What's in the News

Nothing like those - but I like Mungallala and Muttaburra.  And I have been there. I'm pretty fond of Umagico as a name, as well as being a pretty magic setting (if it wasn't so hot).

Strangest name I've ever heard - Calgary.

Makes me shudder just writing it. 

Nothing fascinating yet for you Mr N - but I don't think the US ground attack in Pakistan will help that country or it's unstable gov't too much.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24294920-25837,00.html

Kim Jong Il dead since 2003: author
09:00 AEST Mon Sep 8 2008
2 hours 45 minutes ago

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has been dead for years and replaced by a number of look-alikes, a Japanese academic claims.

North Korea expert Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor of international relations, says Kim died of diabetes in 2003 and has been substituted by up to four body doubles ever since.

Driven by a fear of assassination, Kim allegedly trained his doppelgangers — one of whom underwent plastic surgery — to attend public appearances.

"Scholars don’t trust my reasoning but intelligence people see the possibility that it will turn out to be accurate," Fox News reported Professor Shigemura as saying.

"I have identified and pinned down every source."

Kim, 66, has not appeared in public for three weeks amid rumours he is seriously unwell.

While Seoul intelligence officials have said they believe he has diabetes and heart problems, they do not think he is near death.

But Professor Shigemura, from Tokyo's respected Waseda University, believes that Kim actually died sometime during a 42-day absence from public in September 2003.

He claims that whenever anyone is granted a face-to-face meeting with today's Kim, a senior official is always by his side "like a puppet master".

Professor Shigemura's claims, outlined in his book The True Character of Kim Jong-il, have been disputed by North Korean officials.

Sweet for a southern hemisphere Fathers Day.

'Daddy' duck mystery baffles beachgoers
The small toy duck washed ashore carrying a poignant message.The small toy

It may not be the world's greatest mystery. Hercule Poirot has probably solved more dastardly who-dunnits. And the sleuths down at Sydney's police headquarters may have better investigations on their books.

But a small human drama was intriguing the people who walked along Sydney's Curl Curl beach yesterday.

There they found a tiny toy duck that had been washed ashore.

And on its yellow plastic was written in black ink the poignant words: "Dearest Dad Your always in our hearts Love always Renee and Mariss xxx ooo'.

As one of the beach-combers said: "It's like a modern day note in a bottle, I'd love to know the story of who cast it out to sea."

"It really makes you wonder who are 'Renee and Mariss' and what happened to their dad. I wonder how far it has come and if it was left for father's day."

Father's Day might seem the obvious answer - except that the duck had clearly been in the water for a long time, with tiny shells crushed into its beak.

So who are Renee and Mariss? Where is their Dad? Where did the duck get into the water and how did it reach Curl Curl?

Hong Kong democrats retain key power

September 08, 2008

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's pro-democracy parties won more than one third of seats in weekend elections, retaining the key power to veto legislation in the city's legislature.
The groups won 23 of the 60 seats up for grabs in the Legislative Council, results showed today, following the poll billed as a key test for pro-democracy parties in the former British colony in the face of growing Chinese patriotism.

The parties had expressed fears they would slip below the crucial number of 21 seats - losing the ability to veto government legislation, which they successfully used in 2005 to block controversial constitutional reforms.

Hong Kong was promised universal suffrage for both its legislature and chief executive when Britain handed back the territory to China in 1997, but no specific timetable was set.

Only 30 of the 60 legislative seats were being chosen by the city's 3.37 million registered electors in yesterday's poll. The remaining 30 “functional constituencies” represent various business and industry interests chosen by select electorates.

Of the 23 seats won by the pro-democrats, 19 seats belong to the directly-elected geographical constituencies, while four seats were returned from the “functional constituencies.”

Their biggest rival, the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, retained about 10 seats in the council, the results showed.

“The results do not change the current political landscape a lot,” said Ivan Choy, a political commentator at Chinese University.

“But the pro-democratic politician's support rate among voters has dropped from 60 to 50 percent, and this is something they should have a think about.”

At the last election in 2004, the democrats managed to grab 25 seats.

But the election also threw up some surprising results. The League of Social Democrats, a radical anti-government group, won three seats in the legislature.

The winners included Leung Kwok-hung, better known as “Long Hair”, who had expressed concerns that he would lose his seat after his victory in 2004.

“The success of the League of Social Democrats issues a warning sign to the government. They represent the grassroots' voice and are expected to take an aggressive, hardlined stance towards issues such as minimum wage,” said Choy.

Emily Lau, the first woman elected to the legislature in 1991, won back her seat by a narrow margin today. She accused the Beijing and Hong Kong authorities of “conspiring” to discourage the public to cast their votes.

Only 45 per cent of voters turned out yesterday, about 10 per cent lower than four years ago.

“The government is very afraid of a high turnout because it would mean that people want more democracy. It has been working overtime to make sure that people don't come out to vote,” she said.

Daddy Duck mystery solved

Braving the chilly high seas, a tiny toy duck has travelled more than 30 kilometres up Sydney's east coast, before resurfacing in a poignant coincidence for a grieving family on Father's Day.

ninemsn published a story yesterday of a mystery yellow duck that was puzzling beachgoers at Sydney's Curl Curl beach on Sunday.

Like a modern-day message in a bottle, passers-by were intrigued by a heartfelt note written on the duck's yellow plastic.

"Dearest Dad Your (sic) always in our hearts Love always Renee and Marissa xxx ooo'," the message read.

Now, the mystery of the duck's origins has been solved.

Renee O'Neill told ninemsn it was she and her four siblings who had released the duck, along with a dozen others and her father’s ashes, off the cliff tops of Sydney's La Perouse on August 9.

