Now Australia has it's own BIG FOOT! The flying Kangaroo is crap!
Lonely Planet author's body found July 24, 2007 - 4:07PM
The body of missing Australian climber Andrew Clem Lindenmayer has been found on a mountain in south-west China.
Lindenmayer, a 47-year-old Victorian man who has written for the travel guidebook company Lonely Planet, went missing in May in Sichuan province where he had gone to climb Mount Gongga.
Villagers found his body on July 19, the official Xinhua news agency said today.
Last month, rescuers searching for him found a body believed to be that of a Japanese mountaineer who vanished 26 years ago.
Gongga - Tibetan for "highest snow-capped mountain" - has more than 20 peaks above 6000 metres, the highest at 7,56 metres.
Yesterday, state media said the body of an American woman climber had been found on a remote mountain eight months after she disappeared. Reuters
'Circumcise now to protect millions' July 24, 2007 - 3:36PM
Male circumcision must be urgently embraced on a grand scale to help stop millions catching HIV in Third World nations ravaged by the virus, a leading HIV expert says.
US scientist Professor Robert Bailey has warned delegates at the International AIDS Society conference in Sydney that widespread circumcision programs have been delayed too long already, and further stalling will endanger more lives.
About 4000 men are infected with HIV every day in sub-Saharan Africa, including 3000 who are uncircumcised.
Rates are highest in countries like Botswana, where circumcision is rare.
Three major African studies recently confirmed what researchers suspected as far back as 1995 - that circumcision cuts the risk of HIV transmission by up to 60 per cent in heterosexual men.
The practice does not appear to benefit gay men in the same way, making it of little use for Australia's at-risk group.
Professor Bailey, of the University of Illinois in Chicago, told the 6500 HIV/AIDS researchers attending the congress that now the benefits had been proven, programs must be urgently implemented.
Universal circumcision could avert 2 million new infections and 300,000 deaths in sub-Saharan Africa over 10 years, he said.
"It's been 24 years since the first person found that circumcision was associated with HIV," he said.
"It's been a really long haul because it's the penis after all, so it's not that easy to accept that kind of intervention.
"But the time to act is right now. Delaying the roll-out of circumcision could be causing more harm, not just because more people are getting infected with HIV than necessary but also people are going to unqualified practitioners."
A lack of training and poor equipment means up to 35 per cent of these clients end up with infections or other problems.
On the back of successful trial results, the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS has backed the use of circumcision to fight the epidemic, but Professor Bailey said it was up to Third World governments to take the lead.
"Until it's endorsed at a local level it's going to be difficult to get donors to come in and support services because they don't want to be seen to be imposing their values on indigenous populations," he said.
Wives and mothers would help lead the drive because they were often more in favour of the practice than men, on the grounds it promotes better hygiene.
Michel Kazatchkine, director of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - which funds treatment and prevention projects - agreed the evidence for circumcision was overwhelming.
"If countries come to us asking for money for expanding on circumcision and making it into a public health intervention, I see no reason at all why we wouldn't fund that," Dr Kazatchkine said.
Any parent of sons will of been through all the pros and cons of getting their baby circumcised. I remember when I had my daughter 30 years ago, it was still practiced but opinion was changing to the side of 'don't circumcise', when I had my son almost 23 years ago it was a mission to get your son circumcised then because the trend was 99% against getting it done. My thoughts were always that hygienically it has to be better to be (done) especially if you live near the beach where sand can be an issue. I have always believed circumcision is a better choice and would never be brow beaten by doctor's personal views. A few years ago the census was circumcision would discourage cancer there. NOW we are being told that all boys and men should be circumcised in Third World countries to stop HIV killing millions!
$20 million winner comes forward Yuko Narushima July 24, 2007 - 2:10PM
A mystery Powerball winner, who was sitting on the ticket that would make them an instant multi-millionaire, has come forward.
The $20 million prize was won in last Thursday's draw.
Because the winner was not a registered player, NSW Lotteries could not contact them.
"All we can do is hope the winner already knows or finds out soon," said Una O'Neill, NSW Lotteries media officer, before the winner went to the NSW head office to claim the prize.
The ticket was purchased at Lucky Lotteries Cards and Gifts store in the Westfield shoppping centre in Hurstville.
