среда, 29 февраля 2012 г.

QLD:Qld firefighters to be trained for floods


AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2011
QLD:Qld firefighters to be trained for floods

More Queensland firefighters will be trained in flood rescue techniques, but their
commissioner can't guarantee the recommended quota will be met before next wet season.

Queensland Fire and Rescue Service commanders received a poor appraisal in an inquiry
into the state's deadly summer floods early this year.

But Commissioner LEE JOHNSON has told the inquiry all reasonable steps were taken to
recall firefighters from holidays, and weather warnings were passed through the usual
communications channels.

The commission wants the service to fill its quota for swift-water rescuers, and Premier
ANNA BLIGH has committed to meeting all of the recommendations, but Mr JOHNSON has cast
doubt the number of 253 swift-water technicians will be achieved before the next wet season.

It currently has 222, and the training takes 12 months.

AAP RTV gd/jl/nb/wz

KEYWORD: FLOODS (BRISBANE)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED:Think affordable housing, IMF says


AAP General News (Australia)
04-07-2011
FED:Think affordable housing, IMF says

The International Monetary Fund is urging governments to consider initiatives to promote
affordable housing .. or provide good-quality rental accommodation as an alternative.

In analysis on housing finance and financial stability .. the Washington-based institution
says a more level tax treatment across home owners and renters should also be considered.

It says the role of government in the housing market should be carefully reviewed as
it may unintentionally contribute to financial instability.

It believes a disproportionate focus on home ownership might exacerbate house price
swings .. while governments should undertake more targeted measures to achieve social
objectives .. such as affordable housing for low-income households.

AAP RTV cb/sb/wz/tm

KEYWORD: HOUSING IMF (CANBERRA)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED:HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 19:30, Dec 162010


AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-2010
FED:HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 19:30, Dec 162010

MELBOURNE - The head of Melbourne's fire brigade has quit in disgrace after a female
employee accused him of sexually harassing her. (MFB Wrap)



PERTH - A bushfire that threatened lives and homes in an eastern Perth suburb has been
brought under control. (Bushfires WA)



MELBOURNE - A policeman involved in the fatal shooting of Tyler Cassidy felt the teenager
was intent on killing him and he had no choice but to shoot, an inquest into the youth's
death has heard. (Cassidy Wrap)



MELBOURNE - The killer of Indian boy Gurshan Singh Channa held the hand of an investigating
policeman, looked into his eyes, confessed to his actions and wept. (Dhillon Wrap)



BRISBANE - The head of a major financer of collapsed Gold Coast property group Octaviar
trusted the company could repay a major loan within a week, and didn't question the source
of a $100 million repayment. (Octaviar)



SYDNEY - Two women claiming the same man sexually assaulted them in the toilets of
two exclusive Sydney nightspots have given "inconsistent" statements, a court has heard.

(Corben Wrap)



SYDNEY - A very drunk driver who crashed her car, killing a woman and permanently injuring
the dead woman's husband, has had her minimum jail term increased by two years. (Woodbridge)



SYDNEY - Portable barbecues should carry poison warnings about charcoal after a man
died when he took one inside to cook, a NSW coroner says. (AlMayahi)



SYDNEY - The jail term imposed on a cocaine dealer, who is the nephew of media identity
Ita Buttrose, is too long, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal has been told. (Buttrose)



MELBOURNE - The father of a teenager who suffered brain injuries in a gang attack outside
a nightclub has lashed out at a judge for sparing his attackers jail time. (Asian)



ADELAIDE - A West Australian man took just 20 minutes to terrorise five people in Snowtown,
north of Adelaide, but is unfit to stand trial. (Behari)



ADELAIDE - A Victorian man jailed for killing Adelaide teenager Carly Ryan never admitted
to murder, only to manslaughter, a court has heard. (Ryan)



ADELAIDE - A mix-up over courts was the reason a former refugee, who indecently assaulted
a girl on an Adelaide train, failed to appear for sentencing submissions on Thursday.

