Absolutely disgusted by the violent crimes mentioned above.
And in regard to the Nandos ad, YES, it is inappropriate, but I've only ever seen it air after 9.00pm. As long as it airs after a certain timeslot, I see no reason why it should be banned. Although they can perhaps do without the extreme close-up of the woman's flabby behind and the shot revealing that she's wearing nothing but a g-string.
I've seen much, MUCH worse. Not too long ago I saw a disgusting late night phone sex ad depicting a bunch of women jumping up and down on beds in a compromising and HEAVILY sexualised manner, making orgasmic noises (i.e. moaning, humping etc.)
Mind you, some of these ads play during late night programs that are G rated.
CONTINUES TONIGHT! 6.30pm eVSC Fan Favourites 7.00pm eVSC Grand Finale : Compilation 7.12pm eVSC Grand Finale : Results #1 & #2 All times in AEDST. Air times and/or dates subject to delays.
Daughter held after two stabbing deaths Jordan Baker and David Braithwaite July 6, 2007 - 8:58AM
A woman walked to her neighbour's house in a quiet area of Revesby yesterday afternoon covered in blood and believed to have been stabbed in the chest.
The woman had fled a crime scene and was asking her neighbours to call police.
Officers arrived at an address on Hydrae Street soon after, about 4pm, and found an unspeakable scene. The woman's husband and teenage daughter had been stabbed to death. Another of the woman's daughters was wandering nearby streets, covered in blood.
The daughter, in her mid-20s, was arrested by police in Uranus Street and taken to hospital where she remains under police guard. She has minor injuries and is helping police with their inquiries.
"We still haven't interviewed her, but we are hoping to interview her as soon as she is considered fit enough,'' a police spokeswoman said this morning.
The mother was being treated in a different hospital.
Police are yet to release details of the victims, with formal identification expected this morning and post mortem examinations to be carried out at Glebe Morgue.
Last night police were trying to contact the remaining siblings - the couple were believed to have at least five children - and piece together the horrific events of the afternoon.
They were looking at several possible scenarios, including the role of a psychiatric disorder. Detective Inspector Mick Sheehy from the homicide squad said a weapon had been found in the house.
The house remained under police guard last night as specialist police, including the State Crime Command's Homicide Squad and Forensic Services Group, continued their investigation into the night.
It is expected that the house will be examined again this morning, with the hope that new light will help reveal new details in the case.
The house is grander than most in the street, with two storeys and a double garage. A neighbour said the family had lived there for about 10 years.
A family acquaintance described them as Christian people who attended a local congregational church. "They are the nicest people you could know," she said. "You'd never hear any outbursts from their place."
Schizophrenia was the first thing that came to mind when reading the above story.
Woman, boy dead in stab frenzy Robyn Ironside July 06, 2007 07:06am
A SIX year old boy and a 24-year-old-woman are dead, and a seven-year-old girl is in a critical condition in hospital after a series of stabbings in Cherbourg.
A 23-year-old woman, believed to be the dead boy's mother, is assisting police with their inquiries.
Police were called to a home in the south east Queensland community around 3am today, after reports of up to five stabbings.
The six year old was found dead, and the seven-year-old has been airlifted to Mater Children's Hospital in Brisbane for treatment.
Another two children were also treated by medical staff.
The dead woman, believed to be the boy's aunt, also died on her way to Murgon hospital. Police refused to confirm whether she died of stab wounds.
Police from Gympie and Murgon are investigating the attacks.
Teenager arrested after baby is bashed to death in outback Lindsay Murdoch and Russell Skelton July 4, 2007
A BABY girl has been killed during a disturbance in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory.
The three-month-old's skull was allegedly bashed with a rock at Epenarra, 120 kilometres east of the Stuart Highway, south of Tennant Creek. The community was bracing for payback violence last night as police interviewed a 17-year-old youth over her death.
Five carloads of youths - armed with nulla nullas, knives and other weapons - were seen entering the community about 9pm last night. Police turned the Herald back 60 kilometres from Epenarra, saying they could not guarantee the safety of anybody who entered the community.
