QLD:Man charged with roadside rape

AAP General News (Australia)
08-12-2011
QLD:Man charged with roadside rape

A man has been charged with the roadside sexual assault of a woman whose car had broken
down near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, a year ago.

Police say the 37-year-old man from Sippy Downs, on the Sunshine Coast, offered assistance
to the woman when her car broke down around midnight at Vale View on August 7, last year.

He allegedly threatened the 49-year-old with a knife, punched her in the face and sexually
assaulted her before throwing her out of his van and driving off.

He will appear in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on August 30.

AAP RTV gd/ar

KEYWORD: ASSAULT (BRISBANE)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Iemma calls for all of Sydney to get behind FC

AAP General News (Australia)
02-20-2006
NSW: Iemma calls for all of Sydney to get behind FC

New South Wales Premier MORRIS IEMMA has caught the soccer bug .. congratulating Sydney
Football Club on making it through to the first A-League grand final.

Sydney will now host the winner of next week's preliminarily final between Adelaide
and the Central Coast Mariners.

Mr IEMMA is urging Sydneysiders to turn out on March 5 for the grand final to …

NSW:Shot man escaped over balcony

AAP General News (Australia)
04-15-2011
NSW:Shot man escaped over balcony

Sydney police say a man shot during an altercation at an eastern suburbs apartment
managed to climb over a balcony and make his way to a nearby cafe.

Officers were called to a Bondi unit this afternoon .. where they found a 40-year-old
man with a gunshot wound in his stomach.

They were told a man was seen scaling down from a balcony in a block of units .. who
was later found at a nearby cafe with gunshot wounds.

Two injured men are flatmates .. but police believe it's a random attack and they didn't
shoot each other.

They're appealing for witnesses to come forward.

AAP RTV ct/tr/tm

KEYWORD: SHOOTING (SYDNEY)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA:SA police seek paraplegic man

AAP General News (Australia)
12-29-2010
SA:SA police seek paraplegic man

Police are concerned for a paraplegic man .. in poor health .. who's been missing for
more than two weeks in South Australia.

53-year-old MICHAEL FAHEY was last seen on December 13 at Kalbeeba .. north of Adelaide.

Police and family members are concerned for Mr FAHEY's welfare .. as he's not in good health.

He's believed to be driving a 1985 green Subaru station wagon .. WFB935 .. and has
his wheelchair with him.

AAP RTV lk/ajw/

KEYWORD: FAHEY (ADELAIDE)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW:Keli Lane was advised she was free to leave hospital with baby

AAP General News (Australia)
08-18-2010
NSW:Keli Lane was advised she was free to leave hospital with baby

A Sydney jury's been told a sportswoman accused of slipping out of hospital to murder
her newborn baby was advised she was "free to go".

Auburn Hospital midwife ANN MARIE HANLON says she told KELI LANE she was able to go
whenever she was ready to go.

She's been giving evidence today at the NSW Supreme Court trial of the 35 year old
.. who's pleaded not guilty to murdering two-day old TEGAN LANE on September 14, 1996.

The trial's continuing.

AAP RTV mss/tr/af

KEYWORD: LANE (SYDNEY)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Watson expected to end record attempt in early May

AAP General News (Australia)
04-11-2010
Fed: Watson expected to end record attempt in early May

Teenage solo sailor JESSICA WATSON is heading towards the Great Australian Bight after
reaching Australian waters overnight.

The 16-year-old Sunshine Coast teenager expects to pass Cape Leeuwin .. the most southwesterly
point on the Australian mainland .. sometime today.

JESSICA .. who is aiming to be the youngest person to sail solo around the world ..

is expected to complete her record-breaking journey about seven weeks ahead of schedule.

She has under seven-thousand-500 kilometres remaining of her 42-thousand thousand kilometre
attempt.

Her manager says JESSICA is hoping to land beside the Sydney Opera House in the first
week of May.

AAP RTV bzs/sw/wz

KEYWORD: SAIL (SYDNEY)

2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: UN rapporteur slams Aboriginal policies in Australia

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2009
FED: UN rapporteur slams Aboriginal policies in Australia

A visiting senior United Nations official says Canberra's intervention in remote Aboriginal
communities in the Northern Territory is clearly discriminatory.

The assessment's come from the UN's special rapporteur on indigenous rights .. JAMES
ANAYA .. who also says there's entrenched racism in Australia.

Mr ANAYA wants the federal government to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in
the Northern Territory right away.

He's also slammed Labor's policy of demanding 40-year leases over indigenous land before
building new houses .. and says the Stolen Generations should be paid compensation.

AAP RTV jcd/sb/wz

KEYWORD: INDIGENOUS UN (CANBERRA)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Indonesian president tells Rudd he'll help stem flow of boatpeople

AAP General News (Australia)
04-19-2009
FED: Indonesian president tells Rudd he'll help stem flow of boatpeople

In a telephone chat with KEVIN RUDD .. Indonesian President SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO's
vowed to work closer with Australia to stem the flow of asylum seekers arriving in Austalian
waters.

The leaders have agreed the recent influx is due to conflicts in Afghanistan .. Pakistan
and Sri Lanka .. and the global financial crisis.

A spokesperson for the PM says President YUDHOYONO's told Mr RUDD that given the current
situation .. he's ready to bring the already good cooperation between Australian and Indonesian
authorities even closer.

An explosion on board a boat carrying asylum seekers believed to be from Afghanistan
on Thursday has killed five people and injured dozens more.

It's the sixth boat intercepted by authorities in Australian waters this year.

AAP RTV jcd/tm

KEYWORD: BOAT RUDD (CANBERRA)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, Dec 14

AAP General News (Australia)
12-14-2008
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, Dec 14
Midday Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1130


NZ Climbers (MOUNT COOK)

An Australian climber says he thought he was going to perish too .. after he watched
his brother plunge hundreds of metres to his death on New Zealand's highest mountain.

42-year-old MILES VINAR says he expected to die on Mount Cook that same night .. stranded
in a snow cave after his brother MARK'S death fall .. on their descent on Thursday.

But he survived a second night of isolation .. before the weather cleared early yesterday
morning and he was able to signal to a group of other climbers by flashing his headlamp.

Sporting just a few cuts to his face and a sunburnt nose after being rescued by helicopter
.. the systems engineer from Perth says he and his doctor brother had enough equipment
and supplies with them .. but crucially .. had not signed a log book before heading off.

He says his generous and courageous brother is now part of the mountains he loved so much.





Mount Cook's chief ranger says the two men had all the right equipment with them ..

but it's an unforgiving environment .. and there are no second chances.

RICHARD MCNAMARA says an emergency beacon's useful .. but cloud cover would have prevented
the rescue chopper reaching the area any earlier anyway.



Bullies (SYDNEY)

There are calls for stronger anti-bullying policies in schools today .. after a survey
found bullying in Australian primary schools is among the worst in the world.

Of the year four students in 36 countries surveyed in The Trends In International Mathematics
And Science Study .. only those in Kuwait .. Qatar .. Taiwan and New Zealand fared worse.

Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations of NSW president DIANNE GIBLIN says
the findings are of huge concern and demand more action.



SHOT MOTHER (MELBOURNE)

The mother of a 15-year-old boy shot dead by police in Melbourne says her son was fragile
and needed protection .. and was not a violent person at all.

TYLER CASSIDY was shot and killed by three officers in a skate park on Thursday night
after allegedly threatening them with knives.

He's believed to have been upset over the second anniversary of his father's death from cancer.

Workplace Abbott (CANBERRA)

The federal opposition will wait for a senate report in February .. before finalising
its position on the government's new industrial relations laws.

Opposition leader MALCOLM TURNBULL has been quoted as saying the coalition won't oppose
the new IR legislation .. but will take issue with some aspects of it.

Senior Liberal MP TONY ABBOTT says they'll reluctantly support changes to unfair dismissal
.. because it'd be a bad look politically to be appearing to make it easier for bosses
to sack workers in a time of looming recession.

