Diberdayakan oleh Blogger.

Popular Posts Today

Asylum seekers to be live-in help

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 13 April 2013 | 21.51

Fremantle retiree Maureen Ramsay will soon open her home to an asylum seeker and says she is looking forward to it. Source: The Sunday Times

ASYLUM seekers will be used as live-in companions for retirees and to "help out" on farms across WA under a new homestay scheme starting next month and backed by the Immigration Department.

Live-Every West Australian with a spare room is being urged to sign up for the Homestay Helping Hand program, with hosts paid $50 a week for each asylum seeker in exchange for providing board and food.

Asylum seekers, in return, are urged to "help out around the home or farm", "pick up the shopping", or "provide company for someone who's lonely".

The scheme will be run by the Australian Homestay Network, which finds accommodation for asylum seekers after they are processed on Christmas Island and released by the Immigration Department on bridging visas while their refugee claims are assessed.

Executive chairman David Bycroft said placements would start within a month and it was a "chance for Australians to put their hand up and be part of the solution instead of complaining about the problem".

He said live-in asylum seekers could not replace paid staff but they were available to help with jobs and chores around the house or farm.

The scheme is separate from another homestay program called the Community Placement Network (CPN), which started in May last year but has stalled with just over 30 placements so far this year.

CPN placements last six weeks but in the Helping Hand program, asylum seekers can stay with a host for years if both parties want it.

Mr Bycroft said there would soon be thousands of would-be refugees living in the community under the Helping Hand program because Australia "faces a massive wave of asylum seekers looking for affordable accommodation".
"The asylum seeker can help out, pick up the shopping, perhaps drive the car," he said.

"We're after retirees or couples, maybe their kids have left the home, they've got empty rooms and they want to do something good. For a single person it gives them company a great idea for someone who's lonely."

An Immigration spokesman said the department "acknowledged the value of the work the Australian Homestay Network is doing" and described its Helping Hands program as "smart, lateral thinking". The network charges each asylum seeker $100 a week, paid from government benefits.

Half is used to administer the program and the other $50 is paid to the host.

Asylum seekers released by the Immigration Department are assisted by charities and refugee groups to find accommodation but many struggle, particularly in Perth where rents are soaring. Mr Bycroft said he was also in discussions with regional councils to set up homestay operations where seasonal workers are required.

Coalition for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees spokeswoman Rosemary Hudson Miller welcomed the plan.

Doubts, but gran will open her home

SHE admits to "a little bit of trepidation", but Fremantle retiree Maureen Ramsay will soon open her home to an asylum seeker and says she is looking forward to it.

The former TAFE lecturer and manager is a mother of four and grandmother of eight who now lives alone and has two empty bedrooms.

"I feel quite concerned about the situation for asylum seekers and refugees and I thought, 'I can do something, I've got space'," the 70-year-old said.

"It might be intense at the beginning but I feel it would be more frightening for them than for me.

"I have no idea what to expect. I suppose there will be some cultural hurdles. They may not speak English.

"But I've travelled a lot and I'm pretty relaxed. I imagine their stories are quite amazing.

"Some of my friends think I'm quite naive and I guess I have a little bit of trepidation because some people are quite anti-refugees and think that anyone who is sympathetic is a bit naive. I don't agree with that. We should give people a chance.

"You'd have to have a pretty good reason for leaving your country. These people are in dire straits to do it."

Mrs Ramsay said her family supported her decision. She said the $50 a week she will receive under the Homestay Helping Hand program would mostly cover the cost of providing meals.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

State breaks ranks on federal bikie war

Last month Julia Gillard announced a $64 million taskforce would be created, under which courts would have the power to declare a bikie gang a "criminal organisation".  

JULIA Gillard's war on bikies has been dealt a blow with WA Attorney-General Michael Mischin recommending the state doesn't sign up to new national laws.

Under the plan, the states and territories would hand over the power to investigate organised crime to the Federal Government.

The Prime Minister said the move would prevent gangs moving operations and assets across state borders to escape local laws.

But Mr Mischin told The Sunday Times this week he would be advising Premier Colin Barnett not to back the national plan because it would leave WA responsible for enforcing the law but unable to change it when necessary.

Mr Mischin said the Gillard Government had "ambitious objectives", but it was "not clear" how they would be workable. "It would seem that the commonwealth wishes to take over the power to make the law in this area, but leave the enforcement to WA, without the state having the power to change the law as necessary to meet any local need or changing circumstances," he said.

"WA reaffirmed to the commonwealth Attorney-General that it along with other states and territories was not interested in referring legislative power in this area."

The national laws are set to be debated at the Council of Australian Governments meeting on Friday.

Last month Ms Gillard announced a $64 million National Anti-Gang Taskforce would be created to tackle organised crime.

Under the plans, courts would have the power to declare a bikie gang or a similar group a "criminal organisation".

Police would then be allowed to use those orders to prevent club members from visiting clubhouses or holding liquor and weapons licences.

Police in every state would also be given the same powers to seize "unexplained wealth", including cash, cars and houses, from criminals.

WA already has anti-association laws in place which give the Police Commissioner and the Corruption and Crime Commission the ability to declare groups criminal organisations.

Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said this month it was vital state and federal law-enforcement agencies had the powers to break up gangs and seize their assets.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Outrage as eHealth squads hit hospitals

Australian Medical Association president Steve Hambleton says doctors want the eHealth system to work but are frustrated at the slow progress. Source: National Features

BUREAUCRATS armed with clipboards have been sent into hospitals and nursing homes to cajole patients to sign up for an eHealth record their doctors still won't be able to use.

Nine months after it was launched, the Government's $1 billion eHealth system holds just 414 patient records and is only a fifth of the way towards its target of signing up 500,000 patient users by June 30.

There are currently only two hospitals using the personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) system and they have uploaded just 155 discharge summaries.

And the system remains barely operational because fewer than one per cent of doctors have signed up for the Healthcare Identifier service number they need to be able to access patient records.

Despite this, Canberra has sent out a sign-up squad in a bid to boost numbers.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said around 12 specially trained staff had been deployed in hospitals, community clinics and aged care homes in Tasmania and the ACT to sign patients up to the scheme.

The move has caused outrage on health IT blogs with experts worried about the security of signing a patient up on paper and then re-entering the data online.

Launceston Hospital's Professor Terry Hannan, who set up an eHealth record for HIV patients in Africa that was nominated for the Nobel Prize, said patients in his hospital were being asked to hand over their Medicare cards and drivers licence to get an e-health record.

"Personally I have a lot of difficulty with this data collection process - not only from patient data security but the real risk of transcription errors in the data recording," he said on the Australian Health Information Technology blog.

"This whole process seems like seems like a political stunt to enhance the PCEHR registration numbers for a project that has been costly and doomed to failure - implementation wise and politically."

The eHealth system is meant to bring medical records into the digital age by providing patients with an electronic record that lists their medications and allergies.

Doctors who are registered are meant to be able to upload a patient health summary that can be shared with other medical workers but a few who have tried have crashed their computer systems.

Eventually it is meant to include X-ray results, pathology results, hospital discharge summaries and other data.

Australian Medical Association president Dr Steve Hambleton said doctors wanted the system to work but were frustrated at the slow progress.

"I think we're looking here at the birth of a larger mammal," he said.

"It's gone beyond human and now we're looking at the gestation period of a whale or even an elephant." 

Opposition primary healthcare spokesman Dr Andrew Southcott said the Coalition was "concerned about the amount of money spent with nothing to show for it".

While the Coalition will not scrap the system it wanted to focus on quick wins like electronic prescriptions and hospital discharge summaries, he said.

The DoH said implementation of the system was a carefully managed, staged process.
 


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Superdrone to be tested at Woomera

The unmanned stealth combat aircraft Taranis, made by BAE systems, which is being tested at Woomera. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

THE most secretive piece of airspace in Australia - the RAAF-run Woomera flight test range in South Australia - will make history later this year when the world's first unmanned supersonic stealth combat aircraft makes its maiden test flight above the desert.

Extreme secrecy surrounds the joint British-French project and the drone called a Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder and built by a British/French consortium led by aerospace giant BAE Systems.

Resembling an insect and using the delta-shaped "flying wing'' technology favoured by modern-day stealth aircraft such as America's B-2 stealth bomber, Taranis is designed to fly above the speed of sound over long distances undetected by enemy radars to attack targets with an array of precision missiles and bombs.

Unlike current generation attack drones such as Predator and Reaper, that are used extensively to attack insurgent targets in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, Taranis will carry the latest in remote defensive technology so it can also evade missiles and hostile manned aircraft.

Unmanned drones are unlikely to ever engage in a dog fight with a manned fighter jet, but the technology is being developed. A more likely future scenarios a long-range missile fight between combat drones.

The Woomera restricted area has already played host to a number of world firsts including the maiden flight of a scram jet engine that could power aircraft to speeds in excess 8500 kmh or Mach 7 - seven times the speed of sound.

That would enable future passenger jets to fly a sub-orbital trajectory from Sydney to London in two hours.

The rocket range is the second busiest launch pad in the world after NASA's Cape Canaveral in  Florida.

In 2009 BAE Systems flew a propeller driven drone known as a Mantis at Woomera.

The military regularly uses the range to test missiles and foreign governments use the vast test site for a variety of top-secret test missions.

The company said Taranis was designed to utilise the most advanced means possible of achieving low observability.

"This includes both the systems and technology inside the aircraft as well as the shape, design and finish of the exterior of the aircraft. This does mean that there are aspects of the exterior design of the aircraft which remain classified,'' it said.
Other details such as range and top speed are also top-secret.

The development of pilotless combat aircraft is controversial and many regard the risks of mistakes associated with removing humans from the kill chain as unacceptable.

Several American companies are also developing unmanned fighters and helicopters for land and sea based operations.