The ducks were a tribute to their father Howard Knight, who had died in late July at the age of 59.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw the story, and especially that the duck had turned up on Father's Day," Ms O'Neill said.

"The meaning for all of us was different….I was a bit estranged from my father so for me it was about saying goodbye and expressing some of the things I had wanted to say but never did."

In a message posted on ninemsn's blog, another of Mr Knight's daughters, Susan, said the duck's discovery had "put the biggest smile on my face and brought tears to my eyes".

"It feels like he is sending a message back to us," she wrote.

Well, the big news is is that today is D Day, Doomsday, the Apocalypse, name your doom 'n gloom. We now have about 1 hour left.

I shall raise my mug of cheap, but tasty, imported Aussie coffee and oversized chocolate bar to ya'll and say it's been nice knowin ya

(then I'm off to change my undies)

and if we're still here at 5.30 I'll be cursing that blasted choc bar and you can all  at me!

Fears for hundreds in China landslide

September 10, 2008

BEIJING: A landslide in northern China has killed at least 56 people, with hundreds more feared trapped in the mud, mining sludge and rubble.
The landslide in Shanxi province on Monday also injured 35 people, the official Xinhua news agency reported today.

Xinhua quoted local government official Lian Zhendong as saying that rescuers had searched through 70 per cent of the rubble, though the report also said it was not known how many people were trapped under the mud.

But the People's Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, said hundreds could be missing.

The Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement that the death toll could exceed 500 people.

The landslide at Tashan, a hill in Xiangfen county, knocked down a mine warehouse, trapping an unknown number of people inside, Xinhua said. A three-storey office building, a market and some houses were also destroyed, the report said.

A preliminary investigation showed that the landslide was caused by the collapse of a dam holding tailings from an iron mine, said Wang Dexue, deputy head of the State Administration of Work Safety.

“It is an illegal company that was using the abandoned dump to get rid of its production waste,” Wang said in an interview on state broadcaster CCTV's midday news show.

“The amount stored far exceeded the capacity of the space. In addition, there was a bit of rain and the collapse took place as a result,” he said.

Xinhua said several local officials had been fired for negligence. The owner of the Tashan Mine was detained, it said.

Rescuers said it was difficult to identify the victims as most of the mine workers were migrants from elsewhere in Shanxi, Chongqing and central Hubei province, the report said.

More than 1,500 police, firefighters and villagers searching through the rubble for survivors were hampered by rough terrain, poor telecommunications and heavy rain, Xinhua quoted Ding Wenlu, rescue headquarters chief, as saying.

The accident underscores two major public safety concerns in China: the failure to enforce protective measures in the country's notoriously deadly mines, and the unsound state of many of its bridges, dams and other aging infrastructure.

And in other news, it's now against the law to follow God's instructions regarding spending time with one's dog.



Fla. police use Taser on nude man walking a dog

Mon Sep 15, 9:05 PM ET

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A 40-year-old man walking his dog in the nude was Tasered by police when he refused to follow an officer's commands. David McCranie of the Tallahassee Police Department said an officer on patrol spotted the man shortly after 8 p.m. Friday.

The man was asked what he was doing and told the officer, "Allah told me to watch a Bruce Willis movie and walk the dog," McCranie said.

McCranie said using the Taser was the only way to subdue the man without having to hurt him. The man was then sent for mental-health evaluation and treatment.

Information from: Tallahassee Democrat, http://www.tdo.com

AUSTRALIAN paralympians celebrating success at the Beijing Games fell victim to dangerous drink-spiking at a Beijing bar.

It's been revealed a number of Australian paralympians had their drinks spiked in the Beijing nightclub while celebrating the end of their competitions.

The Australian Olympic Committee has confirmed a female athlete - believed to be an archer - fell ill while at the China Doll bar.

Reports have said another victim complained of suddenly feeling ill, vomiting and then passing out on a couch in the popular nightclub.

The attacks led to the AOC sending out a text message to all team members and staff warning them to stay clear of the bar before the final weekend of the games, when most celebrations would begin.

They're a bad lot in Beijing!!!

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=635712

The appealing one-liner that has become a mainstay of the James Bond movies has been scrapped in the next thriller Quantum of Solace.

Daniel Craig will not once introduce himself as "Bond … James Bond" in the next Ian Fleming 007 movie due for release in November, despite the phrase captivating viewers for 46 years, The Independent has reported.

Director Marc Forster made the drastic omission because the producers and the starring actor Daniel Craig agreed with him that it didn’t work in the latest adventure.

"There was a 'Bond, James Bond' in the script … there are several places where we shot it as well, but it never worked as we hoped," he said.

"It's nice to be open-minded about the Bond formula. You can always go back to them later on."

Bond’s introduction is not the only popular element of the Bond films that has been scrapped in the latest installments.

Q, the creator of the spy gadgets that often helped Bond escape life-threatening moments — whose character has been played by John Cleese — was left out of the last film, Casino Royale.

Fans have speculated that veering away from the formula is a risky attempt to bring the agent with a license to kill into the 21st century.

But Graham Rye, who edits the online 007 Magazine said the Bond films have actually gone back to author Fleming's original vision — with less emphasis on Q and secretary Moneypenny.

"Rather than going away from Fleming I think the producers have gone back to him," he said.

"His announcing of himself had become a bit corny."

 Casino Royale was a complete reset for the franchise. They're definitely going for a harder edge with less humour and comic book type stuff.

I like the new direction... it's darker and seems quite a bit more authentic...

It was about time Bond got rid of those stupid gadgets too. The invisible car was almost too stupid to bear.