Solar car can run on less energy than it takes to power the family toaster.
Yet Sunswift IV will reach speeds of up to 120km/h when it races across Australia in the Global Green Challenge race from Darwin to Adelaide starting on October 24.
Students from the University of NSW solar racing team unveiled their hand-built carbon fibre three-wheeler in Sydney's north on Wednesday morning - the only solar car entrant from NSW in the 3000km race. About 60 team members spent more than 10,000 hours over 18 months designing and building the car, project manager Clara Mazzone told reporters. "I think the most exciting thing is ... the educational side of it, that none of these engineers have graduated yet, working out how to apply the knowledge they're learning at uni and design and build a car from scratch, basically," Ms Mazzone said. Last-minute additions were made to the vehicle before the launch to meet RTA requirements. "All the major mechanical components are in and working, all the absolutely necessary electrical components work. It'll drive," team leader Jono Pye said. Fondly nicknamed IVy, the car has the same footprint as a small sedan but is half the height and weighs less than 150kg. IVy is expected to run on 1.3 kilowatts of power from its solar array when travelling at a speed of 90km/h - compared with 1.8 kW needed to run a four-slice toaster, Mr Pye said. It also has a battery that will run the car for five hours without sunlight. "Everything is thought (of) to make it as efficient as possible, because the race that it's built for is an endurance race more than anything," Mr Pye said. The students will take IVy from Sydney to Adelaide before the race and test-run her from Adelaide to Darwin. They plan to stop at schools on the way to Adelaide from Sydney to showcase their project. "We're hoping just to get (children) excited about renewable energy, really, and the technologies we're developing, to kind of inspire them to keep it going and show them what's possible," Mr Pye said. "I think the most amazing thing about it is that a bunch of students have built a car that runs off the sun and can race from Darwin to Adelaide in four or five days," he said. "And it shows you, if we can do that, imagine what companies and governments can do if they really put their mind to it." Global Green Challenge for solar and eco-friendly vehicles that attracts competitors from around the world.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Free TV shows on the Internet could be harder to find if Comcast Corp succeeds in acquiring a majority stake in NBC Universal.
Comcast would become a partner in Hulu the video website which allows viewers to watch TV shows on the Web for free, a business potentially worth billions of dollars if consumers had to pay to watch the shows. The video website is jointly owned by NBC Universal, News Corp and Walt Disney Co. Hulu is the most popular site in the United States for watching TV shows, according to comScore. Comcast is in talks with General Electric Co, to buy 51 percent of NBC Universal, which would allow the cable operator to combine its cable assets with NBC's cable networks, movie studio and theme parks, according to people familiar with the talks. Cable operators have downplayed investor fears that customers will drop cable for free TV on the Web. But privately they've warned TV networks they may stop paying affiliate fees if free TV shows keep cropping up on the Web. Hulu had nearly 40 million unique viewers in August, web measurement company comScore said. That is more than Comcast's 24 million paying subscribers, which account for about $5 billion a quarter in revenue. "We suspect Comcast believes it needs content to protect its landline distribution platform," Richard Greenfield, analyst at Pali Research, wrote in a note to investors Friday. "It wants to mitigate the risk of becoming that scary 'dumb' pipe." Comcast, the largest U.S. cable operator, has approached the Web's free TV threat by getting behind a service called TV Everywhere with Time Warner Inc. The idea behind TV Everywhere is to allow consumers to watch shows on the web -- so long as they are paying cable subscribers. "This deal (Comcast-NBC) has major implications on the success of TV Everywhere," said Thomas Eagan, an analyst at Collins Stewart. "Comcast may decide to change Hulu to some degree to facilitate a premium Hulu service much faster." Comcast has even tried to match Hulu with its own free TV website, Fancast. But while Hulu has come from nowhere to become the sixth most visited video site in the U.S. in just 18 months, Fancast hasn't even cracked the Top 10. "Hulu was started by NBC and Fox so they could compete with Comcast. So this is a defensive move to some extent by Comcast," said Kaufman Bros. analyst Todd Mitchell. "Hulu will just become another choice of Comcast's pay-TV buffet." If Comcast has a stake in Hulu's future, as Mitchell suggests, it effectively reduces competition to the cable sector. Since web video is still a fledgling sector, however, it is unlikely to raise the hackles of U.S. regulators, said analysts. Indeed, the Federal Communications Commission is likely to focus on other concerns if General Electric Co , which controls NBC Universal, decides to sell a 51 percent stake to Comcast, as sources have said the two sides are talking about. Namely, the FCC may be concerned about combining NBC Universal's national broadcast network, NBC, and its huge range of cable networks, like Bravo and USA, with the largest cable operator in the country. Paul Gallant, a telecom regulation analyst with Washington-based Concept Capital, said the deal would likely be approved by antitrust regulators and the FCC. "The primary reason is that the two companies do not have a great deal of product overlap, and thus the competitive concerns appear to be fairly limited," Gallant said. Gallant said the FCC already has program access rules that ensure that cable operators who own programming sell it to competitors at reasonable rates. TV operators such as DirecTV Group, DISH Network , Verizon, AT&T may ask the FCC for a more effective enforcement process. "Should the FCC pursue this angle, it could potentially hinder Comcast from realizing the full value of NBCU's programming," Gallant said. (Additional reporting by John Poirier in Washington) (Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; editing by Carol Bishopric),
The Australian town of Bundanoon pulled all bottled water from its shelves Saturday and replaced it with refillable ones Australian town in 'world-first' bottled water ban An Australian town pulled all bottled water from its shelves Saturday and replaced it with refillable bottles in what is believed to be a world-first ban.
Hundreds of people marched through the picturesque rural town of Bundanoon to mark the first day of its bottled water ban by unveiling a series of new public drinking fountains, said campaign spokesman John Dee. Shopkeepers ceremoniously removed the last bottles of water from their shelves and replaced them with reusable bottles that can be filled from fountains inside the town's shops or at water stations in the street. "Every bottle today was taken off the shelf and out of the fridges so you can only now buy refillable bottles in shops in Bundanoon," Dee told AFP.
The tiny town, two hours south of Sydney, voted in July to ban bottled water after a drinks company moved to tap into a local aquifer for its bottled water business. "In the process of the campaign against that the local people became educated about the environmental impact of bottled water," said Dee. "A local retailer came up with this idea of well why don't we do something about that and actually stop selling the bottled water and it got a favourable reaction," he said. Dee said the 2,000-person town had made international headlines with their bid, which he hoped would spur communities across the world to action. "Whilst our politicians grapple with the enormity of dealing with climate change what Bundanoon shows is that at the very local level we can sometimes do things that can surprise ourselves, in terms of our ability to bring about real and measurable change that has a real benefit for theenvironment," he said. The cash savings only made the project more compelling, he added. "I think that's why this campaign is doing so well, because we're saying to people you can save money and save the environment at the same time," said Dee. "The alternative doesn't have a sexy brand, doesn't have pictures of mountain streams on the front of it, it comes out of your tap." Activists say bottling water causes unnecessary use of plastics and fuel for transport. A New South Wales study found that in 2006, the industry was responsible for releasing 60,000 tonnes of gases blamed forglobal warming.
Yukio Hatoyame's profile.
He never never work own private profit, and no need to do so.
He is following his grand father's job and want to finish up more appropriated current world situation.
His philosophy
"For me, 'Liberal' means symbiosis, or to put it more simply, 'Liberal' means love." -- October 1995, while answering a question during a plenary session of the Lower House.
New PM doesn't let emotions cloud professional judgment
Prime Minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama, who drew attention in the political world when he refused to allow senior politician Masayoshi Takemura, with whom he had cooperated closely, to join the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) he co-founded in 1996, is known as a man who won't let his affections cloud his professional judgment.
After graduating from the University of Tokyo's engineering department, he studied in the United States, and became an associate professor at Senshu University after returning to Japan. At the time, he had no ties to the political world.
Seiichi Mizuno, a classmate of Hatoyama at Gakushuin Primary School who later went into politics at the urging of Japan's newest prime minister, recalls that he appeared to be too modest and not suitable to be a politician.
"At elementary school age, he didn't stand out at all. He was modest and a typical son of a decent family. I thought he wasn't suitable for the political world."
His father, former Foreign Minister Iichiro Hatoyama, reluctantly supported his bid to run for the Diet. When he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1986 to his first term, his younger brother Kunio, who had become a Lower House member a decade earlier, was drawing far more attention in political circles.
The younger brother had been a more experienced politician, having served as education minister, labor minister, justice minister and internal affairs and communications minister. However, the elder brother surpassed the younger brother when he was elected prime minister on Wednesday.
Acquaintances of the prime minister-elect say that Yukio Hatoyama's refusal to allow Takemura -- former leader of the New Party Sakigake of which Hatoyama was also a member -- to join the DPJ marked his turning point as a politician. Hatoyama had worked closely with Takemura since they left the Liberal Democratic Party and founded Sakigake.
Aides to Hatoyama attempted to persuade him to reconsider his refusal to let Takemura join the DPJ, but he wouldn't listen. Mizuno, who was then a Sakigake member of the House of Councillors, chose to remain with Sakigake.
At the time, Hatoyama never urged Mizuno to move to the DPJ. Instead, he calmly told Mizuno, "Please do as you wish," demonstrating that Hatoyama is not driven by emotion.
Norihiko Narita, president of Surugadai University who served as an official secretary to Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, said his conversation with Hatoyama on a government flight is still fresh in his memory. Hatoyama, who was then deputy chief Cabinet secretary, was accompanying Hosokawa on his official visit to the United States.
"Personal relations can easily change. Political realignment should be carried out based on policies," Narita quoted Hatoyama as telling him.
