[Boats and yachts are piled together at Port Hinchinbrook, Australia, after Cyclone Yasi brought heavy rain and howling winds gusting to 186 mph. Image via AP]

Getting hit with that massive snow and ice storm? At least you're not waiting for a "catastrophic" cyclone in Queensland! As Premier Anna Bligh says, "This is 24 hours of quite terrifying winds... people need to be preparing themselves mentally."

[It might be winter in many parts of the U.S., but it was perfect weather to celebrate Australia Day on the beach in Perth where this reveler got an eyeful at the Havaianas Thong Challenge. Image via Getty]

Let's say that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's "insurance file" of dirt on News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch is seriously juicy, and Rupe's got to go hide out. Where can he go? You mean he has to choose just one place?

This week's Oprah Winfrey Show is being broadcast from Sydney, Australia! On today's episode, Winfrey—and special guest Jay-Z—surprised an entire school of boys (and their female teacher) with a $1 million gift of new laptops. The video, inside.

Australia's ABC News has put together a fascinating, and sort of terrifying, set of interactive before-and-after satellite photos of the apocalyptic floods in Brisbane, Australia. Above: The suburb of Fairfield. [ABC News]

An Australian couple were rescued from Melbourne's flooded Yarra River today after hitting a rough patch of water during their inflatable sex doll rafting trip. Afterward, police issued a reminder that latex sex dolls are "not recognised flotation devices." (via)

Floods that swept through Australia this month have caused incredible destruction. But one man made the best of a terrible situation and filmed this eerie trip through a flooded McDonald's via canoe in Brisbane, Australia.

[A man in Brisbane, Australia paddles to safety on his surfboard as the flooded Brisbane River peaked at just under 15 feet today. Image via Getty]

[Jesus might have died for our sins, but who is going to help stop the flooding in Australia that has gone on for days and resulted in nearly two dozen deaths? Image via Getty]

If history has taught us anything, it's that it repeats itself. These two Australian guys invade various fortresses to see what we've really learned from the Battle of Troy. It turns out to be not very much, but hilarious nonetheless.

Parts of Brisbane, Australia — the country's third-largest city — are being evacuated due to heavy flooding.

The city of Rockhampton, Australia has been one of the hardest hit from the recent "biblical" flooding across Queensland, with water levels hitting a peak of 30 feet there yesterday. A Getty Images photographer is documenting the deluged city.

The new year has arrived and it is awful, what with bird/fish/crab death, floods, freezing temperatures, and zombie ex-Vice Presidents. So let's just put it all out there and list the reasons why this is already the worst year ever.

Cliff sex! So alluring—yet so dangerous, as one young Australian woman found out early on New Year's Day. From her brother.

[David Hasselhoff and his motley crew storm Australia's Bondi Beach as the former "Baywatch" star peddles some sort of consumer product there. Image via Getty]

[This wallaby probably regrets going after that giant bale of delicious hay as it sits in the middle of a huge flood in Australia today. Image via AP]

Hugh Jackman, the world's most famous living Australian, was injured today while taping the second of Oprah Winfrey's four shows from Syndey. He tried to zip line from the top of the Sydney Oprah House and crashed instead.

Document-sharing website Wikileaks is preparing to release a trove of damaging diplomatic cables from the U.S. State Department. So the U.S. is calling all its friends to warn them. They're going to be in so much trouble!

The riddle-like tale of traveling twin sisters who shot each other simultaneously, leaving police unable to figure out which had died and which survived, has gotten stranger: The women, who were in Colorado for "cultural exchange," were obsessed with Columbine.