THE INNOCENCE IS OVER IN MOMENTS IN A CONQUEST BY A GUNMAN'S RAGE.(MAIN)

Byline: ROBERT SEELY Associated Press

DUNBLANE, Scotland -- The slaughter of the innocents was over in moments.

The final toll was 16 dead children, 12 wounded children, two dead adults -- one of them the gunman, who took his own life -- and two wounded teachers. The dead children included 11 girls and five boys.

Dunblane is the sort of place people almost never leave, a place whose 9,000 residents clearly care about each other. Just 35 miles northwest of Edinburgh, it straddles the River Allan in the spectacular Perthshire countryside leading into the highlands.

An ecclesiastical center since the seventh century, it has a cathedral, which, …

A look back at public power: 50 years ago--1955.(Association News)

Commissioners of Benton County PUD (Kennewick, Wash.), voted a $70,000 annual rate reduction for its 8,400 customers, the third reduction in eight years. The new rate did not eliminate residential demand charges. Instead, an increase of one-tenth of a cent per kilowatt hour was made on electricity used over 1,600 kilowatt …

Ohio killer loses long-shot clemency request

A prosecutor says the Ohio Parole Board has thrown out a bid for clemency for a death row inmate facing execution next month.

Summit County, Ohio, Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh says the board unanimously rejected the request for mercy from condemned killer Richard Cooey.

Cooey claims in a separate federal court lawsuit that he is too …

Tolls staying same

The agency overseeing the state's toll roads isn't planning toincrease tolls next year.

The budget being prepared by the Illinois State Toll HighwayAuthority is "based on what the toll rate structure is now," TomCuculich, the agency's executive …

ICRA rates fund based limits of Valson Industries at LBBB-.

(ADPnews) - Feb 24, 2011 - ICRA assigned yesterday a LBBB- rating to the fund based limits of Valson Industries Ltd (BOM:530459), while rating the non-fund based limits of the company at A3.

The agency issued the following press release:

Rating History

Instrument Amount Amount Outstanding Rating

In Crore In Crore As on February 2011

Fund-based limits 13.39 N.A LBBB-

Non-fund-based limits 1.00 N.A A3

ICRA has assigned an LBBB- (pronounced as L triple B minus) rating to the Rs. 13.39 Crore1 fund-based limits and A3 (pronounced as A three) rating to the Rs. 1.00 Crore1 non fund based bank facilities of Valson Industries …

'BIGGEST SINCE TWIN TOWERS' NEW ALBANY BUILDING PLANS EXPECTED TODAY.(Local)

Albany city officials this morning are expected to announce plans to build what Mayor Thomas M. Whalen III has described as the "biggest private-sector development since the Twin Towers."

The Twin Towers is the high-rise office building at 99 Washington Ave., sometimes referred to as Commerce Plaza.

The announcement of plans to construct an office building in "the greater downtown area" is scheduled for 11 a.m. in City Hall.

Expected to be constructing the building is the Omni Development Corp. of New York City, which is building the …

GETTING INVOLVED CANA REVIVES NEIGHBORHOOD CONVENTION.(Local)

Byline: Catherine Clabby Staff writer

Some things remain the same.

For 15 years, the Council of Albany Neighborhood Associations has hammered away at the local powers that be, demanding action on community concerns and reform in City Hall. This spring, CANA is reviving a tradition. On Saturday, March 24, for the first time in four years, a Love Thy Neighborhood Convention will be held.

"It's designed to bring together people concerned about the quality of life on the block level and on the street level," said Henry Madej, a veteran neighborhood activist from Pine Hills.

The conventions have been a place to inform members of local groups about …

'Toot': Obama grandmother a force that shaped him

Sen. Barack Obama is a poker man, but his grandmother's game of choice is bridge. Duplicate bridge, to be exact.

In poker, a good player can still bluff his way through a lousy hand. In duplicate bridge, different sets of players are made to play the same hands multiple times _ accentuating the players' skill while reducing the element of luck.

Madelyn Payne Dunham never taught her "Barry" how to play bridge, yet she gave him the tools to make the most of the cards life dealt him.

This is the woman who raised Obama in the absence of his parents. The daughter of a Midwest oil company clerk who "taught me values straight from the …

Earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The U.S. Geological Survey says a significantearthquake has jolted the ocean floor near Alaska's remote AleutianIslands.

The agency says in a preliminary report that the magnitude-6.1quake struck the seismically active but sparsely populated islandchain at 4:49 a.m. Sunday. It was centered …

Farmers presented with silage awards.

THE West Antrim UFU group recently held a prizegiving for members who took part in a silage competition last December.

There was a good entry for the competition which was sponsored by Ulster Bank, Randalstown, with David Mawhinney and Desi Maybin acting as judges.

They stated the quality of the silage was very high, making their job no easier, awarding the …

HORMONES A GROWING CONCERN?(Living)

Byline: David Brown Washington Post

I s being short a problem for which medicine is the solution?

A group of scientists at the National Institutes of Health believes the answer may be yes, and has embarked on an experiment to boost the height of very short but otherwise healthy children by giving them human growth hormone throughout their teenage years.

A watchdog group in Washington, however, has petitioned the government to halt the research, saying it is unethical, violates federal regulations governing experiments on children and threatens to ring in a brave new world in which genetically engineered drugs are used to enforce society's prejudices.

"This is the big fear that we've always had about genetic engineering - that it would be used for social purposes and not medical purposes," said Jeremy Rifkin, whose organization, the Foundation on Economic Trends, plans to sue if NIH does not voluntarily halt the four-year-old experiment.

But the scientists directing the study also claim a high moral purpose in their effort to evaluate a treatment that is increasingly demanded by parents of short children - and prescribed by physicians - despite its unknown effects.

"If the study …

Scottish Football Results

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Results Saturday in Scottish football (home teams listed first):

Scottish Cup
Semifinals
(Hampden Park)

Motherwell 3, St. Johnstone 0

Scottish Premier League

Inverness 1, Hearts 1

Rangers 2, St. Mirren 1

First Division

Cowdenbeath 1, Falkirk 2

Dunfermline 6, …

Arkansas firm crafts hiking sticks, canes.

MAMMOTH SPRING - A hiker uses a stout walking stick for leverage to go up and over the last boulder blocking an incredible view of the mighty Yellowstone River below. …

Canada, Russia to play for hockey gold

Shane Doan has a chance to be in the picture when Canada faces Russia in the ice hockey World Championship.

Several years ago, the Canadian captain bought a signed photo of Paul Henderson celebrating the goal that won the 1972 Summit Series, and it still hangs in his Phoenix home.

Doan is probably the closest thing to a hockey historian on the Canadian team that will play Russia in Sunday's gold-medal game at the World Hockey Championship. Finland beat Sweden 4-0 Saturday for the bronze, assuring Canada regained the top spot in the world rankings.

The International Ice Hockey Federation is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and Canada has a …

Changing the Perspective on E-Learning

What is the 2004 forecast l'or e-learning and learning technologies? Did more people flock to online learning in 2003? What is the reality of e-learning? Should printing companies re-evaluate how to use e-learning? Did 2003 live up to its expectancy? A quick look back at 2003 Technology Forecast tells us that most of the same issues will again apply in 2004:

1. There were more offerings in e-learning training during 2003. Many employees turned to the Internet as opposed to on-campus face-to-face classroom learning to take advantage of the training due to time constraints both at home and in the workplace.

2. E-learning business did pick up in 2003 as schools, governments, and corporations around the world adopted e-learning applications.