Prime Minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama, who is taking over the government 53 years after his late grandfather, Ichiro Hatoyama, stepped down as prime minister, is from the richest political family in Japan.
His personal assets, including real estate, savings deposits and securities, amount to 1.656 billion yen (US$18.346 million), according to an official report in 2006, the largest of all successful politicians in the 2005 House of Representatives election.
When the DPJ was founded in 1996, Hatoyama extended 980 million yen in loans to the party from his own money, and his younger brother, House of Representatives member Kunio Hatoyama, lent 700 million yen to it.
Hatoyama's wealth is attributable largely to the fact that his mother Yasuko is the eldest daughter of Shojiro Ishibashi, founder of Bridgestone Corp., a leading tire manufacturer.
A cherry blossom viewing party with top DPJ officials at "Otowa Goten" in April 2008. (Mainichi)
Hatoyama owns 3.5 million shares in Bridgestone, worth around 6 billion yen in total, and he gained 84 million yen in dividends in 2008.
Yasuko, often referred to as the "godmother," urged her sons to cooperate closely when they formed the DPJ with other politicians.
Since Kunio returned to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), she frequently advised her sons to join hands again, but to no avail.
The Hatoyama Kaikan in the Otowa district of Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, which was the residence of Ichiro Hatoyama and his son, former Foreign Minister Iichiro Hatoyama, is a British-style structure.
Yasuko currently owns the house, also dubbed, "Otowa Goten" ("Otowa Palace"), and the new prime minister uses it to hold a cherry blossom viewing party with high-ranking members of the DPJ in spring.
Yomiuri Shimbun President and Editor-in-Chief Tsuneo Watanabe, frequently visited Otowa Goten in the early 1950s when he was a young political writer.
In a gathering held at Otowa Goten in March this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Ichiro Hatoyama, Watanabe remarked that an LDP-DPJ grand coalition can be formed if brothers Yukio and Kunio improve their relationship. Watanabe was behind an unsuccessful attempt to form a grand coalition between the two parties in November 2007.
However, the DPJ won 308 seats -- an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives -- in the Aug. 30 general election, dashing any hopes for a grand coalition.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has always defined his political philosophy as based on "fraternity." Combined with other nicknames for Hatoyama bandied about, such as "the alien" or "soft cream" (soft serve ice cream), he has gained something of a sweet image. However, how sweet is he really?
In Hatoyama's contribution to the September issue of the journal "Voice," titled "My Political Philosophy" (a shorter version of which was also published as an op-ed piece in the online version of The New York Times, under the title "A New Path for Japan"), he took a very aggressive stance against communism and totalitarianism in defining his "fraternity" principle. Hatoyama wrote that "while my grandfather Ichiro Hatoyama opposed both the Socialist and Communist parties, he also made it his mission to tear down the (former Prime Minister Shigeru) Yoshida administration and its close ties to bureaucracy. The fraternity principle continued to exist as an undercurrent in post-war conservative parties."
For Hatoyama, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has forgotten the principle of fraternity that lay at the party's core when it was founded by his grandfather. Furthermore, he is putting himself forward as the legitimate proponent of that principle.
In 2005, Hatoyama published a volume on constitutional reform titled "Shin-Kenpo Shian," or "A New Constitution Draft," in which he asked, "Although Japan is an independent country on the surface, is it independent at heart?
"In foreign relations, Japan is dependent on the United States, while its internal politics are beholden to the bureaucracy," he continued, centering his call for constitutional revision on these two points.
The Analects of Hatoyama
-- "The Recruit scandal (of 1988) was just the tip of the iceberg. What's hidden beneath the waterline? Political funding transparency is extremely important. Regardless of whether funds are public or private in nature, they should be revealed as a basic principle." -- March 1989, at a meeting of the LDP political reform committee.
-- "I don't want to be in politics just for elections. I won't say I have absolutely no ambition for political power, but I am not acting out of selfish desire." -- June 1993, during discussions over the formation of the New Party Sakigake.
-- "For me, 'Liberal' means symbiosis, or to put it more simply, 'Liberal' means love." -- October 1995, while answering a question during a plenary session of the Lower House.
-- "We must have the means to defend our own country, using a non-aggressive defense policy and the creation of contingency laws, for the day when we establish a security guarantee that does not involve a regular U.S. military presence in Japan." -- October 1996, during a news conference with foreign media correspondents.
-- "Anyone in the world would see the Japan Self-Defense Forces as an army. Under the protection of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and the American nuclear umbrella, Japanese have come to believe too much that Japan is an essentially peaceful country. There is no avoiding constitutional reform." -- September 1999, in an interview ahead of a DPJ leadership election.
-- "I have not changed my hope of becoming prime minister. I have decided to head home and work hard to acquire the capacity to be prime minister." -- December 2002, during an informal talk with DPJ Diet members.
-- "The DPJ has come this far thanks to (former leader) Ichiro Ozawa. We won't last long if he resigns." -- November 2007, after Ozawa submitted his resignation following the rejection of a grand coalition with the LDP by DPJ executives.
PM admits using F-word with Labor MPs AAP September 20, 2009
Kevin Rudd has refused to apologise for repeatedly swearing during a meeting with factional bosses earlier this month, saying the "robust conversation" was consistent with Labor Party traditions. A number of MPs copped some expletives when they visited the prime minister's parliament house office to object to plans to cut politicians' annual printing allowances by 25 per cent to $75,000. The PM said in the presence of three female MPs: "I don't care what you f***ers think," News Limited has reported. He later told another senator: "You can get f***ed." Mr Rudd admits he swore. "It's fair to say, consistent with the traditions of the Australia Labor Party, we're given to robust conversations," Mr Rudd told reporters in New York when asked about the meeting. "I made my point of view absolutely clear. "These entitlements needed to be cut back. "I make no apology for either the content of my conversation or the robustness with which I expressed my views." In a random survey of printing allowance use, the auditor-general found that in 74 per cent of instances the entitlement was at risk of being misused. During the 2007/08 financial year - which covered the 2007 election - the auditor-general found some MPs were using the printing allowance primarily for re-election purposes. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says Mr Rudd doesn't have more of a potty mouth than anyone else in the community. "There's as much chance of the prime minister swearing as you and I have sworn from time to time in the past," he told the Nine Network's Laurie Oakes. "All of us engage regrettably in that sort of language from time to time." Mr Smith said the most important thing was that the policy of capping printing payments was "absolutely right". Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese declined to comment on the swearing because he wasn't at the meeting but said the prime minister had acted appropriately regarding the allowance.
"The Australian people will get some comfort from the fact that the prime minister isn't dictated to by any group, faction, interest group within the party," Mr Albanese told Network Ten. Asked about the incident, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said politics was a robust business. "One of the amusing things in the article was the suggestion that Labor backbenchers might have been horrified at someone swearing at them," Mr Tanner told ABC Television on Sunday. "The truth is that politics, whether it's on our side or the other side, is a robust business where exchanges of views can sometimes be laced with less than polite descriptions - that's life. "These discussions can sometimes be robust and all I can say is: Let he who is without sin cast the first line." Mr Tanner said previous entitlements were too loose, ambiguous and open to being misused. "We have clamped down on that vigorously and inevitably a few toes have been trodden on," he said.
"We make no apologies for that."
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The David Letterman extortion affair and sex scandal is proving a late night ratings bonanza for TV network CBS. Some 5.7 million people tuned in on Monday to hear Letterman apologize to his wife and staff for his on-air revelations last week about his sexual affairs and an alleged blackmail plot. That was a 36 percent increase over the audience for the "Late Show with David Letterman" on Monday last week, and a 19 percent jump on the 2009-2010 season-to-date average for the talk show of 4.8 million viewers, CBS said on Tuesday. Show business newspaper Daily Variety noted that Monday's Letterman ratings at 11:30 p.m. were higher than anything struggling NBC had on Monday in prime time, including its returning drama series "Heroes," new medical series "Trauma" and "The Jay Leno Show" at its new 10 p.m. slot which pulled in 4.3 million viewers. Letterman told his audience on Monday that his wife Regina, with whom he has a 5-year-old son, had been "horribly hurt" by his behavior and that he was trying to patch things up. On Thursday last week, Letterman stunned Americans when he said he was the target of a $2 million blackmail attempt, and then admitted having sexual affairs with women on his staff. One day later a CBS news producer pleaded not guilty in connection with the alleged extortion. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Man charged with murder after house fire AAP
A 36-year-old man has been charged by police over the brutal murder of a woman whose body was found with stab wounds in a house gutted by fire. Homicide detectives charged the man from Narre Warren, in Melbourne's outer southeast, after a nine-month investigation into the fatal house fire. The man's arrest on Friday night came a day after Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Steve Clark publicly appealed to an anonymous caller to Crimestoppers who rang them about the murder to do so again. Mary Cook, 37, was found dead in her home at Darling Way, Narre Warren in the early hours of December 14 after the property was destroyed in a fire. Police initially thought she had died in the fire but concluded within a fortnight that she had been stabbed to death before the blaze. Her children, aged 14, 16 and 18, were not home at the time. Investigators arrested the man in Narre Warren and charged him with one count of murder. He was remanded in custody overnight to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday. Police are in the process of executing two search warrants around Narre Warren on Saturday and have seized a knife from a property at Golf Links Road.
Mexican fans sets Thriller dance record
AAPSeptember 19, 2009
Thousands of Michael Jackson's Mexican fans have won the world record for most people to dance to the song Thriller simultaneously in one place. Jamie Panas of Guinness World Records says that 13,597 people performed the dance routine on August 29, which would have been Jackson's 51st birthday. The fans, many dressed as zombies, danced to Thriller in Mexico City led by a Michael Jackson impersonator in sunglasses, a sequined black jacket and white glove. The previous record was held by a group of 242 students at a college in the United States. Panas confirmed the new record on Friday.
