Ziccy

Art By Michelangelo

2010-02-13T04:29:00.001-08:00

Art By Konrad Krzyzanowski (1872-1922)

2010-02-13T04:28:00.003-08:00

Art By John Singleton Cople

2010-02-13T04:28:00.001-08:00

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Art by John White Alexander

2010-02-13T04:27:00.001-08:00

Art By Boris Kustodiev (1878 - 1927)

2010-02-13T04:25:00.001-08:00

Brethren schools to get $70m in funding

2010-01-15T05:31:00.001-08:00

THE Rudd Government is handing more than $70 million to schools run by the Exclusive Brethren, a religious sect Kevin Rudd described as an "extremist cult" that breaks up families.

The sect's schools have secured more than $8.4m under the Government's school building stimulus package and they will share in $62m in recurrent taxpayer funding.

Documents show a Brethren-run school at Swan Hill in northern Victoria was granted $1.2m for a library and $800,000 for a hall when its most recent annual report shows it had just 16 pupils and already had a library.

Grants data released by the commonwealth shows that Brethren schools in every state received funding under the $12.4 billion schools stimulus package, The Australian reports.

Despite the Brethren's past disdain for computers, figures show its schools have received more than 300 under the commonwealth computers-in-school initiative.

Brethren schools have also secured grants under the Schools Pride program. All up, the 2400 children in Brethren schools will each receive the equivalent of $26,127 in recurrent funding and $11,200 in stimulus funding.

Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said these sums were outrageous and the funding system had to be urgently replaced.

"How can the Government justify handing tens of millions of dollars to an organisation it believes is a cult while public schools which educate the vast majority of our children are struggling for funds?" Mr Gavrielatos said.

"The Government has said it will review schools funding this year. That review needs to be begin as a matter of urgency to allow for a proper public debate on where school funding should be directed and for what purpose."

The Brethren is a fundamentalist Christian sect that lives by the doctrine of separation from mainstream society.

Brethren schools must teach the normal curriculum, although reports say some novels are banned and chapters on sex and reproduction are excised from science textbooks.

Brethren members are taught to shun broader society. They do not use TV, radios and do not watch movies or eat in restaurants. They do not vote, are opposed to unions and other forms of association, except their own church.

The Brethren has been accused by former members, and the Prime Minister in his 2007 comments, of denying those who leave access to their children, a claim the organisation denies.

Doug Burgess, the head of the Brethren's Victorian schools, said its schools were growing rapidly and the funding reflected that.

He defended the sect's right to school funding, saying the children would otherwise be enrolled in state schools at full taxpayers' expense.

Wee in park, not in Macca's - magistrate

2010-01-15T05:30:00.001-08:00

A TOURIST who urinated inside the front entrance of an Adelaide McDonald's should have relieved himself in nearby parklands, says a senior magistrate.

"You know there is a really big parkland across the road," Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Cannon told Queensland holidaymaker John Hawkins in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today.

"It might be (illegal) but at least you would have probably gotten away with it."

Hawkins today pleaded guilty to one count of urinating in a public place after a dispute with staff at the McDonald's West Tce restaurant on December 11.

The court heard that staff refused Hawkins' requests to use their toilet facilities because they were "out of order".

As he left, Hawkins stopped at the entrance and relieved himself during one of the restaurant's busier times.

After police arrived, Hawkins tried to excuse his conduct by explaining that he was "busting" despite public toilets being just 50m away.

Hawkins told the court he merely made an "honest mistake".

Mr Cannon recorded a conviction and fined Hawkins $100 plus court fees.

'The mirdle' hides beer guts and love handles

2010-01-15T05:29:00.001-08:00

FOR blokes who would rather drink a six-pack than build one comes the latest in belly trimming technology - the man girdle.

Known as "mirdles", corsets for men are hitting the market faster than you can say love handle.

London department store Marks & Spencer is hoping to cash in on this latest craze with their new Bodymax shapewear range.

The stretch cotton vest and T-shirt are said to reduce waistlines by up to 4cm and will be available in 70 stores across England and online from January 7.

Marks & Spencer is following in the footsteps of Australian company Equmen, which has sold compression garments in Europe and North America since 2007.

While the Equmen range is yet to hit Australian department stores, it is available from boutiques in New South Wales.

Lisa Tarei said she has sold nine of the garments from her Just For Him store since Christmas.

"My husband tried it on and he had to tighten the belt on his pants by two notches," Ms Tarei said.

She said the mirdle was geared to metrosexuals, not "everyday labourers".

But a spokesman for Sydney-based underwear company aussieBums said "the typical Aussie male is pretty open-minded and more are embracing body-enhancing garments".

Teacher aid on lesbian sex brawl charge

2010-01-15T05:28:00.001-08:00

A SYDNEY public school teacher's assistant has appeared in court following a sex scandal with her lesbian lover.

Nepean High School teacher's assistant Sharron Anne Lee, 40, was involved in a threesome at a drunken New Year's Eve sex party which later descended into a brawl, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

Parramatta Bail Court heard yesterday that Lee, a teacher's assistant, had fought with her girlfriend of three years, Carlie-Anne Bell, from Glenmore Park, in her bedroom while the man they had picked up at the Penrith Panthers club, Nikola Murgevski, watched on horrified.

The three had continued partying at Rooty Hill RSL before retiring to Lee's bedroom after playing "strip pool" in Lee's backyard, the court heard.

Court documents said the fight had begun because Bell was upset that Lee was having sex with Murgevski.

The alleged attack saw Bell hospitalised with a tear to her bowel lining and severe bleeding.

Bell was rushed to Nepean Hospital where she was expected to undergo surgery.

The Court heard Lee was a teacher's assistant at the school in an "Aboriginal program"

Department of Education spokesman Mark Davis refused to say whether Lee would be suspended.

"At this stage we wouldn't have any comment to make on the situation with the teacher," he said. "We'd await the outcome of the court proceedings."

It is not known if Lee's child was home.

Lee was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.

Police prosecutor Kristy Madden said the charges related to "an unusual set of circumstances" and the facts read "horrifically".

Lee was refused bail and will appear before Mount Druitt Local Court on January 11.

Google's Chinese search engine displays images of Tiananmen Square 'Tank Man

2010-01-15T05:25:00.001-08:00

SENSITIVE images of the Tiananmen Square massacre appear in Google's search results as the company threatens to leave China over cyberattacks.

While Google has clarified that it is still censoring search results in China according to the country's law, sensitive images can still be found in its image search.

The iconic "Tank Man" photo taken during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown was available on Google's Chinese website, Google.cn, yesterday.
The picture of a Chinese man who boldly stood in front of a line of tanks during the crackdown on pro-democracy protests made headlines around the world. The event is still hugely sensitive in China.

Google has threatened to defy Chinese internet censors and risk banishment from the lucrative market in outrage at "highly sophisticated" cyber attacks aimed at Chinese human rights activists.
China-based cyber spies struck the internet giant and at least 20 other unidentified firms in an apparent bid to hack into the email accounts of activists around the world, Google said this week.
While Microsoft denied its mail services had been compromised, Yahoo backed Google's decision.
"We stand aligned with Google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as internet pioneers must all oppose," Yahoo said.
White House backing
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Beijing to explain the cyber attacks.
"We look to the Chinese government for an explanation," the chief US diplomat said.
"The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy."
The online espionage has Google reconsidering its business operations in China and it said it does not wish to filter internet search engine results in that country.
"These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered - combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web - have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China," Google chief legal officer David Drummond said this week.
"We are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all," he said.

"We recognise that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China."
Activists agree
Human rights activists hailed Google, voicing hope it would lead Western companies to reconsider their compromises in doing business in China.
"Through international pressure, finally a big business in the West has come to realize its own conscience," said prominent Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, who spent 18 years in prison before entering exile in the US.
T. Kumar, the Washington-based advocacy director of Amnesty International, urged other internet companies to follow Google's lead.
"We're glad that at last international internet companies are waking up to the reality that they cannot go along with oppressive nations like China," Mr Kumar said.

Haiti toll and logistics hell continues to escalate each day

2010-01-15T05:24:00.001-08:00

UN and other aid agencies warn they face major logistical challenges in getting essential relief to survivors of Haiti's deadly earthquake.

Some aid is being handed out, with World Food Program (WFP) spokesman Charles Vincent saying 2,400 people in some districts of the flattened Haitian capital Port-au-Prince should receive food today.
"Obviously it's a drop in a bucket but it's a start," he said, adding that distribution would be widened once roads were cleared.
"Most of the population have not had food for the whole day yesterday and today. As a result a certain insecurity is feared."
The scale of devastation caused by Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake means the WFP has been unable to gain access to its warehouses and Vincent was unsure if they had been damaged or looted.