The manager of the store, Mandy Lu, said sales had picked up since word spread about the win, although some customers went mistakenly to a nearby newsagent, hoping the good luck would rub off.
"We've always been quite lucky with prizes," said Ms Lu. "It's just that it's $20 million to the one person this time. That's what all the excitement is about."
A keen Powerball player herself, she said big prizes typically go to players elsewhere.
"Usually the bigger prizes go interstate and this time NSW has been lucky," Ms Lu said. She said she buys tickets religiously from her own outlet but being a registered player, knew instantly the jackpot was not hers.
"I just hope it's one of our very good customers who haven't won a prize for ages," she said.
NSW Lotteries says it has created 57 millionaires through Powerball since it started in May, 1996.
The winning numbers in last week's draw 583 were: 44, 18, 40, 32, and 37. The Powerball was 29.
"This will change my life and my family's life forever," the winner, who asked NSW Lotteries to suppress their identity, said this afternoon.
"Given the enormity of the windfall, the winner is showing remarkable composure," Ms O'Neill said.
The prize is not taxed and can be paid to the winner as a lump sum or in instalments.
The sum is equal to that collected by a retired factory worker in his 70s, from Sydney's west, in April.
The state's biggest Powerball win, $30 million, was claimed in 2003. The ticket was sold in Yamba, on the state's North Coast.
NSW Lotteries said most unclaimed prizes are for wins of less than $50 but the website said an Oz Lotto prize of $3.35 million was still going begging.
[SARCASM] How can this be? The conservative establishment tells me immigrants are a burden on our society. They over-utilise our welfare resources because they are constantly ill or unemployed and are violent and have made Australia less safe, it must be a left-wing group that did the study! [/SARCASM]
Migrants are better educated, more law-abiding, are generally healthier and less dependent on welfare than the average Australian-born citizen, a new report reveals.
The 18-month study, The Social Costs and Benefits of Migration into Australia, was conducted by a research team from the University of New England's (UNE) Centre for Applied Research in Social Sciences.
UNE professor Kerry Carrington led the project, which included speaking with government, business and community leaders and comparing social statistics among migrants and Australian-born citizens.
The costs of migration were found to be low and mainly associated with migrants adjusting to Australia after their arrival.
Researchers found only a "marginal" incidence of racial prejudice to migration, which was overshadowed by a widespread appreciation of the cultural and social benefits to Australia from its migration program.
"There are few social costs associated with migration and most of these are short-term integration issues that relate mostly to the humanitarian intake," Prof Carrington said in a statement.
"However, most migrants, including those arriving through the humanitarian intake, have over time, learnt English, acquired qualifications and done well."
Nearly 90 per cent of the 106,495 immigrants entering Australia in the 2006 financial year were skilled migrants.
More than six million migrants have entered Australia since 1945, bringing the country's overseas-born population to 25 per cent of the entire population of 21 million people.
The report listed Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showing migrants have a slightly higher unemployment rate but slightly higher labour force participation rate.
Migrants are required to pass a series of health checks before acquiring temporary or permanent status in Australia.
The report found migrants have a lower hospitalisation rate than Australian-born citizens.
Most new immigrants are not eligible for disability or aged pensions until 10 years after their arrival in Australia while non-humanitarian migrants must wait two years before accessing social security payments.
UNE professor Jim Walmsley, co-editor of the report, said there was no evidence of a "migrant underclass" or "ethnic enclave ghettos" in Australia and the report "dispelled a number of myths about the impact of migrants on the host community".
"On the contrary, the available evidence overwhelmingly supports the view that migrants to Australia have made substantial contributions to Australia's stock of human, social and produced capital," Prof Walmsley said.
Four dead as two helicopters collide Saturday Jul 28 08:59 AEST
AP - Two news helicopters covering a police chase on live television have collided and crashed to the ground in the US, killing all four people on board in a plunge that viewers saw as a jumble of spinning, broken images.
Both helicopters went down in a park in central Phoenix and caught fire. No one on the ground was hurt.
Television viewers did not actually witness the accident because cameras aboard both aircraft were pointed at the ground. But they saw images from one of the helicopters break up and begin to spin before the station abruptly switched to the studio.
