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VICTORIANS are growing uneasy about immigration amid a record migrant intake by the Rudd Government. More than 40 per cent of Victorians want the intake cut, up from 27 per cent three years ago, a major survey has found. Most dissatisfied with the high level of migration are blue-collar workers, while a big majority of professionals want the intake either increased or left as it is. More than 200,000 migrants are entering Australia annually after the Government increased the intake by 20 per cent this year. A further 110,000 people are arriving on temporary work visas. The big increase in...

STAFF in support roles and those working in human resource departments would be some of the first to go if state jobs need to be cut, New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees says. The Government's razor gang meets today to determine where departments can cut costs in the lead-up to the release of the mini budget on November 11. The State Government has a $1 billion blow-out in its annual budget. Mr Rees said frontline workers from police, education and health would be the last to lose their jobs but "back of house savings" may be required. "Support staff, those...

Hundreds of people are gathered in Sydney's east to mark the sixth anniversary of the Bali bombings. The crowd including the local member and federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett. NSW Premier Nathan Rees watched solemnly as a singer began the ceremony with a tribute to those lost in the 2002 attacks. The ceremony is taking place at the memorial headland known as Dolphin's Point, which was unveiled on the first anniversary of the bombings. Hannah Singer lost her brother Tom as a result of injuries he sustained in the bomb blast. "I couldn't understand and still don't know now how...

NETWORK Ten used subliminal advertising during the 2007 Aria Awards, but the media authority will not penalise the broadcaster. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) today found Network Ten guilty of breaching the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice during the broadcast of the 2007 ARIA Music Awards on October 28. During the introduction of nominated artists for the October 2007 telecast, Network Ten broadcasted quick one-frame bursts of sponsor logos, which included Chupa Chups, Big W, Olay, Telstra Bigpond, KFC and Toyota. The ABC's Media Watch program revealed the breach and ACMA received several complaints shortly after. ACMA...

< Go To Nouriel Roubini's Global EconoMonitor Main Page The world is at severe risk of a global systemic financial meltdown and a severe global depression PrintShare Delicious Digg Facebook reddit Technorati Nouriel Roubini | Oct 9, 2008 The US and advanced economies’ financial system is now headed towards a near-term systemic financial meltdown as day after day stock markets are in free fall, money markets have shut down while their spreads are skyrocketing, and credit spreads are surging through the roof. There is now the beginning of a generalized run on the banking system of these economies; a collapse...

Australian shares plunged over 5 percent to a fresh three-year low straight out of the gate Friday morning, after recession fears sent Wall Street tumbling again. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 225.9 points at 4,095, fifteen minutes into the session, its lowest ebb since June 2005. The rest of the markets in Asia are also set to open sharply lower after Wall Street fell for the seventh day in a row, as co-ordinated interest rate cuts by the world's leading central banks did little to thaw the credit freeze and lift confidence in the financial sector. Japanese stocks...

Unregulated sperm donation has led to a situation where children from the same community are potentially at risk for incestuous relationships. Reverend Dr. Andrew Dutney, a reproductive technology expert in South Australia, said in one reported case, about 30 lesbians living in Adelaide, Australia, were impregnated by the sperm from one man.

A BRISBANE council has ordered an ex-soldier to take down the Australian flag which flies outside his house because it has been deemed "offensive" by a neighbour. Aaron Wilson erected the 5m high flagpole eight weeks ago, in honour of his friends who served in Iraq, The Courier-Mail reports. But on Tuesday, Logan City Council called to tell him a neighbour had made a complaint, labelling it "offensive". He was told to remove the pole or risk legal action. Mr Wilson, whose father fought in Vietnam, said he was disgusted. "I find it astonishing that anyone could find the Australian...

SPECIAL forces soldier Sean McCarthy's injuries from a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan were so horrific he had almost no prospect of survival, a defence inquiry has found. The finding comes after reports of delays in getting advanced medical treatment to Signaller McCarthy after he was hit in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on July 8. Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Lieutenant General David Hurley, said an airborne evacuation team had trouble finding a gunship escort, but that would not have affected the outcome. "The IED detonated almost directly under him," Lt Gen Hurley said. "The inquiry officer...

PANAJI: An Australian tourist had to pay with his life in Goa on Wednesday after he picked up an argument with a restaurant waiter over how a beer should be served. John Kelly, 65, had gone to Calangute's Club City Restaurant around 8 am and ordered a beer. However, he was not happy with the waiter's service and scolded him. "This resulted in an argument between the two. A group of waiters then beat up the Australian and tore up his clothes," said a police official. Pushed around, the tourist fell to the floor, he said. Kelly was immediately rushed...