A spokeswoman for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Elisabeth Byrs, warned that relief agencies faced major logistics challenges on the ground. While the airport at Port-au-Prince was functioning, its control tower was still down, she said.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) appealed for tents to shelter homeless survivors and said it was was gearing up to distribute vital supplies.
"What we need is tents, tents and more tents. We need large or individual tents, whatever is available, and financial support quickly," Vincent Houver, the IOM's chief of mission in Haiti, said in a statement.
The organisation said it would provide tarpaulins, plastic sheeting, cans and water containers from stocks already in the impoverished country to help some 10,000 families.
Haiti's prime minister warned the death toll could top 100,000, though President Rene Preval gave a more conservative estimate of 50,000.
The death toll from Haiti's catastrophic earthquake will reach 10s of thousands of people, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

She described the earthquake as "an unimaginable disaster" in the country.

Her stark warning came as an official close to George W. Bush confirmed to Fox News that the former US president plans to work closely with his democratic predecessor Bill Clinton, now a UN special envoy to Haiti, on relief efforts.

Britain pledged more than £6 million ($10.5 million) in aid to the devastated island nation, where residents were desperately awaiting a global effort to find and treat survivors from an earthquake that left streets strewn with corpses.

Schools, hospitals, hotels and even the presidential palace lay in ruins, with people caked in blood and dust pleading for help after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck just southwest of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday.

Casualty figures were impossible to calculate, but Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN the final death toll from the quake could be "well over 100,000."

Branches of the Red Cross and Red Crescent were expecting to help a "maximum of three million people," some of whom were still trapped beneath mountains of concrete.

The epicentre of the quake hit near the slum of Carrefour, where people were living in flimsy shacks. Initial reports suggested that over 90 per cent of its buildings are in ruins.

Cedric Perus, Oxfam's humanitarian coordinator in Port-au-Prince, said: "I have seen wounded people flooding into the hospitals, and buildings of several stories high that are now totally flat. Several thousands have probably died in the quake, but it will take time to get a full picture.

"Bodies may stay under the rubble for a long time because it is difficult to access some sites and heavy-lifting equipment is in limited supply.

"There are bodies all over the city," he said.

"People have nowhere to put them so they wrap them in sheets and cardboards in the hope that the authorities will pick them. People have also piled bodies in front of the city's main hospitals."

Doomsday Clock reset thanks to Obama

2010-01-15T05:23:00.001-08:00

INTERNATIONAL scientists nudged back the minute hand of the symbolic Doomsday Clock,as they praised US President Barack Obama for helping to pull the world back from nuclear or environmental catastrophe.

"It is six minutes to midnight," the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS), which created the Doomsday Clock in 1947 as a barometer of how close the world is to an apocalyptic end.

"For the first time since atomic bombs were dropped in 1945, leaders of nuclear weapons states are co-operating to vastly reduce their arsenals and secure all nuclear bomb-making material," the statement by the panel of international scientists, including 19 Nobel laureates, said.

"For the first time ever, industrialised and developing countries alike are pledging to limit climate-changing gas emissions that could render our planet nearly uninhabitable."

A key player in the new, global era of co-operation was Mr Obama, whose election in 2008 ushered in "a change in the US government's orientation toward international affairs", said Professor Lawrence Krauss, co-chair of BAS's board of sponsors, speaking at the ceremony to turn back the hands of the symbolic clock.

Mr Obama brought with him to the White House "a more pragmatic, problem-solving approach" than his predecessor, George W. Bush, the scientists said.

"Not only has Obama initiated new arms reduction talks with Russia, he has started negotiations with Iran to close its nuclear enrichment program, and directed the US Government to lead a global effort to secure loose fissile material in four years," Prof Krauss said, reading from the BAS statement.

Since it was created by scientists who helped to develop the world's first atomic weapons, the Doomsday clock has come to be seen as a measure of what progress, if any, the world has made in moving away from the risk of nuclear, climate-caused or bio-warfare catastrophe.

Midnight on the clock signifies the apocalypse, and the minute hand symbolises the countdown to disaster.

The last time the minute hand was moved was in 2007, when Bush was president.

Then, the clock was bumped two minutes closer to midnight.

In resetting the clock this year, the scientists said they were encouraged by recent developments, but had chosen to put back the clock by only one minute to show they were "mindful that the clock is ticking", said Prof Krauss.

"By shifting the hand back from midnight by only one additional minute, we emphasise how much needs to be accomplished" while at the same time recognising that global co-operation has moved forward, he said.

Putting back the clock by only one minute also meant that "there's great potential for it to move again, in either direction", said Prof Krauss.

Which way the hands of the clock are moved next time was up to scientists, world leaders and ordinary people, said Prof Krauss, urging them all to seize the "unique opportunity we have right now to begin to free ourselves from the terror of nuclear weapons and slow drastic changes to our shared global environment.

"We are now poised at a unique time, with hope and opportunity. Let's not blow it," he said.

Motorists forced to dodge pole in busy lane

2010-01-15T05:22:00.001-08:00

FRIGHTENED residents in a Queensland town have been forced to dodge a power pole located in a traffic lane.

A council oversight has seen the pole left standing in the new lane on Oakey Flat Rd, Narangba - one of the busiest roads in the Caboolture district.

Photos in the Northern Times show traffic bearing down on the pole, which appeared after the road was ironically widened for safety reasons.

Moreton Bay councillor Bob Millar said council had widened Oakey Flat Rd near Stark Drive in response to concerns from ratepayers.

He was unaware of the pole’s presence on the road until contacted by the Times.

“I think it’s just a scheduling issue,’’ Cr Millar said.

Our guys have kept the project moving and Energex (which owns the pole) haven’t.’’

An Energex spokeswoman said the pole would be relocated in February.

A council spokeswoman said yesterday red and white water-filled barriers had now been placed around the pole.

World Cup 2010 football fans offered personalised stab vests

2010-01-15T05:21:00.001-08:00

FOOTBALL fans planning on going to the World Cup in South Africa are being offered stab vests in their team's colours.

The vests are being sold online by London-registered firm Protektorvest.com and can display any flag of a fan's choosing.

The British Football Supporters Federation (BSSF) said the company is cashing in on fears of the country's crime rate, Sky News reports.

The BSSF said wearing a stab vest at what should be a carnival of soccer was in bad taste and "smacked of panic" over South Africa's notoriously high crime rate.

BSSF spokesman Malcolm Clarke said Thursday the federation worked closely with the authorities and the British Football Association to give fans security advice.

"Part of that advice will not include buying a stab vest. This will just panic people and introduce a degree of tension," he said.

Protektorvest. Owner Sascha Cutura said he was disappointed people thought they were trying to induce fear in fans going to South Africa.

"We are both football fans ourselves. We certainly don't want to offend South Africa but the risk is there," he added.

The company claims the $122 vests will protect fans from stabs, cuts, slashes and blows from sharp-edged or spiked weapons.

Family defends not saving joey from snake

2010-01-02T05:51:00.001-08:00

A COOKTOWN family who watched a python eat a young wallaby in their backyard says public backlash for not helping the joey is "water off a duck's back".

The Barton-Ilic family watched from their veranda in far north Queensland as a 4m scrub python ate a young wallaby while its mum kicked and scratched the snake in vain to save the joey.

Judith Barton-Ilic said she felt like she was watching Animal Planet with her kids Braidyn, 13, and Tiarn, 10, when the action unfolded about 4.30pm (AEST) on Monday.

The story gained nationwide interest since being published on cairns.com.au, with more than 140,000 hits on Mrs Barton-Ilic's pictures of the attack.

The family came under fire as online readers posted a barrage of comments, with many attacking the family for not going to the joey's rescue.

"So, in 45 minutes, no supposed top of the chain animal went to the aid of the mother wallaby. Sickening!" wrote Elizabeth of Seddon in Victoria.

But Mrs Barton-Ilic defended the actions of her family, saying the snake had half the wallaby in its mouth by the time they noticed the incident.

She also said the family armed themselves with long broom handles and sticks but gave up after realising the joey was dead.

"By the time we were alerted to the situation, the wallaby was already well wrapped up by the snake," she said.

"We were actually quite upset over the whole incident, that joey we've been looking after and feeding.

"People saying we should have chopped the snake's head off and hit it with a shovel are ridiculous, there are fines up here for that stuff.

"These comments are water off a duck's back."

DJ sacked after pulling plug on 'boring' Queen

2010-01-02T05:50:00.001-08:00

A BRITISH radio presenter has been sacked after he pulled the plug on the Queen's traditional Christmas Day speech, telling listeners it was "boring".

Tom Binns has lost his job at Birmingham radio station BRMB after listeners complained over his interruption of the monarch's traditional December 25 broadcast to Britain and the Commonwealth.

"Two words: Bor-ring," he said on air as he stopped the broadcast, before quipping "from one Queen to another..." as he put on Last Christmas by pop duo Wham, featuring openly gay singer George Michael.