The 17-year-old being questioned over the death was detained at Ali Curung, a nearby community, with the help of locals 20 kilometres from Epenarra.
"He is currently assisting police with their inquiries," police said.
The baby's father is 17 and the mother is 16.
The killing happened as police, troops and federal public servants continued to arrive in other communities north of Alice Springs as part of the Federal Government's crackdown on child abuse.
Community sources said it was believed the child had died while the mother was trying to protect herself from a violent assault by a drunken male.
The baby was taken to a health clinic in Epenarra at 8pm on Monday. The Royal Flying Doctor Service was called but she was pronounced dead.
A team of detectives and a crime scene examiner yesterday flew from Darwin to Epenarra.
Northern Territory police said: "The exact circumstances of the incident remain unclear at this stage, although it appears the baby sustained head injuries during a disturbance." An autopsy was scheduled for last night to determine the cause of death.
Epenarra has no council office, no permanent police presence or doctor. It is serviced by a small medical clinic. It is regarded as one of the most dysfunctional and disadvantaged communities in the Tennant Creek area.
The Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough, was told about the killing during a cabinet meeting in Canberra.
He is due to fly to the Territory today and to visit remote communities, including Mutitjulu, near Uluru, where the first police contingent will begin on Friday.
[bA Harvey Norman franchisee in South Australia has been reprimanded by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for misleading advertising.[/b]
The ACCC says the store at Noarlunga in Adelaide's south admitted inflating the price savings on some electrical items and whitegoods.
The franchisee has been ordered to place corrective advertising.
ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel says the practice was dishonest.
"They were actually providing a comparison of prices which suggests that there was a substantial price saving from what may have otherwise been charged by the Harvey Norman store," he said.
"In fact the prices didn't relate at all to any actual sales that had been previously done by Harvey Norman.
"We've had many cases like this occur in recent times where we've instituted proceedings or we've taken necessary action. The reputational damage to businesses concerned is very significant indeed."
The following story is about a local man who is closely related to a very good friend of mine.
Hostage 'knows the drill' Jano Gibson July 6, 2007 - 2:34PM
An Australian man taken hostage during a deadly gun battle at an African oil rig will get through the ordeal because he's "a pretty likeable sort of bloke", his stepbrother says.
Jason Lane, a 37-year-old rig manager from Queensland, and four other expatriotes were kidnapped from a Shell oil rig in Nigeria by unknown assailants on Wednesday morning [Australian time].
"He's a pretty likeable sort of bloke so I think he'll be alright," his stepbrother, Paul Bawden, told the Herald today.
"He'll know the drill. He'll know what the scoop is: you don't have to like them, just try and get along with them while they've got you."
Mr Bawden, who works as a drilling supervisor in Yemen and has survived a kidnapping himself, said a deadly gun battle occurred moments before the men were snatched.
"Apparently half a dozen boats came up because the rig's in a swamp in the water. [They've] got armed guards on the rig site and they had a bit of a gun battle and two of the guards were killed and they got the boys in the boat and they took them off wherever they've taken them."
Mr Lane's father, Brian Lane, said he was expecting to receive an update from Mr Lane's boss in Nigeria at 9pm about attempts to free the group.
Brian, 63, who has worked on rigs around the world for the past 25 years, said he was remaining calm about his son's plight.
"Being a worker in that environment and in countries where it happens quite often, I can understand what they are doing. They are just taking the guys for ransom."
He joked that he wasn't sure if the kidnappers would want "four goats and ten bags of chickens" or a sizeable sum of cash.
"That's what this is: it's a ransom holdover thing. When it's that, you know it's not going to be some kind of bullshit like what's going on in Iraq."
Brian said that after the workers were taken, the kidnappers used Mr Lane's mobile phone to contact a nearby Shell oil rig to say their demands would soon be revealed.
However, they are yet to state what they are.