3. The use of the Internet as a distribution method for learning continued to expand.

4. The 2003 dropout or attrition rates as high as 50-90% continued for much the same reasons-lack of motivation, poor content, no employer support, etc. Strategies for managing attrition in 2004 will be much more prevalent as corporations look for the ROI of e-learning.

5. Blended learning is still appealing as a best practice for e-learning.

6. E-learning focused more on content as technology became less of an issue with high-speed Internet access.

7. While online learning mid e-learning in general will not: replace instructor-led training, more asynchronous courses are being made available with bulletin boards and message centers lessening "real-time" instruction.

Going Forward In 2004

The outlandish predictions o( the early 2000s of the training market ranging from $740-$772 billion, with $66 billion of that for corporate training, just did not happen. According to an October 2003 forecast from IDC, the U.S. corporate e-leaming market will blossom next year and reach $10.6 billion in revenues by 2007. This is an ever-lower prediction than published in January 2003, when its prediction for the worldwide corporate e-leaming market was to grow from $6.6 billion in 2002 to $23.7 billion in 2006. Much of the recessional economy is to blame for this slow growth. Trying to keep their doors open, many corporations have let personnel go or cut travel and any discretionary spending.

Who Used E-learning In 2003?

Government increased their e-learning training. New federal regulations and mandates, such as the U.S. Patriot Act, demand that companies revise and reorganize current processes and methods to address concern over national security. E-leaming training has become one effective way to meet compliance rapidly and cost-effectively to respond quickly to changes in the regulatory landscape. "Many organizations lacing compliance issues have taken a blended approach to training, whereby employees are provided both lace-to-face and virtual training. Online training is a strategy that allows organizations to save money, while not overlooking the special needs and requirements of its employees." (Driscoll, 2003, p.1)

Corporations

First Union merged with Wachovia Hank in 2001. The merger provided the catalyst for a world-class training and e-learning organization. About half of Wachovia's training takes place in some type of distributed manner, with a large percentage of it in the form of e-leaming. In the past two years, about 80% of Wachovias 84,000 employees have taken e-leaming courses. (Nelson, 2003, p.l)

Retraining or New Career Seekers

Displaced by economic downturn that drove some companies to downsize and others to move operations to less expensive foreign countries, workers are taking retraining programs, and hundreds have entered or re-enrolled in college to upgrade skills or prepare for a career change. Many of these students have turned to the Internet for training. The Online University, Illinois colleges and universities reported offering 3,941 online class sections that generated 50,125 student course enrollments during the 2003 Spring/Winter term. This represented a 24% increase reported from Fall 2002 term. Similar reports came from all colleges who have online learning programs. The University of Phoenix, considered to the be the largest private accredited university in the nation, has seen its enrollment increase from 53,000 in 1998 to roughly 163,000 in May 2003. Currently, 72,200 of the school's 163,300 students are enrolled online, while the remainder attend classes at learning centers located around the country.

Learners for Learning Sake

One can lind just about any e-learning course. Sonic learners have the time and a curious mind and will take courses lor fun. Go to any search engine (google.com, askjeeves.com) and type in "learn photoshop" or "build a webpage." The findings are endless. Many are free. At the university level, costs can range for $29 to full tuition of $1,814 per course.

Printing Companies

While recovering, the economy took a toll on many printing corporations who either downsized or closed. Not a lot of company money was spent on training in 2003. Budgets were tight and personnel stayed close to home to save on travel costs and program fees. Yet one major finding in the 2003 GATF/PIA Keys to Profitability Report was that profit leaders who continued to do well during the present recession spent twice as much on training as the profit challengers. To paraphrase a question by a now retired industry leader, "Would you rather train your employees and they leave or not train them and they stay?"

Printing Companies and E-learning

Blended learning continued to be appealing and well-received in the printing industry. Blended learning describes a learning experience that combines Web-based technology and media distribution along with instructor-led methodology and traditional activities. One of the best delivery methods for blended learning is the wcbinar. GATF/PIA continued to offer highly successful webinars during 2003. The topics are timely and the classroom time away from the work area is ninety minutes to two hours. The best attended were the sessions that focused on technology.

Hundreds of personnel were able to train using the Internet to bring the content to the participant companies. Participants report satisfaction with this delivery system. No one wants to spend time and money only to be dissatisfied with the delivery system, content, and general learning experience. Having immediate access to the instructor to answer questions remains high in participant evaluations.

Employer Support Is Improving

Many companies seem to believe that e-learning means you do your normal forty-to-fifty hours a week and then cram in the learning at home on nights and weekends. This lack of support by management creates a clear path toward attrition from programming or prevents employees from getting started altogether. More and more printing companies allow employees to take courses on the Internet during normal working hours. In several of the blended learning classes, the employers have actually taken the courses along with the employees and encouraged additional staff to do so as well.

New Look

Time continues to be a major adversary to e-learning. Yet training is important and having the information normally taught in curriculum courses is paramount. The printing industry is fortunate to have: www.staffingtools.eoni as a training and testing website. This industry-specific websitc presently offers prepress and graphic arts courses for around $150 per course, or just $300 per user per year buys unlimited, 24/7 access to all prepress and graphics courses. Employees can log on, pretest, and take a course that is customized to their training needs.

Another company, l.O. Technologies, offers a world ol work solutions, an array of printing, digital imaging, color, and related courses and recognizes that people learn in different ways. In addition to traditional instructor-led training, they deliver relevant content to adult learners in the working environment. Alter signing up for an olle(TM) (On-Line Learning Excellence) course, the student can work through each lesson in the traditional sequential manner, or you can go directly to just the specific information needed to complete a task. Course topics are delivered in five-to-fifteen-minute chunks, with links to a comprehensive 12,000-term, and growing, glossary that supports the topic content and provides additional depth

A large manufacturing company has begun using this internet with 80% of the employees visiting the site and returning.

The olle courseware and olle InloFind Professional are excellent resources for printing and graphic communication companies. The courses they provide are process oriented and range from entry level to preparatory courses for the Color Imaging Professional certification exam.

First-level content is always text, which can be presented and skimmed rapidly; bandwidth-intensive graphics, audio, and video are referenced from the text and brought up at the user's request. When asked about the apparent lack of presentation bells and whistles, the providers state sincerely, "It's not about entertainment. It's about work, and getting the job done faster and better." In today's real-time, interrupt-driven working environment, the no-nonsense approach gets the job done.

So, Exactly What Does This Mean for Printers in 2004?

It means that management at those learning companies that want to succeed in e-training their employees must investigate e-learning and, where appropriate, enroll and participate. Management must be supportive of the learning process. What can a manager do to support e-learning? Here are some ideas: Simultaneously take the same courses in which you think it is important to have your employees trained. Encourage and endorse the use and the value of "just-in-time" research and how to use the Internet and courses like the ones mentioned in this article. During slower times, allow lime during work hours to take the entire course. In one: company people marked off an area for learning with yellow tape and a sign saying: "Learning Going On! Shhh!" Paying for the course is a definite plus. Paying for completing a course goes a long way, too.

Let the: employees know you value: their educational growth and efforts. Ask questions about what the employee learned and how it helped in the workplace. He-ward learners with re-cognition and incentives. The return on your investment will be realized many times over by the loyalty and the quality of employee that works for you and helps venir company profit with the new learning skills and capabilities.

[Reference]

(1) Drificoll, M. (2003). "How E-learning Can Facilitate Rapid Compliance. " (IT Management). Bank Systems and Technology, 40 (6) 44.

(2) Nelson, K. (2003). "Wachovia Gets Hooked on E-learning." Bank Systems and Technology, 40 (5) 42.

