Prankster appears in Australian court for driving flooded car
Adelaide: A social media prankster appeared in an Australian court on Wednesday charged in relation to driving a car full of water to a liquor store during a heat wave and buying beer. Michael Alexander Philippou, 28, who operates the RackaRacka YouTube channel with his twin brother Danny, faced the Christies Beach Magistrates Court in Adelaide on charges including driving in a reckless or dangerous manner, driving an unregistered vehicle and failing to wear a seat belt. He posted video online of him and his companion Jackson O’Doherty wearing goggles and a scuba diving regulators while driving the modified Ford Laser sedan in January last year. The suspension of the leaking sedan clearly struggled with the weight of water as it drove to a drive-in liquor store where Philippou and O’Doherty bought two bottles of beer. The video shows them drinking the beer underwater. Another video posted in December showed police arresting Philippou over the stunt. Magistrate Susan O’Connor on Wednesday relaxed Philippou’s bail conditions to allow him to travel interstate before he appears in court next in February. Outside court, Philippou was surrounded by supporters and at one point pretended to get stuck in a door, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. “I’m confident as always. I’ve been ready for this. We’ve been training hard for this. It will be quick,” he told ABC. (AP)
Rare deep sea dolphins wash up on Aussie beach
Sydney: Even as Australia is battling the bushfires across the country, two rare deep sea dolphins washed up on an Australian beach in separate incidents over the past few weeks, leaving marine scientists baffled at the discovery. Easily identified by their black and white markings, the southern right whale dolphins were found on Port Fairy’s East Beach in Victoria State, however, only one of the mysterious animals was able to be retrieved by authorities for examination, reported Xinhua news agency. “It is interesting that we have two (stranded) close together and in relatively similar locations,” natural environment programs officer at Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Mandy Watson, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday. “These animals are normally found in deep water well offshore so they’re very rarely seen in inshore waters.” Details about the creatures, found in pods of up to 1,000 along the Continental Shelf, remain fairly scarce, as observing the species is extremely difficult and expensive. “We don’t know much about these species, really, because they live in habitats that are so rough and so remote from us that it makes everything complicated,” Deakin University marine ecologist Paul Tixier said. Hoping to find out what happened to the wayward dolphin, tests will soon get underway that may shed light on the mystery. (IANS)