Binns explained that the incident occurred after the Queen's Speech - a decades-old tradition still watched by millions of Britons and others every year - came on at a point when he had expected a regular news bulletin.

"I was working on my own on Christmas Day; I'd even had to let myself into the studio," he told the Chortle comedy website.

"After the guy before me finished, we should have taken the news from Sky, and then my show would start.

"But instead of the news, we got the Queen's speech.

"I knew it shouldn't be there, but having never heard it before, I didn't know how long it was going to go on for.

"I'm not trained to make editorial decisions, but I decided to get rid of it and make a joke. I said, 'Two words: bor-ring'.

"I then went into an old riff about how people say the royal family are good for tourism, but the French beheaded theirs and people still visit France."

Binns then cued up the Wham song.

He added that one listener got really angry.

"He sent me a message saying I should be sent to Basra and hoped I'd get killed by a roadside bomb... but other than that almost all the texts we received were in support of what I'd done."

The radio station's parent company, the Orion Media Group programme, said the DJ's comments were "inappropriate".

"We do not condone what he said in any way, whether said in jest or not," its programme and marketing director, David Lloyd, told the Birmingham Post.

"Tom will now not be featuring again on our radio stations."

Binns claimed "nobody would have tuned in to hear the Queen's speech" and that he "tried to deal with it in a funny way".

"After all, they employ comedians to make jokes," he said.

Lara Bingle's Aston Martin stolen at Bondi

2010-01-02T05:49:00.003-08:00

LARA Bingle's $250,000 Aston Martin has been stolen in what appears to be a targeted attack.

The dark blue James Bond-style 2008 Vantage Coupe disappeared from a secure carpark at the base of the couple's luxurious apartment block in Bondi, Sydney.

The luxury vehicle was bought for the model by her partner, cricketer Michael Clarke.

Police confirmed they are investigating the incident, which they believe happened yesterday.

Ms Bingle could not be reached for comment but she wrote on social networking site Twitter: "Aston GONE . . . KARMA."

"What a way to start a year . . . I want it back."

The 22-year-old model had been in Melbourne supporting Clarke, who was playing for Australia in the first Test against Pakistan at the MCG.

However, she is believed to have returned to Sydney alone some time yesterday and was inside their home when the sportscar was stolen from the Campbell Pde complex.

Neighbours have reported that other car spaces were also broken into as the thieves searched for the car.

A source close to Ms Bingle, who declined to be named, said she was "shocked" and "frightened" over the incident.

"She can't believe it - she's really upset," the source said. "Michael is not here and she's quite frightened."

Clarke was said to be making plans to return from Melbourne last night to be by his fiancee's side following the end of the first Test.

Spokesmen for the couple refused to comment.

Police would not reveal if they had any leads into the theft but are believed to be reviewing CCTV footage.

Ms Bingle was given the luxurious vehicle as an early Christmas present in December last year.

At the time she admitted the car was hard to handle.

"I am not the best driver," she said. "It's kind of difficult to drive. It's a heavy car."

The V8, a distinguished Eastern Suburbs feature, made Bingle an instant and easy paparazzi target.

Man threatens to kill over $3 pizza topping charge

2010-01-02T05:49:00.001-08:00

A GEELONG man assaulted a pizza delivery driver and threatened to cut the pizzeria owner's ears off because he was charged $3 extra for toppings he hadn't ordered.

Angry and upset, Jimmy Barling decided to take it out on the delivery driver by giving him a thumping and demanding he be allowed to pay the usual $28 instead of $31.

Barling, 28, of Karoomba Cres, Herne Hill, pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates' Court yesterday to charges of unlawful assault and making threats to kill

Police prosecutor, Senior Constable Clare Murphy said that on April 19, this year, Barling and his partner placed an order for a pizza from a Bell Park pizza shop.

Sen-Constable Murphy said when the delivery driver arrived he requested $31 payment instead of the $28 that Barling usually paid.

Barling became upset after learning the $3 was for extras he hadn't ordered.

"He verbally abused the driver, pushed him in the chest and then grabbed him by the collar demanding he only be charged $28," the prosecutor said.

"The terrified driver agreed and, after accepting $28, Barling then punched the driver in the stomach and threatened to kill him if he told anyone what had happened."

Sen-Constable Murphy said the driver went back to the shop and told the owner, who then phoned Barling to tell him his custom was no longer welcome.

"Barling became angry and abusive and threatened to cut the owner's ears off," she said.

"When the owner hung up on him, Barling went to the pizza shop and again threatened to cut the owner's ears off.

"He then wiped everything off the counter, jumped up on it and threatened to kill the owner."

Outback Steakhouse fined $21m for sex discrimination

2010-01-02T05:48:00.001-08:00

OUTBACK Steakhouse has agreed to pay $US19 million ($21 million) to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging sex discrimination against thousands of women at hundreds of its US restaurants, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.

The Australian-themed restaurant discriminated against female employees and denied them equal opportunities for advancement.

The lawsuit, filed by the EEOC in federal court in Colorado in 2006, said female employees couldn't get promoted to the higher-level profit-sharing management positions in the restaurants and were denied favorable job assignments, particularly kitchen management experience, which was required for employees to be considered for the top management job.

"There are still too many glass ceilings left to shatter in workplaces throughout corporate America," EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart Ishimaru said.

"The EEOC will continue to bring class lawsuits like this one against employers who engage in gender discrimination on a systemic scale."

In addition to the money, the settlement requires that Outback launch an online application system for employees interested in managerial and other supervisory positions; hire a human resource executive in the newly created position of vice president of people; employ an outside consultant for at least two years who will determine compliance with the settlement terms and analyse data from the online application system to determine whether women have equal opportunities for promotion.

Tom Flanagan, a joint venture partner, allegedly said female managers had "let him down" and "lost focus" when they had children, ABC's Denver affiliate reported.

He also allegedly said women managers had trouble "saying no" and expressed a desire for "cute girls" to work as servers.

A Denver attorney was the lead lawyer in the lawsuit.

The company had no immediate comment on the settlement

Boys charged with Xmas Eve gang rape of girl, 12

2010-01-02T05:47:00.003-08:00

THREE boys have been charged over the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl on Christmas Eve in Western Australia's Kimberley region.

WA police allege the boys, aged 11, 13 and 14, had sex with the girl while she was drunk and asleep at a house in Kununurra, in the state's Top End.

Kununurra Detective Senior Constable Alan Goodger today confirmed the trio had been charged with sexual penetration of a child under 13.

The 11-year-old and the 14-year-old have been granted bail while the 13-year-old has been remanded in custody.

The boys are due to appear in the Kununurra Children's Court on February 19.

CIA admits tracking 'The Nigerian' before NorthWest terror attack

2010-01-02T05:47:00.001-08:00

UMAR Farouk Abdulmutallab is a sexually frustrated loner who nurtured fantasies about holy war, his internet use reportedly reveals.

The twisted mind of the alleged bomber emerged in chilling messages he is said to have posted on an Islamic web forum, UK tabloid The Sun reports.

The Sun retrieved 300 of them in a special investigation into the suspected al-Qaeda fanatic.

In one, posted in 2005 when he was 19, he wrote: "I wont go into too much details about me fantasy, but basically they are jihad fantasies.

"I imagine how the great jihad will take place, how the Muslims will win insha'Allah (God willing) and rule the whole world, and establish the greatest empire once again!"

In another, he said: "Killing is only permitted in jihad."

And in a third, he complained of being depressed during his days at a boarding school in Togo.

He said he never found a true Muslim friend.

And he added: "As I get lonely, the natural sexual drive awakens and I struggle to control it, sometimes leading to minor sinful activities.

"This problem makes me want to get married to avoid getting aroused."

The postings also reveal how he saw soccer as a potentially sinful sport.
"Let's do activities like jogging, running, paint ball, archery (or any other sport of the like that teaches target and aim), swimming, wrestling, weightlifting, martial arts, some form of fitness training and so on."

Abdulmutallab, 23, allegedly tried to detonate explosives molded to his groin on a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day.

He visited Britain before coming here to study, and told pals he attended London's Regent's Park mosque.

Using the online alias Farouk1986, taken from his middle name and year of birth, he became a vocal opponent of the war on terror.

And he told how he attended an Arabic course in Yemen, where he trained for his evil bombing mission.

He said other students on the language course came from Britain, the US and Somalia.

Abdulmutallab also talked of the "dilemma between liberalism and extremism" as a Muslim.

He wrote: "I deviate sometimes and when I strive hard, I get tired of what I am doing i.e. memorising the quran etc."

His outpourings will be studied by intelligence experts anxious to discover extremist links in the UK.

