DON'T LET TENSIONS ALTER `ONE CHINA'.(MAIN)

Byline: BRENT SCOWCROFT

Taiwan has been a sensitive issue in the U.S.-China relationship since 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan from the mainland.

After more than two decades of unremitting hostility and recurring crises involving Taiwan, a truce was reached in 1972. In the Shanghai Communique of that year, the United States stated that it ``does not challenge'' the position of both Beijing and the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, that there is but one China.

In subsequent comments and clarifications, together with the 1979 normalization agreement and the arms sales agreement of 1982, the United States urged Beijing and Taipei to negotiate their differences, insisted that a settlement must be by peaceful means and added that it would accept any implementation of the ``one China'' principle agreed to jointly by the two sides. It declared there should be no unilateral steps to change the situation.

With the Shanghai Communique, these documents are called …

Tread carefully if traveling offshore: a little caution would go a long way for collection agencies using call centers overseas.

An American executive traveled to India recently, hoping to cement elations with local employees at his firm's new call center there. Soon after arriving, he found himself scanning a dozen eager faces arrayed around a conference table.

As he urged his workers to cast aside preconceptions, the executive fell back on a familiar phrase. "There won't be any sacred cows," he said earnestly. Faces fell, eyes widened and jaws went slack. His listeners were aghast at the unintended stereotyping.

Cultures do not always clash with as much force as in this reportedly true story, but North American card issuers should remain vigilant when taking collection efforts offshore, according to industry experts seasoned in the ways of globalization.

The challenge appears bound to intensify as offshoring increases in the next few years, says Dennis Grady, executive vice president of Global Vantedge Inc., a Larkspur, Calif.-based agency that offers collection and other credit services. The company employs five workers in the United States and 1,000 abroad, mostly in India.

Grady says offshoring, the practice of using technology to farm out chores to workers in distant countries to reduce wage costs, started 20 years ago with information technology. The concept moved into telemarketing and telesales seven years ago and made its first appearance in collections four years ago. Offshoring …

IMF director cleared in hiring of family friend

The International Monetary Fund says that that its director was cleared of an allegation he improperly influenced the hiring of a family friend for a temporary internship at the lending institution.

The issue has cropped up after Dominique Strauss-Kahn apologized this week for an extramarital relationship with another former IMF employee.

…

New Business: Name: At Your Door Glam!

Area representative:

Twila Huddlestone-Keirns Shannon Huddlestone

Telephone:

(260) 348-6866 - phone (260) 744-4981 - fax

Web site:

atyourdoorglam@yahoo.com

Type of business:

At Your Door Glam! provides on-location makeup artistry for brides and bridal parties, proms or any other special occasion. Private instruction and group classes are also available, as well as aesthetic services such as facials, waxing and skincare consultation.

Owners' education/background:

Twila Huddlestone-Keirns has 10 years of experience in makeup artistry and has completed training with various major cosmetic companies. Twila has also worked with …

Jeddah woman driver accelerates campaign.

Summary: JEDDAH: The Women2Drive campaign continued down a rocky road with some sustaining the campaign a week after it was launched with sporadic efforts on Friday. Meanwhile a dawa (Islamic propagation) group, in Riyadh made clear its belief that women driving cars is against Islamic principles.

On Friday, stay-at-home mom Alsharifa Lana Engawi took to the Jeddah streets in a Range Rover to visit her father without any issues. But Layla Aldabbagh in Alkhobar posted on Twitter that police stopped her when she was driving with her male guardian: her father. For the past week Saudi women have been posting videos and pictures themselves driving on social media sites. Twitter and …

AUCTION TODAY AT SAINT ROSE CAMPUS.(Local)

The Neighborhood Resource Center of Albany will conduct its fourth annual auction today at the College of Saint Rose to raise money for staff and programs throughout the coming year. …

STOP THAT SPEEDING PALM TREE!(Personal)

Byline: Rick Karlin

Ever since a Miami television station showed a radar gun clocking a palm tree at 86 mph in 1979, there have been countless courtroom debates over the accuracy of radar speed detection. Along with the legal battles has been a steady escalation of technology by both police and those who would outwit them.

In New York, state police now have tools such as "instant on" radar that can be turned on so rapidly it outsmarts the radar detectors used by some motorists.

Troopers will soon be getting devices to detect the radar detectors. In response, a Chicago firm is developing "stealth" radar detectors that can't be picked up by these …

A Hamas official says EU has invited him to Europe

A Hamas leader in Gaza says a European parliamentary delegation has invited him to visit Europe.

Ahmed Bahar, the acting speaker of the Hamas parliament, said Monday he and a delegation of the Palestinian legislative council were invited to come to Brussels in March.

EU officials discounted the possibility of such a …

Wall is vandalised [Edition 4]

BRYNAMAN Militant anti-English graffiti has been daubed over acommemorative slate wall.

Vandals covered the monument, in Cannon …

Tatt's the way to do it.

WHEN you think of tattooists, you are perhaps inclined to think of overweight men in smoky rooms.

But James Norry and Michael Noble, who work in Pins and Needles tattoo parlour in Promenade, will cast aside that stereotype to take part in the Robin Hood half marathon in Nottingham next month.

Michael, 24, said: "Some of the best tattooists I have ever seen are quite overweight. Running isn't the done thing, as doing this job we are sat down drawing pictures all day.

"It is a personal thing to want to do it, but everybody we have told about it have been giving us positive responses, saying it's nice to see young lads doing something like this." …

OPULENCE AMID COMMUNISM'S RUINS.(TRAVEL)

Here's what's so special about Berlin: Under gray armor skies, you decide to seek shelter on a sunless day.

Trouble is, you're standing in the middle of Potsdamerplatz, once the city's busiest intersection but today merely a dismal, garbage-strewn lot claimed by artists who have dragged old tanks and warplanes into the middle of the plaza and painted them pink. There aren't a whole lot of places to duckinto other than the MIGs. But, if you squint, you can see ... just there, a lone building, farther down the rutted road.

So you venture in, ignoring the cracked windows and barbed wire atop the courtyard fence. And what do you find inside this crumbling old edifice, in the middle of this decaying plaza, in this time of year in Berlin when the air is thick and sweet with coal smoke?

Elegant blue-haired ladies sip tea and tussle with slabs of Sunday cake, surrounded by opulent, baroque architecture. Young sophisticated Berliners listen to cool jazz, wrapping themselves around a gracefully curved Art Deco bar and ordering bottles of wine for 45 Deutsche marks (or about $30). They are immune, it seems, to the broken shards of war and communism scattered so casually about.

And that, you see, is what's special about Berlin. It is a place of constant surprise, layered meaning, head-spinning contrasts, where "expecting the unexpected" is not a cliche but salient travel advice. Surprise, ineffably, is part of the Berlin experience.

For there you are, poking through a wasteland of old tires, discarded refrigerators and metal scrap waste, when you stumble into a building with dancing putti and various other trappings of prewar splendor. Or you're walking past a facade of a building that looks like …

Venezuelan Students Rally Against Chavez

Hundreds of students staged a protest in Caracas Tuesday to campaign for a no vote in a referendum scheduled Sunday by President Hugo Chavez.

About 300 students gathered outside the Catholic University Andres Bello in the capital, occupying a major highway that runs through the west of the capital. The four hour protest, which was adorned with placards attacking the referendum, caused huge traffic jams forcing rush-hour drivers to wait it out.

"We students will keep coming out on to the street to demand freedom and democracy," said Roberto Diaz, a 21-year old law student at the university.

Dozens of police and national guard were …

REPAIRS TO HISTORIC BRIDGE AFTER CAR ACCIDENT.