Brian also said he had been told that a "chief" in a village had recently made contact with the kidnapped workers.
One of the them, a worker from Lebanon, had told the chief that all of the men were unharmed, he said.
Mr Bawden said he and Mr Lane had discussed the possibility being kidnapped shortly before Mr Lane left for a four-week stint on the rig about a fortnight ago.
"He knew the dangers of where he was and the risks over there, so it's not something that's come out of the blue, you know."
Mr Bawden said it was not the first time Mr Lane had been confronted by gunmen in Nigeria.
They had once boarded his oil rig, but during that ordeal the workers were not removed and the crisis was resolved within hours, after the attackers' demands were met.
Mr Bawden said he was kidnapped about two years ago during a work assignment in Yemen.
"We got pulled over on the side of the road by some armed tribesmen and got held there for a day."
A local sheik helped arrange their release, he said.
Father of kidnap victim confident of son's release July 9, 2007 - 8:31AM
The father of an Australian man abducted in Nigeria says he is "comfortable" with the situation and confident his son will be released.
Queensland man Jason Lane was taken hostage by armed militants last Wednesday with four co-workers from oil company Lonestar Drilling.
The country - one of the world's largest oil producers - is notorious for kidnappings of foreign oil workers.
Mr Lane's father Brian today told ABC Radio his son had been in contact through a company manager to say he was unharmed.
"He said they're being treated quite well, they're being fed and getting a good bed and no harm at all," Mr Lane said.
"From what I can gather it seems as if they're visitors, but there's always that element of danger there.
"I'm very comfortable about the situation.
"It's just getting draining that we just want it to finish now."
Mr Lane, of Mt Gambier in South Australia, said he believed his son would be released unharmed.
"I can understand that sort of situation more probably than anyone else because I've been working in places like that," he said.
The Niger Delta has been at the centre of a confrontation between the government, militants who claim to be fighting for a larger share of oil resources for locals, and armed gangs out to make ransom money.
In May, an Australian was among a group of foreign workers abducted by militant groups and subsequently released.
And today, kidnappers released three-year-old British girl Margaret Hill who was taken hostage last Thursday.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has warned against travel to the country.
"We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Nigeria at this time due to the high threat of terrorist attack and risk of kidnapping, the unpredictable security situation and the heightened risk of violent civil unrest," the official warning reads.
"The security situation could deteriorate without warning."
Kidnappers free British girl July 9, 2007 - 8:27AM
A three-year-old British girl has been freed four days after being kidnapped in Nigeria, and her mother said the toddler was in good health except for mosquito bites.
Unknown gunmen had snatched Margaret Hill from the car in which she was being driven to school while it was stuck in traffic on Thursday morning in Port Harcourt, in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta.
"I am very very happy," said Oluchi Hill, the girl's mother, speaking from the headquarters of the State Security Services (SSS) in Port Harcourt, where she was reunited with her daughter.
"She is OK but I want to proceed with her to hospital because she has a lot of mosquito bites," said Hill.
The Niger Delta is a vast malarial wetland.
Margaret Hill could be heard laughing in the background while her mother was on the phone to Reuters.
The toddler was playing with a Rivers State official who called her "jungle girl".
Emma Okah, a spokesman for Rivers State, said no ransom had been paid to secure the girl's release. Her mother had said on Friday the kidnappers had called demanding money.
Okah said the release had taken place in the town of Ogbakiri in a rural area of Rivers. The kidnappers released the girl at an agreed location where SSS agents picked her up. The kidnappers got away and no arrests were made.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was delighted to hear of the toddler's release.
"I am grateful to the Nigerian authorities for all their help and I hope the perpetrators will swiftly be brought to justice," he said in a statement issued by the Foreign Office in London.
The girl's mother said on Friday the kidnappers had called her, first demanding a swap between the daughter and the father, and later demanding a ransom.
The amount demanded was unclear. The kidnappers had threatened to kill the girl.
Abductions for ransom are common in the Niger Delta, although it is rare for children to be targeted.