(Sidaqat Wrap)



SYDNEY - Experts have been "blown away" by the case of a man cured of HIV, yet they
caution his treatment was too risky to be offered broadly to the world's HIV-infected
population. (HIV Cure Aust)



CANBERRA - About 200 people gathered in Canberra's city centre to demand the release
of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (WikiLeaks Protest)



BRISBANE - A major study will decide whether RAAF veterans and workers whose health
was damaged by chemicals might pass on the effects to their children. (F111)



BRISBANE - A series of ship groundings off Queensland while marine pilots were onboard
has sparked a high-level safety investigation. (Coastal Wrap)



MELBOURNE - A stunning Portsea cliff-top mansion has sold for more than $25 million,
breaking the Victorian residential property market sale record. (Mansion Update)



ADELAIDE - South Australia's Treasurer Kevin Foley doesn't want to be like an Australian
cricket captain who doesn't know when it's time to step down. (Foley)



BRISBANE - An Australian car club will put an electric vehicle through its paces over
the next three years to test its "real life" performance for motorists. (Car)



SYDNEY - Opposition to Sydney's $6 billion Barangaroo development is mounting, with
the NSW government's approval of the expansion plans described as "a disgraceful act".

(Barangaroo 2nd Wrap)



CANBERRA - The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is facing calls for its
incoming advice to the federal government to be made public. (DFAT)



SYDNEY - Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman wish they could stay in Australia for Christmas
but their busy schedules won't allow it. (Urban)



SYDNEY - Calling all dancing queens. You are invited to groove to ABBA's greatest hits
at a new, interactive exhibition at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum. (Abba)



BRISBANE - Two people have died in a crash between a ute and a truck south of Stanthorpe
near the Queensland-NSW border. (Toll Qld)



BRISBANE - A man has been found dead at a home west of Brisbane. (Body)



LAUNCESTON - A Tasmanian man has been stabbed after finding two men trying to steal
property from his yard, police say. (Stab)



SYDNEY - A man has been charged with sexually assaulting a young woman as she lay on
a bench at a Sydney train station. (Bench Update)



GOLD COAST - Four alleged bikies have been charged with assault over the attack on
a man on the Gold Coast earlier this year. (Hydra)



BRISBANE - Police have found the body of a kayaker who failed to surface after going
over a waterfall in far north Queensland. (Kayak Update)



SYDNEY - A mother and her three children have been reported missing after they were
last seen getting into a car in a northern NSW town. (Eason)



AAP de

KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL UPDATE 2 SYDNEY

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

WA:Fire forces road closures


AAP General News (Australia)
08-09-2010
WA:Fire forces road closures

PERTH, Aug 9 AAP - Perth firefighters have closed off access to homes 200 metres around
a fire in a shed containing a potentially explosive gas cylinder.

The fire in the shed attached to a house in Ellenbrook, in Perth's northeast, broke
out around 11.45am (WST) on Monday.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority said the fire had caused an acetylene cylinder
in the shed to overheat and there was a risk of it exploding.

Access to all houses and streets in a 200 metre radius around the property had been
closed on Monday afternoon.

A relocation point has been set up for local residents at the Woodlake Village Community Centre.

AAP anr/ldj/goc/

KEYWORD: SHED

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: NYE fireworks show Melbourne's biggest yet


AAP General News (Australia)
12-31-2009
Vic: NYE fireworks show Melbourne's biggest yet

Firing from 14 locations .. Melbourne's new year's eve fireworks spectacular will be
the city's biggest ever.

In a skyshow that's been more than six months in the making .. fireworks will be blasted
from city rooftops for Melbourne's biggest party.

ANDREW HOWARD from Howard and Sons Pyrotechnics says the display is designed so that
city revellers have a view .. no matter where they are.

Half a million people are expected to flood the CBD for Melbourne's one-point-five
million dollar celebrations .. but City Hall warns the fireworks spectacle will be axed
if lightning strikes.