Television station KNXV reported that it owned one of the choppers. The other was from KTVK. A pilot and photographer aboard each chopper were killed.
KNXV reporter Craig Smith, who was among the dead, was reporting live as police chased a man driving a construction truck who had fled a traffic stop and was driving erratically, hitting several cars and driving on the footpath at times.
Police had blown the truck's tyres, and the man eventually parked it, then carjacked another vehicle nearby.
As police closed in, Smith said: "Oh geez!"
After the picture broke up, the station switched to the studio and then briefly showed regular programming, a soap opera, before announcing that the helicopter had crashed.
The two choppers came down on the grass lawn in front of a boarded-up church at the park. Firefighters swarmed to the area as thick black smoke rose from the scene.
Mary Lewis said she was stuck in traffic with her four grandsons and was watching the helicopters. She turned to talk to the children, then saw a fireball in the air when she looked up again.
"I looked up and I see this 'boom', and I see one of the helicopters coming down, and I said 'Oh my God'," Lewis said. She said she went to the crash site to help, but there was nothing she could do.
"It's nothing there," Lewis said. "Just burned-up stuff."
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the FAA is reviewing air traffic control tapes to see if pilots were talking to controllers at that time.
"Typically air traffic controllers clear helicopters into an area where they can cover a chase like this," Gregor said. "Once they are in the area, the pilots themselves are responsible for keeping themselves separated from other aircraft."
Killed on board the KTVK chopper were pilot Scott Bowerbank and photographer Jim Cox. Smith and photographer Rick Krolak were aboard the KNXV-TV aircraft, the stations reported.
Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association in Washington, said the association does not track fatalities among helicopter news pilots, but she could not recall another example of two news choppers colliding while covering a story.
"The news directors at the stations are members of our association, and our heart really goes out to them in a situation like this," she said. "These pilots, they are very professional. They combine the skills of pilots and skills as journalists. It's something that's very, very sad."
The suspect in the police pursuit eventually jumped from the truck and was barricaded in a home, authorities said. A police commando team was preparing to go in to arrest the suspect.
It had to happen. What were the pilots doing? Not watching their airspace obviously!
Cannabis doubles chance of psychosis Bellinda Kontominas Medical Reporter July 28, 2007
PEOPLE who smoke cannabis regularly more than double their risk of developing psychotic illness later in life, according to research that calls for increased awareness of the dangers of the drug.
Researchers found that among all cannabis users, including social and habitual users, the lifetime risk of psychotic illness increased by 41 per cent.
More than one third of Australians over 14 years of age have smoked cannabis, or marijuana, at least once in their life and one in 20 have used the drug in the past week, according to figures on drug use from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Of the 1.8 million Australians who have recently used cannabis, one in six use it every day and a further one in five use it every week.
The study found the increased risk for psychotic illness was relative to the dose. Those who smoked cannabis regularly were at an increased risk of between 50 per cent and 200 per cent of developing schizophrenia and disorders with symptoms including hallucinations or delusions.
This also suggested that stopping cannabis use would decrease the risk, said the lead author, Dr Stanley Zammit, a psychiatrist from Cardiff University and Bristol University in Britain.
Previous studies have had trouble unravelling the link between cannabis use and psychotic disorder. Smoking the drug could be a symptom of psychotic illness, rather than a cause, the research found. The researchers re-examined data from 35 international studies on psychotic illness and cannabis use involving more than 100,000 participants. Factors such as pre-existing mental illness, the use of other illicit drugs, IQ and social class were filtered out of the sample to try to isolate the effect of cannabis.
Dr Zammit said there was now sufficient evidence to warn young people that using cannabis could increase their risk of developing psychotic illness later in life, despite a lack of evidence to confirm a cause-and-effect relationship.
The risk was relatively low but significant, he said.
One in 100 people had a chance of developing severe psychotic illness. That risk increased to 1.4 in 100 if they had ever smoked cannabis.
In an accompanying comment, Merete Nordentoft and Carsten Hjorthoej, of the department of Psychiatry at the Copenhagen University Hospital, said cannabis had long been considered a harmless drug and its potential long-term effects on psychosis had been overlooked. "There is a need to warn the public of these dangers, as well as establish treatment to help young, frequent cannabis users," they wrote.