[Author Affiliation]

by Diane Koch, Director, Educational Service

Printing Industries of America

Phone: 703-519-8183

Email: dkoch@printing.org

www.gain.net

BANK CORRUPTION FIGHTER HANGS SELF IN TOKYO.(MAIN)

Byline: -- Associated Press

TOKYO -- Saying he was ``at the limit,'' a top executive in charge of efforts to root out corruption at Japan's scandal-plagued central bank hanged himself Saturday, the latest suicide in a widening probe.

The Bank of Japan's chief director, Takayuki Kamoshida, 58, was found hanging from a nylon cord in a Tokyo apartment, a police official said on condition of anonymity.

A note found in the apartment said: ``I'm …

WIPO ASSIGNS PATENT TO ZTE FOR "METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR HOME AGENT OBTAINING MOBILE NODE-HOME AGENT KEY IN PROXY MOBILE INTERNET PROTOCOL" (CHINESE INVENTOR)

GENEVA, March 21 -- Publication No. WO/2011/029313 was published on March 17.

Title of the invention: "METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR HOME AGENT OBTAINING MOBILE NODE-HOME AGENT KEY IN PROXY MOBILE INTERNET PROTOCOL."

Applicants: ZTE CORPORATION (CN).

Inventors: Xiaofan Xu (CN).

According to the abstract posted by the World Intellectual Property Organization: "A method, apparatus and system for Home Agent (HA) obtaining Mobile Node-Home Agent key (MN-HA key) in Proxy Mobile Internet Protocol (PMIP) is disclosed in the present invention. The method includes the following steps: an HA receives a Mobile Internet Protocol (MIP) Registration Request message (MIP-RRQ) from a Foreign Agent (FA); then, the HA sends a first access request message to an Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) server which the Mobile Station (MS) belongs to, wherein a carried user password in the first access request message is the HA-AAA key between the HA and the AAA server; thereafter, the HA receives a first access accept message carrying an MN-HA key returned from the AAA server, wherein the first access accept message is returned in response to the AAA server successfully authenticating the HA-AAA key carried in the first access request message using a locally-configured HA-AAA key; and finally the HA obtains the MN-HA key within the first access accept message. Thereby the present invention lays the foundation for successfully establishing MIP sessions."

The patent was filed on May 12, 2010 under Application No. PCT/CN2010/072685.

For further information please visit: http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/ia.jsp?ia=CN2010/072685

For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com

Responding to OBRA '90 a top priority at NACDS. (Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990) (NACDS: National Association of Chain Drug Stores)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - As director of third-party and regulatory programs at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, Roy Bussewitz currently has one overriding concern: the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, or OBRA as it's commonly called.

Next year measures in OBRA affecting pharmacy service for Medicaid patients go into effect. And, since joining NACDS about a year ago, Bussewitz has been busy helping association members prepare for the various new requirements incorporated in the federal law. "I've been going out frequently to make OBRA presentations," he says. "I'm trying to make sure that everybody is up and ready to do it."

The act - which actually focuses on holding down government payments for pharmaceuticals under Medicaid - mandates that pharmacists more actively advise customers covered by the program.

As of January 1, 1993 this must be done by formally offering to counsel Medicaid patients on how to take their medications. In addition, pharmacists, in so-called prospective drug utilization review (or, pro-DUR), will be required to check for problems posed to patients by their prescriptions.

Because the measures pertain to Medicaid, explains Bussewitz, much of his involvement with NACDS members has been at the state level. The primary challenge there has been to prod through testimony state authorities to set OBRA-related regulations in a timely, notto mention, acceptable fashion.

Last November, for example, Bussewitz, who holds both law and pharmacy degrees, coauthored a model bill prescribing a method for patient counseling with Rite Aid Corp. vice president of government relations James Krahulec. The model's language, which gives ample latitude to the professional judgment of pharmacists, has influenced legislation in several states, according to Bussewitz.

On the matter of drug utilization review, he says, the biggest problem is that many states have been slow to form the DUR boards mandated by OBRA.

The state boards are responsible for, among other things, certifying pharmacy information systems for conducting pro-DUR. And drug chains are now adapting their electronic claims processing systems to facilitate the reviews.

But by January 1993 many pharmacy providers could be in a difficult position. "They very well may have uncertified systems - not because we haven't tried to get them certified," Bussewitz says, "but because a lot of states haven't formed those DUR boards in a timely enough fashion."

Bussewitz is working with NACDS members to nudge state authorities along. He also says much of the blame for delays in OBRA implementation belongs in Washington.

The Health Care Financing Administration HCFA), which oversees Medicaid at the federal level, is expected to give detailed guidance through published regulations to state officials for implementing OBRA. But to a large extent, says Bussewitz, it has failed to do so in a timely manner.

"If I were a betting man," he adds, "I would say that those regulations will not come out until after the elections."

In that case, says Bussewitz, it would be totally unrealistic to expect state authorities to follow up by year-end.

In his work, Bussewitz has considerable contact with officials at HCFA (a part of the Department of Health and Human Services), and he regards the staff as a very capable group. Nonetheless, he wishes that they would play a more assertive role in establishing national standards for services provided under Medicaid.

Uniformity in state Medicaid regulations, he says, is critical to cost-effective provision of pharmacy and other health care services. Efficiency suffers if, for example, a drug chain must conform to different pharmacy standards in each state in which it operates.

More often than not state agencies will go their own way, says Bussewitz, who once worked for Wisconsin's Medicaid bureau. "The attitude out there is, |Hey, if HCFA is not going to exert that kind of pressure from on high, then we can do what we want,"' he says.

Bussewitz, who at one time was on the staff of former Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, says that political pressure from elected officials may ultimately be needed to get a government agency to act. "That may be needed to encourage HCFA to act," he says.

If more is being expected of pharmacists, Bussewitz is not confident that additional financial compensation will follow.

Systems for documenting cognitive services provided by pharmacists are emerging, but it will be a very tough marketplace that decides on reimbursement. "Competition is really going to determine if cognitive services are going to be paid for," says Bussewitz. "And I'm not as optimistic as some that it's going to happen."

Bussewitz is concerned that third-party payers - both private and governmental - are shifting more administrative tasks to retail pharmacies. "There is a lot that we are asked to do that we aren't paid for," he says, "whether they are cognitive services or administrative services. "

Establishing national standards for pharmacy claims processing can help contain costs, and NACDS can work to that end. But in dealing with the demands of third-party payers, particularly in the private sector, there is little that the association can do, if only for antitrust reasons. "It is really a matter of individual business decisions," Bussewitz says.

UK teacher fired for writing novel on students' sexual fantasies

London, Jan. 13 -- A female teacher in Britain has been fired after she wrote a novel that detailed her pupils' sexual fantasies, truancy and even a criminal drug den beneath the school.

Leonora Rustamova, 40, known as Miss Rusty, said it was an attempt to inspire the 15-year-old boys as they hated women and were regularly in trouble with police, overtly racist and violent.

Head Stephen Ball, who Rustamova said had described the project as a "triumph" and a "superb job" for interesting the group in literacy, suspended and then fired her.

She had taught at Calder High School, a comprehensive in Halifax, for 11 years, and she had used feedback from a group of pupils, who called themselves "the Commie Boys", to write the novel.

It features a teacher, also called Miss Rusty, and five Year 11 pupils who are her "favourites", and the plot talks of pupils missing lessons, stealing phones and setting themselves on fire.

There are also numerous sexual references and hints that the characters took drugs.