But he's told the Nine Network the coalition's unlikely to go along with things that
go far beyond what Labor took to the election .. like pattern bargaining and arbitration.



Weather Vic (MELBOURNE)

Melbourne Water says it'll be a few days before we know if the torrential rain of the
last two days has boosted the city's water supply.

A spokesman says the major catchments have received an average of 40mm .. and there
should be some good run-off into reservoirs.

But he says it doesn't change the need to keep saving water .. as Melbourne starts
summer with about 100 billion litres less water in storage than last year.



Greece Boy Police (ATHENS)

More violence in Greece .. where hooded youths have firebombed a police station in
central Athens .. following a vigil to mark a week since the police killing of a teenager.

The fatal shooting sparked riots across the country.

A government building and two banks have also been damaged overnight.

Police fired tear gas as they chased a group of about 100 youths in the Exarchia district.

A similar number vandalised a gymnasium in Thessaloniki.



India Gunman (MUMBAI)

It's now known the sole gunman captured in last month's Mumbai attacks originally intended
to seize hostages and outline demands in a series of dramatic calls to the media.

In a seven-page confession to police .. MOHAMMED AJMAL KASAB says he and his partner
had planned a rooftop standoff .. but couldn't find a suitable building.

Instead they massacred dozens of people at the main train station in India's largest
city .. during a three-day rampage that left 164 people plus nine of the 10 gunmen dead.

21-year-old KASAB also describes his conversion from a lowly street crim in Pakistan
to a loyal soldier for Lashkar-e-Taiba .. the banned terrorist group blamed by India in
the attacks.



Med Hormones (SAN ANTONIO)

New research has revealed the most dramatic evidence yet .. of the dangers of taking
menopause hormones.

The new analysis of a US federal study shows taking estrogen and progestin pills for
five years doubles the risk of breast cancer.

And even those on treatment for as little as a couple of years have a greater chance
of getting cancer.

The good news is that when women stop taking the hormones their odds quickly improve
.. returning to a normal risk level roughly two years after quitting.

Briefly in other news ..

British prime minister GORDON BROWN says the UK could send extra troops to Afghanistan
under a US-led military surge aimed at stemming terrorism and supporting upcoming Afghan
elections.

Three more Canadian soldiers have been killed in a blast in southern Afghanistan ..

as about a thousand people gather in Ontario for a military funeral for one of three others
killed last week.

More than 40 people have been injured when two bottles of hydrochloric acid were thrown
from a high-rise building into a crowded shopping area in Hong Kong.




And Russian science student KSENYA SUKHINOVA has been crowned Miss World 2008.

In Sport ..

Golf Aust (SYDNEY)

New Zealand's DAVID SMAIL holds a one-shot lead heading into today's final round of
the $1.5 million Australia Open at Royal Sydney.

SMAIL, who will tee off in the final pair at lunch-time, is 11-under par and leads
Australia's ANDRE STOLZ at 10-under.

Third round leader STEPHEN DARTNALL and EWAN PORTER are equal third on eight-under.

Two-time winner ROBERT ALLENBY is the biggest name in contention, sitting in a group
of four players four shots off the pace on seven-under par.

Play is already underway with no one making any real move on the leaders in blustery conditions.



Soccer English Aust (LONDON)

TIM CAHILL has scored a last-gasp winning goal for his English Premier League club
Everton in their 1-0 victory against Manchester City.

The Australian found the net deep into injury time after switching from his usual midfield
position to play as an emergency striker.

The goal is Cahill's third after 10 matches with this season.

Elsewhere, `keeper MARK SCHWARZER helped Fulham secure a 0-0 draw with Stoke City at
Britannia Stadium.

Midfielder VINCE GRELLA made a return to the substitute's bench for Blackburn after
suffering a hamstring injury in mid November but did not feature in his side's 3-0 loss
to Wigan.



ENDS MIDDAY ROUND-UP

Broadcast Desk inquiries 24 hours: 02 9322 8714

AAP RTV /jmt

KEYWORD: MIDDAY ROUND-UP

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Eqn:Star couple put Aust on track to eventing glory

AAP General News (Australia)
08-09-2008
Eqn:Star couple put Aust on track to eventing glory

By Melissa Jenkins

HONG KONG, Aug 9 AAP - Lucinda Fredericks upstaged her husband Clayton with a remarkable
ride in the dressage that put Australia in the early box seat for the Olympic team eventing
gold medal today.

Lucinda Fredericks and her horse Headley Britannia led the field after the first session
with 30.40 penalty points, with Clayton second on 37 and US rider Gina Miles third on
39.60.

After Fredericks' impressive ride, which included a rare perfect 10 on a flying change
cantering across the diagonal, she threw her hands skyward, and hugged her horse.

The Fredericks are making their Olympic debuts together after living together for 15 years.

"I think it's a good thing because we can get mouldy (mouldy) with each other and give
each other a bit of jib," she told reporters at the Sha Tin Racecourse.

"You know, I get in a mood, he gets in a mood and at least we get in a mood with each
other and we don't get in a mood with anybody else.

"We do argue but so does everybody."

The pair were originally assigned separate rooms in the athletes village before moving
in together.

"Lucinda doesn't snore so I think I am doing better than most of the other Aussie riders
who are sharing with other guys," Clayton said.

England-born Lucinda Fredericks, who began representing Australia eight years ago,
said she was not at all nervous during her dressage test today.

"I'd be happy to do five more tests," she said.

"I'm riding a little pony who tries her guts out. I love her, everybody loves her.

"She's not flash, she's not a big, smart mover, but she's very correct."

Fredericks is now also well placed to win an individual Olympic medal, although dressage
is traditionally her strongest eventing discipline.

Despite historic back-to-back victories in Britain's 2006 Burghley Horse Trials and
at Badminton last year, Lucinda Fredericks remains a little-known athlete in Australia.

"It's quite difficult for us being based in the UK because we're very much involved
in the European circuit. Australia is so far away, half the people in Australia wouldn't
know who I am," she said.

A protester, whom is understood to have removed a jacket to reveal a Free Tibet shirt,
yelled out and was surrounded by officials during Clayton's test but he said it did not
affect his horse.

New Zealand's Mark Todd, 52, who won gold at Los Angeles and Seoul, and retired after
claiming individual bronze in at the Sydney Games, returned after an eight-year break
today and was placed finished in the middle of the field.

The French suffered a blow yesterday with the withdrawal of Olympic gold medallist
Jean Teulere, whose horse was injured.

Another Australian, Megan Jones, will do her dressage round aboard Kirby Park Irish
Jester tonight, while compatriots Shane Rose and Sonja Johnson ride tomorrow.

The cross-country is on Monday and the concluding show-jumping is on Tuesday.

AAP mj/jds

KEYWORD: OLY08 EQN AUST NIGHTLEAD

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Police seize drugs at Sydney music festival

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2008
NSW: Police seize drugs at Sydney music festival

SYDNEY, Feb 17 AAP - Sixty-eight people have been busted for possessing illicit drugs
at a Sydney music festival that drew a crowd of 40,000.

Police used drug-detection dogs and high-visibility crowd control measures for 14 hours
at the Good Vibrations festival in Centennial Park yesterday.

The checks ended at midnight and 68 people were found with drugs, including cannabis,
amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy, police said.

Most were charged with drug offences and some issued with cannabis cautions.

In one case, police allege a 34-year-old was found with 23 ecstasy tablets and cannabis.

The man, from Chester Hill, has been charged with possessing and supplying an indictable
quantity of a prohibited drug.

He is to appear at Waverley Local Court on March 12.

Another 12 were charged with offences including offensive behaviour, resisting arrest
and assaulting police.

Park rangers issued 140 infringements to people trespassing at the event.

AAP rs/apm

KEYWORD: FESTIVAL

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Rudd says Labor not there to appease unions, business

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2007
Fed: Rudd says Labor not there to appease unions, business

CANBERRA, Aug 29 AAP - Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has defended Labor's industrial
policy, saying they want to get the balance of its workplace laws right, not appease unions
or business.