Cannabis accounted for 45 per cent of hospital admissions due to drug-induced psychosis in 2003-04, according to a study published in the Australian Medical Journal. John Saunders, Professor of Alcohol and Drug studies at the University of Queensland, said the latest research strengthened the need for increased education on the dangers of cannabis.
Ask anyone who knows someone who smokes cannabis regularly and they will tell you the user is paranoid and has times of psychosis. A young man who used to be a friend of my 22 year old son, began using cannabis and ecstasy in year 12. He had so much potential in so many different areas of his life and was one of those young people that was 'most likely to succeed'. In a matter of months he became psychotic and manic and was in the lockdown mental ward at the local hospital. His parents were in denial something fierce and he ended up living in his car in another state, at one point. So so sad.
Madeleine McCann Suspect Robert Murat Alibi, Car Rental Questioned by Jack Ryan
Madeleine McCann arguido Robert Murat has reportedly changed his alibi and is being questioned on why he rented a car two days before he was arrested in Portugal. The lone suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, changed his alibi when questioned by police over the weekend, it is being claimed.
The British expatriate allegedly told friends he was with his German girlfriend when Madeleine McCann was abducted from her family's vacation flat.
However Murat told Portuguese detectives that he was with his mom on the night the four-year-old disappeared. She even backed up his claim.
In May the Daily Mirror reported that Robert Murat rented a car despite already having two vehicles. The paper goes on to report that at the time that rental car worker Maria Rocio claimed that Murat called her on Saturday and asked to rent a Hyundai for three days, insisting he needed it immediately and could not wait. See the contract here.
"Robert said to me, 'I need to rent a car for myself because the English people who are looking for the little girl need to borrow my car. They need to put information posters on it.'" She added: "There was something about his voice, he was saying, 'I need to have it quickly.' His voice was impatient, I could tell from his voice that he needed it in a hurry."
After 50 years together, couple wiped out in an instant Jordan Baker and David Braithwaite July 31, 2007
ALAN HOWLE drank with his mate Ron every Friday, often at the RSL. But the Friday before last, he kept it short. "I'm going into the dining room," he announced.
There, Mr Howle, 71, and his wife Judith, 70 - parents of seven, grandparents of 15 - dined together to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Ron sent them a bottle of wine.
The Howles were pillars of the community. They had lived in St Marys for decades, their children had gone to local schools and Alan was president of the Band Club.
But on Sunday evening they were killed just minutes from their home when their car was struck by two others on the Great Western Highway. Police suspect the vehicles were involved in an illegal street race just before 6.30pm.
The couple had been driving along the highway and were hit when they tried to turn right. Mr Howle was thrown from the car, and Mrs Howle, the driver, was trapped in the wreckage, just a few hundred metres from the band club. Both died at the scene. Police suspected the Commodores were racing side by side with a third car, a blue Mazda. Police appealed to the driver of the Mazda, seen on the same road at the time of the crash, to contact them. He went to Penrith police station after seeing a TV appeal for him to come forward. He was interviewed by crash investigators. Police said later that it did not appear the Mazda was involved in the incident.
A man taken by stretcher from the crash scene was wearing a red Holden Racing Team jacket. It is unclear what his involvement in the incident may have been.
The two Commodore drivers suffered only minor injuries.
One of the couple's three sons, David, said the family was shocked. "You don't like to see them taken like that," he said.
David Howle described his mother as "an angel" who would regularly clean the local church as part of her volunteer service with the Catholic Church.
"We were a bit of a handful. She's a saint. She only turned 70 the other week and we had a bit of a get-together for her."
Asked if it was confirmed that it was a street race, Mr Howles said if it was his family would be "ropeable".
The family moved to St Marys in the early 1960s. Mr Howle worked for Australia Post, and later bought a local newsagency.
He became president of one of the local social hubs, the St Marys Band Club, a registered club. He held the position until this year.
Mr Howle's Friday night drinking partner, Ron Walters - who now runs the newsagency - said his favourite subjects were the Penrith Panthers and his family. "He was always involved with his family and his grandchildren," he said. "He was always going to a birthday party for one of the kids."
One of the couple's neighbours said Mrs Howle "walked her tiny little dog every morning and the dog would have a little sweater on - it was so cute".