The teacher arranged for her husband Denis to print 12 bound copies using a publishing website so they could be given to the boys when they left school.

But her husband then accidentally made the novel, titled 'Stop! Don't Read This', available on the Internet.

She lost her job in May 2009 for a "reckless disregard for confidentiality and child safeguarding issues".

Rustamova told the tribunal that her year teaching "the Commie Boys" was a "fantastic experience", and that she enjoyed "developing them and their attitudes and seeing all but one successfully avoid being expelled".

"The boys were proud of the book. It raised their self-esteem and self-awareness as well as their interest in literacy," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying.

Rustamova is now claiming compensation for unfair dismissal from her 34,000-pounds-a-year job.

Published by HT Syndication with permission from Asian News International.

For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com

Facebook still dominant in social plug-in, homepage links: study

Facebook still dominant in social plug-in, homepage links: study

SAN FRANCISCO, July 8 (Xinhua) -- An analysis of the front pagesof Internet's 10,000 largest sites showed that Facebook still enjoysa dominant position on the adoption of social sharing plug-ins andlinks to social sites, according to a study released Friday.

Facebook is still the preferred social media platform for largercompanies with more than 47 percent of sites linking to the network,according to the inaugural version of SocialShare Site Analysis,which was released on Friday and conducted by BrightEdge, anenterprise search engine optimization platform.

Twitter follows Facebook on homepage links to social sites with42 percent of sites measured. And almost 17 percent of the 10,000largest sites have links to YouTube on their front pages.

As for social plug-ins, Facebook is still the dominant tool withalmost 20 percent of these large sites include plug-in tools offeredby Facebook, including Facebook like button, like box, Facebookconnect and Facebook recommendations.

Surprisingly, Google+1 is more widely used than Twitter's sharebutton with an integration rate of 4.5 percent which tops thecombined numbers of the Twitter share (2.1 percent) and Twitterinstant follow (1.3 percent).

The SocialShare Site Analysis will be a monthly report thattracks the presence and penetration of social sharing tools on theworld's 10,000 largest sites, BrightEdge said.

Tales of stitching samplers and the Bronte sisters

What would the Bronte sisters sew? They stitched samplers longbefore Charlotte grew up to write "Jane Eyre," before Emily wrote"Wuthering Heights" and before Anne wrote "The Tenant of WildfellHall."

A sampler is a piece fabric, often linen, embroidered withdesigns, and text in a variety of stitches, usually done by a childto learn stitching skills.

Charlotte completed her sampler at age 13 in April 1829. Emilywas done with hers at age 11 on March 1, 1829. Anne finished hers atage 10 on Jan. 23, 1830. They stitched their samplers at their home,Haworth Parsonage in Yorkshire, after the girls had returned fromschool where their older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, had died fromprivation and illness suffered at the boarding school.

It is easy to imagine the sisters sitting together, hoops andneedles in hand, making row after row of cross-stitches to fashioneach word. Perhaps the sewing was an occasion to sit together andtalk about life in the village or to remember their sisters. Orperhaps the sewing was drudgery, an onerous task to be got throughuntil they could go out to the moors where they let theirimaginations run wild.

As might be expected of the daughters of Patrick Bronte, aclergyman, the Bronte sisters' samplers consist of lengthy passagesfrom the Bible, from Proverbs and Psalms.

Photographs of the Brontes' samplers are included in "Samplersand Tapestry Embroideries" by Marcus Huish, first published in 1900in London. Huish describes the samplers: "They show a strange lackof ornament, and a monotony of colour (they are worked in black silkon rough canvas) which deprive them of all attractiveness inthemselves." Judging from the photographs, it's easy to see howHuish might arrive at that conclusion, but the samplers, to my eye,have an almost architectural beauty of composition.

Huish says in his book that the owner of the samplers at thattime was Clement Shorter, a journalist who collected manuscripts,books and materials related to his favorite authors, including theBronte sisters.

Each sampler differs somewhat from the others. The top verse inCharlotte's sampler reads: "A house divided against itself can'tstand." But horizontal bars of stitching separate the seven versesin the sampler. Did she intend that as a bit of drollery? It can beargued that "Jane Eyre" has the "house divided" idea as one of itsthemes. Rochester was certainly a "house divided against itself,"given the fact that he had a madwoman, his wife, living in theattic, while falling in love and persuading Jane, the governess, whodidn't know about the wife, to marry him.

A line in Emily's sampler says: "Surely I am more brutish thanany man, and have not the understanding of a man." Was this linefrom a verse from Proverbs a foreshadowing of her characterHeathcliff, whose callous behavior transgressed social and moralcodes, in "Wuthering Heights"?

Anne's sampler, also with verses from Proverbs, bears this line:"She is more precious than rubies and all the things thou canstdesire are not to be compared unto her." It was Anne who created thecharacter Helen, the wife of Arthur, the unfaithful, drunken husbandwho did not value his wife. Helen fled from him in "The Tenant ofWildfell Hall."

The three samplers are stitched with the same zigzag border,similar to a Greek key pattern.

I searched a long time on the Internet for images of the samplersso I could direct readers to them, but I was not successful. Theonly images I found are in Huish's book.

I came across references stating that the samplers are housed atHaworth Parsonage, now a museum, but at websites pertaining toHaworth I did not find information to confirm that the samplers are,indeed, housed at the museum. I e-mailed a query but have not yetreceived a reply.

To see an exhibit of American samplers, take a trip to the Museumof Fine Arts in Boston to see "Embroideries of Colonial Boston:Samplers" on display through March 12 in the museum's Edward andNancy Roberts Family Gallery in the Art of the Americas wing. Theexhibition, according to the museum website at www.mfa.org "willfeature a pair of 17th century samplers brought to Boston as well astwo 17th century American samplers, examples clearly illustratingthe connection between Great Britain and the colonies."

If you prefer to stitch samplers, websites that provide freecross-stitch charts include www.dmc.com and www.caron-net.com.Samplers, however, do not have to be done in cross-stitch. Go tohttp://pineneedlesatgardnervillage.blogspot.com/2010/04/saundra-white-isback.

html to view images of samplers designed by Saundra White doneentirely in outline stitch.

Snippets

Pine Kneedlers Knitting Guild will hold its February meeting 6-8p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15, at the group's new location, Sunbury Village,922 Ohio St., just south of Griffin Road, Bangor. The meeting willbe in the activity room located in the rear building with the largeportico. Park on the left near the garages just before you reach thebuilding. Old and new members and friends are welcome to attend. Forinformation, e-mail cheryl.

zeh@gmail.com.

ahamlin@bangordailynews.com

990-8153

17 patents granted to Utahns

Seventeen new patents were awarded to Utah inventors on Jan. 29.They are:

-- Methods for manufacturing endodontic instruments by milling.Paul Lewis, Midvale. Assigned to Ultradent Products Inc., SouthJordan. Filed Nov. 18, 2005. Patent No. 7,322,105.

-- Joint for bullet traps. Thomas Marshall, Lane Jackson, AddisonSovine, Kyle Bateman, all of Provo. Assigned to Action Target Inc.,Provo. Filed Aug. 4, 2006, claiming priority to multiple priorpatent applications. Patent No. 7,322,771.

-- Water devices and methods for making and using such devices.Jennifer D. Ross, Draper. Filed Aug. 11, 2004, claiming priority toprovisional patent application No. 60/523,344, filed Nov. 19, 2003.Patent No. 7,322,868.