Geek_Kids

2009-12-23T02:36:00.001-08:00

Longest Motorcycle In The World

2009-12-23T02:34:00.003-08:00

Fancy Female dresses

2009-12-23T02:34:00.001-08:00

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2009-12-23T02:32:00.001-08:00

Clever and Creative T-Shirt Designs

2009-12-23T02:31:00.001-08:00

85 Great Tattoos as Art and Inspiration

2009-12-23T02:30:00.001-08:00

The Book Torn

2009-12-23T02:22:00.001-08:00

Nurse Amanda Manuel hit, kicked and forced elderly patients to the ground

2009-12-14T03:57:00.001-08:00

A NURSE has been convicted of striking elderly patients with a pillow, kicking them onto their beds and forcing them to the ground with "controlled assistance".

Amanda Manuel, 30, of Greenwith, showed little emotion as the Adelaide Magistrates Court today found her guilty of five counts of assault.

Magistrate Peter Snopek ruled that, in January and February 2008, she assaulted one woman twice, a man once and another woman twice more.

He found her not guilty of two further allegations - that she pushed an elderly man into a toilet and then dragged him several metres across the floor.

Manuel's case began in December 2008, when she was charged with seven counts of assault.

Her identity was suppressed by court order until February 2009, when The Advertiser had the ban overturned by the Supreme Court.

The identities of her victims, however, and the name and location of the nursing home in which she worked, remain suppressed.

Manuel - who pleaded not guilty in October - has worn a series of disguises throughout her court appearances.

At first, she wore black business suits, dark glasses and a short, black wig to hide her long blonde hair.

Today, she wore a long red wig.

In court, Mr Snopek ruled Manuel had hit one female patient with a pillow and "punted" another in the back to force her onto a bed.

He further found she had applied force to the back of a man's knee in what she called a "controlled assistance to the floor".

Manuel was remanded on continuing bail for sentencing next

Man's ear superglued in party prank

2009-12-14T03:54:00.001-08:00

DRUNKEN party guest who filled a sleeping fellow reveller's ear with superglue in an act of "gross drunken stupidity" has been ordered to pay his victim $9000 in compensation.

Brisbane District Court Judge Terry Martin, SC, in a decision published today, ordered Ryan Laim Upton, 28, pay Ben Ferrett, 27, criminal compensation for the permanent partial hearing loss caused by the foolish prank on January 11, last year.

Upton inflicted the injury on Ferrett, who he had just met, when they attended a party at Greenslopes, on Brisbane's sourthside, the Courier Mail reports.

Judge Martin, in a written judgment, said Ferrett and Upton were both intoxicated when the "prank" occurred.

"Having consumed a deal of alcohol (Ferrett) fell asleep on a couch in the living room," he said.

By way of a prank, (Upton) and others applied superglue to (Ferrett's) hand and glued it to his face.

"(Upton) then poured superglue into (Ferrett's) ear whilst (he) continued to sleep."

Upton pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court in late February to one count of grievous bodily harm.

The court was told one reveller had also used the superglue to pour it down Ferrett's pants between his buttocks.

When Ferrett woke up he felt a sharp pain in his ear and went to Wesley Hospital for treatment.

Ferrett last required surgery several months later, at a personal cost of almost $6000.

Barrister Brad Farr, SC, for Upton, said his client was extremely remorseful for his actions and had repaid Ferrett all his medical expenses.

Judge Terry Martin sentenced Upton to an 18-month, wholly suspended jail term.

"It was an act of gross stupidity," he said.

98-year-old accused of murdering centenarian

2009-12-14T03:53:00.001-08:00

A 98-year-old Massachusetts woman has been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly suffocating her 100-year-old nursing home roommate, local media reported.

Laura Lundquist is accused of killing Elizabeth Barrow, who was found dead in her room in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in September with a plastic bag over her head.

Authorities initially investigated the possibility of suicide, but eventually recommended a murder charge.

Ms Lundquist had frequently complained that her roommate had too many visitors, media reported.

A state judge ordered Lundquist to a local hospital where doctors will evaluate her competency before she is arraigned, according to local media.

Law enforcement officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Michael Stevenson sacked for burnout in Mudgee carpark

2009-12-14T03:51:00.001-08:00

NEW South Wales council has been branded un-Australian after it sacked an employee for doing a burnout in the carpark.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, mechanic Michael Stevenson was dismissed by the Mid-Western Regional Council council after allegedly performing the trademark revhead manouevre while leaving the Mudgee depot in his V6 Holden Commodore on December 5 last year.

Mr Stevenson rejected the accusation and said none of the key elements of a burnout - tyre smoke and big skid marks - were present, The Daily Telegraph reports.

And even though he said it was not a burnout, he condemned sacking someone for doing a burnout as un-Australian.

"It wasn't a burnout anyway. There was no tyre smoke. You couldn't do a burnout on the surface that was there - it was all loose gravel. It's unfair and I reckon I was targeted," he said.

Mr Stevenson believes his work as a union delegate rankled the council and also said that a number of his colleagues had received adverse treatment by the council after giving evidence on his behalf. In his unfair dismissal case, Mr Stevenson and his witnesses said he lost traction for only a fraction of a second while driving out of the carpark and left only a 1m skid mark.

But the council claimed he lost traction for at least three seconds and left what was described in the Industrial Relations Commission as "a distinct skid mark" about 10m long.

In a landmark decision handed down last month, the IRC had to determine the precise elements that constitute a burnout.

And Commissioner Ian Cambridge found Mr Stevenson had deliberately lost traction while leaving the carpark and upheld his dismissal.

"A careful evaluation of all of the evidence ... about the burnout has established it was a deliberate and sustained loss of traction and not an inadvertent occurrence," he found.

The council had previously warned Mr Stevenson about dangerously driving a council ute.

Spokesman Ed DeLong said council was happy with the decision

Mum sent nude photos of daughter to paedophile ring

2009-12-14T03:49:00.001-08:00

A UK nursery worker who sexually abused children in her care also sent a naked photo of her own daughter to an internet paedophile gang.

Vanessa George took a photo of her 15-year-old daughter, Pearl, getting out of the shower - and sent it to a website frequented by child sex predators, News of the World reported.

George, 39, wrote a caption to accompany the picture where she fantasised about the teenager - making what one policeman called "disgusting comments of a sexual nature".

Police found the image on George's computer among pictures of babies being abused at Little Ted's Nursery in Plymouth, Devon, where she worked. It was only then her daughter found out what had happened.

"I want people to know why I really hate and despise her so much. A mother is supposed to be there for her daughter, isn't she? Not betray her, " Pearl said.

"What she inflicted on those unfortunate babies and toddlers at the nursery was wicked, but to then discover she had no conscience about exploiting me, her own flesh and blood, was awful.

"Some people, including my friends, couldn't fully understand my hatred and loathing for her, and thought I was being too harsh by disowning her.

"Now I hope by talking of the lengths she went to use and embarrass me after I took a shower, people will accept why I'm so bitter. At the time I didn't tell anyone about it. I was too shocked and embarrassed. But she could see how upset I was."

George - who has been disowned by her disgusted family - admitted charges of sexual assault and making and distributing indecent images in October and is to be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday.

She made headlines worldwide after it emerged she abused children in her care - taking snaps on her mobile and sending them on to friends Angela Allen, 39, and Colin Blanchard, 38, who she reportedly met via Facebook.

The three will be sentenced together.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi 'loses teeth' after rally attack

2009-12-14T03:45:00.001-08:00

TALIAN Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was rushed to hospital covered in blood with a broken nose and teeth after a man with mental problems hurled a statuette at him at a rally, officials said today.

Mr Berlusconi was bundled into a car, with blood spattered over his face, and rushed to hospital after the assault.
The media mogul had just ended a speech to thousands of supporters in a square behind the cathedral in the northern city of Milan.
The 73-year-old Prime Minister said "I'm fine, I'm fine" as he arrived at the hospital, the Ansa news agency said.
His personal doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, said the premier had suffered a fractured nose, two broken teeth and cuts to his lips that required stitches.
He said Mr Berlusconi would be kept in overnight for observation and would need up to 15 days to recover.
"This is truly a bad day for Italy, and it's the duty of all the political forces to ensure that Italy does not go back to the years of violence," said Gianfranco Fini, Mr Berlusconi's top conservative ally, one of many to denounce the incident.