(TUESDAY AUGUST 29) REPAIRS to an historic bridge wrecked after a car ploughed through its parapet will cost up to [pounds sterling]30,000, it has been estimated.

Bucks County Council, which owns the bridge, says the Grade II listed monument in Ickford will be rebuilt using salvaged original oolitic limestone.

The bill is almost 10 per cent of its annual bridge repair budget.

Police were called to the village's iconic Whirlpool Bridge at 12.15am on Sunday August 13, close to which they found a blue Mazda Saloon which had been abandoned. An inquiry is now underway to discover the driver's identity.

The present structure dates back to 1824 …

Mining for minerals fuels Congo conflict

The conflict in eastern Congo is being fueled and funded by a tussle for mineral resources that end up in cell phones, laptops and other electronics _ deepening the stakes in a war that sprung out of festering hatreds from the Rwandan genocide.

Rebel militias and Congolese army troops are fighting each other for control of mineral-rich land. They can then sell the raw materials they mine and use the proceeds to fund their activities and arms _ which prolongs the conflict.

"The links are very clear between the mining activity going to finance these groups, and these armed groups we know have been benefiting financially from the mining areas," said …

Part 3, What are the Options? Getting the scoop on health-insurance plans: A service evaluation

If you had to buy health insurance, where would you go to get it? How hard would it be to get straight answers about plan options and rates?

To answer those questions, I used a three-step process.

Step 1: Find insurance providers serving Central Pennsylvania. To do that, I used three tools: a list of insurance providers serving Central Pennsylvania, a phone and an Internet connection. The key resource was the Business Journal's Oct. 1 list of the region's top health-insurance providers. It contained seven companies. A round of phone calls weeded out two of the companies; neither AmeriHealth Mercy Health Plan nor Cigna HealthCare of Pennsylvania Inc. sells individual coverage here. A third - HealthAmerica Pennsylvania Inc./HealthAssurance Pennsylvania Inc.- is rolling out individual coverage in January after having left that niche market seven years ago.

That left four options: Highmark Blue Shield, Capital BlueCross, Aetna Inc. and Geisinger Health Plan. All four offer a variety of coverage, ranging from managed care to point-of-service plans. Some even have high-deductible plans that are compatible with health savings accounts. HSAs pair an account an employee can use for health-care expenses with a high-deductible health-insurance plan designed to cover catastrophic events.

Step 2: I graded the companies on two key factors: Web site and customer service. The assessments follow in the chart on page 17, and the companies are listed alphabetically.

Step 3: After making that initial contact, I gathered materials and created a chart so I could compare the various low-cost options. See page 20. (Table Omitted)

After I completed the assessment, I called official representatives of the insurance companies to explain what I had done and to tell them how I had made out.

Aetna spokesman Wait Cherniak was pleased to hear that his company offered some of the most affordable health-care options.

"For us, it's all about price points," he said. "If you can't make it affordable, then you're wasting your time."

I acknowledged I was a little in the dark over some of the plans, which might have frustrated the customerservice representative. He said the representatives are used to dealing primarily with brokers, who have a firm grasp of the industry.

Geisinger has about 240,000 members, 15,000 of them individual policy holders. Despite the relatively small number of individual plans, the Danville-based company intends to stay in the market.

"This kind of business is risky for an insurer, but there's certainly a need for it out there," said Lisa Hartman, a Geisinger spokeswoman. "What we do to minimize our risk is conduct health screenings. We don't take every single person who applies. That helps from a financial perspective."

In April, Geisinger will replace its managed-care plan for individuals with a high-deductible plan designed to make consumers more aware of the true cost of care.

"We need to make consumers a little more aware of what those costs are," Hartman said. "It's part of the solution. Not the solution, but we're starting to see more of it, and we'll soon begin to see how it works."

The PPO-style plan also will be less costly than Geisingers managed-care model.

Highmark spokesman Leilyn Perri could not say what percentage of the insurer's policy holders are individuals. Highmark primarily serves large and mid-size groups, he acknowledged.

He said the company does not post rate information on its Web site because it considers that to be proprietary information.

Even if the company did post rates, he said, any quotes would merely be guideposts without knowing details about the applicant.

"When you ask for a rate over the phone, I'm assuming I don't know you," he said.

A Capital BlueCross spokesman could not be reached for comment.

STEP 2:

Companies were graded on two key factors:

WEB SITE

How easy was it to navigate the site? What was the quality and quantity of information available online?

CUSTOMER SERVICE

How simple was it to use the voice-mail system? How knowledgeable and helpful were the customer-service representatives?

Aetna Inc.

WEB SITE

Aetna's site is easy to navigate and is the most comprehensive. A "Members & Consumers" link leads to a "Products for Individuals" link that gave me an option of choosing coverage information based on my state. There is a "Get a Quick Quote Now" link that users have to register for first. It was free, but I skipped that step and went right to a list of downtoadable documents. There are maps of Aetna's various coverage areas in Pennsylvania, detailed breakdowns of its HMO, PPO and HSA-compatible plans and rate sheets for those plans.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Caroline was a bit terse and slightly impatient with my questions. The plans have names such as HMO 15 and PPO 40. 1 asked her if the numbers corresponded to the co-pays. She said yes, but that there was much more to it than that. She declined to elaborate. I asked her if Aetna offered a lowcost, high-deductible plan, and her answer was restricted to, "That's what a PPO is, sir." When I probed her for rate information, she said she could tell me nothing unless I gave her my name, address, date of birth and other details. I asked her if she could give me a quote based solely on sex and age, but she balked.

The call ended with her outlining how the process would work if I ended up choosing to do business with Aetna. I would have to choose a plan, fill out an application and mail a check for the first month's payment. The approval process would be three weeks.

Capital BlueCross

WEB SITE

The site isn't intuitive, but the layout is basic enough. A link labeled "Products" goes to a page that includes seven additional choices, one of which is "For Individuals." BlueCross lists its various plans, provides overviews and details about deductibles and co-pays and, best of all, the estimated price I could expect to pay for coverage. There are monthly rates for single people, a parent with a child or children, husband and wife, and family. There also is an application that can be downloaded and mailed in.

CUSTOMER SERVIE

Here's where things broke down a little. The toll-free number funneled me into a voice-mail system where the choices were limited to 'Press 1 for members" and "Press 2 for providers." I went with option 1, which transferred me to a representative. The woman was knowledgeable about the various plans, but I felt like she assumed I knew more about insurance than I really did. I had a hard time following her industry jargon. When I asked her to point out a basic, affordable plan, she told me, "It would be presumptuous of me to make a recommendation."

Geisinger Health Plan

WEB SITE

It was a simple site to use. On the main page is a link for "individuals and families" that takes you right to a quote page. All I had to do was type in my sex and age, what type of plan I was interested in (Individual, Subscriber & Spouse, Subscriber & Child, Subscriber & Children or Family) and whether I wanted to include prescription-drug coverage in my quote.

I got a quote for $181.30 a month, which I assume is a rough estimate since the software did not ask about medical history. Quote in hand, I was given the option of filling out an application online or calling an 800 number.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Again, it was very easy to navigate. The voice-mail system includes an option for individual-coverage questions, and I was quickly connected to a representative who identified herself as Ann. She took my address and said a packet of information would be mailed to me immediately. I mentioned how easy the online quote system was to use. "We try to update it as often as possible," she said. The packet arrived within a week.

Highmark Blue Shield

WEB SITE

Finding the initial information was simple. A link to "Individual Benefits" is readily identifiable on the right-hand side of the main page. Each plan option - seven in all is linked to a short synopsis of the plan. That's the extent of the information, however. I was prompted to call an 800 number if I had questions.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

The staff was affable and professional. Nick took note of my name and address and said a packet of plan options, rates and an application should arrive in four to five business days. The information packet arrived in the mail within three days. When I asked him if rate information could be found online, he said the site "should have them, yes sir."

