Eddie McGuire tries to jump RTA queue
From: The Sunday Telegraph
July 15, 2007

HIS power and influence is legendary in his native Melbourne but Eddie McGuire has found out that his name will not open the same doors in Sydney.

The former Nine Network chief executive got a rude awakening when he tried to jump the queue at a motor registry last week.

Sources told The Sunday Telegraph how McGuire first called the RTA two weeks ago and asked them to open their Bondi Junction office 30 minutes early so he could renew his driver's licence, stressing he was a "very busy man".

if you want to read more, goto
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22076608-2,00.html

I am glad all the grasshoppers working at the RTA told Eddie "ANT" McGuire where to go.

Quoted from slowhand

I am glad all the grasshoppers working at the RTA told Eddie "ANT" McGuire where to go.

He reminded them of how important HE was.

And it got him nowhere .  HA HA HA

If Eddie was stupid enough NOT to offer the RTA some cash incentive, then no wonder they boned him.

Quoted from Sillygostly

If Eddie was stupid enough NOT to offer the RTA some cash incentive, then no wonder they boned him.

No No No No  . eddie just forgot to play the 'build the excitement' music. So they did not recognise him.  

How f#cking stupid do you have to be to think you could get the RTA to open early? Next he'll be expecting to catch a train on time and get the cops to investigate a break in  

Perhaps he should have taken the "mob" along to back him up  ?

Fishermen caught killing dolphins
July 18, 2007 - 6:09AM

A crew of Brazilian fishermen was captured on video killing 83 dolphins and joking about their illegal haul, Brazil's Ibama environmental protection agency said.

The video obtained by an Ibama researcher and broadcast by Globo TV showed the fishermen netting the dolphins, which suffocated because they could not surface to breathe.

The researcher was contracted by the agency and sent undercover aboard the fishing boat to monitor hauls of other fish. The dolphin kill was filmed while the boat was off the coast of Amapa state, near the point where the Amazon River flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

As the dolphins were hauled from the sea and piled on the boat's deck, fishermen on board laughed after someone said: "Everyone's going to jail after this filming!"

No one has been charged or fined because authorities were still trying to identify the fishermen caught on video, Globo reported.

Ibama confirmed the Globo report that aired on Monday night, but said on Tuesday that no one was immediately available to provide additional details. It was not immediately clear whether the researcher or a crew member filmed the dolphins being killed.

Fishermen who illegally snag dolphins usually sell the meat to other boats that use it to haul up sharks, Globo TV said.

The images appalled groups trying to protect dolphins around the world.

"Brazil has strict laws to protect whales and dolphins in their waters, and they are very clearly being abused," said Claire Bass, program manager for marine mammals with the London-based World Society for the Protection of Animals. "Using nets to kill these extremely sociable and intelligent animals by drowning them is completely diabolical."

Dolphins are also caught off the coast of Africa for shark bait, she said.

Dolphin jaws complete with all the teeth are sold in an open air market in the large Amazon city of Belem, and the eyes are also sold as fetishes to men who believe they have magical powers attract riches and women. Dolphins penises are ground into a powder thought to make men more virile.

Killing dolphins is a crime in Brazil punishable by up to 1.5 years in prison. Ibama is working on a plan to ban fishing in the areas where the dolphins were killed.

AP

http://www.smh.com.au/news/env.....8/1184559815948.html

Benoit's body laced with drugs
July 18, 2007 - 7:49AM

Pro wrestler Chris Benoit had steroids and other drugs in his system when he killed his wife and young son last month before hanging himself in the family's home, investigators said.

Benoit killed his wife and seven-year-old son, placed Bibles next to their bodies and then hanged himself on the cable of a weight machine.

Anabolic steroids were found in the home, raising questions about whether the drugs played a role in the killings. Some experts believe steroids can cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as "roid rage."

Benoit's body contained elevated levels of testosterone, which appeared to have been injected, as well as the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and the painkiller hydrocodone, according to a statement from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI said Benoit tested negative for alcohol.

Dr Kris Sperry also said Benoit's seven-year-old son, Daniel, was sedated when he was killed, and that his wife had prescription drugs in her system.

But Sperry said the results do not show whether steroids were linked to the killings last month at the Benoits' suburban Atlanta home.

Benoit's wife, Nancy, tested positive for Xanax, hydrocodone and the painkiller hydromorphone. Daniel Benoit had Xanax in his system, authorities said.

The GBI said it could not perform tests for steroids or human growth hormones on the son because of a lack of urine.

Federal authorities have charged Benoit's personal physician, Dr Phil Astin, with improperly prescribing painkillers and other drugs to two patients other than Benoit. He has pleaded not guilty.