Crash investigators are looking into the collision. Senior Sergeant Peter Jenkins said speed "is certainly one of the things we are going to look at".
Motor racing enthusiasts said that if it was a race, it was more likely to have been friends urging each other on than an organised example of illegal street racing.
They said organised street racing had become less prevalent since police began confiscating cars in 2005; 177 vehicles have been confiscated this year.
The Deputy NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, said a number of vehicles had been confiscated in the St Marys area over the past 12 months.
"[But] in terms of [even] one person dying in a street racing incident, that's not good enough."
He may still be a terrorist, says PM Phillip Coorey, Craig Skehan and Cosima Marriner July 31, 2007
JOHN HOWARD refused to concede last night that Mohamed Haneef was innocent of involvement in terrorism as he defended the treatment of the Indian doctor by saying it was better to be safe than sorry.
In a sign the Government is determined to turn the issue into one of being tough on terrorism, the Prime Minister would not give Dr Haneef a clean bill of health despite terrorism charges against him being dropped last week.
"I do know that the charge of [recklessly] assisting was not proceeded with, but as to his other antecedents, I don't know," he said.
But the Government's plan to release a confidential investigation brief to justify its decision to revoke Dr Haneef's working visa ran into bitter opposition yesterday from the Australian Federal Police.
Sources said that releasing the police brief that the Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, relied upon to cancel Dr Haneef's visa could prejudice further inquiries.
The Herald has also learnt that British as well as Australian security agencies oppose the release of confidential information.
Mr Howard rejected calls for an apology to Dr Haneef, as did the Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer: "I mean, what do you expect them to do, fall on the ground and grovel, eat dirt? I mean, get real."
The Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, last night described the Haneef case as a "circus" played out in the media.
Federal police are also concerned over what is seen as Government attempts to politicise the Haneef case.
Mr Andrews has been pushing to have the information released quickly, but Mr Howard said the security agencies' concerns would be considered. "We're not going to compromise any investigation or break the law," he said.
Dr Haneef's lawyers yesterday said they supported the release of the secret brief because they were confident it would reveal nothing significant.
Dr Haneef's solicitor, Peter Russo, said it was "time the minister was accountable" for his refusal to reinstate the work visa of Dr Haneef, who left for India voluntarily on Saturday claiming he had been victimised.
Mr Howard defended Mr Andrews, the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions, all of whom have been criticised for their handling of the case.
Man killed in street brawl Article from: ANTIMO IANNELLA August 06, 2007 09:00am
A MAN was fatally stabbed in a wild street fight in Christie Downs, south of Adelaide, late last night.
It is believed the brawl was a continuation of an ongoing dispute between neighbours on Holman Rd.
While details are not clear, it is believed cars were used to ram other cars and several people were involved in the brawl.
It was during the fight that the man was stabbed. He died at the scene.
This morning, there was still a large quantity of blood on a driveway and two damaged cars nearby. One of the cars was badly damaged and had its windows smashed.
A man in his 20s and a woman in her 40s have been arrested and police are speaking to another person in relation to the stabbing.
Nearby residents were reluctant to speak about the incident but admitted they heard swearing last night and cars being rammed. But they said that kind of behaviour was common.
Why is it that parents always try to blame someone else for their own idiocy? Alcohol 'should carry health warning labels' Tuesday Aug 7 05:00 AEST By ninemsn staff
A family devastated by alcohol abuse has called for graphic warning labels on bottles and cans similar to those on cigarette packets.
Tracey Bransgrove's 21-year-old daughter Renee was 14 when she started drinking. At 17, she gave birth to a baby girl with fetal alcohol syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
"To see her little body jerk because of her mother's drinking is not good," Ms Bransgrove told News Ltd.
"Manufacturers of alcohol should be forced to put gruesome pictures on the drinks if that's what it takes to stop this epidemic that we live with," she said.
"We have it on cigarettes ... why not alcohol?"
The plea comes a day after a study revealed one in eight Australians are at risk of brain damage due to the amount of alcohol they consume.
But despite the obvious dangers of alcohol abuse, several ninemsn readers yesterday said they would prefer if health groups would let them "live their lives" and take risks if they felt like it.