A passenger's laptop computer is being considered as a possible cause of the Qantas incident off Western Australia on Tuesday. The Airbus A330-300 was flying from Singapore to Perth when it suddenly plunged thousands of feet, leaving more than 50 people injured. The plane was forced to make an emergency landing at an air force base near Exmouth in WA. A computer malfunction involving the auto-pilot system is being blamed for the incident. 'There certainly was a period of time where the aircraft performed on its own accord as it pitched over nose forward,' said Julian Walsh from the Transport...

Australian special forces soldiers may have inadvertently shot dead Afghan district governor Rozi Khan, defence head Angus Houston has admitted. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) was working with the governor's tribe to ensure his death had no negative consequences for operations in the region. Air Chief Marshal Houston says a very confused situation is still under investigation. "But, you know, it certainly looks that way," he said when asked whether Australian troops had shot the governor. "But we don't know at this stage. We really need to complete our investigation." In the incident on September 18, Australian special forces soldiers...

THRITY-SIX people were hurt, some seriously, when thrown from their seats as an international Qantas plane suddenly lost altitude over Western Australia today. WA police said at least 12 passengers were seriously injured, with broken bones and lacerations, when the Airbus A330-300 flying from Singapore to Perth struck what Qantas described as a "sudden change in altitude". The pilots sent a mayday call shortly before making an emergency landing at 1.45pm (WST) at Learmonth, about 40km from Exmouth on West Australia's Gascoyne coast, Qantas said. It had been due to land in Perth at 2.10pm (WST). Paramedics and emergency workers...

SYDNEY/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Australia stunned markets with its steepest interest cut in 16 years on Tuesday and investors expected that other central banks would follow suit in a coordinated move to combat the global credit crisis. The 1 percentage point reduction in the Reserve Bank of Australia's benchmark rate was twice as big as expected, underscoring the increasingly strong medicine needed to jolt the world's financial markets back to health. "It looks to me that the RBA's rate cut was no fluke," said Suresh Kumar Ramanathan, head of strategy at CIMB Bank in Kuala Lumpur. "It means the rest of...

[] America needs to realize that not everyone can own a home. The American Dream of home ownership for all is a fraud. Politicians who pimped this dream created an unsustainable mortgage industry whose collapse is only surprising because it didn't happen earlier. America's mortgage industry will not recover, nor deserve to recover, unless it is prepared to challenge this politically unpalatable reality. Why listen to an Australian like me? For starters, as our central banker, Glenn Stephens, said a few weeks back, Australian banks are "light years away from what's happening in other banking systems around the world." Australia's...

I work in an office in Melbourne, Australia. A coworker is playing the radio and every hour on the news they have another hit piece on McCain-Palin and another sound byte from Obama. The only thing keeping me sane is a parody of a commercial running through my head...

A Christchurch man who bought a personalised car licence plate STOWLN for a laugh, had the smile wiped from his face when his car was pinched from outside his house. Nathan Attwood discovered his $17,000 Subaru Impreza WRX stationwagon was missing from his driveway on the morning of September 26. "A while back me and a group of friends were sitting around thinking up great names for personalised plates, and someone came up with STOWLN," Mr Attwood, 24, said. "When I got my car, I thought it would be hilarious to get the licence plate, so I bought it and...

In the same week that the US Treasury Secretary sank to one knee to implore a congressional leader to vote for the $US700 billion ($890 billion) package to save the American economy, Colonel Zhai Zhigang became the first Chinese astronaut to walk in space. It was a striking juxtaposition of American vulnerability with Chinese success, of US crisis with Middle Kingdom might. It was heavy with the symbolism of an empire in decline in contrast with one on the rise. Eavesdrop on the two scenes for a moment. In Washington, George Bush and his top economic officer had spent hours...

..... Andrew Fisher suffered deep cuts to his feet when he and two other men dragged the driver from his sinking vehicle in the Nerang River on the Gold Coast about 2.30am (AEST) yesterday. Mr Fisher was the first on the scene after scrambling across oyster-covered rocks to reach the 30-year-old motorist whose car had smashed through a guard rail and plunged into the river. Queensland Police said they would recommend bravery awards for Mr Fisher and fellow rescuers Cameron Wilson and Johan Malm. But Mr Fisher - a swimming pool builder - said he was sacked yesterday for not...