Mr HOWARD and his team will be closely watching the weather for the predicted thunderstorms
up until the clock strikes 12.

AAP RTV mi/wz/tm

KEYWORD: EVE VIC FIREWORKS (MELBOURNE)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Same-sex surrogacy laws "unfathomable" - Langbroek


AAP General News (Australia)
08-18-2009
Qld: Same-sex surrogacy laws "unfathomable" - Langbroek

By Gabrielle Dunlevy

BRISBANE, Aug 18 AAP - Laws to decriminalise surrogacy in Queensland could be defeated
if the government does not exclude same-sex couples, the opposition says.

Premier Anna Bligh on Tuesday released a model for legal surrogacy in Queensland which
is the only Australian state where altruistic surrogacy - where no money changes hands
- is still illegal.

It comes at the same time as the government released a review paper into the legal
status of children cared for by same-sex parents.

The review raises the issue of female same-sex couples becoming parents without a surrogate,
for example through IVF.

To give their children legal certainty, the government will also amend the Status of
Children Act 1978, in order to legally recognise both mothers as parents.

Ms Bligh, who will give her MPs a conscience vote, said it was an important step in
modernising the state, and giving children equal rights regardless of how they were conceived.

But Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek said the premier had put in jeopardy the
chance for heterosexual couples to start a family, by not excluding same-sex couples from
the laws.

Mr Langbroek warned the premier the bill would likely be defeated in its current form.

"I feel sorry for mums and dads who want to have a baby and through altruistic surrogacy,
may be able to have one," he told reporters.

"But to tie it to gay parenting is something that is completely unfathomable and I
call on the government to decouple these two aspects of the bill because the premier runs
the risk of the bill being defeated because of the two issues being connected."

Mr Langbroek said the bill would go to the party room for discussion and a decision
on whether it would be subject to a conscience vote.

Under the model proposed, couples will be able to apply to a court to transfer the
legal parentage of a child from the birth parents to themselves.

The couple will be able to use any conception method and will not be required to have
a genetic connection to the child or with their surrogate.

Commercial surrogacy and advertising for surrogacy births would remain illegal, but
the birth mother could be reimbursed for hospital and other expenses.

Ms Bligh said she expected the majority of her caucus would support all aspects of
the move, after the review of children with same-sex parents found the state was "out
of step".

"These are laws that some people may find difficult to accept but it is about protecting
children, no matter what circumstances they are born into," she said.

"Children who are born into arrangements secured through surrogacy, children who are
born to same-sex couples, deserve the same legal certainty as every other child."

The model also acts as a two-year amnesty for people who have engaged an illegal surrogate
in the past.

But the government does not expect a large number of people to take advantage of it,
given the serious commitment required by surrogates.

The model is available for public discussion until September 18, ahead of the legislation
being introduced to parliament by the year's end.

AAP gd/pjo/dep/de

KEYWORD: SURROGACY WRAP

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Main stories in the ABC's World Today


AAP General News (Australia)
04-08-2009
Main stories in the ABC's World Today

SYDNEY, April 8 AAP - Main stories in the ABC's World Today:

* Treasurer Wayne Swan has warned the nation's banks to pass on the Reserve Bank's
interest rate cut in full.

* The latest report on the mortgage industry certainly does not support the big four
banks' claims that they can't afford to pass on the interest rate cut.

* A former Optus executive says that despite Telstra's relaxed public demeanour over
the government taking over the national broadband network, in private the telco will be
fuming.

AAP pbc

KEYWORD: MONITOR WORLD TODAY

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Murder charge laid in Gladstone


AAP General News (Australia)
12-04-2008
Qld: Murder charge laid in Gladstone

(Updates to murder charge)

BRISBANE, Dec 4 AAP - A 25-year-old man has been charged with murder after the body
of a woman was found in a Gladstone home just after midnight.

It is believed the 23-year-old woman died from stab wounds at her residence in the
suburb of New Auckland in the south-east Queensland city.