The abduction of the toddler caused outrage in Nigeria, including among militant groups in the Niger Delta who said it undermined their campaign for greater local control of oil revenues.
SOME of the most brutal murders and assaults of the past five years have been committed under the influence of methamphetamine, particularly its purest form, known as crystal methamphetamine or ice.
A Herald investigation has revealed a clear pattern of linkage between methamphetamine use and violent crimes which had been absent from official statistics.
Independent collation of court records and interviews undertaken by the Herald, following the methodology of a groundbreaking US study never previously applied in Australia, show a pathway from heavy methamphetamine use to violent crime.
These crimes include: - The hydrochloric acid murder of Dominic Li, an accountant, for which a man was jailed for life last month. Two organisers of the crime were ice smokers.
- Two men known to the courts as CB and IM who murdered Garry Samson and assaulted Gavin Atkin in Newcastle in 2004 during an ice binge.
- Novica Jakimov, a Melbourne brickie, smoking ice with a prostitute, Kelly Hodge, before murdering her in 2003.
- Justin John De Gruchy kidnapping and assaulting prostitutes in Melbourne in 2004.
- Two methamphetamine users, John Hohaia and Mostafa Abdulkader, murdering their friend Alexander Szirt after an argument in 2005.
- Trent Jennings, 18, during a methamphetamine-induced psychotic episode, killing Giuseppe Vitale when they had a tryst in Narwee in 2003.
- Darren Jason Blackburn killing his flatmate Graham "Banjo" Band in an ice-fuelled crime of passion in Melbourne in 2004.
These violent crimes are in addition to other killings that have been linked only in passing to methamphetamine, such as the murder of a Perth schoolgirl Eliza Davis, 16, by two friends after an ice-smoking party last year, and Dudley Mark Aslett's rampage of murder, rape and armed robbery in Sydney and the Central Coast in 2003, committed immediately after he had started using ice.
More publicised methamphetamine-related crimes include the gang rapes led by Canan Eken, an ice addict, in Rosebery in 2004, and the bizarre torture of rabbits by Brendan Francis McMahon, a financier, of Tamarama, in 2005. Mr McMahon was acquitted on the grounds of insanity.
The East Sydney bikie gang murderer Russell Oldham was reported to be an ice user at the time he killed the Bandidos leader Rodney Monk.
A police source has told the Herald that it is "a sure thing" that the bikie gang member Christopher Hudson had been taking methamphetamine before the triple shootings at a Melbourne nightclub over which he was charged this month.
The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research last month released a report that saw no link between methamphetamine use and assault rates. But due to a narrowness of classification and the difficulty of record-keeping, the most violent ice-related criminal acts were absent from that study. Nor has the ice link in many of them been reported in the media.
The author of the bureau's report, Dr Rebecca McKetin, said it had been difficult for researchers to link specific drug use with crime because "illicit drug use isn't always recorded" during the criminal law process "and a person doesn't usually cough up voluntarily the fact that they were taking drugs when they committed a crime".
The Bureau of Crime Statistics report concluded that "there is insufficient evidence to claim a causal link between chronic methamphetamine use and violent behaviour in humans".
However, the report tried only to correlate methamphetamine offences, such as trafficking and manufacture, with the assault rate. It did not look at homicide, manslaughter, and other crimes of extreme violence. It noted that in overseas studies, particularly a 1971 study in the US, there was a direct path from methamphetamine use to 13 homicides, and "historical evidence suggests that methamphetamine epidemics tend to be accompanied by a rise in violent behaviour, particularly bizarre violent acts".
Animal studies had also shown a rise in aggression after methamphetamine use.
Front-line health, welfare and legal workers have long suspected that while an "ice epidemic" as a threat to the general population might have been overstated, the extreme risks involving users at the margins of Australian society are ever more dangerous.
They also suggest that when the Federal Government begins spending the $150 million it has promised to combat ice the money should be spent on treatment and harm reduction for the most vulnerable users.