A senior American aerospace executive told News Limited that the fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, being purchased by the RAAF, will be the last manned fighter built in the US.

TARANIS: The future of air combat

* World's first supersonic (above speed of sound) stealth unmanned combat aircraft

* Flying delta wing design 12 metres long with 10-metre wingspan

* Flies on pre-programmed flight path guided by on-board computer

* Stealth technology makes it virtually invisible to enemy radars

* Can select its own targets but final 'kill' decision taken by mission command

* Destroy targets with onboard missiles and provides intelligence back to command

* First flight to follow hundreds of hours of ground testing and one million man hours


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Extreme reactions to Woodside decision

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 12 April 2013 | 21.51

VOICE: Broome Community No Gas Campaign spokeswoman Nik Wevers said the group's opposition would not cease until they were sure the James Price Point area - including the monsoon vine thickets, the dinosaur footprints and the cultural heritage sites - were all protected. Source: PerthNow

WOODSIDE axing its James Price Point gas hub has left the federal and West Australian governments insisting investment in the nation's resources isn't over, and that the Browse fields will eventually be developed.

Those assurances were paid short shrift by environmentalists, who claimed victory in a long-fought war and poured salt into the energy giant's wounds by celebrating outside its Broome office.

Newly installed federal resources minister Gary Gray said the government remained "absolutely confident'' that the Browse Basin - which also contains oil - would be commercialised, generating jobs and wealth.

Woodside's decision didn't mean the investment boom in Australia's resources had peaked, Mr Gray said.

WA Premier Colin Barnett also talked up the inevitability of the Browse Basin being exploited, saying it had enough gas resources to be as big as the Carnarvon Basin off the Pilbara coast, which contains the massive North West Shelf gas plant.

The Browse Basin also contained oil, and there was additionally the shale gas potential of the Kimberley's onshore Canning Basin - all of which needed an export facility, Mr Barnett said.

While Mr Barnett latched on to Woodside's suggestion it could proceed with a smaller onshore plant, Greens leader Christine Milne said the party would not back any alternative development proposals such as an offshore ``floating'' plant until it heard firm details.

Hinting that some green groups might have claimed victory too soon, Ms Milne said the battle was not won until WA legislation allowing the development was repealed.

Still on the left but with a very different view, Australian Workers' Union national secretary Paul Howes said the decision was a disaster for jobs.

"They have sacrificed tens of thousands of Australian jobs at the altar of higher profits for Woodside and (partner) Shell executives,'' he said.

He called on the federal government not to renew Woodside's retention leases in the Browse Basin, which expire in December next year.

As extreme reactions continued, Kimberley Land Council (KLC) chief executive Nolan Hunter was more circumspect, stopping short of saying he was disappointed.

The project going ahead was obviously a key requirement for native title claimants to receive $1.5 billion worth of benefits that would flow to the local indigenous community over 30 years, but there was still the chance of "minimal benefits'', he said.

Mr Hunter said the deal, which had been struck with the state government and Woodside, remained commercial-in-confidence, but it was about more than just jobs.

The deal had been structured to include environmental protection measures, ensuring "it wasn't development at any cost'', he said.

Mr Barnett said he was deeply upset the local indigenous people would now be denied the benefits package.

The same observation was made on the other side of state politics, with Ben Wyatt, WA Labor's treasury spokesman, saying the Aboriginal people of the Kimberley should be allowed to keep the benefits package irrespective of how the gas was developed.

"The Aboriginal people of the Kimberley must be able to keep this crucial package once the Browse gas deposits are developed,'' said Mr Wyatt, the nephew of the first indigenous lower house MP Ken Wyatt.

But with high costs being blamed for Woodside's decision, that may take many years.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Five dead after asylum boat sinks

Indonesian authorities are desperately searching for an asylum-seeker boat believed sunk in the Sunda Strait. Picture: Daniel Wilkins/File Source: The Australian

  • Boat sunk in the Sunda Strait about 3am AEST
  • Believed to be carrying 73 asylum-seekers
  • Boat was en route to Christmas Island

A GROUP of 14 asylum seekers has been rescued by fishermen in Indonesia after their boat sank in the Sunda Strait on its way to Australia, but at least five others are believed to have drowned.

There are also fresh details about the unfolding tragedy with one of the survivors revealing that boat actually sank on Wednesday, and not on Friday morning as initially reported by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

Habibullah Hashimi, one of 14 men plucked from the water by fishermen off the coast of Sukabumi in West Java, said he was in the water for about 24 hours before help finally came.

The 29-year-old said there were 72 people aboard the vessel. All were ethnic Hazara from Afghanistan.

At least five asylum seekers had perished, Mr Hashimi said.

The death toll could rise further.

''The ship just broke,'' he told AAP.

''We saw about five people dead. They were in the water.''

Mr Hashimi's group had linked arms as they struggled to survive.

''The sea kept moving us around,'' he said.

Mr Hashimi, who was on Friday afternoon recuperating in Bogor, also confirmed that the boat sank at about 8am on Wednesday.

The development came after a spokeswoman from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) initially reported that a boat may have sunk in the Sunda Strait at about midnight (3am AEST) on Friday.

''A people-smuggling vessel may have sunk in or near the Sunda Strait around 3am AEST today. Some passengers may have been rescued by a fishing vessel,'' the spokeswoman said earlier on Friday.

The information was in turn passed on to the Indonesian national search and rescue agency BASARNAS.

But BASARNAS was unable to locate the area where the incident was believed to have occurred, prompting a scramble for information.

Provincial search and rescue offices in Jakarta and Lampung on the island of Sumatra also had little idea of what had happened, or where to look for survivors.

''We don't have the coordinates for the area where we could search. Do you have that information? Please share it with us,'' an officer with the Jakarta search and rescue office said when contacted by AAP.

''We only received information from BASARNAS that it's in south of Sunda Strait and they've been rescued by local fishermen. But where is it? We're now contacting local ports and others if they have such information.''

And Indonesia still hasn't launched a rescue mission because the location of the sunken vessel hasn't been found.

The search and rescue authorities were criticised last August when more than 100 asylum seekers drowned when their boat foundered in the Sunda Strait.

An aerial search was not launched until more than six hours after a distress call was received by the AMSA.

It was almost 24 hours before the first survivors were pulled from the water.

Hundreds of asylum seekers have perished in recent years while making the perilous crossing from Indonesia to Christmas Island.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Killer memory key to prison break

Carolyn Wilkinson has written the biography of Daniel Heiss, explaining how he escaped from Darwin prison twice. Source: Northern Territory News

ONE of the Northern Territory's most notorious murderers escaped from prison by memorising every tooth on a cell key - and then copying it.

Daniel Heiss, who was serving life for killing a 22-year-old tradie, engaged guards at Darwin prison in small talk.

As they chatted, he made a mental note of the details of the master cell key hanging from every officer's belt.

Heiss filed a rough copy from a piece of metal, smothered it in Blu Tack and put it gently into a cell door to get a more accurate impression.

It took him more than three months.

The plan almost came apart when a known informer - known as a ''dog'' inside - saw him ''fiddling with a lock'' and dobbed him in to guards.

Heiss used the key to open his own cell and then free fellow murderer Shane Baker.

They got out of the prison complex by scaling three barbed-wire perimeter fences.

Baker suffered a bad wound going over the final fence and was recaptured within a few days.

But Heiss was on the run for 12 days.

Many rural women fled into town after it was reported he was living in the bush near Howard Springs on the outskirts of Darwin.

He was finally caught coming out of an empty house on Gunn Point Rd.

The dramatic story of the 1995 escape is told for the first time in his girlfriend Carolyn Wilkinson's biography Blood on the Wire.

''I wrote the book because it's a bit of Territory history,'' she said yesterday.

''The story of the escapes has never been told. Nobody knows what really happened.''

Heiss had escaped four years earlier by pretending to be seriously ill and using bedsheets and electrical cords to abseil to the ground from a secure fourth-floor ward at Royal Darwin Hospital.

He was caught the following day minutes after almost drowning in a mud pool.

Ms Wilkinson, a keen astrologist, was a childcare worker when she wrote to Mr Heiss after his second escape.

He was in the isolation block at Darwin prison.

''I wanted his birth time and place,'' Ms Wilkinson said.

''I wanted to know what was driving this man over the wire.

''I wanted to learn what was wrong.''

Her friendship with Mr Heiss has caused her anguish over the past 17 years.

''A lot of people who didn't truly know me were critical,'' she said.

''But I have got some support.''

Heiss, 48, was released in mid-2011 after serving 23 years for shooting dead Peter Robinson because he wanted his rifles.

He now lives on the outskirts of Darwin and works as a landscape gardener and artist.

For more see the Northern Territory News


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sex syndrome blamed for divorce rates

Sex and the City actors (from left) Kim Cattrall, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis - are they to blame for Australian marriage breakdowns? Source: Supplied

SEX and the City syndrome is being blamed for causing the breakdown of a growing number of Australian marriages.

In a seismic shift from a decade ago, family lawyers say more men are pointing to their wives' excessive drinking and drug use when filing for divorce, with an increasing number of husbands being awarded sole custody of their children because of it.

Senior family lawyer at Slater & Gordon, Heather McKinnon, said about 30 per cent of the firm's cases before the Family Court involved substance abuse.

Of these, about half now related to the female partner, something that was ''practically non-existent'' 10 years ago.

''That's a really huge shift in my lifetime in the job,'' she said.

''Dads that have applied to have children living with them are now succeeding in about half the cases, and that's because there's deficits in the mother. I think this is a very serious shift.''

Ms McKinnon points the finger at so-called ''Sex and the City syndrome'' - the normalisation of binge drinking among teenage girls and young women that carries through to adulthood.