THE remains of Australia's last missing soldier from the Vietnam War will be repatriated next week. Private David Fisher, of the Special Air Service Regiment, fell from a rope as he was being evacuated from Vietnam by helicopter in September 1969. His remains were found in the Cam My district in August this year. ..... Pte Fisher was the last of the missing army personnel to be found in Vietnam following the recovery of the remains of three others last year. There are still two members of the air force - Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver...

<p>A blank-faced seven-year-old boy broke into a popular Outback zoo, fed a string of animals to the resident crocodile and bashed several lizards to death with a rock, the zoo's director said today.</p> <p>The boy jumped a security fence at the Alice Springs Reptile Centre in central Australia early on Wednesday, then went on a 30-minute killing spree.</p>

The court heard a long-running dispute between neighbours erupted in violence in November last year, with the two sides throwing objects at each other over a common fence. ...Justice Tennent said Shepherd and his male neighbour had been equally stupid, but Shepherd's reckless act had caused injury to Ms Bryce. "You must have foreseen that your actions could result in the injury but you continued to throw the gnome nevertheless," she said.

SYDNEY (AFP) - An offbeat suggestion that Australians should eat kangaroos instead of cattle and sheep has been given a scientific stamp of approval by the government's top climate change adviser. The belching and farting of millions of farm animals is a major contributor to Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, Professor Ross Garnaut noted in a major report to the government on global warming.

AUSTRALIAN special forces have captured a senior Taliban official responsible for a string of attacks on Afghan and NATO-led coalition forces in southern Oruzgan province. In the capital Kabul, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said Ahmad Shah's arrest would "significantly disrupt" attacks in the troubled province. Shah was captured following a gun battle in Oruzgan last Monday but a senior defence source said yesterday confirmation of his identity had taken several days. It is understood Shah was captured along with several armed followers in an operation involving Australian special forces and Afghan National Army soldiers. Australian special forces soldiers...

Australian authorities fear an 18-foot crocodile they describe as “shy” may have taken a camper from a riverside site in North Queensland, the Australian Associated Press reported Tuesday. Arthur Booker, 62, who was on a two-day vacation with his wife, went to check a craypot at the Endeavour River Escape campsite around 8:30 a.m. He never returned. Booker’s wife told AAP that when she went to check the site she found a snapped rope, large crocodile slide marks and her husband’s new video camera.

Gordon Brown is reportedly preparing legislation to repeal the Act of Settlement during the fourth term of a Labour government. The give away as to the likelihood of this happening is at the end of the sentence: the prospect of Labour winning a fourth term is about as great as the return of the Jacobite Pretender.

A LITTLE more than 100 years ago, president Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet steamed into Sydney Harbour. Hundreds of thousands of Australians cheered the 16 battleships that would circumnavigate the globe as a demonstration that America was now a Pacific and a world power. On board the gunboat Panay, patrolling the Philippine archipelago, a young midshipman named John Sidney McCain - my grandfather - shared in the navy's pride at Roosevelt's audacious gesture. Only two years out of the naval academy, my grandfather would shortly be promoted to ensign and assigned to the flagship USS Connecticut for the fleet's triumphant...

A British guide to leading left-wingers claims that the crazy leftoid fringe “has all but disappeared over the last year as the surge in Iraq has worked and more on the left wake up to the fact they have been ‘fellow travelling’ with radical Islamists.” This isn’t the case in Australia, where we’re still being told that terrorists are victims: Prof Anthony Burke, senior lecturer at the University of NSW where ADFA classes are held, in his book Beyond Security, Ethics and Violence, said students should try to understand terrorists rather than fight them. “In the wake of 9/11, our...

Two hospitals in Australia are serving vegetarian meals because of unpaid meat bills, a provincial legislator says. Kevin Humphries, a member of the New South Wales parliament, told the Melbourne Sun-Herald that the Greater Western Area Health Service, which operates the Gilgandra and Coonabarabran hospitals, owes money to a number of suppliers.

ADELAIDE, Australia, September 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Researchers within the University of Adelaide's new Centre for Stem Cell Research are aiming by the end of this year to show repair in stroke-damaged brains using stem cells taken from adult teeth. The world-leading research using dental pulp stem cells from extracted human teeth and stroke-affected rat brain tissue will be outlined as part of the launch of the Centre for Stem Cell Research. The focus of the new Centre will be on turning novel basic research into potential life-saving treatments and cures for serious conditions and diseases. The Centre will draw...

Attempts to turn Solomon Islands into a gun-free society has had an unintended deadly side effect. It's lead in part, to an increase in the number of fatal crocodile attacks. Guns were banned on Solomon Islands following racial tensions and the arrival in 2003 of the Australian lead Regional Assistance Mission, RAMSI. Solomon Islands Acting Police Commissioner, Peter Marshall, has told Radio Australia at least six people have been killed by crocodiles in the past 18 months. "We have various reports from around the provinces in Solomon Islands... of crocodiles entering into locations where fishermen are present or where children...