Beaver Hudson, a consultant psychiatric emergency nurse at St Vincent's hospital in Sydney, told the Herald that "the link between meth and violence is absolutely underreported".
After a report linked ice with armed robberies last year, the NSW Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, called methamphetamine "the new scourge" with "a proliferation of violence" one of the results.
For more go to... http://www.smh.com.au/news/nat.....ullpage#contentSwap1 Most young people (20 to 30 yr olds) have tried 'ice' at least once. It is fairly easy to buy/find. Newcastle NSW is the Ice Capital of NSW if not Australia. This is affecting the next leaders of Australia and is a sad indictment on the mentality of our young (and over 30's as well).
Aussies among world's longest living Monday Jul 9 07:51 AEST
Australia has one of the highest life expectancies in the world, according to a new United Nations report.
The State of the World Population 2007 report prepared by the United Nations Population Fund reveals Australian women live to 83.4 years on average and men to 78.4 years.
This is higher than the average life expectancy of what the report terms "more developed regions", which stands at 79.8 years for women and 72.5 years for men.
The average life expectancy across the globe is 68.6 years for women and 64.2 years for men.
Of the 153 countries listed, only two had higher life expectancies than Australia for both genders.
In Hong Kong, men can expect to live to 79.2 years and women to 85.1 years while in Japan women survive for 86.3 years and men for 79.1 years.
My maternal grandmother is still alive and recently turned 100, my paternal grandparents died in their late forties and late fifties, so I guess my longevity genes even out to about..... not old enough for my liking I would like to live for another 20 yrs minimum and 35 yrs maximum.
SOME of the most brutal murders and assaults of the past five years have been committed under the influence of methamphetamine, particularly its purest form, known as crystal methamphetamine or ice.
Yet in the last NSW election the Greens wanted to legalise it.......
I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Women drawn to men with muscles Tuesday Jul 10 07:39 AEST
Muscular young men are likely to have more sex partners than their less-chiseled peers, researchers at the University of California Los Angeles say.
Their study, published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, suggests muscles in men are akin to elaborate tail feathers in male peacocks: They attract females looking for a virile mate.
"Women are predisposed to prefer muscularity in men," said study author David Frederick of UCLA.
"Most research is focused on what men find physically attractive in women and the career traits women find attractive in men — much less research is devoted to what women find attractive."
He said prior studies concluded a man's desirability was influenced more by his earning potential and commitment. His study found physical characteristics mattered more.
Women were more physically attracted to brawny men, especially for a fling. But when it comes to finding a long-term partner, they tend to pick a regular man over a mate with huge biceps.
"On the one hand, it makes them more sexy to women. On the other hand, it makes women more suspicious about their romantic intentions," Frederick said.
He and colleagues interviewed 99 male undergraduates about their sexual histories. Muscular men were twice as likely to have had more than three sex partners than less-built types.
Frederick and colleagues also asked 141 college women to look at six standardized silhouettes of men ranging from brawny to slender. Most preferred a toned man who was more likely to commit over a muscle-bound man they perceived as more volatile, aggressive and dominant.
To be fair they should also survey women who are 30 plus years old. 'Chicken legs' on men are a huge turn off for women and so are 'man boobs'. I personally am not attracted to slender/slim men. I like men with bulk especially muscular bulk. I love a cuddly man.
Sinkhole opens in Mexico City, one dead Tuesday Jul 10 08:05 AEST
A giant sinkhole swallowed a stretch of street in Mexico City, with one man feared dead and 30 families evacuated, authorities said.
Even in a city where historic buildings regularly lean, crack, collapse or sink below footpath level due to excessive water extraction and unstable soil, the 14 metre deep sinkhole - which measures about 15 metres in diameter - came as a shock.
It began as a giant crack late on Saturday in the eastern Iztapalapa borough and rapidly worsened; the ground simply collapsed, swallowing a car, the facade of a one-story brick building and pavement.
A young man who was watching the spectacle also fell in and emergency workers were digging with hand tools to try to recover his body, authorities said. His age was not immediately known.
