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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...

America has since its birth been a place where men and women from around the world could come and have 'a chance' to reach their individual desires. It has never been a place freeloaders would seek because real effort was normally required to obtain personal dreams and vision. Until the relatively recent past, the Public Schools tried very hard to teach and make clear the reasons that people were seeking America. American History and Civics were requirements for graduation and were understood to be the foundation for creating a good citizen. (Personal responsibility was also expected in the schools.) A...

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...

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...

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...

Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin has revived John McCain's bid for the White House, the pro-gun, pro-life, mother of five has taken over from Barack Obama as the celebrity figure of the campaign. But will the Palin buzz make a difference or will it be a gimmick that backfires? US Correspondent Tracy Bowden reports.

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...

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this location was in a Crocodile Dundee movie. I don't know if it was, but it sure seems like it could have been. This is NOT an easy place to get to, according to what I've read. And seen: Anyways, the falls:

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...

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...

An Australian power company has withdrawn more than 3,000 Chinese-made protective uniforms after staff complained of skin irritations. Ergon Energy says there will be no more uniforms worn in the field from close of business today. The Electrical Trades Union says more than 250 Ergon Energy workers had broken out in rashes and some had vomited after wearing the flame-retardant suits. Ergon says as soon as staff reported skin irritations it advised them to seek medical advice. The company says independent scientific tests are being conducted on the uniforms and it has advised its suppliers to do the same. Chinese...

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...

How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

IT'S not fair. The Americans have Sarah Palin. Why can't we have one of those? Mooseburgers may not be everyone's idea of the perfect feed, and some people might baulk at giving their kids names like Track or Trig or Bristol. Also, the Alaskan Governor holds some views so far to the Right that she risks toppling off the edge. As a friend of mine remarked on the day Palin accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination: "It's interesting how the apparent contradiction of being simultaneously pro-gun and pro-life resolves itself through the great US institution of the shotgun marriage." But, hey!...

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia is in the grip of a "man drought" where women increasingly outnumber men and a good bachelor is hard to find, according to new research from a leading demographer. From its founding as a British penal colony more than 200 years ago, Australia has traditionally suffered from a gender imbalance where men were more likely to be more numerous than the fairer sex Down Under. But what was once an oversupply of testosterone began to move in the other direction in the 1990s, and single women in their thirties are beginning to wonder where all the...

AN Islamic organisation warning of the return of an empire founded 700 years ago has hacked into the website of a Wollongong church and published disturbing images and messages. For several days, anyone who visited the website of Wollongong's Wesley Church was greeted by anti-war messages flanked by pictures of the Turkish flag, masked soldiers and an image of US President George W Bush with a cross over his face. While the text on the www.wollongongmission.unitingchurch.org.au website was not in English, other websites on the internet hacked by the same group, AdReNaLin, identified those responsible as "sons of the Ottoman...

The View From Down Under Most Americans I think have a high regard for Aussies, based on our traditional mutual support of one another in our common wars. These positive views were I believe re-enforced recently with the rather sudden appearance of a whole bunch of first-rate Aussie movies in the 70s -- among some of my favorites would be Gallipoli and Breaker Morant. Then of course everybody loved Mel Gibson and Crocodile Dundee. Aussie culture quickly became the latest rage with the American in crowd. But Americans really don't know what Aussies think about them. And I think...

AUSTRALIAN special forces soldiers have killed a senior Taliban commander responsible for co-ordinating attacks on government facilities in Afghanistan's Oruzgan province. Australian troops spotted Mullah Akhtar Mohammed and his armed protection party in a remote area of Oruzgan last week, Defence said today. The special operations task group (SOTG) patrol kept watch and, after confirming there were no non-combatants in the area, called in an airstrike, defence spokesman Brigadier Brian Dawson said.

- Angus & Co., WE SALUTE YOU!!! I'm not sure regarding the exact date, but at least I know Ac/Dc formed in Sydney back in 1973 (- does anyone here on the greatest Conservative site on the Internet happen to know the exact date?) AC/DC is one of my favorite rock bands and all of Australia indeed ought to be very, very proud of them. AC/DC are admirable out of many reasons. Three of them stands out from my point of view: 1. Their conservatism; while most bands that have been around for some time, sooner or later, tend to...

