'Out-of-Shape' Crowe Bests Journo in Bike Duel

Kidman, Crowe, Blanchett, Rush featured on 'legends' stamp collection

(NEWSER) - Australian movie stars Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, and Geoffrey Rush have been honored by their country with postage stamps in their likenesses, the Daily Telegraph reports. The actors have been named Australia Post’s 2009 Australian Legends, and each will have two stamps. “I’m going to be licked by millions of Australians and I can’t wait,” said Blanchett. More»

(NEWSER) - Nicole Kidman “squirmed” through the Sydney premier of her movie, Australia, and fled the country soon after, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. “I can't look at this movie and be proud of what I've done,” the actress said. “It's just impossible for me to connect to it emotionally at all.” Kidman rarely sees her own films, but did this time to satisfy director Baz Luhrmann. More»

Monika Samaan got salmonella after meal

(NEWSER) - A judge has ordered KFC to pay an Australian family $8.3 million after their daughter was poisoned and suffered brain damage after eating at the fast-food chain. Her lawyer says Monika Samaan contracted salmonella in 2005 after eating a Twister chicken wrap and fell into a six-month coma; she has since lost her ability to speak and is confined to a wheelchair. Among the more salacious tidbits: He also argued that the restaurant would serve chicken that had fallen on the floor. KFC says the evidence doesn't prove it is responsible for Monika's condition, and it plans to appeal, the BBC reports. More»

Two men and their sons stayed afloat long enough for rescue

(NEWSER) - Two friends and their sons were saved from drowning by some quick thinking and an unlikely hero: a beer cooler. Scott Smiles and Rick Matthews were on a fishing trip with their 11-year-old sons off the coast of Sydney, Australia, yesterday, when their 40-foot boat started on fire five miles out to sea, reports ABC News . Smiles tossed the cooler overboard as a flotation device, grabbed a GPS emergency beacon, and the group jumped into the 200-feet-deep water. They were able to stay afloat for the 45 minutes it took a rescue chopper to reach them. More»

Aussie cops have some questions

(NEWSER) - Sydney police don't know why a man left a suitcase stuffed with cash in an upscale cafe—but they're pretty sure it wasn't a tip. The customer at Caffe Marco ordered a coffee but walked out after spending less than five minutes in the eatery, and left his suitcase behind. Workers fearing the abandoned suitcase contained a bomb called police, who discovered that it contained some $1 million in cash, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. More»