An exhaustive search of the site revealed no obvious references to plan pricing. I made a second call, this time getting Sharon, who put me on hold before transferring me to the Web department. Finally, Timothy told me that if I wanted quotes or other financial information, I would have to call the toll-free number that I already had called twice.

SOME AMISH PULL UP STAKES AS NEWER COMMUNITIES FAIL.(Local)

Byline: Jack Jones Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Droplets of freezing rain rolled off the wide, flat-brimmed black hats of the bearded men, and mud sucked at their boots as they moved through the barnyard, circling a fast-talking auctioneer.

One of the men, Amos Nisley, looked on silently as his harnesses, saws, picks, lumber - even his mailbox - were sold to the highest bidder.

Six years after he started the successful 115-acre farm and sawmill in Yates County, Nisley and his family are migrating south with 10 other Old Order Amish families.

Some of them came from the Canadian province of Ontario, while others, like Nisley, came from Delaware and Tennessee to the fertile …

REGULATORY COMMISSION OF ALASKA ISSUES MAIL SHEET OF ORDER REGARDING TA205-4 COMMENTS OF COLONY BUILDERS SIGNED BY WILLIAM TAYLOR III

JUNEAU, Alaska, March 25 -- The Regulatory Commission of Alaska issued the following mail sheet:

Type: Public Comments

Date Filed: 3/25/2011

Tracking Number: TR1101488

Filed By: JOY GORDANIER

Entities: ENSTAR

Certificate(s): 4

Means Received: Internet

Related Matters: TA205-4 (http://rca.alaska.gov/RCAWeb/Dockets/DocketDetails.aspx?id=894e7bb1-cda3-4b8c-8dc1-82dd973083e7) ENSTAR - Annual Construction Fee Revisions

TA205-4 Comments of Colony Builders, Inc..pdf: http://rca.alaska.gov/RCAWeb/ViewFile.aspx?id=97e8a241-b9e2-487d-88a7-d2ba22841746

TA205-4 Comments of Colony Builders, Inc. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com

DIETARY PROGRAM FOUND LACKING INFIRMARY LAX IN CORRECTING PROGRAM.(Local)

Byline: Elizabeth Schwartz Staff writer

The Saratoga County infirmary still has not corrected problems with its dietary program found more than a year ago by the state Health Department.

In unannounced visits in 1988 and at the end of 1989, the Health Department found that there was not enough supervision in the kitchen at Maplewood Manor.

In October, the department found that the dinner offered to patients on low-sodium diets was the same one served at lunch that day; that patients who did not like a particular meal were not offered alternatives; and that some sandwiches had so much mustard on them that residents said they could not eat them, according to Bruce Fage of the Health Department.

"Taken individually, these things might look trivial, but there were enough of them that they didn't present a very palatable picture of the dietary department," said Fage, who is director of long-term care services for the Health Department's northeastern office.

The county had no supervision in the kitchen after 5 p.m. on weekdays and after 2:30 p.m. on weekends, Fage said.

In December 1989, the county told the Health Department that it had started the process of creating two new positions, one of assistant supervisor for the dietary program and another for a cook who could be called in when necessary so the supervisor could oversee the kitchen and not have to cook, Fage said.

Lorraine Frollo, administrator of the nursing home, said the two positions are being reviewed by county Personnel Director William Baker.

Baker said he and Frollo plan to meet with Health Department officials to see if there are alternatives to hiring new staff, such as changing hours for existing staff.

Micropayment revenues for TV companies may be just that, microscopic

OUTLOOK

What Rupert Murdoch did to his UK newspapers, he is doing now toUS television. No, this is not a point about collapsing ethics. Itis about paywalls. Fox, News Corp-owned home to The X Factor and TheSimpsons, is pulling back from an experiment that made just-airedshows available for free on the internet via the website Hulu.com.ABC, the American network owned by Disney, is contemplatingfollowing suit.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, ITV says it willintroduce a micropayments system to enable it to charge for shows onits online player from January. The launch is already behind theoriginal schedule, and Adam Crozier, chief executive, says therewill be an initial period of experimentation as the company wrestleswith the question of what viewers are willing to pay for. As SeeSaw,which tried to sell episodes of South Park and Spooks to the UKpublic, discovered, the answer to that question seems to be: not awhole lot.

Can either of these experiments spare television from the fate ofthe music industry, and turn the internet from a threat to a sourceof new, sustainable revenues? The omens do not look good.

Mr Murdoch is a Cnut, almost single-handedly trying to hold backthe tide of free content on the internet, and such is the might ofNews Corp it is tempting to think that if anyone can, it will. BSkyBin in the UK is about to launch an experiment of its own, withmonthly subscriptions to Sky Go, a digital player for its programmesonline and on mobile devices.

But The Times and The Sunday Times traded influence for minimalextra revenues when they put up their paywalls, so it willultimately prove it is down on the deal.

And Fox's latest pull-back from Hulu is a defensive move,designed not to generate new revenues but to protect hard-wonexisting ones. Cable television operators, who include Fox in theirbundles of television channels, pay News Corp for the privilege, andthey are angry that the same content turns up elsewhere for freealmost instantaneously, To assuage them, only authenticated cablesubscribers will now be able to watch Fox shows on Hulu until eightdays have elapsed and they become free to all.

All of which is to say that Mr Murdoch has learnt that makingmoney from his TV content is best done by dealing with theintermediaries. These content bundlers, big companies all, are theones who really can be squeezed. Charging viewers directly would bea costly pain, even it worked. Much more likely, most users wouldtune out, and dedicated fans would be driven to piracy.

As ITV works to sweat its assets and generate more money from itsprogrammes, micropayments look the least likely route to success.

After a breather, bond traders test eurozone

Perhaps it was the surprise that European leaders had managed tocome to an agreement at all, rather than kicking the can down theroad. Perhaps it was the sheer incomprehensibility of aspects of thedeal. For whatever reason, it has taken financial markets a ratherlong time to identify the holes in the new bailout plan for Greece,agreed last week.

Now, though, the bond vigilantes are back. Italian and Spanishinterest rates were rising again yesterday towards the level thatterrified EU leaders earlier this month. The immediate cause?Germany's Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schable, wrote his stern letterto Bundestag members telling them not to stoke panic by questioningthe financial position of these big and pivotal eurozone countries.

The letter had a touch of the Lance-Corporal Jones of Dad's Army,and by stating the obvious - "It would be a mistake to think thatthe crisis of trust in the eurozone can be solved by a singlesummit" - Mr Schable seemed to set off the very reaction he wassaying was unjustified. With Greece and now its neighbour Cyprusgetting the credit rating downgrades implied by last week's deal,the markets remain in febrile state. And, unjustified or not, bondinvestors are no fools. We already know Deutsche Bank has slashedits holdings of Italian government debt by nearly 90 per cent sincethe start of the year. No one wants to be last out if there is areal run.

The important of Mr Schable's letter, of course, is that ithighlights once again how the politics of even the latest bailoutplan is tough for Germany. Opposition to a "transfer union" is morelikely to grow than diminish over the long summer recess.

The most obvious hole in the latest bailout is the failure toincrease funding to the European Financial Stability Facility. Suchan increase will be needed for the EFSF to be able to fight the bondmarket, should it turn on Spain and Italy.

It looks as if traders are determined to test the eurozone'sresolve sooner rather than later.

Ofgem makes an example of British Gas

Ofgem's latest 2.5m fine on British Gas, over failures in itscustomer complaints procedure, is "totally disproportionate", thecompany said yesterday. Too right it is. It should have been higher.