Going, going, gone. Some within the Liberal Party never really believed Peter Costello was going to quit federal politics but now it's a done deal. Mr Costello - Australia's longest-serving treasurer, who introduced the GST - will finally resign in just over a week. Mr Costello took his bat and ball and retired to the back bench after the coalition lost the 2007 election. He was furious that former prime minister John Howard hadn't stepped aside for him as promised. What followed was more than a year of damaging speculation about the Liberal leadership, with supporters and the media playing a game of "Will he, won't he?". In June this year Mr Costello declared he wouldn't recontest the seat of Higgins at the next federal election, due in late 2009. But some hoped he still might change his mind, even after Kelly O'Dwyer was preselected by the Liberal Party to run in his Victorian seat. On Wednesday, however, Mr Costello announced he'd resign on Monday week when parliament resumes. The timing might not suit Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull - who's struggling to win over his own party let alone Australian voters - but Mr Costello insists he's acting in the best interests of the party. It's the same line he used to justify his decision never to challenge Mr Howard. "The cleanest thing to do is have the by-election this year," Mr Costello said on Wednesday. "We've now got our candidate, we're ready to go, we're ready for the by-election."
The Higgins by-election will most likely be held on the same day in November as the contest for Bradfield in NSW, the seat vacated by former opposition leader Brendan Nelson. Mr Costello says Ms O'Dwyer - his former staffer - will be part of the renewal that the Liberal Party now needs to undertake. "Successful organisations plan for succession and engage in renewal," he said. The remark was a veiled swipe at the party he believes failed to renew itself by installing him as prime minister. It would have been better for everyone if he'd been handed the reins, Mr Costello said. "It would have been better for me. Obviously it would have been better for John Howard - he lost his seat," he said. "I also think it would have been better for the country if we had been re-elected." Mr Costello says he's looking to move into the private sector. But he'll continue his work on the international advisory board of the World Bank, as part of his commitment to "making the world a better place and serving my fellow men and women". There's also the possibility of a government posting - floated by Kevin Rudd earlier this year. "There certainly has been no offers from the government," Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Wednesday.
"But I think the prime minister has made it very clear that where there are talents and distinguished Australians and they are available, we are certainly interested in using them." ndeed, Dr Nelson has been appointed Australia's ambassador to Europe. r Howard on Wednesday praised Mr Costello for serving as deputy Liberal leader for 13 years "with much distinction and success". In government Peter and I worked together in close professional harmony," the former PM said. "I thank him for that." r Rudd praised Mr Costello as "one of the most colourful performers in parliament" during his 20 years in Canberra. Such were his talents that, even for those of us on the receiving end of one of his barbs, it was hard not to laugh, even as you winced in pain," the prime minister said in a statement. To have been treasurer of the commonwealth for almost 12 years is a further credit to Mr Costello's talents and abilities." he PM also acknowledged the former treasurer's "significant role" is helping to set up the G20 following the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.
Another federal Liberal MP to retire
AAP October 7 2009
Long-serving former Howard government minister Fran Bailey has announced she will retire from politics at the next federal election, due late next year. Ms Bailey, whose seat of McEwen, east of Melbourne, was badly hit by the Black Saturday bushfires earlier this year, said she had agonised over her decision to leave parliament.
"The last five elections have been pretty tough and I think after 17 years, I think it's time I stepped down and let someone else step up to the plate," Ms Bailey told AAP on Wednesday. Ms Bailey won the seat from Labor in 1990 but lost it in 1993 only to win it back in the Howard government landslide in 1996, remaining the member ever since. She was tourism minister at the time of the disastrous "Where the bloody hell are you?" advertising campaign, and also served as junior defence minister and in the portfolios of small business and employment services
Tourists flock to Top's death site
AAPSeptember 19, 2009
The house where terrorist mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top was killed during an Indonesian police raid has become a tourist attraction. Thousands of people have flocked to the badly damaged house in the village of Kepuh Sari, in Central Java, to see where the region's most wanted terrorist met his end. Noordin, a Malaysian-born militant behind a string of deadly bombings in Indonesia, was one of four people killed in a police raid on the hideout on Thursday. Tourists have reportedly come from as far away as Sumatra to see the house. "We missed the shootout but we can still sense the mood," Eko Purwanto, who came with his family from the Sumatran province of Lampung, told the Jakarta Globe daily. Enterprising locals have taken advantage of people's interest by setting up food and beverage stalls in the area. Indonesian police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said he was certain the body pulled from the house was Noordin's after DNA tests backed up earlier fingerprint analysis. "We were already a 100 per cent sure with the fingerprints," he said. "Now there are no doubts." Noordin's death brought to an end a seven-year manhunt for the 41-year-old, who led a hardline splinter group of terror organisation Jemaah Islamiah. He was the suspected mastermind of July's attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta that killed seven people, including three Australians. Authorities allege he also masterminded a 2003 attack on the Marriott, a 2004 attack on Australia's embassy in Jakarta and the 2005 Bali bombings. He has also been implicated in the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Vanessa Hudgen's want to grow up September 18 2009
Vanessa Hudgens wants to be treated like an adult. The 20-year-old actress - who is dating Zac Efron - admits it's hard to get rid of her teen idol image and is now keen to showcase her acting talents. what? She wasn't acting in High School Musical? She said: "People think of me as the 'High School Musical' girl. There's nothing wrong with that. My character was a great role model, but I get so bored doing the same thing. I want to grow like everybody else." Vanessa - who plays a prostitute in new movie 'Sucker Punch' - also spoke of her upset over nude pictures of her which were leaked on the internet. She told in a recent interview: "It's just really unfortunate, and to this day people hate me for it, but it's not like I chose to put that out there in the world. It's so aggravating and frustrating, and whenever anybody asks me, would I do nudity in a film, if I say that it's something I'm not comfortable with, they're like, 'Bulls**t, you've already done it.' "If anything it makes it more embarrassing, because that was a private thing. It's screwed up that someone screwed me over like that. At least some people are learning from my mistakes."
So that's a no on nudity but sexy magazine photoshoots are a-okay?
Rudd heads off for UN, G20 meetings
AAPSeptember 19, 2009,
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has flown out of Canberra for the start of his week-long trip to the United States.
Mr Rudd will attend the UN General Assembly meeting in New York and the G20 conference in Pittsburgh. In his meetings, Mr Rudd will discuss climate change and the global financial crisis with world leaders. Climate change groups are looking for progress on financing arrangements to assist developing nations to make the changes necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Described as "a deal breaker" it will require nations to come up with funds to ensure the global effort to fight climate change works. They are also hoping any G20 agreement on measures to aid economic recovery will include "green recovery" initiatives aimed at locking in commitments on renewable energy use and reduced deforestation. US President Barack Obama will host the G20 meeting, the third since the global financial crisis tipped much of the world a year ago into the worst economic collapse in 75 years. Leaders will consider the impact of the emergency measures introduced at the London G20 meeting in April which included trillions of dollars of coordinated economic stimulus packages.
Mike, the older half of television's legendary LeylandBrothers, who brought every corner ofAustraliainto the lounge room, has died. The family announced that 68-year-old Mike passed away on Monday morning following complications from Parkinson's disease. Mike and Mal, explorers and documentary film-makers, were the creators of the long-running television show Ask The LeylandBrothers. At its peak, the weekly show, which ran from 1976 to 1984, was watched by more than 2.5 million people. Shot on Super8, it featured the brothers in unusual or far-flung places around the vast Australian continent which viewers had asked them to visit. The brothers were awarded the MBE in 1980 for services to the film industry. Mike was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease about two years ago but had suffered most in the past two months, his stepdaughter Sarah said. "Everyone is quite upset about the whole thing ... obviously Mike was an icon in Australian documentaries and a fabulous person as well," she told Macquarie Radio. "Mum has spoken to (Mal) several times today so we will be getting together at the end of the week to celebrate Mike's life." Mal Leyland told the ABC he and his brother had delighted in inspiring others to get out and seeAustralia. He said although it had been a drawn out battle he was still in shock over his brother's death. "About three years ago he started to show the early signs (of) what they called rapid onset Parkinson's and he ended up with dementia as well at the end associated with it," said Mal.
Mike was eight and Mal five when they migrated with their parents in 1950 from England to Newcastle in NSW, where Mike lived for the rest of his life. Childhood friend Keith Davey, who went on to become the pair's cameraman for about six years in the early 1960s, said their interest in documentaries began as teenagers watching early David Attenborough programs. "Even at that early age that's what we wanted to do when we grew up," he told Macquarie Radio. "They were absolutely iconic and they were the first of their kind ... other people came after them and mimicked them but I really think Mike and Mal were trendsetters at the time. "What they tried to do was give ... a film that the average person could relate to, rather than the slick documentaries that you get now ... as though you could shoot it yourself and be there yourself." Mr Davey said some of their earliest films included a trip down the Darling River from the NSW/Queensland border to Victoria, and a west-east crossing ofAustraliain 1968.
Mike Leyland is survived by his wife Margie, his daughters Kerry, Sandy and Dawn, his stepdaughters Sarah and Alison, and seven grandchildren.
