to feed it to his children as they came home from school. The atrocity, however, was not unforeseen. Ex-detective Luke Taylor spoke to about her inclination towards "violent" behaviour due to "an abusive childhood", reports the Mirror US. "There were so many warning signs yet none were heeded," remarked Taylor. "She was a horror movie in the making," he added. Knight's terrifying narrative didn't just appear out of nowhere; she had a violent past. She had once stabbed Price during a dispute, leading him to file a restraining order against her. Despite this, the couple reconciled before the tragic day. Knight alleges she suffered severe sexual abuse during her childhood by various men. She claimed she was sexually abused by different family members throughout her youth, which set the stage for her turbulent relationships with men later in life. In Peter Lalor's book Blood Stains, Knight's early years are unveiled. She was known among her peers as a bully who once attacked a boy at school. Knight even attempted to strangle her first husband, David Kellett, on their wedding night and is reported to have fractured his skull with a frying pan. She also killed another partner's dog and assaulted him with scissors. Frighteningly, Knight, a former abattoir worker, was recognised by neighbour Rick Banyard as "a very proficient meatworker." It was their final argument before Price's death that made the father suspect he might be in grave danger. After an especially heated dispute, Price allegedly told his colleagues that if he didn't show up for work the next day, they should alert the police and come looking for him. Then, blood stains were spotted on Knight's front door. On the morning of March 1, 2000, neighbours called the police after noticing the horrifying signs of violence. Arrested after police found her unconscious next to Price's body, her conviction came in 2001, and her appeal was denied in 2006, according to the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC). "By the time I got to the scene, Katherine was leaving in an ambulance. She had taken some pills. Not enough to kill her, but they made her sleepy," former Sergeant Robert Wells shared with ABC. "I walked inside and saw the human skin pelt hanging up, completely intact in one piece. John Price's decapitated and skinned body was lying on the floor in the lounge room. We found his head, it had been boiled and cooked in a pot on the stove. There were a number of slices of rump, taken off his human rump, baked in the oven with some vegetables and put on plates, with the name of two of his children on them. "The last minutes of [Price's] life must have been a time of abject terror for him, as they were a time of utter enjoyment for her," Supreme Court Justice Barry O'Keefe stated during Knight's sentencing. Yet to those familiar with the couple, their relationship appeared utterly ordinary. "I think, basically, nobody sort of expected any significant drama at all, let alone the crime that became recorded as one of the worst pieces of history in Australia," he said.
USA Today
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Ye banned from Australia for antisemitic song: Reports
Ye has been blocked from entering Australia over an antisemitic anthem he released in May. The rapper, formerly known as Kanye West, had his visa revoked over the song, which celebrates the German chancellor who oversaw the killing of millions of Jews, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed to the Associated Press and BBC. Ye's wife, Bianca Censori, was born in Australia. "He's been coming to Australia for a long time. He's got family here," Burke told the Australian Broadcasting Company. "He's made a lot of offensive comments that my officials looked at again once he released the (antisemitic song), and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia. "We have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry," he added. USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Burke and Ye for comment. The song, which has been banned on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, was widely regarded as antisemitic at its release. The composition, a drum-heavy march overlayed with his own professions of Nazism, samples a 1935 Adolf Hitler speech. The track was just the latest in a string of antisemitic incidents surrounding Ye. The rapper has been accused of a pattern of bigotry against Jews as far back as 2018. Former employees allege he often used antisemitic language in the workplace, espoused conspiracy theories and praised Hitler, and Adidas dropped Ye from his Yeezy partnership with the brand after an antisemitic tirade in 2022. In recent years, Ye's antisemitic rhetoric has spilled over into the public square, with the rapper baking anti-Jewish sentiment into his music and unleashing hateful tirades on social media. His views appear to flip-flop violently, sometimes strongly anti-Jewish, other times reneging on past antisemitic statements. That pattern may concern Burke in particular, as Australia has suffered a series of recent attacks motivated by antisemitism. Since late 2024, a synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed, several Jewish businesses were torched and a Jewish daycare was set on fire. These, along with other attacks, were concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne, the cities that house the lion's share of the country's Jewish population.
Miami Herald
27-06-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Ship mysteriously sunk off Sydney in 1904. Now, first divers visit ‘holy grail'
On a stormy night in 1904, a steamship off the coast of Sydney, Australia, sank. The ship seemingly vanished, leaving no survivors, no explanations and no trace of its final resting place — until a chance discovery in 2022. Now, over 120 years after its sinking, scuba divers visited the wreck for the first time. The SS Nemesis steamship, built in 1880, spent several decades carrying people and cargo along the Australian coast before its mysterious sinking in July 1904, the Sydney Project, a citizen science initiative focused on exploring shipwrecks, wrote in a June 24 blog post. Investigations into the tragedy, which killed 32 people, couldn't figure out why the ship sank or where it went. 'The loss of (SS) Nemesis has been described as one of Sydney's most enduring maritime mysteries and has even been described by shipwreck researchers as the 'holy grail,'' Penny Sharpe, the New South Wales (NSW) Minister for Environment and Heritage, said in a 2024 news release. But the breakthrough rediscovery of the SS Nemesis didn't come from shipwreck devotees. Instead, a 'remote sensing company Subsea Professional Marine Services stumbled across the wreck while trying to locate cargo containers lost off the coast of Sydney' in 2022, the NSW Heritage Department said. Experts immediately suspected the wreck was the SS Nemesis and confirmed its identification in 2024 after a series of follow-up surveys. Enter the Sydney Project: Scuba divers Samir Alhafith, Dave Apperley, Rus Pnevski and John Wooden decided they wanted to see the SS Nemesis — an 'ambitious mission,' the team wrote in a June 20 Facebook post. The nearly 240-foot long SS Nemesis sits about 16 miles off the coast of Sydney at a depth of about 525 feet, NSW officials wrote in a June 23 Facebook post. The Sydney Project team had their first dive attempt thwarted by weather conditions, but their second attempt on June 18 proved successful. The dive required advanced equipment and a six-hour process to resurface all for nine minutes of time at the wreck. It was worth it for the 'history making dive,' according to the team. 'We landed closer to the port bow of the wreck and proceeded towards the midship,' the team said. They saw the mast, lines from a crane, main deck, bridge and the doomed coal cargo scattered around the ship. Photos show what remains of the SS Nemesis. Overall, the wreck is encrusted, slightly deteriorated and a hub of marine life. 'This shipwreck is a little bit unique to others because the bow and the stern, so the front and the back of the ship, are both collapsed, pretty much to the sand line, which is unusual,' Samir Alhafith, the team leader, told the Australian Broadcasting Company. 'I have never seen that before.' 'It looks like something extremely violent happened to the wreck,' Alhafith told the outlet. Marine archaeologists are still piecing together what happened to the SS Nemesis, and the Sydney Project's footage — the first taken of the wreck by scuba divers — will help this process. The leading explanation for the sinking is that 'the engine became overwhelmed in the storm, and when SS Nemesis was hit by a large wave she sank too quickly for life boats to be deployed,' officials said in a 2024 release. Tim Smith, a director with Heritage NSW, told the Australian Broadcasting Company that 'These four divers have shone a light on the vessel's rich legacy, capturing never-seen-before footage of the ship up close. What they recorded … will help us join the dots in understanding its demise.'