AN appeal for "ugly ducklings" to move to Mount Isa to help address a woman shortage has sparked calls for the mayor to publicly apologise. John Molony sparked widespread outrage with his comments that "with five blokes to every girl may I suggest that beauty-disadvantaged women should proceed to Mount Isa" in remote north-west Queensland, The Courier-Mail reports. "Quite often you will see walking down the street a lass who is not so attractive with a wide smile on her face. Whether it is recollection of something previous or anticipation for the next evening, there is a degree of happiness,"...

CANBERRA - About 20 Catholic pilgrims who attended World Day Youth services in Australia with Pope Benedict XVI last month have claimed asylum, with more applications expected, refugee advocates said on Tuesday. The majority of applicants were from Africa, including Zimbabwe, where political and economic upheaval have driven millions to flee, as well as Cameroon, Burundi and Kenya, the Sydney-based Asylum Seeker Centre said. "We are seeing utter destitution, we see malnutrition, we are seeing depression, we see homelessness. People are coming to us from a place of crisis," centre spokeswoman Tamara Domicelj told Reuters. Rights watchdog Amnesty International said...

Australian scientists have come up with a unique way to combat climate change: eat kangaroos and save the world. A study claims that farming and consuming more kangaroos instead of cattle and sheep will reduce carbon gas emissions. According to the scientific journal Conservation Letters, the Australian icon produces far less methane than sheep and cattle. Methane is one of the worst causes of greenhouse gas and in Australia alone sheep and cattle produce 11 per cent of the nation’s total emissions. Kangaroos, on the other hand, produce relatively small amounts of the gas because they are not ruminants; as...

Pastoralist John Anick yesterday lost his legal fight with WA Police in the State Administrative Tribunal to reclaim his handgun licence that was revoked by police under legislation that no longer allowed pastoralists to possess the firearms. Mr Anick, a station owner in the Pilbara, was the first of a group of pastoralists being represented by lawyer Ross Williamson fighting the handgun confiscation that was implemented by police in the past 18 months. Mr Williamson said his clients had a right to possess handguns because they dealt with wild and aggressive cattle. Many of his clients had stories of being...

CHINA has not done enough to fix its pollution and indeed may have permanently damaged the environment, Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said today. As Beijing was again cloaked in a dirty haze just hours before its Opening Ceremony, Coates said he hoped one of the legacies of the 2008 Games would be that China took greater care of its habitat. Asked if Games organisers had done enough to clean up the atmosphere, Coates said: "No. But I don't know what more thay can do. "This may well be permanent damage. "I am no world expert but to have...

This ya gotta see...One of those "Would be nice...if true". http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=efCelx7qe_M&feature=related

FORGET those plans to have a third child for the country because further increases in the birth rate could harm the economy, the nation's productivity watchdog has warned. A major analysis of the nation's increasing fertility rate said it was at its highest level for 25 years - but the Productivity Commission yesterday warned further increases may aggravate rather than solve the problem of the ageing of the population. This is because it will shift women out of the workforce while they care for babies, depressing labour supply and reducing the taxation base as our population ages, the Daily Telegraph...

BRITISH Defence chiefs have admitted servicemen were exposed to dangerous radiation levels during nuclear tests in Australia and the South Pacific in the 1950s. The dramatic admission, made after years of denials, features in papers filed with the High Court in London by Ministry of Defence lawyers. The Sunday Mirror newspaper said the court papers reveal that the Ministry of Defence now believes that nuclear tests were responsible for the deaths of some British servicemen. However, the MoD insists that only 159 men were affected out of the 20,000 who were present. About 800 former servicemen from Britain, New Zealand...

Kids and adolescents in Australia are so scared of the outdoors that it has restricted them to hang out in shopping centres, play computer games or go to school, according to a new survey. According to the study of Sydney kids, both primary school-aged boys and girls and adolescents have nowhere to play in a modern city. The data from the New South Wales child watchdog, the Commission of Children and Young People, comes after the New South Wales (NSW) Government failed to act on a two-year-old inquiry that warned children were missing out on playtime. According to the Commission's...

Aussies 'can pull out' over Beijing smog 28th July 2008, 12:56 WST Australian athletes will not be pressured into competing at the Beijing Olympic Games if the air pollution poses a threat to their health and safety. Australian Olympic Committee vice president Peter Montgomery said athletes had the freedom to pull out of events if Beijing's $17 billion push to improve the air quality fails. Marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie, an asthmatic, has pulled out of the long distance event in Beijing due to concerns the smog would cause lasting damage to his lungs.