''If you go to any social setting in a capital city or a large regional town on a Friday or Saturday night you will see young women at the bar downing shots - that is a generational change,'' Ms McKinnon said.

''Girls are at an early age starting to abuse alcohol, they drink heavily through their twenties and by their early thirties they've become fully-fledged alcoholics. They don't stop drinking when adolescent experimentation is finished.''

Neither is the problem restricted to the poorer classes as it once was; two of the four cases Ms McKinnon currently has before the Family Court involve professional women from middle to upper class families.

Head of family law at Armstrong Legal, Peter Magee, agreed there was a growing problem and said court cases may only be scratching the surface.

''Allegations of mums abusing substances is on the rise, but only a fraction of the allegations would ever play out in court,'' he said.

''You need to have a case that is so strong to say 'I need the kids to live with me', before we will raise it.''

The 2010 National Drug and Alcohol Household Survey shows that while men overwhelmingly drink more than women, the number of women aged 20 to 29 drinking at risky levels increased between 2007 and 2010, while girls aged 12 to 17 outdrink boys by one-and-a-half per cent.

Relationships Australia counsellor Denise Reichenbach said drinking was becoming a more common way for women to deal with stress.

''What we often hear about is people who drink get more aggressive so anger can come into it, violence can come into it,'' she said.

''The children often feel quite responsible for the parent who is drinking as well, and the level of concern for that person gets really high.''

There were 48,935 divorces granted in Australia in 2011, with the average age of divorcees falling between 40 and 44.

The number of divorces across the country has fallen nearly 12 per cent in the past decade.

Hit US TV comedy-drama Sex and the City ran from 1998 until 2004 and followed the very social lives of a group of four women - three in their mid-thirties and one in her forties - in New York.

It was widely popular in Australia and re-runs still air on pay-TV.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man cut his arms to the bone in shop

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 11 April 2013 | 21.51

West Covina Home Depot. Picture: Google Maps Source: Supplied

US police say a man deliberately cut himself with saws inside a Los Angeles-area Home Depot store, causing a gruesome scene in front of customers that left him severely injured.

West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez says the man was in the store's tool section when he grabbed several small hand saws and cut his arms to the bone.

Police found the man unconscious in a pool of blood.

An off-duty paramedic had been shopping nearby, and with help from police collected twine and rags from shelves and put makeshift tourniquets on both arms.

The man was in surgery, but his condition is unclear.

Lopez says the man was carrying no identification and has been unable to answer questions, so police don't know his name or why he cut himself.

If you or someone you know may be at risk of self-harm contact Lifeline 13 11 14, beyondblue 1300 22 46 36, or Salvo Care Line 1300 36 36 22.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Woodside reportedly scraps $45b Browse project

Woodside has decided not to go ahead with a LNG processing plant at James Price Point. Source: AFP

ENERGY giant Woodside has reportedly scrapped plans for its controversial $45 billion Browse joint-venture at James Price Point near Broome.

WA Premier Colin Barnett said this afternoon that he had not been informed of the decision.

Asked by Opposition leader Mark McGowan if he had been advised by Woodside that the project had been rejected by the consortium, Mr Barnett today told Parliament it was not for him to divulge market-sensitive information.

The Sunday Times revealed in January that the proposed LNG hub in the Kimberley was unlikely to proceed because of escalating costs that threatened its profitability.

The Woodside joint venture, which had been due to announce a decision before June, has decided against proceeding with the onshore hub at James Price Point, which has attracted fierce opposition from environmentalists and many locals.

The decision has torpedoed a $1.5 billion benefits package negotiated with native title claimants, the Goolarabooloo Jabirr Jabirr, although some compensation may be negotiated.

PerthNow understands the final decision not to proceed came after a meeting on Monday night.

Greens MP Robin Chapple called on the state government to rescind the Browse Land Agreement Act.

"If it doesn't, the sword of Damocles will hang over the Kimberley for the next 10 years,'' he said in a statement.

"It is a clear victory that Woodside and their partners have seen sense, but the state government continues to hold the Kimberley to ransom while this Act continues to operate.''

The project has been hotly debated in WA, with Mr Barnett arguing the LNG must be processed onshore to maximise benefits to WA and particularly local Aboriginals.   

Broome is a town divided over the project - while there is support for it, some believe the LNG should be processed offshore, while others do not want it to go ahead at all.

Just yesterday, Royal Dutch Shell's Ann Pickard restated the organisation's preference for floating LNG - arguing it would put WA at the forefront of innovation in the industry.  

Mr Barnett is bitterly opposed to the floating LNG option, saying WA would miss out on thousands of construction jobs and royalties.  

Recently-appointed Federal Resources Minister Gary Gray has previously voiced his support for the floating technology.

Broome Chamber of Commerce executive officer Maryanne Peterson said several contractors had been told not to proceed with work, such as ground clearing.
 
"(Woodside) have decided not to proceed with some activities that they were going to undertake prior to FID (final investment decision)," she said.
 
"We don't know whether this work is just being postponed or whether they already had enough information collected to make a decision - we don't know what it really means."

A State Government spokeswoman said there was nothing to say on the matter and said questions should be directed to Woodside, who refused to comment today.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

North Korea 'ready to fire'

A FORMER North Korean spy who bombed a South Korean airliner has told the ABC the North's leader Kim Jong-Un is struggling to control his military. Courtesy: ABC 7.30

  • US, South Korea declare "Watchcon 2" - the highest level of alert
  • 'Multiple launches' expected as more missiles spotted
  • See our interactive timeline at the bottom of this story

NORTH Korea state TV is reporting the country is ready to fire a nuclear missile, Sky News reported.

Pyongyang has kept the world on edge over an expected missile launch while turning its own energies to celebrating leaders past and present amid soaring tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The United States warned North Korea it was skating a "dangerous line", as South Korea remained on heightened alert for any missile test that could start a whole new cycle of tensions in a region already on a hair-trigger.

G8 foreign ministers meeting in London drove home the message, condemning "in the strongest possible terms" the North's nuclear activities and threats to the region.

Follow our live coverage here.

12.22am (AEST): Bloomberg News provides some analysis of North Korea's propaganda machine which has described Hillary Clinton as "funny lady" who is "by no means intelligent" and describes the continental US as being "similar to a boiled pumpkin".

11.40pm (AEST): Why does North Korea get so upset when the US and South Korea hold joint war games? Find out why here.

11.26pm (AEST): On the streets of Pyongyang, North Koreans have celebrated the anniversary of leader Kim Jong-un's appointment to the country's top party post - one in a slew of titles collected a year ago in the months after father Kim Jong Il's death.

North Korean students put on suits and traditional dresses to celebrate Kim Jong-un's appointment as first secretary of the Workers' Party a year ago.

A flower show and art performances are scheduled over the next few days in the lead-up to the nations' biggest holiday, the April 15 birthday of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.

North Koreans dance together beneath a mosaic painting of the late leader Kim Il Sung during a mass folk dancing gathering in Pyongyang to mark the anniversary of the first of many titles of power given to leader Kim Jong-un after the death of his father Kim Jong Il. Picture: David Guttenfelder Source: AP

10.30pm (AEST): North Korea delivered a fresh round of rhetoric on Thursday with claims it had ''powerful striking means'' on standby for a launch, Fox News reports.

10.10pm (AEST): Reports that North Korea is ready to file a nuclear missile come after the rogue nation was said to be 'shuffling' its mobile missile launchers after Japan reported spotting one in a "ready to fire" position.

9.50pm (AEST): US Secretary of State John Kerry (centre) has been pictured taking a walk in Green Park during a break in the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting in central London on Thursday.

G8 Foreign Ministers are holding a two-day meeting, with the situation between North and South Korea topping their agenda on day one.

US Secretary of State John Kerry (centre) takes a walk in Green Park during a break in the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting in central London on Thursday. Source: AFP

7.50pm (AEST): North Korea dominates G8 talks

G8 foreign ministers including US Secretary of State John Kerry have held a second day of talks in London with the crisis on the Korean peninsula topping the agenda.

Kerry has already met with his Russian and Japanese counterparts to discuss the Korean crisis, in which US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Pyongyang was ''skating very close to a dangerous line''.

The United States is sending its new, ultra-advanced THAAD missile defence system to Guam. Here's how it works.

The secretive communist state has threatened nuclear strikes against the United States and South Korea, and observers are expecting a missile launch at any time.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia, which maintains close ties to North Korea's key ally China, warned after talks with Kerry on Wednesday against exacerbating tensions with military manoeuvres.

While stressing that Russia and the United States had ''no differences'' on North Korea, Lavrov said: ''One just shouldn't scare anyone with military manoeuvres and there's a chance that everything will calm down.''

Kerry also held talks late Wednesday with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, where they discussed China's role and how to ''change the dynamic'' in North Korea, according to a US State Department official.

The US secretary of state, who will visit South Korea on Friday, ''emphasised the importance of continuing to put pressure on North Korea with economic sanctions,'' the official said.

The Group of Eight rich nations are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Britain, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the group this year, will host a leaders' summit in Northern Ireland in June.

7.12pm (AEST): South Korea urges North to talk on Kaesong 

South Korea has called for negotiations with North Korea on the future of the Kaesong joint industrial zone, which Pyongyang has threatened to shut down permanently after suspending operations.

South Korean Air Force's E-737 Peace Eye, airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. South Korean and US forces raised their alert status to "vital threat" before an expected North Korean missile test.

''Normalisation of the Kaesong industrial complex must be solved through dialogue,'' the South's Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae told reporters.

''I urge North Korea to come to the dialogue table.''

Pyongyang announced the withdrawal of its 53,000 workers and the suspension of operations at Kaesong at the beginning of the week, as military tensions on the Korean peninsula soared.

