Aussie friends of Jackson ‘shocked’

AN Australian family who met Michael Jackson more than 20 years ago and became lifelong friends was devastated by the pop star’s surprise death.

Joy Robson, mother of choreographer Wade Robson, said her family could not come to terms with the news the King of Pop was dead.         

”We are all in shock right now,” Ms Robson, sobbing heavily, said.

”We’re devastated.”

A Los Angeles County Coroner’s office spokesman has confirmed Jackson had died.

Lieutenant Fred Corral told CNN Jackson, 50, was pronounced dead at 2:26pm (0726 AEST) local time after reportedly suffering a cardiac arrest.

The Robsons, formerly of Brisbane, befriended Jackson when Wade, at the age of five, won a dance competition in Australia where first prize was a meeting with the star.

When Jackson toured Australia in 1987 the pop star invited Wade to perform at his Brisbane concert.

Robsons, formerly of Brisbane, befriended Jackson when Wade, at the age of five, won a dance competition in Australia where first prize was a meeting with the star.When Jackson toured Australia in 1987

Two years later, with the help of Jackson, the Robsons moved to the US so Wade could pursue his dancing career.

Wade appeared in three of Jackson’s music videos, Black or White, Jam and Heal the World and today, at the age of 26, is one of the world’s most renowned choreographers, hosting his own MTV series The Wade Robson Project, working with Britney Spears and N’SYNC and winning two Emmy Awards.

Wade, Ms Robson and her daughter, Chantal, were called as witnesses at Jackson’s 2005 molestation trial in California.

Jackson was eventually acquitted.

The Robsons spent many nights at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. After Jackson’s acquittal in 2005, the Robsons were again in tears, but back then it was tears of happiness.

”I’ve never questioned Michael,” Ms Robson said in 2005.

”That’s the bottom line. I’ve never ever had a second of a concern.

”I don’t care what people say of me.

”You have to know Michael to understand.

”I’ve always said to Michael I wished the world could know the Michael we do.

”He’s not what the media makes him out to be.”

Jackson, aged 50, died in Los Angeles today, although a cause of death is yet to be officially announced.

Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at Jackson’s $US100,000 ($A124,378.11) a month rented mansion in the exclusive LA suburb of Holmby Hills, just after midday.

He was taken to the nearby UCLA Medical Centre but was pronounced dead.

RIP

Source  :  www.news.com.au

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Flights ‘cheaper than a carton of beer’

TRAVELLERS can fly to destinations around Australia for less than the price of carton of beer thanks to cut-price airline Tiger Airways. 

As part of its latest discount assault on rivals Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Blue, Tiger Airways has aggressively cut the cost of some of its airfares.

For a limited time some of Tiger’s one-way flights from Sydney to Melbourne cost as little as $25.51, the Gold Coast to Melbourne from $23.33, or Adelaide to Perth costs $22.78, including taxes, The Advertiser reports.

But there is a catch. While there are 30,000 seats available for various destinations, the price is for a one-way flight which must be taken on a Tuesday or a Wednesday between August 4 and March 24.

The discount flights aren’t available during the summer school holidays, from December 15 to January 27, or on March 9 and 10.

Tiger Airways says the fares include all fees and taxes, so in essence, it is giving away the seat on the plane.

The fares include up to 7kg of carry-on luggage, but passengers are charged $10 for up to 15kg and $35 for up to 25kg of check-in luggage. The one-way discount fares include Adelaide to Sydney for $28.76 and to Melbourne for $25.14.

“For the price of a couple of movie tickets or a few beers you can travel some of Tiger Airways’ most popular routes midweek,” Tiger commercial director Steve Burns said.

“While everyone’s tightening their belts in the current economic climate, it’s nice to know you can still take a short break or get that work-life balance back on track with incredible deals like this.”

Comparable airfares from Adelaide to Perth aboard Jetstar during the same period currently cost $79, with Virgin Blue’s from $89 and Qantas’s from $129.

King William Travel manager Sandra Cosic said people needed to be wary of what they received for a low fare, taking into account extra charges for luggage and other services.

“But there are some great deals out there,” she said.

Tiger’s 30,000-seat “Just Pay Taxes and Charges” sale is on until midnight tomorrow.

HOW TO PAY FOR YOUR FARE

Don’t buy that carton of Platinum Pure Blonde for the weekend. SAVE $37.98.