For the first time since 1836 it has snowed in Sydney - at least that's what the locals are saying. Meteorologists say technically it was soft hail, but that didn't stop the locals making snowmen. Locals say the winter wonderland in the suburbs of Roseville and Lindfield looked like snow to them, and children happily built snowmen and bought out their snowboards. More snow - or soft hail - is predicted today.

It is a high ambition of the Rudd Government to greatly deepen Australia's engagement with India. Well, it is about to get the opportunity to do just that. This week, the Indian parliament passed a momentously important vote of confidence in the Government of Manmohan Singh. This vote could be a pivot point in modern history. It was all about India's nuclear co-operation deal with the US. (SNIP) India is not a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and is not one of the five accepted nuclear weapons states (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China). But it possesses a...

A PASSENGER told tonight how a Qantas flight attendant ignored serious stab wounds to his head to repeatedly tackle a 'would-be hijacker' until he could be subdued. Derek Findlay described today's dramatic hijack bid by a man in a suit and armed with wooden stakes, who attacked two flight attendants and tried to crash a Melbourne to Launceston domestic flight. Mr Findlay, 30, was among passengers who wrestled the attacker to the cabin floor after he ran towards the cockpit, lunging at the male purser and female flight attendant. As well as sticks, the man was also brandishing an aerosol...

MANILA, Philippines — A Qantas flight en route to Australia from London made an emergency stop in Manila on Friday after a loud bang punched a hole in the Boeing 747-400's fuselage, officials and passengers said.

Birds falling from sky in west Amanda O'Brien | July 23, 2008 BIRDS are again dropping dead from the sky in Western Australia, sparking fears of a threat to public health, just seven months after more than 5000 birds died from lead poisoning in the regional town of Esperance. Almost 200 seagulls have been found dead in two days in the popular beachside suburbs of Woodman Point and Henderson, south of Perth, sending baffled authorities into a tailspin. Autopsies have failed to explain the mystery.

Australia's state and federal governments must invest in training specialist emergency rescue crews to avert severe livestock and wildlife losses caused by climate change, a leading animal welfare campaigner says. The head of disaster rescue operations for the Boston-based International Fund for Animal Welfare, Dick Green, has told a national wildlife conference in Canberra, ''Your big three natural disasters here in Australia are bushfires, floods and wind storms and, as the world's climate changes, you're going to get more of them. You need to plan for that and be better prepared.'' He said the number of natural disasters across the...

Already pointed out the need to carry a camera with you at all times to catch amazing pictures. Now, here's one reason to always remember to carry a good videocamera. And survival kits and a GPS and armored suits and canned burgers and infrared goggles or a F-35 helmet. Unlike Lori Mehmen, however, these guys didn't take cover and just kept driving to this huge mother of all dust storms in Australia. Not as dangerous as a tornado, sure, but scary doesn't even start to describe it. WATCH: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a94_1216779982

SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- In what is often seen as one of the most intensely secular nations in the world, Australia received a wake-up call: the faith of the church on public display over the weeklong celebrations of World Youth Day. For young Catholics used to seeing a steady annual decline in figures such as Mass attendance -- now estimated at approximately 13 percent of Catholics nationally -- and feeling like the only young person in the local parish, the sight of an estimated 300,000 pilgrims from around the nation and overseas may well have provided a much-needed shot in...

"For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body; and we were all given to drink of one Spirit" (I Cor 12:13) How many of you have heard people from your own generation or older say something like this: "I believe in Jesus, but I don't need the Church." Or: "I'm a spiritual person, but I'm not religious." Here's the problem with those statements: Without Jesus, there's no Church. It's that simple. And it's also true the other way around: Without the Church, there's no way we can have a lasting, personal relationship with the true Jesus...

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Two young Chileans thought they were the object of a joke when they received e-mails saying they would ride the boat-a-cade that would take Benedict XVI to his World Youth Day arrival. Jorge Juárez and Ane Marie Kampp registered for a random drawing on the official World Youth Day page, without thinking seriously that that click would make possible an unforgettable adventure, reported the Chilean episcopal conference. Juárez said he has been serving the Church for years, but what he experienced in Sydney would make him deepen his faith. "I feel the responsibility to...