Investigators have also raided Astin's office several times since the deaths, seizing prescription records and other documents.

Before he was charged, Astin told the AP he prescribed testosterone for Benoit, a longtime friend, in the past. He would not say what, if any, medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office June 22, the day authorities believe Benoit killed his wife.

AP

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/benoits-body-laced-with-drugs/2007/07/18/1184559820195.html

Wind leaves Sydney feeling the chill
Dylan Welch
July 18, 2007 - 6:58AM

Sydney has suffered through another cold night - and while the temperature is a few points higher than yesterday morning's 21-year July low of 3.7, the wind chill has brought some places below freezing.

This morning saw temperatures of between 6.5 and 7.2 across most of greater Sydney, but according to the weather bureau, a significant wind chill dragged the temperature around the airport and Sydney city down to an arctic negative 0.6.

The apparent temperature, which factors in wind chill, was also down to 1.1 in Bankstown and 2.1 in Homebush.

About 1400 households were without power during periods last night, due to an underground cable fault, according to Energy Australia.

About 1000 houses in Mosman lost power at about 8pm, and suffered through more than two hours without electricity, before the power came back on at 10.15.

Houses in Condell Park, Avalon and Bondi also suffered outages.

But the outages were not a result of supply problems, with the national electricity grid's watchdog, the National Electricity Market Management Company, saying while there had been extra demand, the system had coped.

"NSW is driving the higher demand to keep warm," The Company's Paul Bird told the Herald. "With the cold weather keeping people home, televisions and other domestic appliances were also burning more power."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/env.....8/1184559818748.html

On the Sunshine Coast the temp at the Sunshine Plaza, 2 blocks from where I live, was 2.3 on Sunday morning then... 1.2 on Monday morning  
and yesterday back up to a balmy 4.9 minimum. We are almost right on either the Maroochy River or Beach and these temperatures are almost unheard of and the coldest on record. There were even reports of frosts just a street or two from the beach! Now, this IS winter

Radio host slams Zemanek on funeral day
Wednesday Jul 18 05:00 AEST
By ninemsn staff

Radio host Mike Carlton didn't let his hatred for Stan Zemanek rest in peace yesterday — saying he would only go to his funeral "to check that he was actually dead."

As relatives prepared to bury Zemanek yesterday morning, Carlton was on his 2UE radio show saying he "loathed" and "hated" the late shock jock.

When asked by a caller why he wouldn't be attending the funeral, Carlton said to do so would be "an act of sheer hypocrisy."
"I don't like Stan and he didn't like me and I'm not going to be hypocritical and turn up."

Even Carlton's colleagues were offended by the bitter rant, with 2UE afternoon host Steve Price opening his show by condemning Carlton.

"Just shut up and say nothing. It was really bad taste and bad behaviour," said Price, who attended the funeral.

Carlton's feud with Zemanek began almost 30 years ago, the Daily Telgraph reports, when he was dropped from 2UE's morning show to make way for John Laws and Zemanek, who was working as a producer at the time.

Zemanek's family and friends tried to ignore Carlton's offensive comments.

"Today is a celebration of Stan's life and we'd really rather today have been a day of celebration and love for a remarkable man, to just focus on the positive," friend Prue Macsween said.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=279249

Get over yourself Mike Carlton. As your work colleague said 'shut up and say nothing'.

Quoted from news_story

[b]Even Carlton's colleagues were offended by the bitter rant, with 2UE afternoon host Steve Price opening his show by condemning Carlton.

"Just shut up and say nothing. It was really bad taste and bad behaviour," said Price, who attended the funeral.

It is the WORST when somebody uses their access to media to 'slag off' somebody who can't fight back.

'He's got a gun, I'm hit!' - officer
Martin Philip
July 19, 2007 08:34am

POLICE Constable Brett Irwin died overnight in a two and a half hour standoff in a Brisbane suburb.

Officers stormed a northside house early this morning ending a tense, two and a half hour standoff after a gunman fatally wounded a police officer sent to arrest him.

A police spokesperson said two officers had been sent to execute an arrest warrant - for a man who had failed to appear in court - at a residence in Regan Street, Keperra, in Brisbane's northwest about 10.45pm last night.

After entering the premises, one of the officers was heard yelling ``He's got a gun. I'm hit.''

The fatally injured officer remained in the residence while the other officer escaped and called for assistance.

Special Emergency Response Team officers and police negotiators moved in before midnight and the dog squad was also at the scene.

According to police, the gunman's de facto wife, another woman and two young children were released into police custody and were assisting officers.

Police stormed the premises around 1.30am and found the body of their colleague.

They entered the premises using "flash-bang" distraction devices  - designed to divert an offender's attention from officers.