Mr Rudd, who outlined the latest phase of his IR policy yesterday, said he wasn't handing
power back to the unions and such a claim from Prime Minister John Howard was a predictable
political line on the eve of the election.

He said the bottom line was that the government laws went too far with Australian Workplace
Agreements (AWAs) that stripped away penalty rates and offered no real protection from
unfair dismissal.

Mr Rudd said there was a range of different views across business.

"We can cop that on the chin. I understand that. But my job is not to please big business.

My job is not to please union leaders. My job is to get the balance right," he told the
Nine Network.

Mr Rudd said Labor's workplace relations plan featured some tough decisions on unions,
including preserving current restrictions on right of entry for union official to workplaces
and maintaining bars on secondary boycotts.

He said that wasn't popular with unions.

"So for Mr Howard to run around with that sort of rhetoric frankly is just wrong," he said.

Under Labor's plan, the changes won't fully come into effect until 2010.

"We need sensible transition arrangements between their arrangements now, to the new
system that will have no AWAs," Mr Rudd said.

"Then that's the end of the system."

Mr Rudd said the issue produced a debate within Labor, balancing the unfairness of
many AWAs and the need for certainty for business.

He rejected suggestions that Labor's plan would produce an administrative nightmare for business.

Mr Rudd said the government's fairness test required employment of hundreds of additional
bureaucrats to administer the system.

"We asked in parliament the other day to confirm whether in fact they have got a whole
bunch of English backpackers on six days training, rolled in to try and administer this
system," he said.

Mr Rudd said today marked three years since Mr Howard called the 2004 election.

"We are going to have an election very soon. I am very relaxed about the Australian
people making their decision and if they want to draw a line in the sand between Mr Howard's
industrial relations system and the proposals we have got."

AAP mb/jm/jlw

KEYWORD: WORKPLACE RUDD

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Rudd under fire again over account of childhood

AAP General News (Australia)
04-15-2007
Vic: Rudd under fire again over account of childhood

MELBOURNE, April 15 AAP - Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has again come under fire over
his account of his childhood in Queensland - from his own family.

Mr Rudd's first cousin Chris de Vere told Fairfax newspapers he disputed the story
that the Labor Party leader and his mother were evicted from their home and forced to
sleep in their car.

At the time of the reported incident, Mr Rudd was 11.

Mr de Vere, who is Mr Rudd's cousin on his mother's side, said no-one in the family
knew about the Labor Party leader's story of being evicted from his childhood home.

He said he was only enlightened about the chain of events when it was revealed in the media.

Mr Rudd has said that following his father's death, he and his mother Margaret were
forced off a share farm at Eumundi in Queensland where they had lived and worked.

Mr Rudd's story was challenged last month by the five children of the farm's owner, Aubrey Low.

They told Fairfax newspapers that Mr Rudd had "dragged our father's proud reputation
through the mud time and time again".

Mr de Vere said he "didn't know a thing about it until it broke in the paper and I
saw it on television".

"You would have thought there would have been something said about it somewhere," he said.

"That's not to say that it didn't happen, but I have no knowledge of it, and my father
has no knowledge of it."

But Mr Rudd hit back.

"I stand 100 per cent behind my version of events of what happened to me and my mother
back in 1969," Mr Rudd said.

"Other members of my close family have already made statements supporting my mother's
recollection of these events when she was alive and the clear recollections of my childhood
some 37 years ago."

AAP jat/ao

KEYWORD: RUDD COUSIN

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA: Baxter hunger strike over after meeting with officials

AAP General News (Australia)
12-13-2006
SA: Baxter hunger strike over after meeting with officials

The immigration department says a hunger strike at the Baxter Detention Centre in South
Australia is over.

It says meals were served at about 10 o'clock (CDT) last night .. following a meeting
between detainees and officials.

About 30 detainees refused food yesterday morning .. while 15 people began a peaceful
protest at the centre's front gates.

AAP RTV tkc/tjd/wf/bart

KEYWORD: BAXTER (ADELAIDE)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Govt to use big stick to get water grid

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2006
Qld: Govt to use big stick to get water grid

By Paul Osborne

BRISBANE, Aug 8 AAP - The Queensland government plans to impose emergency powers and
fines to force councils to complete major drought-breaking water works in the state's
south-east.

Premier Peter Beattie said today emergency powers spelt out in regulations to be introduced
to parliament would compel 18 south-eastern councils to adopt a range of measures to boost
water supplies.

A raft of projects would link in to a grid allowing water to be shared between dams
and other water storage sites through an interconnected set of pipelines.

Business and industry would also be required to save water and councils would have
to act quickly to fix leaky pipes and upgrade ageing dams.

"It is clear that we have a developing emergency with water," Mr Beattie told parliament.

The south-east corner is in the midst of its worst drought on record, with little chance
of significant rain in the next three months.

Mr Beattie said councils would be fined if they did not take specific action to tackle
water issues within certain timeframes.

The fines would include up to $75,000 for failing to lodge a water supply emergency
response and up to $125,000 for failing to comply with a direction to carry out a specific
measure.

The government could also appoint its own people to take over management of the projects.

"This is tough legislation for a tough situation and I make no apologies for it," Mr
Beattie said.

"We cannot afford any slippage on these vital projects."

Mr Beattie also today signalled he had changed his mind on a 2008 referendum on recycled
water, saying it could be brought forward to as early as June 2007.

He said he had been advised that the western corridor recycled water scheme and spur
line into Wivenhoe Dam could be completed by April 2008 - seven months earlier than originally
expected.

"Given the shorter timeframe ... I will, if the councils in south east Queensland that
will participate in the water grid are prepared to support a `yes' vote and pass a motion
to that effect, take it to the people as soon as June 2007," he said.

"If the Governor-General agrees, a referendum could be held in conjunction with the
federal election or at another suitable time."

Mr Beattie said under the new regulations all 18 councils in the south-east would have
to provide detailed plans by September 30 for substituting recycled water for industry
and business using more than 100 megalitres a year.

The government will also hold a series of public forums to outline its plan to tackle
the water crisis, with the first to be held at Parliament House on Saturday.

Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said the government had failed to tackle the
water issue in eight years in office and the current crisis was of its making.

"The Labor government has failed to invest in new infrastructure over eight years," he said.

Mr Beattie will meet with council mayors this afternoon to discuss the plan.

AAP pjo/sc/it/sd

KEYWORD: WATER QLD LEAD

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Costello skips on leadership talk after pill speech

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2006
Fed: Costello skips on leadership talk after pill speech

CANBERRA, Feb 16 AAP - Treasurer Peter Costello has denied that an emotion charged
speech he made during debate on abortion pill RU486 was a play for the Liberal leadership.

Mr Costello, in supporting the bill, told parliament yesterday how he was faced with
the option of abortion 18 years ago when his wife Tanya, who was pregnant, was unconscious
in hospital.

"I think it is common knowledge that when my wife Tanya was pregnant and unconscious
in hospital, some 18 years ago, I was faced with this terrible situation," he told parliament.

He said he had been advised the pregnancy was complicating the medication she would
need to survive and he was faced with the "awful choice" of having to decide on termination,
but had instead decided to continue both the treatment and the pregnancy.

"I have no doubt that the law should not have prevented such a choice - that the law
should allow a choice, whether physical or mental health of the woman is at risk," he
said.

Mr Costello said today he made the statements to lay bare his views on the pill to
his Victorian electorate.

Asked if the speech could be viewed as an opportunity to reveal himself as the new
leader to update and rejuvenate an ageing government, Mr Costello told ABC Radio: "No.

This is a conscience vote, there are no party positions, there are no fixed party directives".

"The reason I spoke in the debate is because I have to vote.

"My constituents are entitled to know what I think."

Mr Costello said the debate had been mature despite Health Minister Tony Abbott yesterday
equating abortion with murder.