-- Apparatus and method for the multi-axial placement of surgicalfasteners. Hugh H. Trout III, Bethesda, Md. Howard M. Tanner, Logan.Assigned to EVA Corp., Bethesda, Md. Filed Dec. 20, 2002, claimingpriority to provisional patent application No. 60/341,852, filedDec. 21, 2001. Patent No. 7,322,943.

-- Bone anchors for use in attaching soft tissue to a bone. HughS. West Jr., Salt Lake City. Assigned to HS West Investments LLC,Sandy. Filed June 22, 2004. Patent No. 7,322,978.

-- Method of removing a fastener. Hugh Trout, Washington, D.C.;Howard M. Tanner, Logan. Assigned to EVA Corp., Bethesda, Md. FiledJun. 19, 2002, claiming priority to provisional patent applicationNo. 60/299,188, filed June 20, 2001. Patent No. 7,322,992.

-- Hay baling laminate of a nonwoven and a knitted net. ThomasDort, James Flick, both of Wichita, Kan.; Mike DeWeese, DennisGregory McCabe, both of Kingman, Kan.; Lyndie Henrie, Kaysville;Paul Schmidt, Pretty Prairie, Kan.; Nick Carter, Mooresville, N.C.Assigned to Polymer Group Inc., Charlotte, N.C. Filed Oct. 22, 2004.Patent No. 7,323,074.

-- Electronically-controlled locker system. Richard R. Ford,Edward E. Johnson, Lance C. Osborne, all of Asheville, N.C.; DavidW. Johnson, West Valley City; Kevin E. Booth, Mapleton; Harry N.Popolow, Cherry Hill, N.J.; Jon S. Loftin, Arden, N.C. Assigned toPenco Products Inc., Oaks, Pa.; Digitech International Inc.,Asheville, N.C. Filed Jan. 21, 2005, a continuation of Patent No.6,879,243, filed Feb. 14, 2002. Patent No. 7,323,967.

-- Methods for discovering devices within a wireless network.Kenin Page, Elwin Hunt, both of Sandy. Assigned to 3Com Corp.,Marlborough, Mass. Filed July 25, 2002. Patent No. 7,324,462.

-- Geophysical technique for mineral exploration anddiscrimination based on electromagnetic methods and associatedsystems. Michael S. Zhdanov, Salt Lake City. Assigned to Universityof Utah, University of Utah Research Foundation, both of Salt LakeCity. Filed Jul. 24, 2006, claiming priority to multiple priorpatent applications. Patent No. 7,324,899.

-- Locally operated desktop environment for a remote computingsystem. Thanh N. Truong, Salt Lake City. Assigned to University ofUtah Research Foundation, Salt Lake City. Filed Aug. 30, 2005,claiming priority to provisional patent application No. 60/605,741,filed Aug. 30, 2004. Patent No. 7,325,040.

-- Method for automatically creating a modem interface for usewith a wireless device. Chad Milito, Ogden; Mark Price, Midvale; R.Kenin Page, Sandy; Assigned to 3Com Corp., Marlborough, Mass. FiledJuly 3, 2002. Patent No. 7,325,048.

-- Method and system for data recovery in a continuous dataprotection system. Roger Keith Stager, Donald Alvin Trimmer, CraigAnthony Johnston, all of Livermore, Calif.; Pawan Saxena,Pleasanton, Calif.; Randall Johnson, Pleasant Grove; Yafen PeggyChang, Fremont, Calif.; Rico Blaser, San Francisco. Assigned toNetwork Appliance Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif. Filed Feb. 4, 2004,claiming priority to provisional patent application No. 60/541,626,filed Feb. 4, 2004. Patent No. 7,325,159.

-- Eyeglass case. Bruce Raile, Park City. Assigned to Sun OpticsInc., Salt Lake City. Filed July 26, 2005. Design Patent No.D560,360.

-- Saddlebag flower planter. Larry R. Laycock, Alpine. Filed Aug.25, 2006. Design Patent No. D560,550.

-- Compact transmitter apparatus. Bradley C. Kofford, Bountiful.Assigned to Controlled Entry Distributors Inc., Salt Lake City.Filed Dec. 14, 2006. Design Patent No. D560,688.

-- Playground equipment. Bryan Phelps, Corey Phillips, both ofRoy. Assigned to Performance Design Inc., Clearfield. Filed Aug. 23,2006. Design Patent No. D560,740.

Karl R. Cannon is a Registered Patent Attorney and a foundingshareholder in the Salt Lake area law firm of Clayton, Howarth &Cannon P.C., specialists in patent, trademark and copyright law. Hemay be contacted at 801-255-5335 or by e-mail at kcannon@chcpat.com.Copies of patents are available by mail for $3 each from U.S. Patentand Trademark Office, Box 9 (Copy Sales), Washington, DC 20231; bycredit card via telephone 703-308-9726 or toll free 800-972-6382;facsimile 703-305-8759; or e-mail ptcs@uspto.gov. Patents can alsobe viewed and printed free of charge from several Internet sites,including www.uspto.gov or www.delphion.com.

WA: Court told of extraordinary attempts to cover $1.2b fraud

AAP General News (Australia)
08-05-2004
WA: Court told of extraordinary attempts to cover $1.2b fraud

A Perth court's heard details of the elaborate lengths ALAN BOND and his corporate
lieutenants went to in order to disguise an alleged $1.2 billion fraud.

The Supreme Court has been told TONY OATES, a former executive director of the Bond
Corporation, consistently abused his powers as director of two other companies to benefit
BOND's labyrinthine corporation.

The jury's also been told Australia's financial regulator was lied to in order to cover
up the stripping of hundreds of millions of dollars from Bell Resources to prop up BOND's
empire.

After acquiring a controlling interest in Bell Resources, it's alleged OATES, along
with BOND and fellow directors, conspired to funnel massive amounts of cash into the Bond
Corp coffers.

OATES has denied one charge of conspiring to defraud Bell Resources, and seven charges
of failing to act honestly in his position as director of Bell Resources and Freefold.

He faces seven alternate charges.

The trial continues.

AAP RTV tc/hn/lma/rp

KEYWORD: OATES (PERTH)

2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Main stories in today's Canberra Times

AAP General News (Australia)
02-25-2004
Fed: Main stories in today's Canberra Times

CANBERRA, Feb 25 AAP - Main stories in today's Canberra Times

Page 1 - Coroner's court hears that ACT fire authorities did nothing to prepare for
last summer's bushfires; An ACT Liberal government would spend Budget surpluses on infrastructure
projects, Opposition Leader Brendan Smyth says; Canberra show hits town; ABS report shows
non-government schools becoming popular in the ACT.

Page 2 - Residents of streets around Duffy would have been aware they were at risk
from bushfire in January 2003, court told; Hundreds of mourners farewell Aboriginal …

Vic: Fire closes troubled chairlift

AAP General News (Australia)
01-11-2004
Vic: Fire closes troubled chairlift

Burning grass and scrub have forced the closure of Melbourne's troubled Arthur's Seat chairlift.

Chairlift patrons had to be ferried by a back road to reclaim their vehicles after
the fire broke out about 3.30pm (AEDT) in a remote pocket of the state park, southeast
of Melbourne.

Country Fire Authority spokesman IAN MAJOR says Arthurs Seat Road and Bunyurong Track
were both closed while a dozen firefighting units went to …

FED: Bipolar costs $1.6 bill a year

00-00-0000
FED: Bipolar costs $1.6 bill a year

A national analysis says the condition formerly known as manic depression costs Australia$1.6 billion a year.

The Access Economics report has found the total cost to the health system of the mooddisorder, which afflicts 100,000 Australians, is $300 million each year, with indirectcosts coming to $1.3 billion.

