Steve Irwin, the Australian television personality and environmentalist known as the Crocodile Hunter, was killed today by a stingray barb during a diving expedition.

Residents in remote north-eastern Australia are braced for the onslaught of a tropical cyclone today, bearing winds of up to 137mph, a month after another storm left thousands in the region homeless.

It was business as usual, almost, about 60 miles north of ground zero for one of the worst cyclones to hit Australia’s east coast in decades.

A POWERFUL tropical cyclone packing winds of up to 290km/h slammed into Australia’s north-eastern coast last night after more than 1,000 tourists and local residents were evacuated to higher ground, the weather bureau said.

A human thigh bone has been found on the bank of a remote river where a 60-year-old Australian man was dragged from his canoe by a crocodile, police said today.

Police and park officials today hunted for a man who went missing after a crocodile grabbed him by the arm, upturned his canoe and dragged him underwater in north-eastern Australia.

Four people investigated by police over involvement in child porn rings have committed suicide, a newspaper reported today.