"Actually, I think the whole debate has been very mature debate and I think it has
been interesting because people have taken very sincere positions.

"Can I say in relation to the health minister and this is in no way a rebuff to Tony
... parliament puts in place procedures, if those procedures work and bring advantage
then that's a good decision.

"If they don't, parliament can always change them, can take them away."

The lower house will vote today on whether to hand powers of veto over RU486 from the
health minister to the Therapeutic Goods Administarion. The bill passed the Senate last
week.

AAP jcg/jt/sd

KEYWORD: ABORTION COSTELLO

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

armature

armature Any moving part in an electrical machine in which a voltage is induced by a magnetic field, especially the rotating coils in an electric motor or generator and the ferromagnetic bar attracted by an electromagnet in a relay.

calvus

calvus (cal) [Latin: ‘bald’] A cloud species. A cumulonimbus cloud in which the tops of certain towers have started to lose their hard cumuliform outline, but cirriform characteristics are not yet readily apparent. Some striations may be evident. This stage indicates that glaciation has begun in the top of the cloud
.

Per Hjartoy Named to Lead Technology Group for ePIT; Will Manage Development and Implementation of Regulated, Unregulated and B2B Exchanges.

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2000

ePIT, Inc., the premier technology provider for regulated, unregulated and B2B exchanges, has appointed Per Hjartoy -- one of the architects of eSchwab's electronic brokerage technology -- head of all technology initiatives for the company.

The move places ePIT's technology development, product installation, delivery infrastructure and customer relationships under Hjartoy's direction. ePIT expects that, by the end of this year, 100 employees -- fully half the ePIT workforce -- will report to Mr. Hjartoy. The growing staff includes computer engineers, programmers, quality assurance engineers, database modelers and administrators, all of whom have a wide range of experience in developing complex systems for the financial industry.

"Per is among the world's elite technologists in the exchange, brokerage and financial-services sectors," said Rich Friesen, ePIT's Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "His ability to design, create and install industry-standard technology will ensure that ePIT continues to be recognized as the pre-eminent provider in these hyper-growth markets."

ePIT's rapid growth provides a wide range of responsibilities for Mr. Hjartoy. The company recently cemented a strategic and financial partnership with Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HWP) to provide HP with a mission-critical technology infrastructure for Internet Commerce. Additionally, ePIT began powering its first exchange -- AgEx.com, an Internet exchange for the $2 billion almond industry -- in January.

Mr. Hjartoy is widely recognized for his deployment of advanced software architectures and business solutions in Internet financial services, and he is one of the driving forces behind the VITAL systems architecture. Before joining ePIT last year, he served as Founder and President of Actius and Acti, two, Internet-commerce consulting companies based in Mountain View, CA.

Regarded as an industry leader in client-server computing, Mr. Hjartoy has conducted business in more than 30 countries and managed joint ventures between multinational corporations, including the relationship between SAP AG and Apple Computer, Inc. Among his accomplishments is the design and delivery of advanced security management software for the World Wide Web. Since 1996, he has served a consultant for manufacturers and users of large Internet and Intranet systems including Apple Computer, Bay Networks, Netdynamics, Oracle Corporation, SAP AG, StorageTek, Synopsis, and Charles Schwab & Company, Inc.

Mr. Hjartoy received his MBA from The Norwegian School of Management, Oslo, in 1984. He received his MS in Information Systems from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1988, with a major in Operating Systems and Databases.

About ePIT

Incorporated in 1998, ePIT, Inc., is a San Francisco-based Internet exchange service company providing scalable, robust and secure Internet exchange services that support a wide range of business-to-business Internet markets and regulated securities and futures exchanges. ePIT provides total exchange services solutions. Additional information about ePIT can be found on its Web site at www.epit.com.

eCHARGE and ClassMates.com Offer Unique Ecommerce Solution for Those Reuniting With High School Contacts.

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 1998--

Transaction system allows customers to charge purchases to their

phone bill

eCHARGE Corporation and ClassMates.Com today signed a deal that provides the eCHARGE billing method to people pursuing information about former high school classmates. The ease and simplicity of the eCHARGE transaction system will allow the growing number of internet users not using credit cards online to gain membership and access to the ClassMates.Com website by clicking on the eCHARGE icon and instantly charging the fee to their monthly phone bill.

By integrating the eCHARGE system into their selection of payment options, ClassMates.Com enters the cutting edge of the exponentially expanding field of electronic commerce. With this partnership, the eCHARGE system offers a quick and secure way to pay for ClassMates membership to those who had not joined because they lacked a credit card or did not want to use a card. Because sales on the ClassMates' site are impulse driven, the convenient eCHARGE payment option will increase customer transactions by enabling the charge to go to their phone bill, an option that is not credit card based. At the cost of $20 for a 36-month membership, the Classmates.Com implementation is a perfect fit for the eCHARGE subscription model.

Erica Beyer, Vice President of Marketing for eCHARGE, sees the ClassMates business model as a natural fit for the eCHARGE approach to commerce on the Net. "Our studies have shown that there continues to be a general reluctance on the part of the online customer to actively use a credit card on the Net," states Beyer.

"In ClassMates' case their baby boomer demographic may well magnify that reluctance factor. ClassMates broad market appeal makes them an ideal alliance partner to showcase the eCHARGE commerce system."

Randy Conrads, President, ClassMates.Com, echoes Ms Beyer's comments, "For us, eCHARGE presents some exciting opportunities. We feel there continues to be a large segment of our market that for one reason or another does not possess a credit card. eCHARGE makes our impulse buy work for anyone with a telephone."

About ClassMates.Com

Headquartered in Seattle, Classmates.Com is the largest high school directory on the Internet. With 1,000,000 registrants, ClassMates.Com is setting the standard for finding your old high school friends on the Net. ClassMates and alliance partner Delphi.com in Boston are now activating message boards for 30,000 high schools across the country. These boards will serve as precursors to national online reunions. ClassMates.Com has been in business since 1995, breaking monthly internal growth records on a regular basis. www.classmates.com.

About eCHARGE Corporation

Based in Seattle, WA and Vancouver, B.C., eCHARGE Corporation is a leading provider of transaction processing systems on the Internet. eCHARGE(tm) is an Internet payment technology that enables consumers to charge digital goods and services to their phone bills in one seamless and secure transaction. Founded in 1996, eCHARGE offers payment solutions to Internet merchants worldwide in the ISP, ESD, subscription, information download, online games, and donations categories. Web site address http://www.echarge.com.

Online ads stiff competition for newspapers.

Newspapers could lose as much as $5 billion in classified revenues to Internet competitors by the year 2003.

The gap in projected revenue for newspaper classified ads if there were no Internet and the actual revenue with the Internet will only. widen with time, reports Forrester Research Inc. The company says that eventually the "Internet will eliminate classified ads as we know them."

The 90 classified advertisers Forrester interviewed around the country spent an average of $382,000 on all media in 1997. While 11 percent of that was on the Internet, these advertisers planned to reallocate an average of 22 percent of their newspaper classified spending to the Internet by 2000.

Currently, classified advertisements constitute a $17 billion market that represents an average of about 40 percent of all advertising revenue for newspapers, according to the Inland Press Association and the Newspaper Association of America (NAA).

The future, as Forrester sees it, may look bleak. But Kevin McCourt, NAA's Director of Real Estate Advertising and Online Classifieds, says that although the classified advertisement market has become more competitive, newspapers are still in the game.

"Newspapers are still the first place people go," McCourt says. "Newspaper classifieds will change, but I think they'll still be around for a while."

He says that while many classified advertising directors are "worried more about continued revenue gains, there's a great sense of optimism, in part due to newspapers embracing the Internet."

That, he says, is key. Newspapers must evolve with the technology or lose out. He notes two factors that put a newspaper at risk for losing classified advertisements: ignoring the Internet or taking some steps to utilize the Internet, but not communicating with advertisers to let them know what improvements have been made.