Report author LYNNE PEZZULLO says the breakdown means 80 per cent of the cost of bipolardisorder is being shouldered by people with the illness and their families and carers.

Ms PEZZULLO warns the costs are set to rise unless the mental illness is diagnosedearlier and treated more effectively.

She says bipolar depression, which is characterised by mood swings alternating betweenmanic highs and plummeting lows, has only 60 per cent of people receiving treatment.

Ms PEZZULLO says there are high rates of misdiagnosis and it usually takes four doctorsand ten years to get a correct diagnosis.

AAP RTV jjs/rsm/rp

KEYWORD: BIPOLAR (SYDNEY)

Fed: Personal finance rises 4.7 per cent in Feb - ABS

00-00-0000
Fed: Personal finance rises 4.7 per cent in Feb - ABS

CANBERRA, April 15 AAP - Australians' borrowing on credit cards, personal loans andoverdrafts jumped 4.7 per cent in February to $6.1 billion, new figures showed today.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said total personal finance commitments lendingto buy homes rose 1.1 per cent in the month, allowing for seasonal factors.

Commercial lending recovered 4.6 per cent to $20.7 billion after plunging 15.2 percent in January.

The volatile lease category rose 3.1 per cent to $533 million, the ABS said.

MORE kmh/sb/mg/jlw

KEYWORD: LENDING

Qld: Qld could get aluminium plant

00-00-0000
Qld: Qld could get aluminium plant

Australia's largest aluminium extrusion plant could be built in Queensland after developmenthitches in New South Wales.

Capral Aluminium has lodged a development application with the Ipswich City Council,west of Brisbane, to build the $120 million facility on the Bremer Industrial Estate.

The council's planning committee chairman, PAUL TULLY, has denied the project …

Fed: Labor must admit it got boatpeople policy wrong - Reynolds

00-00-0000
Fed: Labor must admit it got boatpeople policy wrong - Reynolds

United Nations Association president and former Labor Senator MARGARET REYNOLDS saysLabor should have the courage to admit its policy to detain asylum seekers was wrong.

Ms REYNOLDS, who was in the Senate when Labor introduced the policy in government,says few people realised at the time what the policy would lead to.

She's told ABC radio one difference between then and now is that Labor had controlover the management of detention centres and people weren't kept as long.

Labor MPs and Senators are set for a rowdy caucus meeting in Canberra this morningdue to a reported split on the party's new immigration policy.

AAP RTV dep/dl/jmt

KEYWORD: DETENTION REYNOLDS (CANBERRA)

Vic: Blind, disabled man charged with murder of wife

00-00-0000
Vic: Blind, disabled man charged with murder of wife

By Nick Lenaghan

MELBOURNE, April 26 AAP - A blind and disabled Melbourne man has been charged withthe murder of his de facto wife who went missing in January.

Fifty-two-year-old Terrance Douglass appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court todayafter detectives found the body of 34-year-old Jaihon "Jenny" Hu buried in the backyardof the couple's suburban Glenhuntly unit on April 24.

Detective Sergeant Shane Brundell told the court "a large amount of blood" was alsolocated inside the unit during the search two days ago.

Ms Hu was last seen at the unit on January 25 and there was evidence of a phone callbetween the pair that day before Douglass returned to the unit in the evening, Det SgtBrundell said.

Douglass was helped into the dock by security guards and sat on a wheeled walking frame.

His lawyer Elizabeth Nicholls told the court Douglass was legally blind with less than10 per cent vision and needed a wheelchair due to two strokes.

Magistrate Lisa Hannan granted police an application to take a cheek swab of DNA fromDouglass after hearing material believed to be from him had been found under Ms Hu's fingernailsduring a post-mortem.

In February police appealed for public help in finding Ms Hu, a Chinese-born computerengineer who had become an Australian citizen.

After Ms Hu had left her city office on January 25 she had been expected to stay withfriends in Preston before returning to China to see her sick father, police said at thetime.

Douglass has been charged with her murder on or about January 25.

He was remanded in custody to reappear in the same court on August 27.

AAP nl/szp/gfr/cd/sb

KEYWORD: DOUGLASS

AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Feb 13

00-00-0000
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Feb 13Breakfast Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 0430

US Oscars Aust (LOS ANGELES)

Australia will be a force at this year's Oscars after NICOLE KIDMAN, RUSSELL CROWEand Moulin Rouge all picked up nominations this morning.

Although Moulin Rouge's BAZ LUHRMANN was snubbed in the director category, he stillhas a chance to pick up a gold statuette after Moulin Rouge was nominated for an Oscarin the Best Picture category.

Moulin Rouge ended up with eight nominations which was equal second with CROWE'S ABeautiful Mind.

The dominant movie was The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, which pickedup 13 nominations -- one less than the all-time record held by Titanic.

While LUHRMANN admitted being disappointed about failing to be recognised in the directorcategory, he was over the moon that his wife, CATHERINE MARTIN, was nominated in two categoriesfor her work on Moulin Rouge.

MARTIN and ANGUS STRATHIE were nominated for costume design and Martin and BrigitteBroch were recognised for art direction.

Moulin Rouge's other nominations were for cinematography, make-up, editing and sound.

Apart from LUHRMANN'S snub in the director section, other notable Aussie omissionswere actress NAOMI WATTS for Mulholland Drive and GUY PEARCE for Memento.

Australian film Lantana also missed out on nominations despite a strong push by USdistributor Lion's Gate Films and rave reviews by the US critics.

KIDMAN'S Oscar nomination is her first.

CROWE'S best actor nomination is his third consecutive after last year's Gladiatorand 2000's The Insider.

The best-picture nominees are A Beautiful Mind, Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, and MoulinRouge and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

For Best Actor, CROWE is up against SEAN PENN in I Am Sam, WILL SMITH for Ali, DENZELWASHINGTON for Training Day and TOM WILKINSON for In the Bedroom.

In the Best Actress category, KIDMAN will compete with HALLE BERRY for Monster's Ball,JUDI DENCH in Iris, SISSY SPACEK in In the Bedroom and RENEE ZELLWEGER for Bridget Jones'sDiary.

The best director nominees are ROBERT ALTMAN for Gosford Park; RON HOWARD A BeautifulMind; PETER JACKSON Lord of the Rings; DAVID LYNCH, Mulholland Drive; and RIDLEY SCOTTfor Black Hawk Down.

ABC will broadcast the 74th Annual Academy Awards on March 24 live from the show'snew Hollywood home at the Kodak Theatre.

And WHOOPI GOLDBERG returns as host, her first time as master of ceremonies since 1998.

Spy (CANBERRA)

The government faces a Senate inquiry into claims the nation's defence electronic eavesdroppersspied on phone conversations during the Tampa crisis.

The Greens and Australian Democrats are set to demand an inquiry into government claimsthat refugees threw children into the ocean be expanded to include the new allegations.

Already Australia's intelligence agency watchdog is to investigate claims made in NewsLimited newspapers that information gathered by the Defence Signals Directorate was providedto the government.

The report says the information was used to prepare a political response to the Tampa crisis.

The conversations allegedly gathered by the DSD included those between the Tampa'scaptain, the International Transportation Federation and the Maritime Union of Australia.

Parly (CANBERRA)

The government faces its first question time in the new parliament today with asylumseekers set to dominate the agenda.

After the pomp and ceremony of the official opening of parliament, Prime Minister JOHNHOWARD faces off against new opposition leader SIMON CREAN for the first time.