A 42-year-old man who has been under treatment for mental problems for 10 years was detained for throwing a souvenir plaster statuette of the cathedral at Mr Berlusconi from close range, police said.
The incident triggered an outpouring of solidarity for Mr Berlusconi from allies and critics alike, just as the Prime Minister seeks to regain political momentum after a bruising year battling mounting legal troubles and sex scandals.
The billionaire businessman has portrayed himself as a victim of "communist" magistrates, biased media and jealous leftists.
Mr Berlusconi's spokesman said the premier had confided his fears of a "climate of hate and aggression" against him as they travelled together to the rally.
"OPPRESSIVE CLIMATE"
"What they've done to Mr Berlusconi is an act of terrorism," Umberto Bossi, head of the far-right Northern League and a close Mr Berlusconi ally, told Ansa. "An oppressive climate has been felt for some time and what's happened today is a worrying sign."
A number of ministers and supporters gathered at the Milan hospital where Mr Berlusconi was spending the night.
The attack came after a speech that had been billed as politically significant.
Mr Berlusconi launched a familiar tirade against the left and rattled off a list of government achievements, in a characteristically feisty performance aimed at shoring up his standing and ratings, but revealed no shifts in strategy.
After a summer dodging accusations of an improper relationship with a teenager and parties with escorts, Mr Berlusconi has come under pressure lately from a widening rift with Mr Fini and a growing list of legal headaches.
Stripped of immunity from prosecution, Mr Berlusconi faces several trials, including one on charges of bribery and corruption and another on charges of tax fraud.
An opinion poll published on Saturday indicated his popularity had fallen four percentage points to just over 50 percent as Italians fretted that his legal entanglements could distract him from government duties.
He denies any wrongdoing and says judicial allegations against him are part of a politically-motivated campaign by biased courts and judges to bring down his government.
In 2004, an Italian bricklayer hurled a camera tripod at Mr Berlusconi, injuring him slightly on the head.

Cop 'sexually assaulted woman fleeing violence'

2009-12-14T03:44:00.001-08:00

A SOUTH Australian police officer in Melbourne to help the Black Saturday bushfires recovery held a pillow over the face of a woman as he digitally raped her, a court has heard.

The woman was placed in a hotel in Melbourne's east by a welfare agency after fleeing domestic violence, only to be raped, indecently assaulted and imprisoned by officer Damien Michael Jay Wilmott, 30, the Melbourne Magistrates Court was told today.
A second South Australian police officer, 40-year-old Steven James Westcott, also indecently assaulted her, it is alleged.
Both are facing a committal hearing.
The court heard the pair were among about 50 police from South Australia who were staying at the hotel to help with the bushfire recovery effort.
In a statement to the court, the woman said she told officer Wilmott not to enter her hotel room, but he insisted.

She said he then began kissing her and lay on top of her before indecently assaulting and digitally raping her.
At one point, he pulled the side of a pillow across her face and nose, she says.
Officer Westcott then allegedly knocked on the door and came into the woman's room before touching her on the chest and thigh.
The hearing before Magistrate Amanda Chambers continues tomorrow.

Man injects sleeping wife with HIV in New Zealand

2009-12-07T02:36:00.001-08:00

AN HIV-positive man has confessed to injecting his blood into his sleeping wife and infecting her with the virus that can cause AIDS.

It is believed the man wanted to give her the disease so she would start having sex with him again, New Zealand's Sunday Star-Timesnewspaper said.

Court documents detailed how the man, 35, twice pricked his 33-year-old wife with a sewing needle laced with his infected blood.

The husband discovered he was HIV-positive - but his partner and children were not - during health checks imposed on them when the family arrived in New Zealand in 2004

The woman had said she wanted to maintain the relationship for the sake of the children.

But she refused to have sex with her husband for fear of contracting the disease.

In the documents, the wife described how in May 2008 she found a sting-like mark on her left thigh and two days later awoke to a stinging feeling in her leg.

She said, "I got up... and I flicked the blankets... I looked at (the husband) and he was wide awake."

The wife asked him if he had pricked her and he said: 'No'.

But she later found evidence of "blood sprinkles" on their duvet, which she said her husband tried to hide from her.

During a routine check-up four months later, doctors revealed she was HIV-positive.

The woman confronted her husband, who admitted dipping a needle in his blood and pricking her with it.

"All he said [was] he was sorry.

He said: 'I used needles on you because I wanted you to be the same as me so that you can live with me and you won't leave me,'" she said.

The husband has admitted willfully infecting another with a disease and faces up to 14 years in jail when he is sentenced at Auckland High Court next year.

British celebrities on animal cruelty charge for eating rat

2009-12-07T02:35:00.001-08:00

TWO stars of a British celebrity reality TV show filmed in the Australian bush have been charged with animal cruelty by New South Wales police.

Celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo, who won the I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here TV contest, and soap star Stuart Manning were arrested and charged after cooking a rat and serving it with rice as a meal for fellow contestants.

D'Acampo, 33, and Manning, 30, were confronted by RSPCA officers after filming ended late last week on the TV show's set near Dungay in north eastern NSW.

The News of the World newspaper and the BBC reported the pair were questioned about how they caught and beheaded the rat before adding it to a risotto.

They were both charged with animal cruelty offences by Murwillumbah police and ordered to appear in court on February 3.

If found guilty, the pair face up to three years in jail. The ITV network, which broadcasts the program in Britain, could also face charges.

RSPCA NSW chief inspector David O'Shannessy said it was unacceptable for the rat to have been killed for a TV show.

He said there was a "code of practice" dictating how animals could be used in theatrical productions and films.

"The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"The concern is this was done purely for the cameras.

"Production staff have to summit a notification form to the RSPCA or Animal Welfare League.

"But we received no pre-notice or advice this segment was going to occur, it happened on a day no animals were featuring in production, so we didn't have an officer there."

The show's producers were ordered by the RSPCA to hand over footage showing how the rat, which was believed to be tame, was killed.

D'Acampo and Manning had been filmed telling contestants how they had caught the rat in the bush before the chef killed it with his kitchen knife and skinned it. The Italian-born chef held the dead rodent up to show his fellow contestants, who had been mainly surviving on a meagre diet of rice and beans, before beginning to cook it.

"It was the best recipe I ever did," he said afterwards.

"it was beautiful."

NSW police confirmed the arrests of the two celebrities in a statement issued yesterday.

"Police from Murwillumbah yesterday issued field court attendance notices to two men aged 30 and 33 for the offence of animal cruelty," the statement said.

"They are due to attend court at Murwillumbah local court on 3 February 2010."

Millions of Britons tune in each year to watch the show, which features celebrity contestants having to undergo "bush tucker trials" involving snakes, spiders and other insects found in the "jungle".

Viewers back in Britain vote for which celebrity they want to win the show, which in the past has featured Australian pop star Peter Andre who met his former wife, glamour model Jordan, on the set.

England football team offered Viagra for World Cup

2009-12-07T02:34:00.001-08:00

ENGLAND'S football team will be offered Viagra for next year's World Cup games in South Africa in an attempt to boost their performance ... on the pitch.

Scientists claim the blue pills will enhance the performance of coach Fabio Capello's men.
Viagra will apparently help the boys raise their game and help them beat the effects of playing at altitude.
News of the World reveals that England's World Cup 2010 football squad may well be popping the blue pills in next summer's Finals to help improve lung capacity.
Manager Fabio Capello is considering dishing out Viagra before every match after research by scientists proved the drug could help players perform better.

The England team plan to have their training camp based in Rustenburg, South Africa, which is 4,921ft above sea level.
And experts reckon Viagra can help the lads combat altitude, which affected England's 1970 World Cup flops in Mexico. Sports scientist Richard Pullen has been commissioned by the FA to come up with special training techniques to help beat this altitude issue.
He said: "I'll point out to the England squad the potential benefits of using Viagra for games played at altitude.
"It's scientifically proven that the process of how Viagra works in the body, by enlarging the blood vessels, can improve performance of some athletes.
"Also known as sildenafil, it's been used by football teams in South America and some cyclists because it's not a banned substance.
"I'm sure several countries at the World Cup will consider using Viagra."
But Pullen warned: "There can be some side effects which might adversely effect performance, such as blurred vision, headaches or flushed faces."
Apart from the obvious potential problem in the players' shorts, another side effect of Viagra is a blue tinge to the eye.
England's chief physio Gary Lewin will analyse the pros and cons of using Viagra before making a recommendation to Capello, who has the final say.
It would then be up to players if they wanted to use Viagra.

Satanist Daniel William Peckham lured girls into Rookwood cemetery for sex

2009-12-05T19:02:00.003-08:00

A SATANIST who preyed on young girls, luring them to a Sydney cemetery for sex through a fake online gothic society, has been sentenced to nine years' jail.

As a condition of membership to the "Rookwood Gothic Society," Daniel William Peckham, 24, required teenage girls to send naked photographs of themselves and be prepared to have sex with him.
He convinced at least two girls to meet him in the grounds of Rookwood cemetery at night, where he kissed and touched them before trying to persuade them to have sex.
At his sentencing hearing, a girl he sexually assaulted in an open tomb in April 2007 told the District Court in a victim's impact statement she felt the attack was her fault.
She said her school grades have suffered greatly and she now has trouble trusting people.
"At the time...it felt like what was happening was my fault and everything was what I deserved," she said.