The fine, barely a day's profits, comes after the energyregulator found British Gas failed to reopen customers' complaintswhen they felt they had not been resolved, and didn't tell them theycould appeal to the Energy Ombudsman when things reached an impasse.

The fine, though, is meant as a warning to other firms. Treatingconsumers with disdain is still too often par for the course atBritish Gas, but the fact that many of the offences relate to smallbusiness customers makes it all the more important to make anexample. When even bigger-spending business customers cannot getfair treatment, what hope is there for the rest of us?

People / Reporter terrified as she fell ill on air

A TV reporter who lapsed into gibberish during a live shotoutside the Grammys said she was terrified when it happened and knewsomething was wrong as soon as she opened her mouth.

KCBS-TV reporter Serene Branson 's incoherence Sunday fueledInternet speculation that she suffered an on-air stroke. But doctorsat the University of California, Los Angeles, where she went to geta brain scan and blood work done, ruled it out. Doctors said shesuffered a type of migraine that can mimic symptoms of a stroke.

Branson told CBS' "The Early Show" in an interview Friday thatshe was terrified, scared and confused, and didn't know what wasgoing on.

"I knew something wasn't right as soon as I opened my mouth," shesaid. "I hadn't been feeling well a little bit before the live shot.I had a headache, my vision was very blurry. I knew something wasn'tright, but I just thought I was tired. So when I opened my mouth, Ithought, 'This is more than just being tired. Something is terriblywrong.' I wanted to say, ' Lady Antebellum swept the Grammys.' And Icould think of the words, but I could not get them coming outproperly."

Branson, who was diagnosed with migraine aura, said watchingherself in the clip is "troubling."

Jury gets Banton case

A federal jury in Florida was to begin deliberations Friday inthe drug trial of Grammy-winning reggae singer Buju Banton .

The 37-year-old Banton, whose given name is Mark Myrie , is ontrial for conspiring with two other men in setting up a drug deal inDecember 2009. His album Before the Dawn won a Grammy on Sunday forbest reggae album.

Radiohead drops latest

Radiohead 's new album, The King of Limbs , arrived a day early.

The band made the album available Friday for download from itswebsite. Radiohead announced the album release on Monday, saying itwould be out today .

Unlike the band's 2007 pay-what-you-want album, In Rainbows ,this one has a price.

Fans can preorder an MP3 download for $9 or a higher-quality WAVversion for $14. A deluxe vinyl edition sells for about $50 .

No stuntwoman for Kruger

Diane Kruger resisted the temptation to call in a stuntwoman fora challenging action scene in the thriller "Unknown."

Kruger stars alongside Liam Neeson in the movie, which screenedout of competition Friday at the Berlin film festival.

She plays Gina, a taxi driver and illegal immigrant who savesNeeson's character from drowning after her cab skids off a bridgeinto a river.

Kruger says she "would have been very happy to let a very capablestunt lady take over from me."

But she says her character is "a pretty tough chick really - andI felt like it was important that the audience believed that it wasme."

Fashion joins immigration debate

Saks Fifth Avenue and Oscar de la Renta are among the fashionindustry players who are joining Mayor Michael Bloomberg 'scoalition for immigration reform and calling for an easier visaprocess for international workers. Bloomberg made the announcementFriday, the day after the close of the fall previews at New YorkFashion Week.

- From Our Press Services

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Today's birthdays

Singer Smokey Robinson , 71; s inger Lou Christie , 68; guitaristTony Iommi of Black Sabbath, 63; actor Jeff Daniels , 56; actorLeslie David Baker ("The Office") is 53; singer Seal , 48; actressJessica Tuck ("True Blood"), 48; drummer Jon Fishman of Phish, 46;actress Justine Bateman , 45; actor Benicio Del Toro , 44 .

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NEW RELEASES

Martha Wainwright

I Know Youre Married But Ive Got Feelings Too

DROWNED IN SOUND ****

It can't be easy trying to establish your own identity in amusical clan such as the extended Wainwright family. There weretimes, on her self-titled debut album, when it seemed that Marthamight not have the distinctive character to cast off the familialmoorings, like her brother Rufus. But such doubts are roundlydispelled by the feisty, bloody-minded I Know You're Married ButI've Got Feelings Too, an album every bit as brash and assertive asits title suggests.

Here, Wainwright demonstrates her maturity as a composer,featuring confessional songwriting of a brutal frankness, butextrovert and angry rather than pitiably introspective. In songafter song, she confronts those who hurt or spurned her - some ofwhom, one suspects, never realised she carried a torch for them. Theobject of her unrequited affections in "Bleeding All Over You", forinstance, has since married and moved north, leaving her angry andfrustrated at his ignorance that her "heart was made for bleedingall over you"; likewise, the protagonist of "Jesus and Mary" seekssolace in religion for another jilting.

Living and working in the music industry doesn't exactly helpmatters, musicians being famously unfaithful and insufferablyegotistical. In "Hearts Club Band", she expresses the frustration ofhaving to play second fiddle to another artist's muse, knowing he orshe will always love their work more than any mere human: "Youalways wrote a song a day/ And there were always words/ And it mademe want to say 'Shut up!'." But being an artist herself, revenge isalways only a chord-sequence away, as she notes with relish in"Comin' Tonight" - where, anticipating a concert by an old flame,she muses on stealing one of their melodies.

Her once wayward, childish voice has crystallised into adistinctive delivery with something of the rustic charm of CerysMatthews, shifting, on the lilting waltz of "Tower Song", into themore soulful territory occupied by Thom Yorke. The arrangements aremostly rooted in classic folk-rock stylings, but the understated useof dark, swirling strings, subtly haunting horns and variouskeyboards (played by, among others, The Band's Garth Hudson andSteely Dan's Donald Fagen) lends depth and power. The punchy pop of"You Cheated Me" harks all the way back to such anthems ofestrangement as "It's My Party" and "It Might As Well Rain UntilSeptember", albeit with a more dangerous, infuriated edge: this is arazor-tongued artist bent on revenge.

DOWNLOAD THIS:

'Hearts Club Band', 'You Cheated Me', 'Bleeding All Over You','Tower Song'

Bon Iver

For Emma, Forever Ago

4AD

****

In an age of ever-expanding conformity, the most valuable giftmay be the singularity of one's artistic vision. Take Bon Iver, thenom de disque of Justin Vernon, formerly part of an obscureWisconsin quartet. Recorded during a winter spent alone in asnowbound cabin, chopping logs to keep from freezing and shootingdeer to keep from starving, For Emma, Forever Ago has a distinctive,haunting presence comparable to Jose Gonzalez's Veneer and BonniePrince Billy's I See a Darkness - though sounding unlike either. Astrange assemblage of memories and ruminations delivered in Vernon'shigh, keening multi-tracked falsetto over little more than simplestrummed guitar, its beauty lies in its enigmatic mystery: it's hardto pick out more than the occasional phrase, but the cumulativeeffect is powerfully hypnotic. He's working through personal issuesof loss and abandonment, but though wounded by separation, there's ahappy ending of sorts in the concluding "Re: Stacks", which endswith the line, "Your love is safe with me" - a testament, like thealbum as a whole, to the healing power of memory.