There is rising criticism that the Machang Bridge, which opened in July at the cost of millions of won, is only enriching speculative capitalists with tax money. They say that throughout the country, roads built through private investment are becoming white elephants where investors eat tax money via rough traffic predictions and contracts with excessive profit guarantees. The province of South Gyeongsang spent 380 billion won (US$337 million) in budget outlays and 190 million won in private capital to build the Machang Bridge linking Changwon and Masan. For the next 30 years, the earnings from the bridge tolls will be...

'First Americans were Australian' This is the face of the first known American, Lucia The first Americans were descended from Australian aborigines, according to evidence in a new BBC documentary. The skulls suggest faces like those of Australian aborigines The programme, Ancient Voices, shows that the dimensions of prehistoric skulls found in Brazil match those of the aboriginal peoples of Australia and Melanesia. Other evidence suggests that these first Americans were later massacred by invaders from Asia. Until now, native Americans were believed to have descended from Asian ancestors who arrived over a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska and...

The Australian government has issued its first license allowing scientists to create cloned human embryos to try and obtain embryonic stem cells. The in vitro-fertilization firm Sydney IVF was granted the license and reportedly has access to 7,200 human eggs for its research. If the firm is successful it would be a world first, the Australian government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), which granted the license, said on Wednesday. Scientists in other countries have made stem cells they believe are similar to embryonic cells using a variety of techniques, but none have been able to extract embryonic stem...

Sarah Palin: Impressions from Land Down Under Obama Wowed France, But Australians Like Palin Recently returned from Australia, a DBKP writer had the opportunity to gauge the feelings of the Aussies towards Governor Palin's selection as McCain's Vice-President. The impressions--and that is what they are--were extraordinary. For context, a little background is necessary. While Australia has the persona of a wilderness, in fact, the vast majority of people are urban--much more so than America. Nevertheless, they are extremely proud, as well they should be, of their humble, rough-and-tumble beginnings. This continent made early American and Canadian wilderness look hospitable. The...

SELF-PROCLAIMED Muslim cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika sat expressionless in the dock yesterday as he and five of his followers were found guilty of being part of a home-grown terrorist cell plotting to wage violent jihad on Australian soil. The jury in Australia's largest terrorist trial found four other Benbrika followers not guilty of belonging to the group - and they were allowed to walk free after almost three years in remand. The Victorian Supreme Court jury of nine women and three men are still considering their verdicts of two more accused. Convicted along with Benbrika, who was also known as...

SARAH Palin, John McCain's vice-presidential running mate, continues to drive the liberal establishment mad - both in the US and around the world (including Australia). When McCain first chose Palin as his running mate, every liberal commentator called it a disaster. She gave a brilliant speech atthe Republican convention and the McCain ticket suddenly shot ahead of Barack Obama, nationally and in key battleground states. The liberal consensus replied that she didn't write the speech herself, as though Obama, McCain and Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, don't have speech writers. Just wait till Palin has to do unscripted interviews, they...

THE outcome of political negotiations in Western Australia will buoy non-Labor parties across the nation, federal Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop says. Nationals state leader Brendon Grylls today said his party would support the Liberals to form a minority government in WA, after a week of tense negotiations with both Labor and the Liberals.

Opposition defends Joint Strike Fighter over simulated dogfights September 11, 2008 THE federal Opposition has dismissed new doubts about the multi-billion dollar Joint Strike Fighter project and the jet's performance. The JSF jets, for which Australia is likely to pay $16 billion, were comprehensively beaten in highly classified simulated dogfights against Russian Sukhoi fighters, it has been reported. The war games, conducted at Hawaii's Hickam airbase last month, were witnessed by at least four RAAF personnel and a member of Australia's peak military spy agency, the Defence Intelligence Organisation, The West Australian said. Opposition defence spokesman Nick Minchin said he...

ALMOST 39 years after he was killed in the Vietnam war, Private David Fisher - the last of Australia's missing soldiers - will return home. The Federal Government says the remains of the Special Air Service Regiment trooper, recovered in southern Vietnam last month, have been officially identified. Pte Fisher was the last of the missing army personnel to be found in Vietnam, following the recovery of the remains of three others last year. There are still two members of the air force - Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver - who are unaccounted for. Pte Fisher...