Mr CREAN has already signalled he'll target questions over the government's handlingof the asylum seeker issue, including claims made during the election that some threwtheir children into the ocean.

New claims that Australia's electronic eavesdropper collected phonecalls between theTampa and local trade unions for use by the government are also set to be tested.

Woomera Robinson (GENEVA)

UN Human Rights Commissioner MARY ROBINSON has welcomed Australia's decision to letan envoy inspect the Woomera detention centre -- but says the visit should occur earlierthan Canberra suggested.

Australia has agreed to allow ROBINSON'S special envoy, Justice PN BHAGWATI, to seethe detention centre for asylum-seekers during a planned trip by a UN working group forarbitrary detention, between May and August.

But ROBINSON says that given international concerns over the camp, which houses mainlyAfghan asylum seekers, the visit should take place before the working group arrives.

US Journalist Alive (KARACHI)

Karachi police say kidnapped US journalist DANIEL PEARL is alive -- and in Karachi.

Chief TARIQ JAMIL made the announcement after investigators interrogated chief suspectSHEIKH OMAR.

He says British-born OMAR told police that PEARL was alive during initial interrogationafter his arrest earlier today in the eastern city of Lahore.

Police in Lahore earlier said they had arrested OMAR, a 29-year-old Pakistan-basedIslamic extremist from East London, and were handing him over to police in Karachi.

Wall Street Journal reporter PEARL, aged 38, went missing in Karachi on January 23while researching a story on Islamic militancy in Pakistan.

Iran Crash (TEHRAN)

All 117 people have been killed aboard an Iranian Tupolev 154 airliner that crashedtoday in mountains near Khorramabad in south-west Iran.

Tehran airport sources say they comprised 104 passengers and 13 crew.

Rescue teams are at the scene, but the mountain is covered in snow and officials sayrecovery efforts will be very difficult.

An official says the Iran Air Tours plane, on a 420 kilometre internal flight fromTehran, came down near Sarab-Doreh, south-west of Khorramabad, its destination.

He says the plane exploded on impact.

US Iraq Powell (WASHINGTON)

US Secretary of State COLIN POWELL says the United States has no plans to go to warwith any nation.

POWELL told a Senate budget committee hearing President GEORGE W BUSH has no planson his desk right now to begin a war with any nation.

With respect to Bush's controversial comments about an axis of evil, involving Iraq,Iran, and North Korea -- POWELL says the administration favoured diplomacy over mightin pursuing its goals with the regimes in these countries.

He say that with respect to Iran and North Korea, there are no plans to start a war with them.

But he made a distinction between these two members of the triumvirate and Iraq, whichhe described as causing a higher level of concern.

He told US lawmakers the America is examining options with respect to regime changein that country.

AND IN BRIEF:

Gas (ADELAIDE)

Gas company Santos says gas supplies to major South Australian industries should returnto normal by midday today.

The company imposed restrictions on major industries yesterday following a shutdownat its Moomba gas plant in the state's north after corrosion was found on a section ofpipeline.

Capsize (MELBOURNE)

The search for two missing men resumes today in seas off south-eastern Victoria, followinga boating accident that killed a woman in her 60s.

Four holidaymakers were tossed into rough seas near the flooded mouth of Tamboon Inleton Monday night when their boat overturned and was sucked out to sea.

One of the men made it to shore and raised the alarm.

Paedophile (PERTH)

The West Australian Chief Justice has directed the state's Supreme Court to list acontentious appeal over the sentence of a paedophile as a matter of urgency.

The mother of a victim of the convicted paedophile has been camping outside governmentoffices in Perth to expedite an appeal against the two-year suspended sentence and 18-monthintensive supervision order.

AND IN SPORT:

CUP WA (PERTH)

It's a crucial one-day cricket match today between New South Wales and Western Australiain Perth.

A win for the Blues will put them into the final on February 24 while the Warriorscan get there with a bonus point providing Queensland defeats South Australia on Sunday.

SHIELD SA (ADELAIDE)

Zimbabwean-born SCOTT BRANT has been called out of a university class to to play forQueensland in the first-class cricket match beginning against South Australia in Adelaidetoday.

BRANT, an Australia Under-19 squad member, replaces injured allrounder JAMES HOPES.

OLY AUST (SALT LAKE CITY)

Opening ceremony flag bearer ADRIAN COSTA and former Canadian TRENNON PAYNTER willrepresent Australia in the men's moguls at the Winter Olympics today.

JENNY OWENS and ALICE JONES will race in the women's downhill -- weather permitting-- and figure skater ANTHONY LIU will contest the short program.

AFL CATS (GEELONG, Vic)

Geelong's BEN GRAHAM has been named Cats captain for 2002, his third AFL season at the helm.

AFL BULLDOGS (MELBOURNE)

DOUG HAWKINS has buried the hatchet with the Western Bulldogs, agreeing to become askills coach and membership promoter for the AFL club.

HAWKINS, the Bulldogs games record holder with 329 between 1978 and 1994, was upsetwith the club after being cut, forcing him to play out his career at Fitzroy.

RUGBY NSW (SYDNEY)

New South Wales hooker BRENDAN CANNON will serve as captain MATTHEW BURKE'S deputyin the final trial before the Waratahs kick-off their Super 12 rugby campaign next week.

CANNON will lead the most experienced pack the Waratahs have fielded during this year'spre-season when they take on Canterbury in Blenheim on Thursday evening.

ENDS BREAKFAST ROUND-UPAAP RTV pc

KEYWORD: BREAKFAST ROUND-UP

NSW: Beach water quality OK

AAP General News (Australia)
12-14-2001
NSW: Beach water quality OK

SYDNEY, Dec 14 AAP - Sydney's beaches remained clean enough for swimming despite heavy
rain, the Environment Protection Authority's Beachwatch program said today.

Acting Beachwatch manager Cris Hickey said 34 of Sydney's 35 ocean beaches had passed
its water quality criteria for faecal coliforms and enterococci during November.

Faecal coliforms and enterococci are indicators used to measure swimming water quality.

Maroubra beach, in Sydney's east, was the only beach that had failed to meet the guidelines,
with raised levels during and after intense rainfall between November 18 and 21, Mr Hickey
said.

During those four days, almost 70 per cent of the month's average rainfall had been recorded.

The November results showed there was still room for improvement in water quality in wet weather.

"For the community, the key message continues to be 'the drain is just for rain',"

Mr Hickey said in a statement.

"This means keeping leaves, rubbish and other pollution out of our gutters, so that
when it rains they are not washed into the stormwater drain and then discharged to our
beaches and harbours."

The results also highlighted Beachwatch's message to avoid swimming at Sydney's ocean
beaches for 24 hours after heavy rain, he said.

AAP mk/arb/cjh/

KEYWORD: BEACHWATCH

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Govt attacks Audit office report into property sales

AAP General News (Australia)
08-01-2001
Fed: Govt attacks Audit office report into property sales

CANBERRA, Aug 1 AAP - An independent report has criticised key aspects of the government's
property sales program, saying more could be done to protect taxpayers' interests.

But the Auditor-General's report has been rejected by the Department of Finance and
Administration which has refused to implement any of the report's seven recommendations.

The report, by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), examined the Commonwealth
Estate Property Sales Program which raised $983 million from the sale of 56 properties
in the three years to April 2001.

It said the department viewed its role as implementing "a property divestment program
endorsed by ministers and that it was not charged with the role of protecting the overall
interest of the Commonwealth".

This prompted the ANAO to highlight several areas for improvement, including that the
department review the success fees paid to advisers on current market valuations for assets.