"I do not believe that drinking is a problem for everyone and banning some drinks would just punish those of us that just enjoy a drink now and again," read one comment. "It is a issue that the government should leave alone and let the families work out for those that have the problem."
Another comment suggested that cigarette-style warning labels would have little effect on alcohol abuse.
"No law or 'initiative' is going to stop some people drinking too much," it said. "The vast majority of people get a great deal of pleasure from the responsible consumption of alcohol."
Gordon Broderick of the Distilled Spirits Industry Council said the alcohol industry was doing their part in combating alcohol abuse.
"The alcohol industry is already contributing voluntarily $10 million a year to an organisation called Drink Wise Australia, whose purpose is to change the drinking culture in Australia," Mr Broderick said.
"The Federal Government has put $5 million into that industry initiative as well."
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=284222 Why the hell were the parents ALLOWING this child to drink alcohol at the age of 14? Obviously they didn't try to stop her seeing as not only did she continue drinking when she WASN'T legal, but presumably continued drinking during her pregnancy as well.
I don't drink, nor would I ever consider it, but I'm against these "warning labels". People should have the freedom to drink as they please without having to pay for the mistakes of others.
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.
Police suspect Madeleine was 'murdered' Tuesday Aug 7 20:18 AEST
Portuguese police have found traces of blood on the wall of the apartment where four-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann went missing and now fear she might have been murdered, a local newspaper has reported.
Police seem increasingly convinced that Madeleine was murdered the night she disappeared three months ago and no longer think she was kidnapped, the Diario de Noticias daily cited sources close to the investigation as saying.
However, it was not clear whether the blood belonged to Madeleine as tests have not yet been completed and the newspaper did not say how police had come to the conclusion that the child was murdered.
A police spokesman declined to comment on the report.
"Portuguese police have known for a month that Madeleine McCann was killed that night (May 3) at the apartment in the Praia da Luz resort, having definitely rejected the chance that she may have been kidnapped," the newspaper said.
"It is confirmed that there were vestiges of blood found in the apartment occupied by the McCanns," Diario de Noticias cited unnamed police sources as saying.
Madeleine went missing from the Praia da Luz resort in the Algarve tourist region on May 3, just yards from where her parents were dining.
Briton Robert Murat, 33, has been identified by police as the main suspect in the investigation and his property has twice been searched.
The daily also said police had identified a second suspect - a 40-year-old white man - and were also investigating some friends of the McCann family who were staying at the resort when the girl went missing.
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have campaigned relentlessly to draw attention to her disappearance.
British business tycoons and celebrities ranging from Harry Potter author JK Rowling to soccer stars have contributed to a reward for her return.
There have been a number of possible sightings of Madeleine - from Morocco to Argentina - since she went missing but police have come up with no concrete results.
Last week Belgian authorities said they were conducting DNA tests on a bottle and a straw after another possible sighting of the missing girl.
My first impression was that Madeleine was killed, either by accident or on purpose. I did think maybe she died in the bed with her two siblings for some reason. The three babies were in the one bed, Madeleine and her twin brother and the younger baby. I thought maybe she was suffocated accidently. There are all these unanswered questions surrounding Madeleine's disappearance. If they never find her alive or dead, the mystery will never be solved. The parents, if they were responsible for Madeleine's demise, if ever proven to be guilty, will be hung, drawn and quartered.
Kate McCann said in interviews published Sunday in Britain that she is haunted with guilt over leaving the girl alone while she and her husband went to dinner — a decision has raised questions in Britain and abroad. McCann said the hotel seemed safe and family friendly.
"We're just so desperately sorry to Madeleine that we weren't there," she told The Sunday Times. "Even now, every hour I still question myself, 'Why did I think she was safe?"'
"I do feel regret, and I've gone through my life saying I never want to have any regrets. But then you can't not regret something like that."
----------- an excerpt. she is sorry to the kid.. they would be going through so much greif as well.. could be right suzi..
I recall reading a week or so after her disappearance that her twin brother celebrated his and Madeleine's birthday without her. They were turning 3 or 4. The whole things is very SUS.
Call for a road rage hotline to be set upA crime prevention researcher believes police should set up a hotline and database to track incidents of road rage.
There have been two violent roadrage incidents in Perth this week, in which car windows were smashed.