Instead of heading out for dinner, stay at home and eat in. SAVE $20-$30.

Wait for that new movie to hit the DVD shelves instead of catching it on opening night. SAVE $34.

Give up that manicure. Your nails can wait a little longer. SAVE $40.

Bring instant coffee to work for a week instead of buying two a day. SAVE $35.

Catch public transport to work for a week instead of driving. SAVE $40.

Source  :  www.news.com.au

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Pensioners torture financial adviser

A FINANCIAL adviser has barely escaped with his life after being beaten and held hostage for four days … by a gang of old-age pensioners.                                           

American James Amburn was beaten until his ribs broke, burnt with cigarettes and hit with a Zimmer frame by the gang of five pensioners furious that he’d lost their £2 million ($4.1 million) savings.

Living in Germany, Mr Amburn was ambushed as he left a café and driven in the boot of an Audi to a house, where he was dumped in a cellar.

“I was jumped from the rear and struck,” he told UK tabloid The Sun.

“Then they bound me like a mummy with masking tape. It took them quite a while because they ran out of breath.”

In four days, the pensioners fed him just two bowls of soup, burned him with cigarettes and threatened to kill him “again and again”, angry that he had invested their money in a failed Florida property scheme.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

He escaped once but was recaptured and beaten until his ribs broke.

Mr Amburn was eventually rescued after convincing his captors to let him fax a Swiss bank in an attempt to get their money.

He left a note for police at the bottom of the fax and armed cops stormed the house in Bavaria on Saturday.

The “Furious Five” as they have been dubbed, face 15-year sentences for hostage-taking and torture.

Source  :  www.news.com.au  

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Fiat ragtop coming to Australia

FIAT HAS ANNOUNCED that the convertible version of its ever-so-fashionable 500 will be landing on Australian shores in the middle of next year; roughly a year after the car’s   European sales debut.

Exact specifications and pricing won’t be announced until the car’s local launch, but given the convertible packs the same mechanical hardware as its be-roofed stablemate, odds are high engine choices will be shared with the tin-top Fiat 500.

That means a 55kW 1.3 litre diesel, 51kW 1.2 litre petrol and 74kW 1.4 litre petrol should be offered, while a fuel-saving start-stop system will also feature on the 500C’s spec sheet.

But for many buyers it won’t be the engine line-up or economy rating that will be the 500C’s real drawcard. It’s all about looks, and in that department the diminutive Fiat ragtop doesn’t disappoint.

Source  :  www.themotorreport.com.au

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Tributes held across Australia today for Jane McGrath

I know if Jane were here today, she would have been so happy to see that so many Australian women and their families are being helped by the work the McGrath Foundation is doing each day.

Executive Director of the Foundation TracyBevan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Memorial services will be held across the nation today to honour breast cancer victims including Jane McGrath, one year after her death.

The McGrath Foundation, led by her husband and former cricketer Glenn McGrath has raised more than $5.5 million for cancer research.

Jane and Glenn co-founded the McGrath Foundation in 2002, to raise money for breast cancer nurses and to raise awareness about the disease.

The cancer campaigner lost her own battle with cancer on June 22 last year, sparking an outpouring of grief.

Today memorials will be held in the Art Gallery of NSW and at other sites across Sydney, as well as in Newcastle, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra.

Executive Director of the Foundation Tracy Bevan says it’s a significant day.

“Today is a hard day for us, but it’s also a very proud day. I know if Jane were here today, she would have been so happy to see that so many Australian women and their families are being helped by the work the McGrath Foundation is doing each day.”

The foundation currently has 45 McGrath Breast Care Nurses working in health care facilities across the country, with another eight to be placed in coming months.

Source  www.livenews.com.au

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Cardboard coffins: ‘Let bodies feed bush’

AN MP wants Queenslanders to be buried in cardboard coffins in natural bush cemeteries where the decomposing bodies can promote vegetation growth.

The “green in death” approach has been advocated by Labor’s Barbara Stone who told Parliament about a body’s “natural nutrients.”

 

She suggested that more local authorities follow the lead of the Gold Coast City Council which is planning the state’s first natural bushland cemetery.

 

“The site will be an old quarry to be filled with suitable soil so that bodies can decompose and provide valuable nutrients that encourage the rejuvenation of native flora,” she said. 