The girl, who was 15 when the assault took place, said she began self-harming by cutting her legs and arms and she became "obsessed" with talking to people on the internet because she "could pretend to be someone else."
The court heard Peckham had asked her to have sex with him previously and when she refused, he posted a video of her naked on You Tube as "punishment."
Judge Peter Berman said it was disturbing how easily "young, naive girls can be persuaded to act in such a way by a person prepared to manipulate them for his own sexual gratification."
Peckham pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, three counts for each of three victims of using the internet to procure underage girls for sexual activity and transmitting child pornography.
He also admitted using the internet to menace one of the girls and two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice by asking two girls to hide his stored images of child pornography.
Judge Berman sentenced him to nine years jail with six years non-parole. With time already served, he will be eligible for release in June, 2013.

Schoolkids arrested for Kick-A-Ginger Day attack

2009-12-05T19:02:00.001-08:00

THREE children at a California school may face criminal charges for allegedly bullying redheaded students following an internet-based "Kick a Ginger Day", police said.

Three boys - a 13-year-old and two 12-year-olds - from AE Wright Middle School in Calabasas were detained last week and booked for misdemeanours, according to Steve Whitmore of the Los Angeles Sheriff's department.

The older boy was detained and booked on suspicion of "threatening to inflict injury by means of electronic communication - commonly known as cyber bullying", Mr Whitmore said.

The younger boys were booked on suspicion of "battery on school property", he added.

Seven children - four boys and three girls - were targeted in the attacks according to police, which were motivated by "Kick a Ginger Day", an online spoof reputedly inspired by a 2005 episode of South Park which satirised racial intolerance.

Las Virgenes School District Superintendent Donald Zimring said the school where the incidents took place had 926 "really terrific children" with a handful who did "a dumb thing".

The superintendent stressed initial reports suggesting some of the victims suffered broken bones were inaccurate.

"That doesn't make it insignificant, but it didn't rise to having a broke arm or a beating," Mr Zimring said.

"We had some kids who made a very poor decision.

"They thought they were playacting, or just having a joke.

"These youngsters did not understand the ramifications or the consequences."

Man taped bashings before killing partner

2009-12-05T19:01:00.001-08:00

BIKIE and former boxing champion Edward Yost made videotapes of himself bashing his girlfriend before he finally murdered her.
The recordings of various beatings, some lasting more than 30 minutes, were kept by Yost as "some kind of trophy'', prosecutor Sandi McDonald told the South Australian Supreme Court today.
Yost, a former SA boxing titleholder connected to the Rebels motorcycle club, has pleaded guilty to murdering his partner, Natasha Jones, in 2007.
The anger of Ms Jones' father, Dan, spilled over in court today.
Mr Jones was to have read a statement detailing the impact the murder had on him.
Instead, with his statement in hand, he glared at Yost for almost one minute before telling the killer: "I just want to cut your f****** throat.''

Mr Jones was led from the court, and a court official later read out his statement in which he called Yost a "dog'', who had "cast aside a body that was beyond recognition''.
"You are a woman killer, a murderer, you are the lowest of the low,'' Mr Jones' statement said.
"No parent should have to lose a child and never in such a dreadful way as this.''
Yost had kept the body of Ms Jones in his basement before it was discovered in January 2007, Ms McDonald told the court.
Also discovered were videotapes of the beatings, she said.
"It is hard to imagine a more horrific history of domestic violence,'' Ms McDonald told the court.
No details were disclosed of the murder, for which Yost apologised through his lawyer David Edwardson QC.
"He is now in a position where he understands the enormity of what he did,'' Mr Edwardson told the court.
Yost and Ms Jones had been in an "horrendous'' relationship which existed "under an umbrella of toxic and dangerous drugs'', Mr Edwardson said.
Yost admitted to a long history of abusing drugs such as cocaine, amphetamines and also to using steroids, his lawyer said.
A state boxing champion between the ages of 15 and 18, and again aged 21, Yost developed an antisocial personality disorder because of the drug abuse, Mr Edwardson said.
"In combination, all of those factors presented a very dangerous cocktail indeed,'' he said.
Yost has been given a mandatory life sentence for the murder, with Justice Michael David to set a non-parole period next month.

Barmaid Michelle Chantelois says she had affair with Premier Mike Rann

2009-12-05T18:59:00.001-08:00

SOUTH Australian Premier Mike Rann says claims by a former parliament house barmaid that they had a sexual relationship are "wildly sensational".
The woman, Michelle Chantelois, has claimed she had sexual relations with the Premier in his Parliament House office on several occasions when parliament was sitting, The Australianreported today.
The claims were made in a paid interview with the Seven Network's Sunday Night program, to be aired tomorrow, sections of which were broadcast on Seven in South Australia last night.

Ms Chantelois is the estranged wife of the man charged with assaulting Mr Rann last month.
A spokesman for the Premier has flatly denied there was a sexual relationship, The Australian reports.
Mr Rann says he is waiting to see the program.
"What I have been told is wildly sensational, and there is a court case pending on December the 7th," he told the ABC today.
"I intend to make a statement, a brief statement, on Monday after we've found out what these allegations are.
"But I will not be admitting to things that are not true."
Mr Rann said a month ago Ms Chantelois' lawyers had said she wanted to be left alone by the media.
"I understand that she has been paid a fortune to say the things that she's said publicly," he said.
The ABC said Ms Chantelois' lawyer had confirmed she had provided exclusive interviews for TV and a women's magazine, adding that she was under enormous pressure and believed conducting the interviews was the best way to deal with the issue for her family.
Mr Rann's links with Ms Chantelois have been the subject of intense speculation since her estranged husband Richard Wayne Phillips was charged with assaulting the Premier with a rolled-up magazine at a Labor Party fundraiser in September.
The Seven Network's chief political correspondent Mark Riley conducted four separate interviews with Ms Chantelois in Adelaide on Wednesday that produced 11 hours of tape.
In a segment of the interviews broadcast on Seven's Today Tonight last night, when asked why she had decided to go public, Ms Chantelois, who is believed to have also negotiated with 60 Minutes, said: "It's not something that I like to discuss on a public level but in my case I'm at the point where I feel like I have to come clean. I'm tired of the lies and I'm not holding it in any more."
Ms Chantelois said she was not proud of her conduct, calling it "embarrassing".
"I'm taking responsibility for my own bad behaviour and Mike Rann should take responsibility for his own behaviour," she said.
Ms Chantelois detailed how a near-decade-long friendship with Mr Rann became an intimate relationship.
Mr Rann married Sasha Carruozzo in July 2006.
Asked about the relationship with Ms Chantelois following the alleged assault by her estranged husband, Mr Rann said: "Sasha knew about everything. She knows about everything, about the friendship, of the past."
He described Ms Chantelois as a "terrific person, great mother, and she became a friend".
"When she left Parliament House we stayed friends," he said. "My wife was very aware of her."
Riley said the claims by Ms Chantelois of a sexual relationship with the Premier were "supported by corroborating evidence" that he was unable to divulge. He described her as a "credible witness".
Mr Rann first met the US-born Ms Chantelois when she worked at a high school in his electorate of Ramsay in Adelaide's north. The friendship blossomed when she got as job as a waitress in the state parliament bar and dining room.
Mr Phillips sent several letters to Mr Rann and his wife in 2004-05, blaming the Premier for the break-up of his marriage to Ms Chantelois.
Telephone records show Ms Chantelois sent more than 200 text messages to the Premier's personal mobile phone between March 2004 and October 2005.

Group sex slang term 'bunning' added to dictionary

2009-06-08T03:13:00.001-07:00

BUNNING - the slang word for group sex made infamous by Matthew Johns and the Cronulla Sharks - will live on forever after being added to the latest edition of the Macquarie Dictionary.
Publisher Sue Butler said the contribution from the rugby league sex scandal, which took place in a Christchurch hotel in 2002 but only exploded into the public arena earlier this year, will join 1000 other new words in a November edition.
Australiana's newest words range from slang to scientific terms, The Sunday Telegraph reports.
"The dictionary has become a record of language and words in common use," Ms Butler said.
Linguistics expert Dr Marie-Therese Jensen said common words such as "bunning" should be in the dictionary, even if their meanings were offensive.
"If the word is in use, then whether it's offensive or derogatory or positive, it should be in the dictionary," Dr Jensen said.

"It is about recognising words that are used sufficiently often."
But "Kings Cross Bogan" Clare Werbeloff has reason to be disappointed, with the term "chk chk boom" not being considered for the new Macquarie.
Other words to make the cut include "tweeting," the act of sharing thoughts and comments with a group of friends over the Net.
"Although it was something created by Twitter, it has probably escaped them," Ms Butler said.
Other new inclusions are "noddy" (someone who always answers yes) and "dandruff acting" (a specific drama method to show discomfort, used in soap operas and the like).
The word "culturalism" can now be used when talking about discrimination by culture and "climbing asparagus" describes a new form of introduced weed.
New words are often gathered online using Google and other techniques, and words are rarely dropped from the dictionary once they are in, Ms Butler said.