Five children were orphaned by a married couple's "act of love gone terribly wrong" and a subsequent suicide, a NSW coroner has found. Julia Gauci, 36, and her husband of 17 years Christopher Gauci, 45, were found dead on June 9, 2008 at their rural property near Gulgong, in central western NSW. Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon was told they had a "phenomenal" marriage, and that Mr Gauci had been "besotted" by his wife. "She was his princess," friend Peter Cork told the inquest at Mudgee. Mr Dillon on Tuesday found Mrs Gauci had died from "manual asphyxia" by misadventure. He noted her body had been lovingly dressed in her daughter's white debutante ball dress, with a Virgin Mary statue placed nearby. Mr Gauci's body was found in the property's machinery shed, with the coroner finding he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. "It is one of the saddest stories I have heard and it is particularly sad because the children have been left behind, orphaned - left in this terrible way," the coroner said. The Gauci children, now aged between seven and 18 years, are in the care of relatives and were not present at the inquest. Counsel assisting the coroner, Rebbecca Becroft said, on the day before their deaths the couple had visited friends and appeared "happy" and "normal". They had no financial problems, no history of domestic violence nor any substance abuse issues, the inquest was told. Mr Gauci was the "primary carer" for his wife who suffered epilepsy, Mr Dillon was told. Forensic pathologist Timothy Lyons said Mrs Gauci's airways had been blocked and that a "moderate amount of force (had been) applied for that to occur". There were no signs she had resisted the asphyxia, he added. "There appeared ... to be two possibilities. First, that Christopher killed Julia deliberately ... and that secondly (she died) while they were engaged in marital relations," Mr Dillon said. "There is, in my view, a weak case that Christopher deliberately killed Julia, but there is a much stronger case that this was a terrible mishap - something that went terribly wrong in their bedroom, not because of anger ... but paradoxically, because of their love for one another." He accepted evidence the pair were in a "powerful", "loving" and "passionate" relationship that had produced five children, and that Mrs Gauci's death was "an act of love gone terribly wrong". The court was told that before his death, Mr Gauci told his eldest daughter: "Mum's passed away, look after the kids." He also reportedly called his wife's father, John Delaney, to inform him of his daughter's death. Such acts were not those of a murderer, Mr Dillon said. "His remorse was so deep, so profound, he felt that he could not go on living himself," Mr Dillon said of Mr Gauci. The couple's eldest daughter called triple-0 after seeing her father go into the shed, put a rope around his neck, pick up a firearm and climb a ladder, police said. When police found Mrs Gauci's body in the main bedroom, she had been dressed in a white debut dress. "It seems extraordinary for a murderer to dress his own wife in a beautiful dress," Mr Dillon said. "It is much more likely that he did that because he loved her and wanted her to look beautiful when found by police or by ambulance officers." Outside court, Mr Gauci's sister-in-law Marian Gauci said the couple's children are "doing well". Other family members present welcomed the finding of misadventure.
Hollywood actorPatrick Swayze, best known for his roles in hit filmsDirty Dancingand Ghost, died Monday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, his publicist said.
The 57-year-old heart-throb, whose other films included the surfing thriller Point Break, died after suffering complications from the illness, Swayze's publicist confirmed. "Patrick Swayzepassed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," a statement said. California Governor and former Hollywood action hero Arnold Schwarzeneggerled the tributes to Swayze, describing him as a "talented and passionate artist who struck a memorable chord with audiences throughout the world." "He played a wide range of characters both on stage and in movies and his celebrated performances made the hard work of acting look effortless - which I know from experience is not easy," Schwarzenegger said. Swayze was diagnosed with advanced stage-four pancreatic cancer in January 2008, leaving him with only a one per cent chance of surviving longer than five years, according to medical experts.
He bravely fought the disease in the public eye, continuing to work on set despite gruelling cancer treatment and significant weight loss.
In January he slammed tabloid reporting of his condition in an interview with ABC television'sBarbara Walters, where he bullishly declared that he was determined to beat his condition.
He told Walters he had tried to keep his illness secret but went public to protect family and friends after tabloids reported he was close to death.
"Hope is a very, very fragile thing in anyone's life and the people I love do not need to have that hope robbed from them when it's unjustified and it's untrue," Swayze said.
Yet only a few months later, Swayze's representative was forced to issue a condemnation of "reckless" reports saying the actor had died.
A lanky Texan with a dancer's easy grace, Swayze - the son of a dance teacher and an engineering drafter - had a string of hit films in the 1980s and 1990s. He was named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine in 1991.
As a young man, he moved to New York city in 1972 for more formal dance training at the prestigious Harkness Ballet and Joffrey ballet schools.
He scored a small-screen success in the 1985 television miniseries North and South, which was set in the American Civil War.
Swayze shot to superstardom in 1987 with his filmDirty Dancing, a steamy international blockbuster in which he played a dancing teacher to a young wallflower who starts to bloom.
His wallflower costar, actress Jennifer Grey said "when I think of him, I think of being in his arms when we were kids, dancing, practicing the lift in the freezing lake, having a blast doing this tiny little movie we thought no one would ever see."
Grey, now 49, told People magazine Swayze was a "real cowboy with a tender heart," who was so fearless doing his own stunts that "it was not surprising to me that the war he waged on his cancer was so courageous and dignified".
His next big hit came in 1990's Ghost, where he starred oppositeDemi MooreandWhoopi Goldbergin a hit romantic drama that wonGoldbergan Oscar.
Swayze followed that up with a memorable performance in the fast-paced action-thriller Point Break in 1991, where he played the charismatic leader of a gang of surfing bank-robbers being hunted byKeanu Reeves.
Throughout his career Swayze's wife Lisa Niemi - whom he married in 1975 - remained a constant source of inspiration for many of his roles.
"Lisa and I have built just about every character I've done," he told People magazine in 2007. "You have to understand, we have an ease ... We've been partners for a long time."
Though ailing, Swayze, unbowed, recently acted for five months in the television series The Beast, in which he played an FBI agent.
Man jailed over petrol station attack
By Jessica Marszalek, AAP September 15, 2009
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/6036004/man-jailed-over-petrol-station-attack/ A man will serve a year in jail after a bout of road rage at a Brisbane petrol station that left another with debilitating injuries. Wilson Daniel Lee, 38, of Marsden, pleaded guilty at Brisbane's District Court on Tuesday to grievous bodily harm over the August 2008 attack. The court was told Lee was getting petrol at the Caltex Woolworth's petrol station at Carindale on a busy afternoon when hisIsraelivictim, Tal Naor, reversed his car up to a bowser and pushed in. When Mr Naor went inside to pay he got into an argument with Lee's daughter-in-law, which prompted Lee to become involved. The court heard Lee walked up to Mr Naor and asked what he had said to his daughter-in-law. When Mr Naor replied "nothing", Lee knocked him down with one punch to the head, got in his car and drove away. Prosecutor Stacey Coker said the "unprovoked and callous attack" had caused severe traumatic brain injures, which had required life-saving surgery. The victim now suffered persistent headaches, vertigo, intermittent dizziness, loss of taste, some loss of hearing and had short-term memory and concentration difficulties, she said. Speaking outside Brisbane District Court this morning, Mr Naor said: "Sometimes I wish that man just finished the job." Defence counsel Bob Reed read out a letter of apology written by Lee in which he said he had spent a lot of time thinking over his actions. In the letter Lee said he knew what it felt like to have a loved one in hospital and that he had no idea his actions would cause so much pain. "I hope that in time you and your family can forgive me," he said. "... If I could take it back I would." Mr Reed said Lee had been under stress at the time following a bus accident injuring his young son and a job loss. He had felt protective of his diminutive daughter-in-law and had acted on the spur of the moment, he said. Judge Kerry O'Brien sentenced Lee to three years imprisonment, to be suspended after 12 months. "This was an example of the use of unnecessary and completely gratuitous violence," he told Lee on sentencing.
"... Nothing that was done by the complainant could have warranted this."
What’s most important in life: integrity, honesty, tolerance? Whatever matters most to you probably came from the lessons your parents or favourite teachers instilled in you. nThese values let us decide what’s right and wrong, guide our decision-making and determine our priorities. Parenthood means we must decide on a set of family values to pass on. nChildren don’t need formal instruction on what is expected; they can be taught on a day-to-day basis. Very young kids can be taught to share and, on starting school, reminded to include others in games. Pre-teens will need to have the importance of acceptance and tolerance pointed out when they criticise other kids. nSo what’s the best way to instil a strong set of values in kids?
Table matters
The best time to highlight family values is over a meal. Having a few laughs and sharing the day’s stories gives plenty of opportunity to remind your children of what’s important in life. Praising them for showing compassion or being empathetic will strengthen the lessons you taught them when they were younger. Now you’re talking
Teenagers are notorious for quoting what happens in other people’s houses. And even preschoolers can be heard to say: ‘But Jimmy’s mum bought him a PlayStation and it wasn’t even his birthday!’ Children may not like it but by saying ‘In this house we value working for what we get’ or ‘In this house we don’t talk like that’, you will be subtly instilling family values.
Value judgement
When your child is invited to a second party after having already accepted a previous invitation, use the opportunity to point out the value of loyalty and friendship. Or if your child can’t decide whether to ring in sick for their casual job because their friends have decided to go out somewhere fun, remind them about commitment and trust.
AGREE ON WHAT'S IMPORTANT
Consider the following list of potential values, and then decide with your partner or spouse what your family values will be:
Compassion Honesty Integrity Courage Perseverance Trust Empathy Obedience Tolerance Loyalty Faith Respect Kindness Caring Acceptance Reliability
Singer Lily Allen, who quips, "Everything is cool as long as I'm getting thinner" in The Fear, must be doing A-OK because she's noticeably trimmed down. Allen is using a Harley St hypnotherapist to help put her off junk food. "After hypnosis, I want to go to the gym every day," says Allen, 24. "I just want to get more toned and healthy."