The accused man is expected to appear in court this morning, ABC Radio reports.

AAP stg/ss

KEYWORD: SUSPICIOUS UPDATE

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Airband Touts Austin Customer Growth


Wireless News
05-02-2008
Airband Touts Austin Customer Growth

WIRELESS NEWS-May 2, 2008-Airband Touts Austin Customer Growth (C)2008 10Meters - http://www.10meters.com

Airband Communications, a fixed-wireless company for businesses in the United States, announced that a growing number of Austin businesses are adopting its scalable fixed-wireless voice and data services.
Local clients include InterContinental Stephen F Austin Hotel, a luxury hotel located in downtown Austin. The hotel uses Airband to provide high-speed wireless data which InterContinental uses to provide Internet access in all guestrooms and throughout the hotel s lobby and common areas.

Airband sets itself apart by delivering dependable and easy-to- manage wireless Internet access service, which in turn allows me to offer superior services to my guests, said Ralph Carnal, IT manager for InterContinental Stephen F Austin Hotel. Plus, I can easily call Airband and increase my bandwidth needs should I need to accommodate additional guests for meetings and conferences.

A local technology company, Lieberman Software, relies on Airband as the primary Internet connection for its mission-critical applications. The company leverages Airband s 10 Mbps data service for real-time collaboration with desktop sharing and audio channels, video conferencing with customers and web hosting. Lieberman Software develops advanced systems management solutions for administering the Windows enterprise.

We chose Airband because they offered the right amount of bandwidth we needed, and their service level agreement had a 100- percent uptime guarantee and terms that were far better than their competitors, said Philip Lieberman, president for Lieberman Software. Plus, Airband had our service up and running very quickly rather than waiting the several months for a fiber buildout.

Austin is home to a number of progressive, high-tech companies that regularly demand cutting-edge high-bandwidth solutions, said Layne Levine, president of sales and marketing for Airband. We are pleased to provide local companies with an affordable and extremely scalable business-class service for last-mile access and point-to- point connectivity.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

((Distributed via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com))

(Copyright M2 Communications Ltd. 2008)

WA: Man charged over neck stabbing death


AAP General News (Australia)
12-28-2007
WA: Man charged over neck stabbing death

A 22-year-old man will face a Perth court today charged over the stabbing death of
a man at a Perth bus station.

The 32-year-old West Perth man died after an alleged altercation with the 22-year-old
.. about 9.30 (WDT) last night at the Wellington Street station.

Police allege the older man died at the scene .. after the younger man stabbed him in the neck.

The 22-year-old's due to appear in the Perth Magistrates Court today .. charged with
grievous bodily harm.

AAP RTV np/lk/sw/tm

KEYWORD: STAB (PERTH)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Rain allows slight delay in tightening of restrictions


AAP General News (Australia)
08-20-2007
Qld: Rain allows slight delay in tightening of restrictions

Rain across Queensland's south-east over the weekend and today .. will delay the introduction
of level six water restrictions by a week or two.

An average of 35 millimetres has fallen over the region's Wivenhoe .. Somerset and
North Pine Dams since Saturday .. the best August falls since 2002 when 60mm fell across
the region.

The storages are now sitting at 16.74 per cent of capacity .. up 0.01 per cent since
the rain began falling .. the equivalent of three to four days of water consumption in
the region.

Queensland Water Commission spokesman GERALD TOOTH says it's now almost certain level
six will be introduced in early October .. rather than late September.

AAP RTV dmc/pjo/af/bart

KEYWORD: RAIN QLD (BRISBANE)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Major overhaul of CASA announced = 2


AAP General News (Australia)
04-04-2007
Fed: Major overhaul of CASA announced = 2

Aviation activist DICK SMITH .. former Department of Transport and Regional Services
secretary ALLAN HAWKE .. JEFF BOYD and ROB GRAHAM will sit on the taskforce.

Labor has immediately slammed the taskforce .. saying it's a bandaid measure.