And newspapers are getting the message. More than two-thirds of NAA member newspapers publish classifieds in print and online as a package deal. About 650 to 700 dailies publish their classifieds online.

In St. Louis, the Riverfront Times sees the threat of online classifieds, but has accepted the challenge.

"We've decided to go the other way - to embrace the electronic age," Kenny Stocker, classified advertising director for the RFT, says. "We're trying to make a positive out of it. It is the wave of the future. Are we worried about it (the online competition) enough to make sure our online product is good? Yes."

McCourt says the competition comes in two forms, cross category competitors and product line competitors. Cross category competitors provide classified advertisements for many categories, often in a directory form. Product line competitors focus on one category, providing more in-depth services. Examples include Career Mosaic, CyberHomes, Microsoft's CarPoint and Autobytel.com.

Product line competitors are most changing classified advertising because they offer extended services such as pictures of cars or houses, resume posting services and databases and additional product information or job hunting tips.

The RFT made the first move toward expanding its online classifieds about a month ago when it added an option to include links in online line ads. Links connect the advertisement to another website, often the home page of the company or individual advertising. Links increase the cost of the ad, but also allow an advertiser to connect the reader to pictures, resumes or company profiles and more detailed information. Stocker says links are a new trend, and he expects them to increase in the next quarter.

Online classifieds also rank above print classifieds in their ability to provide national listings. A person using most online classifieds can search for homes, cars or job offerings across the country. Newspapers, wanting to expand their service in the realm, often outsource a national service like AdQuest3D, Classified Warehouse or CareerPath.com. Often, the national site will have the newspaper's logo on it when accessed from that paper's website.

"Consumers might not even know the technology was being outsourced," McCourt says.

CareerPath.com, for example, was co-founded in 1995 by the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News and the Washington Post. Financial backing for CareerPath.corn is provided by Knight-Ridder, New York Times Company, Times Mirror Company, Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company, as well as Cox Interactive Media, Gannett Company and Hearst Corporation. Currently, 90 newspapers are affiliated with CareerPath.com.

At any given time CareerPath.com has about 340,795 jobs listed. Each month 1.1 million people visit the site, according to Media Metrix.

CareerPath.com offers career management information, including interactive chats/bulletin boards with career experts and the ability to post resumes.

Services for the job seeker, such as posting resumes and searching for jobs are free. CareerPath.com charges employers to search the resume database and to post job listings. Companies now can post jobs directly on the site without posting in a newspaper. About three-fourths of the ads come from newspapers, but the ratio of newspaper-based ads to direct ads is expected to even out next year.

Having the newspaper's name on the site is important, McCourt says, because people trust the quality of a newspaper. He says that when people pay for classified ads, as they do in newspapers, they are less likely to be just fishing. Often, she says, free Internet ads attract less-than-serious advertisers. Also, he says, newspapers are more sensitive to issues like fair housing and other laws. For example, you cannot sell anything illegal through a newspaper.

"It's just a safer place to shop," McCourt says.

To help newspapers utilize that trust, NAA created a symbol, similar to the Good Housekeeping seal, to identify newspaper-affiliated sites. McCourt says two-thirds of customers in a recent survey said they were more likely to respond to advertisers on newspaper-affiliated sites than on other sites.

Another advantage he says newspapers have is that advertisers get print and online ads in one package, which should generate more response for the advertiser.

Stocker agrees that print classifieds still have value.

"We feel that print media is still the best way to meet the masses and the passive reader," Stocker says.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch was contacted for comment, but did not respond.

Leigh Muzslay is a St. Louis free-lance writer

Consumers juggling home and mobile electronics devices would welcome one source of technical help to manage it all, Accenture survey shows.(MARKET INTELLIGENCE)

Consumers who are juggling the use of their home-based and mobile consumer electronics devices would welcome integrated technical support to manage them, especially if they could turn to a single company for help, according to a study from Accenture.

Accenture conducted the survey to determine if consumers who are faced with a proliferation of new devices - both personal and business - perceive the need for integrated technology support across multiple digital devices. The 21-country survey focused on consumers who own both computers and mobile phones or smartphones.

A clear majority (63 percent) of the "super-users" surveyed said they would like to have one company provide technical support for most or all of their home and mobile consumer electronics devices, regardless of the specific communications services they use, which range from fixed landline to wireless, broadband, cable and satellite services. A "super-user" is defined as someone who owns and uses 14 or more consumer electronics devices.

When asked about the kinds of technical issues for which they would want support, all of the respondents focused primarily on computer-related issues, and:

- Sixty-eight percent indicated they would want support to reduce the likelihood of serious computer problems that could put data at risk or cost a lot of money to fix;

- Sixty-seven percent want increased security from virus and malware attacks that could put data at risk;

- Sixty-two percent desire improved computer speed for tasks such as browsing the Internet;

- Fifty-seven percent want help obtaining the latest software or security patches.

All of the consumers interviewed expressed interest in a wide variety of support options. Regarding remote support:

- More than one-third (36 percent) indicated their top choice would be to work with someone remotely (such as chatting online, speaking on the phone, or communicating via email with a technician) and;

- One-third (33 percent) prefer that technicians remotely access their computer at night or during other "down time."

"Although consumers we surveyed are concerned with computer-related issues, our research shows that they are recognizing the value of integrated support to help manage their home and mobile devices, ranging from in-home support, including remote access, to live call-center and web support, to email," said Kurt Hogan, senior executive, Premium Technology Services, Accenture.

"We expect this concern to broaden, especially as people integrate their business hardware into the home network environment and use smartphones much the way they use computers, to browse the web, pay bills, play games, and more."

Fifty-three percent of all the consumers surveyed said they would welcome the opportunity to have one company provide technical support for most or all of their home and mobile consumer electronics devices. Of this group:

- Fifty-nine percent have satellite radio;

- Fifty-seven percent have cable TV;

- Fifty-five percent have mobile/wireless services;

- Fifty-five percent have cable broadband;

- Fifty-four percent have fixed telephone landline service;

- Fifty-four percent have satellite TV

- Fifty-two percent have wireless Internet; and

- Fifty-two percent have DSL broadband.

When asked to rank companies that would be the best fit to provide technical support for desktop or laptop computers, more than one-third (34 percent) of all respondents chose a company they pay for service on a monthly basis, such as a communications provider, cable or satellite company, and, more than half of the "super-users" (52 percent) agreed.

More than half (58 percent) of smartphone consumers said they would look to mobile phone or smartphone providers as a likely source of technical support for these devices.

"Now is the time to address this market," Hogan said. "The digital home is going to become more complex, not less, as devices and applications proliferate, with consumers presented with a wide variety of service provider options.

We believe there are opportunities for these providers to maximize the customer experience and solidify customer loyalty - if they can equip themselves to provide integrated technical support."

Accenture conducted an online survey of 3,886 consumers in 21 countries in November and December 2010. The consumers were all 18 years old or older and possessed both computers and mobile phones or smartphones. The report is available at www.accenture.com/beyond-landline.

Portraits and coffee.

Provided by 7DAYS.ae

If the thought of looking at art hung on the walls of a gallery feels a little too intimidating, why not enjoy art in the comfort of a warm and welcoming coffee shop? Throughout July, Bert's Caf[R] in Dubai Marina and the Greens is featuring the works of Arthi Srinivasan in an exhibition by Dubai Lime, which will also feature work by the Dubai Autism Centre and the Dubai Centre for Special Needs. Srinivasan, born in Mumbai but raised in the UAE, is a self-taught artist who explores portraits in this exhibition - his preferred form despite having dabbled in landscapes. Most of the portraits she has created have been of individuals who have inspired her and artists she admires. The exhibition will run until the end of the month and is held as a community service by Dubai Lime and Strawberry PR as part of their efforts at supporting activities involving special needs charities in Dubai as well as development of the arts in the city.

For more information visit www.dubailime.com.

E 2007 Al Sidra Media LLC

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

Free Bible App Emerging as Potent Partner in Fulfilling Great Commission.