Body disposal should have as little impact on the environment as possible after taking into account the deceased’s personal, cultural or traditional practices, Ms Stone said. If someone wanted to be buried in a cardboard box “under a shady tree” this should be permitted.

Ms Stone, who represents Springwood, said responsible Queenslanders should go to their grave in eco-friendly coffins made from fibre waste.

“Testing has shown that they release half the emissions of a standard coffin,” she said.

Of the 24,500 coffins used in Queensland last year, less than 100 were made from this alternative material.

This represented a waste of timber and valuable metals and exposed the environment to toxic embalming chemicals.

New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania have bushland cemeteries where only native stone can be used as burial markers.

But Ms Stone said that if there was no stone the “savvy techno can have a GPS device placed in their hands so their families can return to honour the bushland settings and their loved ones”.

Queensland bans burials on private land although there are some exceptions – former premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen is at rest in the grounds of his home Bethany, near Kingaroy.

Source  :  www.news.com.au

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Perth cricketer’s skull fractured in UK

A young Perth cricketer bashed with a brick outside a nightclub in Leeds in England might not be able to fly home for several months because severe head injuries that have left him unable to talk.
  
Chris Thomson, 26, suffered a fractured skull when he was attacked early on Monday.                                                                                                                          
  
A man hit him in the face with a brick and he fell backwards and struck his head heavily on the footpath. His attacker left in taxi.
  
Thomson, who made his A-grade debut for WACA club Mt Lawley at the end of the summer, was playing for Clayton West in West Yorkshire.
  
Thomson’s mother Jeannette went to England on Wednesday and was greeted with the news that her son was out of intensive care.

Source www.thewest.com.au

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ABC Learning’s UK business sold – Receiver

THE receiver of ABC Learning Centres has sold the childcare group’s UK arm for an undisclosed sum.

ABC’s UK business, called Busy Bees Group, was purchased by Singapore-based company Knowledge Universe Education, Chris Honey of McGrathNicol said today. 

Mr Honey said Busy Bees Group, which is the UK’s largest children’s nursery group, will continue to be operated by its existing senior management.

“As receivers, we are very happy with the value realised for this business, and are pleased to have sold it to an internationally respected childcare provider,” he said.

He said Busy Bees Group was in a similar situation to ABC’s business in New Zealand, as it was not itself in receivership and had continued to trade profitably.

Mr Honey said the sale of the ABC in New Zealand was progressing well and that strong interest from a number of bidders had led to an extension of the sale timetable.

Mr Honey said no decision had been made yet on a timetable for the sale of the Australian business.

“The ABC Learning centres in Australia continue to trade well, with the focus remaining firmly on providing high quality childcare, driven by the local ABC centre staff at a community level,” Mr Honey said.

ABC, Australia’s largest childcare centre operator, went into administration and receivership in November 2008, owing more than $1 billion.

Source www.news.com.au

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Western Australia upgrades patient management system

The Western Australian Department of Health is looking to upgrade its patient management system as part of the state’s eHealth reform program.

The department has decided to adopt iSOFT’s Patient Manager (i.PM) hospital information system to date in the hope of providing a flexible, cost-effective and fully integrated patient health record system across multiple hospitals.

The i.PM will be installed alongside existing complementary eHealth solutions, including the i.Clinical Manager and the i.Pharmacy, at 13 sites including Sir Charles Gairdner, Royal Perth Fremantle and Princess Margaret hospitals.

Some 6,000 users will be able to access the system across the full range of administrative services from patient registration and referral, through waiting list management and bookings to inpatient attendances and outpatient scheduling.

Western Australia is set to become the nation’s first state to run iSOFT’s entire iSeries suite of solutions. There is also a possibility of the health department implementing the upgrade across as many as 68 rural sites.

Source  :  www.futuregov.net

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What is allofaus?

What makes Australia great ?  Is it our culture ?  Is it our people ?

Is it our determined spirit ?  Or is it something else entirely ?

It’s a question with no single answer.   And it’s a discussion that everyone is invited to be a part of.

www.allofaus.com.au is a home for our thoughts on what makes Australia great and it will shape ‘Our Spirit’ – a magazine keepsake that you’ll find in newspapers across Australia in the last weekend of July.

It won’t be the same without you, so share your thoughts and feelings on the unique nature of today’s Australian spirit. Feel free to use words, a picture or even a video. It’s up to you.

What sets us apart ;  What makes Australia great ?  Have your say.

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