"The truth is that it is very highly unlikely" that the victim could still be found alive, said Mexico City Civil Defence Secretary Elias Moreno. "But as long as that possibility exists, we are digging very carefully to avoid hurting him if he is alive."
Fissures from the sinkhole extend outward for about 500 metres, raising the danger of additional collapses.
Thirty families whose homes lie near those cracks have been taken to shelters prepared by city authorities.
Moreno said there were about 200 more cracks, fissures and sinkholes in Iztapalapa, which authorities are trying to fill with cement.
He blamed them on the city's triple problem of earthquakes, which cause cracks to appear; the excessive extraction of ground water, which causes sinking, and torrential rains, which make surface soil more likely to collapse.
"All these factors came together to create these problems we have," Moreno said.
Mexico City gets about two-thirds of its drinking water from wells, and the city sinks an average of 7-10cm each year. İAAP 2007
First snow in Buenos Aires since 1918 Tuesday Jul 10 09:18 AEST
AP - Thousands of Argentines cheered in the streets of Buenos Aires on Monday as the capital saw a rare snowfall, the first of its kind since 1918.
Wet snow fell for hours in the Argentine capital without accumulating, after freezing air from Antarctica collided with a moisture-laden low pressure system that blanketed higher elevations in western and central Argentina with snow.
Argentina's National Weather Service said it was the first major snow in Buenos Aires since June 22, 1918, though sleet or freezing rain have been periodically reported in decades since. The snow followed a bitter cold snap in late May that saw sub freezing temperatures, the coldest in 40 years in Buenos Aires. That cold wave contributed to an energy crisis and 23 deaths from exposure. Two more exposure deaths were reported on Monday. "Despite all my years, this is the first time I've ever seen snow in Buenos Aires," said Juana Benitez, an 82-year-old who joined children celebrating in the streets. One man stripped to his shorts to welcome the snow. Some car accidents were reported on slick suburban streets. The storm struck on Argentina's Independence Day holiday, adding to a festive air and prompted radio stations to play an old tango song inspired by the 1918 snowfall, What a night! "This is the kind of weather phenomenon that comes along every 100 years," forecaster Hector Ciappesoni told La Nacion newspaper. "It is very difficult to predict."
A Sydney woman accused of fatally stabbing her father and sister and injuring her mother was denied psychiatric treatment by her parents who were scientologists, a court was told.
The 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named, was diagnosed with a psychotic illness in late 2006 and was recommended to have follow-up treatment at Bankstown Hospital, in Sydney's south-west.
Dr Mark Cross, the consultant psychiatrist and clinical director of Liverpool and Fairfield Mental Health Services, said the woman's parents refused this treatment.
"She had a history of being diagnosed with a psychotic illness in late 2006 at Bankstown Hospital, but follow-up from the mental health team was apparently declined by her parents because of their alleged scientology beliefs," Dr Cross said.
The woman allegedly stabbed her 53-year-old father and 15-year-old sister to death at the family home in Hydrae Street at Revesby in Sydney's south-west on Thursday.
It is also alleged she stabbed her 52-year-old mother, who raised the alarm as she collapsed in a neighbour's driveway.
The woman told the neighbour her daughter had just killed her husband but that it wasn't her fault because she was "sick".
According to a police fact sheet tendered to Bankstown Local Court, the neighbour saw the 24-year-old still holding a knife as he put a blanket over the injured mother-of-six.
It's alleged that he stood up and looked over the fence and saw the woman walking calmly towards him, but after he told her the police were coming she walked away.
Police said the blood-soaked 24-year-old then got into a passing car and asked the driver if he was the person that was taking her to Croatia.
It's alleged that when the man said no, the woman appeared annoyed, and got out of the car only to stop it again moments later.
She then agreed that the driver take her to the police station, before getting out again when they were passed by a police car, which was responding to the triple-0 call.
When she was arrested minutes later, she allegedly said: "I've just butchered my family. I stabbed dad, mum and sister.