A rare symbol of cross-border economic cooperation, Kaesong is a crucial hard currency source for the impoverished North, through taxes and revenues, and from its cut of the workers' wages.

There are 123 South Korean companies operating in Kaesong, which lies 10 kilometres inside North Korea.

South Korea's new President Park Geun-Hye described the suspension of operations as ''very disappointing'' but Pyongyang today said her administration was personally responsible.

''Needless to say Kaesong industrial district will cease to exist should the Park Geun-Hye regime continue pursuing confrontation,'' a spokesman for the North's Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Special Zone said.

''The current powerholder in the South can never be able to shake off responsibility for having Kaesong, which survived even the traitor Lee Myung-Bak's term in office, all but closed.''

7pm (AEST): The foreign editor of The Australian Greg Sheridan joined David Speers on PM Agenda. See what he had to say about North Korea's threats in the video below.

South Korean soldiers sit in a truck at the inter-Korean transit office in Paju, South Korea.

The foreign editor of The Australian Greg Sheridan joins David Speers on PM Agenda.

5:01pm (AEST): South Korea denounced a barrage of war-like threats from North Korea as a "useless" tactic, making it clear that Pyongyang will face consequences if it follows through with an expected missile launch, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries remained on high alert with North Korea expected to test-launch at least one mid-range ballistic missile in the coming days.

3:10pm (AEST): Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government was doing everything it could "to protect the lives and the safety of our people''.

"We are aware of all sorts of information. We are sharing information with South Korea and the United States,'' Suga said.

Two PAC 3 Patriot anti-missile batteries now sit on a baseball pitch in the grounds of Japan's Ministry of Defence, pointing northwest in the general direction of North Korea, CNN reported.

They were moved here to the heart of the Japanese capital in the early hours yesterday, alongside further batteries in two Tokyo suburbs.

NORTH KOREAN IN A PERMANENT WAR

2:58 (AEST): US confirm sea-based radar ready for missile launch

A powerful US military sea-based radar is now in place to detect any possible missile launches by North Korea, according to a senior US defence official in Washington.

"The SBX is in position,'' the defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The official would not offer more details but confirmed the SBX, a floating X-band radar that resembles a giant golf ball, had reached a location at sea where it could track missiles fired by the Pyongyang regime.

North Korea has proved quite adept at confounding intelligence monitoring in the past.

Its long-range rocket launch in December had been widely flagged in advance and was subjected to intense satellite scrutiny. In the end, the rocket blasted off hours after a succession of South Korean media outlets, citing satellite imagery analysis by government, diplomatic and military sources, suggested the launch was facing a lengthy delay.

2:.35 (AEST): Missiles shifted to interfere with monitoring

Several missiles have moved repeatedly on North Korea's east coast in an apparent attempt to interfere with intelligence monitoring by South Korea and the US,

Intelligence analysis, reported by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, stated that the North has moved two Musudan intermediate missiles, which had been concealed in a shed in the eastern port city of Wonsan.

Four or five wheeled vehicles, suspected to be so-called transporter erector launchers (TEL), were also spotted being moved around in South Hamgyeong Province.

A South Korean protester attaches a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with balloons on a barricade during a rally demanding a regular operations of the Kaesong industrial complex near Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, north of Seoul, South Kore.

1:03 (AEST): United States island of Guam placed on 'yellow' alert

Guam has raised its official threat level and tested its emergency alert system after warnings from North Korea identifying the island as a potential missile target, according to news agency AFP.

With a North Korean missile test expected at any time, authorities said the US territory in the western Pacific was on yellow alert, the middle phase of a three-step "traffic light" system comprising green, yellow and red levels.

"This is the same colour used by government agencies to indicate there is a medium risk for the island," the government said in a statement.

"The government will continue to operate like normal, with a few government agencies participating in emergency preparedness and planning."

12:53 (AEST) South Korea 'ready to activate defence missiles'

Seoul has announced it is ready to activate its Patriot PAC2 missile defence system. The statement said the interceptor missiles cannot cover all of South Korea, but will protect everything within its reach.

The missile system is deployed around Seoul, and is believed to have a reach of up to 30km. 

A South Korean soldier sets a barricade on the road leading to North Korea at a military checkpoint in the border city of Paju.

1:18 (AEST) Two "Musudan" missiles being moved

Yonhap news agency reports intelligence analysts as saying two Musudan missile launchers have been seen moving in and out of a concealed building in the port city of Wonsan.

Several mult-wheeled vehicles, suspected to be transporter erector-launchers, have also been seen on the move in South Hamgyeong Province. 

12:47 (AEST) North Korea shuffles launcher positions

There are reports that South Korean army officials believe North Korea is in the process of moving its missile launchers on the coast of the Sea of Japan to cause confusion among US, Japanese and South Korean intelligence agencies. 

12:41 (AEST): China warns North Korea: Do not misjudge situation

The Chinese People's Daily Online has published an article warning North Korea "not to misjudge" the situation with the United States and South Korea.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has reportedly spoken with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over the phone, expressing severe concern over the current tense situation on the Korean Peninsula.

He reportedly said Beijing "does not allow troublemaking at the doorsteps of China."

A Japanese soldier walks past a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile launcher deployed at the Defence Ministry in Tokyo.

The article goes on to defend North Korea's right to develop its weaponry, "but there is no reason to violate the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council to engage in nuclear testing and launch missile using ballistic missile technology".

"The DPRK has its own special circumstances, political needs, policy choices and political language style, which is its internal affairs and the outside world has no right to interfere in. But if its choice and words intensifies the Korean Peninsula tensions and affects peace and stability in the region, it becomes the international issues. The situations development on the peninsula will not necessarily go according to the ideas and expectations of the DPRK." 

12:37 (AEST): Financial markets show little fear

South Korean news agency Yonhap reports local financial markets appear largely unmoved by the most recent developments in the North Korean missile crisis.

Trade is continuing within "normal boundaries". 

12:18 (AEST): Japan says missile may be "Musudan".

A Japanse official has told NBC News that the missile spotted in a firing posture could be the "Musudan" medium range type.

This missile has a potential range of up to 4000km, placing all of Japan and the United States base on the island of Guam within its reach.

It is, however, a relatively new type that has not yet undergone extensive testing.

US Army soldiers prepare for an exercise during their annual military drills with South Korea in Yeoncheon, South Korea, near the border with North Korea.

The official said the discovery may be part of North Korea's "strategy of deception". 

12:10 (AEST): South Korea 'concerned' at developments

Senior South Korean defence officials are reportedly saying they expect a launch within the next few hours.

South Korean officials have announced they are very concerned at the recent sighting.

"Nobody knows if North Korea will launch Scud, Rodong or Musudan (missiles), how many... or (what) direction," a statement read.

"We are at full readiness posture worrying that missile(s) North Korea may launch will threaten our citizens and territory." 

EARLIER

Kyodo News reports the latest missile launcher sighting comes after Japan moved itself to a heightened state of alert earlier this week, deploying missile to surround the capital Tokyo and key defence facilities.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said that so far Tokyo was responding to the sighting by "gathering a variety of information ... with a sense of tension,'' according to Kyodo.

A US Air Force F-16 fighter jet prepares to land on the runway during a military exercise at the Osan US Air Base in Osan, South Korea.

South Korean and US  forces last night raised their alert status to the highest possible level as more missile launchers were spotted on the move.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a government source saying Pyongyang might be preparing "multiple" launches, after other launch vehicles were reportedly detected carrying shorter-range SCUD and Rodong missiles.

The military alert status is now at "vital threat" level before an expected North Korean missile test as the Pentagon warned a bellicose Pyongyang it was "skating very close to a dangerous line".

The launch is expected to come at any time.

EX-SPY SAYS JONG-UN STRUGGLING TO CONTROL TROOPS.

The South Korea-US Combined Forces Command raised its "Watchcon" status from 3 to 2 to reflect indications of a "vital threat", Yonhap news agency said, citing a senior military official.

Watchcon 4 is in effect during normal peacetime, while Watchcon 3 reflects indications of an important threat. Watchcon 1 is used in wartime.

The North last week told foreign diplomats in Pyongyang they had until April 10 to consider evacuation, fuelling speculation of a launch between April 10 and April 15, during birthday celebrations for late founder Kim Il-Sung.

Any launch could coincide with visits by US Secretary of State John Kerry and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who will both be in Seoul on Friday.

This April 5, 2009 file image shows the launch of a North Korean missile.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se told parliament the launch could take place "any time" and warned Pyongyang it risked triggering a fresh round of UN sanctions.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters on Wednesday that the United States and its allies hoped Pyongyang would tone down its inflammatory language, but said the American military was prepared for any possibility.

"North Korea ... with its bellicose rhetoric, its actions, has been skating very close to a dangerous line," he said.

"Our country is fully prepared to deal with any contingency, any action that North Korea may take or any provocation that they may instigate."

MISSILE THREAT TO AUSTRALIA `REAL'.

THE TWO FACES OF KIM JONG-UN.

GALLERY: KOREAN TENSIONS MOUNT.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against heating up the crisis and stressed Moscow and Washington had a common stance.

"One just shouldn't scare anyone with military manoeuvres and there's a chance that everything will calm down," Lavrov told reporters after meeting Kerry in London.

Kerry also discussed North Korea with Japan Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in London and emphasised the importance of putting pressure on Pyongyang with economic sanctions, a senior State Department official said.

South Korean intelligence says the North has prepared two mid-range missiles for imminent launch from its east coast, despite warnings from ally China to avoid provocative moves amid soaring tensions.

On Tuesday the North reiterated a warning that the peninsula was headed for "thermo-nuclear" war and advised foreigners to consider leaving South Korea.

Although the North's warnings to embassies in Pyongyang and foreigners in the South were largely shrugged off, there is growing global concern that sky-high tensions might trigger an incident that could swiftly escalate.