In 2007 Allen was brought to tears by comparison photos of her and now new bestie Kate Moss. "I felt like it didn't matter if I was a bit chubby, because I'm not a model, I'm a singer," she wrote on her blog. Allen, who suffered a miscarriage last year, has also said her mood can affect her size. "The only reason I have lost weight is because I comfort eat when I'm not very happy," she told U.K. tabloid the Sun in January this year.
But with Allen's latest album, It's Not Me, It's You, reaching No. 1 in Australia and doing well worldwide, winning the Woman of the Year gong at the GQ Awards in London on Sept. 8 and even guest-starring on Neighbours the same day, she has every reason to look and feel great.
Echoing Allen's desire to put health first is Kelly Osbourne, who has signed on to the US version of Dancing With the Stars. "I want to get fit," says Osbourne. To read about other celebrities' notable slim-downs, including Tyra Banks, Kim Kardashian and Magda Szubanski, pick up a copy of this week's WHO magazine, on sale Sept. 11.
World's Highest-Paid Athletes 2009 By Kurt Badenhausen
Michael Schumacher is making a return to competition, but he poses no threat to the Tiger Woods money machine.
Tiger Woods added another record to his arsenal this weekend when he became the first player in PGA Tour history to win seven times on the same course with his comeback victory at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Woods pocketed $1.4 million in prize money, further cementing his status as the highest-paid athlete in the world.
Meanwhile, Woods' only competition for the top-paid title this past decade is making a return to competition after two and a half years of retirement. Auto racing legend Michael Schumacher, who earned $80 million a year at his peak in the early 2000s, is returning to Formula One to race for Ferrari in place of injured driver Felipe Massa. Schumacher retired after the 2006 F1 season, but stayed on with Ferrari as a consultant. Don't expect Schumacher to topple Tiger this time around, though. Eight months on the shelf after knee surgery put a severe dent in Woods' prize money, and killed his overseas appearance fees. One of his main sponsors walked away a year before their agreement was set to expire.
Yet Tiger Woods remains sports' highest earner with an annual income two and a half times larger than his closest competitor. The world's top golfer made $110 million during the 12 months to June and is the best paid sportsman for the eighth straight year.
Woods' knee injury caused his prize money to drop to $5 million from $25 million, but his overall earnings only fell $5 million thanks to an expansion of Woods' non-playing financial empire.
PepsiCo launched Gatorade Tiger last year in March with claims that it "helps focus your mind and your body." Woods receives a cut of sales for the four flavors sold under his name. When General Motors' problems caused Buick to terminate its $8 million a year deal with Woods one year early, the Woods camp moved quickly to sign a deal with AT&T to put the phone company's brand on his golf bag in Buick's place.
Nike is by far Woods' biggest benefactor with an annual payday of more than $30 million for the golfer. Woods profits from the success of the company's golf division, and last year sales for Nike Golf hit a record $725 million. Woods' most lucrative new endeavor is his golf course design business. Last year he announced plans for a third course to be built in Mexico. His other courses in Dubai and North Carolina are currently under construction.
Our list of the highest-paid athletes looks at earnings derived from salaries, bonuses, prize money, endorsements and licensing income between June 2008 and June 2009 and does not deduct for taxes or agents' fees. Overall, the top 20 earned $789 million, down 1% from last year. The cutoff to make the list was $30 million.
Drop-offs from last year include boxer Floyd Mayweather (has not fought since December 2007), NFL players Ben Roethlisberger and Dwight Freeney (both made the 2008 list after inking contracts with big signing bonuses) and Formula One driver Fernando Alonso (just missed the cut).
The highest-ranking of the four newcomers to the list is boxer Manny Pacquiao who earned $40 million over the last year, tied for the sixth most. Pacquiao cemented his claim as the world's best pound-for-pound fighter with convincing knockouts of Oscar De La Hoya in December and Ricky Hatton in May. The two blockbuster fights garnered more than 2 million pay-per-view buys in the U.S. and earned Pac-Man $30 million combined.
Pacquiao's massive popularity in his native Philippines is why companies like Nike and San Miguel beer have signed him to endorse their products. Pacquiao intends to use that popularity to run for political office when his ring career is over.
Our 20 highest earners have a very international flavor with Pacquiao one of eight non-Americans on the list. Finnish Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen earned $45 million over the past year, tied for second on our list with hoop legends Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Right behind that trio is global icon David Beckham who earned $42 million playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy and AC Milan, while schilling for Adidas, Giorgio Armani and Motorola.
Notable omission: the entire NFL, which didn't place anyone in the top 20 despite being the world's richest sports league. The league's salary cap keeps a lid on individual player salaries, and few players outside of Peyton Manning collect big endorsement deals. The top NFL earner during the past 12 months was Oakland Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha who made $22 million, mainly as a result of the three-year, $45 million contract he signed in February.
Cut booze, cigs to save billions: study By Greg Roberts, AAP October 8, 2009
Cutting back on drinking and smoking would not only save thousands of Australian lives, it could also save the economy more than $2 billion.
A new study finds that reducing the average annual intake of 773 standard drinks per adult to 505 drinks a year would save 38 lives and $1.2 billion. The VicHealth-backed study conducted by Deakin University also found if the rate of smoking was cut from the current 23 per cent of Australians to 15 per cent, 5,000 deaths would be prevented and more than $900 million in health, production and leisure costs would be saved. The report is "breaking new ground in developing a model that estimates the economic benefits of the home-based activities and leisure that are essential to our daily lives", co-author and Deakin University Health Economic Professor Rob Carter said. Prof Carter said the report - The Health and Economic Benefits of Reducing Disease Risk Factors - found the financial savings would benefit families and workplaces. "Production and leisure includes the increased economic benefits from paid work (such as reduced absenteeism) plus unpaid, home-based activities, like caring for families, as well as leisure activities," Prof Carter said. Australians are big drinkers, according to the report. We drink more than Americans (more than 660 standard drinks a year), Canadians (632), Swedes (520) and Norwegians (505), the report's researchers from Deakin University and the National Stroke Research Institute say. VicHealth chief executive Todd Harper told a conference in Darwin on Wednesday that cutting the drinking rates to 505 drinks a year and smoking to 15 per cent were realistic targets that would bring massive benefits. There would be 98,000 fewer new cases each year of alcohol-related disease, 21,000 fewer years lost to illness and death, 158,000 fewer annual new cases of tobacco-caused illness and 71,000 fewer years lost to illness and death from smoking. "The 15 per cent smoking target has already been reached in California, where effective policies have seen low smoking levels achieved," he said. "And these targets point to large gains for relatively modest changes in the behaviours that lead to chronic illnesses. "If Australia followed California's lead in increasing tobacco prices, using the proceeds for Quit-style social marketing, and tightening smoke-free policies in public areas, smoking rates here could drop even more." According to the report, 13 per cent of adults drink alcohol at risky or high-risk levels, and alcohol added 2.3 per cent to the nation's health burden, with consequences including alcohol dependence and road accidents. The smoking reduction target set by the federal government's National Preventative Health Taskforce is to reduce daily smoking to 9 per cent or less by 2020.
PARÍS (AFP) - Feathered serpents and sacred jaguars from ancient Mexico's mysterious City of Gods, Teotihuacan, show in Europe for the first time at an unparalleled exhibition opening in Paris on Tuesday.
"It's the biggest exhibition ever on Teotihuacan", Miguel Baez, of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), told AFP. "We in Mexico love shows from other places, this time we aim to display our great civilisation." Some 450 pre-Columbian pieces, some of them monumental, some rarely or never exhibited, are on show until next January 24 in the French capital's newest arthouse, the Quai Branly museum, under the title "Teotihuacan, City of the Gods". A fearsome oversized 1,500-year-old jaguar recently discovered at the giant site opens the exhibit, also featuring new proof of rampant human sacrifice. One such item, which reverses previous thinking that Teotihuacan was a peaceful society, is a large just-excavated marble statue of a slave showing signs of bondage and arrows in his limbs. Wrapped in thick vegetation when rediscovered in the 19th century, little is yet known about the giant ancient city of Teotihuacan, which became a regional powerhouse in its 800-year history until its mysterious fall around 700 AD. At its height, the city built in semi-arid highlands barely 50 kilometres from Mexico City was home to more than 200,000 people, bigger than any European city of the time.
"We don't know who built it, how it was governed, or what happened to cause it to collapse," said Baez. "We have more questions than we have answers." Though one of the world's larger archeological digs, less than 10 percent of the 22-square-kilometre site has yet been excavated, leaving experts puzzling over why it disappeared -- internal strife, invasion, disease, or hunger caused from over-intensive use of the land?
"Teotihuacan was not even its original name," Baez said. "We still don't know its name."
Discovered by Aztecs several centuries after being mysteriously abandoned and left crumbling, the Aztecs were so impressed by its greatness and beauty that they called it "the place where Gods are born" -- in Nahuatl, Teotihuacan. The city was laid out according to a cosmic view, with a main road, the Avenue of the Dead, running straight towards the mythical Pyramid of the Moon. Close by lay the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and the Pyramid of the Sun. "Earlier than Rome and over a very long time they rigorously built a massive city on a grid," said Brendan MacFarlane, the New Zealander scenographer who worked with France's Dominique Jakob to recreate a giant model of the city at the show. People lived in some 2,000 residential complexes grouping anywhere between 20 to 100 people, with family apartments organised around a central patio. Items on show were found in 15 of the complexes. And while archeologists have found trace of the artists and know there were priests and traders and slaves, nothing is known of the system of governance or the rulers. "There was no sense of personal identity, none of the statues are made in anyone's likeness," said Fabienne de Pierrebourg, who is in charge of the French museum's Americas collections. "It is the most mysterious civilisation of the continent," she added.