"They are all dead."
She was then taken to hospital where she allegedly shouted at staff that she wanted a knife and wanted more killing.
According to Dr Cross's report, instead of receiving follow-up treatment by Bankstown Hospital's mental health team, the woman had instead seen a private psychiatrist as well as a psychologist.
She also was prescribed an anti-depressant as well as an anti-psychotic treatment that she took until January this year, which made her feel anxious, and depressed. She also experienced poor sleep and felt unsafe at home.
"She stated that her parents did not want her to take the prescribed medication she had been on in 2006, and apparently started her on medication they got from America - which was not psychiatric in nature," Dr Cross said.
The woman told Dr Cross that her feelings started to worsen three weeks before the killings and that her parents allowed her to restart her anti-psychotic medication as it helped her to sleep.
The woman was supported by about 20 family and friends at Bankstown Local Court where she was charged with two counts of murder and one count of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to murder.
She was formally refused bail to face Burwood Local Court on Wednesday.
Not trying to stand up for scientology, since it's rated high on the nutbagery scale but do we want to start listing religions that have blood on their hands due to "beliefs"
I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Kidnapped Aussie released Jano Gibson July 12, 2007 - 6:53AM
An Australian hostage released by gunmen in Nigeria overnight has described his seven-day ordeal as "the most horrific thing" he has been through, his father says.
Jason Lane, a 37-year-old rig manager from Queensland, was working on an oil rig in Nigeria last week when gunmen on high-speed boats stormed the site, killing two guards and kidnapping Mr Lane and four other expatriate workers, including two New Zealanders.
Late last night, after the group was freed, Mr Lane phoned his father, Brian, in South Australia.
"He just said, 'Dad, I'm out.' And I just said, 'Good. Thank God for that'," Brian Lane told the Herald this morning of the pair's three minute conversation.
Brian, who has worked on oil rigs around the world, said his "tough boy" had been deeply traumatised by the experience.
"He's not real good. He lost a bit of weight. He might have a bit of malaria. He just said he's not feeling well.
"It was quite a relief for him [to be released] but it was the most horrific thing he's been through, he said.
"The way they treated him wasn't real good, he said. He's really relieved, naturally, but he wasn't his same old self."
Brian said the news of his son's release brought great relief after a week of not knowing what would happen.
"If it had have been earlier in the night I might have had a beer."
He said Mr Lane's partner was over the moon.
"She was absolutely elated to the max; just screamed. I didn't say a lot to her. I just told her that [he was free], because it was so late at night."
Brian said his son hoped to be back in Australia by the weekend, when he would reveal more details about his kidnapping to his father.
Brian, who was always confident that his son would be released, said he believed Mr Lane would be able to put the ordeal behind him.
"He's a tough boy. He's been around the traps a long time so he'll be right. He'll come good."
The one thing he would not be doing, however, is returning to Nigeria ever again.
"No. That's it. He's already made that decision himself," Brian said.
Earlier, Bayelsa police spokesman, Inyebom Inidong, told Agence France-Presse: "The men were released this afternoon, and they have been taken to the government house in Yenagoa."
An AFP correspondent at the scene confirmed that the hostages - Mr Lane, New Zealanders Bruce Klenner and Brent Goddard, Lebanese George Saliba and Venezuelan Andres Gamboa - were in audience with state governor Timipre Silva.
The foreigners, all employees of Lone Star Drilling company, were seized last Wednesday while drilling a well for Shell in the Soku region of the Rivers state.
The men declined to speak to the press about their experience, but they all told the governor in a brief audience that they were going back to their countries immediately.
The release of the five foreigners follows that of two Nigerian workers of Shell, who were set free by gunmen who seized them at the oil giant's facility in Buguma, Rivers state.
The Niger Delta, home to Nigeria's oil wealth, has been at the centre of a long confrontation between the government and militants who claim to be fighting for a larger share of oil resources for locals, as well as a plethora of armed gangs out to make ransom money.