The mid-range missiles mobilised by the North are reported to be untested Musudan models with an estimated range of anywhere up to 4000 kilometres.

That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even US military bases on the Pacific island of Guam.

The US military's top officer, General Martin Dempsey, told a press conference that he could not publicly comment on intelligence estimates as to how close North Korea was to placing a nuclear warhead on a missile.

But the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said the United States military was ready for the "worst case" scenario.

"They have conducted two nuclear tests. They have conducted several successful missile launches," Dempsey said.

"And in the absence of concrete evidence to the contrary, we have to assume the worst case, and that's why we're postured as we are today," the four-star general added.

The military has deployed US naval ships in the region capable of shooting down incoming missiles and staged a show of force with bomber aircraft in a bid to deter North Korea from launching any attack.

Hagel's comments came amid widespread speculation North Korea is poised for a missile launch in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

The head of US Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, told senators Tuesday that he favoured shooting down a North Korean missile only if it threatened the United States or Washington's allies in the region.

Locklear, however, said he was confident the US military would be able to detect quickly where any missile was headed.

At budget briefings at the Pentagon on Wednesday, senior officials said automatic cuts adopted by Congress were worrying but would not affect the combat readiness of US troops or air squadrons in or near South Korea.

"I don't want to suggest to the North Koreans they have a free pass here," said comptroller Robert Hale, who oversees Defense Department finances.

"We will protect the readiness of the forces on the Korean peninsula and any that are deployed."

Meanwhile, the US Air Force is taking aim at its big costs of fuel and flight this week, temporarily halting training operations for 12 active duty fighter and bomber squadrons across the United States in order to save nearly $300 million.

New details on the cuts emerged today. They will total 45,000 flight hours, and hit squadrons in eight fighter wings in at least seven states and the Air Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

The cuts will not affect current military operations, such as fighters in Afghanistan or bombers training over South Korea. But the Air Force warned that they will have a ripple effect, sharply reducing the service's ability to be prepared for future operations because pilots must meet minimum flight hour requirements in order to fly.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

SLUGGED: Home loans double in 10 years

Australians have felt the impacts of rising property prices on their repayments. Source: Supplied

AVERAGE mortgage repayments have leapt by 105 per cent over the past decade but wage increases have failed to keep up.

Australians are putting much larger chunks of their budgets towards meeting their home loan costs than they were 10 years ago - some states have seen repayments climb by up to 152 per cent.

Wages rose by 54.5 per cent and inflation has climbed by 31.4 per cent.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data and figures compiled by financial services company Canstar compared average home loans over 25 years, based on the average interest of today's big four banks at 6.42 per cent.

In NSW the average loan size in 2002 was $212,400 but has risen to $341,800 resulting in the average monthly repayment increasing by 61 per cent to $2295.

In Victoria the average loan rose from $175,900 to $306,500 and repayments increased by 74 per cent to $2058.

In Queensland the loan size rose from $152,700 to $289,900 and the average repayments climbed by 90 per cent to $1946.

In South Australia loans rose from $124,900 to $249,400 and repayments increased by 100 per cent to $1674.

In Western Australia the average loan rose from $141,000 to $302,500 and repayments increased by 115 per cent to $2031.

In Tasmania the average loan rose from $94,800 to $218,100 and repayments increased by 130 per cent to $1464.

In the Northern Territory the average loan increased from $133,500 to $337,000 and repayments increased by 152 per cent to $2262.

In the ACT the average loan rose by $160,500 to $350,700 and repayments increased by 119 per cent to $2354.

Canstar analyst Mitchell Watson said Australians had felt the impacts of rising property prices on their repayments.

''Housing prices have increased and we've seen a direct impact on the amount which people need to borrow to purchase those homes which in turn has dramatically increased their loan repayments,'' he said.

''People need to be savvy both in their property choice, ensuring they are sticking to a property within their means.

''Wages haven't increased as much as property prices have which means a property you may have purchased back in 2002 may be out of your reach.''

NT experienced the biggest spike in loan monthly repayment sizes rising from $896 to $1366 (152 per cent) over 10 years, followed by Tasmania (130 per cent), ACT (119 per cent), WA (115 per cent), SA (100 per cent), Qld (90 per cent), Vic (74 per cent) and NSW (61 per cent).

AMP chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said the nation's rapid accumulation of debt has resulted in households spending more on mortgage repayments.

''Australians have taken on more debt and that has been in order to pay more for houses and they've ended up with bigger mortgages than we did in 2002,'' he said.

''The household sector has found various ways to deal with that partly by squeezing down on other areas and also working longer hours.''

Mortgage Choice spokeswoman Belinda Williamson said it was crucial mortgage holders made sure they were comfortable with their regular home loan repayments.

''Current and potential mortgage holders, who want to ensure they continue to meet and feel comfortable with their home loan repayments, should be realistic about their level of borrowings and regularly review their repayment strategy,'' she said. 


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

No penalty for hitting police dog

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 10 April 2013 | 21.51

El-Amir Abdul Hamid El-Ayoubi outside the Downing Centre Coyurt / Pic: Anthony Reginato Source: The Daily Telegraph

HE admitted clubbing a police dog on the head with a stick during last year's Muslim riots.

But a Sydney magistrate yesterday threw out all charges against El-Amir Abdul Hamid El-Ayoubi, ruling he could have been acting in self-defence when he hit german shepherd Manchu.

He was accused of animal cruelty and spitting on the dog's handler, Senior-Constable Alex Seivl, during the September riot in Sydney's CBD.

Yesterday the Downing Centre Local Court was told the 20-year-old electrician was "afraid" after seeing dogs "let loose" on other protesters.

He grabbed a 20cm stick from the ground as rioters flung bottles and other missiles at police, who were standing in front of him with their dogs.

Senior-Constable Seivl said El-Ayoubi had spat on his chest from about 3m away - then came at him with the stick "screaming out in another language".

He said El-Ayoubi started beating Manchu with the stick before the dog grabbed his leg and the officer managed to tackle him to the ground.

Sen-Constable Seivl said El-Ayoubi looked "extremely angry" when he picked up the stick and started waving it at him before the attack.

El-Ayoubi denied ever spitting on the policeman but admitted he hit the dog twice on the head "out of raw emotion" after it grabbed him.

"No matter who it is, they're going to go for a strike to the head (to try) to get the canine off him," he told police.

Magistrate Elizabeth Ryan said she accepted El-Ayoubi had spat during the incident and said his wielding of the stick was "not the wisest course".

But she said there were no witnesses who backed Senior-Constable Seivl's claims of being hit with saliva and she was not convinced El-Ayoubi had lashed out before the dog bit him.

El-Ayoubi told police some young men involved in the riots had "testosterone coming out of the heads" but described himself as a "minor cripple" due to a knee reconstruction.

"The whole time I was just sitting back ... just being a part of the Islamic part of it, not the violent part of it," El-Ayoubi said.

Several men were arrested after the riots, which began as a protest against a YouTube clip posted overseas that mocked Islam.

Speaking after yesterday's decision, El-Ayoubi's lawyer Paul McGirr said his client was "very, very relieved" at the magistrate's ruling.

"He's a good boy and he's never been in trouble before," he said.

"His sister came to support him in court. He lost his father a few years ago and he's the man of the house.

"The decision meant a lot to them."


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cyclone Victoria strengthens off WA coast

MASSIVE: Tropical Cyclone Victoria, a category three storm, is brewing hundreds of kilometres off the WA coast. Picture: Bureau of Meteorology Source: PerthNow

A MASSIVE Category three cyclone is intensifying in the Indian Ocean, off Western Australia's North-West coast.

Tropical Cyclone Victoria, a large system which is about 400km south-west of Christmas Island, is moving south and gathering strength.

Category two overnight, the system strengthened to a Category Three earlier today.

A Hurricane Force wind warning has been issued for shipping in the area affected by the cyclone.

At 3pm yesterday the cyclone was about 385km west-southwest of Christmas Island, moving south at 16km/h.

The system has affected Christmas Island weather, but lies is well to the south-west of the island.

"Tropical Cyclone Victoria lies well to the south-southwest of the island and is forecast to continue moving in a south-southeasterly direction,'' the Bureau of Meteorology said.

"Squally conditions may be experienced (on the island) until Thursday under the influence of the system.''

The cyclone could affect Perth's weather by the weekend, with showers forecast for Saturday, as the mass of unstable tropical air continues its path southwards.

The cyclone has a central pressure of 988 hPa, but remains hundreds of kilometres from the WA coast and appears unlikely to make landfall.

Seas are being affected within 90 nautical miles of the centre.

The forecast is for maximum winds to 120km/h near the centre increasing to 130km/h today.

Winds above 48 knots within 30 nautical miles of the centre bring very rough to high seas and moderate to heavy swell.

Meanwhile a band of light showers is visible on the Bureau's Perth radar, approaching the west coast, and could hit the city early this afternoon.

PERTH: THE WEEK AHEAD

Wednesday
    Max 34C
    Partly cloudy.
    Chance of any rain: 10%
    Rainfall amount: 0 mm
Partly cloudy. Isolated showers possible about the hills this afternoon and evening. Light winds.

Thursday
    Min 20C
    Max 34C
    Partly cloudy.
Partly cloudy. Winds east to northeasterly and light tending south to southwesterly 15 to 20 km/h in the early afternoon then tending south to southeasterly 15 to 25 km/h in the evening.

Friday
    Min 20C
    Max 29C
    Cloudy.
Cloudy. Isolated showers about the southern suburbs during the evening. Winds southeasterly 20 to 30 km/h becoming light during the evening.

Saturday
    Min 19C
    Max 25C
    Shower or two.

Cloudy. Isolated showers from the morning. Light winds.