The exhibition is to travel to Zurich and Berlin. Details on www.quaibranly.fr
ISTANBUL (AFP) - Suzan, like many Armenians living clandestinely in Istanbul, came for the money. But the better life is also one of constant fear as an illegal alien living amongst the "enemy". The 51-year-old Suzan's decision has proved quite profitable. As a teacher to children of other illegal Armenian immigrants, she multiplied her monthly wages by seven -- from 50 dollars to 350 dollars (34 to 240 euros). But she also worries every day about getting caught by Turkish police. In a basement serving as a make-shift school, she talked about the unease of thousands of Armenians like herself. Forced to leave their impoverished country to earn a living, they have settled in Turkey's biggest city, facing up to their historical fear of Turks and braving an illegal existence. "My relatives who stayed in Armenia do not know Turkey. They have difficulty accepting what I do here and that adds to my sadness," she said. Suzan is hoping all that may change soon with a rare chance of peace between the neighbours and foes, at odds over claims of a 1915-1917 Turkish genocide against Armenians. Then she and others could emerge from the shadows and work freely in Turkey. Suzan said she could have an even "better life" and, maybe, set up a "small business" between the two countries. In a major breakthrough, Turkey and Yerevan announced in August a deal to establish diplomatic ties for the first time and open their border, sealed since 1993. The two countries are expected to ink the deal on Saturday in Switzerland before submitting it to their respective parliaments for ratification. If the process succeeds, it would change the picture for the illegal Armenians already in Istanbul as well as the five to six bus loads coming in every week from Yerevan after a gruelling 35-hour journey via Georgia. They enter Turkey on a one-month tourist visa, but many are looking to set up a new life here. Their existence is no secret for Turkish authorities: in April, President Abdullah Gul said there were more than 70,000 Armenian citizens working in Turkey. And in May, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said about 40,000 of these were illegal and said his government was not sending them back out of humanitarian concerns. One of those illegal Armenians tolerated by authorities is Sveta who arrived in Istanbul, a bustling metropolis of more than 12 million, seven years ago. Armed with a huge smile that shows several golden teeth, the 55-year-old recalled how at first she dreaded the idea of living among Turks, only to discover that her fears were groundless. "After I arrived, I started working in a shoe factory. I was the only woman among 40 men and the only Armenian among 40 Turks," she said. "But, in fact, they always treated me like a big sister. They never said anything bad to me." Sveta lives with her two daughters, son-in-law and two grandchildren in a two-room flat with no heating and her visa expired long ago. Despite the hardships, she does not regret her choice. "Coming to Turkey is not expensive at all and there are no problems here... The police never ask any questions," she said, compared to Moscow, the main destination for Armenian immigrants, where life is expensive and the police relentless. Fabio Salomoni, an Italian sociologist at Istanbul's Koc University who has published research on immigration from the Caucasus to Turkey, estimated the number of illegal Armenian immigrants in Istanbul at 20,000. He said most were women of over 40 employed as nannies or cleaning ladies as there is greater demand for them. While most Turkish women in such jobs go home at the end of the workday, Armenian women often live with their employer and are available 24 hours a day, the academic said. And since they are in the country illegally, they tend to work for less money than Turkish women. According to the Salomoni, the presence of a centuries-old local Armenian community in Istanbul, numbering around 70,000, plays a role in the flow of Armenian citizens to the city. "The existence of the community and the fact that the city is full of concrete Armenian symbols reinforce the immigrants' feeling of security: they feel a bit at home," he said. Despite hopes for peace, loyalty runs deep. Teacher Suzan, for one, stressed that she would never make concessions on the World War I massacres of Armenians under Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, which Yerevan says constituted a genocide. "This is not possible, this is our history and we will not be able to forget it," she added. Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart. Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops. In 1993, Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in a show of solidarity with close ally Azerbaijan over the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, dealing a serious blow to the impoverished former Soviet republic.
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The chance of a negotiated end to the Honduran crisis crept closer on Tuesday as mediators set up talks between de facto leaders and ousted President Manuel Zelaya, trapped by soldiers inside Brazil's embassy. Foreign ministers and diplomats from the Organization of American States will arrive on Wednesday in the poor coffee growing country to oversee a meeting between representatives of Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti, the de facto leader who took power after a June 28 coup. In a live television broadcast, Micheletti said political amnesty and the division of power are on the table but did not raise Zelaya's possible return to office as a solution to a crisis that has put soldiers armed with guns and clubs on the streets, echoing Central America's Cold War-era troubles.
The visit by foreign ministers from Mexico and Central America will be Micheletti's first contact with high-level politicians on home turf since the putsch. Zelaya says Micheletti has agreed to dialogue only to gain legitimacy. "At the bottom of this there is absolutely nothing more than bad intentions," the leftist logging magnate told TV station Canal 11 by telephone from his base in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. Taking a tough stance ahead of talks, he accused the OAS of being soft on his opponent who he says is playing for time to keep the de facto government alive longer. Despite his doubts, negotiations are set for the afternoon between three of Zelaya's envoys and Micheletti's delegation. Tensions flared when Zelaya slipped back into Honduras two weeks ago. He has been trapped since then by troops surrounding the Brazilian embassy building as Micheletti has slapped emergency curbs on pro-Zelaya media and street protests. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday said Micheletti should give up power to end the crisis. A group of 12 Lenca Indians supporting Zelaya sought asylum in the Guatemalan embassy on Tuesday, citing death threats and beatings from security forces. Activists plan a series of anti-coup protests in the next 24 hours. Some 200 people holding candles and blowing whistles marched on Tuesday night. "We are protesting peacefully, we want democracy," said Daniel Martinez, 51, at an earlier event near Brazil's embassy. He had head and leg wounds he said were from police clubs at a march last month where one protester died in serious clashes.
MEDIA STILL SHUTTERED
Talks are to center on the San Jose agreement drafted by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias when he mediated earlier in the crisis. The document calls for Zelaya's reinstatement and a unity government until scheduled November 29 elections. Zelaya said he was worried the OAS was no longer resolute in its support for reinstating him. "It seems to me that in the last few hours the Arias plan has been practically abandoned." Micheletti wants Zelaya to stand trial and is resisting pressure to restore the leftist who is allied with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Zelaya was toppled after riling powerful conservatives who fear he wanted to extend his hold on power. Diplomats have praised a change in attitude from Micheletti, who has welcomed back OAS officials he expelled last month and bowed to international pressure by agreeing to lift the curbs on media and social freedoms. "We are now very optimistic. There have been very significant advances from both sides," said OAS Special Adviser John Biehl who is currently in Honduras. However, two media outlets that had their equipment taken by masked soldiers last week are still off the air and a ban on marches of more than 20 people is still in place, pending the formal lifting of the curbs.
(Reporting by Miguel Angel Gutierrez and Ignacio Badal; Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
NASA finds giant ring around Saturn
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered the biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet Saturn.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said on Tuesday that the ring lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system and its orbit is tilted 27 degrees from the planet's main ring plane.
The ring is made of a thin array of ice and dust particles. JPL spokeswoman Whitney Clavin says the ring is very diffuse and doesn't reflect much visible light but the infrared Spitzer telescope was able to detect it.
Although the ring dust is very cold - minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit - it shines with thermal radiation.
The bulk of the ring material starts about 5.95 million km from the planet and extends outward about another 11.9 million km.
Researchers hail heart transplant breakthrough ABC 7 OCTOBER 2009
Australian scientists have developed a world-first technique that doubles the time that donor hearts can spend in transit before being used for transplant surgery. Researchers at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Centre in Sydney say their groundbreaking combination of drugs can extend transportation time from the current five-hour limit to up to 14 hours. The scientists say their pioneering technique means donor hearts could now be accepted from interstate and even overseas. The director of the Institute, Bob Graham, says more lives will be saved by using the technique. "Australia is a big continent," he said. "At the moment we can't take an organ, say from Northern Queensland, to some recipient that's in Perth because the hearts wouldn't survive. "But now we should be able to take the heart from anywhere in Australia, to anywhere in Australasia - both Australia and New Zealand." The researchers hope the method can one day be applied to other organs used for transplant, including lungs and kidneys.
Threat to sue athlete for fund-raising brothel Reuters - October 8, 2009
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The New Zealand Olympic Committee has threatened to sue a local taekwondo athlete who plans to finance his 2012 London Games bid with the proceeds from a brothel. Logan Campbell, whose participation in the Beijing Olympics last year cost him NZ$150,000 ($110,600) -- most of which came from his parents -- opened a brothel with a friend in Auckland earlier this year. Campbell went public with the scheme in July and the 23-year-old said he hoped to raise NZ$300,000 to alleviate any financial burden on his parents and to have more time to concentrate on training. After remaining silent on the issue for three months, the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) had written a letter to Campbell demanding he cease linking the Olympics to his business or face legal action, the athlete told New Zealand television Wednesday. "Based on the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect, we would place your actions as totally inconsistent with these values," TV3 network quoted an excerpt of the letter, signed by NZOC secretary-general Barry Maister, as saying. "Your open solicitation of 'clients' for your 'business' while using the Olympic or Olympian connection must cease immediately, or the NZOC will be forced to consider taking legal action against you." Campbell, who finished outside the medals in the featherweight division at Beijing, defended his business and fundraising efforts. Owning and running brothels is legal in New Zealand, where laws governing prostitution are relatively liberal by world standards. "At the end of the day, I feel like I'm not exploiting anyone because no one has to be here, we are not forcing anyone to be here. They are here of their own free will," he told the network. Campbell was now threatening legal action of his own, TV3 added.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
Szubanski struts the catwalk By Katherine Field, AAP September 11, 2009, 1:39 pm
Showing no signs of being fazed by recent jibes from shock jock Kyle Sandilands, funny lady Magda Szubanski
has shown off her new figure in her first catwalk appearance.