Albuquerque, NM (PRWEB) May 31, 2011

Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH), the world's largest Audio Bible ministry, is again announcing an update to Bible.is -- their free Audio Bible app released in July 2010. Available for iPhone, iPad and Android mobile devices, the app has been downloaded over 2 million times in less than 10 months. Today, the ministry is spotlighting five new languages in which the app will now operate. Already functional in English, Spanish and Arabic, Bible.is now works in Chinese, Russian, Dutch, Italian and Portuguese.

The current additions are the next step toward 'localizing' the app into the 20 most widely spoken languages on the planet. Regardless of the language used to navigate the app, everyone will have access to the entire collection of Scripture -- which currently stands at over 300 versions across more than 210 languages.

The growth of Bible.is reflects a further expansion of the ministry's overall technology program called the Digital Bible Project. Across all platforms -- streaming, downloads, podcasts and the app -- the Digital Bible Project represents the single largest resource of Audio Bibles and texts.

"Being able to combine this technology with the Audio Bibles we have available is God's perfect timing," says Troy Carl, FCBH's national director. "There are 5.3 billion cell phone subscribers, 2 billion Internet users and over 600 million members on social networks. Our current audio recordings represent languages spoken by more than 5 billion people across the globe. You don't need to do the math to realize we're talking about the potential for a major impact for those doing Great Commission work."

Faith Comes By Hearing is committed to continuing to update the app until every language recording they have in their inventory is available, with the accompanying text. That number right now stands at 553. The ministry's goal is to complete Audio Scripture recordings in 2,000 languages by 2016.

"Everything is in place for this to happen," reports Jerry Jackson, FCBH founder and president. "As our Wycliffe and national Bible Society partners complete their translations, we can quickly record them and make them accessible on all our platforms. It really just comes down to having the funds to get the work done and we are trusting God's people will respond to His call."

###

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/BibleApp/GreatCommission/prweb8483108.htm

FNDT, CNX, D, BG, SRX, WGL Expected To Be Down Before Next Earnings Releases.

M2 PRESSWIRE-April 27, 2011-BUYINS.NET: FNDT, CNX, D, BG, SRX, WGL Expected To Be Down Before Next Earnings Releases(C)1994-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

RDATE:27042011

BUYINS.NET / www.squeezetrigger.com is monitoring the performance of all stocks with earnings being released in the coming weeks and determining how the stocks have performed Before their last 12 quarterly, 6 quarterly and 5 Consecutive Days earnings reports. FUNDTECH LTD (NASDAQ:FNDT), CONSOL ENERGY INC (NYSE:CNX), DOMINION RESOURCES INC/VA (NYSE:D), BUNGE LTD (NYSE:BG), SRA INTERNATIONAL INC-CL A (NYSE:SRX), WGL HOLDINGS INC (NYSE:WGL) are all expected to be Down Before their earnings are released Wednesday. The movement of stock prices in the days and weeks leading to and following these earnings announcements may follow a predictable pattern. Most companies stock price histories show random or unpredictable movements around earnings dates. But some seem to repeat the same pattern quarter after quarter, year after year. The # of Reports in the table below shows how many previous quarterly reports comprise the indicator that predicts how a stock will act after its earnings are released. The specific technology used to make these predictions is available for a low monthly fee at http://www.squeezetrigger.com/services/strat/mh.php . The following stocks are expected to go Down Before earnings are released Wednesday:

Symbol Company # of Reports Quarter Release Date

FNDT FUNDTECH LTD May Earnings Q1 05/04/2011

CNX CONSOL ENERGY INC 12 Quarter Q1 04/28/2011

D DOMINION RESOURCES INC/VA 6 Quarter Q1 04/28/2011

BG BUNGE LTD 6 Quarter Q1 04/28/2011

SRX SRA INTERNATIONAL INC-CL A 6 Quarter Q3 05/03/2011

WGL WGL HOLDINGS INC 6 Quarter Q2 05/04/2011

This technology is designed to help the stock trader identify those companies that seem to have a consistent pattern of movement before or after the earnings release date, based on the history of earnings releases for that company. It combines a calendar of expected earnings releases with a history of past earnings releases in a way that lets you see if a pattern exists.

FUNDTECH LTD (NASDAQ:FNDT) - Fundtech Ltd. provides end-to-end financial transaction processing software solutions for financial institutions Israel and internationally. The companys payment solutions include PAYplus USA, a payment solution for banks; Global PAYplus to manage payment activities; Pan-European PAYplus for Single European Payments Area and the European Central Banks Target 2 initiative compliance; OmniPay, a payments hub; IGTplus, a payment and settlement solution; Global PAYplus Liquidity Manager that provides centralized control of banks liquidity management needs; and PAYplus FTS, a SWIFTReady application for payments processing, message management and related services. Its payment solutions also include ACHplu$ and ProcessMaster to automate processing of ACH payments; Originet and BACSTEL-IP to make and collect ACH payments; ClaritySuite, a modular Web based financial solution to exchange information between a financial institution and its partners; AzTech that enables BACS-IP payments for the U.K. institutions; and electronic invoice presentment and payment solutions. In addition, Fundtech offers cash management solutions comprising ACCESS Banking that enable financial institutions to deliver cash management services to corporate clients; CASHplus, an Internet-based cash management solution; webBANKER for the community bank market; and Global CASHplus to automate the handling of corporate payments and receivables, liquidity, financial supply chain, and remittance, as well as settlement solutions, including PAYplus for CLS that enables members to participate in the CLS Bank system. Further, it provides application service provider/outsourcing solutions; SWIFT Services, including corporate connect, message converter, and compliance filter; interbank gateway services; and recovery services. The company was formerly known as Fundtrust Technologies Limited and changed its name to Fundtech Ltd. in June 1994. Fundtech was founded in 1993 and is based in Jersey City, New Jersey.

CONSOL ENERGY INC (NYSE:CNX) - CONSOL Energy Inc. engages in the production of multi-fuel energy and provision of energy services primarily to the electric power generation industry in the United States. The company involves in the mining, preparation, and marketing of steam coal primarily to power generators; and metallurgical coal to steel and coke producers. It also produces pipeline-quality coalbed methane gas from its coal properties in the Northern and the Central Appalachian basin; and oil and gas from properties in the Appalachian and Illinois Basins. The company sells its methane gas primarily to gas wholesalers. As of December 31, 2009, it had proved and probable reserves of approximately 3,960 million tons of steam coal. The company was founded in 1991 and is based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

DOMINION RESOURCES INC/VA (NYSE:D) - Dominion Resources, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in producing and transporting energy in the United States. It operates in three segments: DVP, Dominion Generation, and Dominion Energy. The DVP segment includes regulated electric transmission and distribution operations that serve residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. This segment also involves in non regulated retail energy marketing of electricity and natural gas. The Dominion Generation segment includes the electricity generation through coal, nuclear, gas, oil, and renewables; and related energy supply operations. It also comprises generation operations of the companys merchant fleet and energy marketing, and price risk management activities for these assets. The Dominion Energy segment includes the companys Ohio and West Virginia regulated natural gas distribution companies, regulated gas transmission pipeline and storage operations, natural gas gathering and by-products extraction activities, regulated LNG import and storage, and Appalachian exploration and production operations. It also provides producer services, which aggregates natural gas supply; engages in natural gas trading and marketing activities; and involves in natural gas supply management. The companys portfolio of assets includes approximately 27,500 MW of generation; 6,000 miles of electric transmission lines; 56,000 miles of electric distribution lines; 12,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering, and storage pipeline; and 21,700 miles of gas distribution pipeline. Dominion Resources, Inc. also owns approximately 942 bcf of storage capacity of natural gas and serves retail energy customers in 12 states. In addition, it sells electricity at wholesale prices to rural electric cooperatives, municipalities, and into wholesale electricity markets. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

BUNGE LTD (NYSE:BG) - Bunge Limited engages in the agriculture and food businesses in approximately 30 countries. It buys, sells, stores, and transports oilseeds and grains; processes oilseeds to make protein meal for animal feed, and edible oil products for commercial customers and consumers; produces sugar and ethanol from sugarcane; mills wheat and corn to make ingredients used by food companies; and sells fertilizer in North and South America. The company was founded in 1818 and is headquartered in White Plains, New York.