Dad's assault leaves baby with 38 broken bones

2009-06-08T03:07:00.001-07:00

A 34-year-old man from the West Australian town of Albany has admitted to bashing his three month old son, leaving him with 38 broken bones.

In the District Court in Perth, Jonathon Stephen Lowe pleaded guilty to a charge of causing aggravated grievous bodily harm.

The court heard he injured the baby during a series of assaults over two weeks in early 2007.

During an earlier hearing a police prosecutor told the Albany Magistrate's Court staff at Princess Margaret Hospital had described the baby's injuries as the worst case of child abuse they had ever seen.

The child is now in foster care and his mother is only allowed supervised access visits.

Lowe is due to be sentenced on August 7.

Bizarre Organ dolls

2009-05-23T01:48:00.001-07:00

10 Most Creative Calendars

2009-05-23T01:46:00.001-07:00

Keira Knightley: Vegyes

2009-05-23T01:45:00.001-07:00

Aaaahhh

2009-05-23T01:42:00.001-07:00

Adam Burish Gets Throat Cut By Skate Blade

2009-05-21T05:10:00.001-07:00

Most Mean Prank Ever

2009-05-21T05:09:00.001-07:00

Guy Showing Off Gets Knocked Out

2009-05-21T05:07:00.001-07:00

Mean Pranks To Do To Friends

2009-05-21T05:05:00.003-07:00

Pimp Gets Knocked Out

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Good Cop .................Naked Cop

2009-05-21T04:58:00.001-07:00

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2009-05-16T21:45:00.001-07:00

Very Creative Photos by Murat Suyur

2009-05-16T21:42:00.001-07:00

20 Beautiful Wall Paintings

2009-05-16T21:36:00.001-07:00

School pays out $150,000 after boy stoned, scalped in bullying in

2009-05-08T03:37:00.011-07:00

A FIVE-year-old Queensland boy was scalped, stoned, hit and taunted in an atrocious case of schoolyard bullying - and the main perpetrator was the "buddy" charged with protecting him.

Lachlan Antony Guerin suffered a minor brain injury during the sustained bullying by his school-assigned buddy and other older students at St John's Lutheran Primary School in Kingaroy, while in preschool and Year 1 in 1997 and 1998.

His guardian, Evelyn-Joy Lindsay-Park, filed a claim in the District Court in Brisbane for $250,000 but has accepted $150,000 plus costs from the school in an out-of-court mediated settlement,

In her statement of claim, Ms Lindsay-Park said the older student was supposed to "provide guidance, support, mentoring and/or friendship" to Lachlan but instead he and other students abused him.

Ex-US soldier guilty of Iraqi girl's rape, massacre

2009-05-08T03:37:00.009-07:00

A US federal jury has found former soldier Steven Dale Green guilty of raping an Iraqi teenager and then executing the girl and her family, court officials said.

Green, who was discharged from the army due to a "personality disorder" before his role in the atrocity came to light, was found guilty on all 17 criminal counts which included rape, murder and obstruction of justice.

A jury will determine whether he should receive the death penalty at a sentencing hearing which is set to begin on Monday (US time).

Green's mother, father and brother - who were not present during the trial at Green's request - are scheduled to testify on his behalf.

Green, 19 at the time of the crime, was described as the trigger-man in the group of five men who donned black "ninja" outfits and raped Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, 14, and shot to death her and her father, mother and six-year-old sister.

The 2006 incident unfolded after the soldiers drank whiskey, played cards, and plotted the attack in Mahmudiya, 30 kilometres south of Baghdad.

Rudd denies bad hair blow-up

2009-05-08T03:37:00.007-07:00

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has denied claims that he "chucked a wobbly" during a trip to Afghanistan last year because he could not blow dry his hair.

Reports today say Coalition frontbencher John Cobb claims Mr Rudd lost his temper because he could not find a hairdryer during a visit to Australian troops in Afghanistan just before Christmas.

Mr Rudd has dismissed the report as ridiculous and pointed the finger at Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull.

"This particular allegation by Mr Turnbull is absolutely ridiculous and absolutely false and designed, I presume, to distract attention from Mr Turnbull's own problem in his own political party which are considerable," he told Fairfax Radio.

"I noticed his spokesman today walking away from it at a pace of knots.

"If you are a Liberal Party without a positive proposal to deal with the economic recession then obviously such a Liberal Party is likely to engage in personality politics."

Mr Turnbull has sought to distance himself from the hairy tale.

"I have no interest in Mr Rudd's grooming habits," he said.

Mr Cobb, however, has told the Herald Sun he stands by his story.

"He chucked a wobbly. I heard from a few people in the Defence forces - they were going on and on about it," the Herald Sun reports Mr Cobb as saying.

The alleged incident follows revelations last month that Mr Rudd made an RAAF flight attendant cry because he could not get a meat-free meal.

Mr Rudd publicy apologised for the incident.

Boys' home rapist could die in jail

2009-05-08T03:37:00.005-07:00

A man who raped four boys at a Salvation Army home in the Adelaide Hills up to half a century ago has been jailed for 16 years by the Supreme Court.

The court heard William John Keith Ellis, 76, abused his role as the children's guardian at the Eden Park boys home near Wistow in the 1960s and 1970s.

A jury convicted Ellis last month of seven counts of buggery and six of indecent assault.

Justice Michael David condemned a culture of violence and cruel punishments that reigned at the home against defenceless and vulnerable boys.

He said it was within this horrific environment that Ellis preyed on his four victims, who were between nine and 15.

Justice David said it was inevitable any prison term could well amount to a life sentence because Ellis could die in jail.

But he said no contrition had been shown by Ellis.

"The very existence of the Eden Park boys home and how it was run is a disgrace and your behaviour, sadly, was very much part of that disgrace," Justice David said.

"This was an horrific place by any standards, let alone modern standards.

"There was evidence of beatings, harshness and cruel incarcerations by way of punishment of defenceless and vulnerable boys.

"It makes it difficult to understand how all this took place for an extended period of time virtually under the noses of the community of South Australia."

Ellis will be eligible for parole in 12 years.

He did not react as he learned that he would be 88 before parole becomes possible.

"Your victims are now men in their 50s and it would not be an exaggeration to say that they've been permanently scarred by your offending and of their time in the Eden Park boys home," the judge said.

No sympathy

One of the victims, Timothy Anderson, says living at the boys home was horrendous and Ellis deserves his punishment.

"I wouldn't have any sympathy for him," he said.

"I wasn't there but they said he kicked and screamed at one stage when they came down with the guilty verdicts and I can remember a lot of kids kicking and screaming when they were getting hidings and they just got hit harder, beaten harder because of it."

Mr Anderson said he was too scared to tell anyone of the abuse at the time.

"No-one would listen to you if you told them what was happening to you," he said.

"I know I was too terrified of getting another beating to say anything. I mean they were horrendous beatings.

"He hit me with a piece of wood once. Must have hit me 15 times as hard he could and he was young, strong across the chest and he used to really belt."

Crocodile head found in freezer, man charged

2009-05-08T03:37:00.003-07:00

POLICE have seized a crocodile head from a freezer and charged a man with taking a protected animal and unlawfully keeping a protected animal.

Detectives found the head of a saltwater croc at a Cowley home, south of Innisfail, while executing a search warrant.

The frozen head is about 50cm long.

A Cowley man, 35, has also been charged with producing a dangerous drug, possessing a dangerous drug and possessing an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, reports theCairns Post.

Police found 40g of cannabis leaf and seed and 24 seedlings at the property, along with a .22 rifle and ammunition.

The man is due to face Innisfail Magistrate’s Court on June 9.

Mum protects kids while being stabbed by lover

2009-05-08T03:37:00.001-07:00

A MAN who frantically stabbed his lover as she lay over her three children to protect them has been jailed for 11 years.

Bricklayer Ergun Karabay, 38, broke into Arzu Tankir's Melbourne home by smashing a window with a hammer and stabbed her nine times, piercing her lung.

One of her three children, aged 10, received a minor leg wound as she lay across them to protect them, the Victorian Supreme Court heard.

During the sustained knife attack on August 26 last year, Karabay, who was drunk, shouted to Mrs Tankir: "I told you I would kill you.''

Mrs Tankir played dead to halt the attack and she was able to call an ambulance after Karabay left the Glenroy home.

After placing the call she collapsed and later spent three days in hospital.

Justice Elizabeth Curtain today jailed Karabay for 11 years, to serve a minimum of eight.