Szubanski, who recently lost 25kg to now weigh 85kg, opened a fashion show for The Australian Women's Weekly
at Sydney's Royal Hall of Industries, wearing a pink dress and cropped jacket. The theatre and TV star smiled as
she jovially strutted the catwalk, waving to the audience as they cheered her on. At the end of the catwalk Szubanski
slapped her bottom and danced around. The Kath and Kim star closed the show wearing a Matthew Eager black cocktail
dress with a cropped Carla Zampatti jacket. It comes just a few days after 2DayFM presenter Sandilands joked that
Szubanski would only be skinny if she was put in a concentration camp. Szubanski said she was proud of her weight
loss efforts, adding she never expected she would grace a catwalk.
"I'm not a size zero but you can be the best at what you're able to be," Szubanski said in front of fans during a question and answer session with
The Australian Women's Weekly's Deborah Thomas after the show. "I'm really happy at this level. I'm going to stay here for a bit. Adjust to it, get used to it.
"And then if I want to lose more great and if I don't great." Szubanski wouldn't talk directly about Sandilands' comments and subsequent suspension
from the station but said her life had changed dramatically since her weight loss because people perceived her differently. "That's challenging as well.
You have to learn to manage that," she said. "That's why having help and support is really important because to try and go through that on their own
I think that's sometimes why people hit a brick wall and they stop." Szubanski, whose father was a Polish freedom fighter who hunted Nazis, said at
the time of the Sandilands incident that the remarks were "abhorrent", and she was "so sad for co-host Jackie O", but has accepted his apology.
The event was organised as part of ACP's three day Magazines Go Live Event for the annual 30 Days of Fashion and Beauty festival.
On Monday night celebrity guests including US crooner Chris Isaak and Australian pop singer Natalie Bassingthwaighte will
be the star guests a special VIP launch.
Speaking about the stunt, Brown said he realised there are a lot of questions this brings up.
"I hope they'll be answered on the Friday night show," he said.
Brown had his predictions turned away from the camera on the left side of the screen while streaming the lottery
draw live on a television on the right.
There is speculation an assistant could stick the numbers on the balls through a gap in the wall.
Another idea floated was the use of a laser to write the numbers on the blank Lotto balls from a distance while some believe
he actually hypnotised an entire audience into believing they could see the correct numbers on blank balls.
Some even thought Derren recorded every possible combination of lotto numbers but there are more than 14 million combinations
and it would take him more time than the years he has been alive.
The most common theory is that it was filmed using overlay to cover an assistant placing the correct numbers in the right places,
however many fans on Brown's website and Facebook page have expressed their anger towards him if this is the case.
Brown said the trick was the culmination of a year's work.
His previous TV specials have included live Russian Roulette, a seance and a foolproof horse race gambling system.
He is also a well-known sceptic, artist and atheist.
Derren maintains his illusions are a combination of a number of techniques including misdirection, mentalism and magic.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Words of wisdom from Paris Hilton are to be immortalized alongside remarks by some of the greatest
thinkers of all time in the latest edition of the Oxford Book of Quotations -- and she reckons it's "so cool."
Hilton, the socialite turned reality TV star and retailing phenomenon, is listed in the latest version of the 65-year-old dictionary,
released this week, alongside the likes of Confucius, Oscar Wilde and Stephen Hawking.
Her contribution? "Dress cute wherever you go, life is too short to blend in."
Hilton, 28, was delighted to be featured in the book, which is a renowned list of memorable sayings.
"So cool that I have a quote in the dictionary," she wrote on her Twitter page.
Another new entry in the seventh edition of the Oxford University Press publication is Sarah Palin.
The former vice-presidential candidate makes the cut for her most famous quip: "What's the difference between a hockey
mom and a pitbull? Lipstick."
More than 20,000 new quotations have been added to the dictionary, including one credited to President Barack Obama that
echoes words spoken by Martin Luther King Jr.: "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice."
Others came from the likes of British author Terry Pratchett -- using "embuggerance" to describe his Alzheimer's --
and from author Fay Weldon: "Guilt is to motherhood as grapes are to wine."
(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Miral Fahmy)
PARIS (Reuters) - A drunk French teenager narrowly escaped death on Sunday after falling asleep on a railway track and slumbering undisturbed as a high-speed train roared over him, police said. The 19-year old, whose name was not released, remained fast asleep face down on a stretch of track near Saint Nolff in southern Brittany, as the Quimper to Paris train passed, leaving only a few grease stains on the back of his jacket. The driver saw the body lying on the tracks and slammed on the brakes, but was only able to stop a few hundred meters further on. "It was his unconscious state that saved him really, as he lay there completely still like a dead body," said a spokesman for the local police force, adding that the clearance under the train is only around 20 centimeters. According to the spokesman, the teenager was making his way back from the Saint Nolff music festival when he stopped to take a nap on the railway line.
Roused by police and fire fighters who attended the scene, the young man gave a one-fingered salute before rolling over and going back to sleep. He was subsequently transferred to a nearby hospital where police say he is still recovering from his alcohol binge. "He's not really aware of what happened," said the police spokesman.
(Reporting by Vicky Buffery, editing by Paul Casciato))
LONDON (AFP) - Three British Muslims were sentenced Monday to life in jail for plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners with liquid bombs in Al-Qaeda-inspired suicide attacks on the scale of September 11. JudgeRichardHenriques said the plot was "the most grave and wicked conspiracy ever proven within this jurisdiction", as he passed sentence at the top-security Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London. "The intention was to perpetrate a terrorist outrage that would stand alongside the events of September 11, 2001 in history," he said. The plot, foiled in August 2006, triggered the wide-ranging rules now in place on carrying liquids aboard commercial aircraft. Ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 40-year term. The plot's "chemist and quartermaster" Assad Sarwar, 29, must spend a minimum of 36 years behind bars, while fellow plotter Tanvir Hussain, 28, Ali's right-hand man, must serve at least 32 years.
The trio were told they may never be released. The counter-terrorism operation to foil the London-based plot was the biggest ever in Britain, costing 35 million pounds (58 million dollars, 40 million euros). Henriques said: "There is every likelihood that this plot would have succeeded but for the intervention of the police and the security service. "A massive loss of life would almost certainly have resulted." The plotters targeted seven flights from London's Heathrow airport to New York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal. The jets would have been mid-air simultaneously, prosecutors said. Some of the men recorded so-called martyrdom videos featuring threats to the West of waves of terrorist attacks. "This was a viable and meticulously planned conspiracy and I conclude it was imminent," Henriques said. The plot was "an act of revenge inspired by extremist Islamic thinking", aimed at the "governments of several allied forces inIraqand Afghanistan", he added. The tighter security measures and restrictions on liquids now seen on flights worldwide are "entirely attributable to this conspiracy", he said. The judge said emails showed "the ultimate control of this conspiracy lay in Pakistan", saying the plot was run, monitored and funded from there. The six-month trial was peppered with evidence that the gang was frequently in communication with Al-Qaeda-linked figures inPakistan. On September 7, a jury found Ali, Sarwar and Hussain guilty of conspiracy to murder by blowing up transatlantic airliners. Prosecutors said they plotted to drill holes in the bottom of plastic drinks bottles, drain the contents and inject liquid explosive with a syringe before sealing the holes with glue. That way the bottle tops would remain unopened. The home-made liquid explosive was to be concocted from hydrogen peroxide and Tang, a soft drink available in powdered form. When mixed with such an organic material at an appropriate strength, hydrogen peroxide has explosive qualities. The bottles would be detonated using the substance HTMD, concealed in regular AA 1.5-volt batteries. Henriques said the gang had other targets in their sights, including power installations. "You had within your contemplation a campaign of bombing which would have a devastating effect upon this country," he said. A fourth man, 31-year-old Umar Islam, who was convicted of the more general charge of conspiracy to murder, was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 22 years. John McDowall, head of the British police's CounterTerrorismCommand, said: "This has been a lengthy, resource-intensive and meticulous investigation, which has culminated in the convictions and today's long sentences. "I cannot thank enough all those involved in bringing these terrorists to justice." Prosecutors are seeking a third trial for three men found not guilty of plotting to blow up airliners, following a hung jury on the wider charge of conspiracy to murder.
A hearing on October 5 will determine whether Ibrahim Savant, 28, Arafat Waheed Khan, 28, and Waheed Zaman, 25, will face another trial.
A man threw his four-year-old daughter to her death from Melbourne's West Gate Bridge after telling his former wife she would never see her children again, a court has heard.
Arthur Phillip Freeman is charged with murdering Darcey Freeman on January 29 this year as he drove her to what would have been her first day at school.
Earlier the same day, he told his estranged wife Peta Barnes to say goodbye to her children, the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard.
"You will never see them again," he allegedly told her on the phone.
Freeman, 36, was driving his three children across the West Gate Bridge when he stopped his four-wheel drive in the emergency lane, lifted Darcey out of the car and threw her from the bridge, crown prosecutor Gavin Silbert SC said.
She fell 58 metres and later died in hospital.
Mr Silbert said as Freeman drove away, his son Benjamin, then eight, asked him to stop the car and go back to get Darcey because she could not swim.
Witness Barry Nelson said the child appeared to be like a rag doll and there was no struggle.
"I basically saw the child tipped over the side of the bridge," he said.