SRA INTERNATIONAL INC-CL A (NYSE:SRX) - SRA International, Inc. provides technology and strategic consulting services and solutions to national security, civil government, and global health sectors in the United States and internationally. It offers strategic consulting services comprising assessment of current operations, development of targeted strategies and plans, defining key priorities and accountabilities, and designing enterprise architectures; and systems design, development, and integration services, including project management, systems design, network and systems integration, data analysis and integration, security engineering, software development, database design and development, and independent test and evaluation. In addition, the company offers cyber security and information assurance services consisting of security architecture; secure systems integration; cyber security operations; information operations; and compliance, privacy, and training services. Further, it provides outsourcing and managed services, such as consolidating and modernizing existing infrastructures; supporting clients with operations management services; and managing clients applications and networks. Additionally, the company offers business solutions, including text and data mining; enterprise resource planning; business intelligence; command and control systems; contingency and disaster planning; enterprise architecture and portfolio management; environmental support services; identity management; information sharing and knowledge management; infrastructure modernization; service-oriented architecture; training, modeling, and simulation; clinical research outsourcing, regulatory consulting, and data management; and wireless integration. It also provides software products, such as ORIONMagic, NetOwl, and GangNet that provide data and text mining solutions; and passive electronic tracking systems for aircraft tracking and identification. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.

WGL HOLDINGS INC (NYSE:WGL) - WGL Holdings, Inc. engages in the delivery and sale of natural gas, and provides energy-related products and services in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. The company operates through three segments: Regulated Utility, Retail Energy-Marketing, and Design-Build Energy Systems. The Regulated Utility segment delivers natural gas to retail customers, as well as sells natural gas to customers who have not elected to purchase natural gas from unregulated third-party marketers. The Retail Energy-Marketing segment sells natural gas and electricity directly to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. As of September 30, 2009, it served approximately 151,000 residential, commercial, and industrial natural gas customers, and 113,000 electricity customers. The Design-Build Energy Systems segment focuses on upgrading the mechanical, electrical, water, and energy-related systems of government and commercial facilities by implementing traditional, as well as alternative energy technologies. The company was founded in 1848 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.

SqueezeTrigger.com has built a massive database that collects, analyzes and publishes multiple proprietary trading strategies that predict price moves in stocks, commodities and currencies. The data has then been integrated into an automated trading platform which can be used to connect to a live online broker and automate your trading of each of the strategies highlighted. It is extremely powerful with lightening fast execution at a very low price. Both the trading software and SqueezeTrigger data feed are available at http://www.squeezetrigger.com

www.squeezetrigger.com monitors trading in all US stocks in real time and maintains massive databases of short sale and naked short sale time and sales data, short squeeze SqueezeTrigger prices, market maker price movements, shareholder data, statistical data on earnings, sector correlation, seasonality, hedge fund trading strategies, comparable valuations. Reports include:

REGULATORY & COMPLIANCE NEWS

Friction Factor -- market maker surveillance system tracking Level II market makers in all stocks to determine Price Friction and compliance with new "Fair Market Making Requirements".

RegSHO Naked Shorts -- tracks EVERY failure to deliver in all US stocks and tracks all Threshold Security Lists daily for which stocks have naked shorts that are not in compliance with Regulation SHO.

INVESTMENTS & TRADING

SqueezeTrigger -- 25 billion cell database tracks EVERY short sale (not just total short interest) in all US stocks and calculates volume weighted price that a short squeeze will begin in each stock.

Earnings Edge -- predicts probability, price move and length of move before and after all US stock earnings reports.

Seasonality -- predicts probability, price move and length of move based on exact time of year for all US stocks.

Group Trader -- tracks sector rotation and stock correlation to its sector and predicts future moves in ALL sectors and industry groups.

Pattern Scan -- automates tracking of every technical pattern and predicts time and size of move in all stocks.

GATS (Global Automated Trading System) -- tracks all known trading strategies and qualifies and quantifies which are working best in real time.

About SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM

WWW.SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM is a service designed to help bonafide shareholders of publicly traded US companies fight short selling. SqueezeTrigger.com has built a proprietary database that uses Threshold list feeds and short sale time and sale data from NASDAQ, AMEX and NYSE to generate detailed and useful information to combat the short selling problem. For the first time, actual trade by trade data is available to the public that shows the attempted size, actual size, price and average value of short sales in stocks that have been shorted. This information is valuable in determining the precise point at which short sellers go out-of-the-money and start losing on their short trades.

SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM has built a massive database that collects, analyzes and publishes a proprietary SqueezeTrigger for each stock that has been shorted. The SqueezeTrigger database of nearly 2.5 billion short sale transactions goes back to January 1, 2005 and calculates the exact price at which the Total Short Interest is short in each stock. This data was never before available prior to January 1, 2005 because the Self Regulatory Organizations (primary exchanges) guarded it aggressively. After the SEC passed Regulation SHO, exchanges were forced to allow data processors like SqueezeTrigger.com to access the data.

The SqueezeTrigger database collects individual short trade data on over 7,000 NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ stocks and general short trade data on nearly 8,000 OTCBB and PINKSHEET stocks. Each month the database grows by approximately 50,000,000 short sale transactions and provides investors with the knowledge necessary to time when to buy and sell stocks with outstanding short positions. By tracking the size and price of each montha'a"s short transactions, SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM provides institutions, traders, analysts, journalists and individual investors the exact price point where short sellers start losing money and a short squeeze can begin.

All material herein was prepared by SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM, based upon information believed to be reliable. The information contained herein is not guaranteed by SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM to be accurate, and should not be considered to be all-inclusive. The companies that are discussed in this opinion have not approved the statements made in this opinion.

Occassionally companies pay $995.00 to purchase data for information provided in reports issued by BUYINS.NET, a company affiliated with SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM. The data service can be cancelled at any time. This opinion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. This material is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell securities. SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM is not a licensed broker, broker dealer, market maker, investment banker, investment advisor, analyst or underwriter. Please consult a broker before purchasing or selling any securities viewed on or mentioned herein. SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM will not advise as to when it decides to sell and does not and will not offer any opinion as to when others should sell; each investor must make that decision based on his or her judgment of the market.

SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM and SQUEEZETRIGGER are intended for use by stock market professionals. As a member, visitor, or user of any kind, you accept full responsibilities for your investment and trading actions. The contents of SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM, including but not limited to all implied or expressed views, opinions, teachings, data, graphs, opinions, or otherwise are not predictions, warranty, or endorsements of any kind. Please seek stock market advice from the proper securities professional, or investment advisor.

By visiting SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM or using any data or services, you agree to assume full responsibility for the decisions or actions that you undertake. Global Automated Trading Systems, LLC, its owner(s), operators, employees, partners, affiliates, advertisers, information providers and any other associated person or entity, shall under no circumstances be held liable to the user and/or any third party for loss or damages of any kind, including but not limited to trading losses, lost trading opportunity, direct, indirect, consequential, special, incidental, or punitive damages. As a user, you agree that any damages collected shall not exceed the amount paid to SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM and/or its owners. As a website user, you agree that any and all legal matters of any kind are to be reviewed and handled in their entirety within the State of California only. By using the services of this website, you are consenting to the terms as outlined, and forfeit all legal jurisdictions in any other State.

Past performance is not a guarantee of future outcomes. Any and all examples are hypothetical and should not be considered a guarantee or endorsement of such trading activity. SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM does not take responsibility for problems of any kind, including but not limited to issues with operations, data accuracy or completeness, contacting issues, technical issues, and timeliness. SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM places great integrity on the data collected and distributed. This information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. All information and data is provided "as is" without warranty or guarantee of any kind.