DOWNLOAD THIS:

'Flume', 'For Emma', 'The Wolves (Act I and II)', 'Skinny Love'

Various Artists

Rock On

ACE

****

This is one of the more loosely themed of compilations. There's alittle bit of country, a little bit of cajun, a fair amount of soul,some rockabilly, a sizeable tranche of rhythm and blues, and asmattering of garage-rock. Rather than anthologising any particularstyle, it's a pot-pourri of rarities and gems uncovered and offeredfor sale at Rock On, the London collectors' record mart establishedby Ted Carroll in 1971, first as a market stall off Portobello Road,before moving to more stable premises in Camden. It's a tribute tothe rapidly-disappearing independent record shops upon whoseexpertise vinyl junkies, in pre-internet times, relied to feed theirhabits. It's also virtually filler-free, from the late-Fiftiesofferings by the likes of Amos Milburn, Charlie Feathers and Huey"Piano" Smith, through to such Seventies classics as Don Covay'srumbustious "It's Better to Have (and Don't Need)" and RokyErickson's bonkers sci-fi proto-punk offering "Two Headed Dog".

DOWNLOAD THIS:

'It's Better to Have (and Don't Need)', 'Don't You Just Know It','You Little Baby Faced Thing', 'Shake Your Hips', 'Chicken ShackBoogie'

Martina Topley Bird

The Blue God

INDEPENDIENTE

***

Martina Topley Bird's CV of former collaborators is one of themore impressively varied in modern pop: since she was discovered byTricky way back in the mid-Nineties, her vocals have appeared onrecords by David Holmes, Mark Lanegan, Primus, The Jon Spencer BluesExplosion and Gorillaz, to name but a few. It was while working withthe last in 2004 that Bird became chums with the project's producerBrian "Danger Mouse" Burton, and over the intervening years the pairput together this follow-up to her Mercury-nominated debut Quixotic.But the industrious Burton's character rather swamps Topley Bird's:the diversity of his approaches, from the swooning, Chris Isaak-esque twang of "Valentine" to the Portishead-style haunted pop of"Something to Say" and the alluring, almost Martin Denny-likeexotica of "Baby Blue", leaves her voice with little to do but poutin sultry manner, its deadpan blend of innocence and experiencefailing to resonate as it did on previous releases. "Funny how thenoises I am making can't drown out the sound of my heart breaking,"she sings, presumably unaware of the irony.

DOWNLOAD THIS:

'Baby Blue', 'Phoenix', 'Something to Say'

Death Cab for Cutie

Narrow Stairs

ATLANTIC ****

Naming your band after a Bonzo Dog song is risky, but Death Cabfor Cutie's moniker hasn't hindered their progress, judging by theplatinum sales of 2005's Plans. This follow-up is more experimental.There's still a fair complement of standard American indie-rock insongs like "No Sunlight", a catchy piece of stomp-pop that recallstheir chums The Shins, and the opener "Bixby Canyon Bridge", whichbuilds from a quiet thrumming of guitars to a vortex of sound. Butelsewhere, there's an African sparkle to the arpeggios of "Your NewTwin-Sized Bed", while "Long Division" and "I Will Possess YourHeart" suggest the band have discovered the hypnotic attraction ofNeu!'s motorik groove. The latter track is impressive; eight minutesof tremulous guitar and piano throbbing along, with singer BenGibbard only entering four minutes in to plead for tolerance. "It'slike a book elegantly bound, but in a language you can't read," heclaims, perhaps anxious about how the fans might react to the newdirection. On this evidence, he needn't worry.

DOWNLOAD THIS:

'I Will Possess Your Heart', 'Your New Twin-Sized Bed', 'NoSunlight'

Adem

Takes

DOMINO

***

On Takes, nu-folk philosopher Adem takes time out from the spacemetaphors and cosmic speculations of 2006's Love and Other Planetsto offer covers of some of his favourite songs from the Nineties - adecade when he was immersed in largely fun-free indie music, judgingby his choices. An instrumental palette based on harmonium, guitar,glockenspiel and banjo-ukulele suits some tracks better than others:the parched emotional terrain of PJ Harvey's "Oh My Lover" isrendered with subtlety and warmth, and the lonely plaint of SmashingPumpkins' "Starla" comes via a repeatedly rising carillion ofguitars, bells, bass and percussion that doesn't overpower thelistener. The most startling transformation is that accorded AphexTwin's "To Cure a Weakling Child/Boy Girl Song", which acquires anunexpectedly light, uplifting character.

DOWNLOAD THIS:

'To Cure a Weakling Child/Boy Girl Song', 'Oh My Lover', 'Starla'

Fed: Former diplomats, defence chief call for truth in govt

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2004
Fed: Former diplomats, defence chief call for truth in govt

A virtual who's who of former diplomats and defence chiefs have called for truth in
government and for a more balanced approach to foreign affairs.

In a public statement, the 43 signatories say they're concerned Australia was committed
to join the invasion of Iraq on the basis of false assumptions and the deception of the
Australian people.

They say Australia has not become safer by invading and occupying Iraq, and now has
a higher profile as a terrorist target.

They say they don't wish to endanger Australia's alliance with the United States, but
it should be a genuine partnership -- not just a rubber stamp for policies decided in
Washington.

The statement is signed by former defence force chiefs ALAN BEAUMONT and PETER GRATION,
former defence department secretary PAUL BARRATT, former prime minister's department secretaries
ALAN RENOUF and RICHARD WOOLCOTT and former ambassadors including RAWDON DALRYMPLE, STEPHEN
FITZGERALD and ROSS GARNAUT.

AAP RTV mb/jmt

KEYWORD: STATEMENT (CANBERRA)

2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

UK: Australia ignored FBI warnings: documentary

AAP General News (Australia)
02-26-2004
UK: Australia ignored FBI warnings: documentary

CANBERRA, Feb 26 AAP - Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says a BBC report on
intelligence provided to Australia before the 2002 bomb attacks in Bali provides no new
information.

A BBC documentary screened in Britain this week accused the Australian government of
ignoring FBI intelligence.

In the documentary, a senior FBI officer said a warning of attacks on bars and nightclubs
in Indonesia was passed on to Australia before the Bali bombings in October 2002.

Mr Ruddock said the intelligence outlined in the program had been well known …

Qld: Lack of uni places a waste of talent, says Macklin

AAP General News (Australia)
01-13-2004
Qld: Lack of uni places a waste of talent, says Macklin

(Clarifies information in first par that not only high school leavers missed places)



By John Sheed

BRISBANE, Jan 13 AAP - About 10,000 Queenslanders had missed out on a place at university
because the Howard government had limited the places available, deputy Federal opposition
leader Jenny Macklin said today.

Ms Macklin was in Brisbane to watch six high school students log on to the Queensland
Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC) website to find out if their applications for university
had been successful.

All six …

Vic: Grandmother wins $1 million in Oz Lotto

00-00-0000
Vic: Grandmother wins $1 million in Oz Lotto

MELBOURNE, Aug 27 AAP - A Victorian grandmother had a sleepless night before receivingconfirmation this morning that she was Tattersall's latest millionaire.

The West Gippsland woman, in her 70s, had the six correct numbers on her Oz Lotto entrylast night. This morning, she was told that her ticket was the only one with the winningnumbers.

The win earned her just over $1 million.

"I never thought I would one day be a millionaire, and at the moment I don't have aclue what I'll do with all that money," she said.

"I'm not one for making quick decisions, so it will take me a while to work thingsout with my family."

The winning entry was submitted at Burrows Newsagency and Tattslotto in Drouin.

AAP mf/gfr/ak/jlw/

KEYWORD: TATTS

Vic: Main Stories in today's Melbourne newspapers=2

00-00-0000
Vic: Main Stories in today's Melbourne newspapers=2

THE AGE

Page 1: Former insurance chiefs Ray Williams and Rodney Adler could face more than10 years in jail after the HIH Royal Commission released damning findings against them.

Defiant ATSIC chairman Geoff Clark has declared his innocence of two counts of rape allegedin a civil case. Peter Reith has been rewarded by the federal government with a Londonjob that will give him a better pay cheque than John Howard. A buoyant President GeorgeBush proclaimed "the regime of Saddam Hussain is no more" as US officials started discussingwhat comes next in Iraq.

