Heatherless Headlines from Down Under

Man catches shark with his bare hands

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A man who caught a 1.3 -metre shark with his bare hands off an Australian beach said on Friday he only tried the feat because he was drunk on vodka.

Phillip Kerkhof was fishing off a jetty at Louth Bay, a town on South Australia state's Eyre Peninsula 1,400 kilometres west of Sydney, when he spotted the bronze whaler shark swimming in the shallows, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. "I just snuck up behind him, and eventually I went for the big grab and I fluked it and got him," Kerkhof said.

"He was just thrashing around in the water ... starting to turn around and try to bite me and I thought 'well, it's amazing what vodka does," Kerkhof said.

The shark bit a hole in Kerkhof's jeans, but he was uninjured.

Cross-dressing lawyer hangs up his dress

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - The High Court found Rob Moodie, a 68-year-old, balding man who appeared in court in dresses and toting a handbag, was in contempt for circulating suppressed documents outside the court in one of his cases.