Shadow Transport Minister MARTIN FERGUSON says it's been set up to hide Mr VAILE'S
own failure to hold CASA to account.

Mr FERGUSON says no serious review of regulation can exclude Australia's major airline operators.

He also says Mr SMITH is part of the bad old past of CASA .. not a safe future and
what is needed is new blood and people who have the respect of the industry.

AAP RTV pv/sb/bart

KEYWORD: LOCKHART OVERHAUL 2 CANBERRA

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Beazley tells Caucus to get behind Rudd


AAP General News (Australia)
12-04-2006
Fed: Beazley tells Caucus to get behind Rudd

KIM BEAZLEY's urged his Labor Party colleagues to get in behind KEVIN RUDD and support
his leadership.

After losing this morning's caucus vote 39 votes to Mr RUDD's 49 .. he's told a news
conference he wanted to stay and finish the job .. but it wasn't to be.

He says Mr RUDD's a very able and intelligent man with a very wide breadth of knowledge
and an absolute determination to do the right thing for the Australian people.

Mr BEAZLEY says his successor will take the Labor party to victory at the next election

AAP RTV so/sb/jmt/bart

KEYWORD: LABOR BEAZLEY (CANBERRA)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Houston appoints senior army office to head inquiry


AAP General News (Australia)
04-28-2006
Fed: Houston appoints senior army office to head inquiry

A senior army officer is to head an inquiry into how the body of Private JAKE KOVCO
was left in Kuwait and another body flown to Melbourne instead.

Defence head Air Chief Marshal ANGUS HOUSTON says a quick assessment of what went wrong
was conducted yesterday .. and that will provide the basis for the inquiry's terms of
reference .. starting next week.

PRIVATE KOVCO .. a member of the Australian Army security detachment in Baghdad ..

died last week when his pistol accidentally fired.

His body was flown on a RAAF transport plane from Baghdad to Kuwait .. from where it
was to have been flown to Australia.

Instead .. his body was left behind in Kuwait and a casket containing another soldier's
body was flown to Melbourne.

AAP RTV mb/so/jas/sp/wz/goc/

KEYWORD: KOVCO INQUIRY (CANBERRA)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

понедельник, 27 февраля 2012 г.

NSW: Three bus companies sign onto government contracts


AAP General News (Australia)
04-20-2005
NSW: Three bus companies sign onto government contracts

Three Sydney bus companies have signed bus reform contracts with the New South Wales
government, ending months of negotiations punctuated by lock-outs and strike threats.

New South Wales Transport Minister JOHN WATKINS has labelled the move a major step forward.

Mr WATKINS says negotiations are continuing in the remaining eleven contract regions.

The Bus and Coach Association has been negotiating the new seven-year contracts to
deliver $1 billion worth of services to areas not covered by public buses.

The New South Wales government says the new contracts are part of its bus reform plans
aimed at reinforcing the financial viability of the industry, with fairer bus fares and
better safety procedures.

AAP RTV smb/nf/low/rt

KEYWORD: BUS (SYDNEY)

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

corn dollies

corn dollies. A modern craft form based loosely on traditional figures made of straw, previously connected with harvest customs. Many references to harvest figures exist, under various names (Corn baby, Corn maiden, Kern baby, etc.), and the treatment of the figures also varied from place to place. Sometimes the image was large enough to be carried in triumph on a pole or in pride of place on the last load, but in others it was a more decoration than for its representational features. Some were hung up in farmhouse or barn till the following year, others were displayed in the church at the harvest festival, while some places had a tradition whereby the figure could be sent to mock a nearby farm which had not finished its harvest. Some were rough and ready, others well crafted. Corn figures, like harvest customs in general have not received the detailed attention they deserve because writers have been content to adopt the discredited Frazerian theory of corn spirits and fertility and have thus needed to enquire no further, so their distribution and function remains unclear. The custom of making corn figures had virtually died out in England well before the Second World War, but was revived in modified form, by a number of enthusiasts, under the generic name of ‘corn dolly’ as a rural heritage handicraft in the 1950s and 1960s. Minnie Lambeth, the wife of the Curator of the Cambridge Folk Museum, was one of the leading lights of the new movement, and she produced the first practical manuals. A Golden Dolly: The Art, Mystery, and History of Corn Dollies (1963, enlarged 1969) and Discovering Corn Dollies (1974). The craft ‘corn dollies’ have evolved far beyond the original traditional styles.

