Member Submitted/Breaking News

Late payments on mortgages rose unexpectedly at the end of 2011, according to a credit ratings agency, in the latest sign of strains in the housing market. Repayment arrears of Australian prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) rose to 1.57 per cent in the final three months of last year, up from 1.52 per cent in the third quarter, Fitch Ratings reported.

-- Rupert, old chum, I suspect you're about to get your arse handed to you on a platter. Well deserved and well earned! -- MCR

-- Dagnabit, where is Mad Max when you need him? I really miss Mel Gibson and I wish he'd stick his head up. Hey Mel... I love ya. -- MCR

These doofuses blame it on the lack of online shopping! No. No! -- Anything but collapse! -- MCR

Cops Tasered and killed an Australian man on Sunday over what may have been a stolen packet of cookies. The unidentified victim apparently went into a Sydney convenience store at about 5:30 a.m. asking for help because he thought someone was trying to kill him, the Daily Telegraph reported. The store clerk allegedly refused to help him, so he fled -- grabbing a packet of cookies on his way out. Cops gave chase and Tasered him after pepper spray didn't work, according to AAP. Witnesses said the man screamed "help me" as the officers held him down. He stopped breathing after being shocked and died on the scene. Surveillance footage obtained by the paper shows at least five officers slamming the suspect into a store window before one of them fires what appears to be a Taser at him. The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that cops used a Taser three times on the shirtless suspect in the "10-minute walk" from the convenience store to the camera that captured the incident. Cops maintained that the victim kept getting back up and fending off the police, which led them to believe that he had a...

A HOWARD government minister has entered the nuclear-waste debate by arguing that Australia should accept radioactive debris from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Former sports minister Andrew Thomson said the move would help break a deadlock in Japan that is jeopardising recovery efforts from last year’s March 11 tsunami and nuclear meltdown.