Police say their officers fired no shots during the incident but would not confirm if the gunman turned his weapon on himself.

Assistant commissioner Peter Barron, of Metro North Region, said the dead officer, who in his 30s, had worked at the Ferny Grove station and had been in the service for a year.

``Our deepest sympathy goes out to his family and his colleagues," Commissioner Barron said at an early morning news conference.

``It was a routine job and it emphasises the dangerous nature of policing. This man has lost his life serving the community.

``I can't discuss the operational nature of why they were there and what transpired that culminated in this young man losing his life, apart from the fact that, tragically, he has been killed. He's a young police officer serving his community and he's paid the ultimate price.

``It's a tragedy and it defies comprehension that he's lost his life going about doing his duty in a routine way.''

He said the other officer had received counselling.

He confirmed the deceased officer had only been posted to Ferny Grove station ``recently''.

While Commissioner Barron confirmed the officers had been sent to the Regan Street address "to make general inquiries", he refused to confirm speculation that the gunman had attempted to take his own life.

He said the Police Ethical Standards Command was investigating the circumstances of the shootings, overseen by the Coroner’s Conduct Commission.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22097413-952,00.html

Widow sues al-Qaeda over Pearl murder
July 19, 2007 - 7:32AM


The widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against 23 individuals and organisations over the abduction and murder of her husband in 2002.

The lawsuit notably names al-Qaeda, alleged al-Qaeda kingpin Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - who claimed responsibility for beheading Pearl and is now in US custody-- and Pakistan's Habib Bank among the defendants.

"I am looking for the truth of what happened to Daniel, for our family, our friends, and the public record," Mariane Pearl said in a statement.

"This process allows us to delve deeper into the investigation, and to bring accountability and punishment to those involved with his kidnapping, torture and murder," she said.

Pearl worked as the South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal when he was taken hostage in early 2002. A videotape showing his beheading was later distributed on the internet.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating laws including the Anti-Terrorism Act and Torture Victim Protection Act.

It says they were involved in Pearl's abduction and killing by providing financial or logistical support in the form of training, shelter, weapons, transportation, food, communications, equipment or financial services.

The complaint names extremist groups Harakat ul-Mujahedeen, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and al-Qaeda as being implicated and accuses Islamic charities Al Rashid Trust and Al Akhtar Trust International of financing the defendants through accounts held at Habib Bank.

Among other defendants named in the 49-page complaint are Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, accused of abducting Pearl, and the heirs of Saud Memon, who owned the property where Pearl's dismembered body was found. Memon died this year.

Another named defendant is Fazal Karim, who, according to the complaint, told Pakistani authorities he bt Pearl after the reporter tried to escape and helped hold Pearl while his throat was cut.

"This action seeks to expose and hold accountable the perpetrators and financiers of Daniel Pearl's kidnapping and death," Pearl's lawyer, Michael Elsner, said in the statement.

The lawsuit does not specify the amount of damages being sought.

AFP

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/widow-sues-alqaeda/2007/07/19/1184559902723.html

Good luck with that Mrs. Pearl

Quoted from SuziH

'He's got a gun, I'm hit!' - officer

POLICE Constable Brett Irwin died overnight in a two and a half hour standoff in a Brisbane suburb.

Probably a dumb question but why don't police officers wear bullet proof vests in these kinds of situations? Or is it that they normally would, they just didn't deem this situation particularly dangerous?

[quote=SuziH]

``It's a tragedy and it defies comprehension that he's lost his life going about doing his duty in a routine way.''


Makes you think that your job isn't so bad after all. At least I don't expect to die going to work each day!

Quoted from x452

Probably a dumb question but why don't police officers wear bullet proof vests in these kinds of situations? Or is it that they normally would, they just didn't deem this situation particularly dangerous?

I agree. In this day and age of extreme violence it would be silly not to wear body armour everytime they go outside the station. For all intents and purposes this was a case of serving a warrant on a guy for something relatively minor. The policeman took one shot to the heart. Since it was at such close range maybe a bullet proof vest wouldn't have saved him from injury BUT it most likely would have saved his life. The person who shot him has died from his self inflicted injury. Discussing this with a friend yesterday I said 'The guy should of died' my friend said 'let him live and be punished' I said 'yeah but if he died it would save the tax payers money for his up-keep!'

Quoted Text

Tiny brain okay for civil servant
A man with an unusually tiny brain managed to live an entirely normal life despite his condition, caused by a fluid buildup in his skull, French researchers have reported.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22103951-2,00.html?from=public_rss


Hardly a revelation if you've ever dealt with a government department  

Quoted from aquamonkey

... Hardly a revelation if you've ever dealt with a government department  

ROFL that's an understatement!