It also said the allocation to outside advisers of responsibility for lease negotiations
and sale management, where success fees were calculated on the total proceeds from sale,
ought to be reviewed.

The department should also review all contracts with outside advisers to ensure contract
commitments were fully documented and effectively managed, it said.

It should also develop a way to assess sale and leaseback transactions to ensure the
financial interests of the commonwealth were protected.

MORE jph/daw/mg/sb

KEYWORD: PROPERTY

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: One Nation to poll well today, but Labor to win

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2001
NSW: One Nation to poll well today, but Labor to win

A Newspoll in The Australian newspaper says One Nation has surged in the final days
of the Queensland election campaign, but Labor is set to win.

The poll says the ALP has 49 per cent of the primary vote, down three percentage points
from two weeks ago, but still more than 10 points ahead of the vote it received in the
1998 election.

If those figure are reflected as Queenslanders vote today, PETER BEATTIE'S coalition
can expect to govern with an increased majority.

The Coalition has fallen 8 points to 26 per cent.

In Brisbane, Labor is out in front with 62 per cent to the Coalition's 21.

One Nation's vote has tripled over past three weeks and stands at 12 percent state-wide,
peaking at 15 outside Brisbane.

That is still below the 22.7 per cent the party polled at the 1998 election.

The Newspoll says on the question of who would make a better premier, Mr BEATTIE leads
Opposition Leader ROB BORBIDGE by 66 per cent to 13 per cent.


Resending with new Keyword



AAP RTV aa/wz

KEYWORD: POLLQLD NEWSPOLL (SYDNEY)

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Coffee drinking may help prevent Parkinson s Disease

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2000
Fed: Coffee drinking may help prevent Parkinson s Disease

CANBERRA, Aug 8 AAP - Men who drink coffee have lower rates of Parkinson's Disease,
a Hawaiian study has found.

The long term study of 8,000 Japanese-American men has found people who consume caffeine
have lower rates of Parkinson's.

The men were first recruited in the late 1960s aged between 45 and 68 years. Their
consumption of coffee, tea, cola drinks and chocolate was recorded when they were recruited,
after six years and after 30 years.

"The coffee drinkers in the study were significantly less likely to develop Parkinson's
Disease and the larger the amount of coffee consumed the greater the effect," the researchers
said.

Non coffee drinkers were two to three times more likely to develop Parkinson's than
coffee drinkers and 10 times more likely than those who consumed large amounts (more than
840ml per day).

Men in the study who didn't drink coffee but consumed some caffeine in other forms
also had lower disease rates but they were not statistically significant - possibly because
of the small number of people in this category.

The benefit of coffee could be that caffeine stimulated the nervous system in a way
that counteracted the degenerative effects of Parkinson's or coffee drinkers could still
get Parkinson's but caffeine might mask the symptoms such as tremor and muscular rigidity.

Parkinson's Disease is a neurodegenerative disease that becomes more common with ageing.

Both genetic and environmental factors can cause it with environmental factors more
important for late-onset of the disease.

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant.

AAP eg/cjh

KEYWORD: COFFEE

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Govt tight lipped on reported new boatpeople influx

AAP General News (Australia)
02-19-2000
Fed: Govt tight lipped on reported new boatpeople influx

Immigration Minister PHILIP RUDDOCK says groups of potential illegal immigrants are
banking up in Indonesia because Australia has made people-smuggling more difficult.

But he says he can't confirm newspaper reports more than 1,000 immigrants are on their
way to northern Australia and expect to land over the weekend.

Mr RUDDOCK says reports out of Indonesia indicate groups of frustrated immigrants are
consolidating together and might approach the 1,000 mark.

But he says he has no no information indicating a boat big enough to carry 700 people
has left Indonesia, although the Australian government is working with Jakarta authorities
to prevent any planned departures.

More than 2,500 boat people have arrived in Australia since November, stretching the
resources of immigration officials.

Australian Coastwatch officials refuse to comment on the reported arrivals, but Melbourne's
Age newspaper says surveillance of the vessels is being kept secret to protect intelligence
sources in Indonesia.

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD has also declined to confirm the report, but says the government
is on top of the situation.

AAP RTV kmh/smf/as

KEYWORD: BOAT (CANBERRA)

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Cabal to appeal extradition order = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-1999
Vic: Cabal to appeal extradition order = 2

Magistrate HANNAN says CABAL argued he faced persecution in Mexico because he had not
been willing to give Mexican President ERNESTO ZEDILLO substantial financial support in
the 1994 presidential elections.

CABAL had also argued the Mexican government was targeting him in order to ensure he
did not talk about illegal political campaign contributions.

But the magistrate says if CABAL and PASINI genuinely believe they are being pursued
for the purpose of prosecuting them on account of their political opinions, they should've
sought political asylum.

AAP RTV tsc/ag/msk/jn

KEYWORD: CABAL EXTRADITE 2 MELBOURNE

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: No Senate inquiry into oil spill, Howard says

AAP General News (Australia)
08-06-1999
FED: No Senate inquiry into oil spill, Howard says

CANBERRA, Aug 6 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard today rejected calls from environmental
groups for a Senate inquiry into the Sydney Harbour oil spill.

Mr Howard said the matter ought to be handled by New South Wales state authorities, which
had acted promptly and effectively.

"This is another example of the passion for inquiries this country has," he said on Radio
3AW.

"You have got a total responsibility of the harbour authorities and the state government.
Let's put the party politics aside.

"Nobody wanted the oil spill to happen in Sydney Harbour. Whatever steps the New South
Wales Premier needs to take to get to the bottom of it, I totally support and it is his
responsibility."

AAP mb/sc/wjf/br

KEYWORD: TANKER HOWARD

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Four Australians nominated for Oscars

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-1999
FED: Four Australians nominated for Oscars

SYDNEY, Feb 10 AAP - Four Australians picked up nominations today for the 71st annual
Academy Awards.

Actress Cate Blanchett was nominated for best actress for her role in Elizabeth, alongside
Shakespeare in Love's Gwyneth Paltrow and previous Oscar winner Meryl Streep.

Geoffrey Rush is in the running for best supporting actor for his role in Shakespeare in
Love while Rachel Griffiths received a nomination in the best supporting actress category for
Hilary and Jackie.

Director Peter Weir earned a nomination for best director for the Truman Show.

But he has a formidable rival in Steven Spielberg who stormed the list of Oscar nominees
for his epic World War II drama, Saving Private Ryan.

The nominations were announced early today in Beverly Hills, California.

Comedian Whoopi Goldberg will host the Academy Awards ceremony at The Shrine Auditorium in
Los Angeles on March 21.

AAP cmm/ms

KEYWORD: OSCARS AUST

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED:Coalition must support car industry: Carr

AAP General News (Australia)
01-13-2012
FED:Coalition must support car industry: Carr

Acting treasurer BILL SHORTEN says the opposition's treasury spokesman, JOE HOCKEY,
is threatening Australia's continued prosperity by pushing to not subsidise the car industry.

Mr SHORTEN'S accused Mr HOCKEY of cutting and running from the auto industry.

He also says Mr …

QLD:Flash floods strand people on rooftops

AAP General News (Australia)
01-11-2011
QLD:Flash floods strand people on rooftops

A freak flash flood west of Brisbane has killed four people and left a large number
of people clinging to rooftops .. waiting for help that won't come overnight.

Many were caught off guard after a massive body of water from weeks of heavy rain tore
through Toowoomba yesterday afternoon.

Authorities have grave concerns the death toll could be much higher .. with a number
of people still missing.

Premier ANNA BLIGH says heavy fog …