In one incident a 2-year-old girl suffered cuts and had to undergo plastic surgery.
David Indermaur from the University of Western Australia's Crime Research Centre says the number of road rage attacks in Perth is increasing.
He says most of the people responsible are young men who believe violence on the road is acceptable and the sooner they come to the attention of authorities, the better.
"You do need an intervention, a cognitive behavioural intervention that will actually get at those belief systems and help the person understand this is not going to be useful for them in any way, shape or form and to have them reflect on their own behaviours," he said.
"I'm sure that the police have got the ability to develop a hotline and a database so that people are much more circumspect about their behaviour on the roads knowing that there is a database like that and a hotline so people can report dangerous driving and also road rage behaviours to the police."
Nice, 2 year old girl hit by club-lock while sitting in back seat of Mums car.
Dog deliberately impaled on fence
A DOG was critically injured when it was deliberately impaled on a fence in the central Victorian city of Bendigo early today.
A woman in Bendigo East, was woken by the dog's cries about 12.15am (AEST), a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.
"The black female labrador was cut from the fence by firefighters using the jaws of life, aided by a local vet, a council ranger and police," she said.
She was taken to a veterinary clinic in nearby Eaglehawk, where two steel stakes were surgically removed."
The dog was expected to recover.
Vet Raquel Stoll said the metal stakes had gone about 10cm into the dog, between her hind legs and abdomen.
Dr Stoll said the dog was bright and happy, but it was unclear if she would ever walk again.
"We can't say she's definitely going to be able to walk, but she can move herself around and I'm sure there's a lot of trauma to those muscles, so it will just take a bit of time," she said on ABC radio.
Dr Stoll said it was "disgusting" that someone may have deliberately impaled the dog, but said it was possible she had accidentally done it to herself.
"Dogs can occasionally do that to themselves and they can jump surprisingly high as well," she said.
"If it is (deliberate), it's just disgusting that somebody could be involved in that."
Dr Stoll said they were yet to find the dog's owners.
Police investigating the cruelty said it was the most despicable act against an animal they had seen.
"It appears that it may be a deliberate act, aggravated cruelty to the animal, although investigations are continuing," Bendigo acting Sergeant Craig Pearse said on ABC radio.
RSPCA Victoria president Hugh Wirth said deliberate animal cruelty was on the rise.
The Victorian Government was pushing through legislation to double the fines for animal cruelty from $6000 and/or jail for injuring an animal, and $12,000 and/or jail for killing or permanently maiming an animal.
There are so many instances of both animal cruelty and road rage these days. Are people just becoming more uncontrollable, angry, apathetic, disrespectful and cruel? It seems so. Watching the news reports about the road rage attacks last week and this week, was frightening and confronting. Watching Animal rescue on tuesday nights never ceases to astound me as to how many people out there can be so cruel to animals and as dumb as dog s**t along with it! I no longer have a car and the more I see about irresponsible drivers of cars killing innocent people in other cars (eg: drag racing incidents) and people who cut loose with road rage, doing great harm to others, I realise I don't want or need a car. It is a sad and angry world we live in with no respect or regard for other's who share it, be they a human being or another living creature, by some.
Lol I read that it was her bday and they were not celebrating till she was found. When daniel morcombe went missing was there that much media about it?
Adelaide man in Mali internet dating scam August 11, 2007 08:05pm
A LOVESTRUCK local farmer has been rescued in a dramatic police operation, after he was lured to Africa on an internet promise of marriage and $100,000 in gold.
Des Gregor, 56, was due to arrive back in Adelaide today after the fortnight-long kidnapping ordeal, during which he was held in a tiny cell by a gang and beaten with machetes and guns.
The gang, who kidnapped Mr Gregor after he arrived at the west African nation of Mali's main airport in the capital Bamako on July 27, told him his limbs would be hacked off one by one unless his friends and family came up with a $100,000 ransom.
Suspicious family and friends contacted police in Australia on July 29 after receiving a string of calls and emails from Mr Gregor saying he was in trouble and desperate for cash.
His kidnapping sparked an extraordinary rescue operation involving state and federal police, who posed as relatives to scam the scammers into releasing him.