Some 200 foreigners, mostly oil workers, have been kidnapped in the region since the beginning of 2006.
Rape 'less evil if victim drunk' July 11, 2007 12:00am
A SEXUAL assault research paper has claimed some Australians believe rapists should be treated more leniently if their victims "dressed provocatively or were drunk". The study, based on a small sample and conducted by the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault, also found some Australians placed less blame on a rapist if they knew him or he had a "nice guy" reputation.
In these situations, they saw the rape as less "serious" and were more likely to recommend the offender get a lighter sentence or avoid jail altogether.
In one example put to those surveyed, researchers asked people to rate the "blame" in a situation where a woman was on the way home from work dressed in a suit and jacket against a scenario where a woman had been out clubbing, drinking and was wearing a short skirt.
In the first scenario, the research found the woman was almost blameless, while in the second a significant amount of responsibilty for the rape was attributed to the woman, though the offender was clearly mostly to blame.
The ACSSA, which aims to assist those working the field of sexual assault and reduce crime levels, is funded by the Office for Women, Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
Sexual assault "not serious"
ACSSA researcher Haley Clark said her findings indicated that sexual assault was not treated seriously enough.
"More needs to be done to ensure that sexual assault is considered serious (and) that myths and stereotypes are not used to justify reductions in grading the gravity of an offence or influencing sentencing severity," Ms Clark said.
She explored the concept with a small survey of 61 men and women, asking them to judge the seriousness of several fabricated rape scenarios.
Some scenarios contained "classic" elements, for instance, involving a stranger and a sober victim who physically resisted and contacted police immediately.
Rape "myths"
Other scenarios involved so-called rape "myths".
These are deviations from the stereotype which involved known men, like ex-boyfriends or so-called "nice guys" who were sexually frustrated, or women who were drunk and wearing revealing clothing.
Results showed nearly all participants thought these "myths" were a mitigating factor in determining the seriousness of the offence.
While they consistently attributed more blame to the offender, the level slipped in the non-typical scenarios.
Lighter penalties acceptable
While jail was the most frequently chosen punishment for rapists, the participants were more likely to recommend a lighter penalty in cases that challenged the stereotype.
Ms Clark, who completed the research at the University of Melbourne, said the results showed the legal system could do more to dispel the stereotypes surrounding rape and "reshape" public attitude.
"A shift in attitudes, both within the community and the judiciary, should be included in debates on treating sexual assault seriously," she said.
The ACSSA, which aims to assist those working in the field of sexual assault and help reduce crime levels, is funded by the Office for Women, Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
If you read the readers comments you will see that the 'survey' does not reflect the real thoughts of intelligent people (thank goodness). I am horrified that anyone could think that the victims actions or clothing could attribute to their rape/assault and a lesser charge for the perpetrator!
It baffles me as to why these guys go to these lawless countries. I know the money's good but is it worth your life? These kidnappers have no respect for life.
It worried me a little about how laid back this guy's father was about it all saying his son was a good bloke and will be released no worries. Maybe he was putting on a brave face but these things shouldn't be taken lightly.
I would urge anyone who has a friend or relative in such a place, or in combat in Iraq, to slap them across the face next time you see them, tell them to wake up and get the heck out because they have loved ones, maybe a wife and kids who care about them and need them and they don't need to die for no reason. (I know that's harsh but that's how I really feel).
Quoted from SuziH
Rape 'less evil if victim drunk'
If you read the readers comments you will see that the 'survey' does not reflect the real thoughts of intelligent people (thank goodness). I am horrified that anyone could think that the victims actions or clothing could attribute to their rape/assault and a lesser charge for the perpetrator!
I haven't read the readers' comments but I think these findings are spot on. I know many people (especially the older generations) attribute some/most of the blame to the victim if they were drunk or dressed or acted promiscuously. Sadly many in the younger generations including women think this way too. The problem is rape tends to get 'greyed' when in reality it is black and white, no means no.
Logged
I would like to live for another 20 yrs minimum and 35 yrs maximum. 