Page 2: Deep divisions have emerged in ATSIC.

Page 3: Bulgarian Nickolai Radev died in a flurry of shots in Melbourne on Tuesday,the victim of a suspected underworld hit.

World: Diplomats from the US, China and North Korea will meet in Beijing on April 23for talks on Pyongyang's suspected nuclear plans (Tokyo). Fears the SARS epidemic couldbe spreading throughout Toronto have increased after it was revealed 500 members of achurch group were exposed to the infection and may have passed it on (New York).

Finance: Any company executives found guilty of "hard-core" price fixing could facejail under the most sweeping changes to the nation's competition laws in more than a decade.

Allan Fels warns the issue of changing the law to clamp down on misuse of market poweris not about to go away. Treasurer Peter Costello yesterday flagged changes to give thefederal government a vote on future appointments to the Australian Competition and ConsumerCommission.

Sport: Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse paid tribute to the Brisbane Lions but saidhe doesn't fear them ahead of tonight's AFL grand final replay.

AAP am/cjh

KEYWORD: FRONTERS VIC 2 MELBOURNE

Fed: High Court upholds tough stance on asylum seekers

00-00-0000
Fed: High Court upholds tough stance on asylum seekers

By Max Blenkin and Sharon Mathieson

CANBERRA, Feb 4 AAP - The High Court today upheld key sections of the federal government'stough asylum seeker laws, rejecting legal arguments they were constitutionally invalid.

The court ruled in favour of special decisions which halt all courses of appeal onsome immigration cases.

It also leaves unchanged a 35-day time limit for review of decisions made by the RefugeeReview Tribunal.

In a separate decision, the High Court rejected a claim from the family of asylum seekerAli Baktiari who argued that Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock was …

Fed: Weather watchers split over end of drought

00-00-0000
Fed: Weather watchers split over end of drought

The question of when Australia's worst drought in a century will end is dividing weather experts.

The National Climate Centre in Melbourne says there's a chance for the resumption ofnormal weather patterns by the end of summer.

NCC climatologist BLAIR TREWIN says there are never any guarantees.

But he claims there's a 40 to 50 per cent chance of average to above average rainfallfor the summer in most of NSW and Queensland.

Mr TREWIN is predicting a 50 to 55 per cent chance of similar rain in Victoria andSouth Australia.

But his forecast has been rejected by the Queensland Government's Centre for ClimateApplications.

Its acting director ROGER STONE says the NCC is being overly optimistic and farmerscould be enticed to make wrong management decisions.

Dr STONE says there is no evidence to suggest the drought could soon be over.

He says relief rain is likely in January and February, but that won't mean an end tothe El Nino effect and the drought.

AAP RTV ch/jhm/gjr/rp

KEYWORD: DROUGHT (BRISBANE)

Fed: Main stories in Canberra Times

00-00-0000
Fed: Main stories in Canberra Times

CANBERRA, April 29 AAP - Main stories in Canberra Times:

Page 1: Government remains coy over any bailout of troubled medical indemnity insurer;heroic teacher tells of gunman rampage in Germany; Georgie Parker wins her second goldlogie; Judges and lawyers no longer have to wear wings in ACT civil cases.

Page 2: ACCC chairman Professor Alan Fels defends raid on oil companies.

Page 3: Acting National Party leader Mark Vaile says there's no money for paid maternityleave; Labor women say they are still under-represented in federal parliament; Labor deputyleader Jenny Macklin says Governor-General Peter Hollingworth must go; Government expectsbudget to be in surplus.

World: Germany mourns following school massacre; Creator of Barbie doll Ruth Handlerdies at 85; Hizbollah suggest swap of Israeli prisoners for Palestinians in Bethlehem;US holds talks with rival warlords to halt infighting in Afghanistan.

Finance: US coffee company plans to establish in Australia; Toll Holdings complainsof too much politics in rail sector.

Sport: Raiders' coach Matt Elliott's future appears in doubt over team's poor performance.

AAP mb/mjm

KEYWORD: FRONTERS ACT

FED: Movies already being made about September 11

00-00-0000
FED: Movies already being made about September 11

By Lisa Davies

SYDNEY, Feb 14 AAP - Feature films based on the September 11 terrorist attacks werealready in the pipeline, a major Hollywood producer said today.

Renowned producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the man behind Top Gun, Con Air, and Pearl Harbour,said producers had already begun receiving material and even scripts.

"The networks are developing a story about the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania,"

he said in Sydney today.

"(And) we recently received the galley (type proof) of a book that dealt with one ofthe fire stations that lost every one of their men except one that was left behind."

He said it would come down to a great journalist who could give scriptwriters an insightinto a particular incident or event of the tragedy that a producer knew nothing of.

Mr Bruckheimer said like most industries, filmmaking had been irreversibly affectedby the attacks.

"(We) do have a different outlook (but) how that will manifest itself in the kindsof films we make, you don't know," he said.

"But you certainly look at the world in a different way."

He said the tragic events probably wouldn't push filmmakers to avoid topics completely,but would ensure sensitivity and convictions that the script was the right one.

Mr Bruckheimer and director Ridley Scott are in Sydney promoting their war epic BlackHawk Down, which opens around the country next week after its premiere in Sydney tonight.

Australian actor Eric Bana has a role in the movie.

AAP ld/arb/las/sb

KEYWORD: TERROR FILMS

Qld: Endangered turtle found butchered

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-2001
Qld: Endangered turtle found butchered

An old, endangered Loggerhead turtle has been found apparently butchered at a beach
north of Townsville.

Locals say the remains of the large adult was discovered at the weekend on a boat ramp
at Saunders Beach, with the top half of the shell removed along with all the meat.

They say the animal doesn't look like it's died from disease or been hit by a boat
propeller before it was butchered.

Loggerhead turtles are classified as endangered in Queensland.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says the turtles have lost between 50
and 80 per cent of their annual nesting population in the past decade.

It says an annual loss of only a few loggerhead turtles could result in the extinction
of the Queensland population.

AAP RTV jb/jhm/tb/rp

KEYWORD: TURTLE (TOWNSVILLE)

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Man convicted of babysitter murder

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2001
Qld: Man convicted of babysitter murder

BRISBANE, Aug 3 AAP - A man was today convicted of murdering his children's teenage
babysitter and sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment.

Derek Bellington Sam, 28, a supervisor on a property for troubled Aboriginal youth
at Kenilworth in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Jessica
Gaudie, 16, at Nambour, between August 28 and 29, 1999.

The Brisbane Supreme Court jury deliberated for a day before bringing in the guilty
verdict after a 10-day trial.

Jessica had been hired by Sam's estranged de facto to babysit their three young children
overnight while she went to a party.

Her body has never been found.

Supreme Court Justice Richard Chesterman said Sam took Jessica from the house where
she was minding his children for his own sexual gratification.

"On the evidence, the little girl you killed who stood on the threshold of life, was
an uncomplicated girl, who was clearly one of warmth and friendship," Justice Chesterman
said.

"She was of a trusting nature. You took her from the house for your own sexual gratification."

AAP smk/sc/apm/bwl

KEYWORD: SAM GUILTY

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Hanson predicts Labor win on preference system

AAP General News (Australia)
02-19-2001
Fed: Hanson predicts Labor win on preference system

By Shane Wright

CANBERRA, Feb 19 AAP - Pauline Hanson today predicted Labor would win the upcoming
federal election as Prime Minister John Howard rejected doing a deal on One Nation preferences.

As all parties reflected on the fallout from the weekend's Queensland election, Ms
Hanson said she feared Labor would sweep the federal poll expected in October.