The court was told Karabay and Mrs Tankir shared a passionate yet turbulent relationship.

At the time of the attack Karabay was the subject of an intervention order, imposed after Karabay punched and kicked Mrs Tankir a year earlier, but the pair continued to see each other.

The court was told he threatened to kill her when she refused his wishes for a third person to partake in their sexual liaisons.

The attack came after Mrs Tankir extended the intervention order.

'We've boobed': busty women win bra battle

2009-05-08T03:35:00.001-07:00

A British department store has been forced to change the way it prices underwear after almost 13,000 people signed an online protest against its policy of charging customers more for large bras.

The Facebook campaign was started by 26-year-old Beckie Williams, who wears a 30G bra, after Marks and Spencer failed to respond to her complaints about the two-pound ($4) extra charge on bras bigger than a DD cup.

The group, Busts 4 Justice, condemned the policy as criminally unfair and urged "busty ladies" to "join forces to end this blatant discrimination".

Ms Williams even bought a share worth 3.40 pounds in Marks and Spencer, so she could raise her concerns at the firm's annual general meeting in July.

"We've heard what our customers are telling us that they are unhappy with the pricing on our DD-plus bras and that basically we've boobed," a spokesperson for Marks and Spencer said.

"So from Saturday, May 9, no matter what size you buy, the price is going to be the same.

"We're not going to cut the quality though - they'll still be made to the same high standards so you get the best support on the high street."

The retailer previously insisted its bras were priced fairly to include the cost of wider straps and better support and said customers "have told us they are happy to pay a small premium... for the specialist work".

League sex case 'won't be reopened'

2009-05-08T03:25:00.001-07:00

New Zealand police have ruled out reopening an investigation into a night of group sex involving former rugby league star Matthew Johns and a 19-year-old woman.

On a Four Corners program to be aired this Monday, the woman says the night at a Christchurch hotel involving several Cronulla Sharks players left her with significant emotional trauma.

Mr Johns insists the group sex during a pre-season tour seven years ago was consensual.

Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Long from Christchurch Police says the woman complained to his colleagues about the incident in 2002.

"As a result of that complaint, police officers went to Australia and interviewed every member of the touring party, including all players and officials," he said.

"As a result of speaking to all possible witnesses or persons that had information about the matter, it was decided that there was insufficient evidence to put the matter before a court.

"Nothing's changed since then... The lady who made the allegations was advised and consulted with about the outcome of the investigation, and there's no new information that's come forward since."

Speaking on the Nine Network's Footy Show on Thursday night, Mr Johns apologised to his family.

"It caused all parties enormous pain and embarrassment," he said.

"For me personally, it has put my family through enormous anguish and embarrassment and it has once again. For that I can't say sorry enough.

"But the police did investigate the situation at the time, the allegation, and there was no charges laid."

The New Zealand woman has told Four Corners the incident was degrading.

"Every time I looked up there would be more and more people in the room and there's lots of guys in the room watching - maybe two or three were on the bed that were doing stuff to me," she said.

She goes on to talk about the impact it has had on her life.

Rugby league has already been dogged this season by allegations of misbehaviour, including drunkenness and allegations of sexual assault involving high-profile players.

The NRL will not comment specifically on the incident in New Zealand, other than to say it believes there has been a significant improvement in player behaviour since an education program was launched five years ago.

Matthew Johns is the face of the league's 2009 advertising campaign, aimed at encouraging families to buy season memberships.

The NRL says that ad campaign has now run its course. It says it did not know about the incident when the high-profile commentator and former international was chosen to front it.

Worlds Most Tattooed Senior Woman

2008-10-06T07:20:00.001-07:00

Krisitin Cavallari

2008-10-06T07:04:00.001-07:00

DJ Nikki Belucci

2008-10-06T06:49:00.001-07:00

Taliban : Osama bin Laden New House

2008-10-06T06:37:00.001-07:00

Hitler' Still alive and we have the Proof

2008-10-06T06:32:00.001-07:00

Hitler's new Hideout

Anna Semenovich Big Breasted Russian pop star

2008-10-06T06:26:00.001-07:00

Finger in my ass

2008-10-06T06:07:00.001-07:00

Heidi Klum: Does Body paint

2008-10-06T06:02:00.001-07:00

Unusual_hairdresses

2008-10-06T05:29:00.001-07:00

Reality:Meet Your Internet Girlfriend

2008-10-06T05:21:00.001-07:00

This could go totally wrong

2008-10-06T05:16:00.001-07:00

Dose She Come With The Car

2008-10-06T05:05:00.001-07:00

Burial Room

2008-10-06T05:00:00.001-07:00

Squirrel Armour

2008-10-05T23:20:00.001-07:00

Moldy Bible: you will be going to hell for this

2008-10-05T23:16:00.001-07:00

Moving Home Bogan Style

2008-10-05T23:03:00.001-07:00

A Challenger Appears

2008-10-05T22:47:00.001-07:00

Real Master Chief Halo

2008-10-05T22:35:00.001-07:00

The Cutest Thing in the world

2008-10-05T22:29:00.001-07:00

The Most Flexible People in the world

2008-10-05T22:24:00.001-07:00

not that type of drive through

2008-10-05T20:58:00.001-07:00

Photos Of Moscow Zoo in the 1920

2008-10-04T22:23:00.001-07:00

The Moscow Zoo is the largest and oldest zoo in Russia. It was founded in 1864 by a group of professor-biologists, K.F. Rulje, S.A. Usov and A.P. Bogdanov,

from the Moscow State University. In 1919, the zoo was nationalized. In 1922, the ownership was transferred to the city of Moscow and has remained under Moscow's control ever since. The zoo had an area of 10 hectares when it first opened, with 286 animals. In 1926,

the zoo was expanded to adjacent lands, increasing the area to 18 hectares. The zoo's original buildings were wooden, built in the old Russian style with intricate wood trims. In 1990, the zoo was renovated.

Notable additions include a new main entrance in the shape of a large rock castle, and a footbridge that connected the old (1864) and new (1926) properties of the zoo. Prior to construction of the footbridge, the zoo operated as two 'separate zoos' because the Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street divides the properties. In addition, the zoo was expanded once more. New exhibits were opened including a sea aquarium, an aviary, a creatures of the night exhibit, a sea lion exhibit and a section aimed at children. Waterfalls and streams were added throughout to give the zoo a more natural feeling. Moscow Zoo Plan The Moscow zoo has over 6000 animals representing more than 1000 species and covers an area of about 21.5 hectares.

Gillard 'shocked' by Henson's scouting

2008-10-04T21:59:00.001-07:00

FEDERAL education minister Julia Gillard says allowing a photographer to scout out a primary school playground for nude models would send a shudder down people's spines.

Photographer Bill Henson, whose portraits of naked teenagers sparked outrage earlier this year, says he checked out a Melbourne primary school, accompanied by the principal, to find models for his work.

Ms Gillard said today she was shocked by the revelation when it came out yesterday.

"To find out now that someone has been allowed to go into a school to look at children I think would send a shudder through people's spines," Ms Gillard told the Nine Network.

She said no one should be on school grounds unless they were there for a legitimate purpose relating to the education of young people.

The Victorian Government has announced an investigation into the incident.

Ms Gillard said child protection was primarily a matter for the states and did not indicate the Federal Government would be taking action over the incident, although she said governments were working on a national child protection framework.

She criticised Henson's nude photographs, which were removed from an art gallery earlier this year but later returned.

"I found the images disturbing, I was very concerned about them," she said.

Ms Gillard sought to attack federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull over comments he made earlier in the year in relation to the Henson issue, in defence of artistic freedom.

"I also note the leader of the Opposition seems to have changed his mind from earlier this year on this matter, earlier this year he was more in the artistic freedom camp, saying he himself owned Henson works," she said.

"But I'm glad to see that he has joined with the Government on this occasion to say that it is a disturbing incident."

Tempting a cobra

2008-10-04T21:52:00.001-07:00

messages_on_bikini

2008-10-04T21:06:00.001-07:00

Exit Only

2008-10-04T21:01:00.001-07:00

Funniest Homeless signs

2008-10-04T20:53:00.001-07:00

Cute Dogs : Don't You Just Want To Give Them a Pat

2008-10-04T08:02:00.001-07:00

Animals No Larger Than Finger

2008-10-04T07:36:00.001-07:00

Hilarious Failures caught On camera

2008-10-04T07:06:00.001-07:00

Cristina Dumitru the hottest thing to come out of Romania.....this girl

2008-10-04T07:01:00.001-07:00

What Do i Do the there is a Huge Fuck-up

2008-10-04T06:55:00.001-07:00

Strange Religious Tattoos

2008-10-04T06:54:00.001-07:00

Who gets to clean this up

2008-10-04T06:51:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you just don't fit in

2008-10-04T06:48:00.001-07:00