A private funeral service was held for Australian TV naturalist Steve Irwin on Saturday and he will be buried at his family's zoo in the northern state of Queensland, local media reported.
Irwin's father, Bob Irwin, had declined a government offer for a state funeral for his son.
Irwin, known as the "Crocodile Hunter" after his popular TV documentaries which aired around the world, was killed six days ago by a stingray barb to the chest while diving on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
PHOTO: AP
After the funeral service his body was taken to his family's Australia Zoo wildlife park, where he is expected to be buried, local media reported yesterday.
Irwin, 44, had flirted with death many times in his Crocodile Hunter documentaries, seen by 200 million people, wrestling with some of the world's most dangerous creatures.
News of Irwin's death clogged Internet news sites and drew tributes from around the world. Prime Minister John Howard interrupted parliament to pay tribute to him, saying he was distressed by the loss of a remarkable Australian.
A public memorial service that is likely to draw thousands of mourners was expected to take place later this month.
Hundreds more fans continued their procession to the 25-hectare Australia Zoo that was opened in 1970 by Bob Irwin.
Each day since Irwin's fatal accident, mourners have come to the zoo to leave flowers, candles, cards and stuffed animals behind and to sign one of Irwin's trademark khaki shirts in lieu of a commemoration book.
The shirts, now numbering near 100, are tacked on a brick building at the front of the zoo that has become the focal point of the outpouring of grief for Irwin.
Meanwhile, nearly 300 surfers gathered off Australia's eastern coast yesterday to cast flowers into the Pacific Ocean in Irwin's honor.
Lifeguard Nigel Morton said the surfers assembled in the water at Alexandra Headland in Queensland state in honor of the wildlife fanatic who was also an accomplished surfer.
"They paddled out probably about 300m offshore and made a very large circle," Morton said. "There were several surfers in the center of the circle that conducted the service."
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
NUCLEAR WARNING: Elites are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers, perhaps because they have access to shelters, Tulsi Gabbard said After a trip to Hiroshima, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday warned that “warmongers” were pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Gabbard did not specify her concerns. Gabbard posted on social media a video of grisly footage from the world’s first nuclear attack and of her staring reflectively at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. On Aug. 6, 1945, the US obliterated Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people in the explosion and by the end of the year from the uranium bomb’s effects. Three days later, a US plane dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, leaving abut 74,000 people dead by the
RSS