NEW South Wales Premier Nathan Rees says Matt Brown quit as police minister after he was caught out in a lie about dancing around his office in his underwear. ... The Australian newspaper, quoting a witness, reported Mr Brown stripped down to his "very brief" underpants and danced on a green leather couch in his office. ...

Another navy sub forced to dry-dock because of crew shortages Mark Dodd and Matthew Franklin | September 11, 2008 THE Royal Australian Navy is set to move the fourth of its six Collins-class submarines into dry dock because of crew shortages, undermining Kevin Rudd's plans for a massive upgrade in naval resources to counter a military build-up inAsia. Defence analysts warned yesterday that severe skills shortages meant the navy could not crew its existing vessels, let alone new assets proposed by the Prime Minister in a major speech to the Returned and Services League on Tuesday night. Mr Rudd told...

A BID to legalise euthanasia in Victoria has been defeated in parliament. Greens MP Colleen Hartland introduced a private members Bill to legislate right-to-die laws in the upper house in June. The Bill was defeated today by a vote of 25-13. "I'm very disappointed because we've put a lot of effort into this, the disappointing part is all the people ringing my office urging me to do this and for them this is a terrible disappointment," Ms Hartland said. The Medical Treatment (Physician-Assisted Dying) Bill would have enabled Victorians suffering "intolerably from a terminal or advanced incurable illness" to end...

A CABBIE accused of dragging a teenage girl into the back of his taxi and raping her said she had made him interested in her, a court was told. Giving evidence in the New South Wales District Court today, Constable Benjamin Short said he pulled over a taxi driven by Sydney man MD Kowsar Ali early on November 4 last year. An 18-year-old woman had just made an hysterical call to police from nearby Beverley Park, alleging she had been raped by a taxi driver. Constable Short said Mr Ali told him: "I made mistake, she made mistake, but she...

MOVES to build a Catholic school in Camden, in Sydney's south-west, have been welcomed by the same community group which vocally opposed plans for a Muslim school. The president of the Camden/Macarthur Residents Group, Emil Sremchevich, told Fairfax the Catholic plan "ticks all the right boxes", even though he was yet to see its development application. "Catholics are part of our community so we should be supporting it on this basis alone," Mr Sremchevich told Fairfax. "To become part of the community, you need to live in the community. You can't just turn up." Mr Sremchevich said he was not...

A new white humpback has been sighted off Byron Bay on the east coast of Australia. The newcomer, which was filmed by a television news helicopter, has excited marine scientists who think it may be related to Migaloo - to date, the only known all-white humpback whale.

NATO'S new top commander in Afghanistan says the international coalition is "struggling to win" a strategic victory against the Taliban and he wants a significant increase in troop numbers, including more Australians, to ensure success. General David McKiernan has asked Washington to boost US troop numbers with the addition of an extra brigade-size combat force, beyond an already flagged 10,000 increase in the US military presence. He also wants a commensurate commitment from America's NATO allies and coalition partners, including Australia. In a candid interview with The Australian in Kabul, General McKiernan said he needed "upwards of four manoeuvre brigade...

SECURITY forces are on high alert as Indonesia prepares to execute the three Islamists convicted over the 2002 bombings. But local survivors and foreign visitors are united in their determination not to dwell on the October night when 202 people, mostly tourists including 88 Australians, were killed when bombs ripped through packed bars. And the overwhelming feeling on the mainly Hindu island of temples, rice paddies and tropical beaches is that the government should not wait another day before standing the bombers before a firing squad. "The execution will deliver a message that the government is serious about upholding the...

THE survival prospects of an Australian special forces soldier with life-threatening injuries, sustained in an insurgent ambush in Afghanistan, have greatly improved. The Taliban attack late on Tuesday left nine Diggers wounded, the highest number of military casualties in one attack since the Vietnam war. The unnamed soldier with life-threatening wounds has been flown to a military hospital in Germany for specialist care. The number of other seriously wounded soldiers was yesterday reduced from five to three. Five soldiers who received less serious wounds will remain in Afghanistan. Six Diggers have died in combat since the war in Afghanistan began...

THE wounding of nine Australian soldiers in a Taliban ambush on Tuesday night is not only the biggest single combat casualty incident since Vietnam. It also tells us important things about the Rudd Government, about the nature of the Australian Army, about the dreadful continuing conflict in Afghanistan and the crippling political crisis in neighbouring Pakistan. On the Rudd Government, the incident shows the steadfastness and commitment of the whole Government to the war on terror, the deployment in Afghanistan and the USalliance. More than 50 Australian soldiers have been wounded in Afghanistan, many seriously, and six have been killed....