Sunday
    Min 18C
    Max 28C
    Cloudy.
Cloudy. Winds east to southeasterly 15 to 20 km/h.


Monday
    Min 16C
    Max 29C
    Partly cloudy.

Perth area
Partly cloudy. Winds easterly 15 to 25 km/h.

Tuesday
  Min 17C
  Max 31C
    Sunny.
Sunny. Winds east to northeasterly 15 to 25 km/h.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Barnett denies 'hysteria' over Geraldton arrivals

Officials, possibly Customs or AQIS inspectors, on board a Sri Lankan asylum seeker boat n Geraldton Harbour today. Picture: Graeme Gibbons Source: PerthNow

WA PREMIER Colin Barnett says the Federal Immigration Minister should 'get out his atlas' as he rejected claims he whipped up hysteria over the boatload of asylum seekers who landed in Geraldton yesterday.

Premier Barnett yesterday described the arrival of 66 Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard a rickety fishing vessel at one of Australia's busiest regional ports as ``shocking'' and said it signalled an alarming breach of national security.

"I certainly don't believe in any sense I was hysterical. But this was a large number of people, 66, and to simply sail into Geraldton harbour - that is unprecedented,'' Mr Barnett said this afternoon, responding to comments from Federal Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor.

He also suggested Mr O'Connor should get out his atlas and check where Geraldton is.

"It's not in the North-West of the state. Yes, people have landed in the North-West before but this is the southern half of the state,'' Mr Barnett said.

A map showing Geraldton harbour and the arrival of a Sri Lankan boat carrying 66 suspected asylum seekers. Picture: Graeme Gibbons

Mr O'Connor, who was in WA last week to visit the remote Curtin Detention centre, said the Premier's words were not helpful - and not true.

"It is not unprecedented; there were 11 boats that arrived in WA during the Howard years alone,'' Mr O'Connor told Fairfax radio.

"The premier is wrong in his language. His language is bordering on hysteria, as it has happened many times before.

"This is rare and it won't happen often, and I think it is unfair and unreasonable for the premier to describe it (that way).''

The boat-load of Sri Lankan asylum seekers arrived in Geraldton around midday. Picture: Graeme Gibbons

Meanwhile a Category Three cyclone off the WA coast will force the Sri Lankan asylum seekers to spend another night on the mainland, as the storm prevents flights to Christmas Island.

The single males among the group have now been sent to Northam's Yongah Hill detention centre, about 90km east of Perth, according to a spokesman for the Department of Immigration.

Families, women and children are being housed in lower security "A-pods'' - Alternate Places of Detention - in Perth.

They will all be sent to Christmas Island for processing but a category three cyclone intensifying in the Indian Ocean off WA's North-West means it is too dangerous for a charter plane to reach the island today.

And it may be several days more before the weather improves, with Tropical Cyclone Victoria, which is just 400km south-west of Christmas Island, expected to continue to gather strength.

``It won't be today because there are unfavourable weather conditions and it's been decided an air charter wouldn't be prudent in those circumstances, but we will move them to Christmas Island as soon as possible,'' an Immigration spokesman said.

``We can't see how we could get them there with the weather being the way it is.''

The spokesman said the A-pods are ``still part of our secure detention facility network but they're not quite as high security as Yongah Hills''.

It is believed to be the first boat to reach the mainland so close to Perth.

Barely 430km north of Perth, the coastal centre is more than 2000km south of Christmas Island where asylum seekers coming to Australia are usually intercepted.

Despite Geraldton Port being one of Australia's busiest regional ports, the boat with 66 people aboard made it to within metres of the mainland - and was intercepted first by two local men in a dinghy.

Those on board told the men they had been at sea for at least six weeks, having travelled more than 5000km to reach Geraldton, a port more used to dealing with iron ore, grains, talc, garnet and fertilisers.

The Sri Lankan passengers pulled into the harbour on their overcrowded vessel around midday (WST), stunning witnesses.

An overcrowded asylum-seeker boat with around 72 people on board has pulled into Geraldton, 400 kilometres north of Perth. Courtesy GDTV Productions

Authorities are unsure how the vessel reached so far south and believe the crew may have set the wrong course.

Immigration officials will make arrangements ''as soon as possible'' for their transfer to the island's detention facilities.

Under existing legislation, asylum seekers who reach the mainland will avoid being sent to processing centres on Nauru or Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Federal Labor is seeking to change this, with legislation currently before the Senate.

Asylum seekers on the vessel have held up a sign saying, "We want to go to New Zealand. Please help us.''

The boat is believed to have been at sea for 44 days.

It is believed the Sri Lankans want to be sent to New Zealand because the government has voluntarily and involuntarily returned about 1000 Sri Lankans since August last year.

The vessel was met by a pilot boat in Geraldton harbour with WA Police now on the scene.

"Customs and Border Protection have advised a suspected irregular entry vessel arrived within the harbour limits of Geraldton this afternoon,'' a spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said.

"Initial indications suggest there are 66 people on board.

"Customs and Border Protection officers and Western Australian Police are responding to the arrival.''

Geraldton Port Authority chief executive officer Peter Klein said a response team had set up a processing post for the asylum seekers.

"Police and Customs have been notified and are on the scene,'' he said.

WA Premier Colin Barnett said he was "alarmed" that a boat carrying asylum seekers could sail undetected into Geraldton.

"This is a serious, unprecedented and unacceptable breach of Australia's border security," Mr Barnett said.

"That a boat, laden with people, can sail into a busy regional port in broad daylight is shocking.

"Geraldton Port is one of Australia's busiest regional ports and Australia's second-largest for grain export.

"The State Government is working co-operatively with the Commonwealth on this issue and will ensure people's welfare is being looked after."

Geraldton's waterfront Dome Cafe manager Steve Branch said customers at the cafe were shocked when the boat sailed in and "dropped anchor'' about 100 metres off-shore.

"At first I don't think people knew what it was. There were a few people that thought it might have been a protest group,'' Mr Branch said.

"But after it had been there for half an hour, a customs boat went out to it and that's when people realised 'wow, that's an asylum seeker boat'.''

Mr Branch said the vessel was "packed'' with about 50 to 60 people on the deck.

"It was an old wooden fishing boat, the same as the asylum boats you see on TV. It basically just sailed in and dropped anchor about 100m off the beach.

"The reaction from most people was amazement - that they had made it this far south.

"There's an awful lot of coastline between us and Broome. It's certainly something we've never seen here before."

- with Ashlee Mullany


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blues heroes pay tribute to teens

Brother and sister Alexander and Bridget Jones were devoted to each other.

THE teenagers killed in Melbourne's tragic wall collapse will be laid to rest alongside Carlton jumpers signed by their sporting heroes.

Up to 2000 mourners are expected to attend the funeral of Alexander and Bridget Jones at the Diamond Valley Baptist Church on Thursday morning.

At the request of their family, Blues skipper Marc Murphy and former captain Chris Judd, the teen's favourite players, signed guernseys with personal notes to the siblings.

"For Bridget", Murphy penned alongside his autograph.

"For Alexander", Judd scrawled as a mark of respect to the Melbourne University student who died trying to shield his sister in the freak Swanston St collapse last month.

Carlton;s run-through banner in honour of Bridget and Alexander Jones. Picture: Michael Klein

Parents Ian and Sue Jones who lost their only children as a result of the incident, paid tribute to them in a notice in the Herald Sun this week.

"Our beautiful children taken from us. Our hearts are broken. How can we go on without you both?"

Carlton players ran through a banner with a tribute message to Alexander, 19, and Bridget, 18, before last week's blockbuster against Collingwood at the MCG.

The collapse also killed 33-year-old researcher Marie-Faith Fiawoo.

The Jones family has requested that mourners donate to Relay for Life instead of buying flowers.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Perth link in search for fugitive mum

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 09 April 2013 | 21.51

Brozzi's search for his daughter Reya brought him to the Sunshine Coast in 2010. Picture: Megan Slade Source: The Courier-Mail

Brozzi Lunetta with daughter Reya before she was abducted. Picture: supplied. Source: Supplied

Camilla Ellefsen is believed to be living in Australia with her daughter Reya. Picture: Megan Slade Source: The Courier-Mail

Reya Lunetta age progression image. Picture: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Source: Supplied

  • Friend says fugitive mum is living in Sydney
  • Abducted daughter is 'smart, healthy, happy'
  • Brozzi Lunetta makes film to help daughter Reya find him

A FUGITIVE mum who has been on the run in Australia for more than a decade is understood to be living in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Norwegian singer, Camilla Ellefsen Lunetta, abducted her daughter Reya from the United States of America in 2002 amid a bitter custody dispute.

The single mother then fled with Reya to Norway and India before arriving in Perth in August 2003 on a Norwegian passport.

Both resided in the Perth suburb of Fremantle until February 2004 when they travelled to the eastern states.

Despite getting close, Australian authorities have failed to find them.

A friend of Ms Ellefsen Lunetta, who does not want to be identified, has told news.com.au that Ms Ellefsen Lunetta and her 11-year-old daughter have been living in Sydney for years.

"I've known her for a few years," she said.

"While I didn't know her full story she was not secretive about the fact that she didn't feel she could be public.

"It was pretty clear she was keeping a low profile because she didn't want to be found by her ex-partner.

"So she wasn't living a double life as such. She was pretty honest about her challenge."

The friend, a health professional, said she was in regular mobile phone contact with the 39-year-old.

"I would consider her someone I know socially ... she was a friend," she said.

"I haven't seen her for a few months but she texts me regularly and asks to meet up.

"When she came to dinner and we went out for drinks she was a very normal grounded woman but very nervous and very in fear of her own safety.

"She was also a very good mother."

This comes after news.com.au last month revealed Reya's desperate dad, Brozzi Lunetta, had made a movie to help him find his missing daughter.