Bibliography

Iorwerth C. Peate , Folklore 82:3 (1971), 177–84;
Porter , 1969: 123–4;
Folklore 79:3 (1968), 233–4: Folk-Lore 15 (1904), 185.

Arkansas Best Corporation Announces Its Fourth Quarter 2001 Earnings Conference Call.

FORT SMITH, Ark. -- Arkansas Best Corporation will announce its fourth quarter 2001 results, prior to the opening of the market, on Tuesday, January 22nd. A conference call with company executives will be held that day, at 10:00 a.m. CST, to discuss these results. Interested parties are invited to listen by calling (888) 855-5487. Following the call, a recorded playback will be available through the end of January. To listen to the playback, dial (888) 203-1112. The passcode for the playback is 446813. The conference call and playback can also be accessed on Arkansas Best's Internet web site at www.arkbest.com through Thursday, January 31st.

    Contact:  Mr. David Humphrey, Director of Investor Relations              Telephone: (501) 785-6200                   MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT -  Click Here              http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X03882749 

Contact: Mr. David Humphrey, Director of Investor Relations of Arkansas Best Corporation, +1-501-785-6200

Website: http://www.arkbest.com/

воскресенье, 26 февраля 2012 г.

StewartAEs out to Cink poor form in title tilt.

STEWART CINK may be remembered as the biggest villain in Open history, but the defending champion insists he doesn't care if he ruined a great story last summer.

The American bunkered the hopes of compatriot Tom Watson in a four-hole play-off at Turnberry 12 months ago after the-then 59-year-old legend had missed an eight-foot putt to win outright at the 72nd hole.

Watson was looking to add a sixth Open title to an already incredible career, but Cink prospered and now admits his experienced opponent's achievements mean he shouldn't worry about ripping up the script last time out.

"I don't feel sorry for him because he got five Claret Jug titles and I only have one," Cink said. "I understand the situation and it totally makes sense but in no way has it taken anything off what I felt last year.

"The joy I've been able to have the past year being the Open champion has been almost indescribable.

"Do I feel like my name matches up to everyone on that list [of Open winners]? No way. I'm not going to be Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods. Those guys are the best ever that have played.

"But am I worthy to be on the Claret Jug? Yes, because I played as well as I played for 72 holes last year at Turnberry and when it counted I was able to come through and polish it off."

Just to show once again that there were no hard feelings between the two rivals, Watson made sure they got together to play a practice round over the Old Course on Tuesday.

The triumph at Turnberry was a big breakthrough for Cink, who previously had been seen as an excellent shotmaker but not capable of challenging the big boys on the grandest stage.

Cink has not won since his triumph at Turnberry and he has endured a miserable run of late, with only a tie for eighth at the Memorial resembling anything like the form of a Major champion.

However, that was where he was at this stage last year and the 37-year-old is not unduly worried about his lack of confidence coming into St Andrews.

"This year hasn't really been a good year for results on the course," he said. "I seem to have got worse before I started to get better.

But lately I've been playing a little better and seeing more of a spark in my game, and you know, it's very similar to last year where I really had nothing going at all until, boom, Turnberry!

"I'm hoping this year we can say, 'Boom, St Andrews!''

Meanwhile, if Watson went one better on the Old Course he'd join Harry Vardon on six Open crowns.

But the 60-year-old played down expectations of a similar run to last year.

"I wish I was playing as well as I was last year coming in here," Watson said. "I'm putting well, but I'm not striking the ball that well, so that concerns me, especially in the wind."

2009 Al Sidra Media LLC

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company