"Very clear in my mind in seeing hair and limbs as the child left the hands of the person in question."
Mr Nelson said he called out to Freeman about what he was doing.
But Freeman had a vacant expression and walked casually to his car and rejoined the traffic, he said. "He had a completely neutral face as if he was just going about his business every day," he said. "He appeared like nothing was wrong. That was the overriding impression." Freeman, an unemployed computer programmer, then allegedly drove to the Commonwealth Law Courts in the city where he tried to hand over his two-year-old son to security guards. The guards gave evidence he appeared distressed and was shaking and sobbing. He did not respond to questions. Ilana Katz, a psychologist at the Family Court, described him as catatonic. "He had a very painful look on his face, tears were running down his eyes and saliva was running from his mouth," she said. "My initial response was this man needs psychiatric help and he needs it urgently." Freeman was then told by another court worker that everything would be alright, to which he replied, "No." He was detained and declared unfit for a police interview. The court heard Freeman and Ms Barnes had been married for nine years but divorced in the middle of last year. On the day of Darcey's death, Freeman was driving the children to school in Melbourne after spending a night at his parents' property at Airey's Inlet near Geelong. As Freeman left the property, he was seen driving fast and erratically and tailgating other vehicles.
Polish Australians will have easier access to pensions after a deal signed in Warsaw.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, who signed the deal in Poland on Wednesday, said it would allow people who had lived part of their adult lives in both Australia and Poland to claim pensions from both countries.
There are more than 160,000 people of Polish ancestry living in Australia.
During his visit Mr Smith spoke with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski about the war in Afghanistan.
Both Poland and Australia have troops with the NATO-led coalition forces in the troubled country.
Mr Smith also visited the Warsaw ghetto, into which Jewish people were crowded during World War II.
He laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Warsaw in memory of the 46 Australians who died in the war and were buried in Poland.
Coalition facing ETS showdown: rebel MP
By Cathy Alexander, AAP October 7, 2009
By Cathy Alexander, AAP
With the fate of emissions trading hanging in the balance, rebel coalition MPs are working out how to prevent the scheme from passing parliament this year. Tensions within the coalition are coming to a head as MPs prepare for a showdown on October 18. The coalition will agree on sweeping, business-friendly amendments to the government's ETS. But while Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull wants to amend and pass the scheme this year, rebels - who are not happy with his leadership - are gearing up for their last stand.
October 7, 2009
One option they are considering is voting down the scheme in November, even if their amendments are accepted.
Plan B is to drag out Senate debate so there is no vote this year. The rebel faction, mostly senators who tend to be aligned with Peter Costello, have been emboldened by Mr Turnbull's poor poll ratings. They say it's time to take a stand and they are not scared of an early, double dissolution election if they vote down the ETS. But some Liberal MPs - especially in the lower house and in the shadow ministry - just want to see an amended ETS passed and out of the way. The scene has been set for ugly debate when all coalition MPs meet at Parliament House on October 18 to decide what to do. The deepening division within the coalition is a nightmare for Mr Turnbull as speculation mounts over the longevity of his leadership. Popular frontbencher Joe Hockey says he has been approached to take over the leadership. Both sides - pro-ETS and anti-ETS - think they will just have the numbers to win the fight. Establishing an ETS is one of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's key tasks for this term but he cannot do it without the coalition. The government is increasing the pressure on the coalition not to dodge a vote on the ETS by a Senate filibuster. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has warned against playing "tricky games in the Senate to stall the vote" and has called for a vote this year. Treasurer Wayne Swan insisted the opposition rule out using a filibuster to avoid a vote. Mr Turnbull was cautious on the filibuster, saying it is "really a matter for the Senate" whether there will be a vote this year.
Should the coalition try to drag out debate to avoid a vote, it may count as a trigger for a double dissolution election.
If the Senate refuses to sit late hours or sit extra weeks in December, that could count as a "failure to pass" the legislation.
If the Senate knocks back any bill twice then the government can ask for an early election.
Shadow cabinet met in Melbourne on Wednesday to discuss the amendments it will propose to the ETS.
It is understood some will be "core" amendments, such as removing agriculture from the scheme and maintaining the level of free carbon permits to industry instead of reducing them. Other amendments will be "non-core".
There are two sitting weeks this year in which the Senate can consider the ETS, in late November.
But the government could recall parliament in December.
The government wants the ETS passed before UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December but the opposition wants to wait for international developments before finalising the scheme.
The ETS is due to start in July 2011 and will put a price on carbon pollution for the first time.
It is the government's main weapon to reduce greenhouse pollution and tackle climate change.
Internal bickering hijacks Coalition talks ABC OCTOBER 7 2009
This afternoon's shadow cabinet meeting, called to figure out how to amend the Government's emissions trading scheme, was hijacked by yet more Opposition MPs publicly denouncing Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull's tactics.
Today Peter Costello announced he was resigning from Parliament early, and Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey set tongues wagging when he confirmed that colleagues had sounded him out for the leadership.
After months of disastrous polling and internal rows, there has been a public admission that some in the Liberal Party have been talking about a change at the top.
Mr Hockey today confirmed he has been sounded out to take over from Mr Turnbull as Opposition Leader.
"People talk to me about all sort of things, I'm not going to lie and pretend something hasn't happened," Mr Hockey said.
But his admission came with obvious caution - he has previously denied any desire to take on the job and insists his loyalty lies with Mr Turnbull.
"Well my colleagues speak to me about lots of things. I'm just not going down the path of engaging in this because this in itself starts bushfires and I'm not interested in doing that," Mr Hockey said.
Within hours the flames were licking at Mr Turnbull's feet as he arrived with his deputy, Julie Bishop, for a shadow cabinet meeting in Melbourne.
Ms Bishop said there was no leadership speculation and Mr Turnbull said he had the support of the whole party room.
The speculation has fired up at a time when Mr Turnbull is being slaughtered in the polls and publicly challenged by some of his own MPs over his plans to deal with the Government over its emissions trading scheme.
The Government is determined to push the legislation to a vote in November.
The laws have already been spurned once by the Senate and a second defeat would make the emissions trading scheme a double dissolution election trigger.
Mr Turnbull wants to avoid an early poll and his intention is to craft amendments that would win over his party and the Government.
But a growing number in his party room have spoken out against any moves to do a deal with Labor. Queensland Liberal Senator Brett Mason has written a letter to Mr Turnbull, stating his strong opinion that negotiating with a view to passing the bill this November would be detrimental to the nation's interests. He has joined other Liberal MPs who say the vote should wait until after the United Nations climate change conference in December. Some in the Opposition have suggested that the Senate debate may take so long that it will not have time for a vote in the two weeks of parliamentary sittings. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong suspects a plan to filibuster. "If Mr Turnbull's is serious about negotiating on action on climate change in good faith, as he said he will, he would ensure that his senators don't play tricky games to stall a vote in the senate," Senator Wong said. "He'll ensure that there is a vote this year on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme." But Mr Turnbull has offered no guarantees. "If you're asking do I think a vote [will be] held before the end of year or not or next year, that is really a matter for the Senate," he said. He knows that in that Senate vote rests not just the fate of the emissions trading scheme, but the potential for the nation's next federal election and with that, his own political future.
Feed your family for $21
Reporter: Gavin Alder
Broadcast Date: October 07, 2009
With all of us looking to save money on groceries one woman has found a way to feed the family for only $21 a week.
Fiona Lippey is the founder of Simple Savings.
"The average family who spend about $300 a week on food are usually making big mistakes," she said.
"They're usually buying expensive packet food, they're usually paying premium prices and they are just not thinking."
Fiona said a lot of people buy food and then forget they have it.
"It sits in the back of the cupboard and goes rusty and it just gets wasted," she said.
"Ten percent of all food grown is wasted."
By using what is on hand, Fiona argues average families could save $200 to $250 a month.
Members of Fiona's online club have already proven it can be done.
"The reason why it's $21 is because one of our members Barb's husband only brought her home $20 to do her weekly shop and she found $1 in her purse and she said 'I'll show him' and she took it on," Fiona said.
"She told us and then our members went for it and now there's thousands of people who manage to do their weekly shop with just $21."
Nutritionist Julie Gilbert warns families should not use plans like Fiona's too often.
"If I had $21 to feed my family I would look at things like fruit and vegetables particularly at those that are in season and on special," she said.
"I'd also make sure I'd get a loaf of multi-grain bread and also some low fat milk."
How to get started
1. The $21 Challenge was originally created to feed a family of four, but larger families have successfully adapted the plan to feed more. Feel free to add an extra $5.25 per person to your overall budget goal. But many families have finished the week having spent much less than $21!
2. There is no point taking the challenge when you are hosting visitors, on holidays, moving house or nursing sick family members.
3. Immerse yourself in the pantry, dig deep into the freezer and explore every inch of the fridge. Get rid of anything past its use-by date. Jot down everything else. Use the categories 'Regulars' (items you buy and use all the time) and 'Bonuses' (things you bought ages ago and do not really know what to do with). When you stocktake the fridge, note any items that need to be consumed within the next week.
4. This is really the key to conquering the $21 Challenge. Unlike traditional menu plans, this one works backwards, starting with what you have and then working out what wonderful things you can do with it.
5. Use your own family-friendly recipe books, consult The $21 Challenge book or check out recipe websiteslike Yahoo!7 Food.
6. Making a shopping list is the easiest thing to do this while you are filling in your planner, jotting down any recipe ingredients you do not already have. Estimate the total cost and make adjustments where you can.
7. Stick to your list and do not be tempted by any of the sneaky tricks supermarkets employ to try to take your hard-earned cash.
Jo Lamble: Family values