Mr Lunetta said he wrote and produced fictional film, Reya, after losing faith in the Australian authorities' ability to locate her.

The friend, who lived next-door to the pair for two years, said Ms Ellefsen Lunetta was clearly scared of being found.

"That's why she home-schooled her daughter and she moved house often," she said.

"She said she was scared of becoming public or living a more visible life."

California Superior Court documents obtained by News Ltd indicate Mr Lunetta was awarded sole custody of the child in 2002 after Ms Ellefsen Lunetta failed to comply with a court order related to custody arrangements.

Since arriving in Australia, Ms Ellefsen Lunetta has used alias names including Zelma Singer, Camilla Ellerson and Camilla Sullivan, while Reya had been called Hira, which means diamond in Hindi.

But news.com.au can reveal that Ms Ellefsen Lunetta and her daughter no longer use these names.

The friend said Reya had played with her son when the women socialised.

"Her daughter is very well adjusted, happy, creative, and smart," she said.

"She's a very smart, healthy, happy girl.

"There's no area of concern."

It is also understood a man from Lismore, who Ms Ellefsen Lunetta was in a long-term relationship with, has acted as a father figure to the abducted child.

"She was in a long-term relationship with a guy who brought up her daughter," the friend said.

"As far as I know he still looks after the daughter."

The man, who lived with the pair at Goonengerry in northern NSW, has repeatedly ignored interview requests from News Ltd.

The musician now lives with his new partner at Vaucluse, in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

The matter is currently the subject of a Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction application.

Both Australia and the United States of America are signatories to the Convention.

The Department of the Attorney-General, whose role is to oversee international child abductions involving Australia, refuses to comment on cases bound by the Hague Convention to protect the privacy of those involved.

The AFP has refused to confirm whether its investigation is suspended but urged anyone with information about the pair's location to contact their local police.

This comes after a series of AFP blunders throughout the investigation, including a bungled raid in May 2006, in which the mother and child escaped.

It is understood the investigation folded shortly after the incident when leads on the pair's location dried up.

The FBI confirmed its investigation was ongoing.

"There are currently no developments to announce publicly," an FBI spokeswoman told news.com.au.

Both mother and child remain listed as missing on the Family Court of Australia website.

The WA Police Missing Persons Investigations Unit issued a new release in January.

"Despite extensive inquiries by police her current whereabouts are not known," it says.

"Concern is held for her safety and welfare."

 Mr Lunetta, who now lives in his ex-wife's home country of Norway, said he was considering a fourth trip to Australia to try to find his daughter.

"I feel like we're getting closer," he said.

"Everyone in my life says this is the year.

"It would make sense that the year my son was born would be the year I found my daughter."

The filmmaker, who became a dad again this year, said he would willingly relinquish sole custody of Reya in order to be a part of her life.

"Camilla going to a US prison doesn't help my daughter whatsoever so if there is any way we can arrange … to bring Reya to Norway and let her have two separate loving homes, I would sign over my custody," he said.

Mr Lunetta, who has remarried, said he could provide Reya with a stable home. 

"My intention is not to take (Reya) back to Los Angeles," he said.

"I have a very strong foundation now within the community here in Oslo.

"I have a seven-week-old son here. I live on a beautiful farm.

"We're living the dream apart from this one element of this nightmare that follows me around."

Email kristin.shorten@news.com.au or follow @itsKShort on Twitter

Reya Lunetta
* also known as Hira Singer
* blue eyes
* a brown birthmark on sole of her foot
* a red birthmark on rear of head
* DOB 19/06/2001

Camilla Ellefsen Lunetta
* also known as Zelma Singer
* 173cm tall
* blue/grey eyes
* wavy dark hair
* speaks perfect English with a slight northern European accent
* brown birthmark on left forearm
* tattoo of own profile on her left shoulder blade 7cm x 7cm
* a chip in her front tooth
* DOB 02/12/1973

Source: WA Police


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

The absolute worst thing to say to a woman

So. Annoying. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

IT's something that many of you may have discovered the hard way.

If there's one way to make a woman feel fat, it's asking them when their baby is due when they're not pregnant.

Now the phrase "When's the baby due?" has been voted the worst possible thing you can say to a woman in a poll.

A quarter of 500 females polled named it as their pet hate - and said a surprising number of men still think it an acceptable question to ask.

In second place of annoying phrases was: "Yes, your bum looks big", with 17 per cent saying it should be avoided at all costs even if true.

Meanwhile, 13 per cent said they could not stand their partners saying, "You look tired" and 12 per cent resented the phrase, "Calm down dear".

Next on the list of annoyances was a man asking "Will you need a hand parking that, luv?" followed by, "You look more like your mother every day".

Some of those polled by leisure website Paintballing.co.uk also said they could not stand being told "I told you so". 

What phrases do you hate hearing? Tell us below


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Drug-fuelled 'doof' parties go unnoticed

A new type of rave party, known as a 'doof', is emerging in Perth's outskirts. Source: Supplied

A SECRET drug culture is bubbling just beneath the surface in the Perth Hills.

Doofs - similar to rave parties - are operating illegally in deserted areas of State Forest in the region.

The underground culture, which had its origins in the hippy communes in northern NSW and south-east Queensland in the '70s, is growing in popularity.

More than 2000 people attended a dance party, or doof, in the Hills over the Easter long weekend, where revellers allegedly consumed large amounts of alcohol and illicit drugs, including the hallucinogenic LSD, ecstasy and cannabis.

The doofs typically involve a massive sound system playing loud, bass-heavy electronic music. It is for this reason they are usually held in deserted places where police interference is unlikely.

The isolation of doof sites, which are often several kilometres from the nearest populated area, makes their policing almost impossible.

Neither the Department of Environment and Conservation, which manages WA's State Forests, nor WA police are aware of the illegal Hills doofs.

A police spokesman said Drug Squad detectives "have never heard about these incidents".

A DEC spokesman said there had not been any prosecutions of major offences committed in State Forests in the past two years and the department was unaware of any upcoming cases.

Read more at InMyCommunity


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Barnett: Geraldton arrival 'serious security breach'

The New Zealand flag flies from the boat carrying Sri Lankan asylum seekers. Picture: Graeme Gibbons Source: News Limited

A GROUP of 66 people on board a boat that sailed into Geraldton, 400 kilometres north of Perth, today are now destined for Christmas Island, according to statement from the immigration department.

It is believed to be the first boat to reach the mainland so close to Perth.

Barely 430km north of Perth, the coastal centre is more than 2000km south of Christmas Island where asylum seekers coming to Australia are usually intercepted.

The Sri Lankan passengers pulled into the harbour on their overcrowded vessel around midday (WST), stunning witnesses.

Authorities are unsure how the vessel reached so far south and believe the crew may have set the wrong course.

The boat-load of Sri Lankan asylum seekers arrived in Geraldton around midday. Picture: Graeme Gibbons

Immigration officials will make arrangements ''as soon as possible'' for their transfer to the island's detention facilities.

Under existing legislation, asylum seekers who reach the mainland will avoid being sent to processing centres on Nauru or Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Federal Labor is seeking to change this, with legislation currently before the Senate.

Asylum seekers on the vessel have held up a sign saying, "We want to go to New Zealand. Please help us.''

The boat carrying Sri Lankan asylum seekers pulled into Geraldton harbour this afternoon. Picture: Twitter

The boat is believed to have been at sea for 44 days.

It is believed the Sri Lankans want to be sent to New Zealand because the government has voluntarily and involuntarily returned about 1000 Sri Lankans since August last year.

The vessel was met by a pilot boat in Geraldton harbour with WA Police now on the scene.

"Customs and Border Protection have advised a suspected irregular entry vessel arrived within the harbour limits of Geraldton this afternoon,'' a spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said.

An overcrowded asylum-seeker boat with around 72 people on board has pulled into Geraldton, 400 kilometres north of Perth. Courtesy GDTV Productions

"Initial indications suggest there are 66 people on board.

"Customs and Border Protection officers and Western Australian Police are responding to the arrival.''

Geraldton Port Authority chief executive officer Peter Klein said a response team had set up a processing post for the asylum seekers.

"Police and Customs have been notified and are on the scene,'' he said.

WA Police Inspector Dominic Wood said the boat had arrived in Geraldton under its own steam.

Inspector Wood said a Customs vessel had towed the boat into harbour where it is now moored.

"We are trying to determine where the refugees are from,'' he said.

"At this time the asylum seekers are still on their vessel and are complying with police and Customs.''

WA Premier Colin Barnett said he was "alarmed" that a boat carrying asylum seekers could sail undetected into Geraldton.

"This is a serious, unprecedented and unacceptable breach of Australia's border security," Mr Barnett said.

"That a boat, laden with people, can sail into a busy regional port in broad daylight is shocking.

"Geraldton Port is one of Australia's busiest regional ports and Australia's second-largest for grain export.

"The State Government is working co-operatively with the Commonwealth on this issue and will ensure people's welfare is being looked after."

Geraldton's waterfront Dome Cafe manager Steve Branch said customers at the cafe were shocked when the boat sailed in and "dropped anchor'' about 100 metres off-shore.

"At first I don't think people knew what it was. There were a few people that thought it might have been a protest group,'' Mr Branch said.

"But after it had been there for half an hour, a customs boat went out to it and that's when people realised 'wow, that's an asylum seeker boat'.''

Mr Branch said the vessel was "packed'' with about 50 to 60 people on the deck.

"It was an old wooden fishing boat, the same as the asylum boats you see on TV. It basically just sailed in and dropped anchor about 100m off the beach.

"The reaction from most people was amazement - that they had made it this far south.

"There's an awful lot of coastline between us and Broome. It's certainly something we've never seen here before."