Please seek investment and/or trading advice, council, information or services from a securities professional. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

"Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected", "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a companies' annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the SEC.

Contact:

Thomas Ronk, CEO

www.squeezetrigger.com

+1-800-715-9999

Tom@squeezetrigger.com

SqueezeTrigger is a registered trademark, Reg. No. 3,120,641

((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com)).

50% of Qatar to have FTTH access by 2012.

DOHA COME 2012 and 50 percent of Qatar will have access to Qatar Telecom's (Qtel) fibre-to-thehome' (FTTH) technology, a senior company official has said.

"We are investing QR600 million in the FTTH programme and have identified high priority areas in Doha and Al Khor which will have this facility in the next two years, Qtel Chief Executive Officer Nasser Marafih told Qatar Tribune on Tuesday.

The FTTH system will deliver Internet speeds of up to 100Mbps along with advanced services such as high definition- TV, video conferencing and entertainment on demand.

"In phase one, we will be offering this service to the areas identified by our survey team and to the remaining areas of the country in later phases, Marafih said.

During the trial phase, Qtel and Huawei had jointly tested a new FTTH network in 2009, which provided ultra high-speed connectivity to houses in Mesaieed and West Bay Lagoon.

According to the Qtel CEO, this is the largest infrastructure project of its kind ever carried out by Qtel, and is a key strand of Qatar's broadband strategy, which aims to drive the development of a knowledge-based economy through the deployment of some of the world's most advanced network technology.

"The new fibre network will offer a host of benefits to the people of Qatar and to the educational, commercial and governmental sectors," Marafih added.

Commenting on the benefits of the FTTH programme, Marfih said that with advanced bandwidth capacity, the FTTH will support new business applications and advanced enterprise software seamlessly, enabling companies to continue to upgrade with ease to more advanced software.

Small businesses will benefit particularly from some of the fastest Internet speeds in the region, he said.

Earlier at a function, Qtel formalised an agreement with Huawei that will see both the companies working together on the ambitious programme.

The agreement was signed by Marafih on behalf of Qtel and by Zha Jun, President, Network Products, on behalf of Huawei, in the presence of the Chinese Ambassador to Qatar, HE Yue Xiaoyong.

"We want to ensure that Qatar becomes one of the best-connected countries not just in the region, but in the world, and the advanced fibre network will play a key role in helping us achieve that goal," he said after signing the pact.

The pact between Qtel and Huawei will be supported by a joint innovation centre in Qatar, which will conduct original research in the field of communication services.

Copyright Qatar Tribune. All Rights Reserved.

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

IRISH TEENS 'FEEL PRESSURE FROM THEIR PALS TO DRINK' ..and they're boozing at 14.(News)

Byline: BY SARAH BARDON

MORE than half of Irish teens feel pressurised to drink, a survey revealed yesterday.

Research by youth group Foroige showed 56 per cent of teenagers aged 15 to 17 would say yes to alcohol if egged on by their friends.

Worryingly, 42 per cent of teens have taken their first drink by the age of 14.

Grainne Kenny, of Europe Against Drugs, said the figures were not surprising. She added: "Peer pressure is part of being young. Kids want to be accepted - how are they supposed to make an informed decision at 14? They don't have the sophistication to say no.

"There is nothing wrong with having a drink but there is a reason why you have to be 18 to drink in this country - kids drink for all the wrong reasons.

"They drink to get drunk - to build up the courage to chat up that guy or to be one of the lads - to let their inhibitions fly." Almost half of our youths say they are influenced by their parents' drinking patterns. But Ms Kenny claimed people need to stand up to their kids. She said: "Parents today want to be their child's friend. There is plenty of time to be their friend when they are adults.

"Now is the time to give them guidance and advice. Parents refuse to talk about alcohol with their kids because it means having to look at their own habits."

The survey also identified bullying and intimidation as a serious concern for youngsters. Internet bullying and happy slapping are feared by teens. Fifty-nine per cent of the respondents think they get bad press and said they are not as "bad as everyone makes them out to be".

Sean Campbell, chief executive of Foroige, said the research presents a "highly-compelling insight" into the lives of Irish teenagers.

He added: "These teens want to challenge negative stereotypical views often automatically labelled on young people.

"In our experience, the actions of a few are not a reflection of all and the majority are highly motivated and engaged members of the community who do make a difference."

CAPTION(S):

PEERS AND BEERS Teens drinking too early

Best kept secret.

Byline: Andrew Jordan

Best kept secret

Whichever side of the civil liberties debate you sit on, it is an unavoidable fact that we are conducting our lives in a world of data, a

world in which our every move, comment, opinion and desire is being increasingly captured in data.

Without thinking about it, even a simple journey from home to work will now create a data 'footprint', embedding where you were and when onto a computer system somewhere. You would think that this data-driven society would engender heightened suspicion of computer systems generally and would encourage behaviours that reflect anonymity. But quite the opposite is happening.

With the advent of the many social networking sites that are now at our disposal, from MySpace to Facebook people are falling over themselves to capture their very existence in data. With very little effort, it is now possible to pro-actively say where you were, when, who with, what you drank and even put pictures online to prove it.

A thin veil of perceived security employed by these sites provides people with the confidence they require to open their very souls to the world. And it doesn't stop there. The blogging phenomenon continues to explode its way around the world, providing a platform >

for increasingly creative spleen-venting.

Now this new world of citizen journalism is beginning to stretch into territories that are less obvious and far more commercial in nature, with portentous overtones. One such area is in the world of executive search and select, that nebulous world which operates to find the next leaders of business. Many roles managed by these firms never even find their way onto the front page of the Sunday Times Appointments, let alone onto the internet.

CLEAR CONSCIENCE

But the stakes are becoming higher and higher in ensuring the right candidates are put forward for these senior roles, especially considering the large fees involved. And for those engaging a search firm, ensuring that your new board member has no skeletons in the closet is just as important.

It is to the new world of social media that these traditional search firms are now turning. High-profile executives conduct their business with specific reputations in mind: business leader, White Knight or IPO guru; all senior executives wish to be known for, or stand

for, something.

In most cases, executives will write articles themselves or will have articles written about them. But what about more informal data sources? How well received was the last conference keynote that they delivered? Or what do their current workforce think of them? And in terms of the business impact they've had, has this come at a sacrifice?

With the increasing propensity for people to capture their commentary online, what was once a frustrated rant around the water cooler is now there for the world to see, dutifully indexed by Google and Technorati for everyone to find. No longer can the executive hide behind their corporate faAs.ade when everyman is so willing to put the record straight in such an unedited and honest way.

Our own company has launched a new service to make this whole process easier to manage, from the perspective of both candidates and search firms.

For little more than 2% of the average search fee for a senior executive, Reputica will provide a detailed report of the information that is out in the public domain, summarised and categorised to include 'official' news, blogs, chatrooms, Podcasts, trade journals and all other digital content that may contain something of relevance.

It also provides summary analysis of the information to include when information

was created, who by, their perceived

sphere of influence and their likely

readership. The reports are available to both search firms and prospective candidates. Clearly, for search firms, this provides more in-depth information about the candidate that could be useful at interview.

little indiscretions

All of which begs the quite serious question: what can you do about it? The rather ominous answer is: actually, very little. While the internet remains the free media channel that it has become, the possibility of data breaking out into the public domain becomes even more likely. Blogs are growing at a rate of 17 new postings per second.

Even sites like Facebook, once the preserve of 20-something students, are now increasingly been used by serious businessmen.

This isn't limited to text data either. Photographs and video are just as much a part of this new world as blog commentary.

Now that the world has decided to engage in this online data proliferation, we just need to be mindful of the data that we create without knowing it, the data we create that we

can do nothing about and, most importantly, the data we create intentionally. It is our

social responsibility to react sensibly.

Just remember this, your last conference speech had an audience of 1,000; each

member of the audience can reach more than one billion if they choose to write about you.

Andrew Jordan is chief executive of reputation management specialist Reputica