But despite her concerns, Ms Hanson said One Nation would continue the government-destroying
practice of directing preferences against sitting members.

"What concerns me is the Labor Party will push for the republican issue, and so will
(federal treasurer) Peter Costello for that matter," she told Melbourne radio 3AW.

"I think the native title division of Australia will escalate under the Labor Party,
so that will further cause divisions of the Australian people, so it is of great concern
to me.

Mr Howard, attempting to calm a coalition spooked by successive disastrous results
in Western Australia and Queensland, said preference exchanges between the coalition and
One Nation were irrelevant.

He said preferences of the major parties were rarely distributed, and so had little
impact on an election outcome.

But Mr Howard said there would be no change in his opposition to Liberal MPs directing
preferences to One Nation.

"The Liberal Party's position is as I have stated and nothing has changed," he told ABC radio.

"In the end the preferences are decided by the state divisions.

"I would expect the position they took last time to be exactly the position it is taking
this time."

The issue will be one of the major talking points of a National Party meeting of MPs
and senators in the southern New South Wales town of Corowa tomorrow night.

Nationals' leader John Anderson is expected to demand more support from his backbench
for his opposition to One Nation preferences.

Ms Hanson said she had yet to talk to any National Party members about preferences,
although the door was open to anyone interested in doing a deal.

One Nation, despite riding high in both state polls, had its own problems today.

In Queensland, the Courier-Mail newspaper reported the Director of Public Prosecutions
was considering charges against Ms Hanson and former officials David Ettridge and David
Oldfield.

The paper said the charges being considered included conspiracy to defraud the Queensland
Electoral Commission and fraud involving $4.3 million of commission funding.

In Tasmania, One Nation has asked the federal police to investigate a series of newspaper
advertisements which said a weekend party meeting was off.

Numbers to the meeting, which did go ahead, were down by 50 per cent on expectations.

AAP sw/daw/cd/de

KEYWORD: NATION NIGHTLEAD

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Mining exploration down two per cent

AAP General News (Australia)
12-20-2000
Fed: Mining exploration down two per cent

CANBERRA, Dec 20 AAP - Mining exploration fell two per cent in the September quarter.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said today the small fall, which brought exploration
spending to $166 million seasonally adjusted, should almost be the end of 12 consecutive
quarters of decline in exploration.

One of the biggest falls was in gold, with exploration for the precious metal down
16 per cent to $17 million, with most of the fall off in Western Australia.

Base metals such as copper, silver, lead, zinc and nickel were also down three per cent.

The news is better in oil exploration which climbed 33 per cent.

More than $220 million was spent on oil exploration, although almost all of the increase
was due to increased exploration overseas.

There was substantial increases in oil searching around the Ashmore and Cartier Islands
area off Western Australia.

AAP sw/daw/mg

KEYWORD: MINING

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: New think tank to lead reform in public schools

AAP General News (Australia)
08-10-2000
Vic: New think tank to lead reform in public schools

Victorian Education Minister MARY DELAHUNTY says the state government will set up a
think-tank on how to boost learning standards in public schools.

Ms DELAHUNTY says the Innovations Council will help government schools develop partnerships
with each other and with industry and universities.

The council will monitor the quality of public schooling, and provide creative solutions
to long-standing problems of poor literacy, numeracy and retention.

It will also devise a e-learning strategy.

The council is among a number of recommendations in a report on public education to
be released by Ms DELAHUNTY today.

The report also recommends improved public reporting on school performance and a commonwealth-state
agreement to ensure an adequate supply of qualified teachers.

AAP RTV nl/dmc/rt

KEYWORD: EDUCATION (MELBOURNE)

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Eur: Swedish couple free to call son Rolex

AAP General News (Australia)
02-22-2000
Eur: Swedish couple free to call son Rolex

STOCKHOLM, Feb 21 DPA - A Swedish couple have won a court case to call their baby son
Rolex, Hallands Nyheter newspaper reported today.

The couple went to court after local authorities refused to recognise the name of the
Swiss luxury watchmakers for …

Fed: Injecting room could be delayed, search for site continues

AAP General News (Australia)
12-20-1999
Fed: Injecting room could be delayed, search for site continues

By Jane Wardell

SYDNEY, Dec 20 AAP - The trial of Australia's first heroin shooting gallery in Sydney
could be delayed by months as the Uniting Church struggles to find an appropriate site.

The church's New South Wales Synod Board for Social Responsibility executive director
Reverend Harry Herbert today said the original plan for the injecting room to throw open
its doors in April was unlikely to be met.

"I would think April is very optimistic," Mr Herbert said.

"I would think June or July is more realistic and a lot of it depends upon getting a property."

Mr Herbert met with NSW Police Commissioner Peter Ryan today to discuss the technicalities
of lodging a proposed location with the police.

Mr Ryan and the NSW Health Department director general must both give their final approval
to the site.

"This is a bit more complicated because the police are involved so it takes a little
bit of time," Mr Herbert said.

One proposed site - a former restaurant opposite the Wayside Chapel in Hughes Street,
Kings Cross - has already been scotched by Mr Ryan following concerns expressed by senior
police officers.

Mr Herbert said a former laundromat in nearby Orwell Street remained under consideration,
with a needle exchange in Darlinghurst Road the other site now topping the church's list.

While the caveat that the trial take place in Sydney's Kings Cross was restrictive,
it was also an essential element of the trial, he said.

Many in the Kings Cross community remain opposed to the trial going ahead on their doorstep.

Mr Herbert said residents were being continually kept informed on progress, with a
community consultative committee, which has resident representation, meeting on a regular
basis.

"There's no secrets from the residents," he said.

Mr Ryan said today's meeting was on administrative matters and coming up with a site
was completely up to the church.

"We are just continuing talks as to how the initiative can be progressed," he said.

"All we are interested in is enforcing the legislation and making sure that when premises
are properly identified that we continue to feel confident that they are suitable."

The state government has already swept aside federal government protests about the trial.

Prime Minister John Howard last week declared it could breach Australia's international
treaty obligations and demanded NSW Premier Bob Carr put the trial on hold - a suggestion
the state government has not taken up.

AAP jw/tsm/apm/de

KEYWORD: HEROIN (CARRIED EARLIER)

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Highlights of the AAP National wire at 15:30 = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-1999
Highlights of the AAP National wire at 15:30 = 2



CANBERRA - Business confidence in the Australian economy soared to new heights in August, a
new survey today found. (ECONOMY - EMBARGOED)



CANBERRA - ATSIC has written to the United Nations to complain about the Howard
government's response to concerns from a UN racial discrimination committee about its native
title legislation. (ATSIC UN to come)



CANBERRA - The federal government has snubbed a bid by Sydney Olympic organisers to use
work for the dole participants to ease an expected labour shortage during the Games. (OLY
JOBS)



CANBERRA - A Senate inquiry should be held as a matter of urgency into the growing
environmental problems threatening the future of the Great Barrier Reef, Australian Democrats
Senator Andrew Bartlett said today. (REEF)



SYDNEY - Australian scientists have announced a breakthrough daily preventative
treatment for genital herpes. (HERPES)



SYDNEY - The number of hip fractures suffered by Australians is set to rise by
15 per cent to nearly 21,000 cases a year by 2006, researchers say. (OSTEOPOROSIS)



SYDNEY - NSW Premier Bob Carr today denied he would veto the introduction of
Keno in NSW pubs. (KENO)



SYDNEY - The New South Wales government has denied allegations it covered up an oil spill
in Sydney Harbour last month, saying the so-called spill was only muddy water. (OILSPILL)