A team of more than 70 Australian police worked on the case, negotiating with the kidnappers until Mr Gregor's handover at the Canadian Embassy in Bamako on Thursday morning.
Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Tim Morris said yesterday that there were many times when police were convinced Mr Gregor would be killed.
"He was met by men at the airport and they've driven him off, telling him he was on the way to meet this girl," he said.
"Instead, they threw him in this tiny room – 2m x 2.5m – with bars on the windows, stripped him, assaulted him with a machete and a gun, and threatened to cut off his limbs if he didn't arrange for $100,000 to be sent by his friends and relatives. He stayed in this room for 12 days, during which time they fed him a little bit of rice and the occasional hamburger.
"They let him out to go to the toilet, but the room was guarded at all times."
According to friends and family, it was not Mr Gregor's first attempt at an international romantic jaunt.
Three years ago, he flew to Russia after meeting a woman on the internet. He returned home early, and alone, but would not discuss it.
This time, he flew to Mali after falling in love with the "young woman" who claimed her family would hand over $100,000 in gold once they were united.
Police are still trying to establish how the shy wheat and sheep farmer from Hoyleton, a town between Balaklava and Clare, first came into contact with "Natacha".
They know that after several months of email communication, Mr Gregor packed his bags and headed to Mali to fetch his bride-to-be.
He was picked up at Bamako airport by three men holding a sign with his name on July 27.
Once he was in their car, instead of offering love and gold, they produced machetes and threatened to hack off his arms and legs unless they received a $100,000 ransom. Mr Morris said it was not long before friends and family began to receive emails and phone calls from Mr Gregor, who said he was having problems with his credit cards and in "big trouble". Immediately suspicious, they contacted police.
"Des is a single bloke who never married, a gullible, quiet sort of bloke," a friend said. "He was always shy and lonely."
The friend said Mr Gregor called him six to eight times, begging for money.
Within hours of hearing from the family on July 29, a team of more than 50 AFP agents and 20 South Australian officers were working 24 hours a day to intercept emails and phone calls.
The SA team was comprised mostly of police negotiators who worked from an "undisclosed location" in Adelaide.
"They were very quickly able to work out he was absolutely in a lot of trouble," Mr Morris said.
"His captors were posing as their victim online, asking for money.
"Over the ensuing days, we negotiated the amount down to $25,000 and set up a scenario where some of that money, one or two thousand dollars, would be made available if the victim could go into the Canadian embassy in . . . Bamako."
The kidnappers fell for the ruse, agreeing to take Mr Gregor to the embassy. "They told him if he failed to come back out, Natacha, her little brother Peter and another fictitious character they called Reverend Mark would be killed," Mr Morris said. "None of these people actually existed."
A team of 30 police officers from Bamako provided constant surveillance, raiding various hotel rooms where they thought the kidnappers might be.
In addition to the joint force in Adelaide, an AFP liaison officer based in Johannesburg, South Africa, travelled to Mali to work on the case.
On Thursday morning, the kidnappers used two taxis to accompany their victim to the Canadian embassy. (Australia does not have a diplomatic mission in Mali).
Mr Morris said Mr Gregor remained convinced of the existence of his "girlfriend" when he walked in.
"He was still convinced these other people would be killed," he said. "But we weren't letting him back out that door, no way."
The kidnappers managed to escape, but have since contacted Mr Gregor again by email to ask of his whereabouts.
"Saving this guy was all that this was about," Mr Morris said.
"Hopefully we can still catch these people, but at the moment that's a work in progress."
Mr Morris said people should be extremely cautious when communicating with strangers online.
"He is a very, very lucky man," he said. "You can only imagine what it would have been like on the other side of the world, imprisoned in a room by a couple of guys with machetes, stripped of money.
"Your chances of getting out alive would be very, very slim.
"On the internet, things are often not what they seem. In this case, there was no girl and no gold.
"It's the old saying. If things are too good to be true, they usually are."
Mr Morris said the farmer was traumatised, but not suffering any serious injuries.
"He's in good health, all things considered, and certainly well enough to travel back to Australia. He has no serious injuries. He's keen to get home," he said.
Mr Gregor has since been moved to Johannesburg and is expected to arrive back in Adelaide today.
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it's just disgusting that somebody could be involved in that." 
