Sharks force beach closures for week

Beaches at the Australian city of Newcastle were closed for a seventh day on Friday after at least two large sharks were sighted in coastal waters. Meanwhile, a teenage spear fisher was attacked by a shark 390 kilometers to the south.

A 5-meter great white shark estimated to weigh 1.7 metric tons had been spotted daily since Jan 10 until Thursday off the coast of Newcastle, a city of 315,000 people 160 km north of Sydney, Newcastle City Council said.

At Ulladulla, a coastal town 230 km south of Sydney, a 17-year-old boy, named in local media as Sam Smith, was bitten by a shark on the hand after attempting to stab the shark to "scare it off", his friend said.