SYDNEY - The Australian salmon industry has supported a decision by supermarket
giant Coles not to handle raw salmon imports. (SALMON)



MELBOURNE - Shell is using an industrial dispute at its Geelong refinery in Victoria as an
excuse to raise fuel prices, the Australian Workers' Union (AWU) claimed today. (SHELL)



MELBOURNE - About 7,000 people across Victoria gave up their warm beds to doss down in the
rain and cold outdoors overnight to raise half a million dollars for the homeless. (SLEEPOUT
VIC)



BRISBANE - Bone lazy people were more likely to suffer fractures than those with a more
active lifestyle, the Chiropractors' Association of Australia said today. (BONES)



PERTH - A 29-year-old man threatened to kill police last night after he failed
in an attempt to commit suicide. (HOSEPIPE)



ADELAIDE - A man is missing, feared drowned, after falling overboard from a
dinghy in the Murray River this morning. (DROWN)



AAP sp

KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL 2 SYDNEY

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

QLD: Forty spend terrifying night at sea during cyclone

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-1999
QLD: Forty spend terrifying night at sea during cyclone

BRISBANE, Feb 12 AAP - Forty passengers aboard a stricken tourist boat spent a terrifying
night at sea off Port Douglas as cyclone Rona swept across the coast.

The master of the 35-metre steel ketch Atlantic Clipper, which was having engine problems,
radioed authorities late last night seeking to have passengers taken off the boat.

However, cyclonic conditions and winds of 100 nautical miles per hour made retrieval
impossible, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

The ship anchored three nautical miles offshore, five nautical miles north of Port Douglas
to brave the cyclone, an AMSA spokesman said.

Cairns police said all passengers aboard the boat were all right, and the boat was due to
arrive in Cairns about 4pm.

The Atlantic Clipper operates tours off Cairns.

AAP sd/wjf/de

KEYWORD: RONA BOAT

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW:Camper dies after suffering thigh injury

AAP General News (Australia)
01-16-2012
NSW:Camper dies after suffering thigh injury

SYDNEY, Jan 16 AAP - A man has died after suffering a leg injury while camping on the
NSW Central Coast.

The 38-year-old suffered a serious thigh injury at Wondabyne, near Woy Woy, on Sunday afternoon.

His friend raised the alarm but due to the lack of roads in the area police and paramedics
were forced to …

NSW:How to support flood victims

AAP General News (Australia)
01-12-2011
NSW:How to support flood victims

Advice for professionals and volunteers working with flood victims.

* Try to encourage a sense of safety and calm but also be willing to provide people
with comfort and empathy.

* Help people to contact loved ones and get the practical assistance they need - give
clear information about what is going on, and help to link them to available services.

* To feel safe, people may require help to meet basic needs for food and shelter, and
to obtain emergency medical attention - repeated, simple and accurate information on how
to access these necessities can …

QLD:Rioter to attend Palm Island meeting

AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-2011
QLD:Rioter to attend Palm Island meeting

Palm Island rioter LEX WOTTON has been granted special permission to attend a public
meeting in the indigenous community, as locals discuss possible compensation options to
settle a discrimination complaint against the Queensland government.

Mr WOTTON'S lawyer says the parole officers have waived a condition baring him from
attending public meetings on the island, to allow him to take part in today's discussion.

The lawyer says the meeting will allow the community to settle on a proposal to take
to the Australian Human Rights Commission to settle a discrimination complaint against
the Queensland Government.

Mr WOTTON was released on bail last year having served 20 months in jail over the riot,
that followed the death of CAMERON DOOMADGEE in a local watchhouse.

AAP RTV ews/wz

KEYWORD: WOTTON (CAIRNS)

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

Vic:Margach case among last to use provocation defence

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2006
Vic:Margach case among last to use provocation defence

By Shelley Markham

MELBOURNE, Feb 17 AAP - Melbourne man Paul Margach could be one of the last Victorian
killers to use provocation as a defence.

Margach, who stabbed his wife Tina to death in front of their eight-year-old daughter
Erin, was this week found guilty of her murder despite the defence arguing it should have
been manslaughter.

The 39-year-old engineer murdered his 36-year-old wife by stabbing her 20 times in
the couple's suburban Ascot Vale home on October 15, 2004, with a steak knife.

During the 10-day trial, the defence argued Margach was guilty of manslaughter and
not murder because he did not intend to kill his wife and was provoked by the mistaken
belief she had been unfaithful.

Margach told police he stabbed his wife after she told him the marriage was over and
she falsely claimed that she had sex with another man and had enjoyed it.

His case was one of the last to use provocation as a defence because he was charged
before the laws in Victoria changed.

Victoria became the second Australian state, after Tasmania in 2003, to abolish provocation
as a defence for murder.

The change was made in October 2005, after recommendations from the Law Reform Commission
of Victoria.

It came almost 12 months after the controversial case of Julie Ramage, who was strangled
by her estranged husband James.

His trial heard Mrs Ramage told her estranged husband that sex with him was repulsive
and bragged of her exploits with a new lover.

He lured his wife of 22 years to the marital home in Melbourne's east, bashed her unconscious,
strangled her then buried her in a shallow grave.

The jury convicted him of manslaughter.

Justice Robert Osborn sentenced him to 11 years' jail with a minimum non parole period
of eight years.

In a letter published in Melbourne's The Age newspaper on November 1, 2004, Laurence
Webb, Ms Ramage's lover, said, "When someone close to you is killed, but the killer gets
off for lack of proof, the icy cold that reaches your heart is very personal".

"Provocation was the justification and the defence, claiming words such as 'I'm over
you, I should have left 10 years ago,' and 'making love to you repulses me'," he said.

"If such words can justify a murder, perhaps we are better off without a defence of
provocation."

When the law was changed Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls described the reform
as the most significant since the death penalty was abolished 30 years ago.

"Victoria's homicide laws have not kept pace with changing social values," Mr Hulls said.

"The law regarding provocation was developed from times past when it was acceptable,
especially for men, to have a violent response to an alleged breach of a person's honour.

"The defence of provocation promotes a culture of blaming the victim and has no place
in a modern society."

Margaret Scott, a friend of Tina Margach, said she knew Paul Margach and that he had
shown a tendency towards violence.

"Yes he had been violent to Tina before but no-one was aware of it," Mrs Scott told
Southern Cross radio.

"I just want all these women out there if they're going through this problem please
go for help and don't suffer in silence like Tina did and this was the end result," she
said.

The Margachs' now 10-year-old daughter Erin was eight years old when her mother was
killed and she was left to call triple-0 and try in vain to save her mother's life.

In her police interview she calmly described how her father punched her mother in the
nose and then, the following night, stabbed her to death after a family dinner at a Chinese
restaurant.

"Daddy was waving a knife around and he wanted to stab her but he was missing," Erin told police.

"He must have stabbed her once or twice because there was blood everywhere, like on
her arms and legs and body.

"I thought I could rush over and pull him away from her but I was too scared because
he had this really scary face on."

Paul Margach's mother Ivy described the devastation her son's actions had caused.

She said he was gentle, a man who adored his children and his wife.

And since her daughter-in-law's death she has not seen her granddaughters.

"He's devastated," she said.

"We all are .... We beg you to take into consideration he's not a murderous man."

Margach broke down in tears after the verdict was read out on Wednesday, while the
public gallery erupted in applause, one person calling out: `thank you' to the jury.

Outside the court Tina's father, Joseph Cultrera, said the family was relieved that
the defence of provocation was not accepted by the jury.

"We have done something .... (for) these women in Victoria that are murdered, slaughtered
or shot by any person and get away with it," Mr Cultrera said.

AAP sam/dk/drp/de

KEYWORD: MARGACH (AAP NEWSFEATURE)

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