Navy intercepts packed asylum boat

A BOATLOAD of 77 suspected asylum seekers has been intercepted near Ashmore Reef off Australia’s northwest coast.

The vessel is believed to be carrying 73 passengers and four crew – the group will be transferred to Christmas Island where they will undergo health and security checks.

It is the 13th boat carrying suspected asylum seekers to be intercepted in Australian waters this year.

Links: Daily Telegraph | SMH

First HIFiRE hypersonic test flight

AUSTRALIAN and US defence scientists have conducted the first successful test flight of a hypersonic aircraft in the HIFiRE program, at the Woomera testing range in South Australia. The series of 10 hypersonic flight experiments are designated as the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE), and are being carried out by the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation and the US Air Force.

The test vehicle was launched on a rocket from Woomera and carried 200km into the atmospherefrom where released it was released. The vehicle dived back into the atmosphere at high speed to test the hypersonic flight technology.

Further Information

Kate Miller-Heidke ‘Can’t Shake It’

Can’t Shake It introduces the second album from Kate Miller-Heidke titled Curiouser, which has debuted at the number 8 spot in Australia.

Miller-Heidke made her mark at the ARIA 2007 awards ceremony, and while her profile was significantly boosted by four ARIA nominations, it was thanks to her debut album Little Eve, and her dramatic performance of the single Words which captivated her new audience.

Can’t Shake It may be the perfect example of her vision realised in sonic form. But there is another song which showcases the more emotional side of her songwriting and is already winning – and breaking – hearts for its poignancy.

Here is a live acoustic preformance for the Daily Telegraph in Sydney’s Sony Studios.

Caught In The Crowd, in contention to be the album’s next single, tells an all-too-real story of schoolyard bullying. “It’s a song about schoolyard trauma and the crap that happens to you at school staying with you and ultimately shaping your personality,” she says.

Here is a live acoustic preformance for the Daily Telegraph in Sydney’s Sony Studios.

more:

• Kate Miller-Heidke website 
• Kate Miller-Heidke in Daily Telegraph LIVE Studio Session
• myspace.com/katemillerheidke 
• On NineMSN 

Grant Hackett retires from swimming

Grant Hackett will announce his retirement from the greatest of swimming careers.

The Australian national swimming team captain will announce his retirement at Swimming Australia’s swimmer of the year awards in Sydney tonight. HGrant Hackett, 28, has spent the last two months weighing up his future after just missing out on a history-making third straight Olympic 1500m freestyle title in Beijing earlier this year.

He has recently taken up a job reading the weekend sports news on the Nine Network in Melbourne and pointed to a career in finance with long-time sponsor Westpac.

Hackett has also revealed he holds political ambitions and would like one day to become a Cabinet minister in federal Parliament.

 

Sources: Daily Telegraph, LiveNews.com.au, Reuters, Bloomberg.

Diggers remains damaged at Gallipoli

Australian officials have requested roadworks on the Gallipoli Peninsula be stopped after reports diggers remains had been damaged.

Diggers unearthed at Gallipoli - image from news.com.au

Road crews have been widening Second Ridge Road, which runs along what was the “no man’s land” between Anzac and Turkish troops during World War I, and is now an unmarked grave for thousands of soldiers, the ABC said.

News articles: ABC Online | The Age | Radio Australia | Daily Telegraph 

Student leaped to death to escape rape

Sydney Police are investigating the theory that two young naked Asian students fell from a third-floor balcony in Sydney on Sunday, as they tried to escape an armed rapist.

The Daily Telegraph revealed early today that police insiders suspect a knife-wielding intruder to the Waterloo apartment had intended or had already committed sexual assault, forcing the teenage woman and man to leap from the balcony in Hunter St, Waterloo.

The SMH reports much the same today.

It’s all hitting the fan at Hotel that served crappy ice-cream

Have you ever complained at a hotel or restaurant?

The Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney Australia are alleged to have served up a dessert containing human faeces, and have accused the family behind the claims of demanding $1 million “shut-up money” as it emerged they also had links to a rival pub company.

A second family has now claimed they were also fed poo at the Coogee Bay Hotel.

Official documents: Lab analysis and complaint :
Lab analysis and report and page 2 , and Letter from the Coogee Bay and page 2

Whether this is true or not, we often hear stories of disgusting acts happening behind the scenes in the kitchen.

What are YOUR disgusting dining-out experiences?

 

Related news media articles:

SMH – Family urged to complain over ‘excrement ice cream’ 
ABC – Coogee Bay Hotel stands by staff 

Related links:

Coogee Bay Boutique Hotel

DNA test doesn’t resolve poodunnit in Coogee ice-cream scandal

DNA testing of the faeces-laced ice-cream given to a family at the Coogee Bay Hotel has not been able to establish whether it is human or animal.

Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald revealed the latest episode in the saga to The Daily Telegraph  this morning, saying the tests by the NSW Food Authority were inconclusive because of insufficient good quality DNA material in the sample.

“An earlier test showed that it was faecal matter, but was unable to find if it came from a human or an animal,” Mr Macdonald said.

Excuse me, but if scientists can extract reasonable quality DNA from animals that have been dead and buried for millions of years, they should be able to match this DNA that is only a week or so old.

Clover Moore’s alcohol clampdown in Sydney

Sydney City Council is pushing for a freeze on any new nightclubs and late-night pubs in the city’s hot spots around the CBD, Kings Cross and Oxford St.

The plan comes as the council moved towards making George Street an alcohol free zone on New Year’s Eve for the first time. 

As part of the proposed measures to clean up Sydney’s night life Lord mayor Clover Moore said the Government should:

OVERHAUL the 3am taxi change-over time and provide secure ranks; to ensure there is adequate taxi transport.

INCREASE public transport to late night entertainment areas;

REMOVE extended trading hours from the worst managed pubs and clubs that are hotspots of crime; and 

INTRODUCE mandatory controls on alcohol advertising.

 

Receivers called in to ABC Learning

Recievers have been appointed to ABC Learning Centres, with the childcare chain’s bankers believed to be owed more than $1 billion.

The company said it had appointed voluntary administrators after a “careful review” of its future. .. whilst most of us know this has been a long time coming.

Education Minister Julia Gillard said the Federal Government had been briefed about the situation and had talked to ABC’s creditors.

 

Breaking news – ABC Learning collapse 

 

A hotline – 180 2003 – will be in available from later today to provide basic information to parents and employees.

 

Sources and related links:

Further information is available on the mychild.gov.au web site
ABC Learning Centres Childcare Australia 
ABC Learning News

ELLE’s new man was cocaine smuggler

ELLE Macpherson’s new man Brian Burgess has a criminal past, including a botched bid to smuggle cocaine according to the Daily Telegraph.

Burgess, 56, who owns his own removalist company in London called Aussie Man&Van came into Elle’s life recently after he helped her move from Notting Hill, West London, to nearby Ladbroke Grove.

Burgess was found guilty of drug trafficking in the NSW District Court in 1996 and sentenced to four years jail after he attempted to smuggle 2kg of cocaine from the US inside hollowed-out books.

Sources:
UK Express – ELLE’S man is a drug smuggler
The Sun – She is one Elle of a racy driver