- with Ashlee Mullany


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aussie 'executed' in front of resort diners

Written By Unknown on Senin, 08 April 2013 | 21.51

IN COLD BLOOD: Brisbane man Paul Davy (above) has been shot dead in front of diners at the Blue Rock Beach Resort. (inset) A poster from a beauty pageant held at the resort three weeks ago. Source: The Courier-Mail

SACKED resort employees are being questioned after the execution-style killing of Brisbane man Paul Dean Davy, who was gunned down in front of 20 diners in a Philippines restaurant.

Police have interviewed disgruntled workers of the Blue Rock Beach Resort after Mr Davy, 53, was shot in the back of the head with a .45-calibre pistol at the resort restaurant about 7pm on Friday.

It is believed Mr Davy may have known his attacker, however police would not confirm this and have not ruled out the involvement of a hitman.

The killing took place as Mr Davy, the general manager of the resort, looked out towards the Baloy Long Beach shoreline and spoke with fellow Australian Mick Hay in the town of Olongapo, northwest of Manila, police said.

"There were 15-20 customers, mostly foreigners," Olongapo senior police officer Tyrone Tecson told The Courier-Mail.

An Australian man has been shot dead at a beach resort in the Philippines.

"The attacker approached from behind and shot him and immediately left the scene.

"They were looking at the sea, the shoreline."

The man is understood to have fled on a white scooter which was abandoned about 3km from the crime scene. Police were yesterday tracing the owner.

Mr Hay, who is listed as the president of Blue Rock Beach Resort, could not be reached for comment yesterday but The Courier-Mail has been told he is a co-owner of the resort.

IN COLD BLOOD: Brisbane man Paul Davy has been shot dead in front of diners at the Blue Rock Beach Resort.

Mr Tecson said police had interviewed witnesses and staff to establish a motive.

"There is no angle involving drugs or a love triangle with a woman," Mr Tecson said. "We are looking at the employees who have been fired or forced to resign."

Mr Davy was taken to hospital but could not be saved.

The gunman has been described as a man of Filipino appearance, aged 30-35, wearing clear prescription glasses and a blue cap.

A beauty pageant was held at the 41-room beach resort three weeks ago.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Perth swelters in record 37.3C April scorcher

Catch up with Channel 9's Sally Ayhan for local weather and a sneak peek into what to expect over the next 24 hours.

AUTUMN HEAT: Perth's Indian summer continues with temperatures into the high 30Cs again today. Picture: Robbie Goodall Source: National Features

THE temperature in Perth reached 37.3C today - one of the hottest April days on record for the metropolitan area.

After an overnight low of 18.2C at 4.55am, the temperature soared into the 30s, well above the April average of 25.8C.

The mercury peaked at 37.3C at 1pm, with most suburbs baking in similar mid-30C temperatures.

Perth Airport recorded a top of 37.7C, just a fraction under the old 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Not for the first time this year, Perth was hotter than Marble Bar in the Pilbara, renowned as one of hottest towns in Australia, which today recorded a relatively mild 35.9C today.

It is the hottest April day in the city since 2007, when 36C was recorded, and could be the hottest April day ever.

Pearce, 45km inland, reached a staggering 39.4C, while Jandakot recorded 37C and Swanbourne peaked at 35.8C at 11.23am before a sea-breeze arrived to cool things down. 

Even in the South West temperatures were high, with Bridgetown recording a high of 34.7C.

In the Great Southern, Wandering, 120km south-east of Perth, it reached 35.9C, while Lake Grace and Katanning shared tops of 34.7C.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

KAK: 'Madden's Logies win was stupid'

Kerri-Anne Kennerley says Joel Madden shouldn't have allowed himself to be nominated for a best new talent Logie. Picture: Jason Edwards Source: News Limited

Joel Madden poses in the awards room with the Silver Logie for Most Popular New Male Talent at the 2013 Logie Awards. Picture: Getty Source: news.com.au

KERRI-Anne Kennerley has voiced her disapproval over the best new talent Logie won by chair-swiveller Joel Madden.

US-born Madden, a mentor on The Voice, fried chicken salesman and punk-lite singer, took the honours over popular locals David Campbell and Robert Irwin.

The controversial win sparked an angry storm on social media.

Kennerley added her voice to chorus of grumbles yesterday.

"It's too silly for words,'' Kennerley said at Channel Seven's post-Logies brunch at Docklands. "Joel is not a new talent. He got on that show from being an international star.

"To even vaguely put him in the category of new talent is stupid.

"He shouldn't have let himself be there in the first place.''

Kennerley had no issue with an American winning a homegrown award.

She added: "It's appropriate. I mean, look at Don Lane all those years.''

At his post-win press conference, Madden understood the ruckus surrounding his win.

Madden added: "I'll always understand when people debate things because it's been happening to me my entire career.

"This is first experience with the Logies. I definitely feel like a new comer ... and it's intimidating to be here in this room and out there with people who've been in the industry here for so long.

"I care about what people think of me here in this industry and I understand why it would be a controversy.''


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Margaret Thatcher dead after stroke

Watch a typically feisty parliamentary performance from the late Margaret Thatcher.

FORMER British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has died of a stroke aged 87 years.

The leader dubbed the Iron Lady had been in poor health for a number of months and her spokesman Lord Bell said she died peacefully.

''It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully after a long battle with poor health,'' Lord Bell shortly before 1pm local time.

Buckingham Palace was the first to call the Thatcher family with the Queen offering her sympathies for her former leader, Britain's first and only female prime minister who won three consecutive federal elections.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain had lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton.

Thatcher transformed the UK

Thatcher has been credited with single-handedly transforming the nation in the space of a decade, earning her as much admiration as bitter resentment from the British people.

Baroness Margaret Thatcher is dead after suffering a stroke.

But there has always been general consensus she lifted a strike-infested union-bound nation back among the world's industrial leaders.

Crucially she defeated Arthur Scargill's nationwide year-long strike that was threatening to ruin the whole British economy.

Thatcher was seen as tireless and unshakeable as she bought her own cabinet let alone half the workers in Britain to change the work ethnic and industrial landscape before resigning as prime minister in November 1990.

But she remained one of the most influential figures in British society and globally as an elder stateswoman courted by the western world.

Her crowning glory among her three stints as PM was her handling of the Falklands War.

Many in her government thought her mad when after Argentina invaded the Falklands Islands she dispatched a flotilla of war ships 8000 miles into the South Atlantic.

Margaret Thatcher with U.S.S.R. President Mikhail Gorbachev (left) during an all-European top-level meeting.

Thatcher worked her way to the top

Born Margaret Hilda Roberts in 1925 in the Lincolnshire town of Grantham, she gained the virtues of thrift, hard work, morality and patriotism as drilled into her by her beloved father Alderman Alfred Roberts, who ran two grocers' shops and a post-office, and became mayor of the town in 1943.

The devout Methodist father drilled into her ''You'll never get anywhere if you don't work girl'', a sentiment she would often quote herself.

She had few close friends growing up with many considering her to have an irritating sense of her own superiority.

It was that thinking that made her head of her school, lead at Oxford University, where she trained as a chemist, before she decided to enter politics.

It was her ability to answer any question thrown at her in Parliament that made her the obvious leader of the Conservatives.

Margaret Thatcher in a line up of former PMs with the Queen in the 2000s

Liberal Democrat leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg summed up the national mood saying love her or loath her, she changed Britain for the better.

''Margaret Thatcher was one of the defining figures in modern British politics,'' Mr Clegg said.

''Whatever side of the political debate you stand on, no-one can deny that as prime minister she left a unique and lasting imprint on the country she served.

''She may have divided opinion during her time in politics but everyone will be united today in acknowledging the strength of her personality and the radicalism of her politics.''

Gillard and Abbott pay respects

Prime Minister Julia Gillard paid tribute to Margaret Thatcher's strength of conviction and history making period as British PM.

Margaret Thatcher elected leader in 1975.

''I learned this evening in Beijing of the death of Baroness Thatcher,'' Ms Gillard said from China.

''Her service as the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was a history making achievement.''

''Her strength of conviction was recognised by her closest supporters and her strongest opponents.

''I extend my sincere condolences and those of my fellow Australians to her family and friends.''

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Baroness Thatcher was one of Britain's greatest leaders because of her impact on the world.

''Margaret Thatcher was one of the greatest British prime ministers and one of the most significant world leaders of our times,'' Mr Abbott said.

Margaret and Denis on their wedding day in 1951

''She was the first female prime minister of Great Britain and ranks with the greatest of prime ministers because of the quality of her leadership and the impact she had on Britain and the wider world.''

''Margaret Thatcher arrested the decline of Britain and gave the British people renewed confidence. She ensured the British people no longer simply dwelt on the glories of the past but could enjoy a strong and prosperous future.

''The thoughts of the Coalition are with Baroness Thatcher's family and the British people at this time.''

Thatcher, made a baroness (life peer) after her 11 years in Downing Street, suffered several small strokes in 2002, and received medical advice against accepting any more public speaking engagements.

Her increasingly frail condition when she was seen - especially after the death of husband Denis in 2003 - led to frequent bouts of speculation about her health.

However, MPs and friends who saw her regularly said she remained alert and interested in politics, and she was not known to have deteriorated notably recently.

Among her greatest regrets was the IRA bombing attempt on her life in Brighton in 1984.

She could not understand why anyone hated her so much.

Number 10 late last night confirmed there would be a state funeral with full military honours at St Paul's Cathedral, the first such tribute since the death of wartime hero Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.

''A wide and diverse range of people and groups with connections to Lady Thatcher will be invited,'' a spokesman for the Prime Minister's office said.

''The service will be followed by a private cremation. All the arrangements being put in place are in line with the wishes of Lady Thatcher's family.''

Full details are expected later this week.


21.51 | 0 komentar | Read More
techieblogger.com Techie Blogger Techie Blogger