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI expressed his deep sorrow for the suffering of sexual abuse victims during his homily at Mass with Australian clergy. Departing from his prepared homily during the Saturday liturgy at St. Mary's Cathedral, the Pope said, "Indeed, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured, and I assure them that as their pastor, I too share in their suffering." The Pontiff's prepared speech addressed acknowledge "the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - At most outdoor festivals the longest queues are generally for the portable toilets and bar but at World Youth Day in Sydney, the Catholic Church's version of Woodstock, one of the biggest queues is for confessing sins. ADVERTISEMENT With some 300,000 young Catholic pilgrims attending WYD from July 15-20 the Church is staging the world's largest confessional, with more than 1,000 priests at anyone time hearing sins and dispensing penance at 250 locations. "The notion in Sydney was to decentralize the celebration of reconciliation (confession). The groups received reconciliation in over 250 locations throughout greater Sydney," said...

HOME owners could be forced to turn their houses green before they can sell them under a proposal before the State Government. Planning Minister Justin Madden yesterday refused to comment on the proposal. The Master Builders Association wants laws to make it compulsory for owners of all existing homes to meet minimal environmental standards before they are allowed to sell them. The changes will cost each homeowner hundreds of dollars but the MBA says buyers of newly built homes are already being forced to meet five-star standards and they shouldn't be the only ones bearing the burden of helping the...

HOMILY OF POPE BENEDICT XVI VIGIL OF THE XXIII WORLD YOUTH DAYRANDWICK RACECOURSESYDNEY19 JULY 2008 Dear Young People, Once again this evening we have heard Christ’s great promise – "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you". And we have heard his summons – "be my witnesses throughout the world" – (Acts 1:8). These were the very last words which Jesus spoke before his Ascension into heaven. How the Apostles felt upon hearing them, we can only imagine. But we do know that their deep love for Jesus, and their trust in his word, prompted...

SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- For some participants at World Youth Day, the joy of welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the World Youth Day celebration July 17 was dampened by the absence of a Chaldean Catholic delegation from Iraq. Salina Hasham, a World Youth Day employee, has been working for months trying to get the 170-member Iraqi delegation to Sydney. At first, it seemed the Australian government would not issue any visas to the group, Hasham said. Then 10 visas were granted and, finally, a total of 25 visas were approved. But as of July 17, she said, "they are stuck...

Sydney, Jul 18, 2008 / 09:36 am (CNA).- Spectacular scenes were played out across Sydney city’s landmarks, as part of the re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross for WYD. An audience of half a billion tuned in to watch the performance that involved around 80 performers and was played out by young people at six major venues. Over 270,000 international and local spectators also made their way to points around the city to watch the Stations of the Cross live and on big screen televisions. The first station held on the steps of St Mary’s Cathedral was attended...

IN a return to tradition, the Pope will tomorrow offer communion to kneeling Catholics, and preferably on the tongue rather than in the hand. The final World Youth Day mass at Sydney's Randwick racecourse will attract up to half a million worshippers and will be beamed to as many as a billion viewers around the world. A firm believer in the importance and beauty of liturgical traditions, the Pope will seek to set an example to a massive audience with his return to pre-1960s ritual. "The Holy Father has requested that those whom he gives communion to will kneel, and...

Excerpt - ABC South Asia correspondent Peter Lloyd has been arrested in Singapore and is likely to be charged with a number of drug-related offences later today. A statement from Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau says the 41-year-old was arrested in the course of a follow-up search after the arrest of another man, a 31-year-old Singaporean. Singapore police say Lloyd was arrested for possessing a small quantity of the drug 'ice', one improvised smoking pipe, and six syringes. Police say his urine tested positive for amphetamines and he is being investigated for trafficking a controlled drug. If convicted, Lloyd faces imprisonment...

Sydney, Jul 17, 2008 / 02:34 pm (CNA).- The “Vocations Expo,” which has given religious congregations a chance to showcase their charisms and apostolates to the young people attending World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney has been “a true success,” organizers have revealed.Diverse congregations, institutes and movements are reaching out to the thousands of young people that have flooded the vocations fair located at the Sydney Exhibition Center at Darling Harbor.  The vocations expo was opened on July 15 and will end on Sunday, July 20, at the close of WYD.According to Father Donai Pellonar, coordinator of the Vocations Expo,...